Introduction
After the long and complicated investigation in The Wanted Detective: Recap Case 3, the squad finally left the Capital to delve deeper into the vast Kingdom of Qi to find the answers: Where is Haiya? Who is Yesha? What happened to the Canfeng Army?
I chose the screenshot above as the featured image, taken when they slept together outside under the sky on the way to Weizhou. I liked their trip to Weizhou, as now they step further in their camaraderie by being closer, more trusting, and more dependable of each other. With a stronger bond, it’s not surprising that they were ready to sacrifice their lives for each other.
The Ghostly Escort Carts
Case Introduction
When Beiming and others arrived in Weizhou to investigate the rare red obsidian stone, they stayed at Tong Shuang’s old family home. His family business, the Pingyuan Escort Agency, fell into a tragedy one night, and everyone was wiped out in a fire. Ghost escort carts haunted the public at night. Their family members’ dead bodies disappeared. They thought those were caused by the vengeful spirits of the Agency who died in the fire.
Episode 17
Xueman, under the Elite Constabulary Unit, officially took over the ghost escort carts’ case from the Weizhou Garrison. Since the Agency’s fall, all carts were looted, so anyone could use the Agency’s cart to scare people. Meanwhile, Qingzhuo tried to cure the sick horses. While meeting the Weizhou Garrison Constable, Wang Feihu, Xueman asked about the red obsidian stone. Mr. Wang said, a wealthy businessman bought all the quarry.
Qinzhuo found out that the horses were plagued after drinking water from the upstream river. He and Dairong went to investigate with some constables and found a human finger in the river and a kiln to cook corpses. Dairong became sick from the gruesome view.
While Qinzhuo took care of the sick Dairong, Beiming, Xueman, and Tong Shuang went with Mr. Wang and the constables to catch the ghosts. Sure enough, some grave diggers put up a ghost show to clear up the graveyard so they could steal bodies. They only said a mysterious businessman bought the corpses.
The corpse thieves confessed and said that they belonged to a cult called Yellow Heaven. Their division, Earth’s Whisper, is the lowest rank that steals corpses to extract oil from them. There was a higher division, called Heaven’s Roar, that harvested human blood from the living. These two ingredients were used to make immortality pills. Although they had never seen their Holy Master, they noticed a mole under his eye. This mole description was the same as what Old Bug said about Yesha!
Episode 18
Some emotional moments. When the people found out that the ghost escort carts were fake, they apologized to Tong Shuang. He was happy again, since he was reckless when trying to uncover the truth and almost failed the entire plan. Beiming didn’t assign him any task, and that made him angry. Xueman understood Tong Shuang’s anger; she experienced the same thing 3 years with her father was killed and her husband was the suspect. Meanwhile, she and others also found out that Beiming was not cured, his condition was getting worse. Xueman was aggrieved because she indirectly caused his poisoning.
Xueman, Qinzhuo, and Dairong investigated where to find fresh blood. Something strange happened around Weizhou. A merchant group called Salt Business Guild was recruiting healthy men who didn’t have a family to be adopted, and a promise that they would inherit fortunes. A lot of homeless people, beggars, and criminals signed up. Beiming guessed that if these people were missing, nobody would look for them. They were kept and sacrificed when they needed blood. Qinzhuo volunteered to pose as an adopted son.
Episode 19
While Dairong and Tong Shuang accompanied Qinzhuo to sign up as an adopted son, they left Xueman and Beiming for a private time. The couple talked about the past, and it was so heartbreaking.
Qinzhou managed to be selected along with others, given blood-nourishing meals, and drugged to sleep (but he took an antidote for that). Qinzhuo pretended to sleepwalk to a room with a strong smell of blood. The bad people were suspicious of him, so the next morning, when the Weizhou constables, along with the squad, raided the house, Qinzhuo was missing! He was taken away by a cart. Luckily, he was smart enough to leave his blood for marks along the way. After they kept him in a barrel, he finally came face to face with The Holy Master of the Yellow Heaven… aka Yesha? He had a mole under his right eye!
