"I have no interest in being a Night's Watchman," An Qingyu said calmly. "I only want to dissect the 'mystery' to my heart's content, to understand more about the true nature of this world. What I pursue is the truth!"
"Joining the Night's Watch would mean being bound by all sorts of rules. They wouldn't let me dissect monster corpses like a mad scientist, and I'd waste a lot of time on pointless things."
Lin Qiye was speechless after hearing An Qingyu's words.
A mad scientist... you've got a pretty clear idea of your own identity.
Undeniably, An Qingyu was right. If he joined the Night's Watch, his teammates certainly wouldn't allow him to conduct those obviously evil experiments, unless they were all a bunch of lunatics.
This was undoubtedly a fatal blow to An Qingyu, who was pursuing the truth.
When he first solved the case of the Nanda Snake Demon, he wanted Lin Qiye to help him get into the Night Watch. But at that time, he didn't know what kind of organization the Night Watch was, and he hadn't awakened the Forbidden Ruins. If he wanted to get closer to the mysterious, this was the only path he could choose.
But things are different now. He has the perfect environment for himself, so why should he settle for the Night's Watch?
Lin Qiye looked at An Qingyu in front of him and sighed.
Now the question is, should he hand An Qingyu over to the Night Watchmen?
An Qingyu had worked with him to solve the Nanda snake demon incident. Although they hadn't known each other for long, he knew that An Qingyu wasn't inherently bad; it was just that what he pursued was different from what normal people did.
Moreover, he hasn't done anything to endanger public safety in the past year. Even the equipment in the underground laboratory was salvaged and discarded. Even when he secretly took away a few "mysterious" corpses, he was very ethical and left half of them for the Night Watch.
Lin Qiye hesitated for a moment before speaking again: "I have one more question. Was it you who delivered the message to me during the New Year?"
"It was me," An Qingyu nodded, "but it was just a small favor."
"This isn't just a simple favor for me," Lin Qiye took a deep breath. "I did owe you a favor from that time, and this time, I should repay it."
"You mean…"
"I won't hand you over, but if you do anything that endangers public safety, no matter how hard you try to hide, I will find you," Lin Qiye said, squinting.
An Qingyu's lips curled up slightly, and a sincere smile appeared on his shy face.
"Okay." He nodded, then, as if remembering something, turned and walked towards the lab table. "Come with me, I need to show you something."
Lin Qiye followed him to the experimental table, and raised his eyebrows slightly as he looked at the three corpses lying on it.
"You went to the morgue to see these corpses?" An Qingyu asked.
"That's right."
"No need to look anymore. Their deaths are completely consistent with the forensic report," An Qingyu said calmly, donning her white coat. "The fatal wound was in the chest, a nail piercing the heart. There were no traces of medication or signs of struggle. Apart from the four nails used to immobilize the body and the broken fingers, there were no other wounds."
"So, there's nothing unusual about these three corpses?" Lin Qiye frowned slightly.
"From what you're saying, you think there's something unusual about the corpse in the tavern?" An Qingyu's eyes lit up.
"As soon as the body was discovered, it was sent to the Night's Watch's department that specializes in these kinds of cases. I didn't get to see him with my own eyes, nor did I get to perform the autopsy myself..."
"No, I haven't seen the body either," Lin Qiye shook his head. "I can only see it tomorrow, but I noticed something strange in the photos from the scene."
"Strange things?" An Qingyu's eyes narrowed slightly. "Like... the amount of bleeding?"
Lin Qiye was taken aback. "You noticed too?"
Given An Qingyu's skills, it wouldn't be difficult for him to enter the tavern without being discovered by Xiao Hei, so Lin Qiye had no doubt that he had witnessed the scene firsthand, and might even have seen the video recording.
An Qingyu gave him a meaningful look, then turned and walked to the other side. "Come with me."
Lin Qiye followed him to an open space. One side of the open space was a wall, on which a human figure was drawn in white chalk, in almost the exact same position as the one on the scene.
On the wall, at the ten fingers of the human figure, there was a scarlet bloodstain.
"I also noticed that the bloodstains at the scene seemed a bit too little, so I simulated the scene of the incident. The glass in my left hand represents the amount of blood loss I simulated, and the glass in my right hand represents the amount of blood loss I reconstructed from the bloodstains in the photos."
An Qingyu picked up two beakers from the table next to her. The liquid level in the beaker in his left hand was significantly higher than that in the beaker in his right hand, with the total amount of liquid being almost three times greater.
"Wait a minute," Lin Qiye interrupted An Qingyu. "You simulated the amount of blood loss at the time of the incident? How did you simulate it?"
An Qingyu looked into Lin Qiye's eyes and smiled without saying a word.
"You...cut off your own finger?" Lin Qiye asked, frowning.
"I have the super-fast regeneration of a lizard, so if I want, regenerating a severed finger is not difficult at all," An Qingyu said calmly.
Lin Qiye:...
Sure enough, the boy in front of me is a madman!
"It turned out that the body had lost far less blood than a normal person."
Lin Qiye lowered his head and pondered for a moment. "So, what does this prove? Wasn't that the primary crime scene? Impossible, the video clearly recorded the entire process. Could it be that 'mysterious' creature has a bloodthirsty habit? Or... the tool it used to cut off the finger had the effect of blocking blood flow?"
"That's not enough to draw a conclusion," An Qingyu shook her head and said seriously, "I need to see the corpse in the tavern."
"You can't get in."
"Can you take me in?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Qiye frowned slightly. After confirming that An Qingyu wasn't joking, he shook his head. "I'm being lenient by not arresting you. I'm not taking you in."
"Consider it another favor I owe you."
"...What use is your favor?"
"I don't know, but it will be useful," An Qingyu said confidently. "Besides, with my help, you can solve this case much faster. Although you're smart, you're still a little bit behind me."
Lin Qiye stiffly turned his head and stared into An Qingyu's eyes.
An Qingyu coughed lightly twice. "What I mean is, when it comes to dealing with corpses, I'm better than you."
"Why are you so determined to solve this case?" Lin Qiye asked.
"I can sense that the 'thing' that orchestrated this series of events is very clever." An Qingyu licked his lips. "The more complex the mystery, the stronger my desire to solve it becomes. The last time I felt such a strong urge to solve a mystery was when I was facing the Nanda snake demon..."
"After dissecting corpses in the dark underground for so long, I wanted a change of pace."
Lin Qiye silently rolled his eyes. "Pervert."