"How is that possible!" Qiao Xueying exclaimed in surprise, but quickly her face lit up with joy. "Isn't this even better? If you tell the truth, the villagers of Chenjia Village will be cleared of suspicion."

"Are you an idiot?" Zu'an looked at her with disdain. "If you knew the consequences of telling the truth, it would be that Heaven says the emperor deserves to die. The world would definitely be in chaos, and the emperor would be furious. Given his personality, if we report this, he would definitely execute us for being incompetent."

"What should we do then?" Qiao Xueying asked anxiously. "We can't just tell the truth, but the villagers of Chenjia Village are all innocent. We can't just torture them into confessing and create a scapegoat, can we?"

“It’s not that easy,” Zuan said coldly. “Qin law is strict. Such a crime is a great disrespect and will definitely lead to the extermination of nine generations of one’s family. Who would dare to admit to committing such a serious crime? Not to mention that they were innocent in the first place.”

“But the higher-ups want us to find the murderer within a day, doesn’t that mean we have no chance?” Qiao Xueying felt a chill run down her spine.

“There is a way.” Zuan looked at the villagers in the distance, his voice turning somewhat cold.

"What method?" Qiao Xueying asked.

“Since none of them are willing to admit it, then kill all the villagers around the meteorite. In the emperor’s eyes, the murderer must be among them. He doesn’t care about the lives of ordinary people, so it will naturally be considered a satisfactory answer,” Zu’an replied in a deep voice.

This is the outcome of the "Mars guarding the heart" incident that occurred in the 36th year of Qin Shi Huang's reign. No one in the village admitted to carving the characters, so all the villagers in the vicinity were killed. It was better to kill a thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free.

Zuan secretly rejoiced that he happened to know this history, so he already knew how to deal with problems that others couldn't solve. It seemed that this Heavenly Seal would be easier to break than the previous two levels.

To everyone's surprise, Qiao Xueying immediately objected: "No, that's too cruel, I don't agree!"

Zuan frowned and said, "You should know that all of this is just an illusion created by the Heavenly Seal. They are not real people. What's so cruel about that?"

Qiao Xueying shook her head: "No, from our previous interactions, I could feel that they were living, breathing people. And even if it were an illusion, I couldn't bring myself to kill so many innocent people for my own selfish desires. Call me old-fashioned or stupid, but I just couldn't do it."

Zuan looked her over with a strange expression: "When you tried to kill me before, you didn't seem to be this indecisive?"

Qiao Xueying's face flushed: "That's different. You were originally a pre-selected enemy, and you're so annoying. Of course I won't show any mercy if I want to kill you."

Zuan touched his face in frustration: "I'm so handsome, how can you find me repulsive? It seems there's no point in keeping your eyes."

Qiao Xueying: "..."

Just then, Lord Wang rushed over and whispered to Zu An, "Your Excellency, we've done a quick interrogation, and these villagers all deny carving the words. I think we should just... *click*..."

As he spoke, he secretly made a throat-slitting gesture: "This way, the real culprit will definitely not be able to escape, and we can also give an explanation to the Emperor."

Before Zu An could speak, Qiao Xueying blurted out, "No way!"

Lord Wang's face darkened: "This won't work, that won't work, may I ask what brilliant idea you have, young lady? If we don't kill these people, then it will be several of us who lose our heads! Your Excellency, you must make a decision."

Qiao Xueying hurriedly tugged at Zu An's sleeve, looking at him pitifully.

Zu An said in a deep voice, "Lord Wang, go and interrogate them one by one again. If you still can't get any clues, we'll think of another way."

"Alright," Lord Wang nodded.

Just as they were about to leave, a soldier came and reported: "My lords, something terrible has happened! The village chief died during the interrogation, and his son is causing trouble there. He's quite skilled and has injured several of our brothers."

Lord Wang blew his beard and said, "Nonsense! What time is it? Those who cause trouble shall be treated as rebels and executed without exception!"

"Yes!" The soldier was about to leave when Zu'an called out to him:

"Wait!"

"How did the village chief die?" Zu'an asked.

"Your Honor, the village chief was already in poor health and was further frightened. He may have been subjected to some torture during the interrogation, but it wasn't severe. Everyone else was fine, but he suddenly died." The soldier wiped away his cold sweat and hurriedly replied.

Zuan recalled the village chief's appearance earlier. He was quite old and in poor health. He had just fainted from fright because of the carving incident, so it wasn't surprising that he died in the interrogation room. The soldiers couldn't be entirely blamed either.

"Alright, capture his son and lock him up first. I'll deal with him later."

"yes!"

The soldier hurriedly left, and soon a group of soldiers surrounded Chen Wei. Although he was brave, he was no match for the many soldiers. He was quickly chained, subdued, and locked in a secret room.

"Are you really going to kill them?" Qiao Xueying hurriedly asked Zu An after the others left.

Zuan looked into her eyes: "You really want to save them?"

Qiao Xueying nodded hurriedly.

Zuan said in a deep voice, "If you call me good brother from now on, I might consider helping you save them."

"I..." Qiao Xueying's face flushed. She had only cried out because she thought she was about to die and didn't want to be a confused ghost. Under normal circumstances, she would never have been able to say it.

Zuan sighed: "It seems that your so-called kindness is just hypocrisy. To save so many people, you can't even bear to call him your good brother."

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