"The eighth day of the first lunar month, where were you?" Xiao Man's tone was gentle, without any intention of waiting for Tan Gu's explanation.
Tan Gu's expression changed, she seemed somewhat incredulous, but her reaction was swift, "I was at Blue Moon... ah..."
Tan Gu trembled with pain. The heavenly silkworm thread was too sharp. If it continued to constrict, she would perish. "Your Highness, I am telling the truth."
"You are about to die and still refuse to repent!" Xiao Man turned around, and several ice needles appeared between her fingers. They shot out, piercing Tan Gu's body, and quickly melted away. Tan Gu felt her pain intensify countless times in an instant, causing her to wail miserably, yet she could not utter a sound.
"I have always believed in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," Xiao Man walked slowly outwards. "My father died of excessive blood loss in pain, so I will drain every drop of blood from your body and use your blood to mourn my father."
Tan Gu struggled incessantly. With her struggles, the heavenly silkworm thread tightened further, and blood splattered out. The heavenly silkworm thread completely cut into Tan Gu's body, severing all her meridians, yet she could not die. She could only watch Xiao Man leave.
The lamp extinguished in an instant, and the world seemed to plunge into darkness. Tan Gu struggled feebly in the darkness. It was so quiet around her; she could hear nothing except the sound of dripping, dripping.
It was the sound of her blood dripping onto the ground, drip, drip. She didn't know how much blood she had lost, nor how badly she was wounded. She only felt as if every inch of her skin was burning like fire, yet a bone-chilling cold emanated from within her. Caught between ice and fire, she struggled and wailed in extreme agony until the last drop of blood in her body flowed out.
Before dawn, a person stumbled out of Tian Bao Tower, emitting a shrill scream, and rushed towards the yamen.
They encountered soldiers from the patrol battalion on the road. The soldiers noticed the person was covered in blood and immediately apprehended them.
"Dead people, dead people, so scary, all blood, blood everywhere!"
"Where did someone die?"
"Tian Bao Tower!"
The patrol battalion quickly rushed to Tian Bao Tower. The people inside Tian Bao Tower had vanished overnight. The higher-ups had ordered them to solve the case quickly. They had almost turned Tian Bao Tower upside down but found no clues. Now, someone claimed someone had died in Tian Bao Tower. Could it be that everyone in Tian Bao Tower had been killed?
The guards of the patrol battalion broke into Tian Bao Tower. As one of them stepped in, they felt a splash. No one paid it any mind. Just then, the sky began to lighten, and sunlight streamed through the windowpanes. The guards who had entered Tian Bao Tower were instantly stunned. The ground was covered in blood. What had splashed when they entered was not water, but blood.
The guards with weaker psychological fortitude immediately bent over and vomited. The woman leading them, seeing the scene before her, felt completely overwhelmed. Her face turned deathly pale, her stomach churned violently, but she forced herself to endure and not vomit.
Someone went to inform Hua Wen. When Hua Wen arrived, the patrol battalion soldiers were all sitting outside, looking extremely disheveled.
"Chu Feng, have the people been found?"
Chu Feng opened her mouth, almost vomiting, and quickly covered it. After spitting for a while, she felt better, "General, inside... it's simply hell on earth. You'll know when you see it."
Hua Wen felt a sense of unease. Upon entering Tian Bao Tower, she saw countless bloody footprints in the front hall, all made by the patrol battalion soldiers. Above the spacious arena of Tian Bao Tower, countless corpses were hanging, and the ground was filled with blood, which had formed a strange pattern on the ground.
Hua Wen looked at the corpses hanging in the air and felt something strange. She leaped onto the roof and finally saw clearly. The vast arena had become an altar, and the corpses were offerings. Someone had used the people of Tian Bao Tower for a sacrifice!
"That is..." Hua Wen leaped inside and looked up at the corpse in the very center. That person looked the most miserable, their body cut to pieces by the golden silkworm thread, yet only their face was intact. The face was filled with unwillingness and despair, and their eyes were full of terror.
"General, this person must have suffered greatly before death. Their body was cut into pieces, yet they were still alive. This person died of blood loss."
Hua Wen felt a shock. How could a person who had already died suddenly reappear before them in such a tragic state?
"This is like seeing a ghost!" Hua Wen exclaimed in disbelief.
"Isn't it like seeing a ghost?" Chu Feng chimed in. "We clearly searched Tian Bao Tower inside and out and didn't find a single person, yet now, those people who vanished into thin air are all hanging here, their blood drained!
"What I meant by 'seeing a ghost' is that a person who died many years ago has suddenly reappeared before us and been killed again!" Hua Wen pointed at Tan Gu's corpse and said, "This person died seventeen years ago, General Tan Gu of the Western Expedition."
Chu Feng had also heard of Tan Gu. During the palace coup, Tan Gu had protected Empress Yue Xian as she fled, and eventually fell into the hands of the current Empress, who had sentenced her to a brutal death. Her body had been displayed in the Western Market!
This person, who had died more than a decade ago, reappeared before them today, had her blood drained, and her body cut into pieces like stewed pork!
"General, this matter must be reported to His Majesty."
"Such a significant matter, how can it not be reported to His Majesty?" Hua Wen ordered the bodies to be brought down and the coroner to examine them thoroughly to find any clues and bring the killer to justice. She then rushed to the palace to report.
The Empress was holding court when she heard that Hua Wen had news about Tian Bao Tower. She immediately summoned Hua Wen to the hall. "Is there any progress on the disappearance case of Tian Bao Tower?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, there is progress."
"Have the people been found?"
"They have been found." Hua Wen calmly raised her head and looked at the Empress. "From the manager to the guards, there were a total of eighty people in Tian Bao Tower. We found eighty-one corpses in Tian Bao Tower."
"Corpses?" The Empress was shocked. Everyone in Tian Bao Tower was dead. What a bold move, to kill so many people in the capital so silently. "Wait, what about the extra corpse?"
Hua Wen glanced at Yao Ran, who looked puzzled by her gaze. "General Hua, why are you looking at me?"
"Please forgive me, Prime Minister Yao. It is just that the corpses I found in Tian Bao Tower are too strange."
"What's strange about corpses?"
"The corpses are not strange. What is strange is the owner of this corpse, who died long ago."
"General Hua, what do you mean by 'the owner of the corpse died long ago'?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, it is someone who was already dead, and was killed again," Hua Wen said calmly. "The extra corpse found by your humble servant in Tian Bao Tower belongs to General Tan Gu of the Western Expedition."