Chapter 42 Boiling Blood

"Is the Top Scholar truly so confident?" Luo Shaofeng raised his eyes and said softly.

Inside the study of the magistrate's office, the two stared at each other for a fleeting moment. Silence instantly blanketed the room, and the gentle flow of the breeze seemed to carry the sound of babbling water.

It was Cheng Ruyi who broke the silence first, a deliberate touch of flattery curving his smile: "Rest assured, Lord Luo. No matter how confident I am, Cheng knows how to keep a secret and has never leaked a word to anyone."

"How... did you know?" Though Luo Shaofeng was maintaining his composure, he could not entirely hide the pale pallor of his face.

Cheng Ruyi replied, "Just as Mr. Lu said. Lord Luo, you are too deeply entangled in this matter, yet you appear overly innocent. And this innocence happens to be entirely devoid of proof."

Luo Shaofeng gave a cold huff. "Has the Top Scholar also learned to concoct baseless charges out of thin air?"

"Naturally, there is more than that," Cheng Ruyi said. "Throughout the entire affair, not only are you innocent, my lord, but you always seem to find yourself at the most crucial juncture by sheer coincidence."

"Or to put it another way, without you, my lord, this matter could never have come to pass. If this entire situation is a trap, who would dare to trust someone purely innocent, someone entirely outside their control, and place them in the most vital position?"

Luo Shaofeng lowered his gaze, kneaded his knuckles, and remained silent. Cheng Ruyi continued, "Looking back at the whole sequence of events, it all began when Lord Luo saved a man in the prison. On that day, you were the last to leave, though no one knows what you said to Jia Chuan. And on that very night, by sheer coincidence, a fire broke out at the Luo residence. You stepped forward in the middle of the street to expose the truth, leading the common people to demand justice."

"The chief bailiff was mistakenly killed by Miss Lin, Jia Chuan was deliberately lured to the city gates and met his end, and even the bailiffs responsible for the escort did not leave a single survivor."

"Of everyone who knew the truth of this matter, Lord Luo is the only one still breathing."

Luo Shaofeng's expression grew increasingly unsightly, yet he persisted, "And so what?"

"Indeed. Up to this point, one could only conclude that the mastermind lies either between Lord Luo and the mysterious person wielding Tang Sect secret arts, or that Lord Luo was merely being utilized by that Tang Sect practitioner."

"Unfortunately for them, that mysterious person is none other than your personal maid, Lady Shuangling."

A sudden flash of murderous intent crossed Luo Shaofeng's eyes.

Unfazed, Cheng Ruyi continued, "Shuangling is physically impaired and speaks very little, making her indeed easy to overlook and suspect. But on the day of the fire at the Luo residence, the story that Shuangling was injured and locked inside her room simply defies reason."

"If the goal was to silence witnesses by fire, why not simply kill her outright? Why go to the redundant trouble of knocking her unconscious and locking her inside?"

Luo Shaofeng coughed twice. Without interrupting Cheng Ruyi, he simply took another sip of tea.

Cheng Ruyi smiled. "There is a reasonable explanation... The one who set the fire was none other than Shuangling. As for the injury on her forehead, Lord Luo was feeling unwell at the time, yet the knocks on your door were quite forceful. I wonder if, among those deafening knocks, there was one delivered with the assistance of Lady Shuangling's head?"

"And this loyal maid who was supposedly so deeply concerned for Lord Luo's safety—this frail, physically impaired maid—happened to vanish without a trace right when Lord Luo was publicly exposing the crimes."

"At that very moment, figures in black intercepted Miss Lin and her companions, taking Jia Chuan away. Lord Luo, would you not say that is all far too coincidental?"

Luo Shaofeng raised his eyes. "Mere one-sided words."

Despite his words, a strange glint of amusement flickered in Luo Shaofeng's eyes, as though he were waiting for Cheng Ruyi to continue.

"However, with this item in hand, the above is no longer mere conjecture."

