I'm competing with the male lead for a woman (GL) - Chapter 19

“When else should I make it?”

Hearing this, Su Tan was stunned.

For a moment, she felt that Xiao Jin’s words weren’t entirely unreasonable. After all, a corpse left in a dark room for too long would inevitably rot and emit a putrid odor.

Brewing a cup of honeysuckle tea at this time was naturally excellent.

However, such reasonable actions seemed unreasonable when performed by Xiao Jin. The reason was simply that Xiao Jin appeared mysterious and unpredictable, someone who didn’t play by the rules.

From the moment Xiao Jin stood outside the door and, as if foreseeing the future, told her to put away the silver needles, Su Tan felt that Xiao Jin was not only mysterious but also very dangerous.

Therefore, she had always been wary of Xiao Jin.

However, Xiao Jin herself had no idea that Su Tan’s evaluation of her was so high. If she had known, she might have felt a little proud.

In the original story, Su Tan was a very strange person.

Su Tan was originally a renowned divine doctor in the Yao Country, healing countless common people with her superb medical skills. After the Country fell, she transformed into the male lead’s later accomplice and antidote dispenser.

Knowing how to use poison wasn’t scary, and knowing how to detoxify wasn’t a divine skill.

Killing on one hand and saving on the other was truly ruthless.

And so, two people who felt that the other was not a good person met each other’s eyes in the air for a long time, then simultaneously looked away, each doing their own thing.

One held honeysuckle tea, and the other held a silver knife, both secretly thinking, “Something’s strange.”

Chu Shao held the tea, the mist from the cup blurring her eyes. But even when the tea cooled, she just held it, seemingly not planning to drink.

Because Chu Shao was observing the corpse lying on the white cloth.

From the moment Su Tan began the autopsy to now, she noticed that Su Tan dissected from the throat, then the back of the neck, the heart, and the abdomen.

But she missed a key point.

And when she began to investigate the cause of the assassin’s death, a trace of doubt appeared on Su Tan’s face.

“The sword wounds on this person are extremely light and fine, leaving only a bloodstain on the throat. He died instantly without being poisoned, presumably killed by a master who is proficient in swordsmanship.”

Xiao Jin held the cup and drank tea, her face expressionless.

She had asked the female supporting character to help with the autopsy, not to reenact the scene.

As the person involved, she naturally understood these things. Did she need to hear Su Tan repeat them?

Su Tan continued: “But what’s strange is that in terms of the precision of this person’s sword moves, he must have swung his sword tens of thousands of times to reach this level. But it’s said that on the day Your Highness was assassinated, there were no outsiders present, only a dozen guards. I wonder where such a master came from.”

Su Tan looked at Xiao Jin with an inquiring gaze, but she couldn’t understand why Xiao Jin was staring at Chu Shao so mysteriously.

Confused, she turned to look at Chu Shao again, only to find that she was unmoved and still observing the corpse on the white cloth.

The scene was very strange.

You look at me, I look at you, no one can make eye contact.

Finally, Xiao Jin broke the silence, put the lid back on the teacup, and calmly explained: “Actually, I killed these people.”

“…”

Su Tan’s face was filled with “Do you think I’ll believe that?”

After a long silence, Su Tan put down the knife and said, “Your Highness, I just said that the sword moves that killed this person were extremely fast and wonderful. I’m afraid only a martial artist who has practiced swordsmanship for decades could use such precise sword moves.”

In other words, you Xiao Jin weren’t even an embryo decades ago. What are you pretending for?

“Doctor Su, talent cannot be measured by time.”

Xiao Jin said such arrogant words calmly, seemingly not considering that she was sitting in a wheelchair.

Of course, her conscience wouldn’t be uneasy because of this arrogant statement.

After all, the talented master who had practiced swordsmanship for decades wasn’t her, but another mysterious person.

Xiao Jin guessed that the female lead probably had a cheat, a cheat called “protagonist halo too bright.”

Su Tan didn’t know this, but she felt that she had seen shameless people, but she had never seen anyone as shameless as Xiao Jin.

The assassin’s fatal wound was on the neck. Xiao Jin, sitting in a wheelchair, could at most stab the heart. How could she, in a sitting position, make such a wound with a sword?

Moreover, the above assumption didn’t include Xiao Jin’s tuberculosis.

If it did, and Xiao Jin could still do all this, it would indeed be a medical miracle, worthy of being recorded in the history of medicine.

Even though Xiao Jin was Third Prince of Qi, Su Tan couldn’t bear it anymore and wanted to retort.

At this moment, Chu Shao, who had been silent, put down the teacup and looked at Su Tan with a smile: “Doctor Su, have you ever heard of a swordsman in the Yao Country named Shen Lang?”

Hearing Chu Shao’s words, Su Tan was stunned and didn’t answer.

Xiao Jin knew that there was such a person in the original story.

It was rumored that Shen Lang was the number one swordsman in the Yao Country, carrying a three-foot sword, coming and going as he pleased, sleeping wherever he was drunk. His sword moves were unparalleled in the world, and he had created a set of “Flying Sword” swordsmanship.

The so-called “flying sword” meant that picking flowers and leaves could be integrated into the sword style, taking people’s lives.

However, this person had few scenes and died early, and the author’s description of him was minimal. If it weren’t for his beautiful name and unique personality, Xiao Jin would have forgotten him long ago.

