Ch. 512 - The Motive?

As Sun Shaozong saw the local dog Ah Huang chasing to the root of the west wall, still barking incessantly at the fourth prisoner, a hint of understanding flashed in his heart.

Immediately, he called Lin Delu to his side and whispered a few commands.

Lin Delu quickly nodded and bowed in agreement, then stepped on the accumulated water on the ground and ran into the East Cross courtyard, one foot deep and one foot shallow.

After a while, the fifth prisoner arrived late, and his appearance was even more unique. He split his legs, shook his shoulders, and moved forward step by step, with an expression as if he had been constipated for several days.

It seemed he had said the wrong way because when this person got closer, the taste of the cycle of grains hit their face. Obviously, this person was not only not constipated, but also very unobstructed.

Seeing everyone except for the recently brought back local dog Ah Huang, they all hid their faces and greeted each other. The prisoner's expression was even more twisted, and he easily moved to the front of everyone. It seemed like he was going to curse a few harsh words in dialect like the previous ones, but suddenly he shouted, "F*** You! I will fight you to death!"

Before he could finish speaking, he rushed towards Ah Bao with his teeth and claws open, obviously intending to take hostages!

"Bao’er!"

"Ah Bao!"

Qian Laowei and his wife screamed in fear, wanting to pounce and protect their son, but where did they still have time?

And Ah Bao was just an ordinary nine-year-old child. How could he react to such danger?

Seeing the paws covered in oil and mud, they were about to pinch Ah Bao's neck when a big hand suddenly grabbed ahead and covered Ah Bao's eyes.

What did this mean?

Was he trying to save someone or wanting to help himself?

The prisoner's mind was inexplicable, and suddenly, a huge force hit his lower abdomen. The force of his forward thrust was instantly neutralized, and his body shot back like an arrow from a string. Without any time to react, he collided with his liver and brain on a stone step two feet away, and died in agony!

Under the corpse, red, white, and yellow bloomed everywhere. The standard ones were so yellow and violent. Sun Shaozong simply covered Ah Bao's eyes and pushed him to the stunned Qian Laowei couple, warning them, "Cover up tightly and don't let the children see."

Although Qian Laowei still had a dull expression on his face, he skillfully picked up his son and rubbed him tightly into his arms.

At this moment, Lin Delu heard something was wrong and rushed over from the east courtyard with a few Yamen guards. Seeing that the prisoner was already dead, he covered his nose and spat in front of him, cursing fiercely, "Brat. They even want to run away from the prison. Come on, use grass to sweep this guy's body and send it to the chaotic cemetery outside the city!"

After cursing, he stepped forward with a mischievous smile and said, "My Lord, should we add a charge of intending to kill officials and rebel against this guy, so that his family can also suffer some consequences?"

Although this matter ultimately boiled down to the fact that the tests entrusted by Sun Shaozong were too humiliating, forcing the prisoner to take risks.

However, these days, prisoners have very few human rights to speak of. Not to mention that Sun Shaozong was still investigating cases, even if he innocently humiliated them, it can’t be considered a crime.

On the contrary, this prisoner took risks and attempted to attack the court officials, committing a heinous crime. If it were more serious, it could even implicate his family.

However, Sun Shaozong still had some bottom line and shook his head, saying, "Forget it, just bury this good guy and don't implicate the innocent in any way."

"You are indeed righteous, My Lord!"

Lin Delu tilted his shoulder and picked Big Thumb, then cautiously asked, "Do you want this young man to take a look at that last criminal?"

Sun Shaozong looked at Ah Bao, who was hiding in Qian Laowei's arms, and then at Ah Huang, who was barking incessantly at the body. He shook his head and said, "No need."

As he spoke, he took out a money bag from his sleeve, picked up a golden ingot weighing about two taels, stuffed it into Qian Laowei's hand, and smiled, "It was my negligence that scared Ah Bao just now. You can take this money back and buy some snacks for him, so you can just compensate your child for it."

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, how…”

Qian Laowei seemed to be burning hot, desperately refusing, but where could he resist the strange power of Sun Shaozong?

In the end, he had no choice but to express his gratitude and leave this place with gold, his wife, his son, and the local dog, Ah Huang.

Watching the three of them and their dog go far away, Lin Delu turned to see Sun Shaozong if he had any gains and couldn't help but wonder, "My Lord, have you already uncovered some clues about the disappearance of Midwife Wang?"

