Chapter 329

Pan Yun continued, "Do you know how I caught you?"

"By divination. I got your hair, calculated your location, and then captured you," Pan Yun stood straight, gazing down with a serene tone: "My divinations are always accurate. Today, I'll give you a free reading: in your next life, you'll be a castrated pig; after ten lifetimes as plants and trees, when you're reborn as a human again, you'll spend another ten lifetimes as a eunuch to atone for your sins in this life."

Hua Buliu stared wide-eyed, motionless.

The Judge waited a moment, seeing he still made no move, then turned to the coroner.

The coroner took a look and said, "He died of anger."

Pan Yun pinched her fingers and murmured, "Fusheng Wuliang Tianzun. This lecher had too little temper—he couldn't even bear to hear two truths."

The Judge closed his record, returned it to the clerk, and said coldly, "You killed him. This wanted criminal counts as a dead catch. How much is the reward for a dead catch?"

Zhou Captain: "Sixty taels."

Pan Yun frowned. "How can you count it like that? I brought him in alive—you all got his confession. He died during your interrogation. What's it got to do with me?"

The Judge lifted his eyelids and looked at her coolly. "Even if he's a dead catch, take it or leave it."

"You!"

The Judge turned and walked away.

Pan Yun moved to block him, but Zhou Captain grabbed her arm, whispering, "Why are you so naive? Haven't you heard? Civilians don't fight officials."

Pan Yun glanced at him. "So you officials are number one, above all rules? Don't you fear anything?"

The coroner snorted. "Officials fear only higher officials and the Emperor. What else? You're clearly new to the world—you don't understand the rules."

"You live off the bounty rewards. When you make money, don't you owe a share to those who helped?"

Zhou Captain turned and glared at the coroner. "Say less, Master Wang. The Judge isn't like that."

The coroner snorted.

Pan Yun snorted too. "And yet officials rely on us to boost their achievements—why don't they share some of their credit with me?"

"Zhou Captain, I'm saying this plainly: if you don't pay me for a live catch this time, I'll start decapitating every criminal I bring in and collect the dead-catch reward. I mean it."

Zhou Captain: …

If all closed wanted cases were heads, the official record would look terrible.

Zhou Captain lightly tapped Pan Yun's forehead, then turned and left.

He went to find the Judge and relayed Pan Yun's words: "A young bull unafraid of tigers, Judge. This girl is young, rebellious, and exceptionally skilled—she caught Hua Buliu, so she can catch any other criminal. And she's truly capable of delivering nothing but heads. What do you think…?"

Judge Wang frowned, his expression dark. "Where did she come from? I've never heard her name in the martial world before."

Zhou Captain whispered, "Judge, do you remember the recent bandit-eradication case in Quanzhou, Fujian?"

Judge Wang was startled. "Pan? Pan Sanzhu? Are they the same person?"

Zhou Captain nodded. "Judge, talented people are proud—especially one so young with such skill and achievements. If I were her, I'd be even more arrogant…"

For someone like this, direct confrontation brings no benefit.

Pan Yun can cause chaos—she's a Daoist Priest, a wanderer of the martial world, free to come and go as she pleases. But we cannot.

The bureaucracy is power—and also chains.

After a moment's silence, Judge Wang smiled faintly. "Pay her as a live catch. From now on, pay her according to the rules."

Though smiling, Judge Wang's expression was cold. He'd thought she was easy to handle, that a little testing would break her limits. Instead, though young, she was a thorn.

He hated people like this most.

Zhou Captain agreed, took the Judge's slip, and led Pan Yun to collect her reward—eighty taels!

The clerk, seeing how young she was, opened a drawer and pulled out a roll of paper to calculate.

Pan Yun glanced and said, "I accept only silver. You may exchange it for copper coins of equal value. No silver notes. No treasure notes."

Ridiculous—can treasure notes even be called money anymore?

They're just piles of paper!

Pan Yun couldn't hold back. Right before the clerk, she asked Zhou Captain, "Zhou Captain, do I look easy to bully?"

The clerk was mortified.

Zhou Captain looked at Pan Yun without expression. "You look very hard to bully."

"Exactly!" Pan Yun shouted. "I look this hard to bully—why does everyone still think they can push me around? Do I look stupid?" She gripped the table's corner, and with a crack, snapped off a piece. Right before the clerk's eyes, she crushed the wood fragment in her hand. "I caught a notorious lecher—why would anyone think I'm easy prey~~?"

The clerk hurried his counting, grabbing eight silver ingots. He lost his grip—they clattered onto the table.

Pan Yun and Zhou Captain looked over. The clerk quickly said, "Each ingot is ten taels—eighty taels total. All official silver, high quality. Young master, you may inspect them."

