Mu Canglan tossed Zhou Jing onto the floor of the main room and stretched his aching shoulders. "The workshop's armory is paralyzed; the hundred Puppet Armor can't be activated for the time being. But the central control is only temporarily locked. The imperial court must send someone to take over and seal it off within seven days, otherwise it will be restored."
Yin Wujou's heart sank. "Seven days... that's a tight schedule. Even if we complete the filing and processing at the Court of Judicial Review at the earliest, it will still take three to five days, plus the time spent on intermediaries..."
"Therefore, we cannot rest tonight." The Snow Empress sat down at the square table, spreading out the secret letter, token, and files from her sleeve onto the table. "Interrogate Zhou Jing and Liu Yanzhao tonight, compare their testimonies, and find out the specific list of Meng Qi's spies in the capital. I need to have a complete confession before dawn."
Mu Canglan went to the inner room to check Liu Yanzhao's pulse, then frowned. "His vital energy has been severely suppressed by the three sealing silver needles. If we forcibly awaken him for interrogation, he will bleed from all seven orifices and suffer fundamental damage due to depleted Spiritual Power. Perhaps I should prescribe some qi-boosting herbal medicine for him..."
"There's no time to brew the medicine," Snow Empress interrupted him decisively. "Forcefully awaken him and use Spiritual Power to replenish his vital energy. I know what I'm doing; I won't let him die."
Mu Canglan wanted to persuade him further, but seeing Snow Empress's uncompromising expression, he could only sigh, walk to Zhou Jing's side, and squat down. He first inserted two silver needles into Zhou Jing's pulse points to prevent him from suddenly attacking others, and then pulled out the sealing needle between his eyebrows. Zhou Jing's body twitched violently, his eyelids trembled violently, and after a few breaths, he suddenly opened his eyes.
His narrow, gloomy eyes suddenly opened, the pupils gleaming with residual Spiritual Power. When he saw the three people sitting around him, a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
"Oh, Snow Empress, you've brought your men back to the city." His voice was hoarse yet composed, as if he weren't a prisoner but a distinguished guest visiting in a different place. "Interrogate me? You know I won't give you a single confession."
"You don't need to give a confession." Snow Empress placed two tokens side by side on the table. One was taken from the secret room of the Meng residence, and the other was taken from the stone platform of the armory. "Both tokens are in my hands, and the Puppet Armor central command has also been locked down with one of them. Whether you give a confession or not will not affect the chain of evidence we have already established. The only thing you can do is exchange your confession for your life. If you reveal all of Meng Qi's spies in the capital, I can guarantee your life."
Zhou Jing's gaze swept back and forth between the two tokens twice, then he suddenly chuckled softly, "Protect me from death? Snow Empress, since when have you been able to speak on behalf of the Court of Judicial Review? You're nothing but a fugitive who's been on the run for ten years. The Spirit Vein Bureau's record with the court is 'treason.' You yourself still have a host of legal troubles to clear your name. What makes you think you can protect me?"
Yin Wujou clenched his fists. He was about to retort when Snow Empress raised her hand to stop him, leaned closer to Zhou Jing, and said in a very low voice, "It's true that I have a criminal record in the Spirit Vein Bureau, but the court has not reopened the case from ten years ago. The souls of more than three hundred people from the Spirit Vein Bureau are still hanging in the sky without rest. When this old case is brought up again, do you think you, the head of the Xuan Abyss Workshop, are more afraid of the Court of Judicial Review's knife, or I, a survivor of the Spirit Vein Bureau?"
Zhou Jing's smile froze for a moment. He stared into Snow Empress's eyes, which were so close to his own, eyes as cold as frost, devoid of anger or threat, only a calm that was almost terrifyingly certain. He suddenly realized that the woman before him was truly prepared to perish together with him. She didn't care about her own life or death, nor did she care about the crime for which the court had issued a warrant for her arrest. The fact that she hadn't been caught for the past ten years wasn't a fluke, but rather because she had never considered her own safety.
Zhou Jing remained silent for a long time. The only sound in the main room was the faint crackling of the oil lamp. Yin Wujou held his breath, while Mu Canglan's fingers, which were pressed on Zhou Jing's pulse point, remained firmly in place.
"... Meng Qi has a total of twelve informants." Zhou Jing finally spoke, his voice a few decibels lower than before. "Five of them are officials from the Ministry of Works, three are clerks from Court of Judicial Review of Imperial Guard Review, two are mid-level captains in the Ministry of Revenue Guard, one is in charge of the archives of the Ministry of Revenue in charge of the allocation of military equipment, and the last one... acts as an informant in a teahouse in Chongwen Ward."
Snow Empress tore a blank sheet of Xuan paper from the file, dipped her brush in ink, and began to take notes rapidly as she listened. Her handwriting was neat and swift, each stroke landing precisely where it should, without the slightest unnecessary pause.
"Write down all of these people's names, positions, contact information, and responsibilities..." She pushed the half-written sheet of paper in front of Zhou Jing. "Write it down yourself, and then put your fingerprint on it."
Zhou Jing glanced at the paper, then at the pen in Snow Empress's hand, and suddenly smiled, "Give me the pen."
Yin Wujou handed him a pen. After Mu Canglan released his pulse, Zhou Jing moved his stiff fingers and bent down to write carefully on the Xuan paper. His handwriting was more beautiful than expected, in a slender, elegant style, with distinct joints. Every name, every official title, and every address was written clearly and precisely. At the end, he dipped his brush in ink and added a sentence to the last line.
"The twelve individuals communicated through a single, unannounced line, unaware of each other's identities. Every five days, Meng Qi would send secret instructions to each line via a coded message, which was then forwarded through the Chongwen Ward Teahouse, with the teahouse manager acting as the messenger."
After writing the last character, he put the brush on the table, pushed the Xuan paper back in front of Snow Empress, and then picked up the ink pad on the table and pressed a bright red fingerprint below the name.
Snow Empress carefully put away the confession and tucked it into her sleeve. She stood up and looked down at Zhou Jing: "If you're telling the truth, I'll spare your life. If there's even a single falsehood, you should know what I'm capable of."
"Don't worry." Zhou Jing leaned back in his chair, appearing nonchalant. "I'm a very pragmatic person. It's better to be safe than sorry. Staying alive is more important than anything else. Not a single word in the confession is false."
Mu Canglan re-inserted the sealing needle between Zhou Jing's eyebrows, dragged him into the inner room, and laid him on the bed next to Liu Yanzhao. Snow Empress sat at the table and compared Zhou Jing's confession with the vague information Liu Yanzhao had previously revealed by the light of an oil lamp, her brows furrowing more and more as she read.
"What's wrong?" Yin Wujou walked to her side and bent down to look at the confession.
"Among the names of the twelve undercover agents, three are clerks from the Court of Judicial Review of Judicial Review." Snow Empress pointed to those three names. " The Court of Judicial Review is the final judicial organ of the imperial court. If even the Court of Judicial Review has people under Liu Yanzhao, then whatever case files we submit may be intercepted, altered, or even destroyed in advance."
Yin Wujou's heart tightened. "Then what should we do? Present the petition directly to the Emperor without going through the Court of Judicial Review?"
"The Emperor resides deep within the palace walls; we commoners can't even get through the gates," Mu Canglan interjected as he emerged from the inner chamber. "Even if we could enter the palace, without a formal petition, the Emperor wouldn't even look at it."