Qin Siyang glanced again at the empty chair across from his desk and said, "Doesn't the Ministry of Armaments have another deputy minister named Chao Shishan? Why haven't I seen him?"
He swept his gaze over them, but still no one answered.
"Come on, directors," Qin Siyang said. "You're sitting here and won't even answer questions about official business? Shirking your duties this openly is taking things a bit too far."
Wang Jilai, who held the lowest rank in the office, spoke up. "Deputy Minister Chao took sick leave the day before yesterday and went home to rest."
"He took sick leave the day before yesterday?" Qin Siyang frowned and asked Sun Linshou and Tang Wangong beside him, "Was Chao Shishan at the battle that day too?"
"Yes." Tang Wangong nodded. "He was there. He was also a Senior Steward of the Reincarnation Church, and he died in the fighting."
Qin Siyang chuckled at that. "The minister of armaments belonged to the World-Destroying Church, and the deputy minister belonged to the Reincarnation Church. It's a miracle this ministry managed to keep running smoothly until today. But as the saying goes, a crooked beam makes for crooked rafters. With both ministers belonging to heretical cults, could the ministry they ran really be clean?"
Lin Dexing said, "Minister Qin, you're welcome to investigate whether we're cultists. If you find substantive evidence, we will confess and submit to punishment. But if you intend to frame and slander us without any proof, then even though we're your subordinates, we'll report it to the secretary-general and ask him to judge the matter fairly."
"Rest assured," Qin Siyang said. "I'll soon be working with Minister Sun of the Department of Justice to conduct a thorough investigation of the Ministry of Armaments. If we discover anyone has