Three-Party Joint Trial, Let's See Who Dares to Silence the Witness!

The person outside urged them again.

"The Hall Master has issued an order, transfer him immediately!"

Gu Qinghe put away the tracing and walked to the door, but she did not open it.

"What is the name of the person who delivered the order?"

"Yan Song."

"Tell him to wait."

The movement outside ceased.

Zhao Chong leaned against the head of the bed, his wound still seeping blood. "Yan Song is the Hall Master's personal attendant; he has his own men among the dungeon guards. If I enter that dungeon, I won't survive the night."

Li Sanshun pulled over a stool and sat by the bedside.

"I can protect you. Hand over the item first."

"I want a public trial."

"You aren't in a position to bargain."

Zhao Chong's forehead beaded with sweat from the pain, yet he refused to yield. "If I die, the lead on the fifteenth case will be broken too. Do you dare to gamble on that?"

"Whether you live or die depends on how much you know."

Li Sanshun picked up the tracing and waved it in front of Zhao Chong.

"Who told you to take this image?"

"Mr. Bai."

Gu Qinghe returned to the table and took out paper and brush.

"Name, identity, cultivation level."

"I don't know."

Li Sanshun pressed the tracing against his wound.

Zhao Chong trembled in agony.

"I really don't know! He never showed his face. Every time we met, he wore a White Wood Mask and changed his clothes. I only know he has access to the copper pass for the ninth floor of the Scripture Library."

"Where did you meet?"

"The backyard of the East Market Hundred Herbs Shop."

"How many times?"

"Three times."

The first time, Mr. Bai found Zhao Chong and produced an account book detailing his private sale of sect herbs.

If that account book were handed to the Law Enforcement Hall, Zhao Chong would spend at least ten years in the Cold Prison.

Mr. Bai did not want spirit stones; he only wanted him to do one thing.

Enter the ninth floor of the Scripture Library, find a forbidden file titled Shuncheng Old Records, and trace the fifteenth volume.

During their second meeting, the man gave him a copper pass and provided the shift-change times for the disciples guarding the Scripture Library.

Zhao Chong followed the plan, slipped onto the ninth floor, and found a black wooden box under the third bookshelf on the west side.

The box contained fifteen infant files in total.

The first fourteen were stamped with handover seals, but only the fifteenth was missing two pages and bore an additional red "missing" stamp at the end of the scroll.

"I only had time to trace the image before someone came in." Zhao Chong looked at Li Sanshun. "I was afraid of losing the tracing, so I hid it in the lining of my inner robe. I originally intended to wait for the heat to die down before giving it to Mr. Bai."

Gu Qinghe paused her brush.

"What about the third time?"

"I went to the Hundred Herbs Shop to deliver the item, but Mr. Bai didn't show up. There was only a letter in the shop telling me to burn the tracing and leave the sect immediately."

"Did you burn it?"

"I burned a fake one."

Li Sanshun finally understood why there were burn marks on the edges of the tracing.

Zhao Chong had been guarding against Mr. Bai all along.

This bastard wasn't stupid.

"Since you didn't hand over the tracing, how did they know you had seen the fifteenth one?"

"The forbidden files on the ninth floor have a lingering-breath seal. Anyone who flips through the scrolls leaves their aura behind for three days. When I entered the ninth floor, Mr. Bai never mentioned this."

Zhao Chong gripped the thin blanket, his nails digging into the fabric.

"He never intended for me to live from the very beginning."

Use Zhao Chong to retrieve the fifteenth file, then silence him.

Mr. Bai had even arranged for the cleanup crew.

Gu Qinghe continued recording.

"What are Mr. Bai's distinguishing features?"

"There is a burn scar on the web of his right hand, and he often smells of pine resin. He doesn't use a storage bag; everything is delivered by a Grey Feather Paper Crane. The crane is only signed with the character 'Bai'."

"What about the contact code?"

"On the seventh of every month, buy three qian of Bitter Heart Grass and two qian of White Cicada Slough at the Hundred Herbs Shop. If the clerk replies that they are out of White Cicada Slough, you can enter the backyard that night."

Gu Qinghe handed the confession to Zhao Chong.

"Press your thumbprint."

Zhao Chong did not move.

"I want to hear a promise first."

Li Sanshun took the brush and shoved it directly into his hand.

"You won't die before the public trial."

"What are you using to protect me?"

