Chen Fei was briefly stunned, then said, "I couldn't get anything out of them. They just claimed they drank too much and lost control... My lord, is there something wrong?"
Gu Zhan nodded slightly, saying, "I've thought back carefully to what happened that day. Those thugs only came into the tavern after I entered. They hadn't drunk as much as I had before they started acting crazy—and all three went mad at the same time, conveniently deciding they didn't like me. It's too much of a coincidence."
Chen Fei's brows furrowed. He said, "My lord suspects they were deliberately targeting you?"
Gu Zhan nodded lightly, saying, "I suspect someone was pulling strings behind the scenes. Otherwise, just a few thugs—even if they didn't know who I was—wouldn't dare try to kill someone."
Chen Fei said in a deep voice, "Then I'll interrogate them again."
"I'll go in person," Gu Zhan said.
With that, Gu Zhan picked up his Horizontal Saber and left the room.
Chen Fei hurried to follow.
...
The dungeon of Linjiang Prefecture, under the direct jurisdiction of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. After Gu Zhan entered and revealed his identity, the jailers quickly brought those thugs to the interrogation chamber.
Gu Zhan walked through a dark, narrow corridor and entered the interrogation room,
The prison, already chilly and grim, suddenly felt stiflingly hot.
For in the interrogation room a blazing charcoal fire burned, and all kinds of red-hot torture implements—branding irons, iron brushes, bamboo sticks, whips—were all at hand.
The three thugs were chained to wooden posts.
Gu Zhan remembered these men well, for his predecessor had been beaten to near death by this very group. If Chen Fei hadn't passed by, he probably would've been killed on the spot.
The identities of these thugs had already been investigated thoroughly,
They were the sort of hoodlums who prowled the markets, nobodies who only cared about feeding themselves. Usually, they survived through petty theft, con jobs, or some minor robbery.
Gu Zhan waved his hand lightly, signaling the accompanying jailers to leave. So now only he, Chen Fei, and the three thugs remained in the interrogation room.
Gu Zhan's face was calm as he walked over slowly, gently stirring a red-hot branding iron. In a low voice, he asked, "You lot—do you still recognize me?"
"We do, we do."
The thug in the center, seemingly the leader, put on a fawning smile and said, "Lord Gu, Lord Gu, this really was a misunderstanding! If we'd known who you were, no way we'd have laid a finger on you, not for all the guts in the world!"
"Good that you recognize me." Gu Zhan looked to Chen Fei and asked, "What sentence did they get?"
Chen Fei quickly replied, "They have to pay compensation and serve one year in prison."
Gu Zhan nodded slightly, then asked, "Captain Chen, every year, aren't there some people who die mysteriously in this dungeon?"
Chen Fei replied, "Of course there are."
The thugs immediately panicked. The leader stammered, "Lord Gu, you can't abuse your power for private revenge—we've already confessed, the government office has sentenced us..."
Clang—
A metallic ringing as white light flashed,
Gu Zhan's Horizontal Saber leapt from its sheath and, with one stroke, sliced open the leader's throat. Blood sprayed everywhere in an instant.
"Ugh... ugh..."
The thug stared in shock, mouth agape as if to speak. But only a faint sound emerged before blood flooded his mouth and he quickly perished.
In that instant,
The two remaining thugs shuddered all over, faces filled with terror,
Even Chen Fei jumped, staring in disbelief at Gu Zhan.
In Gu Zhan's mind, a synthesized mechanical voice rang out:
[Experience Points +5]
Gu Zhan narrowed his eyes. Just as he expected: killing different people yielded different experience points. It matched the rules of a game—the stronger the target, the greater the reward.
He gently shook the blood from his Horizontal Saber, and turned his gaze to the remaining two thugs.
At this moment,
Both thugs were ashen-faced, eyes wide with terror.
"M-my lord, spare us..."
"Mercy, my lord! We truly didn't mean it..."
