"What kind of medicine is this?"
"Painkillers."
"Does it have any side effects?"
"You'll die the first time you take them. After that, you won't."
In the underground prison of the Profound Candle Prefecture Patrol Guards, in the deepest and filthiest cell, a middle-aged man whose entire body had turned into boneless, rotten sludge stared at the brown pill on the ground. His lips moved. "Can anyone in my family survive?"
"After investigation, aside from the seven children under ten who have been proven innocent, everyone else will have to face the Public Trial Assembly." Mu Qingmei folded her arms and looked down at him. "Those who deserve to die will die. Those who deserve to live will ultimately survive."
"We won't let any criminal who deserves judgment off just because we want to make a deal with you, nor will we threaten your family because of it... This pill is your payment for handing over the Lan family's techniques."
"If you're willing, I'll call someone over to record everything and prepare you a good meal while we're at it. If you're unwilling, just take the pill directly—unless you'd rather face the Public Trial Assembly for the sake of clinging to life for a few more days."
The moment he heard the words "Public Trial Assembly," the prisoner's body trembled.
He laboriously turned his head to look past Mu Qingmei at the flourishing white lotus who should not have been in such a filthy cell. "Ocean-Gazing Palace, can you guarantee that our Lan family's lineage won't be severed?"
Huyan Siluo, draped in a thin white veil, nodded and said softly, "I guarantee it."
The prisoner reached out and picked up the pill, examining it for several minutes. No one spoke in the cell during that time. Only when Mu Qingmei