Sun Shaozong nodded, but just as Lin Delu was preparing to listen attentively to his lengthy speech, he ordered, "I am going to visit the Northern Town Governor's Office now. You should stay at the Criminal Investigation Department and wait. If Zhao Wuwei finds anything else, send someone to report it immediately."

As he spoke, Sun Shaozong left the Criminal Investigation Department without looking back. He went to the stables in the front yard and ordered Zhang to prepare the vehicle, then rushed to the North Town Governor's Office without stopping.

And the reason why he was in a hurry was naturally, because of the information revealed in the test earlier.

Those few prisoners on the runway were all selected by Sun Shaozong and Zhou Da, covering the accents of various northern provinces. Although Ah Bao didn't learn them very much, he could basically be certain that the two people in cloaks spoke northern accents. Otherwise, just the dialect spoken in the southern ten miles with different pronunciations would not be able to make up for it in the Central Judicial Office prison.

The purpose of doing so was naturally to help Ah Bao distinguish an accent similar to that of the suspect.

As for the suspects, various seemingly abusive methods were used to test what kind of odor Ah Huang, the local dog, was irritating enough to chase after them and bark incessantly.

And the final test results showed that Ah Huang was restless and barking twice, both due to the bloody smell on the prisoner's body. The fourth prisoner had a knife wound left from resisting arrest, and the fifth prisoner was kicked and beaten to the ground by Sun Shaozong.

On the contrary, the taste of the food, the taste of dog meat, and the smell of feces did not cause Ah Huang to show any excessive reactions.

The third prisoner selected by Ah Bao was the Qin accent in the central Shanxi plain.

Coming from the northwest, hiding his head and tail, with a bloody smell on his body—likely, the wound has not healed.

This kind of character design made Sun Shaozong immediately think of the remaining members of the White Lotus Sect. When they broke through that day, all the members of the White Lotus Sect who escaped were injured, and they also came from the northwest and were forced to hide their heads and tails by the North Town Governor, afraid to show their true faces!

Three coincidences were enough to support Sun Shaozong's suspicion, as it was a matter that he would rather kill by mistake than let go!

So he decided to rush to the Northern Detective Department and communicate with Lu Huitong first.

However, Sun Shaozong didn’t have much information on the motives behind the White Lotus Sect's attack on Wang. He could only roughly infer that it should be closely related to the White Lotus Saint. Perhaps in Wang's profession, she once gave birth to the Saint?

When he came to the Northern Detective Department, he saw several servants guarding the gate, trembling under the angry gaze of the Dragon Guards.

As Sun Shaozong got off the carriage, the gatekeeper finally restrained his anger and greeted him with a diamond-like expression, saying, "Greetings to the Thousand Households Inspector."

Sun Shaozong tapped the servants with his chin and said in confusion, "These people seem to be servants of the Ministry of Justice, right? Why are they blocking the entrance of our North Town Governor's Office?"

"You may not know, but in fact..."

After the Dragon Guard gritted its teeth to explain, Sun Shaozong finally realized that this matter was also closely related to the remaining members of the White Lotus Sect.

It turned out that after the failure of that action, although Emperor Guangde did not punish Lu Huitong, he swung his pen and included the prisoners detained by the Northern Governor in the overall scope of this autumn judgment by the Ministry of Justice.

These Yamen officials came with the Minister of Justice Xu Liang to inspect the Northern Town Governor's Prison.

In the eyes of the Governor General of the Northern Detective Department, this could be considered a great shame—as a grand secret agency, if they wanted to execute prisoners, has it ever been the Ministry of Justice's turn to intervene?!

So these few unofficial Guards of the Ministry of Justice were deliberately harassed and even rejected.

"So, the Governor is currently entertaining Minister Xu?"

Sun Shaozong heard that Xu Liang was leading the team, but he felt uneasy. Since he performed a big play together at the Crown Prince's Mansion, he has established a friendship with Xu Liang. If he got caught between Xu Liang and Lu Huitong after entering, he would be in a dilemma.

"Where does the Governor have that leisure time?"

Unexpectedly, the gatekeeper pulled out his chest and proudly said, "I haven't even seen that person surnamed Xu, but I have only arranged for Thousand Household Inspector Chen to handle the communication!"

***Tch!***

A fourth-rank military officer dared to shut the door on a third-rank attendant, probably only the Dragon Guard has the courage!

However, in this way, it was convenient for Sun Shaozong to act.

