The Fool

"Qi Xia," Zhang Chenze said with her arms crossed and a blank expression, "Han Yimo called out for you first after he was injured. Did you two know each other before?"

Without lifting his eyelids, Qi Xia, with his right hand on his forehead, replied, "No, we didn't."

"Then do you have any clues about his death?" Zhang Chenze continued to ask.

Qi Xia did not answer but instead examined the giant sword on Han Yimo's body.

The sword had an ancient style and appeared to be an exquisite piece of art.

It was covered in battle scars, as if it had been through many fights.

But in this day and age, who would wield such a giant sword in combat?

"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 trying to say I killed Han Yimo?"

"Whether you are the murderer or not, you should say something to clear your suspicions, right?"

Qi Xia still did not answer but reached out to pull out the sword.

"Hey!" Officer Li hurried over when he saw this, "Qi Xia, no matter the murderer—"

"Or else what?" Qi Xia interrupted, "Or else when the police come to investigate, the evidence might be lost?"

Officer Li's mouth moved slightly, and he was speechless.

Now, it's not just a matter of waiting for the police to investigate, but even whether he could get out of here alive was a problem.

Seeing Officer Li's silence, Qi Xia used both hands to continue pulling out the sword.

He almost used all his strength to fully extract the sword from the ground.

Qiao Jiajian also went to help when he saw this and realized that the giant sword was even heavier than he had imagined. The completely black ancient sword, made of some kind of metal, weighed about 150 jin (approximately 150 pounds), equivalent to a strong adult man.

Qi Xia gasped for breath, threw the iron sword to the ground, and it made a loud noise.

After a while, Qi Xia steadied his breathing and finally spoke to Zhang Chenze, "Lawyer Zhang, let me confirm with you, this iron sword is one person's length and weighs over a hundred jin. You suspect that I lifted this iron sword, killed Han Yimo, who couldn't even move, at dawn, without making a sound, and buried the sword deep into the ground, right?

Zhang Chenze pursed her lips, looking a bit unwell.

"And before that, to prevent you all from discovering it, this iron sword was always hidden in my pants pocket, right?" Qi Xia asked again.

Seeing the situation was getting tense, Officer Li stepped in to mediate, "Qi Xia, since you didn't kill Han Yimo, why did you have to pull out the sword?"

Qi Xia did not tangle with Zhang Chenze but instead looked down at the giant sword covered in blood.

He examined it carefully, shook his head, and then turned the iron sword over.

Sure enough, on the other side of the hilt, there were three small characters engraved: "Qi Hei Sword."

The content of what Han Yimo had said before contained little useful information. He seemed to be trying to accept some fact, but unfortunately, he didn't figure it out before he died.

The only information that Qi Xia remembered from that conversation was the three words "Qi Hei Sword."

"Is this sword called the 'Qi Hei Sword'?" Qiao Jiajian asked from the side.

Qi Xia stroked his chin and murmured to himself, "These three words are on Han Yimo's other side, which means he shouldn't have known the name of the sword when he was pierced. But why did he mention the 'Qi Hei Sword'?"

"I think your way of thinking is very unconventional," Officer Li shook his head and said, "Why bother with the name of a murder weapon? Shouldn't the issue now be to consider the cause of Han Yimo's death?"

Qi Xia glanced at Officer Li and said, "When Han Yimo was stabbed, it was daylight. Even if he was sleeping at the time, such a heavy wound would definitely wake him up. Theoretically, he should have seen the murderer, but he didn't mention the murderer's name at all and mentioned the 'Qi Hei Sword' twice. Isn't that strange?"

"But he called your name..." Xiao Ran said softly from the side.

"No matter what kind of sword it was, Han Yimo did call out your name first..."

"So what?" Qi Xia asked.

"So, you are the murderer..." Xiao Ran said timidly, hiding behind Officer Li, not daring to look at Qi Xia.

Qi Xia did not defend himself but just looked at Xiao Ran. It seemed he was judging whether this woman was the real murderer or just naive.

"And our companion is dead, and you are not sad at all, but you are calmly analyzing here. But you are a liar! What use is your analysis?!" Xiao Ran almost said with a crying tone, "Who among us would believe you?"

"'Sad'?" Qi Xia frowned, as if he didn't quite understand. "Are you saying... I should be sad for someone I've known for less than a day?"

"You are so cold-blooded, that's why I say you are like a murderer!" Xiao Ran's voice gradually increased, "You wanted to leave last night, right? Why did you insist on staying here? If you think about it carefully, you must have stayed on purpose to kill someone."

At this point, Qi Xia had more or less understood that the woman in front of him was not necessarily the murderer, but she was definitely foolish.

She had also shouted something like "Why should we trust this liar" in the initial room.

For her, "logic" was useless, and she only believed in the results she wanted to believe.

Qiao Jiajian couldn't listen any longer and said to Xiao Ran, "Hey, silly girl, if you don't like to think, don't interrupt people. I think the cheater's analysis makes sense."

"But the three of you are not good people anyway!" Xiao Ran retorted with grievance, "We have a fatality here, and the three of you are the most suspicious, right? What's wrong with being silly? Being silly doesn't mean I would do bad things!"

This sentence was aimed not only at Qi Xia but also included Qiao Jiajian and the silent Tiantian.

Yes, the three of them were not exactly good people.

Qi Xia nodded and replied, "You're right."

He gave up examining the body and the giant sword and slowly stood up.

"There's no need to continue looking. I am the one who killed him."

When the crowd heard Qi Xia say this, their expressions were indifferent.

Only Xiao Ran seemed excited: "Look! He admitted it himself! He just talked a lot, trying to divert attention with the name of the sword!"

Officer Li frowned on the side, seemingly pondering something.

"Hey, Cheater!" Qiao Jiajian couldn't quite understand, "Even if the sword was moved by you and me, it would be impossible not to make a sound."

Qi Xia waved his hand and walked out of the convenience store.

"It doesn't matter. Anyway, there are only ten days left, and what difference does it make to be labeled as the murderer? Moreover, I don't like to argue with foolish people."

Hearing Qi Xia say this, Qiao Jiajian also curled his lips and followed.

Then Tiantian, who had decided from the beginning to follow Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajian, saw no need to stay.

Lin turned his head, gave a meaningful look to Officer Li, as if he wanted to say something, but still didn't speak out, shook his head, and left.

The team of eight was divided into two groups.

The four who stayed behind had complicated expressions on their faces, with only Xiao Ran looking relieved: "Great... Those people who seemed bad are finally gone."

"Xiao Ran, it seems we forgot something..." Dr. Zhao said softly to Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran ran out of the house and stopped the four.

"Stop!"

Qi Xia turned his head coldly, not knowing what the other person wanted to do.

"Did you forget something?" Xiao Ran asked, "The 'Dao'?"

"The 'Dao'?"

"That's right, four 'Dao', the 'Dao' we nine people risked our lives to win. We can't let you take them all, can we?"