Chapter 190: Heavyweight prisoner

Before the Master arrived in the capital, the Heavenly Prison welcomed a heavyweight prisoner, the third-ranked figure of the Jinzhou rebels, the sworn brother of the Great Ming King, Wang Shuner, whose big name was Wang Ping.

Jiang Jiang Yucheng Fan had not yet been officially promoted, but he waved his hand and locked the person into the Jia-character prison, specifically instructing Chen Guanlou to take good care of him.

"He must not be allowed to commit suicide. Feed him well and raise him until he is fat and white, which is best. The higher-ups have spoken, and His Majesty requires this person to be executed according to the law and cut into a thousand pieces. If he dies in our Heavenly Prison, starting from me, no one will want to stay out of it. If I am beheaded, all of you will lose your heads."

Chen Guanlou felt great pressure.

"May I ask my lord, when will the court execute Wang Shuner according to the law?"

"I don't know about this; it must be arranged by the palace. Whatever the palace says, it will be."

"It won't be locked for a year, right?" Chen Guanlou thought of this, and his scalp went numb. If he was really locked for a year, he would immediately apply for rotation; he couldn't bear this pressure alone.

What is the easiest thing in the Heavenly Prison?

Dead people!

There are ways to die no matter what.

But he couldn't let Wang Shuner die in the Heavenly Prison, and he had to raise him until he was fat and white, which was convenient for death by a thousand cuts; it was really tiring.

"Rest assured, it definitely won't be locked for a year. The war in Jinzhou urgently needs to give the world an explanation; there is nothing better than executing the third-ranked leader of the rebels. I estimate that there will be instructions from above in at most a month."

If it was only a month, that was fine, Chen Guanlou could bear

Warden Fan was uneasy, terrified that an accident might occur during his departure, and reminded him again: "This is the top priority; you cannot let Wang Shuner die. He can be crippled or disabled, that's fine, but he must not die. He must be alive when he reaches the execution ground."

"I will take your instruction to heart, my lord. I will definitely have people watch the cell twelve hours a day and will never allow any accidents to happen to Wang Shuner."

"That is very good!"

That day, as the sun began to sink in the west, several yamen runners and soldiers escorted a prisoner transport cart to the Heavenly Prison.

Taking out the key, they opened the door of the cart, and Wang Shuner, who was inside the cage, walked out.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, several yamen runners stepped forward to put the wooden collar and chains on him.

With a dozen pounds of wooden collar and twenty or thirty pounds of chains on his body, added to the chains he already wore, Wang Shuner was burdened with fifty or sixty pounds, yet his back remained straight, his expression calm, and he did not even twitch an eyebrow.

He was a fourth-rank martial artist, but his shoulder blades had been pierced, locking his martial veins. He possessed great martial arts skills but could not display them.

Chen Guanlou had previously learned about Wang Shuner's background. He had joined the rebel army in Jinzhou midway, and because of his outstanding martial arts and heroic personality, he had taken the head of an enemy general amidst thousands of troops. Only then did the Great Ming Prince swear brotherhood with him, ranking him third and placing him above the other old brothers.

The Great Ming Prince valued Wang Shuner too much and elevated him too high, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the old brothers. The old brothers dared not vent their anger on the Great Ming Prince, so they all targeted Wang Shuner.

Wang Shuner was captured because he had encountered exclusion within the rebel army; at the critical moment, no one came to his rescue, he had no supplies, and no one even notified him to break out. By the time he realized the situation was wrong, he had already fallen into the encirclement.

He was a fourth-rank martial artist, very strong. But the imperial army also did not lack martial artists; they had not only fourth-rankers but even fifth-rank powerhouses and sixth-rank experts specifically used to deal with martial artists like them.

His capture could only be attributed to both time and fate.

If he had been even a little more selfish, he could have completely abandoned his troops and broken out with his trusted aides. Or, when the Great Ming Prince assigned the mission at the beginning, if he had thought of human nature in the most malicious way, he would not have ended up being captured alive. With his martial arts, if nothing else, escaping would certainly have been no problem.

A hero at the end of his road!

He trusted the Great Ming Prince too much, never thinking that the Great Ming Prince would let him serve as cannon fodder, and even less did he expect that when the Great Ming Prince broke out, he did not send anyone to notify him.

He felt that he was a failure as a person; otherwise, why would the Great Ming Prince have abandoned him?

He was clearly very capable of fighting and leading troops. Since he was so strong and the Great Ming Prince still abandoned him, it must be because he was a failure as a person.

Ever since he was captured, he had been disheartened. Except for not cooperating with the interrogation, he was very cooperative in all other matters; kill him if they wanted, slice him if they wanted—if he even frowned, he would be a bastard.

After completing the handover procedures, Chen Guanlou waved his hand, urging the prison guards to lock the prisoner in the dungeon.

He was not at ease letting the prisoner wander outside the Heavenly Prison. Although his shoulder blades were pierced and his martial veins locked, there was no guarantee that the man hadn't practiced some secret technique specifically designed to counter the imperial court's methods. It was safer to lock him in the dungeon immediately, specifically the innermost cell built with iron bars.

The iron-bar cell was usually used to hold the most heinous criminals and had been empty for a long time. To hold Wang Shuner, they had even specially replaced a few rusted iron bars and painted them beforehand.

As soon as one approached, one could smell the scent of paint.

He personally escorted the prisoner into the cell, then, with his hand gripping the hilt of the blade at his waist, he stood at the cell door, nervously watching the prison guards remove the wooden collar and the iron chains from the prisoner's feet.

After the prison guards came out, he quickly locked the cell door. Still not at ease, he directly applied two locks.

He instructed the two prison guards, "You stay here and keep watch. If there is any situation, report it in time."

The work schedule had already been arranged, with three shifts every day, and every prison guard assigned to guard the cell door received an extra bonus.

As long as the money was sufficient, let alone three shifts, even two shifts, the prison guards would not complain.

Not paying money while still requiring overtime was the source of resentment.

Having been a wage earner in his previous life, Chen Guanlou understood the psychology of wage earners. If the money is sufficient, you are the boss. If there is no money and you still treat people like cattle and horses, there is only one word: "Spring Pond Charming Rhyme!"

He had been nervous for several days, but seeing that Wang Shuner did not cause trouble and was even very cooperative—eating when given food and drinking when given drink, with no suicidal tendencies—the heart he had been holding in his throat was half-relieved.

This day, he personally went into the prison to inspect.

In the deepest cell, there were only torches, no skylights; it was pitch black, and the smell of mold was pungent.

No matter how long it had been, he could never get used to this moldy smell that never dissipated year-round.

He first asked the prison guard guarding the cell door, "How is it?"

The prison guard pursed his lips, "Very honest, he hasn't said a single word."

Chen Guanlou stood in front of the cell door and looked inside; the light was dim, but it did not affect him.

Practicing the "Ascension Record" had made his senses sharp, and he could see normally even in the dark of night.

He saw that Wang Shuner's face was a mess, with bedbugs crawling on it, yet he seemed not to feel it. His eyes were dull and dead; he had already lost the will to live.

Chen Guanlou felt a bit worried in his heart: could this mental state last until the day of execution?

"Wang Shuner, do you have any unfulfilled wishes?"

In order to let the prisoner raise a little bit of the will to live, at least to persist until the execution, Chen Guanlou asked.

Wang Shuner's reaction was very slow; several seconds passed, and he seemed to realize only then that someone was calling him.

He slowly raised his head, his face blank, "Wishes?"