Mr. Du

Not long after, another visitor arrived at the Heavenly Prison.

A jailer led three people over. At the front was Li Dagang, with Mo Zhai beside him.

A third person followed behind them, wrapped from head to toe in a black robe. His appearance was impossible to make out.

The jailer had clearly been paid off again. He respectfully opened the small viewing window, then stepped aside.

As soon as he was gone, a seven-inch shoehorn came flying through the air. Zhang Yu was the one who threw it.

"You still have the nerve to come see me?"

"Do you know I almost lost my virtue?"

Zhang Yu was furious.

At the thought that he had nearly lost his chastity to someone Li Dagang had sent, he wanted to strangle the unreliable bastard.

Li Dagang nimbly dodged the stinking shoehorn and looked aggrieved. "B-Boss, it was an accident! A complete accident!"

His voice quavered as if he were about to cry. He had clearly already heard about the heart-stopping farce that had just unfolded.

The person he had found had nearly... done that to his own boss.

Mo Zhai stepped forward too, immediately selling out his teammate. Grinning, he said, "Boss, Old Li found the guy. I think you should let him kill himself to atone."

"Mo, you're kicking me while I'm down."

Li Dagang was furious. He tried to drag Mo Zhai down with him. "Boss, you can't blame me for the whole thing. Mo Zhai came up with the idea!"

He had no hesitation about shifting the blame.

The glee on Mo Zhai's face froze. He glared at Li Dagang.

"Hey, Old Li!

"You can't sell out your teammate like that. I only made a suggestion. Weren't you the one who handled the details, found the guy, and checked his background?

"You didn't do your job and brought in a lunatic, and now you want to drag me down with you?"

"You were the one who said we should find someone tough!" Li Dagang argued.

"I said someone tough, not a lunatic who wanted to have his way with his own brothers!" Mo Zhai kept shifting the blame.

"You didn't tell me not to find someone like that, either."

"Do you really need to be told that?"

The two of them actually started bickering in low voices outside the cell, right in front of Zhang Yu, each trying to pin the blame on the other.

Watching his pair of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, Zhang Yu was at a loss for words.

Their antics had dispelled much of his anger, but he still had to save face.

"Both of you, shut up!" he snapped.

Li Dagang and Mo Zhai immediately fell silent and stood at attention.

Zhang Yu swept his gaze coldly over them. "One of you came up with a rotten idea, and the other carried it out poorly. Neither of you is getting off the hook."

Li Dagang and Mo Zhai hurriedly lowered their heads and agreed. They knew punishment was unavoidable, but their boss's tone had softened, which put them somewhat at ease.

"Your two subordinates are quite entertaining, Young Zhang. It's a shame their cultivation is lacking."

The black-robed man chuckled and suddenly spoke.

Zhang Yu looked toward the voice, seemingly unsurprised. He gave the black-robed man a slight nod. "My subordinates were out of line. I hope you'll forgive them, Mr. Du."

"Not at all, not at all."

The black-robed man—Mr. Du—chuckled, his tone relaxed.

"I'm rather envious of you, my young friend. The useless fellows under me turn as silent as cicadas when they see me. They're respectful, certainly, but stiff and dull. There's nothing like the lively scene you have here."

As he spoke, he seemed entirely unbothered by the heavily guarded, oppressive Heavenly Prison. His tone was as casual as if he were chatting in a teahouse.

Over the past three years, Zhang Yu had befriended influential figures from all walks of life through the system's rewards of various god-tier skills. Mr. Du was one of them, and a particularly influential one at that.

Zhang Yu didn't take up Mr. Du's remark about things being "lively." Instead, he asked directly, "You're a busy man, Mr. Du. Since you came in person, is there something important you need?"

"Nothing that important."

Mr. Du waved a hand casually. "I happened to hear you'd run into a bit of trouble and ended up in this prison. I thought it had been a long time since we'd met, so I came by to see you while I was in the area."

He paused, then asked with a hint of concern:

"Young friend, have you gotten used to living in this prison?

"If you haven't, or if you find the place too filthy, I could spend a few words speaking to the current emperor of the Wei Kingdom.

"I'll have him issue an imperial decree today and let you out of here."

Mr. Du said it so offhandedly that springing a wanted criminal from the heavily guarded Ministry of Justice Heavenly Prison sounded as easy as buying a cabbage at the market. He only needed to "spend a few words" with the emperor.

As soon as he finished speaking, not only Li Dagang and Mo Zhai but also the nearby guards and prisoners, who had been straining to listen, all froze. Their faces filled with disbelief and contempt.

"Pfft—"

A heavily built prisoner nearby couldn't hold back a snort.

"Where'd this lunatic come from?

"Speak to the emperor?

"Get him out today?

"Dream on!"

"Exactly. The Ministry of Justice Heavenly Prison? A case ruled on by the Court of Judicial Review? This is no joke. The old codger's lost his mind!"

Another prisoner chimed in under his breath.

"I reckon he's gone crazy trying to spring someone. He's just talking big to fool that young master from the Zhang Family!"

The guards didn't dare discuss it loudly, but they looked at the black-robed Mr. Du with contempt and wariness all the same. They figured he was either a fraud or a madman—and they might even have to watch out for a jailbreak attempt.

In the cell diagonally across from them, Heir of Prince Jing Xiao Sheng, who had been watching the show, set down his wine gourd. An intrigued expression appeared on his face.