I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite) - Chapter 66

Qi Yan realized that since the search mission officially began, the criminal investigation captain had turned into a literal NPC. If he had previously seemed like a “person” with independent thoughts and behaviors, he was now a puppet strictly following the rules of the script.

Qi Yan asked him many questions regarding the investigation into He Xueyan, and he was almost entirely transparent, quickly laying out everything they had on her.

He Xueyan, 27 years old. She joined Zhao Ruibin’s company four years ago, starting as a staff member in the promotion department and eventually rising to the position of deputy director. It was a bright, promising career.

However, hidden beneath this simple and illustrious resume were layers of darkness and malice; at the very least, Qi Yan could not hide the look of disgust on her face as she learned the details. He Xueyan was very beautiful, with a look that combined sweetness with a touch of seductive charm. When she entered the workforce at 23, she possessed a maturity beyond her years and a steady, upright demeanor.

Because of her outstanding abilities, He Xueyan was highly valued by her department director, who entrusted her with key tasks, including liaising with the General Manager’s office. Through these interactions, she caught Zhao Ruibin’s eye.

The police did not know much about the specific details of what followed, only fragments of rumors gathered from within the company. Lower-level employees knew little; they only knew that He Xueyan and Zhao Ruibin were close and did not even bother to hide it in the office.

He Xueyan might have wanted to keep it secret, but Zhao Ruibin ignored what others thought, making his intentions quite obvious.

What could anyone do? Zhao Ruibin was quite old and unmarried, with no wife or children. If he wanted an office romance, employees couldn’t really interfere, and even morality could hardly restrain him.

More private details only surfaced after the police questioned He Xueyan’s direct supervisor.

The current director of the promotion department was a core member who had started the business with Zhao Ruibin. They were friends, brothers, and colleagues. He was loyal to Zhao Ruibin, but when he spoke of this matter, he sighed repeatedly, his tone filled with disapproval.

“Xiao He is hardworking, ambitious, and talented. When she first arrived, I thought she was a promising talent and wanted to cultivate her. I intentionally had her represent the department in meetings with the GM’s office. On one hand, it was to train her; on the other, it was to give her a larger stage to show her skills in front of executives and assistants. I never expected that I would end up harming her instead.”

“The age gap between Xiao He and President Zhao is large, but if they were both willing, that would be one thing. The problem is… the problem is that Xiao He was forced!”

The director sighed incessantly. “Xiao He never told me explicitly, but I could see she was unhappy. I tried several times to transfer her away from headquarters, thinking of sending her to a subsidiary to manage things—anything would be better than this. But it never worked; President Zhao blocked it. He even interfered in a simple personnel transfer. I was very angry and argued with him about it. But it was during that argument that I realized things were likely far more complicated than they appeared.”

As for what was “complicated,” the director knew little. He only saw clues during that fight: Zhao Ruibin refused to let go of He Xueyan not simply because he liked her. He seemed to overreact to the idea of her leaving headquarters, as if someone were holding his lifeline.

“There might be something else here, so that director kept a closer eye on things afterward.” The captain showed Qi Yan some recorded witness statements. Presented in writing, these were absolutely critical clues.

In this script, any single clue could be the key to completing the mission.

The director’s statement showed that during a business trip for a large project, Zhao Ruibin insisted on bringing He Xueyan along. Her name was not on the original list submitted by the promotion department—the director had deliberately removed it, reasoning that since he was going himself, she could stay at the office.

To his surprise, He Xueyan showed up on the day of the trip anyway, brought personally by Zhao Ruibin.

This infuriated the director, but he restrained himself in public, only seeking Zhao Ruibin out in his room later to confront him.

At the time, Zhao Ruibin simply sneered at his old comrade-in-arms and said, “I brought her because she has a great use. I do not see why I must ask for your permission for everything I do.”

That conversation ended badly. That night, someone saw Zhao Ruibin lead He Xueyan into the room of a partner company’s boss.

Qi Yan took a deep breath, feeling as though a heavy stone were lodged in her chest, filled with frustration and gloom.

