The once desolate and quiet prison was now filled with the incessant clatter of footsteps, each louder than the last, leaving a deep imprint on the bluestone floor.
"What's going on?" Liao Kongmin asked calmly, striding forward.
Liao Kongmin had just finished the task assigned by Ji Xiaoxiao and hadn't even had a proper chance to sit down and have a sip of hot tea when the jailer came to harass him without stopping. It was truly hateful and annoying.
"My lord, both Hong Fu and Zhan Feiyang are dead," the Vice Minister of Justice said through gritted teeth, standing beside Liao Kongmin.
Daring to attack his people on his own turf is a slap in his face.
"Dead?" Liao Kongmin stopped and turned to look at the Vice Minister of Justice.
The Vice Minister of Justice lowered his head slightly and said, "Your Excellency, you will know once you go and take a look."
The Ministry of Justice's prison covers a vast area with a complex and intricate internal structure. A single wrong step will take you further away from your destination. The place where serious criminals are imprisoned is the deepest part of the Ministry of Justice's prison—the Abyss of Darkness.
The Dark Abyss lies underground, several tens of feet deep, in the southern part of the Ministry of Justice's prison. Only one narrow passageway leads down to it, allowing only one person to pass at a time. This passageway is riddled with traps and mechanisms; any attempt to break in is a one-way trip, and any attempt to escape is futile.
For three hundred years since its establishment, Anwuyuan had been peaceful, but today a sudden anomaly occurred: Hong Fu and the Prince Gong's son, who were imprisoned there, both died. This was no small matter.
Liao Kongmin and his group entered the Dark Abyss and continued downwards for about ten minutes until they finally arrived at the prison where Hong Fu and Zhan Feiyang were being held.
"This?" Liao Kongmin was shocked when he saw it, and his tongue stammered for a long time.
Hong Fu's body leaned against the corner of the cell wall, her legs stretched straight up, resting on her shoulders, her ankles twisted and intertwined around her neck. Her hands seemed to have been crushed by a heavy object, blood pooling on the ground, but the flesh, though broken, remained tightly packed together. Her neck, covered in teeth marks, was bent at an odd angle, her bulging eyes filled with terror, and her open mouth continuously dripping black, foul-smelling sewage. The sewage rotted upon contact with the ground, as if a moat had been dug around Hong Fu, keeping dangers at bay while imprisoning herself within, from which she could never escape.
"How did he die?" The air here was incredibly foul, and Liao Kongmin asked, holding his breath.
The Vice Minister of Justice rummaged through his clothes and took out a slip of paper, handing it to Liao Kongmin.
Liao Kongmin took it and examined it carefully.
"Died from excessive fright?" Liao Kongmin was completely baffled. Judging from Hong Fu's appearance, the more convincing explanation would be that she died from excessive blood loss and shock from excruciating pain.
“Absolutely true,” said the Vice Minister of Justice. “I summoned all the renowned and capable coroners in the capital, and their conclusions were the same. Although Hong Fu lost a great deal of blood and suffered immense pain before her death, strangely enough, she was still alive at that time, and quite vigorous.”
"Dragon-spirited and tiger-like?"
To be still full of energy and vigor after suffering immense torment is truly a grave absurd.
Even so, Liao Kongmin knew that the Vice Minister of Justice would not deceive him.
Now that the truth is before him, Liao Kongmin has no choice but to believe it.
After looking at Hong Fu, Liao Kongmin turned to examine Zhan Feiyang.
Zhan Feiyang's hair was neatly tied, her clothes were tidy, and she died peacefully, lying on the ground with her limbs outstretched.
Liao Kongmin ordered his men to open the cell door, went inside, and knelt down to examine the body closely.
Looking left and right, Liao Kongmin couldn't find a single fatal wound, only dense teeth marks all over his body, which looked rather eerie.
"And how did he die?" Liao Kong asked.
The Vice Minister of Justice leaned close to Liao Kongmin's ear and whispered, "Your Excellency, I do not know."
"I don't know?" What kind of answer is that?
"Yes, sir, the coroners examined the body carefully and thoroughly. Apart from non-fatal teeth marks, there were no other wounds on the body's exterior, and its internal organs were intact."
Liao Kongmin lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment before saying, "Seal off the Dark Abyss and wait for Master Xu to arrive before discussing it further."
If Liao Kongmin hadn't known beforehand about the intelligent corpse and its death mark, he might have ordered a thorough investigation. But since it involved unfathomable spirits and deities, even the most powerful mortals couldn't accomplish anything about it.
The Vice Minister of Justice suspected who Master Xu was, but wouldn't ask him on the spot. His superior was clearly in a bad mood, and if he accidentally added fuel to the fire, it would harm both himself and others!
"Go, get everyone out of here."
Liao Kongmin gave the order and quickly left Anwuyuan, heading towards the Zhenguo General's Mansion.
In the dead of night, dark clouds drifted by, the moonlight was nowhere to be seen, and all was silent, utterly still.
Ji Xiaoxiao, who had been brought back by Lu Rantu, lay on the bed. The window frame was barely moving, but the little girl's eyes immediately opened, shooting out a terrifying light.
"You have the road to heaven but you choose not to, you have the gate to hell but you barge in, you've got some nerve."
Ji Xiaoxiao rolled over and sat up, focusing intently on sensing the movement of the wind and grass around her.
“Here.” Ji Xiaoxiao struck to the left with her palm, and the huge screen shattered into pieces instantly.
"Xiaoxiao, we haven't seen each other for so long, there's no need to treat me with such a grand gesture!"
The screens fell down, revealing the figure of Yun Riyue, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
"You?" Shocked, astonished, overjoyed, and overwhelmed with emotions, Ji Xiaoxiao was stunned.
"Don't you remember me again?" Yun Riyue was more and more discouraged, and his radiance was covered with dust.
"Yunming, what brings you here again?"
Ji Xiaoxiao withdrew her hand, leaped, and clung to Yun Ming. Yun Ming caught her and hugged her tightly. The two looked at each other in silence, their breaths mingling and merging.
"I...I miss you so much." No matter how brilliant and intelligent a woman is, once she falls into the swamp of love, she is nothing more than a flesh and blood body that feels thirst, hunger, pain, and exhaustion.
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