He was terrified!

Having merged with the original owner's memories, he knew there was absolutely no way he could escape from prison, and he also understood that in this society where imperial power reigned supreme, human rights were extremely fragile.

The power of life and death rested entirely on the whims of others.

He had once fantasized about traveling back to ancient times, plagiarizing poems and showing off, thinking it would be great fun, but reality had slapped him hard in the face.

Even after transmigrating, he still had to suffer the harsh blows of society.

“No, this is just speculation, this is just the Jingzhao Prefecture’s speculation. I can’t let their guess affect me. I have to do it myself, analyze it myself... There’s still hope, there’s still hope...”

A strong desire to survive made him calm down quickly, and his logic became rigorous and clear once more.

“Why would a demon steal tax silver? Isn’t human flesh more tempting... Even if they’re short on silver, there’s no need to target tax silver... According to the books, every demoness of the demon clan is said to be charming and alluring, with exquisite figures... I wonder if there are catgirls or doggirls...”

“Pa!” Andrew Bennett slapped himself. “Start reasoning again!”

The most important thing in reasoning is subtraction—listing out each clue and sorting through them.

Otherwise, it’s just a tangled ball of yarn, and the more you think, the messier it gets.

There are two most obvious clues in the tax silver case:

First: Demonic wind!

Second: Explosion after the tax silver fell into the river!

Except for martial artists, all major cultivation systems possess the ability to summon demonic wind, so ‘clue one’ can only serve as evidence that a ‘cultivator’ was involved, but it can’t provide a more specific target.

The suspicion on Second Uncle, who is a martial artist, is thus reduced, though it can’t be ruled out that he might have colluded with others.

The explosion in clue two is an unreasonable point of doubt. In battles between high-level cultivators, explosions are normal. But in this case of the missing tax silver, there was no violent confrontation, so the explosion is illogical.

“Unless the explosion was absolutely necessary!” Andrew Bennett muttered.

“Among all the major cultivation systems, is there any profession that needs to use explosions to achieve their goals?”

Andrew Bennett thought for a moment but couldn’t come up with anything, then suddenly realized he had made the same mistake as Jingzhao Prefecture.

Jingzhao Prefecture’s line of thinking was flawed from the start. They judged the culprit to be a demon based on the most obvious clues in the case, and then ran with that idea, never looking back.

This wasn’t wrong in itself—the problem was that the judgment was too hasty.

Although Andrew Bennett had merged with the memories, he was still guided mainly by modern thinking and past-life experience. He preferred to unravel the details in the case files, chewing over the subtle clues before drawing conclusions.

“If I can’t figure out this path for now, then I’ll try a different approach and look for a breakthrough elsewhere. Let’s rule out the possibility of demons causing trouble and assume this was a carefully planned, man-made event.”

“In that case, the perpetrator must have left a flaw in the case.”

“The law of material exchange tells us that whenever a crime is committed, there will inevitably be direct or indirect traces left at the scene...

All kinds of traces can be divided into two main categories—I can’t quite remember the specifics, but it should be footprints, fingerprints, carriage tracks, tool marks, and so on.”

“The flaw isn’t in the two most obvious clues, but in these various traces...”

Based on the case file’s description, Andrew Bennett replayed in his mind the process of Second Uncle escorting the tax silver.

Adrenaline surged, his brain cells were highly active. If pheromones could take shape, they would be like koi in a pond, frantically scrambling for food, the water’s surface boiling.

Again and again, he replayed and scrutinized the process.

All the information and clues from the case file converged, and his brain was like a CPU running at high speed.

As the pieces of information came together, the case became clearer and clearer.

Unconsciously, Andrew Bennett felt himself enter a certain state—his soul seemed to float up, breaking free from his mortal body, breaking through the building, and arriving above the capital.

Time seemed to flow backward. The east was faintly bright, the sun about to rise. Peter Bennett led a group of armored soldiers, escorting the tax silver to the Ministry of Revenue.

At this moment, it was the second quarter of the mao hour... As they traveled along Guangnan Street, a sudden demonic wind blew, startling the horses, which plunged into the river.

Boom!

An explosion erupted on the river, muddy waves surging skyward.

That explosion seemed to echo in Andrew Bennett’s heart as well, and he reflexively kicked his legs, snapping back to consciousness.

His eyes were tired, but his face was full of excitement and wild joy.

“I know, I know, hahaha, I’ve solved the mystery!!”

Andrew Bennett laughed madly, pounding on the bars: “Guards! Guards, come quickly!”

The jailer on duty was startled, grabbing a fire stick and cursing, “Making such a racket—tired of living, are you?”

He banged the bars hard to scare Andrew Bennett.

Andrew Bennett took a step back, letting go of the bars to avoid having his fingers broken. He said in a deep voice, “I want to see the Prefect.”

“A prisoner wants to see the Prefect... Why don’t you take a piss and look at yourself?” The jailer laughed angrily, thrusting the fire stick through the bars to jab at Andrew Bennett.

Andrew Bennett stepped back again to dodge.

“You dare dodge?” The jailer reached for the keys at his waist, grinning viciously. “I’ll break your legs today.”

“I have important clues about the tax silver robbery. I want to see the Prefect. If you delay the case, you’ll be responsible.” Andrew Bennett stared at him.

The jailer’s face froze.

......