Chapter 60: Eagles Are Seriously Powerful!
Bird-men? What bird-men? Where did bird-men come from?
After hearing what Lin Jiangye said, everyone briefly started doubting whether he truly understood animal speech—or whether he was just a fraud.
But soon a servant snapped back to his senses. “This… ahem. He probably means that group of ‘dancers’ the Second Young Master invited…”
When he said the word “dancers,” he unconsciously lowered his voice.
They were called dancers, but what they really were—everyone knew. At the banquet, those people wore feathered costumes, floating and graceful like proud swans. It did match the description of “bird-men.”
Everyone’s expressions tightened.
If the gyrfalcon hadn’t been mistaken, then the murderer who killed the boy was among those dancers.
Or worse—were all of them killers?
Shang Yongyi glanced at the young man who still refused to let go of the gyrfalcon. The ridicule had returned to Lin Jiangye’s face.
Shang Yongyi froze for a second, then thought it through—and immediately understood what Lin Jiangye was mocking.
“Second Young Master” really did sound feudal.
Lin Jiangye stroked the gyrfalcon in his arms. From its size, it was clearly an adult—but it weighed far too little.
A fully grown male gyrfalcon could weigh around three jin, and a female could reach four. But this one… Lin Jiangye hefted it in his hands and seriously doubted it even reached two jin.
Whatever. He’d take it all home later!
If the Zhang family couldn’t raise it properly, then they shouldn’t raise it at all. It would be better to hand it over to the Forestry Bureau to rehabilitate and release back into the wild!
“Kid, what did those bird-men do to Zhang Yushu? Did you see it?”
After Lin Jiangye soothed it again and again, the gyrfalcon’s voice finally showed a trace of emotion.
[Falcon couldn’t see… Falcon was locked up. Falcon only happened to see them over there.]
Lin Jiangye asked where the gyrfalcon had been at the time of the incident. It had been placed temporarily by a second-floor window in a side building—where the handler had left it.
In other words, the gyrfalcon seeing that scene was pure luck.
Following the gyrfalcon’s description, Lin Jiangye went to that window. After adjusting the angle and position, he and Shang Yongyi both looked out toward the only gap that could see the scenic woods.
At a glance, they saw rows and rows of tall evergreen trees. That area should have been the side-rear of the scenic woods; walk a bit further and you’d reach the estate’s side gate.
The side gate had surveillance.
But the footage showed nothing.
Then the two of them immediately realized the problem—what you could see from here was not where the body had ultimately been found.
Yet the autopsy report confirmed the body showed no signs of being moved. If it had been dragged, there would have been traces.
“So… he was chased and only died at the final spot?” The moment he said “chased,” Lin Jiangye suddenly thought of something.
“By the way—did Zhang Yushu like hunting? Or activities disguised as hunting?” The moment he asked, Shang Yongyi immediately understood what he was getting at.
The Zhang family’s faces looked unpleasant. They weren’t idiots—Lin Jiangye was clearly probing for motive.
“He… did. He really liked it.” The person speaking paused. Even though they were in a warm indoor room, he felt a bone-chilling cold rise in him.
Because he liked hunting too.
But wait—when they hunted, they used animals they raised. They didn’t hunt people. So why would they be “retaliated against” like prey?
Or—did someone know Zhang Yushu’s hobby and deliberately use it against him?
Shang Yongyi sensed the silence and the fear in them, and the corner of his mouth pulled into a cold smile.
So the Zhang family knew fear, after all.
But beyond fear, there was also the terror of being offended—especially for Zhang Jingming, the Second Young Master who had invited those dancers. His heart was full of betrayal and humiliation, twisted into furious hatred.
If Shang Yongyi weren’t standing here, he would have dragged those people back immediately and tortured them to death one by one.
Lin Jiangye shot them a glance, then carried the gyrfalcon out of the side building.
He went to the area the gyrfalcon had indicated. The scenic woods were planted with tall evergreens, thick trunks more than enough to hide a human silhouette.
