Stranger Danger

Chapter 146: Nameless Hair

Li Lang furrowed his brow deeply and turned to Ye Qing. “Are they telling the truth, Lord Ye?” Ye Qing replied unhurriedly, “Partially.”

Li Lang was a bit displeased with how casual Ye Qing was acting. It was also partially because Ye Qing was far too young. The youth was usually arrogant, the arrogant was usually impulsive, and the impulsive was usually dangerous toward himself and others.

Unaware of Li Lang’s inner thoughts, Ye Qing explained, “I say ‘partially’ because it’s true that Luo Feibai had tried to frame me and hold a grudge against me. However, it’s definitely not true that I had killed him for revenge.”

The servant who accused Ye Qing at the very beginning hmphed, “That’s what you claim, but who knows if it’s true or not?”

Ye Qing smiled. “Where is your evidence then, since you’re so confident that I’m the murderer? Or are you just making baseless accusations?”

The servant stopped talking, but he continued to shoot Ye Qing with a “I know it’s you even if you don’t admit it” look.

Suddenly, Ye Qing cocked his head to the side and smiled coldly. “What is your name?”

The servant felt a chill down his spine as he asked warily, “My name is Luo Shen. What, are you plotting to silence me or something?”

Ye Qing’s grin widened. “Relax. It’s just a question.”

Li Lang did not interrupt their conversation. He simply frowned as he recalled all the clues he had discovered so far—or rather, the lack thereof. When he was checking Luo Feibai earlier, he couldn’t find any wound on his body whatsoever. His internal organs seemed perfectly fine, and there were no signs of poisoning either. In other words, he was unable to identify the cause of death.

Based on his many years of experience, he concluded that this was no ordinary death. Luo Feibai must have died to a Stranger or a powerful warrior.

Ye Qing must be pretty strong since he was a Patrolman. He almost certainly possessed the strength to kill Luo Feibai without leaving a trace. For now at least, it definitely looked like Ye Qing was the prime suspect.

Once Li Lang had reached a conclusion, he scanned the crowd with a severe look before announcing, “There are many suspicious points regarding Luo Feibai’s death. With that in mind, I’d like to invite Lord Ye to the commandery hall with me to assist with the investigation. The servants will be coming with me as well.”

Slam!

A furious Wei Yueshan slapped the table when he heard this. “What is the meaning of this, Li Lang? Are you actually going to detain Lord Ye?”

Xu Banren didn’t say anything, but his expression was just as unfriendly.

Chu Nianjiu and Lin Yuhuai looked calm and collected, but it was them who gave Li Lang the most pressure.

Li Lang was the chief constable of the Luo Shui Commandery Hall and leader of the Three Companies and Six Offices with several hundred bailiffs under his command. Naturally, he could not be a weakling. He was a late-stage Astral Refiner just like Chu Nianjiu and Lin Yuhuai, though he was inferior to them because he didn’t deal with Strangers all year long.

Despite this, Li Lang did not back down from his duty. He said seriously, “Watch your tone, Lieutenant Wei. You are a public servant, and it is your natural duty to observe the law. I will charge you with obstruction of justice and take the necessary actions if you try to stop me.”

“Also, I’ve made it very clear that I am only inviting Lord Ye to assist with the investigation. This is not an arrest or even an interrogation!”

Wei Yueshan paid him no heed, however. He took a step forward menacingly and uttered, “You can try!”

Unafraid, Li Lang took a step forward as well. “I certainly shall!”

It was at this moment a wicked, arrogant voice boomed from outside, “Are you having trouble, Constable Li? Who in the world would dare to obstruct you from detaining the prime suspect?”

The crowd parted to admit a young man between twenty five to twenty six years old. “Oh, it’s Brother Chu and Brother Lin! No wonder!”

Chu Nianjiu lifted an eyelid to look at the newcomer before shifting into a more comfortable position. While sipping his wine, he said, “One may not need to observe what they eat, but they most certainly need to watch what they say, Xue Shiwu!”

The young man possessed a handsome appearance, but Ye Qing could sense a hidden cruelty within him. This was a man who looked like a cute puppy on the outside, but was really as ruthless and bloodthirsty as a wolf on the inside.

Moreover, he had the cultivation level to match his inner wolf. He was a late-stage Astral Refiner just like Chu Nianjiu and Lin Yuhuai.

Xue Shiwu shrugged carelessly. “I’m just saying as it is though! It is a fact that you’re trying to stop Constable Li from apprehending the suspect, isn’t it? Speaking of which, you may proceed with the arrest, Constable Li. I will make sure that you are able to carry out your duties without further obstruction. But be swift! I don’t enjoy cold food and warm wine.”

Curious about the newcomer’s identity, Ye Qing asked Xu Banren via sound transmission, “Who is this Xue Shiwu? He’s talking down on us like we’re common criminals.”

“Xue Shiwu is the son of Xue Beikun, commander of the Black Feather Guards. Most people call him the ‘Little Commander’. He is a cruel, wicked, and arrogant man who almost always butts heads with the Pacification Bureau,” answered Xu Banren after some thought.

“He’s the son of a commander? No wonder!” Ye Qing exclaimed in realization.

Although the Black Feather Guards technically answered to the Pacification Bureau and the commandery hall, their internal affairs were theirs to handle, not to mention that power struggles were a constant as old as time itself.

“What are you two talking about? You’re not talking behind my back, are you?” Xue Shiwu suddenly gave him and Xu Banren an icy look.

His senses are pretty sharp! Ye Qing thought warily, but on the outside he replied with an impeccable, “Nah, we’re just discussing a mad dog who bites whoever it meets is all!”

