Chapter 510: Something Amiss

Chapter 510: Chapter 510: Something Amiss

Looking again at Qin Xiuyuan’s crotch, there were obvious traces of urine, and even squatting nearby you could smell a faint stench—clear signs of incontinence.

Combined with the cyan tinge on his face and pronounced bloodshot veins in his eyes, these were classic external characteristics of death by asphyxiation.

All this was in the curriculum of the other world; back then, Shen Hao hadn’t slacked off, and after arriving in this world, he’d verified and summarized what he’d learned, even supplementing his knowledge system with some new insights.

However, even though it was asphyxiation, there were no ligature marks on the neck, only torn skin on the throat where Qin Xiuyuan had scratched himself out of instinct when he couldn’t breathe.

No ligature marks, so he wasn’t strangled to death; and there’s no sign of water in his mouth or nose...

Shen Hao stood up and pointed around, "Is this Qin Xiuyuan’s room?"

"Yes, the steward of the Prince Mansion said Qin Xiuyuan has stayed inside ever since he arrived—never went out. Eating and drinking all in here."

"Never went out? Is there a latrine here?"

"Yes, it’s back there."

After checking inside and out, Shen Hao found the room wasn’t small; apart from the main room where Qin Xiuyuan’s body lay, there were two more—a washroom and a latrine. To separate the smells, there was a short corridor leading to the latrine.

Yet the washroom was pristine, and even the latrine was entirely odorless.

"The latrine here is ten times cleaner than the ones in our Garrison." Shen Hao said with a faint smile. Seeing nobody responded, he continued, "How often do you clean here? Every day?"

Li Qing clearly didn’t want to answer, but with Shen Hao staring at her she had no choice but to reply half-heartedly, "Most households clean every day, right? Otherwise, the smell would be awful."

"That’s right. Except for those communal latrines at the Xuanqing Guard’s Garrison, most people’s home latrines aren’t too smelly if cleaned daily. But there’s always some smell, right? Do you notice any here?" Shen Hao waved Wang Yiming over and continued, "Go find out exactly when Qin Xiuyuan moved in, what he ate during his stay, and whether this room is usually vacant at the Prince Mansion. If it’s a guest room that’s usually unoccupied, ask how long it’s been empty. Go ask those Royal Guards in maroon outside."

Wang Yiming acknowledged and left, having never offered an opinion from the start. This wasn’t the first or second time he’d worked with Shen Hao; he knew well enough to keep quiet until spoken to.

On the contrary, a glint of surprise flashed in Li Qing’s eyes—she clearly hadn’t expected Shen Hao to actually be taking the case seriously. He didn’t seem like the "Evil Star" in the rumors: ruthless, but incompetent at investigating.

After Wang Yiming left, Shen Hao returned to the room where the body was located.

Kneeling again by the corpse, he took a pair of leather gloves from his Storage Bag and put them on, then began handling the body directly.

He first pried open Qin Xiuyuan’s mouth and stuck his fingers in, rummaging around. Apart from some semi-congealed black blood, there was nothing else to be found.

Blood is actually intriguing, because it runs throughout the body, from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet; it’s vital everywhere. So there are always things in the blood that reflect the body’s condition—and that holds true, to some extent, even after death.

For example, the blood clot pried from Qin Xiuyuan’s mouth carried, in addition to the metallic sweetness of blood, a faintly fragrant scent.

"Women are most sensitive to smells. Come over here and see if you can tell where this fragrance comes from." Shen Hao pinched the blood clot between his fingers and held it directly beneath Li Qing’s nose, watching her blankly.

"Lord Shen, you—" Li Qing’s anger surged; she felt Shen Hao was deliberately giving her a hard time.

"Smell it! Or is this how Hawkeye handles cases—with such sloppiness? You can’t handle even this much? Are you just a decorative vase? Not that you’re particularly pretty either."

Four rapid-fire questions, stabbing straight into Li Qing’s heart like four spears; she nearly exploded.

"I’ll smell it!" Li Qing wasn’t one for pretense. How could a delicate woman work in Hawkeye? There were barely any women even in the Ministry of Justice, let alone someone assigned to Hawkeye—they earned the "iron-blooded" label. She just felt Shen Hao was picking on her on purpose.

But after a few sniffs, the more she frowned, the clearer the scent became—there really was a faint fragrance, aside from the metallic tang of blood. She could smell it, but as for what exactly it was, she had no idea.

"You smelled it?"

"Hmm. There’s a faint fragrance."

"Can you tell what it is?"

"Uh... I’m not familiar with scents. I can’t tell."

"Aren’t you a woman? Heh, never mind—my mistake." Shen Hao curled his lips in a half-smile, a "Sorry, I mistook you for a woman" expression that nearly drove Li Qing mad on the spot.

Was Shen Hao doing this on purpose?

Of course he was. He always returned tit for tat when he could. If the whole Hawkeye team had given him the cold shoulder earlier, it was only right he respond with a little sarcasm. And truthfully, he’d never worked a case with a woman before; testing her limits was just habitual for him.

Retracting his hand, he brought it close to his own nose and sniffed carefully for a while. "Smells like magnolia," he said, and then began searching Qin Xiuyuan’s body, only to find nothing.

"Where are his personal belongings?"

"We took them."

"Where?"

Li Qing pursed her lips, clearly annoyed, but reluctantly called to someone outside. A Hawkeye governmental official entered with a box in his hands.

"Everything’s inside. You can look, but you can’t take it away."

Shen Hao took the box. Not much inside—most things could be stowed in a Storage Bag, so there was no need to carry other bulky items. Besides the Storage Bag, there was just a Money Bag, a General Spirit Stone, and some Jade Pendants and trinkets.

He picked up the Storage Bag—the Restriction had already been dissolved, so a sweep of True Qi was all it took to see what was inside.

Soon Shen Hao put the Storage Bag down; aside from sundries and valuables, his hands now held a Purple Jade Bottle sourced from inside.

The bottle was about four inches tall, carved with images of Exotic Beasts and beautifully shaped, the craftsmanship vivid and lifelike—obviously not cheap. Yet when he pulled the stopper, it was empty.

"Do you know what this is for?" Li Qing, seeing Shen Hao single it out, asked out of curiosity.

Shen Hao didn’t answer—he held the uncorked bottle by his nose and sniffed, then returned it to the box.

"It’s a bottle for holding fragrant candy."

Li Qing was bewildered; this, too, was beyond her experience.

Seeing she still didn’t understand, Shen Hao shook his head, giving up on explaining. Her basic knowledge was clearly poorer than he’d thought—or maybe she’d never experienced "refined living" and was simply clueless about such things?