Chapter 136 Seizing Witnesses in Court: The Wang Family's Keeper Finally Appears

No one spoke in the courtroom.

Luo Qing knelt on the stone tiles, his fingers clutching the crooked-beaked wooden bird, tears hanging from the tip of his chin and splashing drop by drop onto the front of his gray robe.

The deathly paleness on Official Chen Zhili's face began to recede.

The white faded down from his cheekbones, replaced by an ashen gray that spread along the veins of his temples to cover his entire face.

Lifting his fingers from the desk, he closed his hand and slowly slid it into his sleeve, as if searching for something, or perhaps looking for a fulcrum to steady himself.

After three breaths, he spoke.

"Inspector Lin."

His voice became calm once more, so steady that the accusation just now seemed like nothing more than a passing breeze in the courtroom, leaving no trace behind.

"Luo Qing has served in this Prefecture for six years. Lately, his mind has grown increasingly unstable, as recorded by the registrar in the archives."

He turned his gaze to Chief Clerk Liang Jin.

Chief Clerk Liang Jin reacted faster than Lin Chen had anticipated. He was already holding a thin booklet, flipped to a certain page, with his fingertip pressed against it.

"Chief Clerk, read it."

Chief Clerk Liang Jin cleared his throat.

"In the third month of the three hundred and sixteenth year of the Great Qian Calendar, Luo Qing, a minor Clerk in the archives room, cried out in the night, disrupting the order of the Duty Room. He was pacified after being reprimanded by the registrar."

"In the seventh month of the same year, while organizing old records, Luo Qing suffered a sudden fit of hysteria and tore up a stack of documents, later claiming to have no memory of the incident."

He closed the booklet, his eyes sweeping over Luo Qing kneeling on the floor.

"This man has a history of emotional instability. Today, he was triggered by an external object in court. Whether his words are credible must be verified separately."

Zhou Tie twisted the shaft of his spear in his hand, his lips twitching slightly.

Lin Chen did not look at Chief Clerk Liang Jin, keeping his eyes solely on Official Chen Zhili.

Official Chen Zhili withdrew his gaze, letting it fall on the thin yellow-paper booklet in Lin Chen's hand.

"As for that wooden bird..."

He slowed his pace, leaving a pause between each word to give himself room to maneuver.

"The Inspector used a personal item in court to manipulate the witness's emotions, causing him to lose control on the spot and make an unsubstantiated accusation. This action is not in accordance with interrogation procedures."

He withdrew his hand from his sleeve, resting his fingers back on the desk.

"This official suggests suspending today's interrogation and handing Luo Qing over to the Prefecture's physician for examination. We can resume questioning once his emotional state has recovered."

Chief Clerk Liang Jin immediately chimed in.

"As the Chief Clerk of this Prefecture monitoring the trial, I find the grounds to be valid. I hereby declare the interrogation suspended."

"The witness is emotionally unstable and his testimony is doubtful. It must be verified separately."

He chin-gestured to the bailiffs on both sides of the courtroom.

"Take Luo Qing back to the Duty Room."

Two bailiffs stepped forward, grabbing Luo Qing by his arms on both sides.

As Luo Qing was dragged up, the wooden bird slipped half an inch from his palm.

He clenched his hand desperately, his fingernails digging into the wood, his knuckles turning white as if they would burst through his skin.

"Lord Lin!"

His voice cracked hoarsely as he looked back at Lin Chen, his eyes completely bloodshot.

Lin Chen took a step forward.

The step was not heavy, and the sound of his boot sole hitting the stone tile was mostly swallowed by the emptiness of the courtroom, yet everyone stopped.

Including the two bailiffs.

"Luo Qing is a witness summoned by the Patrol Division."

Lin Chen's voice filled the entire courtroom, neither fast nor slow, each syllable echoing off the stone walls.

"Without my signature, no one can take him away."

Official Chen Zhili tapped his finger sharply on the desk.

"Inspector Lin, this is the Provincial Administration Commission."

Lin Chen looked into his eyes.

"I summoned the witness. The summons bears the Governor's seal, and as you said yourself just now, Official Chen, there were no objections."

He enunciated the words "no objections" clearly.

"Since there were no objections, the start and end of the interrogation are determined by the Patrol Division. The Chief Clerk has no authority to interrupt."

Chief Clerk Liang Jin's expression shifted, his mouth parting slightly.

Zhou Tie had already barred the bailiffs' path with his spear, the iron shaft held low near the stone floor, blocking their way.

He didn't speak, only pushing his spear forward an inch.

The two bailiffs simultaneously looked down at the iron spear barred across their waists, then up at the expression on Zhou Tie's face. Their grip on Luo Qing loosened slightly.

Official Chen Zhili stared at Zhou Tie's iron spear for a breath, then shifted his gaze back to Lin Chen's face.

His hand slowly reached into his sleeve.

This time, what he pulled out caused Liu Buyu's brush tip to leave a streak of ink on the paper.

A document.

The cover of the document was stamped with a vermilion square seal, the characters of which read:

Nanyang Branch of Censorate.

