Inside Fugu City.
An abandoned commoner's shack in a remote, desolate spot.
"How did it go?"
The furtive figure lowered the brim of his bamboo hat and cautiously surveyed his surroundings. Only after confirming no one had followed him did he take a winding route into the shack.
Before he could come to a stop, several haggard middle-aged men hurried over to question him. Seeing the hopeful looks in their eyes, he squeezed his eyes shut in profound sorrow, shook his head, and let out a complicated sigh.
He said to one of them, "...My condolences."
Hearing the terrible news, the man dropped to the ground in shock. It was as if someone had struck his head twice with a hammer. All he could hear was a buzzing in his ears; he could no longer make out anything else. The others panicked and hurried to ask about their own families.
The good news was that their turn hadn't come yet.
There were simply too many case files and bamboo slips piled up. Even if they read every word aloud by rote, it would take several cycles from dawn to dusk, not to mention that the people involved still had to be sentenced and punished. Today, they had started with the Zhang family of Heyin and its lackeys!
But the bad news was that, given Shen Tang's thunderous methods today, tomorrow, the day after, or the day after that... sooner or later, their clansmen and families would have their turn. They feared their fate would be no better than the Zhangs' today...
The only difference was whether they died sooner or later.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
One man kicked aside the rubbish by his feet in a fit of rage. The discarded low table smashed into the mud wall and shattered