"Mmph!"
Under the moonlight, Zhong Lin held a thief who had just climbed over the wall into the courtyard, his right hand clamped around the man's throat.
The thief's eyes were filled with terror. He wanted to beg for mercy, but with his throat seized, he could only make muffled whimpering sounds.
"Things are getting more and more chaotic!"
Zhong Lin sighed, then tightened his fingers. With a crack, the life in the thief's eyes vanished.
Zhong Lin lowered his head and glanced at the short knife at the thief's waist. In a voice so faint it was almost inaudible, he said coldly, "Who brings a knife to steal? Don't bring one in your next life."
Zhong Lin would not be ruthless toward petty thieves who merely stole things. After all, they were doing it to survive. But carrying a knife was different. That was not burglary—it was home invasion robbery. Even the sentences under criminal law were different.
With a leap, he grabbed the thief's corpse and vanished from the courtyard. He casually found a secluded place to dump it, without worrying that anyone would trace it back to him.
The County Yamen was already in complete disarray. Only its most basic functions remained, let alone any effort to hunt down a murderer.
When Zhong Lin returned to the courtyard, a dark figure stood within it. Thinking another petty thief had come, Zhong Lin was startled and was about to strike.
"Old Man Xu, why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night? What are you doing?"
The person standing in the courtyard was none other than Xu Lewu, Old Man Xu.
"I heard something outside and got up to take a look. What happened?" Old Man Xu asked with a frown.
"It's nothing. Just a petty thief.