A prisoner? Unable to lift his head, Shi Chun could still hear them. He wondered, Are they talking about me?
After all, someone had just grabbed his hair and tilted his face up to confirm his identity.
It sounded as though they meant him, but since when had he become their prisoner? Situ Gu's efforts to rescue him should not have caused a scene like this. Could these be people from the Western Ox Royal Court whom the Red-Clad Woman had contacted? That did not make sense either. His name had been cleared; surely a word to the right people would have settled things. There was no need to stage a prisoner snatch in full view of everyone.
Usually, he thought he had a reasonably good head on his shoulders. Today, for some reason, one bewildering oddity followed another, leaving him feeling that his brain simply could not keep up.
"A prisoner?" The Execution Overseer was curious too. He tapped the sword edge against Shi Chun's neck and asked, "Him? You came to take him?"
Smiling, Qieshan pointed at the row of severed heads on either side. "Who else? Surely you don't think I actually came to raid the execution ground? Everything happened in a rush, and I arrived a step too late. I feared losing a lead in the case, so I had no choice but to act in desperation. Please don't take offense..." He raised a hand toward the notch in the great guillotine blade suspended overhead. "I'll pay someone to forge you a new blade afterward, by way of apology."
So that was it. The Execution Overseer relaxed a little. His duties left him little choice, but he did not want to clash head-on with the Prison of Life either. As long as this was not a