Chapter 1204 - 1204 123 Entering Prison

Chapter 1204: Chapter 123: Entering Prison Chapter 1204: Chapter 123: Entering Prison Ministry of Punishment

One of the six departments of Corpse Country, responsible for overseeing national penal orders and reviewing criminal charges.

The headquarters of the Ministry of Punishment is located in the Imperial City District, with branches in different districts… All personnel affiliated with the Ministry of Punishment must pass through martial and corpse quality assessments. After becoming a member of the Ministry of Punishment, they receive a special waist badge and uniform.

Presently.

A zombie, clad in a green scaled robe and carrying a long knife badge on his belt, hurriedly arrived at the Ministry of Punishment’s branch in the Talisman District, immediately seeking out the head of the branch.

“Vice Minister Zuo, there’s been a terrible incident! Xu Zhengyang living at Number 37, Lingbao Street is dead!”

“What!”

This information frightened the branch head so much that he stood up from his seat.

Who was Xu Zhengyang? A Fourth-grade Taoist Master, holding a position much higher than this branch head.

“How is that possible? Xu Zhengyang’s mansion was fortified like a fortress, and he had a Black Stiff Rank corpse servant by his side… Moreover, he himself was very strong and even ranked on the Taoist Masters’ list.

I’ll go there myself to see, and you can explain in more detail on the way.”

“Do we need to report this to the central authority?”

“Wait until I ascertain the specifics before reporting to the higher-ups. Now is a critical time for manpower… If the higher-ups learn of Xu Zhengyang’s death, they might unleash their fury, endangering us, the case handlers.

Nevertheless, a report must definitely be made.

But we must find a scapegoat to bear the wrath from above and share the pressure coming from the Ministry of War.”

“Understood…”

The branch head immediately called upon his most trusted aides—who were among the Black Clothes Guards.

Then, along with twenty Green Cloth Guards, he immediately set off for the scene of the incident.

“How did Xu Zhengyang die?”

“Based on the situation at the scene, it was because his controlled Black Zombie—Wang Tiezhu—completely lost control and killed him.

The cause of Wang Tiezhu’s loss of control is suspected to be related to a batch of live monkeys recently purchased from the market… In his complete loss of control, Wang Tiezhu carried out indiscriminate slaughter in the mansion.

Apart from Xu Zhengyang’s death, nearly all the zombies he raised and controlled also met their demise.”

At this point, the Green Cloth Guard lowered his voice and reported some sensitive matters to the branch head concerning Xu Zhengyang setting up an underground prison and massively Raising Corpse.

“We must collect detailed information on these matters, particularly when the higher-ups come to investigate, especially the Military Department personnel involved with Taoist Masters. Emphasize these ‘private affairs’ of Xu Zhengyang… If they don’t want to escalate the issue, naturally they won’t inquire too much.

Speaking of which, these Taoist Masters really are reckless, raising so many zombies.

By the way, you just said that the zombies in the mansion ‘nearly’ met their demise—is anyone still alive?”

“Only two survived, whose identities have been verified as coming from the Oil Mill District.”

“Both are from the Oil Mill District… How are their injuries?”

“Both zombies are uninjured and have been restrained, ready to be brought back for interrogation. You should first inspect the scene.”

“Hmm.”

…

Indeed.

After much consideration, Han Dong decided to kill Xu Zhengyang.

It wasn’t as simple as Han Dong claimed, using murder to get into the Heavenly Prison.

Moreover.

Han Dong spread his Brain Domain awareness and sensed that Xu Zhengyang was using a folded paper bird, made from Talisman Paper, trying to send a message to the outside world.

Additionally.

Xu Zhengyang was also using a corpse-control technique on all the zombies raised within the mansion, those with a Talisman on their foreheads, to communicate the situation here.

If even one zombie sneaked out, it would lead to a leak.

Even after these zombies’ deaths, through dissecting their brains or some means of brain information reading, it could be revealed that Han Dong was the culprit.

Additionally, Han Dong’s exploration of the mansion revealed Xu Zhengyang to be extremely cautious, sinister, and crafty.

Truly leaving him alive would burden them with great risk… Killing him was the best solution.

At the same time, Han Dong killed all the zombies in the mansion and destroyed their brain structures, eliminating hidden dangers.

Han Dong didn’t actually have the guts to openly admit his deeds, but instead made some manipulations… Considering the extremely vile nature of the event, if discovered by the Ministry of Punishment, they could execute him on the spot.

Since Wang Tiezhu burned his forehead’s Clear Heart Talisman at the end to protect his master, showing an extremely violent part of himself, they simply blamed most of the responsibility on him.

Naturally, Wang Tiezhu’s brain structure had been modified by Han Dong’s tendrils, infusing a madness attribute.

The Ministry of Punishment spent considerable effort repressing Wang Tiezhu…

Of course, some things are still unclear.

These unclear issues might also be Han Dong deliberately maintaining, deliberately setting the degree of his crimes.

…

The fact that Wang Tiezhu was the main culprit was beyond doubt.

Even if Han Dong and Zhang Xiliang were also suspects, they were merely Green Zombies.

Also, neighbors in the Oil Mill District and the purposeful administrator could testify that two months ago Xu Zhengyang brought Black Zombies to the Oil Mill District, directly demolished a house, and seemingly kidnapped two zombies.

Although it was not clear who was abducted, by comparing Zhang Xiliang’s clock-in records at the oil refinery and the timing of the disappearances, they could immediately be verified.

However.

Since there are still a few questionable aspects of the case unresolved, Han Dong and Zhang Xiliang were temporarily imprisoned in the dungeons of the Ministry of Punishment, waiting for the investigation from “above” to be concluded to decide their fates.

The prison guard responsible for escorting Han Dong into the prison was quite friendly, seemingly believing in his heart that the two were victims.

Moreover, no matter how you think about it, two ordinary Green Zombies couldn’t possibly pose a threat to Xu Zhengyang.

“Don’t worry, now is a time of need for people, you two won’t have any problems.

Just stay put in the prison for the next few days.”

Han Dong posed a question, “…If there’s evidence to prove, we had an indirect relation to the death of Xu Zhengyang, would we be thrown into the Heavenly Prison?”

“Unclear.

But, Xu Zhengyang had acted first… your resistance seems reasonable within the circumstances, so probably there wouldn’t be any issues.”

“Alright.”

Honestly.

Han Dong wanted to take a look inside the Heavenly Prison, after all, it’s a prison directly controlled by the court, situated in the Imperial City District.

Through the current investigation, Han Dong still hadn’t found any clues directly related to “losing control”.

The information about Taoist Masters obtained from Xu Zhengyang’s head didn’t reveal much either, just an ordinary special organization.

Perhaps a clue could be found in a place of extremes like the Heavenly Prison.

However… an unexpected situation still occurred.

The next day.

Personnel from the Imperial City District, including the Junior Minister of the Court of Judicature and the East Monitoring Area Lieutenant of the Ministry of War, came to the Talisman District to investigate this matter and that same evening, a special individual came to the prison area to meet with the survivor Han Dong.

Inside a pitch-dark cell.

A candlelight descended the stairs, slowly floating towards the door of Han Dong’s cell.

When the candle stopped, in the light slowly emerged a woman… not a zombie.

Her gaze met with Han Dong, who was meditating in his cell.

Beyond appearances.

Han Dong’s Demon Eye seemed to capture something—in the woman’s pupils, there was a slowly rotating Black Vortex Mark.