Ch. 528 - Let Bygones be Bygones

Gloomy, cramped, lonely, and rotten…

The water prison of the Northern Detective Department was undoubtedly a place that combined many negative attributes.

However, on the morning of September 2nd, the dark atmosphere in the water prison was greatly diluted by the constant snoring.

More than a dozen captured members of the White Lotus Sect, whether they were those with broken legs, missing arms, burned skin, frostbitten feet, hanging on walls, or tied to beds, all slept soundly.

There was no way, the so-called *’Inviting God Pill’* was a stimulant with great side effects, and to suppress excessive excitement, the antidote developed in a hurry naturally contained anesthesia ingredients.

According to the Imperial Hospital, the thieves of the White Lotus Sect needed to sleep for about five to six hours before gradually waking up.

Of course, even if the thieves slept like dead pigs, there were still some things that could be done.

| Private Room B |

***Crunching~***

Just as the heavy iron door opened a gap, a tiger-headed cane eagerly squeezed in and forcefully pried the prison door around.

Looking at the prisoner tightly bound to the bed, the owner of the cane had a fierce and excited expression. He waved his hand and shook off the support of those around him, stumbled to the front of the bed, stared at the prisoner for a while, and suddenly burst into laughter.

"Old thief, old thief, you deserve it! Haha... haha..."

After just a few laughs, the person coughed violently again, and his waist couldn't straighten even after coughing. His tall and thin body was hunched like a shrimp.

"Dad, are you okay?!"

The person who had been thrown away by him earlier rushed forward and stroked his chest and back. After a while, he regained his composure, with a red and swollen head, panting like a cow. However, he waved his hand with a smile on his face and said, "It's not a problem, I'm very good, very good!"

At this moment, Lu Hui, who followed in, began to ask, "General Zhou, is this indeed Ge Zhan, the Deputy Leader of the White Lotus Sect?"

"Absolutely!"

General Zhou said, lifting his cane and tapping it on his left leg, gritting his teeth, and saying, "Thanks to this old thief's poisonous thistle, all the people I've been through these years are neither human nor ghost. Even in my dreams, I also recognize his face!"

Upon hearing General Zhou's words, Lu Hui was unsure whether he was happy or worried. He ordered Yang Licai to send General Zhou's father and son away and then led Sun Shaozong to silently inspect the water prison.

Seeing that he was about to turn back to the prison cell, Lu Hui suddenly stopped and asked, seemingly unintentionally, "I heard that when you took the thief last night, you used the name of the Central Judicial Office?"

If this were questioning, it didn’t seem like it.

But if he answered poorly, it was very likely to fall behind with a false accusation.

Sun Shaozong chuckled, but instead asked without answering, "Do you still remember the sentence you said to me when we first met?"

"Which sentence?"

"You asked me to pay more attention to our Northern Detective Department and also said that I’m ultimately from a martial arts background. The position of the prefect and governor may not be easy to achieve."

This was indeed from Lu Hui's mouth, but time has changed. When Sun Shaozong mentioned this again, Lu Hui's face became a bit ugly, thinking that Sun Shaozong was demonstrating to him and even trying to challenge his authority.

"Today, I may as well have a thorough understanding with you."

Sun Shaozong walked from the back to the front and looked straight into Lu Hui's eyes, saying, "With my ambition and vision, I wouldn't be trapped in these two yamen gates!"

Lu Hui's face changed again, his gaze flickered, and he hesitated to speak.

Sun Shaozong also knew that such empty words might not be able to win his trust, so he immediately added, "Actually, I have heard some rumors recently, and the court seems to be intentionally appointing me to suppress the rebellion in Huguang..."

After a moment of uncertainty, Lu Hui's face suddenly let out a long sigh and said, "Indeed, heroes emerge from youth."

As he spoke, he bowed deeply to Sun Shaozong, saying, "I was once greedy for power and had some petty thoughts. I am extremely ashamed."

Sun Shaozong quickly dodged and reached out to help Lu Hui up. The two of them looked at each other and smiled, not to mention their feelings, at least on the surface, they had cleared up their past grievances.

So Lu Hui ordered Sun Shaozong to write down in detail the details of the thief captured last night, and he would take him to report to Commander Dai.

Originally, it was supposed to be reported in detail by Sun Shaozong himself. However, after the Crown Prince's case, the access control in the Imperial Palace became increasingly strict. Outsiders like Sun Shaozong were unable to enter the palace without being summoned.

As for Lu Hui, he already held the honorary title of Grand Imperial Guard, which was why he was qualified to enter the palace to seek an audience with Dai Quan.

However, such a big matter has already spread throughout the entire Capital, and in the end, Dai Quan would definitely ask Sun Shaozong for clarification, so he was not afraid that Lu Hui would dare to take his credit.

Not to mention how Lu Hui would divide his speech in front of Dai Quan.

Sun Shaozong stayed in the water prison and was not idle. He ordered someone to bring pens, ink, paper, and inkstones, and openly occupied the detention room.

[Zhao Jiayi, the Chief Commander of the Northern Detective Department Thousand Household Operation, suspected time, 7 am to 9 am.]

