The next day, Chong Yingbiao received a decree from the palace, dark circles beneath his eyes.
It said King Zhou would host a banquet for the Dark Phoenix Guard at the Pool of Wine and Forest of Meat.
Chong Yingbiao perked up.
King Zhou probably did not yet know that the mastermind had been caught. After all, they had found no evidence yet, only the short man's one-sided account.
And those men were tight-lipped. A whole night of interrogation had yielded nothing.
So the Dark Phoenix Guard had not rushed to report their achievement, and King Zhou most likely still knew nothing of this good news.
Hosting them at the Pool of Wine and Forest of Meat was probably just the king's way of showing his support for the Dark Phoenix Guard, easing the dissatisfaction of the court officials, nobles, and commoners, and buying the guards more time to investigate.
At that thought, Chong Yingbiao was even more deeply moved.
Any other king would have scrambled to distance himself, promptly disentangling himself from an investigation that disturbed the populace.
But King Zhou had not. He had kept speaking out, defending them time and time and time again!
Even knowing that most of the Dark Phoenix Guard consisted of street thugs and idlers, he had not abandoned them!
He cared nothing for the infamy of breaking convention and employing street ruffians!
A sage king! A true sage king!
Chong Yingbiao immediately assembled the Dark Phoenix Guard's Hundred-Household Commanders and led them to the Pool of Wine and Forest of Meat.
Though they had no evidence yet, telling King Zhou that they had captured the mastermind and were interrogating him would at least answer his expectations.
After all, someone really had been directing the medical disturbance from behind the scenes. With that