And since it had snowed not long ago, everything was blank white. If someone wore white feather costumes, it truly would be hard to notice them.
Walking deeper, Lin Jiangye quickly found a hollow.
It wasn’t deep—maybe half a meter—but the radius was about a meter and a half. And the surface had clearly been deliberately smoothed. Once you slid down, it was hard to climb back out under your own power.
Let alone for Zhang Yushu—who was only an elementary school kid.
And those “bird-men” had simply stood around him, watching him struggle in the hollow.
Unfortunately, they were extremely cautious. There wasn’t a single footprint left around the hollow.
Not long after, Shang Yongyi and the others arrived too. Seeing the hollow, their eyes lit up.
Another scene.
Lin Jiangye had thought there were no clues nearby, but after the detectives did a carpet search, they actually found quite a few things: a strand of hair with a follicle, a broken fingernail, and a small clump of soil that didn’t match the surroundings.
Suddenly, Lin Jiangye tilted his head and asked the detective behind him, “When you found the body, what was he wearing? Was it thick?”
The detective—and the Zhang family—froze, then immediately thought of something.
“The clothes were stripped off. Where did they go?” The banquet, indoors, would have been warm. But to go out into the courtyard or woods, he would have needed a wool coat or a down jacket.
When the Zhang family saw him last, he was indeed wearing a camel-colored cashmere overcoat over his suit.
But when they found him, the coat was gone.
“Did the killer take it? To sell it for money?” The idea existed for only a moment before the detectives dismissed it.
They believed the coat was still somewhere in the woods.
Lin Jiangye lifted his head toward the forest ahead, a flash of light passing through his eyes.
He started walking in. Others tried to follow, but he refused. “If you follow me, it won’t show up.”
Shang Yongyi frowned. If Lin Jiangye went in alone and something happened, Shang Yongyi would have no way to explain it.
But Lin Jiangye insisted on entering by himself.
In the end, Shang Yongyi could only agree.
Carrying the gyrfalcon, Lin Jiangye walked into the “hunting forest” used for rich kids’ entertainment. It was called a forest, but apart from the occasional passing birds, there were basically no animals inside.
Whenever the Zhang family wanted to “hunt,” the animal-handling servants would release small animals into the woods as living targets for their fun.
Mm. Like ancient emperors on hunting excursions.
Still, there were always some clever little animals that seized the chance to escape into the real wilderness.
But from then on, they had to find their own food and water. No more free meals and shelter. It was hard to say which life was better.
Lin Jiangye let out a whistle. Unfortunately, he hadn’t brought his own little ones this time. Otherwise he could have sent them out to help find “witnesses.”
The crisp whistle echoed through the woods. Soon, several round little birds appeared on nearby branches.
They might have once been pets raised by the Zhang family, or they might have been wild birds passing through. Lin Jiangye didn’t care.
What he cared about was the white-tailed sea eagle hiding somewhere in these woods.
“The eagle with the white tail—where does it live? I have something to ask it.”
After speaking, Lin Jiangye pulled out bird biscuits from his backpack, crumbled them onto the ground, then stepped back several paces and waited for their answer.
The gyrfalcon in his arms caught the unfamiliar scent and lifted its head curiously toward Lin Jiangye.
It didn’t say anything, but its bright eyes gave away what it wanted.
Lin Jiangye chuckled softly, then broke another biscuit in half and fed it bit by bit into the gyrfalcon’s beak.
It was the first time the gyrfalcon had eaten a snack like this. At first it was only curious, but once it tasted it, it couldn’t stop. After finishing one piece, it even chirped softly, asking for a second.
“This is a snack for you, not a meal. Once I solve this case, I’ll take you home to eat meat—lots and lots of meat.” Lin Jiangye gently patted the gyrfalcon’s head and coaxed softly.
The gyrfalcon froze. After a long moment it asked, [Falcon can leave here?]
