If this were the initial investigation at the crime scene, Shen Hao plopping himself down like that would already count as interfering with the scene’s setup. But now, since everything’s being reenacted, Shen Hao’s move won’t affect the case at all. Except for Li Qing, who pursed her lips, Xue Gui actually kept quiet.
Even Li Qing, the one who dislikes him the most, wouldn’t still think Shen Hao’s just an overrated fool after being outdone once. "Sinister and cunning"—that’s her accurate assessment of Shen Hao. So his action now is easily understood as: "beginning to comb through the scene."
Many top investigators have a habit of putting themselves in the victim’s place and deducing from the things at the scene. For example, Xue Gui sometimes does exactly that.
Shen Hao’s actions are indeed just as Xue Gui and Li Qing guessed: he’s about to experience what Prince Qian usually felt inside this cell.
Ignoring Xue Gui and Li Qing at the door, Shen Hao sat on the bed and glanced around. His impression of this cell: cramped, and a bit stifling. But once the candles are lit, it’s actually really bright inside—almost as good as in his Public Office. Hard to associate this with a prison cell. Compared to a Xuanqing Guard cell, this is paradise and the abyss.
On the table to his left, some food was scattered—most likely spilled when Prince Qian was having a meal at the table. There was also a small wine flask and a booklet set on the table.
"Seems like this was a pretty cozy setup. Got food, got wine, even a book to pass the time. A year or two in a cell like this, a lot of people might just treat it as a holiday, huh?" Shen Hao thought this while reaching for the wine flask on the table. The stopper was off, much of the aroma had faded, but it still clearly smelled like some kind of fruit wine.
Seeing Shen Hao looking over, Xue Gui spoke up directly: "That wine is Hundred Fruit Wine, a specialty from the Wang Family’s Wine Shop in the West Imperial City District. It was checked—no poison, and it was sent in by Prince Qian’s Mansion. They say Prince Qian liked to drink this to quench his thirst in his leisure time."
Shen Hao nodded. Indeed, generally fruit wines are low in alcohol—without distillation, they’re maybe in the tens at most. No problem treating it like a soft drink. You can imagine Prince Qian sitting on the bed, reading his book and sipping his wine, only to suddenly drop dead.
The previous file already had the autopsy report, Shen Hao read it too. It stated that no toxins were found in either the esophagus or stomach and intestines.
That makes death by something eaten or drunk even less likely.
Frowning, because so far Shen Hao still hadn’t found anything useful. Even though he’d meticulously checked every detail he could notice—same result.
He picked up the book on the table. Looked at the title on the cover: White River Evil Beast.
Oh ho, now that’s a catchy title. Reminded Shen Hao of the naming style in some novels from another world. Flipping through a few pages—wouldn’t you know, it’s an adventure-horror novel, with cultivators and fearsome beasts that can cultivate too. Just reading the beginning was pretty gripping—this author’s really got talent!
The story was so good that Shen Hao quickly read over a dozen pages without realizing it. His reading speed was fast, and now he understood why a prince would read this kind of thing—the story was just that good. Only, a sudden restlessness in his chest snapped him out of it.
What the hell?
Normally, the Black Beast Tattoo on his chest only reacts in two situations. One: when there’s "food" nearby that would whet its appetite—it’ll nudge Shen Hao to hurry up and chow down. Two: when there’s a danger Shen Hao hasn’t noticed—it’ll jump out with a warning.
Is there food? Shen Hao immediately dismissed this. The only people nearby were Xue Gui and Li Qing—living people aren’t on the Black Beast Tattoo’s menu. So it has to be the second possibility, right?
A sudden hidden threat?!
But this is the Ministry of Justice Prison—a fortress. Where would danger come from? Plus, with his current Cultivation of Primordial Pill Realm First Layer, Shen Hao didn’t sense even a hint of threat. So where’s the danger supposed to be?
Or is the Black Beast Tattoo just mistaken this time?
Could the Black Beast Tattoo be wrong? So far, Shen Hao had never found it to mess up. For Perception alone, the Black Beast Tattoo was definitely one of his top aces.
So what’s gone wrong? Where is the danger coming from?
With the warning already in mind, Shen Hao quickly put the book down and surveyed his surroundings. This immediately drew curious stares from Xue Gui and Li Qing—what was with that? Is he just putting on an act now, all jumpy for show?
"Lord Shen, what’s with you?"
Shen Hao ignored Xue Gui’s question and sat back down on the bed, because the moment he stood up, that tingling sensation from his chest had disappeared.
Did the danger pass, or was there really something wrong with the Black Beast Tattoo?
Still puzzled, after sitting down he signaled to Xue Gui that it was nothing, then continued paging through White River Evil Beast. When he flipped to the previous page, that sensation over his tattooed chest returned at once.
Wait—this book’s got a problem?!
Picking it up and putting it down repeatedly, after several tries he came to a conclusion: there really was something off about this book.
More precisely, it was a certain page in this book that was the issue. If he didn’t read that particular page, the Black Beast Tattoo wouldn’t react. In other words, only opening to that specific page triggered the warning. Though Shen Hao had no idea yet what the threat actually was.
"Lord Xue, when will the stuff in this cell be cleared out?"
"Cleared out? Not until the case is resolved, at least. Why, Lord Shen—have you noticed something?" Xue Gui was curious, having just seen Shen Hao flipping through that book over and over. He’d looked at that book too, hadn’t seen a thing. Don’t tell me this guy’s really found some clue already?
Li Qing, watching from the doorway, sneered inwardly; she didn’t buy that Shen Hao could discover anything. There’d been so many experts here before, along with Lord Xue, and none had a clue. Wily as he was, could he really be sharper than all those experts combined?
"Good. Since the case is being revisited, I think best not to touch anything at the scene for now. And it’d be best if none of the related personnel met with an ’accident,’ either. What do you think, Lord Xue?"
"Agreed."
By "personnel accident," of course, he meant they shouldn’t kill someone by interrogating too harshly. Xue Gui agreed right away. This was the Ministry of Justice, not the Xuanqing Guard—you’d have to work hard to beat someone to death here.
Shen Hao put the book down, then left the cell. But instead of leaving the prison, he went to the now-empty duty room, and called the case-related suspects in one by one for questioning. Thanks to his earlier discovery, he’d already started to form a vague line of investigation in his mind.