Chapter 2439: Chapter 2342: Coincidence

This Officer Chen’s worldview really is strictly black and white—only right and wrong—but he has no idea that the world is nowhere near as simple as he thinks.

Huo Sining did kill someone, but was that Fujiwara Seiho really innocent? A man like that, even dead, still deserves it a hundred times over. Yet relying on the laws of Huaxia Country, what can they actually do to him?

Unless extra-legal methods are used, otherwise as a Dongyang national, he’s basically beyond the reach of Huaxia Country’s laws.

What’s more, there’s a powerful force standing behind him; even if hard evidence of his murders were actually obtained, someone like that could still easily walk free. From that angle, Huo Sining’s tactic of "killing with a borrowed knife" is actually the best solution.

Only, this kind of logic is something this Officer Chen is probably incapable of understanding or accepting. He trusts only his own judgment, stubbornly charging down this dead-end alley, vowing to find evidence to punish Huo Sining in order to satisfy his obsessive, pathological psyche and trample this woman—whom he believes is unworthy of her reputation—under his feet.

If we really examine it, Chen Xiaolong himself likely has not realized that his fixation is driven more by personal motives than by any pursuit of judicial fairness.

Back during the kidnapping case in Hetian, he ran into a hard wall with Huo Sining and failed to find out anything. Later, he tailed her to the Magic Capital, suffered another humiliation, and even got schooled by Huo Sining, slinking back to Hetian in disgrace. That has stuck in Chen Xiaolong’s craw ever since, so this time, upon encountering Huo Sining again, he is hell-bent on going head-to-head with her, hoping to wash away his previous humiliation.

But is this kind of preconceived approach to a case really correct? Huo Sining thoroughly disagrees in her heart. It’s true this particular crime is hers, no question. But if it weren’t, and Chen Xiaolong kept staring at her solely out of personal bias, the case could easily veer off in unpredictable directions, giving the real criminals room to breathe and even a chance to slip completely out of the police’s control.

Of course, even after killing Fujiwara Seiho, Huo Sining remains entirely at peace; she’s not the least bit afraid of Chen Xiaolong’s investigation.

Huo Sining couldn’t help a cold, inward laugh. She wanted to see just what Chen Xiaolong thought he could do to her.

Once the National Security investigation team arrived, the archaeology team naturally had to fully cooperate. Aside from the Mother and Daughter of the Zhang Family who came later and did not need to be questioned, everyone else inevitably had to submit to individual interrogations by the investigation team.

Previously, the criminal investigation team led by Zhao Chengke were ultimately just rank-and-file cops. Compared to someone of Zhou Shitao’s status and position, they were ordinary. These people felt a certain awe toward Zhou Shitao and his peers, so during questioning they were polite, nervous, and cautious, terrified of offending these big shots.

This time, however, the National Security investigation team had no such scruples. Before they came, higher-ups had issued a hard order: the matter must be thoroughly investigated, and they must track down the forces behind Fujiwara Seiho and identify the mastermind behind this incident. Ideally, they would "take the whole pot"—wipe out all foreign forces involved in one operation.

Thus, as soon as the investigation teams entered Luofu Mountain, they were conspicuously stern. They even brought in a micro-expression expert like Zhang Shuang, with the express purpose of teasing out all the hidden issues here, making it clear they would not let any suspicious detail slip.

With that, the entire Luofu Mountain became tense. Although the archaeology team members all believed themselves innocent, the investigation team’s posture made everyone cautious and anxious. People even watched their words carefully.

Only Huo Sining remained the calmest and least affected. Whatever Zhou Shitao arranged for her to do, she did, paying no attention whatsoever to the investigation team’s moves, acting entirely like someone with nothing to worry about.

In fact, Huo Sining had already anticipated the arrival of these investigation teams. Once the identity of the corpse in the ancient tomb was clarified, she would have found it strange if the higher-ups didn’t send people down.

This involves foreign forces blatantly intruding. If such a matter failed to attract serious attention, Huo Sining would probably pick up the phone herself and call Chief Lu.

She could well understand the thinking of those upstairs.

To discover, without any prior awareness, that foreign forces had quietly infiltrated even the archaeological sector—once Zhao Chengke’s investigation results were submitted, the higher-ups would definitely be furious, and at the same time develop further concerns.

If there are infiltrators even in archaeology, then what about the military, the government, and the police? Are they compromised too? Is it possible that, without anyone realizing it, these Dongyang bastards have already quietly established a complete network of relationships in Hua Country, gripping the entire state in their hands and ready to stir up major trouble at any time?

The more they ponder such possibilities, the more alarmed the higher-ups will become, until they finally resolve to carry out a large-scale purge across Hua Country and dig out every last traitor and spy buried deep within the country. Otherwise, this is an enormous hidden danger!

So the intention from above is clearly to investigate what this so-called Iga-ryu actually is. As for the murderer, that’s almost incidental.

If they can identify the killer, all the better—then when the East Ocean Police Bureau pursues the case, they’ll have an answer to give;

If they can’t, then so be it. It isn’t some earth-shattering matter anyway. The man died in Hua Country’s ancient tombs—who doesn’t know what he was there for? Anyone who dares break into a Thousand-Year Ancient Tomb in Hua Country to steal artifacts, deserves whatever death he gets!

Huo Sining’s reading of the situation was completely accurate. But the only one who truly grasped this layer of meaning was the team leader, Guo Dongliang. At Chen Xiaolong’s level, he was still oblivious to the higher-ups’ deeper intentions. So as soon as he came up the mountain, he began obsessively collecting every possible trace at the scene, using fingerprint analysis, footprint tracking, and all manner of forensic techniques.

However, whatever he could think to do, Gu Xu had already considered from the beginning. Everything had been cleaned up. Whatever scraps remained, even if he managed to catch a hint or two, could never be linked back to Huo Sining.

Sure enough, Chen Xiaolong flailed around like a headless fly, wandering through the tomb’s secret chamber and main burial chamber for a full two days, without turning up a single useful lead.

He did manage to find several fingerprints in the secret chamber, but once they were run through the database, none matched Huo Sining’s prints. This enraged Chen Xiaolong, yet he still couldn’t do a thing to her.

His only real point of suspicion was that, the day before Fujiwara Seiho’s body was discovered, Huo Sining’s husband, Gu Xu, had inexplicably turned up at Luofu Mountain; and on the very next day after his arrival, Gu Xu suddenly left again.

Right after that, the archaeology team discovered the corpse in the main burial chamber. The timing was just a bit too coincidental.

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