1
"Ugh..."
"You're awake?"
Zhong Li felt dizzy and groggy. Before she could even open her eyes, a voice reached her ears.
As she heard the echoes around her, she knew this must be a secret chamber.
"Who are you?"
Her eyelashes fluttered as she struggled against the weakness in her limbs, looking at the person opposite her wearing a green ghost mask.
Zhong Li recognized the mask; it was identical to the ones sold by the vendors on Fenghe Street.
"Hmph, does a dying person deserve to know who I am?" The mask's owner's voice was somewhat deep.
Zhong Li let out a cold chuckle, her gaze sweeping over the masked man in the dim candlelight of the chamber.
He was dressed in a red robe, with a finely embroidered jacket featuring a pair of mandarin ducks. His embroidered shoes were exceptionally exquisite, as if meticulously cared for, the golden threads faintly visible against the candlelight.
"Whether you deserve it or not, I don't know, but I already know who you are," Zhong Li said, her gaze returning to the masked man's face.
The masked man froze.
Zhong Li spoke slowly, "Meng Yuan, how long do you plan to keep up this act?"
"How did you know it was me?" The masked man ripped off the mask, revealing an incredibly alluring face.
Although Zhong Li had mentally prepared herself, she was still startled by Meng Yuan's appearance.
Meng Yuan was originally quite good-looking, with sharp brows and starry eyes, and a deep face. His only flaw was the rather pronounced nasolabial folds on his forehead. Previously, he had worn a forehead protector to conceal them, and others hadn't noticed. Now, with his seductive makeup, deep and thick eyeliner, and those prominent nasolabial folds, he resembled a possessed demoness, sinister and terrifying.
Zhong Li's previously hazy head spun even more from his antics. Her stomach churned, a wave of nausea and greasiness making her scalp tingle.
Shaking her head, she said, "You're too stupid. Don't blame others for knowing... *gag*..."
Seeing her reaction, Meng Yuan's already enraged heart became even more bloodthirsty.
He glared at Zhong Li, took a few steps forward, and grabbed her arm. "Do you know why I captured you?"
Zhong Li shook her head. She was still trying not to throw up and didn't have the energy to speak.
"Tell me, why do women like you, with such beautiful faces, have to waste them and wear such plain, almost monastic clothes every day?" Meng Yuan said, his fingertips reaching for Zhong Li's cheek.
Zhong Li felt a sharp pain in her jaw as Meng Yuan's face, so ugly that no beauty could be found, loomed inches from hers.
Her senses had just begun to return, but now her stomach was acting up again.
Meng Yuan, oblivious to her discomfort, continued, "Women should dress colorfully – red skirts, red blouses, red embroidered shoes. They should stay in their chambers and be proper ladies, don't you think?"
Zhong Li coughed a few times, until only the sour bile in her stomach was rising. Finally, enduring the sting in her eyes, she looked at Meng Yuan and said, "So you killed them all?"
Meng Yuan let out a cold snort. "Logically, a dying person like you is not qualified to know. But since you guessed who I am, I'll reveal some secrets as a reward!"
As he spoke, he forcefully pulled Zhong Li's body and dragged her into a deeper chamber.
A foul stench wafted towards her, and Zhong Li knew she had arrived at Meng Yuan's murder scene.
The faint candlelight flickered, illuminating the room intermittently.
Zhong Li's gaze fell upon a metal bed, and her heart tightened. She looked up at the ceiling, having anticipated Meng Yuan might use a guillotined blade, but she never imagined he would invent a pulley murder machine. Five blades hung from the ceiling; once all of them fell, heads, hands, and feet would all be severed.
"What, scared?" Meng Yuan looked at Zhong Li's reaction with apparent satisfaction and said smugly, "Don't worry, it's just a moment!"
"And then what? What are you planning to do?" Zhong Li didn't display the fearful expression Meng Yuan expected. Instead, she calmly looked at him and asked.
Meng Yuan narrowed his eyes, seeming to not understand why Zhong Li was acting this way. She was different from all the other women he had captured.
Zhong Li smiled. "No one appreciates your creations, do they?"
Upon hearing "creations," Meng Yuan's body trembled, and he looked at the alcove with its drawn curtains in a neurotic manner.
He glanced again. Zhong Li said, "You want to see them?"
"Why not? Miss... Meng?" Zhong Li emphasized the last two words particularly clearly.
This was the first time anyone had addressed him like that. A flicker of joy crossed Meng Yuan's face, and he tugged Zhong Li towards the alcove.
As the curtain was pulled back, all the items on the alcove came into Zhong Li's view.
Even though she had mentally prepared herself, she was still shaken by the sight of several heavily made-up heads, hands adorned with vibrant nail polish, and pairs of feet clad in embroidered shoes of various styles.
"You..." She took a deep breath. If it weren't for her naturally steady and calm disposition, the last bastion of courage within her heart would have been overcome by fear.
"Investigator Zhong, do you like them?" Meng Yuan walked towards the alcove in a daze, picked up a skull that had almost completely decayed, and kissed it.
"One, two, three, four... five!" After kissing it, he began counting the skulls one by one. Reaching the last one, he turned back, his gaze settling on Zhong Li. "You are the fifth."
With that, his expression turned fierce. He took out a small bottle hidden in his robe and walked towards Zhong Li. "Don't be afraid, this poison is not scary at all. You will die without pain, and you will leave your head with the sweetest smile for me."
Just as Meng Yuan's hand closed around Zhong Li's neck, forcing her to gasp for air, he inadvertently spotted the fiery red undergarment she wore. His movements clearly faltered.
This was the moment! The thought flashed through Zhong Li's mind. The hand hidden behind her back trembled slightly, and a scalpel fell into her palm. Her eyes narrowed, and she slashed it towards the man's neck.
Meng Yuan's reaction was swift; he stumbled back a few steps. The scalpel merely cut through his loose shoulder-length hair and the fiery red robe he wore.
"Impossible! You clearly ingested my Soft Bone Powder!" Meng Yuan's eyes widened as he stared at the woman opposite him.
Zhong Li moved sideways into a defensive stance, her gaze sharp as she looked at Meng Yuan. "Have you heard of Meng Yuan? 'He who does not enter the tiger's lair cannot catch its cub.'"
"So, you deceived me?" Meng Yuan, being intelligent, instantly understood.
"Otherwise? Did you really think you could kill me? Or did you not know that the Investigator Zhong of the Grand Court of Judicial Review understands medicine and can save herself?" Zhong Li sneered and, simultaneously, stepped back with her right foot, lunging at Meng Yuan like an eagle.
Under normal circumstances, Meng Yuan could have held his own against her for a while. However, burdened by the cumbersome women's clothing, Zhong Li was already upon him after just a couple of steps.
"Where else do you think you can escape to?" Meng Yuan felt a slight chill on his neck, and Zhong Li's voice was right by his ear.
He lowered his gaze to the small, silver blade at his neck. As his Adam's apple bobbed, he suddenly spoke, "Investigator Zhong, where is this? Why are you here?"