“He Xueyan’s motive for murder is clear. Our people realized this after questioning company witnesses. This search is to see if she had the opportunity to commit the crime—for example, looking for the clothes she might have worn at the time.”

Qi Yan narrowed her eyes, instantly understanding the police’s logic. Given the amount of blood at the crime scene, the killer must have been splattered. The clothes worn during the act would have to be changed, but so far, no blood-stained clothing had been found.

It seemed that within the script’s setting, the ultimate goal of the police search was to find bloodied clothes or any evidence pointing toward the method of the crime.

He Xueyan’s room was small. Qi Yan had searched it herself, even looking under the bed, but found no bloody clothes. There was no sign of anything having been washed recently, either.

The absence of blood-stained clothing almost ruled out He Xueyan as a suspect for the moment. However, it was only “almost.” It was not a total certainty, as a killer would likely dispose of the clothing rather than keep it in their room.

Once the search was finished, Qi Yan stepped out of He Xueyan’s room and looked toward the crime scene nearby. She asked, “Can I see the scene again?”

In the real world, this would be impossible. But this was a script; to allow players to find the killer, such requests had to be granted.

As Qi Yan expected, the captain nodded. “You may.”

He personally led Qi Yan over but stopped at the entrance, refusing to go inside. Qi Yan ignored him, opened the door, and walked in alone.

The metallic, rotten stench in the room was still heavy. Anyone unaccustomed to it would feel a surge of nausea. Qi Yan instinctively covered her nose and mouth, unable to stop herself from gagging.

Suddenly, Bai Qing sent a wisp of spiritual energy from the ring into Qi Yan’s nose and mouth. Instantly, a scent of mint replaced the stinging stench, clearing Qi Yan’s dizzy head.

“Incredible,” Qi Yan remarked. “I cannot smell the blood at all. How did you do it?”

“Just a small spell,” Bai Qing replied. “It is blocking the odors for you for the time being.”

The fox seemed pleased to be praised; her voice had an upward lilt that Qi Yan caught immediately.

“You are cute,” Qi Yan added, unable to help herself.

Bai Qing did not react immediately. “What is cute?”

“You are.”

“…”

The fox suddenly went silent, and the ring on Qi Yan’s left hand grew warm.

Qi Yan’s mood lifted. Through their shared connection, she could tell that Bai Qing was very happy. What a tsundere fox.

Qi Yan walked to the bedside, staring at the blood that had turned the entire bed red. Without the smell, looking at the blood was no longer distressing.

“With this much blood, it is impossible that no sound was made. If the victim did not die immediately, he would have groaned or called for help. Yet the assistant in the same yurt heard nothing and slept until the next morning. The killer must have done something to the assistant to keep him from waking up.”

Bai Qing said, “But the killer is a ghost. A ghost can do anything. That might not qualify as a solid clue.”

Qi Yan paused, then sighed. “You are right.”

If a human had used sedatives, the police could find it in a blood test. But if the killer was a ghost, making someone fall into a deep sleep was far too easy.

“Looking at the distribution of the blood, I believe the victim was awake when he was cut,” Qi Yan had a flash of inspiration. “The killer might have wanted to torture him, making him face death while conscious, feeling himself being sliced in half and slowly dying from the pain and blood loss.”

The blood on the bed was too chaotic. Looking closely, one could see the victim had struggled in agony at the end.

“The killer had a massive amount of hatred for him,” Bai Qing sneered. “For a man like him, it is natural to be hated. He likely offended and harmed countless people. What that Boss Hong said earlier might not be true, either. She might be covering something up.”

Qi Yan agreed. She did not believe a man like Zhao Ruibin would keep things clean with his workers regarding money. He had likely done something terrible. If Hong Jing was hiding a dispute from the construction site, her motive might be buried in whatever she was concealing.

Qi Yan paced the scene. If a ghost or spirit had committed the murder, there were few valuable physical clues. For a ghost, a killing like this was simple.