Official Chen Zhili spread the document out on the desk, pressing his finger against the seal at the top. His voice carried a layer of confidence it hadn't before.

"Yesterday, this official submitted a report for the record to the Nanyang Branch Circuit of The Censorate."

"The Patrol Division has recently exceeded its authority in the Prefecture, interrogating individuals outside the case without authorization and disrupting administrative order."

His fingertip slid from the seal to the approval section at the end of the document.

"The Branch Circuit has accepted it."

"Their directive is that, until Censorate completes its verification, it is recommended to suspend all interrogation authority of the Patrol Division within the Prefecture."

Zhou Tie's throat bobbed, his grip tightening on the shaft of his spear.

Liu Buyu pulled a booklet from the document box on the floor, stood up, and walked to Lin Chen's right.

"Official Chen, there are a few points in this document that this subordinate does not quite understand. I would like to ask for clarification."

He flipped open the booklet in his hand, pressing his finger onto a certain page.

"The special interrogation warrant personally signed by the Governor is legally based on Section 7, Chapter 43 of the great qian code."

"The Governor has full authority to oversee major cases within his jurisdiction, and no government office may obstruct this on the grounds of administrative procedures."

He turned the booklet around to face Official Chen Zhili.

"The authority of the Nanyang Branch Circuit of The Censorate is limited to post-hoc supervision and impeachment. It does not have the power to suspend an active gubernatorial order."

He closed the booklet.

"Having been in office for twelve years, Official Chen, you should be much clearer on this point than this subordinate."

Chief Clerk Liang Jin interjected from the side.

"Clerk Liu, since the Nanyang Branch Circuit of The Censorate has accepted the report, it means the actions of the Patrol Division have already entered the verification process."

"Before the verification results are out, continuing the interrogation will only cause procedural flaws to snowball."

Liu Buyu glanced at him.

"What the Chief Clerk speaks of is convention, but what this subordinate speaks of is the law."

He took another document from his robe and spread it out on the courtroom floor.

"This is the third page of the copy of the Governor's order. Chief Clerk, please look at the line circled in red."

Chief Clerk Liang Jin looked down at the line of characters. His lips twitched a couple of times, but he made no sound.

That line read: "As this case involves the lives of commoners, the Patrol Division's summoning and protective detention of all relevant witnesses shall not be bound by the administrative procedures of any government office."

Official Chen Zhili's finger rested on the document for three breaths, his nail leaving a faint crease on the paper.

"While the Governor's order carries great weight, the law also states that the Patrol Division's interrogations require relevant evidence."

He cast his gaze toward the wooden bird in Lin Chen's hand.

"Can a wooden block of unknown origin be considered evidence?"

Lin Chen did not reply.

He loosened his grip on the crooked-beaked wooden bird and placed it back into Luo Qing's hand.

Then, he reached into his robe once more.

Everyone in the courtroom followed his fingers with their eyes.

He pulled a second wooden bird from his robe.

It was half a size smaller than the first, darker in color, almost brownish-black. Its beak pointed downward, and its wings were crooked in the exact same manner as the first. The craftsmanship was crude, clearly coming from the same pair of hands.

Lin Chen flipped the wooden bird over.

A character was carved on the bottom.

He.

He placed the second wooden bird on the floor tiles, exactly a foot in front of Luo Qing's knees.

Luo Qing's gaze fell upon it.

He first saw the downward-pointing beak of the wooden bird, then its darker body, and finally, the character on the upturned bottom.

His body began to tremble, starting from his shoulders, spreading to his chest, his hands, and finally his teeth, which chattered with a series of clicking sounds.

"This..."

He reached out his hand, but his fingertips stopped two inches away from the wooden bird.

As if it would shatter at a touch.

As if, once he touched it, he could no longer lie to himself.

A chaotic whimper welled up from his throat, rising from deep within, growing louder and sharper until it finally erupted into a roar, tearing apart all the silence in the courtroom of the Provincial Administration Commission.

"I only ever made two!"

He pressed the first wooden bird to his chest, pointing his other hand at the one on the floor.

"One is with me, and the other was sewn into Xiao He's pocket."

"On the day she was taken away, I sewed it in with my own hands!"

Tears and mucus poured down his face together, dripping onto the stone tiles and wetting the wings of the brownish-black wooden bird.

"Where did this one come from? Where did it come from?!"

He turned to look at Lin Chen, his eyes bloodshot and swollen, his voice cracking into pieces.

Lin Chen squatted down to meet his gaze.

"It was dredged up from the back well."

Luo Qing was frozen in place.

His mouth was open, air passing in and out of his throat, but not a single word could take shape.

Being dredged up from the back well meant Xiao He's clothes had been in that well.

It meant her body had been in that well.

It meant she had died in that well.

He had known since twelve years ago that his sister would not return.

But between knowing and seeing the evidence, there lay an abyss.

Looking from this side, it was a vague guess.

Once crossed, it was a knife-sharp reality.

He had crossed it.

Luo Qing collapsed onto the tiles, his forehead hitting the stone surface with a dull thud. His shoulders heaved violently as his weeping squeezed out from between his teeth and nasal passages, so miserable that even the bailiffs on both sides of the courtroom averted their eyes.

