Chapter 459: I Have Entered the True Soul

"You, who exactly are you?"

Looking at the young man before him, a sense of ominous, bad premonition suddenly welled up in the Prefect's heart, and an extremely absurd thought surged into his mind.

It was just that he dared not confirm this thought, and even less could he confirm it; it would mean death.

Yet the more he looked, the more he felt it was true, and the more he looked, the more flustered his heart became. Shen Yu had arrived, which meant he would likely have to pay the price for his own actions.

After so many years, could the thing he had always worried about and feared be happening today?

"Prefect Jiao Enming!"

The sudden voice made Jiao Enming shudder; he couldn't help but look up and cautiously glance at Shen Yu, and it was precisely this glance that made him completely certain of the identity of the person before him.

Once, he too had possessed such a gaze, but those things had all vanished with the wind, discarded by himself amidst repeated disappointments.

In this World where might makes right, only the strong represent status and have the qualifications to uphold their own morality.

Others are strong, which is why they can always possess such a gaze.

But a weak scholar like himself, with no power to even truss a chicken, had no ability to protect himself or his family when things came to a head.

Besides wailing in incompetence, what else could he do? His former persistence had long since been shattered by the blows of reality, and such a gaze naturally no longer existed.

"Prefect Jiao, I know of you!" Looking at Jiao Enming, who seemed lost in memory, Shen Yu spoke slowly, his voice tinged with a hint of disappointment.

"In the second year of Jinglong, there was a great drought in Yuzhou; there was no harvest in the fields, and countless commoners were displaced as a result."

"In the end, the imperial court's disaster relief funds were embezzled, leading to commoners starving to death everywhere, with corpses covering a thousand miles."

"Back then, you, Prefect Jiao, for the sake of those innocent commoners, privately opened the granaries to provide relief to the victims, saving countless lives, yet you yourself were thrown into death row because of this matter."

"Later, Official Chen Xing pleaded for you, which allowed you to survive and be reinstated to your post."

Looking at the Jiao Enming before him, Shen Yu let out a long sigh; who could have imagined that such a good official who once loved the people like his own children would become what he is today, unable to distinguish black from white, unable to discern good from evil.

Time is always the best plastic surgeon, capable of making a person unrecognizable.

"Indeed, if not for Official Chen Xing back then, I might have been killed. So, so many years have passed since the events of that year."

As if recalling the events of that year, Jiao Enming couldn't help but fall silent, and the muscles on his face trembled a bit more.

"Prefect Jiao, do you know that there are countless incorruptible officials in this World, so why have I heard of you?"

"Because whenever such natural or man-made disasters occur, it is always the innocent commoners who suffer. The commoners die of hunger in droves, while the officials are all fat and bloated, and even the worst of them can ensure their own families do not lack food."

"But only you—during the great Yuzhou drought of yesteryear, not only did the commoners starve to death, but more than half of the officials in the entire prefecture starved to death, and even your own mother and three-year-old son starved to death."

"Every time I think of this matter, it feels shocking; the actions of Prefect Jiao back then were indeed admirable."

Speaking to this point, Shen Yu couldn't help but cast a sharp look at the other party, his gaze filled with interrogation, as if asking him why he had become what he was now.

"Prefect Jiao, the matter of Dong Yu is clearly being stoked by someone; someone wants to ruin his reputation. You, the Prefect, surely know this, don't you?"

"You know; not only do you know, but you have been playing dumb from beginning to end. That incorruptible official who was once famous far and wide, what is he like now?"

"It really is true that hearing of a name is not as good as meeting the person; Prefect Jiao, you really are a good official!"

"Heh, a good official?" Stimulated by the past mentioned by Shen Yu, Jiao Enming only gave a mocking laugh, as if mocking his former self.

"A good official has to pay a price! Official Shen!" Taking a deep breath, Jiao Enming suppressed all his previous emotions and looked up, stubbornly staring straight at Shen Yu.

From such a gaze, Shen Yu saw grievance, saw dissatisfaction, and saw cynicism.

"Official Shen Yu, I never thought I would meet you in such a way!"

"I also never thought I would meet Prefect Jiao in this way."

"Is that so?" Looking at Shen Yu before him—young, promising, and high-spirited—how much he resembled his former self.

But the other party had absolute, powerful strength as a reliance, while he had nothing. That is why the other party dared to do many things that others wanted to do but dared not.

Therefore, he could wantonly execute those corrupt officials and act entirely according to his own ideas.

While he could only be suppressed time and again by those he once loathed, eventually becoming one of them through repeated bloody setbacks.

After hearing of Shen Yu's deeds, he too had once yearned for such a life, fantasizing that one day he could become such a person.

At the same time, Jiao Enming couldn't help but feel afraid: what if one day he had to face Shen Yu, such a cold and ruthless person toward corrupt officials—what would his own end be?

Would he, like those bloody examples, end up with his reputation ruined and be ruthlessly executed?

He didn't know how many times he had tossed and turned in the night, unable to sleep; sometimes even he himself mocked himself.

Since he was already a bad person, why worry about those things? Perhaps it was precisely because he wasn't "bad" enough that he worried and feared.

But when truly facing Shen Yu, after the initial chaos and fear, and upon hearing Shen Yu mention his former self, Jiao Enming suddenly discovered that he didn't seem so afraid anymore.

He was not wrong; what was wrong was this world, and what was wrong was that he did not have the same ability as Shen Yu.

He even felt that if he were like Shen Yu, he would certainly be able to do better now.

At this moment, Jiao Enming suddenly felt much more relaxed; since he was going to die either way, why not let himself die with a little more dignity?

When the things that make you feel fear, the things that make you anxious, are truly before you—when you dare to face everything—you will suddenly discover that the various things you once feared and dreaded no longer seem so terrifying at this moment.

"Prefect Jiao, the matter of Dong Yu is not a misunderstanding, is it?"

"Yes, one does not speak lies before a True Soul; this is indeed not a misunderstanding. Someone wants Dong Yu to die, so Dong Yu must die."

"Treating human life like grass—how is this act any different from slaughtering the innocent?" His gaze turning cold, Shen Yu had not expected him to admit it so readily.

"Prefect Jiao, the you of the past was not like this!"

"Official Shen, you also said that was the past. The me of the past paid everything I could for my ideals and my persistence, but what did I get? Praise? Or reputation?"

"I tell you, what I got was six years of being demoted every year, constant suppression from those around me, and the resistance and fear of the officials beside me."

"Everyone around me was afraid of me, everyone was ostracizing me; they were terrified of ending up with the same fate as my former colleagues."

"Even my own relatives did not understand me and were complaining about me. Do you know what kind of days those were? You don't know!"

Closing his eyes, Jiao Enming felt a sense of relief; before he died, he wanted to vent all the resentment in his heart.

"But even so, I still foolishly believed that as long as I stood up for the people and could realize the aspirations in my heart, all of this was worth it."

"But there are some things you will never know what the next moment will be like!" Speaking to this point, Dong Yu suddenly laughed, a laugh that felt somewhat cold.

"Official Shen, do you know that you are clearly doing your utmost to seek justice for those ignorant commoners, clearly sacrificing everything of your own, betting everything you have to work for these people, and working day and night?"

"Is it the kind of scene where you end up being misunderstood by them, to the point that these ignorant masses defile your closest kin, and even beat them to death right before your eyes, while you can only watch it all happen helplessly?"

"These people who once deeply benefited from your kindness turned out to be the ones who hurt you the most, trampling upon your family and your dignity—have you experienced these things?"

"You have experienced nothing at all; what right do you have to stand on high and point fingers at me?"

"Do you have this right? Do you?"