Chapter 27: Stupidity
"Qi Xia." Zhang Chenze crossed her arms and said expressionlessly, "The first person Han Yimo called out for when he was injured was you. Did you two know each other before?"
Qi Xia didn't even lift his eyelids. Resting his right hand on his forehead, he replied, "No."
"Then do you have any idea about his death?" Zhang Chenze pressed on.
Qi Xia didn't answer. Instead, he examined the greatsword embedded in Han Yimo's body.
The sword was ancient in style, like an exquisite piece of art.
It bore countless battle scars, as if it had been through many conflicts.
But in this day and age, who would wield such a massive greatsword to fight?
"Qi Xia, I'm talking to you." Zhang Chenze said impatiently. "Aren't you going to explain anything?"
"What do I need to explain?" Qi Xia asked. "Are you suggesting I killed Han Yimo?"
"Whether you're the killer or not, you should at least say something to clear your suspicion, right?"
Qi Xia still didn't answer. Instead, he reached out to pull the sword.
"Hey!" Officer Li quickly stepped forward. "Qi Xia, regardless of whether you're the killer or not, we need to preserve the crime scene! Otherwise—"
"Otherwise what?" Qi Xia interrupted. "Otherwise when the police come to investigate, it'll be easy to lose evidence?"
Officer Li's lips moved, but he was at a loss for words.
Right now, there was no need to talk about waiting for the police to investigate—even whether he could get out alive was a question.
Seeing Officer Li fall silent, Qi Xia gripped the sword with both hands and pulled again.
He exerted almost all his strength to fully extract the blade from the ground.
Seeing this, Qiao Jiajin stepped forward to help and realized the greatsword was even heavier than he’d imagined. The pitch-black ancient sword, made of some unknown metal, weighed about a hundred and fifty jin, equivalent to a strong adult man.
Qi Xia panted heavily and dropped the iron sword onto the ground with a loud thud.
After a moment, when his breathing had steadied, he finally spoke to Zhang Chenze. "Lawyer Zhang, let me confirm something with you. This iron sword is as long as a man and weighs over a hundred jin. Are you now suspecting that I lifted this sword, silently killed Han Yimo—who couldn't even move—at daybreak, and then drove the blade deep into the ground?"
Zhang Chenze pressed her lips together, her expression sour.
"And before that, to keep you all from noticing, this iron sword was hidden in my pants pocket, right?" Qi Xia added.
Seeing the tense atmosphere, Officer Li stepped in to mediate. "Qi Xia, since you didn't kill Han Yimo, why did you have to pull the sword out?"
Qi Xia didn't bother arguing with Zhang Chenze any further. Instead, he looked down at the blood-soaked greatsword.
He examined it carefully, shook his head, and then flipped the iron sword over.
Sure enough, on the other side, near the handle, three small characters were engraved: Seven Black Sword.
Of all the things Han Yimo had said earlier, there wasn't much useful information. He seemed to have been trying to accept some fact the whole time, but unfortunately, he never figured it out before he died.
The only thing Qi Xia remembered from that speech was the name "Seven Black Sword."
"The sword is called 'Seven Black Sword'?" Qiao Jiajin asked from the side.
Qi Xia rubbed his chin lightly and muttered to himself, "Those three characters were on the other side of Han Yimo's body. That means when he was pierced through, he shouldn't have known the sword's name. So why did he mention 'Seven Black Sword'?"
"I think your way of thinking is a bit offbeat," Officer Li said, shaking his head. "Why worry about the name of a murder weapon? Shouldn't we be considering how Han Yimo died?"
Qi Xia glanced at Officer Li and then said, "When Han Yimo was stabbed, it was broad daylight. Even if he was sleeping, receiving such a severe wound would definitely have made him open his eyes. In theory, he should have seen the killer. But he didn't mention the killer's name at all—instead, he brought up the 'Seven Black Sword' twice. Isn't that strange?"
"But he called out your name..." Xiao Ran said quietly from the side. "No matter what sword it was, Han Yimo did shout your name first..."
"So what?" Qi Xia asked.
"So you're the killer..." Xiao Ran said timidly. She hid behind Officer Li, not daring to look at Qi Xia.
Qi Xia didn't defend himself either. He just stared at Xiao Ran, as if trying to determine whether this woman was truly the murderer or just plain stupid.
"And besides, our companion is dead, and you're not sad at all. Instead, you're calmly analyzing things here. But you're a swindler! What good is your analysis?" Xiao Ran's voice was almost tearful. "Among us, who would believe you?"
"'Sad'?" Qi Xia frowned, as if confused. "Are you saying... I should be sad for someone I've known for less than a day?"
"You're so cold-blooded, that's why I say you're like a killer!" Xiao Ran's voice grew louder. "Weren't you going to leave last night? Why did you insist on staying overnight? If you think about it carefully, you deliberately stayed just to kill someone, didn't you?"
By now, Qi Xia had more or less understood. The woman in front of him might not necessarily be the killer, but she was definitely stupid.
Back in the first room, she had also shouted things like "Why should we believe this swindler?"
For her, "logic" was useless. She only believed the conclusions she wanted to believe.
Qiao Jiajin couldn't stand it anymore. He said to Xiao Ran, "Hey, dumb girl. If you don't like using your brain, then don't interrupt others. I think the swindler's analysis makes sense."
"But the three of you aren't good people in the first place!" Xiao Ran argued indignantly. "Now that someone's died here, the three of you are the most suspicious, aren't you? So what if I'm dumb? Being dumb doesn't mean I do bad things!"
This remark targeted not only Qi Xia but also Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian, who was standing nearby.
Yeah. The three of them weren't exactly good people.
Qi Xia nodded and replied, "You're right."
He gave up examining the corpse and the greatsword, then slowly stood up. "There's no need to keep looking. I killed him."
When the others heard Qi Xia say this, they all wore blank expressions.
Only Xiao Ran seemed excited. "See! He admitted it himself! He was babbling a bunch of nonsense just now, trying to divert attention with the sword's name!"
Officer Li frowned, lost in thought.
"Hey! Swindler!" Qiao Jiajin couldn't understand. "Even if you admit it, who would believe you? Forget about you—even if you and I moved this sword together, there's no way it wouldn't make a sound."
Qi Xia waved his hand and walked out of the convenience store.
"Whatever. We only have ten days anyway. So what if I'm labeled a murderer? Besides, I don't like arguing with stupid people."
Hearing Qi Xia say that, Qiao Jiajin curled his lip and followed.
Then came Tiantian. She had decided from the start to go with Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin, and now there was even less reason to stay.
Lin Qin turned around, gave Officer Li a meaningful look, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she didn't. She shook her head and left.
The remaining eight-person team split into two groups.
The four who stayed behind all had complicated expressions. Only Xiao Ran seemed relieved. "Great... those clearly bad people are finally gone..."
"Xiao Ran, I think we forgot something..." Doctor Zhao whispered to Xiao Ran.
...
Xiao Ran ran out of the building and called out to the four.
"Stop right there!"
Qi Xia turned back coldly, not knowing what she wanted.
"Did you forget something?" Xiao Ran asked. "The 'Daos'?"
"'Daos'?"
"That's right. Four 'Daos.' The ones the nine of us risked our lives to win. You're not going to take them all, are you?"