“Shen Lang could kill people invisibly with a silver thread. Why should Doctor Su be fixated on the location of the wound?”

Chu Shao smiled and looked at Su Tan gently: “Moreover, I think the cause of this person’s death wasn’t the sword in his throat.”

Xiao Jin was listening casually and even began to wonder if Chu Shao was possessed by Shen Lang.

Just as she had this outrageous idea, she looked at the smile on Chu Shao’s face and immediately dismissed the idea.

If that were the case, it would be too scary.

When Chu Shao said that the assassin’s fatal wound wasn’t in his throat, Xiao Jin came back to her senses and looked at Chu Shao in surprise.

Not only Xiao Jin was shocked, but also Su Tan, who was examining the corpse.

Meeting Chu Shao’s gentle eyes, Su Tan couldn’t help but frown: “Princess Consort, why do you say that?”

As the top imperial physician in the Yao Country, Su Tan had practiced medicine for many years, and it was impossible for her to misjudge such a simple cause of death.

But this time, Su Tan was destined to fail.

Chu Shao smiled and walked slowly to Su Tan, her robe as white as snow, making the red flesh and bl00d on the ground even more glaring.

Chu Shao killed this person, but judging from her expression, she didn’t seem guilty.

Su Tan looked at the silver-blue flower on Chu Shao’s forehead and once again remembered a silver sleeve and the fine snow falling outside the Liuli City.

Chu Shao didn’t care about Su Tan’s distraction, squatted down, and pointed her finger at the assassin’s throat, which was exposed after being cut open with a knife.

Chu Shao had cut it open with her own sword, so she knew better than anyone…

“Actually, the person who killed him deliberately restrained their strength, not wanting to kill him immediately, so they didn’t cut the most fatal carotid artery.”

After Chu Shao said this, Su Tan realized that she had been too certain that the assassin died from the sword and didn’t even look closely at the bl00d vessels in his throat.

Looking closely now, the sword wound seemed to have reached the most critical bl00d vessel in the neck, but it was actually an inch off, only cutting the throat and making the assassin lose his ability to move.

This was Chu Shao’s mistake.

At that time, she was too excited to see the bl00d splattered all over the ground.

But after extreme pleasure, Chu Shao felt the warm bl00d flowing between her fingers and felt a little monotonous and boring.

Looking at the assassin’s terrified face, she suddenly thought of a new pastime and decided to just cut his throat without harming the artery.

Chu Shao was curious if this person could last for a while before she sent him to the Yellow Springs.

However, when she cut off an assassin’s hands with her sword, she saw Xiao Jin’s surprised expression and the fingers slightly raised to cover the wound from the corner of her eye.

For some reason, when Chu Shao saw Xiao Jin stretch out her pale and slender fingers to cover the bloody wound, she forgot the new pastime she had just thought of.

She didn’t even avoid the assassin’s poisoned blade.

This was her second mistake.

Unfortunately, Chu Shao remembered her first mistake after she had dealt with all the assassins.

She felt regretful, but when she turned around, she found that the person was already dead.

“According to common sense, merely cutting the throat would render the injured unable to speak and lose some mobility. However, if the carotid artery is untouched, death from excessive bl00d loss is unlikely, unless…”

Chu Shao’s face held a gentle smile as she pointed to the dead man’s slightly open lips: “Unless, during the time between the throat being cut and death, the injured was already dead.”

Xiao Jin instantly understood Chu Shao’s meaning and looked at Su Tan: “You can examine the assassin’s oral cavity and stomach to see if he had taken poison beforehand.”

Su Tan, who had previously focused on investigating the assassin’s identity during the autopsy, now understood that her focus had been misplaced after hearing their words.

Upon re-examining the assassin’s oral cavity, she found that the flesh inside was already ulcerated.

Previously, Su Tan had assumed it was normal decomposition, but upon closer inspection, she discovered subtle cracks inside the oral cavity. Touching it revealed a slight hardness.

After dissecting the entire throat and oral cavity, Su Tan finally extracted a bl00d-stained incense pill from the bloody mess.

Cutting the incense pill open with a new knife revealed a small, wriggling worm inside. Although the person was dead, the worm was still alive, which was strange.

Xiao Jin maintained a calm facade, but she was actually feeling nauseous.

She wasn’t the original owner, who had killed countless people, nor was she a yandere. She found the autopsy scene somewhat unbearable.

If she hadn’t been forced by circumstances, who would willingly be a witness to an autopsy?

However, when Xiao Jin saw the worm, based on her years of reading web novels, she almost instinctively blurted out: “It’s a Gu worm.”

When Xiao Jin confidently stated this, she realized that the two people in the room were staring at her.

Looking at the smile on Chu Shao’s lips and Su Tan’s ambiguous gaze, Xiao Jin was confused.

Did she say something wrong?

Su Tan stopped examining the worm and turned to look at Xiao Jin: “May I ask why Your Highness is so certain that this worm is a Gu worm?”

Xiao Jin was silent.

Seeing a worm and calling it a Gu worm—isn’t that a basic web novel trope?

Then she realized that the way these two were looking at her was becoming increasingly strange.

Xiao Jin suddenly realized a serious problem.

Perhaps… people in this bloody world didn’t have such high awareness, nor did they have a vast library of bloody tropes in their minds.

So, she might have said the wrong thing.