Chapter 863: Want to Escape? No Way!

"It must be that the two families privately instructed them to act this way." Zhang Zhang Yuli declared with absolute certainty.

"What's the use of beating a few prisoners to death?"

"I don't know, sir." Zhang Zhang Yuli's face was full of regret, as if he were starting to regret having said so much. Covering his face, as though he could hardly bear to be seen, he said, "Perhaps the two families have made some new move. I can't see through it. These noble military families do things just like civil officials—twists and turns. I'm a man who's barely read a few days' worth of books. How could I have the brains to guess their intentions?"

Chen Chen Guanlou nodded in understanding and did not make things difficult for the man. "Write down the guards' names. I'll protect you."

"I don't know." Zhang Zhang Yuli refused, completely uncooperative.

Chen Chen Guanlou frowned. "At this point, what are you still afraid of?"

"My lord, I don't have your family background, I don't have your cultivation, I don't have your confidence. I still have a family. Even if I don't think of myself, I have to think of them. Those people act without any scruples. I don't want to have my head cut off while sleeping at night."

Zhang Zhang Yuli confessed plainly that he was afraid of death, terribly afraid. He did not dare offend anyone, nor could he afford to offend anyone.

"What I could say, I've said. What I can't say, my lord will learn on his own once the interrogation room gives them a beating. But be quick about it. Once the Ministry of Justice gets word, any move my lord wishes to make will surely be blocked." Zhang Zhang Yuli could not help but offer a reminder. "Also, I wish to resign from this post at the Heaven Prison. I beg my lord to grant it."

"Resign your post, and you think you can stay out of it?" Chen Chen Guanlou did not approve of the man's attempt to be a shrinking turtle.

"It's still better than staying at the Heaven Prison, living in constant dread day after day. I beg my lord to grant it."

"Granting your wish is simple enough. But are you certain that once you leave the Heaven Prison, you'll be safe?"

"I'll leave Jingcheng as soon as I can. I'm just a nobody. They won't waste time and money on me." Zhang Zhang Yuli said with conviction.

Chen Chen Guanlou raised an eyebrow slightly. "Are you sure?"

"I've thought it through. I must leave Jingcheng as soon as possible. I beg my lord to grant it."

"I'm afraid that won't be easy."

Zhang Zhang Yuli had never, ever expected the man to refuse his request.

"Although you're only a jailer, and your coming and going is indeed something I can decide—still, such a serious incident has occurred in the Yi Block prison. At this moment, you cannot leave. Only after the Ministry of Justice finishes its investigation and closes the case will you be allowed to leave."

"My lord, you're driving me to my death!" Zhang Zhang Yuli cried out loudly, nearly weeping with grief.

Chen Chen Guanlou let out a cold laugh. "Just who exactly is driving you to your death, Zhang Zhang Yuli? You need to get this straight. It was clearly your own mismanagement that caused the major incident in the Yi Block prison. Instead of thinking about how to solve the problem, you think only of how to slip away. You throw the whole mess to me, expecting me to take the blame for you. What a fine scheme! I haven't heard a few honest words from you—nothing but thoughts of how to escape. On ordinary days I turn a blind eye, neither questioning nor interfering with what you lot do. But that does not mean I'm a soft persimmon that can be bullied and deceived at will!"

"Does my lord blame me for having concealed things?"

"Did you not conceal things?"

"Even if I did conceal things, it was for reasons beyond my control. I'm afraid of death, my lord."

"You may fear death, you may conceal things. I may also refuse to approve your resignation, and forbid you from taking a single step out of the Heaven Prison. Everyone must be responsible for what they have done. Don't even think of washing your hands of it completely."

Chen Chen Guanlou's attitude was stern, leaving no room for doubt or negotiation.

Zhang Zhang Yuli had never, ever expected that he had given his all, only for things to develop to such a state. How could he accept it?

He could not accept it.

His eyes were bloodshot, like a trapped beast with nowhere to vent—or perhaps not daring to vent.

Bang!

Chen Chen Guanlou picked up the inkstone and struck the desk heavily. "Think it over carefully. Once the Ministry of Justice sends people, how will you answer them? Tonight's events, I will certainly report exactly as they happened."

"Is my lord truly this cold-hearted?"

"It is my duty. It is not that I am cold-hearted." Chen Chen Guanlou snorted. "Zhang Zhang Yuli, you should not have come to me seeking escape. You should have gone to your backer in the Ministry of Justice, and let your backer help you escape. What private dealings you have between yourselves, what Guimingtang you are up to—I know nothing of it. Nor do I know how many shady things you have done in private. If you want to escape, first prepare yourself to shed a layer of skin!"

As soon as his words fell, he ordered men to take Zhang Zhang Yuli away and place him under strict guard.

The east paled with dawn; the sky gradually brightened.

The man sent to report to the Ministry of Justice had already departed. How exactly to handle the matter would be decided by the Ministry of Justice. Chen Chen Guanlou did not wish to interfere. If it had been the Bing Block prison, or the Jia Block prison, he would have stepped forward.

As for the Yi Block prison—let it go to hell for all he cared.

Once the Ministry of Justice received the news, the Jicongcong Sect sent people over in haste. First, they halted the interrogation in the punishment room and ordered the Six Doors to investigate the matter. The prisoners were all taken away by the Six Doors' runners, including the guards on night duty. Zhang Zhang Yuli was taken by Ministry of Justice officials to the Ministry for questioning.

Mu Qingshan, having received such a huge shock early in the morning, took a while to adjust. "My lord isn't going to handle it?"

"Handle my ass! If you want to handle it, go to the Ministry of Justice yourself and dig up news—go hear what Zhang Zhang Yuli has to say."

Mu Qingshan shook his head like a rattle-drum. He certainly wasn't going. One look told him it was a cesspool of trouble. He had no desire to get drenched in its stench and be dragged under to drown.

"Nothing to do? Then get lost, now." At Chen Chen Guanlou's sharp rebuke, Mu Qingshan scurried away.

Mu Yiguan Mu came to the office as usual to drink tea and chat a bit. "The waters of the Yi Block prison have always been the deepest. My lord's not getting involved is the right call. The tangled relationships inside can twist a person to death. Before my lord came to serve at the Heaven Prison, the Yi Block once lost twenty or thirty prisoners in one go. That bloody scene—even now, when this old man recalls it, he still breaks out in cold sweats.

The Six Doors' runners strike with extreme viciousness. Anyone seriously injured gets a single stab and is killed on the spot. Those stabbed to death outnumbered those killed in the brawls. That time, several dozen guards—including jailers—lost their lives. Even the prison deputy did not survive. They never learn! Dealing with these noble military families is no easy matter. By the time you realize you've been used, it's already time to lose your life."

"They all say the noble military families have twisted themselves into a single rope. Looking at it now, that isn't entirely the case." Chen Chen Guanlou said mockingly.

"When there's an outside enemy, they temporarily twist into a single rope. Once the outside enemy is gone, each one fights internally more viciously than the next! Civil officials mostly fight over ideology and factions. Among the noble military families, it's mostly ancestral grudges, passed down generation after generation. That hatred runs far deeper than anything between civil officials. When it doesn't move, fine; but once it moves, blood must be shed. Casualties of several dozen are nothing. There have even been family feuds with hundreds of casualties."

Mu Yiguan Mu was a man of vast experience; such matters were nothing new to him.

"If my lord continues to serve at the Heaven Prison, you will witness many more strange and bizarre things in the future."