Chapter 63 - Nie Xiaowei
Chapter 63: Nie Xiaowei
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“What happened?”
After seeing Xu Ning in a hurry, Tao Qingping walked over.
“Master Tao…”
The city guard gave Tao Qingping a salute before explaining, “There has been a murder in our lane, and it may involve a Magic Faction.”
“A murder case involving a Magic Faction?”
Tao Qingping was shocked.
Tao Qingping had heard about the Magic Faction murder case that happened in Lushui Lane a few days ago.
“Come, let’s go and have a look.”
Even though Tao Qingping was exhausted, now was not the time for him to care about that.
.
Anything that involved a Magic Faction was a non-trivial matter.
Tao Qingping locked the door, and the three of them rushed to the scene.
“Where did the murder happen?”
Xu Ning asked as he walked.
“It happened in the Fengrou Leather Store.”
The city guard answered truthfully.
“Fengrou Leather Store?!”
Tao Qingping’s eyes widened. He had a look of surprise on his face.
“Yes, Master Tao.”
Cheng Wei didn’t know why Tao Qingping was so shocked by his words.
Xu Ning suddenly realized something. “Qingping… is this leather store…”
“Yes.”
Tao Qingping was stunned for a moment. After waking himself up, he then nodded. “That is the place where Nie Xiaowei was married into.”
“Nie Xiaowei is that girl…”
Tao Qingping added.
“What happened, do you know?”
Tao Qingping asked the city guard.
The city guard shook his head. “Master, I don’t know. After hearing that the Fengrou Leather Store was involved in a murder case, Master Feng asked me to come to you directly.”
“Understood…”
Xu Ning nodded and said, “Let’s walk faster.”
The Fengrou Leather Store was not far away, and the three of them walked quickly. They soon arrived at the location.
The Fengrou Leather Store was completely surrounded by city guards.
Pedestrians who stopped by to observe were also driven away by the city guards.
“Master.”
As soon as Xu Ning stepped into the shop, he saw Feng Sigua welcoming him.
“What exactly happened here?”
Before Xu Ning could speak, Tao Qingping asked first.
Feng Sigua glanced at the two of them and said, “Master, let’s go to the third floor and have a look first.”
“Okay.”
Tao Qingping seemed to be in a hurry.
Xu Ning knew that he was thinking about the girl named Nie Xiaowei.
As Feng Sigua led the way, the three of them quickly reached the third floor.
Xu Ning looked around the Fengrou Leather Store.
All kinds of leather goods were placed on the first two floors, all of which were processed goods.
The leather goods on the first floor were of average quality, but there were a large quantity of them. On the other hand, the leather goods on the second floor were of higher quality, but there were not many of them.
The third floor was not a place of business, it was instead a residential floor.
“These are the people who were in the shop after the incident happened.”
As soon as Xu Ning walked to the third floor, he saw nearly ten people squatting together at the corner of the stairs; there were both men and women.
Judging by their clothes, they were shop assistants and shop clerks.
Feng Sigua explained the situation, “The murder happened in that room.”
He pointed in a direction.
The three of them then entered the room.
As soon as Xu Ning walked in, he saw two corpses lying on the ground.
They were both men. They seemed to be at least 50 years old, and their clothes were disheveled, with half of their bodies exposed.
There were two deep cuts on the chests of both corpses. Both cuts were obviously lethal wounds.
Tao Qingping was relieved when he saw the two corpses. “These two are the only ones that died?”
“Yes, Master Tao.”
Feng Sigua answered.
“Do you know their identity?”
Xu Ning glanced at Feng Sigua.
“One is Yao Dage, Shopkeeper of Fengrou Leather Store, while the other is Zeng Weiming, Shopkeeper of Runyu Medicinal Materials Shop. The two of them have been friends for many years.”
Feng Sigua had obviously done his homework, as he answered Xu Ning’s questions with ease.
“I learned about these details from my interrogation of those store workers before you came here.”
Before Xu Ning could reply, Feng Sigua took the initiative to speak, “Last night, Shopkeeper Yao from the leather store and Shopkeeper Zeng from the medicinal materials shop drank together at Runfeng Restaurant. After drinking, Shopkeeper Yao did not return to his residence, instead he took Shopkeeper Zeng to the leather shop.”