Lin Jiangye nodded firmly. “Of course. Someone has already agreed to let me take you.”
Sure, the one who agreed wasn’t the Zhang family—but what did that matter? With Shang Yongyi here, even if they didn’t want to agree, they’d have to.
If it stayed with the Zhang family any longer, this gyrfalcon would probably die soon.
And it would die quietly, without a sound.
While Lin Jiangye was calling for the white-tailed sea eagle, the police weren’t idle either. After summoning everyone who had attended the banquet yesterday, they began taking statements one by one.
The moment they did, they discovered a problem—the dancers Zhang Jingming had invited had never left the indoor areas the entire time. Each of them had witnesses beside them during the time of the crime.
Even in the Zhang estate, not every indoor corner had cameras.
But every one of those dancers had one or two people who could vouch for them—and those witnesses were not their companions, which made false testimony far less likely.
The colder Shang Yongyi’s gaze became when he looked at the Zhang family, the more displeased everyone else felt toward them too.
It was just one death—was it really necessary to drag all of them back?
Well, congratulations. Now Shang Yongyi had learned what they’d been up to.
The Zhang family stood there stiffly. They hadn’t expected this case to land in Shang Yongyi’s hands either.
Their family member’s death was just an ordinary murder case. It didn’t even qualify for a major crimes team—who would have expected it to alarm Shang Yongyi?
“When you went to ‘invite’ Lin Jiangye, did you not even bother to find out who the Wen’an District Criminal Investigation captain was?” One of the banquet guests asked through gritted teeth.
He was met by a cluster of blank, confused stares.
That made him laugh in anger.
No wonder the Zhang family was declining—each and every one of them was that stupid.
After checking the situation with the dozen dancers, Shang Yongyi realized that the “bird-men” the gyrfalcon saw were very likely other people disguised as dancers.
As for why?
He glanced at Zhang Jingming, then shifted his gaze to the Zhang patriarch Zhang Xun and his eldest son Zhang Guanyu.
Zhang Xun was seventy-six. Zhang Guanyu was the child of the first wife—forty years old now. The second son was born to the mistress, thirty-five this year. And Zhang Yushu was born to the fourth woman—he died before even reaching his tenth birthday.
Besides the three sons, there were two daughters—forty-six and forty-four—both from the first wife.
When Zhang Xun was young, he worked himself too hard building his business. After seventy, his condition worsened year by year. Now, looking at him, he seemed so frail it felt like he could close his eyes and never wake up the next day. Compared to his first wife, he looked twenty years older.
In reality, they were less than three years apart.
Shang Yongyi suspected that beyond revenge, a fight over inheritance might also be part of the motive.
So he asked whether Zhang Xun had made a will.
The moment the word “will” appeared, the entire room fell silent. Everyone stared at Zhang Xun—especially the guests, who watched with open curiosity.
Zhang Xun seemed to understand something. The wrinkled skin on his face trembled slightly. His mouth twitched. And only then did he force out two words.
“Made one.”
In an instant, all of Zhang Xun’s children turned to look at him.
“I… I left Yushu 8% of the company shares, and a few properties…” Facing the furious stares of his sons and daughters, Zhang Xun’s voice grew smaller and smaller.
Eight percent was a huge portion—huge enough to influence the company. If Zhang Yushu sold that 8% to another shareholder, then who would sit in the chairman’s seat would become anyone’s guess.
The Zhang family knew Zhang Xun doted on his youngest son, but they never imagined he would spoil him to such a ridiculous extent.
Wait—could this be the real reason Zhang Yushu was killed?
The detectives, watching the Zhang family on the verge of exploding, quietly backed away a few steps, afraid they’d get dragged into the chaos when these people started fighting.
If it was internal slaughter within the Zhang family, it would explain why no useful clues could be found.
Who would know the layout of their own home better than insiders?
Just as the Zhang family was about to blow up, someone slowly walked in from outside the courtyard—it was Lin Jiangye, and there was now a large bird in his arms.
