Baili Fengzhi slightly furrowed her brow, but still said, "Naturally, it's certain death."
Lin Yue nodded slightly, suddenly recalling something, and said, "Sir, this old Daoist's cultivation is actually very high. He merely refrains from acting rashly due to his oath. If he were to struggle desperately, is there any chance he could escape?"
"Absolutely impossible."
Baili Fengzhi said indifferently, "What exactly do you want to say?"
Lin Yue breathed a sigh of relief, nodded, and said, "Since sir has said so, I am reassured."
After speaking, he suddenly stood up, cupping his hands ceremoniously, "Your suspicion is indeed correct, the disappearance of Xia Lie must be the doing of this old Daoist. Please see this clearly and deal with him swiftly."
"Hmm?"
Baili Fengzhi's brow furrowed slightly as her phoenix eyes fixed on Lin Yue, asking, "Why are you so sure?"
"Think carefully, sir."
Lin Yue immediately said, "Why did Xia Lie attempt to kill Su Ziqiu after meeting us for the first time? Xia Lie and I had no past grievances or enmity, so why did he do it?"
He continued, "After listening to what the old Daoist said just now and combining it with various clues from the past, I have reached a conclusion… this matter must have been orchestrated by that old Daoist."
Baili Fengzhi said nothing, merely watched him with a furrowed brow.
Lin Yue continued speaking,
"Sir, you are not aware, my wife once worried that I would be entangled by that old Daoist and have to take care of that drunkard in the future, adding more burden. So, she privately talked with me about it.
"But my wife did not know that the old Daoist was a reclusive master and was overheard by him. Naturally, his heart felt disgust, and he even urged me to separate from her.
"The old Daoist's obsession is to be a hidden, ordinary person, simply wanting a peaceful life, enjoying my filial piety. But if he were to use a spell to kill my wife, even silently, I would still suspect him.
"But if he used someone else's hand, like... using Xia Lie's hand, I wouldn't suspect anything.
"Xia Lie came to the Daoist temple seeking longevity spells, and the old Daoist knows several sophisticated longevity techniques. Xia Lie was here for only a few days when he suddenly intended to kill my wife. Doesn't that seem too coincidental?
"This is evidently the old Daoist's plan to kill by proxy.
"To entice Xia Lie to murder with longevity spells and then eliminate Xia Lie and his guard afterwards, it naturally remained clean and allowed him to continue his peaceful life."
Lin Yue shook his head and sighed, "Moreover, the old Daoist is an outcast of the Daoist sect, likely already bearing some guilt. Once this proxy killing becomes known, it would surely cause great trouble."
He summarized, "So, the old Daoist would undoubtedly kill Xia Lie and his guard to silence them, that is the motive."
Deputy General Chu listened silently from the side.
At first, he found the reasoning quite logical, but as he listened further, he found it increasingly off.
He remembered that the commanding officer had mentioned a secret about Xia Lie—
[Once Xia Lie dies, the whole world would eventually know.]
Without this premise, Lin Yue's reasoning would have a bit of credibility.
But now Xia Lie was evidently not dead yet.
Thus, Lin Yue's reasoning was baseless, wasn't it?
Clearly, Lin Yue was unaware of such confidential details. By analyzing it in this manner, he ended up dispelling the most likely motive of that old Daoist.
How did the crime inference turn into proof of innocence?
Even under the silver mask, Baili Fengzhi's eyes looked perplexed.
She couldn't help but ask, "All this speculative analysis, do you have any real evidence?"
"Evidence?"
Lin Yue was slightly stunned and responded, "Sir, don't you find it reasonable? Besides, in Qingdu, only that old Daoist has such capability, with so many suspicions it can nearly be confirmed that he silenced the witness."
Seeing Baili Fengzhi seemed to frown, he immediately added, "If sir requires evidence, we can also find a way."
"A way? What way?" Baili Fengzhi frowned, watching him.
"I can testify for you, sir, identifying the old Daoist as the murderer of Xia Lie."
Lin Yue earnestly said, "If witness testimony is not enough, we can also fabricate some evidence."
Baili Fengzhi spoke coldly, "Are you suggesting I fabricate evidence?"
"Sir, that old Daoist is definitely the murderer who silenced the witnesses, it's just he is too cunning, resulting in insufficient evidence."
Lowering his voice, Lin Yue said, "I am aware that Xia Lie must have a significant background, and you, sir, should also want to account to superiors, right? As long as we can punish the culprit and settle the matter properly, can't the methods be flexible?"
Baili Fengzhi remained silent for a while, then asked, "Wasn't your relationship with that old Daoist quite good in the past?"
Lin Yue replied in a deep voice, "That old Daoist just tried to kill me and almost harmed my wife. So what if he is a high Daoist master? How could I still associate with him?"
Saying so, he once again cupped his hands ceremoniously, "Please see clearly, sir, every word I say comes from the heart."
Baili Fengzhi paused for a moment before calmly saying, "You may leave now."
"Does this mean you agree, sir?" Lin Yue couldn't help but ask.
"I told you to leave!" Baili Fengzhi's face turned cold.
"...Alright."
Lin Yue seemed to be frightened, immediately turned around, and left.
However, there was a faint, barely visible smile in his eyes.
Footsteps receded into the distance.
The side room was silent.
Baili Fengzhi sat quietly behind the desk, not saying a word.
"Sir." Deputy General Chu couldn't help but speak, "What Lin Yue said just now..."
Baili Fengzhi was silent for a while before coldly snorting,
"Nonsense!"