The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 375 - 319, Zhao Douan: In the next life, be a good official.

Swoosh—

In the night sky of the Capital, a cluster of nearly transparent starlight sliced through the icy air.

From the direction of the Zhao Residence, like a comet dragging its tail, it crossed over ancient buildings one after another, eventually plummeting to the top of a tall building far from the Ministry of Justice's prison.

Zhao Douan's feet lightly touched the roof tiles as he hung his head down, surprised to see a layer of "film" covering his body, connected to the Jin Jian in his left hand, which was also covered with the same film, and a faint moonlight spilled from his pupils.

"I find myself more and more envious of you magicians," Zhao Douan sincerely lamented.

"Envious of what?" the Jin Jian asked dumbly, tilting its head and pushing its half-transparent crystal glasses up its nose bridge.

"The ability to fly… Forget it, you flying creatures can't understand the pain of beings that walk on two feet."

Zhao Douan shook his head and quickly ended this idle topic, looking ahead at the brightly lit prison of Ministry of Justice.

At this moment, perhaps because of Wang Chusheng's death, the government office of the Ministry of Justice was notably "livelier" than usual.

"Let's hope Gao Lian isn't being interrogated right now," Zhao Douan murmured to himself, then turned to ask the Jin Jian,

"Can you get me in?"

The Jin Jian, who had made progress despite losing in a fight against Buddhist Tao, proudly puffed out its chest:

"Of course!"

After a brief pause, it added cautiously, "But if you make a commotion, I won't be able to cover for you. By the way, are you planning to do something bad again?"

What do you mean again… Little Jin Jian, why sully my reputation out of the blue…

"I decline to comment. Just help me avoid the prison guards on the periphery," Zhao Douan said, reaching into his bosom and producing a silver scroll the size of a palm.

This scroll, which he had always used as a "storage bag," had the words "Void Illusion Scroll" clearly engraved on its jade cylinder.

"It's been so long since I used you, I almost forgot your real purpose," Zhao Douan caressed the scroll, murmuring softly.

Originally, the Kuangfu Society's Cold Frost Sword had used this object to construct a false street that he had entered unwittingly.

After obtaining it, Zhao Douan also gradually discovered its ability, which was to replicate a small region of reality into a painted scene and then "overlay" it onto the real world.

Today, there was finally a good use for it.

…

Inside the prison of the Ministry of Justice, "A" block area.

Gao Lian, alone, was held in a sturdy cell, with three walls that did not even have breathing holes, only rows of fine iron bars ahead sealing the Prison Cage.

This former governor from Linfeng, a figure that could be called half a great government official, wasn't lying down on the bed but was instead meditating cross-legged on the straw-covered cell floor.

With his eyes closed, he gently recited the Meditation Scripture that was widely circulated among the people of Great Yu.

Suddenly, the flame in the stationary brazier in the corridor below flickered as if blown by the wind.

Following that, came the faint sound of a door opening and approaching footsteps.

Gao Lian stopped reciting the scripture, opened his eyes, and quietly looked toward the bars where a shadow emerged from the darkness.

"Zhao Douan?" Gao Lian was stunned.

Standing still in the corridor, separated by the cell door, was the arrograntly poised and indifferent Mr. Zhao, dressed in splendid attire.

"Are you surprised?" Zhao Douan assessed the governor in the cell.

Gao Lian's color had worsened a bit more than when he was escorted to the Capital.

His changelped, shackled at the ankles and wrists even in prison.

His usually meticulously groomed sideburns were chaotically spread, but his face did not have the common convict's look of fear and despair but was calm and tranquil as an old monk.

"I just didn't expect you to pay a visit, and alone at that," Gao Lian said, smiling after a brief surprise.

Zhao Douan clicked his tongue in wonder and said,

"Though I was the one who personally captured you and would not mind seeing you dead soon, I have to say, your composed demeanor in prison is truly admirable. Tsk, I just don't know when you started believing in Buddhism enough to recite scriptures."

Gao Lian shook his head with a serene look, "Mr. Zhao's visit surely isn't just to make fun of me, right?"

Zhao Douan stood silently outside the bars, looking at him, and said,

"Wang Chusheng is dead."

A genuine look of astonishment crossed Gao Lian's haggard face, clearly shocked, then his eyes lit up with realization,

"No wonder, earlier I faintly heard some commotion at the other end of the cell, and the head jailer ran over to take a look at me for a while before he left."

Zhao Douan stared at him, "Do you know how he died?"

Gao Lian shook his head, feigning a look of lost innocence,

"When does death ever have a set time? Early or late, death is inevitable. But surely Mr. Zhao didn't come all this way to ask me that? You can't suspect me of killing to silence someone."

He laughed and shook the shackles on his hands, making a clattering sound:

"That would be giving me too much credit."

Zhao Douan said softly,

"How could I suspect you? Yet, Mr. Gao must also know that these past days, many people have been running about for you. Tell me, would they have the motive to kill someone?"

Gao Lian remained unmoved, speaking as if in meditation, "My Gao family has been loyal for generations, how could we commit such an act of treachery? Mr. Zhao, you worry too much."

He voiced the words "loyal for generations" as if he had a clear conscience.

Zhao Douan locked eyes with him deeply.

The cell was extremely quiet; the lamp flickered, one standing outside, the other meditating inside like a monk, with bars between them.

This scene carried a heavy weight to it.

