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The first 13 corpses were all male, while the 14th corpse was a woman. The body had been burned so thoroughly that all the skin and fat were gone. When they discovered the woman’s body, it was standing. She stood on the rooftop, having been nearly consumed by flames.

In fact, there was no fire on the rooftop; the fire had only melted the asphalt. This woman had walked directly from the burning hallway to the rooftop. Judging by the footprints on the asphalt, she had already been burned to a near-corpse state at that time.

This was highly unusual; burns cause extreme pain, and a person would not be able to endure such agony and still walk. Even if it were possible, they could not walk such a long distance.

“This is a mystery,” said Xie Yuchen, as he grabbed a cushion and lay back on his sofa. “The police were at a loss at the time. Mrs. Huo’s husband was a staunch materialist who looked down on our profession. He was the deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Security at the time and privately approached the Huo family to find out what happened. You know, the incident occurred too close to Chang’an Street, and someone up top wanted to know what was going on.”

“The most difficult person in the Old Nine Gates, Old Lady Huo, ended up marrying a stubborn military officer who looked down on our line of work. It must not have been easy for Huo Xiangu,” Wu Xie murmured. “Or was it just for the sake of the family?”

“You’re getting more and more gossipy,” Xie Yuchen sighed. The afternoon sunlight streamed in through the window, warming everything. He began to recall the scene from 11 years ago when Black Bear walked into their courtyard.

Old Lady Huo lived in a very sensitive political atmosphere; not only did she have to consider her relationship with her husband, but also the influence her husband had in the government. His high-ranking position meant that he often had to tread more carefully than ordinary people. Therefore, she entrusted the matter to Chen Pi A Si, who was wanted under several warrants from different eras, each of which could lead to a death sentence if he were captured. Naturally, he wouldn’t appear himself. In the end, it was a man wearing sunglasses who came to handle the situation.

Even though 11 years had passed, Xie Yuchen felt that when he first saw Black Bear, he already looked like that. In 11 years, he had hardly changed at all. Thus, Xie Yuchen did not know the man’s actual age. His personality also made it difficult to discern; from a teenager to a middle-aged man, his character seemed to remain consistent.

Black Bear was drinking tea with them in the courtyard, while Old Lady Huo and Xie Yuchen kept him company. Black Bear discussed the situation with several police officers.

He saw some photographs from the crime scene, and the first thing he pointed out was the photo of the footprints imprinted in the melted asphalt on the rooftop.

Since the identities of these 14 individuals had not been determined, there was no basic information available. He stared at the photo of the footprints for a long time and then said, “There must be a 15th corpse that you haven’t found.”

They did not understand. For Xie Yuchen, this matter fell within the realm of metaphysics. Aside from Qi Men Ba Suan, others in the Old Nine Gates were very resistant to such things.

Grave robbers would be the most eager for a world without ghosts or deities, even if their lives forced them to accept some realities.

“Why?” one of the police officers asked.

“The footprints are too deep. To leave such deep prints on the burnt asphalt, this person’s weight must be quite exaggerated.” Hei Xiazi was eating various exquisite snacks made by Old Lady Huo from the Republic of China era, showing a very appreciative expression.

“After the liberation, people don’t live as fastidiously,” Hei Xiazi said to Old Lady Huo. “It’s just like the taste made by the servants in my childhood home.”

Wu Xie coughed while laughing, “Did he really say that?”

Xiaohua replied with an “Mm.” Hei Xiazi continued to ask the police, “Has anyone nearby seen a female sumo wrestler entering or exiting this building? If not, then when this woman caught fire and went up to the rooftop, she must have been carrying someone or something on her back.”

The two police officers exchanged glances, their faces turning a bit pale. “Are you sure?”

“If you don’t believe me, then don’t call me in,” Hei Xiazi replied. “However, this matter isn’t important for now. The body must be in a place you can’t find.”

Hei Xiazi took out a pen and grabbed someone’s hand, drawing a side view of the building. “The entire building has seven floors, and the 13 bodies are distributed across 13 different rooms in this building. These 13 people all drowned in other places. A Chinese woman has only one night to transport 13 bodies from elsewhere into this building, move them to different rooms, and then set them on fire. There are no elevators in this building, so how could she possibly do that? Therefore, the bodies must have drowned in the building. Where in this building are there conditions for drowning?”

“The bathroom?” one police officer asked.

“In the bathroom sink?” Hei Xiazi said. “You wouldn’t even drown a dog in there. There must be a large area of standing water in this building that can drown people, and it can’t be on the upper seven floors. You should search the garage and the first floor again.”

Jie Yucheng already understood Hei Xiazi’s basic line of thought; he knew that Hei Xiazi must belong to the same profession as him. He refrained from voicing his opinion, as his appearance was still too immature, and sharing his thoughts would only be a waste of effort.

Afterward, they chatted about some luxurious and extravagant lifestyles. Jie Yucheng realized that Hei Xiazi should be considered one of the few remnants of the noble system.

After the police returned, they thoroughly checked the entire building’s foundation and the garage but found no standing water. However, they did not come back empty-handed; they discovered that a large portion of the garage had significant wall cracks, suggesting that the entire building was settling.

This was a building from the war period, and being in the north, such phenomena couldn’t be attributed to quality issues or geological problems. It could only be said that the geological conditions at the bottom of this building might have changed since construction began.

The cracks were quite new, indicating that this change likely occurred within the past year.

Hei Xiazi was invited to the scene. He looked around and finally stopped in front of an empty space. He walked on this patch of ground in the garage for three hours and then lay down on it. Ultimately, he had someone break open this patch of ground.

“There’s a big hole underneath, filled with standing water. This layer of concrete is only two fingers thick, supported by wooden and steel beams, and the surface of the concrete has been artificially aged.” They examined the water-filled hole, which was bottomless, with no idea where it led.

“A theft tunnel?”

“Not exactly,” said Jue Yuchen. “The pump worked for two days and drained all the water from the hole. It was a well, and they found the fifteenth body at the bottom of the well, but it was different from what they expected.”