Chapter 1 Deep Night in the Ancient Castle

Deep darkness descended upon the ancient castle, robbing everyone of their vision. Zhang Yuanqing was shocked to discover that the Night Wanderer's talent for piercing the darkness had lost its effect at this moment. His eyes were filled with pitch blackness, and he couldn't see anything.

The "darkness" was not the usual kind of night, but a kind of mandatory seal, sealing all skills, including passive ones.

He instinctively leaned against the wall, adopting a defensive posture, while simultaneously opening his inventory… only to remember that the inventory and attribute interface were restricted and could not be opened.

"Then I can only rely on luck. It's not death, it's not me..." He muttered to himself, almost saying, "God bless me, Buddha bless me."

It wasn't that Zhang Yuanqing was afraid of death, but he felt that only if he survived could he ensure the case was solved. He didn't trust anyone else.

There was no movement in the darkness. Time passed quietly. After two or three minutes, the night receded, light poured in, and the field of vision changed from pitch black to blue-gray, and then to dawn.

"Who died?" Zhang Yuanqing quickly looked around.

Sun Miaomiao, Zhao Chenghuang, Zhai Cai, Tianxia Guihuo… his teammates' faces appeared in his eyes one by one. Finally, his gaze fell on the floor.

Hong Ji-ge (Red Chicken Bro) lay stiffly on the ground, his whole body rigid. He had died in the night.

It was Hong Ji-ge who died... a stroke of luck within misfortune. The big stone in Zhang Yuanqing's heart fell to the ground. Instead of being sad, he breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, Zhai Cai and others also discovered that Hong Ji-ge had fallen in the night, and they all showed expressions of rejoicing, "Thank goodness."

The sacrifice of Hong Ji-ge was equivalent to no one dying, zero loss.

Zhai Cai quickly approached, squatted down to examine him, and found that Hong Ji-ge had no wounds on his body. His expression was peaceful, as if he had died without regrets.

"Fortunately, the deceased does not affect the overall situation!" Dan Chuan Qishi (Single Transmission Knight) first breathed a sigh of relief, then his face became serious, "I think the murderer who killed the castle owner is not the witch, because the witch's killing method is mandatory death. The castle owner, on the other hand, had two fatal wounds."

"Not necessarily!" Tianxia Guihuo was the first to object, "Yalance was eaten after being unconscious or dead. If she died in advance from the witch's revenge, wouldn't that be reasonable?"

The two looked at each other. Zhai Cai frowned and looked at Zhang Yuanqing, "What do you think?"

"Based on the current situation, there are two directions for investigation. One, the witch is the murderer, and our task is to find her real name. Two, the murderer is among us. The witch's existence is a huge threat, increasing the difficulty of solving the case, but she is not the murderer."

Zhang Yuanqing's logic was clear. He pointed to the open door and said, "Only this character can open Dong Fashi's (Magister Dong)'s door. In other words, Hong Ji-ge's room is forever inaccessible, and his part of the clues is forever lost."

"The most important thing now is not to discuss who the murderer is, but to use the points in hand to obtain as many clues as possible for the team."

After speaking, he pushed open the door to Dong Fashi's room, "Let's see what clues are inside."

The teammates followed him into the room. The tables, chairs, and beds in the room revealed the unique simplicity of the Middle Ages. After searching, they found a black wooden box in the room; a letter from Yalance to Dong Fashi; and a piece of parchment paper painted with complex incantations.

The content of the letter was consistent with Zhang Yuanqing's character information. It was a letter for help.

Zhang Yuanqing stared at the parchment paper, his brows slowly furrowing, "It seems to be a Lingzhuan (spirit seal) array for refining spirit servants. It's different from the traditional Lingzhuan. It should be an ancient cultivator's array diagram created according to the Lingzhuan... I seem to understand why Dong Fashi coveted the witch sealed by the Lansi (Lansi) family. The witch has high inspiration and is an extremely Yin physique, a natural top-quality spirit servant."

Zhai Cai sized him up and down, "You're not a Night Wanderer, how do you know this is a spirit array diagram!"

Zhang Yuanqing's expression remained unchanged, "Knowledge can be learned, and experience can be accumulated."

As he spoke, he handed the parchment paper to Sun Miaomiao, in the manner of asking a professional to comment.

"It is indeed an array diagram derived from Lingzhuan." Sun Miaomiao gave an appraisal in a showy manner.

Zhang Yuanqing didn't want to dwell on the array diagram and opened the wooden box. Inside the wooden box lay an ice-sculpted pen. Judging from the pen rest inlaid on the bottom of the box, there should have been two ice pens in the box.

One of the pens was missing.

At this moment, a notification sound rang in Zhang Yuanqing's ear:

【Ding! Your character's exclusive skill is activated!】

【Fupin Bi (Divining Brush): Can be used for divination. Requires 60 points per use.】

Character's exclusive skill… Zhang Yuanqing immediately remembered Dong Fashi's character information, a mage who was good at divination. In addition, he had felt strange before that there was a note after Dong Fashi's character information: Can be made public!

Since there is "can be made public," there must be "cannot be made public." Sure enough, the guess was confirmed.

"Eh, an ice-sculpted pen..." Sun Miaomiao leaned over, "Does it have item attributes?"

Zhang Yuanqing picked up the pen, waited a few seconds, and shook his head, "No item information."

"I'm speechless." Sun Miaomiao took the ice pen, and after a few seconds, put the pen back in the box somewhat dejectedly, "Sure enough, there's no information. Then what's the use of this pen? Your room has no clues at all."

Zhai Cai's eyes suddenly sharpened, "Who said there were no clues? Where's the other pen?"

Tianxia Guihuo suddenly woke up and said urgently, "Do you remember the fatal wound on the castle owner's chest? I said at the time that the color of the blood was wrong, as if it had been diluted with water."

Sun Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang reacted instantly. "Is the murderer Dong Fashi?"

Sun Miaomiao examined Zhang Yuanqing and reasoned, "The wound on the castle owner's chest was caused by an ice pen. That pen melted, so the blood on the chest looked like it had been diluted."

Zhao Chenghuang "Mm" said, "The castle owner wrote in the notebook that Dong Tianshi (Celestial Master Dong) coveted the Lansi family's taboo. He has a motive for murder."

Everyone looked at Zhang Yuanqing.

Unable to refute... Zhang Yuanqing thought carefully for a moment and found that Dong Fashi did have a motive and the ability. In addition, there was also physical evidence.

It was hard to say that Ya. Lansi's death had nothing to do with Dong Fashi.

At this time, Zhai Cai said, "But the wound on the chest looks more like it was caused by a sharp weapon such as a large sword. An ice pen cannot create such a wound."

Tianxia Guihuo's excitement diminished slightly. After recalling it, he nodded and said, "That's true. The wound on the victim's chest was caused by two weapons. Now that the ice pen has been found, there is no large sword in Dong Fashi's room. In other words, there is another suspect."