“Here.” Lin Jiangye casually tossed a coat over. “This overcoat—take it back and run tests.”
Shang Yongyi caught it and passed it to the detective beside him. Then he pointed at the big bird in Lin Jiangye’s arms. “Don’t tell me that’s the white-tailed sea eagle.”
The moment those four words were spoken, everyone who had been about to argue snapped their heads around.
They still remembered that they had brought Lin Jiangye here to determine whether the white-tailed sea eagle had done it. But after seeing the bird’s current state, no one would think that anymore.
Because this white-tailed sea eagle was even more emaciated than the gyrfalcon.
“The coat was taken by the sea eagle because it was too cold. And since it had its eye on that coat, it also happened to witness the whole process of the victim’s death.”
One sentence—and everyone present was stunned.
“Who did it?!” Zhang Xun banged his cane furiously against the floor.
Lin Jiangye shrugged. “There were six people—men and women. All of them wore masks, all pure white. The sea eagle couldn’t see their faces at all.”
Feather costumes and masks from who-knew-where—this was clearly a premeditated murder.
Everyone felt disappointed. If they wore masks, didn’t that still mean they had no idea who the killer was?
But Lin Jiangye’s real point came next.
“They seemed to know in advance that Zhang Yushu would go into the scenic woods. So they hid inside from the start. And that hollow was prepared early too—mm, the two who did the digging started before the banquet began. Oh, and it was done at night, which means it was most likely someone from your Zhang household.”
“Once Zhang Yushu entered the woods, they surrounded him immediately. He looked terrified and kept running deeper. Then he fell into the hollow. They formed a circle around him, completely enclosing him. They gagged him, tied his hands behind his back, and started torturing him.”
The medical examiner nodded repeatedly—this matched the autopsy.
There were marks around the mouth and wrists. He had been restrained before he was killed.
That was exactly why the police had always believed he was murdered, not killed by a white-tailed sea eagle. Some people even tried to argue the sea eagle was used like a “knife”… and every time the examiner thought about that theory, he wanted to laugh.
Still, given the current situation, maybe those people only wanted to muddle things and picked a random excuse.
“After they’d had enough of watching him panic and struggle, they lifted him up, brought him to where the body was found, and killed him there. But the sea eagle didn’t see exactly how they did it. By the time it arrived, he was already dead, and his coat was thrown aside.” Lin Jiangye continued.
And after that, there was no “after that.” The sea eagle dragged the wool coat away and happily used it as a nest—otherwise it would have frozen to death out here.
Everyone listened as if their minds were being hammered. They’d been disappointed about not knowing who the killers were, but Lin Jiangye had just delivered most of the crime process.
And he had also pointed out that there were indeed insiders within the Zhang family.
Two of them.
Zhang Xun’s vision went black. He had suspected an insider, but he never imagined there were two!
Who were they?
His bloodshot eyes locked on his two sons. According to Lin Jiangye, those people wore the feather costumes invited by the second son. If this came out, it would inevitably implicate the second son.
The youngest was dead. The second son was now “possibly the murderer.” That meant the only one who truly benefited was the eldest son.
With that 8%, the company would become the eldest’s one-man rule.
And then, perhaps the shares Zhang Xun intended for the second son could be taken away too.
Suspected by his own father, Zhang Guanyu immediately produced an alibi. He had only returned yesterday morning, when all the servants were already awake and working.
“I only landed yesterday at dawn. There’s no way I had time to dig anything!” There were flight tickets as proof—surely that could prove he wasn’t one of the insiders?
Zhang Xun stared at him coldly, not fully convinced. A flight ticket could only prove he wasn’t the one who dug the hollow—but it didn’t prove he wasn’t among the people who carried out the killing later.
And Zhang Xun remembered clearly: his eldest son had disappeared for a period during the banquet.
How did he explain that?