"Six assassins from North Mountain couldn't kill me. Are you harder to kill than them?"

Zhao Chong studied him for a few moments before pressing his thumbprint onto the confession.

The enemy's pawn had become a witness in the Old Infant Case.

The sound of keys clashing came from outside the door.

Yan Song stood at the entrance with four dungeon guards, holding the Hall Master's token in his hands.

"Junior Sister Gu, time is up."

Gu Qinghe opened the door but stood in the way.

"Zhao Chong is involved in the Old Infant Case and is a key witness in the North Mountain Arson Case. According to the Law Enforcement Hall's rules for major cases, two deacons must jointly verify injuries and seal the testimony before a transfer to the dungeon. The prisoner cannot be taken."

Yan Song raised the token high.

"Are you defying the Hall Master's order?"

"Please have the Hall Master come himself."

"The Hall Master is in seclusion reviewing files; he has no time to concern himself with a prisoner."

Li Sanshun walked out of the room.

"No time to see people, but time to issue orders?"

Yan Song stared at him. "When the Law Enforcement Hall acts, it is not for a servant to interrupt."

"If Zhao Chong dies in the dungeon, who will be held responsible?"

"The dungeon has a Spirit Locking Array and twelve guards; how could he die?"

"The North Mountain medicine cellar also had a sealing array, yet they still managed to bury an Ignition Array inside."

Yan Song gripped the token. "Move aside."

Gu Qinghe drew her short sword, the tip stopping just before the threshold.

"If Senior Brother Yan dares to step across, I will detain you first, then go to the Hall Master to plead guilty."

The four dungeon guards did not dare to move.

Yan Song looked into the room, then at the confession on the table.

"You have already interrogated him?"

"He just pressed his print."

"Give me the confession."

Gu Qinghe tucked the confession into her storage bag.

"You may attend as an observer during the public trial."

The smile vanished from Yan Song's face. "If the Hall Master blames you, you will bear the consequences yourself."

He put away the token and led his men away from the side hall.

Only after the footsteps faded did Zhao Chong lean back against the head of the bed.

"Yan Song won't give up."

"The more anxious he is, the more valuable your confession is."

Li Sanshun locked the door again and had the law enforcement disciples outside replace the guards with the North Mountain men Gu Qinghe had brought.

Gu Qinghe wrote out two briefings.

One was sealed into the major case cabinet.

The other was sent to the Law Enforcement Hall's meeting chamber, requesting three deacons to conduct a joint trial tomorrow.

As long as the trial time was public, Zhao Chong could not die silently in the dungeon.

Zhao Chong watched her seal the briefings and finally loosened his grip on the thin blanket.

"I know one more thing."

Li Sanshun turned back.

"When Mr. Bai told me to find the fifteenth file, he also had me check a medicine list."

"What medicine list?"

"Twenty-one years ago, someone used the name of Medicine Peak to collect a batch of infant-nurturing medicine. The quantity was huge, enough to raise fifteen children for half a year. The person who collected it left no name, only a stamped old seal."

Zhao Chong dipped his finger in blood and drew the mark on the paper.

In the center of the mark was half a white cicada wing.

It was exactly the same as the White Cicada Slough from the Hundred Herbs Shop's contact code.

"Where is the medicine list?"

"The original was torn up long ago. When Sun Erhe was transporting corpses, he picked up an old copy from a pile of waste paper at Medicine Peak."

Gu Qinghe immediately sent someone to bring Sun Erhe from next door.

The door opened, and Sun Erhe walked in, leaning on a wooden staff. The moment he heard the words "medicine list," he turned to retreat.

Li Sanshun blocked the door.

"Where did you hide it?"

"I don't know anything about a medicine list."

Zhao Chong spoke from the bed: "On the seventh corpse cart, the axle of the left rear wheel is hollow."

Sun Erhe's body stiffened.

Gu Qinghe took out the record of the corpse cart found at the cliff.

The frame had already been burned, and the left rear wheel was missing a piece, but the remaining axle was still sealed in the Law Enforcement Hall's evidence room.

"Go get the axle."

Sun Erhe fell to his knees and grabbed Gu Qinghe's leg.

"You can't take it! If that thing is moved, they will kill people!"

"Kill whom?"

Sun Erhe looked up, tears streaming down his dirt-streaked face.

"My wife and three children—they are all locked up in the old warehouse at Medicine Peak!"