Her gaze landed on the black iron armor standing by the door. Qi Yan walked over and bent down to look. The blood-stained greatsword was held in the armor’s hands. To see the blood on the blade clearly, she leaned in close, stretching her neck to look at the hilt.

Some details were hard to see from a distance. Up close, she noticed that although the armor held the sword, the hilt did not perfectly fit the gauntlets. It rested there loosely, as if the sword and the armor were not a matching set.

Qi Yan wanted to observe the palms of the armor to see if there were any signs of friction from the hilt, so she leaned even closer.

Before she could see the detail clearly, she suddenly felt the armor in front of her move!

Qi Yan jumped back in fright, but the armor seemed to have suddenly come to life. It took a step forward and gripped the sword firmly.

Oh no!

She had been so focused on the case itself that she forgot she was in a place where supernatural events could occur at any moment!

Thanks to her recent morning training and Bai Qing helping clear her meridians, Qi Yan’s physical condition was much better than before. Her instincts took over, and she pushed off with her toes, retreating rapidly.

The iron armor, acting as if it had a soul, swung the sword in a sudden attack. The inanimate black steel roared with the heavy, grinding clatter of metal meeting metal.

In the next instant, the greatsword swung down toward Qi Yan. A wisp of white smoke flashed out, condensing into a pure white figure. A spiritual sword swept out, blocking the strike firmly.

The collision between the greatsword and the spiritual sword sent out a gust of wind, blowing Bai Qing’s long robes. Qi Yan stabilized herself behind her, gasping for air.

“Get back!”

Bai Qing threw out those two words and charged at the armor. Since her spiritual power had recovered past the halfway point, she had been in a state of excitement. This script had been too quiet for her, and she had been bored. Now that she finally had a chance to stretch her limbs, she was going to use this iron lump for practice.

The armor likely had no soul, so why was it moving? Qi Yan followed her partner’s instruction and retreated a few steps, but she did not hide completely. She stood behind Bai Qing, watching the battle.

Even with only half her power, the strength of the Demon King was evident. Every strike was fierce, and her spiritual sword glowed with intense light. The armor was beaten so badly it had almost no chance to counter, only able to swing its heavy sword to block.

Bai Qing’s speed increased. Her sword light no longer just struck the greatsword; several strikes landed on the armor itself. Soon, several deep, visible sword marks appeared on the black iron.

Qi Yan frowned slightly. She watched the armor’s movements closely, a suspicion forming in her mind.

Suddenly, Bai Qing’s spiritual sword knocked the greatsword out of the armor’s hands. With a surge of battle intent, Bai Qing’s heterochromatic eyes glowed. She reached out with her left hand, slammed the armor’s head against the yurt wall, and raised her spiritual sword to cleave the armor in two.

“Stop! Keep it! It is still useful!”

The moment Qi Yan’s voice rang out, Bai Qing redirected her strike. Instead of cleaving downward, she thrust the sword through the armor’s chest, pinning it firmly to the wall!

In less than five minutes, the battle was over. The armor struggled like a toy with a dying battery before its arms dropped, and it went still.

A deathly silence returned to the room. Qi Yan rushed to the door, pushed it open, and looked out. There was no one around except the captain, who was waiting quietly at a distance. As an NPC, he was focused on his own task and seemed oblivious to the commotion inside.

“There is no one here.”

Qi Yan closed the door, looking thoughtfully at the armor pinned to the wall and then at the greatsword on the floor.

Bai Qing reached out, gripped the greatsword, and lifted it.

“Quite heavy,” the Demon King remarked, weighing it in her hand. “This is a fine sword. Anyone who can wield this is no ordinary person.”

Bai Qing flicked the blade with her finger and marveled, “Forged from pure black iron and cold spring water from the peak of Mount Rong. This sword is no common object!”

Qi Yan walked to her side and asked with a frown, “Is the armor made of the same material?”

Bai Qing shook her head. “The armor is just ordinary iron. It cannot be compared to this sword; they are worlds apart.”

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