Lin Jiangye wasn’t particularly interested in that. His entire mind was on the white-tailed sea eagle. “Do you have medicine? Treat it first.”
The targeted veterinarian instinctively looked at Zhang Xun.
Zhang Xun wanted to refuse. At this moment, he found everyone irritating.
But before he could speak, Shang Yongyi issued an order first. “Take him over.”
The veterinarian still didn’t dare move. He kept glancing at Zhang Xun.
The old man gripped his cane tightly, trembling with rage.
But after meeting the cold, indifferent eyes of Lin Jiangye and Shang Yongyi, he quickly realized he had no room to refuse.
He took several deep breaths, then finally waved his hand, signaling the vet to obey Shang Yongyi’s order.
Lin Jiangye carried the two birds and followed the vet to the clinic room. He handed the white-tailed sea eagle over and said, “Its foot seems off too. Doctor, take a look.”
The vet had barely lifted the sea eagle into his arms when Lin Jiangye’s lips curved into a satisfied smile.
Then a fist shot straight toward the man’s face.
In the next second, the man toppled backward like a plank—thud—and fell unconscious.
The moment the veterinarian lost consciousness, the white-tailed sea eagle flew back to Lin Jiangye on its own and lifted its head high, smug and proud.
[Is eagle impressive?]
“Super impressive!” Lin Jiangye praised without hesitation, making the gyrfalcon beside him burn with envy.
It also wanted to cooperate with the young man to catch bad people! But it didn’t know anything, QAQ.
“Don’t worry—there’ll be chances later!” Once he brought these two raptors back to Yue City, how could there not be opportunities to earn merit?
Honestly, these two were perfect for catching criminals. One claw press—whoosh—blood, guaranteed.
Lin Jiangye set the two birds aside, then immediately tore open the man’s clothes, checking inside and out.
Finally, near the man’s lower abdomen, he found a bomb remote.
Yes. That’s right.
There were bombs buried near the Zhang estate. The original plan was to set them off today or tomorrow—to blow every Zhang family member to pieces.
Earlier, Lin Jiangye hadn’t told the crowd that the sea eagle had seen the insider’s face. Since he didn’t say it, everyone probably assumed the sea eagle hadn’t seen anything.
But in fact, it had. Not only clearly—it knew exactly who the two people were.
One was the veterinarian who treated them regularly.
The other was Zhang Xun’s first wife.
When Lin Jiangye heard those two names, his brain froze for a second.
But the truly terrifying part came after that.
According to the sea eagle, this wasn’t the first time it had seen the vet digging and burying things around the estate.
Lin Jiangye had it lead him to one of the locations. After digging up a pile of soil, he found a block of C-4 explosive buried underground.
Good lord… good lord.
He had thought it was just an absurdly outrageous murder case. He hadn’t expected it to develop into this.
His head hurt.
Worst of all, the sea eagle told him the vet had begun laying these things a year ago. No one knew how much explosive was hidden beneath the estate.
Lin Jiangye’s gaze turned icy. There were already more than a hundred people present at the estate today.
If those explosives…
Still, he couldn’t understand why the vet was doing it.
If the vet hated the Zhang family, why bother participating in the murder? Once the bombs went off, the entire Zhang family would die anyway.
Unless… he had a reason he had to participate? Or a reason he couldn’t detonate the bombs yesterday?
Lin Jiangye thought for a long time, then decided to stop thinking.
This was police work. Why was he working so hard? If he did everything, what were the police for?
So he brought the white-tailed sea eagle back first.
Because he didn’t know whether the vet had accomplices, and didn’t know who might hold another remote, Lin Jiangye needed to lure him away from everyone else first.
Fortunately, the remote really was found on the veterinarian.
Lin Jiangye still didn’t alert the others. He sent Shang Yongyi a message, snapped a photo of the remote and sent that too, then tied the veterinarian up tightly.
When Shang Yongyi arrived, cold sweat dotted his forehead.
This wasn’t just a murder case anymore, was it?!