Episode 20
Poor Qinzhuo! He lost a lot of blood because he bled himself to leave marks for the squad. When he was about to be sacrificed, his friends came to rescue him. The leader, whose name was Huang Wuchang, was arrested with his followers. Beiming managed to catch the refined mysterious pill. Qinzhuo still joked around with Tong Shuang who vowed to call him “Papa Feng” if Qinzhuo survived. He even gave the physicians a prescription to nourish blood asap.
After they sent a letter to the Minister of Justice regarding the case, a reply came the next day, requesting that they escort the criminal to the capital. Beiming was suspicious about the fast reply. Sure enough, when the squad and Mr. Wang were on the way to the capital, Kongyun intercepted halfway and took over the criminal. Xueman was very angry but couldn’t say anything. Kongyun greeted the others who were in the carriage. He knew Beiming was inside (he asked Mr. Wang about the identities of everyone who came to Weizhou), but didn’t expose him.
The squad returned to the capital only to find that Kongyun and the Secret Investigation Unit were gassed out, and the criminal escaped. Beiming thought it was better to work together with Kongyun as the Secret Investigation Unit had manpower, so Xueman offered to work together with Kongyun to recapture Huang Wuchang. She and Kongyun agreed on two things, Old Bug must be the one who could have poisoned the Unit, and that there was a mole inside the Unit!
Episode 21
Old Bug kidnapped Beiming to cure him. Beiming realized that after curing him Old Bug would kill him. This would prove that one, Old Bug redeemed his reputation in Yesha’s eyes. Before he intentionally leaked about the red crystal to get the Book of Yin and Yang; and two, that he was above his master’s level since he could undo his master’s poison (Qinzhuo’s master). He kidnapped Xueman, too, to exchange Beiming’s blood with hers. Before he started the procedure, Old Bug answered Beiming’s questions: One, he never seen Yesha’s face. Two, Yesha wanted him to make a super medicine. And three, the super medicine would make him a supreme poison master and defeat the Qi Kingdom. Huang Wuchang was not Yesha, he was only Old Bug’s subordinate.
The process to detoxify the poison was extremely painful, and Beiming passed out. Fortunately, Tong Shuang and Qinzhuo showed up to rescue their friends. Beiming was brought back, and Qinzhuo said that only by Beiming’s own will would he be miraculously healed.
The Charred Corpses
Case Introduction
After Old Bug was caught and tied up, Xueman wanted to interrogate Old Bug about Yesha. But Old Bug tricked her and knocked her unconscious. By the time she woke up, she was standing in front of a burned corpse! Unfortunately, the people from the Elite Constabulary Unit and the Secret Investigation Unit were there at the same time. Xueman became the prime suspect in the murder! The squad’s examination showed that nobody burned the Old Bug to death. How did he get burned?
Episode 22
Beiming woke up completely healed, but the good news didn’t last long when they heard that Xueman was arrested as Old Bug’s killer. The squad went to the old hut, and after investigating the crime scene, they believed she didn’t burn Old Bug. But the burning process was a mystery. They needed to examine the charred corpse. With Dairong skills to disguise them, Qinxhou and Tong Shuang sneaked into the place where the corpse was stored.
Zhuge Tong used the emperor’s token to announce Xueman’s execution, much to the anger of Mr. Fang, the Chief of Elite Constabulary Unit. Everyone in the Unit, even the public, didn’t believe Xueman killed Old Bug. The Elite Constabulary Unit and the Secret Investigation Unit had a showdown in the execution ground.
Beiming knew that only he could save his wife, so he showed up. He told everyone that Old Bug died from lightning. He threatened Zhuge Tong that he had taken poison, and if they didn’t release her, then he would die, and their investigation on Yesha would be gone. They cancelled the execution and took both Beiming and Xueman to the court.
Episode 23
Qinzhou conducted an autopsy in front of Zhuge Tong, Mr. Fang, and both units. With his forensic findings, he proved that Old Bug was indeed killed by lightning. Xueman was released, but Beiming was arrested because he was a suspect in the massacre three years ago. Luckily, at this time, the Emperor of Qi summoned Zhuge Tong, Zhuge Kongyun, and Mr. Fang to the palace. He heard that Beiming aka Yesha had suddenly appeared in public and wanted to know why and which Unit should interrogate him. Zhuge Kongyun suggested Xueman from the Elite Constabulary Unit to interrogate her husband, because if Beiming didn’t want to talk, nobody in the two units could get anything out of his mouth other than his wife. Emperor Qi agreed. However, for his ‘rebellion’, Kongyun was punished with 30 strokes and jailed by his own father.
