Era of Magic and Martial Arts-Chapter 263 - 247: Who Sat in That Chair?

Through the office door.

Everyone could hear Zhou Hu's furious roar: "Get out, do you think it's your place to worry about this? Stop pretending in front of me, do you think I don't know what's on your mind?"

Feng Mu maintained a calm expression, showing no hint of anger or discomfort. He quietly watched Zhou Hu, then subtly glanced at Ma Xuan without uttering any defense, and calmly retreated outside the door.

His gaze swept over his colleagues outside the door, whose faces were taut, trying hard to manage their expressions. Without a trace of embarrassment, he instead said deeply:

"It seems the Prison Chief has deep prejudices against me, which is fine, but if this delays Captain Tian Tao's compensation, then it's my fault."

Feng Mu paused slightly, his expression still as calm as water, and continued:

"Since the Prison Chief is unwilling, I can only apply to the Warden. This shouldn't be considered an overstepping report, breaking the rules, right?"

Unlike Wang Cong, who met secretly with the Warden, Feng Mu went to the Warden's office openly.

The prison guards watched Feng Mu's receding figure, and regardless of whether they understood his actions, the reverence in their hearts was unmistakable, impossible to conceal.

Although Captain Tian Tao had passed away, leaving the Second Prison forever, and his captain position was vacant, everyone had a strange illusion: as if the captain's position had never been vacant for a moment.

But the chair in the captain's office was obviously empty, isn't it strange?

......

In the distant Ancient Era, there was a saying: in the eyes of 1000 people, there are 1000 Hamlets.

This saying was equally applicable to the Second Prison, where each person's eyes reflected an image of a murderer, and the more they looked, the more it seemed to fit.

Like the lower-level prison guards, who had an unfounded collective conviction that Feng Mu was the real culprit, entirely irrational; Zhou Hu was also one hundred percent sure that Qian Huan was the one.

The underlying logic was very complex, involving different perspectives based on one's position, different views, or news heard, and the differing perspectives and logic of people from different classes. But most importantly, their subjective inclinations differed.

In other words, deep in their subconscious, they had involuntarily drawn the image of the murderer, even before the murder happened, each had already pre-drawn such a sketch in their hearts.

This is not some clairvoyant ability, it's just basic human intuition, no trickery, just human nature.

Zhou Hu hung up the phone with a series of cold laughs. Ma Xuan stood cautiously to the side and softly asked, "What instructions does Station Chief Lou have?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Zhou Hu curled his lips into a sinister smile:

"What else could he say? Two deaths in one night, Station Chief Lou definitely won't let Qian Huan have his way anymore. Does he really think he owns the Second Prison? Let's watch and see."

Ma Xuan nodded silently, saying nothing.

Zhou Hu added viciously: "Of course, we can't do nothing and just wait for the higher-ups to handle it. We need to take the initiative, gather evidence against Qian Huan, and if nothing else, we need to stir up some noise."

Ma Xuan's heart tightened as the mysterious call from last night echoed in his mind again.

Zhou Hu noticed Ma Xuan's dazed expression, frowning, "What are you thinking about?"

Ma Xuan shook his head, sighed, "I'm worried about Chang Wei, do you think there's any chance he's still alive?"

Zhou Hu's face turned grim, and instead of answering directly, he sighed, "At least Chang Wei got his wish, he found his nephew."

Ma Xuan shivered at the words: "That's concluding Chang Wei is dead, can't even bother to pretend anymore."

Even though he had lost hope in Zhou Hu, the utter insensitivity still chilled Ma Xuan to the bone.

Ma Xuan now became increasingly uncertain about who harmed Chang Wei—Prison Chief Qian Huan was naturally the biggest suspect, but there was no guarantee it wasn't someone else.

The purpose was nothing but to frame and incriminate the Prison Chief, to ignite conflicts in the Second Prison, and compel the higher-ups to deal with the Prison Chief.

Zhou Hu seemed to realize his previous indifference had been excessive. He awkwardly smiled and then instructed Ma Xuan:

"You go and get in touch with the prison guards under Chang Wei, see if you can pry some evidence identifying the Prison Chief out of them."

Zhou Hu paused, implying deeply: "You understand what I mean, right?"

Ma Xuan nodded, indicating he understood.

Zhou Hu forced a fake smile again, trying to make his voice sound natural:

"Good, I always trust you to handle matters. Get on it, I need to check Tian Tao's autopsy report."

Autopsy room.

Tian Tao lay quietly on the dissection table, his face serene and calm, lacking his usual rage and irritability, seeming quite approachable.

Qin Liang wielded the scalpel for the autopsy.

With one cut, his abdomen was opened and gutted, while an electronic scale nearby weighed the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys. The dark red blood stained his white gloves, staining the tabletop red.

The more Qin Liang dissected, the more shocked he became, observing the body on the table with eyes flickering with incredulous light.

Countless bodies had passed his scalpel; if not a thousand, then at least hundreds, and he had seen every kind of skeletal structure, muscle line, and every shape of heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.

Logically, he should have been emotionless, unmoved by corpses long ago.

But,

Tian Tao's body still greatly exceeded Qin Liang's expectations and massively impacted his nerves.

"Too perfect, every bone, the proportional lengths between them, are practically perfect, as if meticulously arranged."

"The muscle lines are also very smooth, with no connective lumps, as if they had grown to meet the contours of the scalpel."

"And the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—each one is well-shaped, with no excess fat, neither overly nor underly developed, looking as if cast from standard organ molds."

Qin Liang's throat became dry; the corpse before him seemed as if it had grown as precisely as a textbook would describe, utterly abnormal.

To those who understand, there's a lot more going on here!

Qin Liang took a deep breath, hurriedly rushing to a nearby shelf, drawing out a dusty anatomy textbook.

He quickly opened it, found the page with the anatomical model's colorful illustration.

He held a ruler, beginning meticulous measurements.

With each inch of comparison, Qin Liang's expression grew more shocked, and his mouth involuntarily formed an 'o' shape:

"Identical, no, not identical, it's all reduced to scale."

Qin Liang's voice carried an indescribable tremor, as he gently laid down the ruler, murmuring: "A gift!!!"

Like an electric shock, a wave of awe spread from Qin Liang's scalp to his entire being, suddenly realizing that this body was the true gift Feng Mu had given him.

Yes, for a forensic doctor, what could touch the heart more than receiving a flawless corpse, seemingly right out of a textbook?

If giving a gift is an art, clearly, Feng Mu had achieved the peak of what humanity can achieve.

This gift struck directly at Forensic Doctor Qin's soul, letting him once more authentically feel Feng Mu's genuine desire to befriend him...