Pan Yun reached out, took an ingot, and pressed her thumb lightly against its side, leaving a clear imprint.

She nodded in satisfaction. "Good silver."

She shoved the silver into her sleeve—actually dropping it into her Spirit Realm.

After stowing it, she asked, "Is there anything else I need to do?"

The clerk nervously handed her a slip.

Zhou Captain tapped it for him. "Sign."

Pan Yun glanced at it, confirmed it was correct, signed, and returned it. "Zhou Captain, are there any other wanted criminals?"

Zhou Captain looked at her. "I thought you already knew them all."

!. Read

Pan Yun pretended not to understand his implication. "You haven't posted new notices. By the way, any old wanted posters still unclaimed should be reposted—let capable people take them."

Zhou Captain studied her, then nodded. "I'll suggest to the higher-ups that we reorganize and repost all outstanding cases."

Pan Yun, satisfied with her silver, turned to leave. Zhou Captain called after her: "The number of wanted criminals in Fucheng is limited, and the rewards are low. If you're serious, check the nationwide wanted list—those rewards are much higher."

Pan Yun spun around instantly. "Does the government office have a ready copy?"

"Yes." Zhou Captain took her to the Criminal Office and pulled out over a dozen slips. "Look through them all. I know you have a good memory—memorize them all. If you ever catch one, you don't need to come back here—any government office will pay you."

As she flipped through them, Pan Yun marveled, "So this is a mobile treasure vault?"

Chief Zhou: "The point is you have to be able to catch them."

On this list are the most vicious bandits and leaders of rebellion. Pan Yun pulled out a warrant: "Si Renfa, Si Jifa—aren't these the leaders of the Luchuan rebels? You've even included their father-son wanted posters…"

Pan Yun fell silent. "Can we possibly catch these two?"

"If you don't try, how do you know you can't?" Chief Zhou said. "Aren't you martial artists always boasting that your Wu Gong is so strong, one man can stand against a thousand, that you can enter an army of ten thousand and take a general's head?"

"If you bring me the heads of these two, see here—on the warrant—there's a reward of a thousand taels of silver and the title of Marquis of Ten Battalion Commander."

Pan Yun glanced at it and snorted. "I don't believe you. You turned a flower-picking thief I handed in into a corpse. If I show up with Si Renfa and his son's heads, you'll say they're not the right ones—or refuse to honor the reward, won't you?"

Chief Zhou: "…As if Pan Xiao Daochang really has the ability to enter an army of ten thousand and take a general's head."

Pan Yun snorted. "Maybe I really could—but I won't go."

She sharply pulled away the wanted poster of the father and son, and her hand stiffened slightly when she saw the one beneath.

It depicted a little girl with no facial features, but beside it was a case description.

Chief Zhou also glanced down and said, "This is a case from Jingcheng. The girl is about six to eight years old. Last year, a Embroidered Uniform Guard vanished while tracking her, and his fate remains unknown. The child has also disappeared."

"The Zhenfu Office suspects the Embroidered Uniform Guard has been murdered by this child and her accomplices, so they issued a nationwide warrant to apprehend her."

Pan Yun waved the warrant. "No face at all, and the physical description is vague—yellow hair, sparse, small frame. Nine out of ten children her age in this empire look like that. How are you supposed to find her?"

Chief Zhou nodded. "I think she's impossible to find too. And children change—makes it even harder. That's why we stuck this one here."

Those words made Pan Yun suddenly understand. "So this is it—you gave me nothing but impossible warrants? Fine. You're distracting me so I won't go earn money elsewhere."

Chief Zhou: "…You think the worst of people. I just believe you're capable of more. Not only is your Wu Gong strong, you can also divine the future—perhaps you can catch these people."

"Not only will you earn more money, but you'll rid the people of greater evils, and our government office will gain greater merit. It's a win for all three sides. Why do you think so poorly of me?"

Pan Yun looked at him skeptically, then neatly tucked the warrants away. "Fine, I believe you. I'll take all these warrants."

"Wait," Chief Zhou quickly stopped her as she tried to shove the warrants into her bosom. "You can look at them—but you can't take them."

"Why not? Wanted posters are posted to be taken down and claimed. My memory's good, but if I don't have the poster to compare against, what if I capture the wrong person? Whose fault is that—mine or yours?"

Pan Yun shoved the warrants into her bosom, patted her chest, and said, "I'm off. I won't let a single criminal slip past me. Chief Zhou, rest easy—whether it's that faceless girl or the Luchuan rebel leaders far away in Yunnan, if I see them, I'll bring them in. And I won't give them to anyone else—just you. All the credit is yours."

Good night

(End of Chapter)