Inspector Lee was a good man...if not rough around the edges. Some would ask ‘how in the nine hells did this bull make inspector’, some say he earned it after bull rushing one case after another.
What made him stand out wasn’t just his iron hard loyalty, his tough and menacing exterior, or his hot temper that gets any job done. He was one of the few in the Imperial Court who knew when exactly to call on outside help for crisis like this. Normally there are many prideful positions who turn their nose up at the mention of martial artists and vigilantes.
Inspector Lee was dragging Moon Tavern after him out of the capital.
Dragging was a bit of an exaggeration. Both members of Moon Tavern were magical cultivators by default, and given the Inspector’s horse could only support one man, they used their powers to travel conveniently alongside the lawman.
Martial Kim rode on a cloud of animated snow in the form of a mighty tiger pounding across the road. While Martial Yellow Sister chose a more elegant approach and rode on a glider made of her robes. As the glider was anchored to the snow tiger’s tail by a reinforced sash, it looked like the snow creature was playing with a kite under a sunny day.
The area they were entering was a large mass of low cut woods, thick bushes, if not drowning in high grass. It was one of those places ideal for bandits or highway man to sleep, eat, and wake up to spring out to make everyone stand and deliver. The main road was empty save for a few travelers and woodcutters coming to and fro from a nearby village to the Capital.
“Of all times for the coroner to get married!” Inspector Lee snapped while he pushed his horse faster down the rode. “Man just up and dropped his letter of resignation so he can settle down with a girl 20 years his junior! No warning, just left and expected us to shower him in blessings – rat bastard! We’ve been left without a coroner for weeks and still waiting for the new guy from head office!”
Inspector Lee turned to Moon Tavern and barked over the beating of the hooves, “Martial Kim, you’re the best man I know who can fill in the position. So you gotta help us out for a bit until someone takes over!”
“I would be more than happy to help,” Martial Kim waved one hand while his other hand gripped on the ‘fur’ of his snow tiger. “That is what Moon Tavern is for, to lending a helping hand! Now, what is this emergency you’re dragging us to?”
“A dead body!” Inspector Lee guided the others to jump off road and travel down a well worn trail. “A woodcutter found it just this early morning. We need you to do forensics before we move the corpse back to the station.”
Upon hearing the reason, Martial Kim froze. He nearly lost his concentration, else his snow tiger would fall apart like a cloud of cotton and he would fall over. Both Martial Kim and Martial Yellow Sister exchanged worried glances, but kept their mouth shut for now.
At this point it was a coin flip made by the heavens. Heads, tails. Was it. Was it not? The answer would be revealed once the divine hand uncovers the answer.
It did not take long before Inspector Lee brought Moon Tavern to the scene of the crime.
It was a large clearing hidden behind a foliage of bushes and short trees, barely visible from the main road’s vantage point. Surrounding the perimeter were a series of men and women in blue and silver uniform, much like Inspector Lee. All of them armed with standard issue scimitars.
Surrounding a single covered tarp within the center of the circle.
“Alright.” Inspector Lee hopped off his horse and snapped his fingers to everyone, including the new coroner and his assistant. “Lads listen up. Martial Kim of Moon Tavern is gonna be working part time. I trust his man with my family’s life, so do whatever he tells you! No questions asked!”
Once the message was received with ‘YES SIR’, Inspector Lee continued, “For now, scatter around and look for any evidence. Come on!” He ended his quick briefing with a clap of his hands.
He then turned to Martial Kim to say, “I’ll leave this part of the ball park to you.”
“You can count on me.” Martial Kim nodded back.
Inspector Lee then took his team of Constables to sweep the area, prodding and poking the bushes with their scimitars. Meanwhile Moon Tavern would dismount and recollect their snow and cloth, before they approach the tarp.
It was small and well worn, but never had any holes to give a sneak peek of what was inside. Guarded by at least two other Constables who stayed behind. Martial Kim gave a deep breath and nodded to them. The Constables pull the tarp back...making Moon Tavern cover their mouths.
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Fae Fae.
