140 A Haze of the Rusted Nail (2/2)

Shangguan Yangyu sneered at him and thought his subordinate would never covet the first credit. As long as he delayed for a few minutes, someone really still could not hold anymore. He indifferently said with slight ridicule, ”I heard that it was extremely inauspicious for a Psyche Master to check the remains of the deceased with Psyche Power. You have kept silent on it before. So I can understand you.”

Lin Ling looked a bit pale and said with a self-deprecated bitter smile, ”In order to maintain the dignity of the Tang's law and keep justice for the government officials, at this crucial moment I have to ignore some rules for the time being.”

”Good point.” Shangguan Yangyu slightly lifted the jaw and indifferently said, ”So if there is any discovery, you'd better say it in advance. Don't waste our time and efforts.”

Lin Ling calmly accepted it and then no longer hid anything. He directly led Shangguan Yangyu and the coroner to the black coffin, and raised his arm to point at the remains covered by the cloth. He said, ”It should be indented in the scalp. So we can't see it with naked eyes. If you remove all the fur and scalp, you can find the problem.”

Respect was also needed for the deceased if a coroner official opened the coffin and examined the corpse. The coroner seldom opened the belly or disemboweled, not to mention a Tang censor lying in the coffin now. When the coroner heard that he needed to peel off the entire scalp, he could not help but embarrassedly saw the prefectural magistrate and rubbed the hands to ask, ”Your Grace?”

”Just do it.” Shangguan Yangyu indifferently said, ”If you can't find any problems, someone will naturally take the initiative to plead guilty to the imperial court. The Censor Mansion wouldn't be angry with a nobody like you.”

Lin Ling silently stood next to the coffin and shook his head with a bitter smile. He thought at this time the man actually did not forget to repeat and stress it like a rustic villain rather than the prefectural magistrate of Chang'an City with a high status.

At this time Chang'an Local Government's clerks and runners circled around the coffin and drove the curious cemetery workers away. They looked at the coroner's movements and could not help but guess what was under the scalp.

The remains of the censor in the coffin have long been decayed, and the cloth strand clinging to the hair has already been lost. The scattered thin hair adhered to the scalp. The coroner carefully removed the fur and the mud-like scalp below. Then he sprinkled water on the slightly yellowish white skull and wiped it with cloth for a few times.

A very small wound appeared on the top of the skull, on which there was stained blood or coagulation of carrion. With the cloth wipe and water rinse, it became clearer and clearer so as to see the thing inside the wound.

The officers and the local government runners around the coffin all held their breath. Shangguan Yangyu kept furrowing the brows. With the coroner moving the hawkbill with his hand, people became tenser and stiffer.

Just like extracting a rusted knife from a bone, the horrifying sound came from inside the coffin. With full sweat on the forehead, the coroner prevented the skull from being ripped off by pressing it with one hand and slowly pulled out that thing with the other hand. He finally took out the hard object hidden in the censor's skull.

It was a very long iron nail. Maybe it has been soaked in the blood or corpse water for too long, which has been covered with rust, but the front was still extremely sharp.

Watching the nail in the coroner 's hands, the crowd next to the coffin all gulped, as if seeing that one day last year, the censor's skull was stuck by a cold iron nail. They could not help but feel shocked and kept shaking the head. Someone even subconsciously shrank the neck.

Lin Ling has always been quiet beside, for only he had basically been able to determine what would be seen in advance at this moment. He looked at the prefectural magistrate of Chang'an City who wore an extremely awkward expression and said calmly, ”Your Grace, here is the doubt. Next, it's Chang'an Local Government's business to investigate it. I'll no longer participate in it.”

Shangguan Yangyu silently stared at the rusted nail for a long time. Suddenly he looked up at the man and coldly said, ”My investigation naturally doesn't need your participation. But I must remind you that when time is mature, I'll naturally report the matter to the Penalty Ministry and write a paper to his Majesty. If I hear some rumors outside before the real culprit is found, don't blame me for involving the general.”

Lin Ling greeted a bow with hands folded in front, and then got away from the cemetery.

...

...

Ning Que did not know the censor Zhang Yiqi's coffin has been reopened and reexamined by Chang'an Local Government, and the iron nail he stuck in the brain has also been found. So he did not know that when he had just embarked on the revenge road for less than a year, the heavy haze has been overshadowed his way.

He still felt it was brilliantly bright on his way ahead, for in another two days it was the opening day of the Second floor of the Academy, exactly the time when he was determined to take a chance.

This day, the spring was warm and the scenery was beautiful. In order to cheer up the six people like Xie Chengyun in the course of magic skills to Second floor, the other Academy students went to an elegant and expensive feast. Among them, there was Ning Que dragged by Situ Yilan.