Beiming told Mr Fang about Haiya and the Canfeng Army. Mr. Fang believed that Beiming was not Yesha, but Beiming had told him not to investigate Haiya and the Canfeng Army, as his life would be at stake. After speaking with Beiming, Mr. Fang instructed his nephew to record that Xueman and the squad had contributed to Beiming’s arrest, and Xueman had been tasked by the Emperor to interrogate Beiming.
Everyone was so happy with the good treatment Beiming got from Mr. Fang, and they had a party in the prison. When they praised Mr. Fang’s kindness, Beiming reminded them that the most important person they had to thank was… Zhuge Kongyun! Beiming guessed that Kongyun already knew that he was in Weizhou with them, but didn’t reveal him. About his idea on Xueman’s execution, he was to lure Beiming out. The Emperor gave them an ultimatum, for he and his father had to investigate Yesha, or in three days they would be executed. Kongyun only had one motivation for everything he had done… to find the truth!
Episode 24
The squad needed to find out how the Secret Investigation Unit’s plan was tampered that Huang Wuchang was able to escape. Kongyun believed there was a mole in his Unit. Beiming wondered about the messaging system, so they had to meet Kongyun, but he was imprisoned in the Secret Investigation Unit’s jail! They went to jail and set off firecrackers to attract Kongyun’s attention. Kongyun was informed that Xueman and others from the Elite Constabulary Unit celebrated his being in jail. He understood Xueman’s intention and released doves out.
Xueman understood that Kongyun communicated with her and realized the method of message delivery was through a pigeon carrier. The Director of the message carrier department was called, and after some begging, she hinted that she had copied Zhuge Tong and Zhuge Kongyun’s message, but she couldn’t understand the code. Some people learned how to interpret codes.
Eventually, more people were helping the squad with the case besides Kongyun, their colleagues in the Elite Constabulary Unit, and even Kongyun’s personal guard. The mole in the Elite Constabulary Unit who intercepted the coded message was finally found.
Episode 25
The mole admitted that he leaked Huang Wuchang’s whereabouts to Zhuge Tong because he needed money for his sick mother. Just when he was about to be taken to custody, he was suddenly struck by lightning and died, and Beiming found a crystal rock in his ear. A similar crystal rock was also found in Old Bug’s body. Why the mole might be killed because he revealed the secret, the squad didn’t understand the motives for killing Old Bug. Wasn’t he needed by Yesha to create medicines and poisons?
The squad went to look for a bronze beast craftsman who makes bronze beast statues on the eaves of temples and palaces as lightning rods. He was injured at work, but the squad suspected it was intentional. He told them about the legendary crystal rocks that attract lightning. A hunter asked him to make a bronze beast statue from the material.
Their investigation to find the person with whom the dead mole corresponded led them to the same hunter with whom the craftsman met. Tong Shuang went into the forest to find the hunter, but he was dead. Tong Shuang was kidnapped. The squad went searching for him and was face-to-face with Huang Wuchang. However, he and his Yellow Heaven’s followers outnumbered the squad, and only when Kongyun arrived with the Secret Investigation Unit they were subdued. Huang Wuchang lifted his head up to the sky, which was full of lightning strikes. Seeing his expression, Beiming yelled at everybody to run. Sure enough, a lightning strike behind Huang Wuchang exploded the area!
Conclusion
So, this crazy bomber is not Yesha. Who is Yesha, then? Or are there many Yeshas? Like an organization, as hinted at by the killer in the first case of The Wanted Detective ( 定风波 ). Someone has to lead that terrorist organization! The past case is still murky. But, at least, I’m happy that Beiming is cured from the lethal poisoning, thanks to the bed bug.
Eventually, everything will be revealed in the final part of this article!