The Sword Fairy of Celestial Dreams Brothel.
The Courtesan was found lying across the ground, sprawled over and facing the heavens. Her rich and elaborate silk dress was covered in dirt and smeared with green left behind by wet grass. Her skin was so pale and blanched it was hard to tell if she was a wax figure or a human being until someone touched her.
Dead and lifeless...even so, she looked more like a sleeping beauty than an actual corpse.
With an elaborate golden hairpin sticking out of her chest, where her heart should be.
“Martial Kim,” whispered Martial Yellow Sister, pointing at the hairpin. “Do you think Mr. Golden—”
“What did I teach you, about jumping to conclusions, Martial Yellow Sister?” Martial Kim tried to distract himself from the weight of the truth in front of him with a change in tone. “Let the evidence speak for itself...Come, give me a hand if you will.”
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Martial Kim understood his disciple’s words.
The timing of this whole case was uncanny. But he always believed the true answer lied in the very end of the book. Making subtle guesses from a couple of pages would do the mystery a disservice...if not the victim.
Moon Tavern focused on the autopsy. Martial Kim would open up his murder kit to procure some tools to help him collect any samples of evidence clinging onto the corpse. So far only scattered leaves, some torn grass, nothing that stood out.
Other than the hairpin sticking out of Fae Fae’s chest
“I see no bruising,” Martial Kim reported as he checked Fae Fae’s arms, exposed collar, and face. “No evidence of strangling, her skull is intact, so unlikely any blow to the head.” He then asked for spiritual consent as he carefully checked under the corpse's skirt. “Oh? Her pants are still intact, even the sash belt is tied in a tight double knot. Untouched.”
“So?” Martial Yellow Sister asked, “Not rape?”
“Preliminary speaking, possibly.” Although he just said preliminary, Martial Kim let out an initial sigh of relief.
Despite the fact Fae Fae worked in a special field of entertainment, servicing other people, he believed she was still a human being who deserved dignity even in their final hours. But he still had to make a mental note to check thoroughly in a more private space later, to be 100% sure.
“No broken bones,” Martial Kim mumbled to himself. “Not even a twisted ankle. I don’t see any drag marks on her body, shoes, or even the ground. A good chance, she was attacked and left here. So might be the original scene of the crime.”
“Ah Martial Kim, look.” Martial Yellow Sister usually avoid using her own hands to do any manual labour. So she had the habit of using her powers to control her belt sashes and some cloth strips to move and handle objects like extra hands. She used them to search Fae Fae’s robes and pockets to pull out some personal affects. “Two money pouches. One empty, the other still has some silver coins enough for a week of food and rent. Perhaps, robbery gone wrong?”
“When have you ever seen a robber come unprepared?” Martial Kim paused in his examination to point at the hairpin. “Most cases involved a weapon: knife, dagger, even a wood cutting hatchet. At the very minimum a rock or stick. It be a challenge to threaten someone with empty hands, don’t you agree?”
“A tussle?” Martial Yellow Sister placed the evidence into sacks, “Maybe a crime of opportunity, tried to steal this fancy hairpin too, shanked her in the argument? Panicked and ran away.”
Martial Kim thought of the possibility.
The scene of the crime was essentially off the main road and hidden within tons of foliage. Any line of sight from off the side of the road was broken. An ideal place for murder and no one would be the wiser. It also doesn’t help the main road have at most five or six travelling scholars or merchants, so not many potential witnesses at the right time.
“Goodness,” Martial Kim half sighed and half gasped. “Fae Fae has been stabbed multiple times in the chest. Her robes are practically torn up. Makes me wonder, how much hatred was in this encounter.”
Martial Kim could not fathom. The world had many levels of cruelty, many levels of blind rage. Not wanting to think of those details, he tried to remove the hairpin out.
...He tried to remove the hairpin out... He tried again to remove the hairpin out.
“Martial Kim?” wondered the blonde woman, “What’s wrong?”
“This hairpin. For some reason it’s really stuck deep in her. One moment.”
