Chapter 243: 243

243 「Help! It's unjust, there's no puppet rights! 」

The next day, early in the morning Tushan Jiu set off for Nan Cheng Prison.

She had already communicated with the prison in advance, which amounted to a second interrogation of Li Ziliang.

When she saw Li Ziliang, he was already stooped, each step extremely difficult.

Though he was sixty, he looked like an eighty-year-old.

Tushan Jiu glanced at his face; his life palace was already dim, and his time was short.

Li Ziliang mechanically sat in the interrogation chair; in the oppressive interrogation room, as Wang Dongqing had him recount the details of the case again, his hoarse voice sounded like someone who hadn't spoken in years.

But he didn't follow Wang Dongqing's request to talk about the past; instead, he looked at the four of them and retorted, "You're newbies from the Office again?"

Li Ziliang knew the Office wasn't strange; the reason he hadn't been sentenced to immediate execution was precisely because his case still had a strange point.

That his son's ghost had disappeared.

The Office staff checked with the netherworld's reapers and indeed had not hooked Li Niao's soul.

So this matter remained doubtful, naturally becoming a suspicion.

Tushan Jiu originally wanted to go to Li Ziliang's home, but upon seeing him, she no longer needed to.

Because under the Heavenly Eye, Li Ziliang was that medium.

He carried karma.

Tushan Jiu leaned back in her chair and said, "Forty-two years ago, on the hill behind your house, did you use a knife to kill a small snake?"

Li Ziliang's ears were a bit deaf; he didn't hear clearly, leaned forward, and asked, "What did you say?"

"I'm asking whether you killed a small snake with a knife forty-two years ago," Xiang Yichu repeated, his voice slightly louder; he also took the puppet with transparent tape on its mouth from his shoulder and put it on the table.

Li Ziliang frowned, looking impatient: "What snake? It's been over forty years; how could I remember? Besides, I've killed so many snakes—my hometown is in the mountains; who doesn't kill a few snakes? You guys might as well stop investigating; after all these years inside, I've lived long enough—just end me and let me be free."

Tushan Jiu twirled her pen, tilting her head to look at him.

Why would she ask him if he'd killed a small snake? Because under her Heavenly Eye, his body bore a faint trace of snake spirit energy.

It was minuscule.

If it were merely a practitioner with the Yin-Yang Eye, they'd surely notice nothing odd; Tushan Jiu, however, possesses the Heavenly Eye, which lets her see the qi of all things, so she naturally detects that slight difference.

With the medium identified, the remaining karma becomes clear as day.

Back then, it wasn't a ghost causing trouble; the "ghost" Li Ziliang said came five times was actually his son Li Niao each time, not a spirit.

Because five years ago the snake spirit's cultivation was still low, unable to directly harm the already hard-fated Li Ziliang, it chose to possess Li Niao's body, deliberately making Li Ziliang hallucinate so he would personally chop down his own son.

Just as back then, Li Ziliang had chopped off its newborn child.

Since Tushan Jiu now had a lead, she naturally didn't need to linger with Li Ziliang.

The pen she had been twirling in her hand stopped, and she set it on the table.

The three beside her all looked at her in unison.

Tushan Jiu looked at Li Ziliang and said, "The weak being preyed upon by the strong and all things having spirit—these two statements aren't contradictory. Back then, the one you played with—oh, no, eighteen isn't a child—was that wanton killing?"

"When you took out your anger on that passing small snake, each blade that struck it eventually rebounded onto your son—this is karmic retribution."

Li Ziliang widened his eyes, seemingly recalling which small snake Tushan Jiu meant.

He recalled that at the time he had been bullied at school, then after returning home his parents drove him to the fields to weed, leaving him feeling resentful and blaming his parents for not caring.

As he passed the field's edge, he saw a thick-as-an-arm cabbage snake slither by, with a thin-as-a-finger small snake following behind.

He feared the large snake; the small one was only as thick as a branch, so he took the weeding knife in his hand and chopped the small snake into pieces.

He recalled that while chopping the small snake, he also cursed it as the classmate who had bullied him.

Seeing his expression, Tushan Jiu and the others knew he had remembered.

Wang Dongqing, upon hearing it was a snake, said nothing at all.

Li Ziliang, unconvinced, flushed with anger, his wrinkles knotted: "Nonsense about all things having spirit—I'm human, I rank above them; it's just a snake! Who in our village hasn't killed one? Why single me out for revenge? And my son is innocent—if they have the power, let them come get me! Come on!"

Maomao glanced at Li Ziliang and said, "You're a human—why don't you dare go kill a blind bear?"

Li Ziliang choked up.

Wang Dongqing gave Maomao a thumbs-up.

Tushan Jiu tossed her pen onto the table, "Let's go."

Xiang Yichu closed his notebook, looking the part.

But in fact, he hadn't written a single character.

Seeing they were about to leave, Li Ziliang tried to stand, but the interrogation chair restricted his movement.

He cried out, "Don't go! If you can prove it's a supernatural incident, can't you release me? I didn't kill my son!"

Tushan Jiu had already reached the door; hearing his shout, she stopped, turned, and said, "Just wait for the process."

Upon hearing that, Li Ziliang's brows finally relaxed, revealing a satisfied expression.

Tushan Jiu and the others saw through his thoughts, exchanged a glance, then pushed open the interrogation room door and left, leaving Li Ziliang still mentally calculating how much compensation the state could owe him for his five years of "grievance."

Little did he know, the day he would be released from prison was also the day his yang lifespan was exhausted.

Having left the prison, the four were just about to get into the car.

Then they heard a ripping sound.

They lowered their heads to look at Xiang Yichu's hand.

The puppet spirit stared expressionlessly at the four of them.

"You trying to suffocate the puppet?" the puppet spirit complained; although it hadn't cultivated into human form and thus couldn't change expression, one could hear from its tone how dissatisfied it was.

Tushan Jiu: "Don't worry, you can't be suffocated to death."

Maomao echoed: "Exactly."

The puppet spirit struck a hands-on-hips pose, "Why?"

Xiang Yichu, helpless, couldn't be bothered to talk to this chatty block of wood; he picked it up and walked toward the back of the car.

"What are you doing! Let go of me!"

"Don't pick me up, aren't I shameless?"

"Iceberg Xiang!"

"Oh dear, I don't want to sit in the trunk, I know I was wrong, I won't speak."

"Help! This is unreasonable, I have no rights!"