"My lord, I have an elderly mother of eighty..."
Gu Zhan barely raised his eyelids, speaking softly: "I'll give you one last chance—who ordered you to kill me?"
A flicker of panic flashed in both their eyes.
One of the thugs swallowed nervously, saying, "M-my lord, it's truly a misunderstanding, no one—"
With a soft splurt, the blade pierced flesh.
The talking thug lowered his head, staring at the Horizontal Saber now buried in his heart. Blood welled in his mouth as his life ended swiftly.
[Experience Points +6]
Once again, the system's notification echoed in his mind.
Gu Zhan paid it no heed, slowly drawing out his blade and turning to the last thug, who was now utterly petrified. He said, "I have no patience for this, so if you want to protect your so-called loyalty, I'll oblige you..."
"I'll talk, I'll talk!"
The thug, terrified out of his wits, blurted out, "It was Zhang Peng from South City Embroidered Uniform Guard Hundred Households Office who made us do it! Lord Gu, we were set up too! We really didn't know your identity. Zhang Peng told us you were an outsider and gave us one hundred taels of silver to kill you.
We've done this sort of thing before. After all, if an outsider dies, who cares? At worst, we just lay low for a while. Lord Gu, truly, if we'd known who you were, not for ten lives would we have dared!
When we realized things had gone south, we tried to run, but Captain Chen caught us. Lord Gu, have mercy! I didn't know it was you—it was all Zhang Peng who set us up, he's the one who wants you dead..."
The thug was near tears, begging hysterically for his life.
Gu Zhan frowned slightly, looking to Chen Fei. He asked, "Who is this Zhang Peng?"
Chen Fei's expression turned ugly, and he replied slowly, "My lord, there's only one Zhang Peng in the South City Hundred Households Office. Strictly speaking, he's your subordinate. It's just that you've only been at the office a few days—you haven't had time to meet everyone, so you don't recognize him."
Gu Zhan searched his memories closely, but found that his predecessor had never interacted with a Zhang Peng from the Embroidered Uniform Guard—there shouldn't be any deadly animosity between the two.
"Did my father have a grudge with this Zhang Peng?" Gu Zhan asked.
It was the only explanation he could come up with.
Chen Fei's face darkened further, and he said slowly, "My lord, I'm afraid it wasn't your father with the grudge, but you yourself."
"Me?" Gu Zhan asked, confused. "I don't know anything about this."
Chen Fei took a deep breath and said, "My lord, you and Zhang Peng haven't had direct conflict, but he's the trusted man of Captain Cao Feng..."
Chen Fei trailed off at that.
But Gu Zhan had already understood what he meant.
Under Gu Zhan as Small Banner, there were four Captains. Cao Feng was one of them, and the most senior among the four.
Originally, after Gu Zhan's father died, Cao Feng had the best chance of becoming Small Banner. Even if Gu Zhan filled the vacancy, he should've started as a regular Warrior. However, because he'd once passed the Scholars' exam, he was directly appointed as Small Banner.
Suddenly, Gu Zhan saw the truth,
Cao Feng clearly bore a grudge, so he struck ruthlessly—if Gu Zhan died, Cao Feng would claim the Small Banner position himself.
Gu Zhan's expression grew grim as he pointed at the last thug and said, "Assign someone to watch him—don't let him die."
With that, Gu Zhan strode out of the interrogation chamber.
Soon after, Chen Fei caught up and asked, "My lord, what are you planning next?"
"Hiring thugs to murder, assassinating a superior—of course, we go get our man." Gu Zhan's tone was icy: "We'll grab that Zhang Peng first. By the time we're done, not even ten lives will be enough for Cao Feng to pay!"
As they walked,
Gu Zhan summoned the system and began to allocate his stat points,
In his mind, the system's voice rang once more:
[Profound Yuan Skill upgraded to the Second Floor]
[Current Realm raised to Eighth Grade]