"Aren't you pleased?" Zhao Douan said, "If you want to laugh, just laugh. You can barely contain the corners of your mouth."

Gao Lian's smile broadened:

"A villain who framed a loyal official is dead, why shouldn't I be happy?"

Zhao Douan sighed and said:

"People outside always say that the governor of Linfeng has a 'calm in the face of major events.' I didn't believe it at first, but after seeing you at the Taicang Prefecture's crab banquet, I believed it a little. Then, when you were escorted back to the Capital without uttering a word, I believed it even more. But now I realize, it's not that you're calm, it's that you're confident."

He suddenly stepped closer, his whole body almost pressed against the iron bars, his face squeezed between two rods as he looked down at the other man, and whispered in a low voice,

"You know that the southern scholarly families will do everything they can to pull you out, and that Li Yanfu will make a move, whether he wants to or not... just like Wang Chusheng, who holds the evidence of your crime in his hands.

You must also be holding something over the heads of Li Yanfu and the others, right? That's why you are so audacious?"

"Do you think, with Wang Chusheng dead and the human evidence gone, that there will be more room for manipulation during the imperial tribunal's trial, and you can avoid decapitation?"

Gao Lian was pressured by his gaze, his smile fading as he brought his hands together solemnly, and said,

"Mr. Zhao, you have many misunderstandings about me."

Clang clang... His shackles clashed as he gestured to the quiet surroundings and said,

"Or is it that Mr. Zhao wants me to say something in particular? To admit to the so-called crimes you speak of?"

In his eyes, there appeared an undisguised scorn as if saying,

Do you think I'm a fool?

From the time he was accused at the crab banquet, Gao Lian had been silent.

He spoke very little on the way to the Capital, and even after being imprisoned, he seldom interacted with others except during official interrogations.

All so as not to leave any ammunition against himself.

In his view, Zhao Douan's solitary visit to fish for words and testimonies was blatantly obvious, especially since he had used the Recording Scroll before.

"You seem to have misunderstood some things."

Zhao Douan watched him quietly for a few seconds before slowly squatting down just outside the prison bars next to the cell.

Staring into his eyes, he smiled and said,

"Do you think I'm here to fish for your words? Because Wang Chusheng is dead, and I must resort to this last-ditch strategy? Hmm, let me think, maybe you're also guessing who sent me? Was it Your Majesty, Yuann Li, or someone else..."

Zhao Douan shook his head, then suddenly spat out a loogie with a fierce look in his eye,

"No, you're wrong."

The spittle hit Gao Lian's cheek in the dim light. He raised his hand to wipe it away and said,

"What mistake have I made?"

The corners of Zhao Douan's mouth curved upward. He clapped his hands and said,

"You're wrong because, having done those wrong things, you don't have the resolve to accept death. You're wrong because, clever all your life, you fail to understand the situation. You're wrong because, on the brink of death, you still think you see through everything... You are wrong because..."

Suddenly, he pointed his thumb at himself, each word enunciated clearly,

"You're wrong because... your demeanor irks me."

Suddenly, he remembered a saying from an old lady in his past life:

Damn, I hate people who show off.

Gao Lian's eyebrows twitched violently, a foreboding feeling arising. His cheek twitched, and a trace of unease finally appeared on his otherwise composed face,

"What do you want to do? This is the Ministry of Justice prison... Ah!!"

The very next second, without any warning, Gao Lian let out a heart-wrenching scream of pain.

It was like he'd been hit in the abdomen by an invisible fist, and his body violently fell as he clutched first at his belly, then at his chest.

His skin, pale and plump from being a scion of a premier family, turned as red as boiled shrimp, accompanied by large beads of sweat.

Pain!

Severe pain!

Indescribably severe pain!

As if someone had opened his chest and shoved a ball of fire inside his organs.

"Ah!!"

"You... you dare... this is..."

"Stop..."

Gao Lian writhed in agony on the cold floor, with no hint of his previous composure as his expression twisted horribly with pain.

His voice was sharp and hoarse, like he was being subjected to the most severe torture by burning.

However, no matter how he screamed, the entire prison remained eerily quiet, without any sound.

There weren't just no prison guards rushing in, even the other criminals in the prison made no noise.

As if...

The whole prison was desolate, with just the two of them.

Indeed, this moment of severe pain made Gao Lian's mind exceptionally clear.

He suddenly realized that the Ministry of Justice prison had been terrifyingly silent since Zhao Douan inexplicably appeared in the corridor.

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"What do I want to do?"

Outside the bars, Zhao Douan was still squatting. His palms, between his fingers, were wrapped with clusters of nearly illusory white fire, unbeknownst to when they had appeared.

Zhao Douan stood up, flicked his wrist, and the iron bars, forged of fine steel, also burst into flames, enveloped by white fire, softening like wax candles.

They collapsed and broke.

Zhao Douan stepped gracefully into what was effectively a cell replaced by a scroll painting, existing "within the painting." His boots pressed down on Gao Lian's temple, pinning him underfoot as he let out a long, drawn-out sigh,

"He who kills shall be killed in return. You don't think you're the only ones capable of killing, do you?"

"Ah—"

Amidst his agony, Gao Lian's eyes welled up with intense fear, "Mr. Zhao, I... I..."

Whoosh whoosh... White flames burst from his mouth, nose, ears, and eyes, rapidly engulfing his pleas.

"In your next life, try being a good official."