Martial Kim was a martial artist, meaning heavy lifting or so much as plucking throwing daggers out of a wooden board would be very easy. Yet he realized how tough the one hairpin was, even with one tight bare hand. He ended up using both hands to pry try and wiggle the hairpin out of the body, while being careful not to cause anymore damage to the body.
“....”
“What was that you said, Martial Yellow Sister?”
“Huh? I didn’t say anything. Why do you ask?”
Martial Kim froze. He could have sworn he heard something while pulling on the hairpin. He checked the two constables behind him, all shaking their heads in saying nothing. No one else was around him... Could it be?
The young master touched his fingers on Fae Fae’s neck, wrist, even slipped them into her shoe to feel the top of her foot. All key pulses to tell whether or not someone was alive... All of them empty of heartbeat. That was when he realized one more thing.
“Curious. She isn’t stone cold.” Martial Kim touched his hand over Fae Fae’s exposed skin. Then he turned about to call out. “Inspector Lee!”
“WHAT!?” Inspector Lee stormed out of a large bush, practically cutting a human shaped hole through it with his broad mass. He shouted, not bothering to travel back and forth over several meters worth of distance. “DID YOU FIND SOMETHING, MARTIAL KIM?”
“When you arrived, did anyone touch the body?”
“NO!...WAIT, YES I DID! JUST ME! DEAD AS A DOOR NAIL” Inspector Lee paused, before he followed up with, “NO PULSE, BUT KINDA LUKEWARMISH. IT HAS BEEN HOT LAST FEW DAYS. NOW, IF YOU’LL EXCUSE ME!” With that he would adjust his belt and march back into the human shaped hole in the bushes
Curiosity filled Martial Kim. He trusted his companion’s words and he trusted what he felt. Thus there was a conflict of two truths. Just in case he double checked again, all the vitals. No pulse whatsoever... But something kept gnawing at him.
It was when he chanced doing one more thing. He had Martial Yellow Sister used her [Soul Silk Construct Formation] to create that ear horn she often used to eavesdrop. He placed it against one ear and cupped the other end on top of Fae Fae’s chest – specifically the heart under the hairpin.
“...INSPECTOR LEE! A PULSE! I GOT A PULSE!”
“WHAAAAAAT!?” This time Inspector Lee bolted out of the bush along with his men to gather around. “Impossible! No breathing, hasn’t moved, nothing for the last four hours since we found her!”
“It’s there!” Martial Kim suddenly bolted to his feet. “incredibly faint. And we’re losing her. Martial Yellow Sister – formation!”
“Way ahead of you!”
Moon Tavern got to work. They pushed aside the crowd of constables so they could set up a sort of magical formation, a ritual like circle. Martial Yellow Sister threw off a lot of her coats, robes, and scarves to form a divine octagon, sleeves and scarves hanging in mid air like mystical Taoist flags to manipulate the natural elements.
Martial Kim then gathered his internal energy within his abdomen, the focus point of all cultivators, and he released it in a surge of flashing light through his hands!
[Spiritual Acupuncture]. An advanced, if not mentally complex, spiritual healing art that allowed the caster to transfer their energy into the recipient's key meridian points to jump start their life force at critical moments like this.
Most effective to save martial arts masters from the brink of death, negate a magical curse, or to forcefully eject any strong poisons that spread in the body.
Their combined efforts caged the energy into a single spot, magnifying the source of power to better slip into Fae Fae’s body in the form of magical birds and butterflies sinking into various nerve points to fill them with life energy.
Like a sort of heavenly gazebo of life.
Inspector Lee and the Constables all watched in awe, horror, if not anticipation. What were only minutes felt like hours pass them by.
At first, nothing happ--
“BLEGH!” Fae Fae’s corpse vomited blood from her mouth, expelling blood clots that were clogged in her system. She gave this deep and agonizing gasp for air, as if she had been forced under water for god knows how long. Eyes flash open, only to roll back and faint.
She then laid as a heap, wheezing with barely any air in her lungs.
“YE GAWDS!” Inspector Lee cried out in shock. “I-it’s a miracle! Q-quick, get the horses and wagon! Hurry!”