Chapter 612: Die Alone to Protect Everyone

"Is there no second path?"

"No!"

"Only the list?"

"Only the list!"

The conversation between the two was concise, and Head Constable Wang's face was pale. His eyes were hesitant and struggling, but after a moment, he seemed to have finally made up his mind.

He stood up abruptly and bowed. "Thank you for your care over these days, my lord. I will be back shortly."

Chen Guanlou stared at him, frowning. "Don't do anything reckless."

"Rest assured, my lord. This small one will take responsibility for his own actions and will never cause you trouble. Time is limited; I take my leave!"

With that, Head Constable Wang strode out of the office. Before long, the prison guards below reported that Head Constable Wang had left the Heavenly Prison and asked if they should follow him.

Chen Guanlou waved his hand. "No need to follow."

Mu Qingshan didn't understand. "Does my lord know what Head Constable Wang is going to do?"

Hmph!

Chen Guanlou looked very dissatisfied and said earnestly: "Little Mu, in this life, a person can do anything, but they must never board a pirate ship. Once you are on the ship, it's hard to get off!"

"Master, I am older than you." Could you not call me Little Mu?

And...

"Master, this ship of yours seems not much different from a pirate ship."

Chen Guanlou rolled his eyes immediately. "You are ungrateful for the blessings you have. If this ship of mine is worthy of being called a pirate ship, then what would a real pirate ship look like? Also, have I ever asked you to kill or set fires, have I ever asked you to treat human life like grass, have I ever asked you to turn right and wrong upside down and frame innocent people? None of that, so why call it a pirate ship? With that brain of yours, you aren't even qualified to board a pirate ship!"

Mu Qingshan was very embarrassed but unable to refute.

"When it's time to get off work, go to the Six Shanmen and report a case. Say that Head Constable Wang is missing and ask them to send people to the Wang residence to look for him."

"Ah?" Mu Qingshan couldn't react for a moment.

"Ah what ah?!" Chen Guanlou scolded impatiently. "Do as I tell you; don't add a single word, don't leave out a single word. No matter what the Six Shanmen asks you, just say you don't know."

"Master, Head Constable Wang is just going out for a trip; why report him missing?"

"Ask your uncle! With that brain of yours, you still want to mix in officialdom? Hmph, daydreaming!"

Mu Qingshan rolled away in disgrace, and then he was scolded by Medical Official Mu, who called him a blockhead.

"It doesn't matter if you don't understand. Just do exactly what Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen tells you to do; don't ask about this and that. You can ponder it yourself afterwards. Asking 'why' every day—Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen is not a teacher in a school and has no time to answer why for you. You have to realize the 'why' yourself. Hurry up, go to the Six Shanmen and report the case."

Mu Qingshan had a head full of lawsuits; he vaguely grasped a little bit of the truth but wasn't sure. Seeing that the time was almost up, he hurried to the Six Shanmen to report the case.

At first, the Six Shanmen didn't pay attention to him, but when he revealed Chen Guanlou's identity, the Six Shanmen took it seriously. They immediately sent people to the Wang residence to look for Head Constable Wang.

Mu Qingshan was curious, and secondly, he was worried, so he followed them to the Wang residence.

As a result, when they arrived at the Wang residence, they found that Head Constable Wang had already committed suicide in the study, leaving a suicide note saying that Huang Zhimin's death was entirely due to his lack of supervision, which he failed to discover in time. Unexpectedly, this matter had huge implications. He couldn't bear to see the brothers below being tortured into a false confession because of him, and even less could he bear to implicate Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen, so he chose to die to prove his innocence, earnestly requesting the Ministry of Justice to let the Heavenly Prison go. He also left a last testament, instructing his family not to vent their anger on Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen, not to cause trouble without reason, and so on...

Mu Qingshan stood at the door, dumbfounded.

A few hours ago, he had seen Head Constable Wang sitting in the office, discussing with Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen how to solve this trouble.

A few hours later, he had become a corpse.

How could this be?

A perfectly good human life was gone in the blink of an eye.

He felt very uncomfortable in his heart! Not knowing how to vent it, he followed the crowd back to the Heavenly Prison in a daze.

Slap!

Chen Guanlou slapped Mu Qingshan, finally waking him up.

Medical Official Mu followed up with another slap. "You are decades old, yet you still can't take responsibility and still make people worry. What use are you!"

Mu Qingshan covered his face, feeling very aggrieved. "Head Constable Wang is gone."

"If he's gone, he's gone; who are you showing that mourning face to?" Medical Official Mu said impatiently and dismissively. "Dying alone to protect dozens of lives—his death was worth it! Blame only that he was blinded by greed and took this task."

Mu Qingshan couldn't believe these words came from his third uncle's mouth and looked at Chen Guanlou with longing eyes.

Chen Guanlou's face was heavy as he said: "I gave him a chance to hand over the list and protect everyone. He chose to give up himself. The result is that he dies alone, takes all the blame, and protects everyone. If he didn't die, he and the prison guards under him would all have to go to the Six Shanmen; whether they could live would depend entirely on fate!"

"Since ancient times, which prison guard has ever survived after entering the Six Shanmen? I have been in the Heavenly Prison for decades and have never seen a prison guard walk out of the Six Shanmen alive. Head Constable Wang caused a huge disaster this time; dying alone is already a stroke of luck, thanks to Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen's mediation. Otherwise, those dozens of prison guards would have been dragged into the Six Shanmen for interrogation by now."

"How could this be?" Mu Qingshan's face changed repeatedly, and his entire understanding was turned upside down.

Chen Guanlou kept a straight face and said sternly: "Now you should know why I asked you to write 'suicide' in the cause of death column. If it weren't for those two words, the person who died today wouldn't just be Head Constable Wang, but dozens of lives. The world mistakenly believes that when a prisoner is locked in the Heavenly Prison, the prison guards can deal with the prisoner however they want and can kill the prisoner whenever they want. They don't know that prison guards also have to follow the rules and cannot kill whoever they want just because they feel like it. Even the Emperor cannot kill whoever he wants!

In the judicial system, the Heavenly Prison is the bottom line of the law, but the bottom line doesn't mean no one is in charge. Once those above start managing it seriously, people will die in strings. I repeatedly warned the prison guards not to take money from outside to kill prisoners, just because I was worried about today's situation. I reminded them daily and monthly, yet I still couldn't stop the greed of the human heart."

"But... isn't it said that the Heavenly Prison has a death quota?"

Chen Guanlou felt very stifled; they were all as stupid as pigs, and even after repeated teaching, they still wouldn't learn.

He said: "If those above approve, it's called a quota. If those above don't approve, it's called homicide. I repeatedly emphasized that the Heavenly Prison's duty is only to guard the prisoners and not to do anything extra, yet one by one, they just wouldn't listen. Forget it, forget it. When Head Constable Wang's case is closed, arrange for someone to go to the Wang residence to help and hold the funeral. If the money isn't enough, go find Qian Fugui. I still have to go to the Ministry of Justice; I'm afraid Head Constable Wang's life won't be enough to stop the barking of that bunch of dogs."

"My lord..."

"Don't call me my lord! I will be killed by you bunch of idiots sooner or later!"

Chen Guanlou was very irritable.

He called Xiao Jin to temporarily manage the prison guards under Head Constable Wang and gave them a good beating one by one. ===== CHAPTER 613 =====