Bloodthirst immediately gushed out of Xue Shiwu, fiery and bloody. For a second, he looked like a vengeful wraith who had crawled out of a mountain of dead. Clearly, Xue Shiwu had killed a lot of Strangers or humans to accumulate such a terrifying amount of bloodthirst.

Xu Banren and Wei Yueshan immediately tensed up and watched Xue Shiwu warily, but Ye Qing acted like he couldn’t feel anything despite bearing the brunt of the Little Commander’s ire. His smile remained as laidback as it could be.

“Interesting! Very interesting!” declared Xue Shiwu three breaths later with a smile, but his eyes glittered like that of a hungry wolf. “You must be the guy who killed my brother, Xiao Yang and stole his position, Ye Qing!”

“You are mistaken, Little Commander. I am Ye Qing, but it isn’t me who killed Xiao Yang.” Ye Qing smiled. “Only a fool would believe an obviously false rumor like this, don’t you agree?”

Xue Shiwu laughed harshly. “We’ll know very soon who is the fool. Constable Li, what are you waiting for?”

Li Lang took a step forward and declared in an icy tone, “Patrolman Ye, if you would.”

“Not another step!” Wei Yueshen and Xu Banren took a step forward. As if on cue, the bailiffs behind Li Lang drew their weapons and gave not an inch.

For a time, the atmosphere in the Cuiwei Boat grew so heavy it was suffocating. Then—

“Gulp!”

A small gulp shattered the silence and drew everyone’s attention. It was Ye Qing picking up his jar and downing a mouthful of Cuiwei Rainflower Brew. He then shot them a smile and declared, “Relax. We’re all colleagues here, are we not? So why are you glaring at each other and drawing weapons like you’re about to war? Come! Have a drink and cool your heads!”

Xue Shiwu taunted, “You must have nerves of steel, Brother Ye. I wouldn’t be drinking if I were you!”

Ye Qing chuckled. “I can solve this case as easy as pie, so why would I worry about anything?”

Xue Shiwu sneered. “Really now? Care to prove it then?”

Ye Qing slowly set his wine jar on the table and rose to his feet. Li Lang immediately eyed him warily, “What are you doing?”

Ye Qing raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you hear the Little Commander? I’m going to solve this case. I’m going to uncover the truth of Luo Feibai’s murder.”

Li Lang looked suspicious. “How?”

Ye Qing smiled and walked up to Luo Feibai’s body. A quick inspection later, he closed his eyes and thought for a moment.

“I’ve already checked the body. There are no external or internal wounds on Luo Feibai’s body!” Li Lang said with displeasure. It was because Ye Qing clearly had no training with body examination. He thought that he was just putting on an act and buying time for himself.

Xue Shiwu said sarcastically, “Even Chief Li couldn’t find anything, and you think an amateur like you could find what he couldn’t? Just stop pretending and go to prison already—”

But before Xue Shiwu could finish, Ye Qing suddenly opened his eyes and declared smilingly, “I know who Luo Feibai’s killer is!”

“What?” Li Lang’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Who was it?”

Ye Qing didn’t keep them on tenterhooks. “It’s a strand of hair that took his life!”

“A hair? What the hell?” Li Lang blurted. Everyone else looked confused as well.

Ye Qing bent down and grabbed Luo Feibai’s hair with his left hand. Then, he released a wisp of Netherflame. Luo Feibai’s hair immediately caught on fire.

“What are you doing!?” Li Lang exclaimed in shock and tried to make a grab for Ye Qing. He thought that the young man was trying to destroy the evidence. However, Ye Qing raised his right hand seemingly without thought and tapped Li Lang on the wrist. Immediately, the chief constable felt a scorching heat rippling through his arm and boiling his blood. Ye Qing himself was completely unharmed.

“Relax. I’m not trying to destroy the evidence. Now look!”

Ye Qing withdrew his hand and pointed at Luo Feibai’s burned scalp. Most of the scion’s hair had melted away like butter as soon as they caught on fire, but a single strand of hair suddenly started struggling as if it was alive. The next second, it pulled out of Luo Feibai’s head and shot straight toward the exit.

A bailiff who happened to be standing in the hair’s path subconsciously reached out to grab it, but he let out a bloodcurdling scream just a second later. It was because the hair had cut right through his right hand like it was nothing!

As if realizing it wouldn’t reach the exit in time, the hair abruptly swerved down and tried to slip through a crack between the floorboard. It was a good plan that would’ve allowed it to shake off its pursuers if not for a pair of fingers catching its tail end right before it would slip through the crack. No matter how hard it struggled, it was unable to leave a single mark on the man’s fingers, much less break free.

The man who captured it was Ye Qing, of course.

Ye Qing raised the hair above his head so that everyone could see it. “This is the Nameless Hair, a Malice-class Stranger [1].”

“Nameless Hair?”

“A Malice-class Stranger?”

Everyone looked confused. It looked like no one had heard of this Stranger before.

Xue Shiwu asked suspiciously, “You’re not making this up, are you?”

“You don’t look like a scholar, so I won’t fault you for your ignorance!” Ye Qing mocked the Little Commander and continued, “The Nameless Hair is a very rare Stranger, so I’m not surprised that most of you haven’t heard of it. But do you know why it is rare? It’s because it’s not a natural Stranger. It is something someone had cultivated into existence.”

“A cultivated Stranger?” Li Lang immediately understood his meaning. “Are you saying that someone used it to kill Luo Feibai?!”

Ye Qing shrugged. “Isn’t it obvious? Not only that, his murderer is still with us!”

1. The Nameless Hair was briefly mentioned at the beginning of Chapter 52.