“Shopkeeper Yao often doesn’t go home because he doesn’t have a good relationship with his wife, so he lives on the third floor of his leather store instead.”
“After coming here, Shopkeeper Yao asked one of his workers to bring over his new mistress, Mistress Nie…”
Feng Sigua paused.
Tao Qingping had a terrible look on his face.
Xu Ning also frowned. “Go on…”
“According to the folks in the shop, Mistress Nie was reluctant to share the room with the two men. But then Shopkeeper Yao beat her up, dragged her into the room, and told the others to not come upstairs and disturb them.”
Feng Sigua continued, “The workers followed the orders and didn’t bother them. Then, in the afternoon, the shop workers hadn’t seen Shopkeeper Yao come downstairs yet, so they felt something was wrong, so one of them went upstairs to check it out. They tried calling from outside the door for a while but after not getting a reply, they opened the door and saw this scene.”
“Bastards!”
Tao Qingping yelled as he punched the door frame, his face was red.
“What about Mistress Nie…”
Xu Ning remained calm.
“Disappeared.”
Feng Sigua replied.
“So…”
Xu Ning’s eyes narrowed. “Mistress Nie is our biggest suspect?”
“Yes, master.”
Feng Sigua nodded. “I’ve sent someone to find Miss Nie, but I have yet to hear back…”
“You said this case involves a Magic Faction, why?”
Xu Ning asked another important question.
“Master…”
Feng Sigua asked a subordinate to present the wounds on the two bodies.
Xu Ning leaned forward and took a look.
The hearts of the two bodies had been completely mangled.
“The murderer cut open their chests and squeezed out their blood…”
Feng Sigua explained.
After hearing this, Xu Ning suddenly understood.
Although it was not certain that this was definitely the method of a Magic Faction, it was definitely suspected to be one.
Collecting blood was one of the most common methods for practicing magic techniques.
Other similar cases were all involved with a Magic Faction.
Thus, they had to take this case seriously.
“So, you mean Nie Xiaowei is a member of a Magic Faction?”
Tao Qingping’s voice was a little cold.
Feng Sigua was a little surprised by this.
He didn’t expect Tao Qingping to know Miss Nie’s name.
“She probably is.”
Feng Sigua made the rough judgment based on his past experience and current facts.
After all, he had been a city guard for ten years. He had quite a lot of experience in this area.
“In other words, the only thing to do now is to arrest Nie Xiaowei.”
Xu Ning knew what their next step should be.
“Master, do you want to send someone to notify the other Black Armored Guards at the guard station? If Nie Xiaowei is a magic martial arts master, then us city guards won’t be able to arrest her easily.”
Feng Sigua asked.
“Go, notify everyone in the guard station, we will all work separately.”
Xu Ning said, “Also… ask the other guard stations to help with the search.”
Because a Magic Faction warrior appeared in Lushui Lane just a few days ago, Xu Ning was quite nervous.
If Nie Xiaowei was really a Magic Faction warrior, then she might have received the magic technique from the same source.
If a Magic Faction was behind all this, then this could turn into a major investigation.
The mass emergence of this kind of local magic warrior was far more threatening than Dayuan Trading Company colluding with Seven Line Gates.
“Understood, master.”
Feng Sigua took the lead.
“By the way, have you sent someone to Nie Xiaowei’s family?”
Xu Ning asked again.
“I have sent someone to investigate, but so far no information has come back.”
Feng Sigua replied.
“Understood…”
Xu Ning glanced at Tao Qingping who was depressed. “Qingping, let’s go to Nie Xiaowei’s family house together to check on her family and her childhood sweetheart…”
Tao Qingping heard him and kept his spirits up. “Okay.”
Although he felt affection towards Nie Xiaowei, now that Nie Xiaowei was suspected of being a magic warrior, he had to prioritize the investigation and suppress his feelings.
However, from the bottom of Tao Qingping’s heart, he did not want to believe that the innocent-looking girl was behind all this.