Outside the main doors of the courtroom, a dozen or so figures had gathered at some point.

There were Clerks of the Provincial Administration Commission, registrars on duty, passing servants, and two errand boys who had come from the side courtyard to deliver documents.

Standing outside the doorframe, they craned their necks to look inside, their expressions shifting from curiosity to confusion, and then from confusion to an indescribable heaviness.

Seeing more and more people gathering outside, Chief Clerk Liang Jin's expression finally cracked, and he walked quickly toward the main doors.

"Close the doors and disperse everyone."

Zhou Tie's iron spear swept across, the shaft jamming heavily into the gap between the door and its frame, locking the entire door tight.

Jolt by the force, Chief Clerk Liang Jin staggered back two steps, the iron spear shaft resting just a finger's width away from the back of his hand.

Zhou Tie looked at him without moving his lips, yet the meaning in his eyes was clearer than any spoken words.

You cannot close it.

Lin Chen picked up the wooden bird carved with the character "He" and the thin yellow-paper booklet from Luo Qing's hand, then stood up.

He turned to Official Chen Zhili.

Official Chen Zhili stood beside the long desk, the ashen gray on his face having penetrated from his skin into his bones. His lips were tightly shut, the muscles in his jaw bulging.

His gaze darted back and forth between the two wooden birds and the booklet, his fingers clenching inside his sleeve until the fabric rustled.

Lin Chen took the copy of the Governor's order from Liu Buyu, flipped to the red-circled clause on the third page, and pressed his index finger against it.

"For relevant witnesses in cold cases involving loss of life, the Patrol Division has the authority to remove them on the spot and implement protective detention."

He kept his voice steady, ensuring everyone present heard him loud and clear.

"Luo Qing, come with me."

Luo Qing scrambled up from the floor. The spot where his knees had struck the stone tiles was already stained with blood, seeping through his trousers.

He stood unsteadily, clutching the crooked-beaked wooden bird in one hand and shielding his chest with the other, as if protecting something far more precious than his own life.

Lin Chen walked ahead, while Zhou Tie pulled his iron spear from the door and followed at the rear.

As Liu Buyu passed Official Chen Zhili with the document box in his arms, his steps were slow, and he even cast an extra glance at him.

There was no emotion in that glance, yet this blankness was more piercing than any words.

When they crossed the threshold of the courtroom, the Clerks and servants outside automatically parted to make a path.

No one stopped them.

No one dared to stop them.

The sunlight shone on Luo Qing's tear-stained face, on the two wooden birds—one large, one small—in his palm, and on the cheap yellow-paper cover of that six-year secret ledger.

Official Chen Zhili stood beside the long desk, watching motionlessly as the group's retreating figures were swallowed inch by inch by the sunlight.

The courtroom was empty.

The bailiffs dispersed.

Only Chief Clerk Liang Jin walked up to his side, his voice lowered to the very bottom of his throat.

"My Lord, what do we do next?"

Official Chen Zhili slowly withdrew his fingers from his sleeve. His fingertips were pale; he had clenched them for so long that all the blood had been squeezed out.

He spoke only four words.

"Go find the Wang Family."

The sunlight cut down from above the lintel of the Provincial Administration Commission, casting his shadow at the foot of the long desk—a long, thin, hunched figure.

As Lin Chen led Luo Qing across the flagstone street directly opposite the Provincial Administration Commission, a prompt sounded in his mind.

[Host detected to have dismantled a key node in the collusion chain between the Provincial Administration Commission and the Wang Family on the spot within the enemy's core territory. Outstanding achievement.]

[Instant reward: 2,000 points.]

[Current accumulated available points: 11,500 points.]

Lin Chen's steps did not falter. The warmth in his palm surged all the way from his Dantian to his fingertips before receding, and his Golden Core spun half a turn inside his body before returning to silence.

Zhou Tie's spear shaft suddenly tilted two inches to the right.

His eyes stared at the shadow beneath an overhanging eave on the east side of the street corner, his pupils contracting slightly.

A person stood in that shadow.

He was half a head taller than Zhou Tie, clad in a grayish-brown cloak that draped from his shoulders to his ankles. His hood obscured most of his face, revealing only the sharp contour of his jaw.

A scimitar hung at his waist, its scabbard curving at a strange angle, deeper than a normal scimitar, resembling a frozen snake.

The man did not move, nor did he draw his blade.

He merely cast a glance at Lin Chen from the shadow.

The weight of that single glance pressed down from dozens of paces away, across the entire street, carrying the distinct texture of Golden Core True Qi—heavy and lingering.

Then the man turned, the hem of his cloak tracing an arc in the shadow as he vanished around the corner of the eaves.

Zhou Tie's voice squeezed out from between his teeth, audible only to Lin Chen.

"Inspector, that person's aura is at least above the Middle Stage of the Ningdan Realm."

Lin Chen's hand pressed onto the hilt of the black abyss blade, his fingertip resting against the cold ridge of the handguard.

"The Wang Family's Enshrined Expert has been deployed."