Universe Infinite Canteen-Chapter 375: Gu Qingyi’s Deduction

Gu Qingyi was indeed desperate for a solution, but she certainly couldn’t admit it.

"I, I am not just making this up, the Old Beggar was clearly dead outside and was carried back by someone else, that’s why we didn’t find any signs of a fight in the temple."

"I have already figured it out, from where he slept, he sneaked here avoiding most people’s sight, and then climbed out through the hole in the roof along this wooden pillar."

"But why would the Old Beggar want to go out?" asked the skinny, tall disciple again.

Gu Qingyi hadn’t figured out this question either, but given the circumstances, she had to continue reasoning along this line.

"That is... That is to meet up with his accomplice outside the temple," she said.

"Accomplice? You mean the Old Beggar was an accomplice of the murderer? Then why did he die here?"

Shen Zhou, who had been quiet, couldn’t help but interject.

Gu Qingyi’s face was not looking very good, but luckily her hat concealed it, so the others couldn’t see.

However, her eyes were becoming a bit frantic, darting around desperately for a lifeline, and at that moment, she caught a glimpse of the two headless corpses beside her.

Realizing their body sizes were quite similar, and recalling what the scholar had revealed about He Qisheng’s huge gambling debt, a thought suddenly struck her, and she blurted out.

"His... His accomplice is He Qisheng."

"What?" The people present were startled.

The two disciples from Songxi Sword Sect even said angrily, "Catcher Gu, my senior brother has been harmed, and yet you are still slandering him, isn’t this too much?"

"I am not slandering him," Gu Qingyi continued, "He Qisheng owed Jile Street 24,000 plus silvers and even pawned the Hundred-Year-Old Ginseng that his sect was supposed to give to the new Gang Leader of Beggars’ Sect. Unable to pay back such a huge sum, and fearing to anger the sect leader, he plotted to fake his death.

"For this, he specifically found someone with a similar build and age to be his scapegoat, but since he was always with his two juniors, he had no chance to ’die,’ so he sought another person to help."

Guided by this train of thought, Gu Qingyi continued, initially a bit hesitant and stumbling, but gradually becoming smoother in her explanation.

"The person he sought for help was the Old Beggar. They agreed to meet at the Ruined Temple to create the illusion of He Qisheng’s death. The Old Beggar brought He Qisheng’s stand-in beforehand and hid him under the base of this Buddha statue.

"Look, it’s the third headless corpse we found. His build matches He Qisheng’s. Decapitating him and changing him into He Qisheng’s clothes, most people can’t tell them apart," she explained.

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After hearing her explanation, the people in the temple looked at He Qisheng’s body and then at the other corpse beside him; apart from one being dressed and the other not, there really wasn’t much difference below the neck.

The two disciples from Songxi Sword Sect still protested, "Still saying it’s not slander, Catcher Gu, how do you know my senior brother owed money to Jile Street?"

"I can testify to this matter," said the scholar who had previously visited Gu Qingyi. "Because I was the one sent by Jile Street to collect the debts. It was also me who informed Catcher Gu about He Qisheng’s debt."

After finishing his statement, he ignored the two disciples from the Songxi Sword Sect and turned his gaze back to Gu Qingyi, though his tone had become much more polite. "He Qisheng had already decided to fake his death and had made preparations. Why then did he end up truly dead at the last moment?"

"That’s, of course, because someone killed him!"

Gu Qingyi quickly organized all the clues she had at hand and continued, "He Qisheng and the Old Beggar had agreed to meet outside the temple. He Qisheng excused himself to go to the back wall of the temple at night, while the Old Beggar took advantage of the temple’s unwatchfulness and carried the body to the rooftop as well."

"Then He Qisheng also used his Qinggong to reach the rooftop, which explains why his footprints only led to the back wall and why there were no footprints of the Old Beggar outside the temple. It’s because he never came down from the rooftop."

"According to their original plan, they were supposed to kill the decoy here, staging a false scene of He Qisheng being murdered. But then an accident occurred."

"The killer also arrived on the rooftop and killed both He Qisheng and the Old Beggar."

Gu Qingyi’s current reasoning actually integrated the previous speculations of the scholar and Ma Lu. One believed He Qisheng had faked his death while the other believed someone had attacked He Qisheng from the rooftop.

However, both of their previous conjectures had fatal flaws. The scholar’s issue was that He Qisheng was indeed dead, while Ma Lu’s problem was that even if it was an ambush, there would still have been footprints left at the scene below.

But if He Qisheng actively jumped onto the rooftop, then the absence of other footprints below would be normal. Also, He Qisheng did indeed intend to fake his death, only to accidentally turn it into a real death.

Moreover, his accomplice was also killed in the process, and along with the body of the decoy, there were precisely three corpses.

Now, Ma Lu was curious about another matter, "Didn’t you say earlier that once a fight begins, no one else can enter the area sealed by the fog? Then how did the killer manage to kill both men at once?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he realized that everyone was looking at him.

A moment later, Shen Zhou coughed once, and took the initiative to explain, "Of course, a battle can also be one against many, many against one, or many against many. As long as the cards have not been played, others can join in."

"Additionally, in the case of a surprise attack, if the two persons’ positions are close, the killer can simultaneously engage both of them and drag them into the game together. Of course, this usually requires great confidence in one’s own martial skills, because it then turns into a one-many fight."

"Besides, there is another common method, which is to use hidden weapons," Shen Zhou paused.

"A master with excellent hidden weapons can use them to pull several people, or even dozens, into a game at once. In any case, there are plenty of ways if you’re determined. But still, to face so many opponents at once, you must be very strong yourself."

"I see," Ma Lu didn’t expect hidden weapons in this world to have such a function. After his realization, he even moved half a step closer behind Gu Qingyi.

Meanwhile, Gu Qingyi was completely immersed in her reasoning now, feeling the exhilarating sensation of finally solving a difficult puzzle. Continue reading on novelbuddy

She continued, "The killer threw He Qisheng’s body off the rooftop after killing him, then took the bodies of the Old Beggar and the unfortunate decoy back. He even hid the decoy’s body back under the statue. Ah... this indicates that the killer had closely observed every move of the Old Beggar; hence, he discovered the mechanism under the statue."

"This is also why I said Sister Zheng, no, it should be her husband who is the killer. Besides the Old Beggar, he is another person in the temple who is easy to overlook."