Chapter 923: Chapter 877: Finale (3) Bold Conjecture

According to Wen Wan’s speculation, the Ministry of Justice sent people to verify the pulse cases at various medical clinics.

The results showed that there were over three hundred recorded cases of heart disease patients in the entire Chu Jing City.

"This scope is too wide." Xie Zheng, the official responsible for leading people to verify the pulse cases, said to Wen Wan upon his return, "What we can trace are all records of visits, but what if the real culprit behind the scenes has never had a visit record?"

"We’re still missing a clue." Wen Wan propped her forehead, looking very troubled, "The killer targets children from families. If we can find the difference between these children and the ones in the orphanage, the real culprit might surface."

Xie Zheng hypothesized, "The Commandery Princess previously mentioned the idea of using form to complement form. The real culprit may be suffering from heart disease, so he wants to use this method to cure it. Is it possible that the old saying ’you lack what you need to replenish’ applies, and the real culprit has no family, so he cannot stand children with families, which is why he chose this group of children?"

Wen Wan shook her head, "If it is as you say, then the real culprit retains at least a shred of humanity, he would have sympathy for the weak. But two of the victimized children were from impoverished families living in great misery. Wouldn’t retaliating against such people be contradictory to the killer’s character?"

"What if the killer’s intent isn’t to use form to complement form, but to dig out hearts to set up an altar or something." Xie Zheng said, "I’ve heard of many Jianghu dark arts that use young boys and girls for sacrifices."

Set up an altar? Sacrifice?

A light bulb went off in Wen Wan’s head. She looked at Xie Zheng, "Let’s not worry about the killer’s ultimate goal for now. Suppose he is superstitious; he would select targets according to superstitious methods. Can you help me get the birth dates and times of the deceased children?"

"..." Xie Zheng was a bit troubled.

These days, the outside of the Three Judicial Departments’ government office had almost turned into a river of tears from the relatives of the victims. Would people cooperate if they were asked for birth dates and times now?

Seeing his hesitation, Wen Wan solemnly said, "Please, this is very crucial. If my speculation proves to be true, wouldn’t it help solve the case quickly? Even if my speculation is wrong, we’ll have ruled out a possibility."

...

It took Xie Zheng two days to gather the birth dates and times of a few children, and he brought them to Wen Wan.

Wen Wan, not versed in the I Ching or the Eight Trigrams, went to the palace to ask He Jianzheng if there was anything wrong with these birth dates and times.

He Jianzheng did not know Wen Wan’s intent but still took a careful look. He finally concluded, "All these birth dates and times belong to the metal element in the Five Elements."

Wen Wan shuddered, "As expected."

She suspected something strange was going on.

Leaving the Astronomical Bureau, Wen Wan went straight to the Ministry of Justice to find Xie Zheng, explaining to him the results she obtained from He Jianzheng.

Upon hearing this, Xie Zheng was somewhat incredulous, "Metal element in the Five Elements?"

"I know the difference between the orphanage children and the victims now." Wen Wan took a deep breath, "The orphanage children are all homeless, they don’t know their exact birth dates and times, so their astrology cannot be calculated."

"But surely they wouldn’t openly share the victims’ birth dates and times, would they?" Xie Zheng said, "How did the killer manage that? Go door to door asking? Who would agree to that?"

"No need to ask." The more Wen Wan spoke, the more she felt a chill up her spine, "There is one place where everyone’s birth dates and times are stored."

"It’s the Ministry of Revenue!"

Realizing his outburst, Xie Zheng abruptly fell silent, and only after a while did he speak softly, "Does the Commandery Princess mean the real culprit is in the Ministry of Revenue?"

"Those who can access the household registry are not necessarily only officials of the Ministry of Revenue."

Wen Wan had a bold guess, but it was so bold that she didn’t dare to continue guessing.

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