So he hurried to the backyard and told the gatekeeper that there was something important to report, so he was put inside directly.

After entering the door, he saw Lu Huitong sparring martial arts with three close followers, wielding a steel sword that flipped up and down, crushing the three close followers who were wielding long and short weapons, leaving them powerless to fight back.

Although those three close followers must have some acting skills, Lu Huitong's martial arts skills were not impressive, probably not inferior to his elder brother, who was a fierce general in the army.

Seeing Sun Shaozong coming in from outside, Lu Huitong casually swung his sword and jumped out of the circle. He said boldly, "Inspector Sun came just in time. I've heard about your outstanding martial arts skills for a long time, but I've never seen them with my own eyes. How about we spar and learn from each other?"

Although Lu Huitong's skills were already one in a million, he was still several blocks behind those like Sun Shaozong who had used cheats.

To avoid accidentally hurting Lu Huitong's face, Sun Shaozong decisively offered his intention, "If you are interested, I will comply. But when I was just investigating a case earlier, I accidentally got some clues, which may be related to the remaining members of the White Lotus Sect."

Lu Huitong's eyes lit up, and he casually inserted the steel knife into the shelf. He then waved his hand and repelled three of his followers before questioning Sun Shaozong.

After Sun Shaozong recounted his findings and deductions based on these clues, Lu Huitong paced back and forth, pondering for a while, and suddenly shouted and ordered, "Someone, after the Heavenly Hound swallowed the sun, bring me all the intelligence about the Central Judicial Office house arrest!"

As a hundred households outside the door were ordered to leave, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but doubt, "Your Excellency, are you suspecting whether Wang was abducted by the White Lotus Sect or because of what happened on the day of house arrest?"

Lu Huitong nodded and said, "According to the investigation conducted by the Thousand Household Inspector of Shanxi, the current leader of the White Lotus Sect is quite constrained by several elders in the sect because he did not receive the blessing of the Holy Maiden. If he had any clues pointing to Wang, how could he endure until today to take action?"

Indeed.

If the remaining members of the White Lotus Sect have a way, they could find the legendary next saint, but they would not wait for seventeen years in vain.

From the current situation where Wang has disappeared without a trace, it was unlikely that she was an insider of the White Lotus Sect in the Capital.

However…

What happened in the house arrest on the day of the solar eclipse seemed to have nothing to do with the White Lotus Saint, right?

After all, the lustful nun gave birth to a baby boy, not a baby girl!

Faced with Sun Shaozong's questioning, Lu Huitong simply shook his head and said, "I'm just skeptical. I hope to find some clues from the subsequent news and rumors."

At this moment of speaking, the gatekeeper had already turned back, holding a booklet that was three feet tall in his arms, carefully stacking it on the case, and then bowing out without saying a word.

Sun Shaozong looked at the small mountain-like booklet, seemingly calm and composed, but couldn't help but whisper in his heart.

With so many records, it showed that the Governor of the Northern Detective Department attached great importance to this matter, but he was completely unaware of it

At best, the discipline of the North Town Governor was well maintained; Looking at it worse, Lu Huitong didn't trust him as much as he appeared on the surface.

Lu Huitong divided those booklets in half and pushed half of them to Sun Shaozong, saying, "After all, it was done by the Southern Detective Department, so the people below will naturally investigate more carefully."

This could also be considered as a forced explanation for Sun Shaozong.

Sun Shaozong then pushed the boat with a smile and said, "I want to see what the scouts of our Northern Detective Department have learned."

As he spoke, he picked up a book and flipped it over, taking a closer look at each line.

He saw that most of the news above was useless, which was quite unbelievable, even more ridiculous than Wang's blue-faced fangs and Buddha's protective body.

This…

Could it also be considered as an investigation report?

Sun Shaozong flipped back speechlessly, only to finally realize when he saw the comments from the authors.

The record of emotions was all about various rumors in the Capital city. The author himself didn’t believe them, and collecting these was just to judge the public opinion of the people in the Capital.

However, there was really nothing to learn from this news.

Sun Shaozong patiently flipped through it briefly, then casually opened the next book. This book had a lot of content, with a relatively detailed description of what happened that day, and also included the opinions of the officials and servants of the Central Judicial Office on this matter.

***Tch!***

Some of this information might only be accessible to insiders of the Criminal Department.

It seemed that his initial suspicion was indeed correct—Zhao Wuwei was a spy arranged by the Northern Town Governor in the Central Judicial Office!

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