[Song Xiong, a Hundred Households under the jurisdiction of the Northern Detective Department, was under the command of the monitoring team. Suspected times, 5 am to 7 am and 11 am to 1 pm.]

[Zang Liang, the Deputy Commander of the Monitoring Team of the Northern Detective Department, a Hundred Household, suspected time, 9:00 am to 11:00 am.]

[Xu Kun, General of the Northern Detective Department, a member of the surveillance team, suspected time, was already noon.]

[Zhao Wei, General of the Northern Detective Department, a member of the surveillance team, was suspected beforehand, from 7 am to 9 am.]

The above five people were the unlucky ones who were thrown into the Water Prison in the Northern Detective Department during the battle against bandits at the inn and were unable to prove their innocence.

Although it was a basic principle for secret agencies to *'rather kill by mistake than let go,'* Sun Shaozong, who has been in criminal investigation for many years, was deeply concerned about this.

Therefore, taking advantage of his spare time, he first sorted out the timeline of the five people to quickly identify the real culprit and gave justice to the others.

Furthermore, given that their timelines often overlap, it was likely that they would need to be segmented according to time, and a specific action roadmap would be provided.

"Firstly, Zhao Jiayi."

Sun Shaozong muttered to himself, rummaging through a thick stack of investigation file copies, searching for Zhao Jiayi's confession and then line by line searching for details related to the time of the hour.

He dipped his pen in some ink and was about to annotate it on the left side of the timeline when he drew another sketch. Suddenly, a timid voice came from behind, "Big... Lord."

Sun Shaozong turned around and saw Mr. and Mrs. Wu, who were guarded by four small guards, trembling in the detention room.

The reason why they were called *’guardian’* rather than escorts was that both Mr. and Mrs. Wu were dressed in ink dragon-swallowing cloud robes, and they were small guards of the eighth grade.

Sun Shaozong looked up and down at the couple a few times and then helped Landlord Wu straighten the wrinkles on the front.

Seeing him instinctively shrinking his body, he casually placed his hand on his shoulder and said with a smile, "Aren't the clothes quite fitting? Why are you so worried? Come on, show me a smile first."

The stiff face of Landlord Wu twisted for a moment and finally squeezed out a smile that was even uglier than crying. After all the things he did last night, his fear of Sun Shaozong had almost taken root in his bone marrow.

"***Tch!*** if they've seen this, it would seem like our Northern Town Governor has mistreated you." Sun Shaozong raised his chin and ordered, "Go, bring a bronze mirror, and let Mr. Wu practice how to laugh happily."

Before he could finish speaking, a small guard immediately took orders and rushed out.

Sun Shaozong left Landlord Wu and turned back to the table, preparing to continue refining the timeline of the five suspects. Suddenly, Xu-Shi sneered, "Is this the dignity you earned by betraying the Holy Cult?"

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

Landlord Wu was shocked and quickly reached out to cover her mouth. He then smiled at Sun Shaozong, who looked back and said, "Master, don't be angry. I'm just... I'm just not used to it for a while."

"This time, there's still a bit of meaning behind the smile."

Sun Shaozong casually commented and waved his hand like a fly, instructing, "Take Mrs. Xu to take a stroll between Room C and see what those who are not dignified look like."

"Your Excellency!"

Landlord Wu was greatly surprised. Without hesitation, he knelt and begged, "Please forgive me, Your Excellency..."

"Don't worry, it's just a spin. I pointed at your husband and wife for meritorious service. How could I possibly harm her?"

Seeing Sun Shaozong's words, Landlord Wu could only watch as Xu was taken out of the detention room by two small guards.

Not long after, the young guard ahead brought the bronze mirror, but Landlord Wu couldn't laugh. He made many anxious expressions, almost every one of which could make a child stop crying.

He didn’t know how long it had been before he saw Xu already back, but her cold and disdainful expression turned pale and anxious. As soon as she entered the door, she leaned over to Landlord Wu, hanging her head and not daring to say a word.

"How is it?"

Sun Shaozong paused for a moment and turned to ask, "Compared to those people, is your husband still decent?"

Xu hesitated for a moment before nodding her head like a chick pecking at rice. She nodded and then began to vomit again, quickly covering her mouth with her hand.

It turned out that Room C was not locked by anyone else; it was the thief who was chased and panicked yesterday, willing to jump into the river to avoid being caught.

At that time, about seven or eight people were jumping into the river, most of whom were either burned to ashes or completely disappeared, but only two of them barely survived.

It could be said that they survived, but in fact, it was better to die.

Their body was extensively burned, and their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses were covered in burning tung oil. Now, they were blind, deaf, and unable to speak, so they were just hanging on and waiting to die.

Originally, Sun Shaozong had no intention of bringing them back to the Northern Detective Department, but these two were captured by the people on the other side of the river. The citizens eagerly sent them in for rewards, so it was not good to just throw them away as *’waste.’*

Instead of using it as waste, they became a formidable baton wielder.

From Xu's reaction, it seemed that the effect of this *’killing power stick’* was quite good.

So Sun Shaozong immediately made a decision and said, "If any thief wakes up later, first send them to the location of Room C to refresh themselves, and then invite Mr. and Mrs. Wu to promote the benefits of abandoning the dark and turning to the light."

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