By the time Zhong Gang arrived at his house, his wife and daughter had already found out what happened. They had sunken down in front of the door to the storage room, both wailing loudly. Zhong Gang rushed over and looked into the room as well, staggering when he saw whom he supposed to be his son-in-law.
Xiao Li followed him over, barely holding back a smile. This really was great. Now, he could get rid of this woman and also find a new place in life that would allow him to vanish from under the watchful eyes of the people in the demon realm. After all, he didn't want to get caught in any of the troubles from there. He just had to make sure that the people of the dragon race didn't find out and everything would be perfect.
Thinking of that, Xiao Li looked around but couldn't see Qiu Ling and Jing Yi anywhere. Since the formation had been deactivated already, he reckoned that the other two had also left by now. In this case, he just needed to get rid of the body before the dragon king could take a look at it. Then, any further trouble would have been prevented.
Should they ever see him again, he could just pretend to be somebody else. After all, with how relationships worked in the demon realm, there were bound to be people that looked like him. Hadn't there even one in the capital before? That fiance of the tea master? At the very least, that seemed to have been the reason for her strange reaction.
Xiao Li kept in the background and soon enough, the yamen runners arrived, so Zhong Gang and his family, as well as all the other servants focused on the issue at hand.
The yamen runners examined the storage room and the ropes that were tied around the body, as well as the actual injury.
Zhong Gang couldn't help but pipe up when the leader turned around. "This … What exactly has happened? Do you have any idea who it could have been?"
The man flicked a glance at him and shook his head. "For now, we can only say for sure that somebody broke his neck. As for anything else …" The man shook his head again and then waved at the others. "We will take the body with us to examine it more closely. We will also have to interrogate all the people from your house."
Zhong Gang nodded. "Of course, of course! Just tell us what you need. We will do everything we can to make sure that this is cleared up." He looked at how Xiao Li's body was put on a stretcher and then sighed. "I still can't believe that my son-in-law died just like that. He was a cultivator. I really can't imagine that a normal person would be able to do this."
The yamen runner raised his brows and then looked at the body in question. Looking at the robe he wore, it seemed that he might indeed be the disciple of some sect. As for which one it was … A black robe normally didn't mean anything good. For the time being, he didn't ask about that though. This was something that should be left for the investigation or at least for later when the victim's crying family wasn't sitting right next to them. "Well, we will certainly take note of that. Thank you for your cooperation. We will bring him away now."
The actual Xiao Li stepped forward and motioned toward the door. "Let me show you the way out. You can also tell me how you would like to proceed with interrogating everyone. I can take care of that. Master and his family will probably have other things to deal with."
Zhong Gang nodded at him, feeling glad that Ma Tao wasn't abandoning them in their time of need. "Yes, you take care of that, Xiao Tao. Make sure that the yamen runners have all the information that they need."
Xiao Li nodded and then followed the man to the entrance, listening closely to what he said. He still needed to find an opportunity to let that body vanish after all.
"For now, we merely need a list with all the names of the people that are working in your master's house. Also, everyone from outside that has been in contact with the victim over the last few days preceding his death."
"I can compile the former immediately but as for the latter …" Xiao Li put on a troubled expression.
The other man raised his brows. "What about that?"
"Well, as my master said, his son-in-law is part of a cultivation sect. From what I know, he was still staying there and only his wife came here to send off her aunt that died recently. I wasn't aware that he had even arrived here and I'm afraid neither was his family or they would have mentioned it at least once in these days."
The yamen runner furrowed his brows at that. "He wasn't here?" He didn't believe that but there wasn't much he could do. It seemed he'd have to take note of that for the investigation. "Well, then just make sure to note down all the people of the household. Right, which cultivation sect did you say he was part of?"
Xiao Li glanced at the body that seemed to be dressed in a black robe. He hadn't remembered to change it to the Yun Zou Sect's robe even though he had originally pretended to be a disciple from there. Did his so-called father-in-law even know about which sect's disciple he really was? Probably not. And even if he did, he likely wouldn't have told that Ma Tao. Not that it mattered much. "I think he should have been a disciple of the Yun Zou Sect but I'm not completely sure. It has been very long that he didn't return home."
The yamen runner nodded slowly, not believing anything of what Xiao Li said anymore. No matter how he looked at it, things were suspicious.