With that, Cheng Ruyi picked up the brocade pouch on the table and turned it upside down, shaking out a piece of lightweight, autumn-fragrance-colored fabric.

"When Han Le died, he was clutching this tightly in his hand. If I am not mistaken, this matches the fabric of Shuangling's recent garments. Things have already reached such a coincidental extreme that there is hardly any need to ask her to bring out a complete outfit for comparison."

Luo Shaofeng suddenly let out a low, deep laugh.

"As expected of the Top Scholar of this imperial examination... Truly, the Top Scholar who dares to frame a prime minister and slander a imperial noble consort!"

The smile froze on Cheng Ruyi's face, though he smoothly went along with it. "Thank you for the praise, Lord Luo."

Luo Shaofeng chuckled and then began coughing again. Hearing the commotion, Shuangling burst through the door, a look of tense anxiety on her face as she gently patted his chest to help him catch his breath. "My lord, you must not excite yourself..."

"It is nothing..." Luo Shaofeng waved a hand. Recovering his breath, he looked at Cheng Ruyi and asked, "You have said so much—what is it you truly want?"

Cheng Ruyi's eyes brightened at the question, and he immediately straightened his expression. "A condemned man whose name is struck from the registers yet still walks the earth, drifting now, naturally desires nothing more than a secure place to settle. Since you operate in the shadows, my lord, why not take in an 'operative' like myself?"

"Besides, Cheng will never disappoint you the way Jia Chuan did."

"Very well...!"

Luo Shaofeng's expression suddenly darkened. Letting out a cold laugh, he added, "You wish to be of use to me? Wonderful, I shall grant your wish."

With those words, Luo Shaofeng stood up, raised his hand, and struck a spot heavily on the wall behind his desk. A deep rumbling echoed through the room, and the entire wall instantly began to tremble!

The wall shifted sideways with a grinding motion, making it feel as though the entire study were rocking. The vibrations beneath their feet were intense, resembling an earthquake.

Facing such a startling spectacle, Cheng Ruyi showed a momentary flash of panic, yet his posture remained steady. He merely watched with a calm expression as the wall slowly slid open, revealing a dark, gloomy tunnel.

"Did you not wish to pledge your allegiance to me? After you, Scholar."

Cheng Ruyi silently swallowed hard, raised a hand to press against his chest, and stepped into the dark passageway.

As he reached the entrance, he accidentally dropped his bamboo hat outside the opening and hurriedly turned back to squat down and retrieve it. Before he could pick it up, Shuangling, who had just stepped inside, gave him a forceful shove, pushing him deep into the tunnel. At the same time, accompanied by the same rumbling sound as before, the secret door slowly slid shut.

The bamboo hat lay quietly on the outside.

Torches along the walls of the secret tunnel flared to life one after another, allowing Cheng Ruyi to see that the passageway was guarded with sentries stationed every five paces and ten paces apart.

Cheng Ruyi secretly broke into a cold sweat. Ahead of him, the torchlight flickered. He was sandwiched between Luo Shaofeng and Shuangling, while solemn-faced guards flanked his sides.

Under such oppressive weight, he felt as though he were trapped inside a coffin. Bracing himself, Cheng Ruyi moved slowly forward. After walking about a hundred paces or so, they finally arrived before a door.

Luo Shaofeng produced a key from his sleeve and unlocked it. A thick, heavy stench of blood instantly rushed over them! At the same time, a flood of torchlight, far brighter than that in the tunnel, poured into his eyes. Blinding him momentarily, Cheng Ruyi was shoved forward by Shuangling from behind.

Stumbling, he barely caught himself from falling, while faint, fragmented sounds drifted into his ears—they sounded like... human voices.

He steadied himself, raised his head, and immediately recoiled instinctively, crashing into the locked door behind him. The mixture of blood and foul odor made him want to retch.

People—before him were countless people...

This vast, towering underground cavern resembled a natural hellish execution ground, with countless iron cages suspended from the high ceiling.

And every single iron cage was crammed to bursting with people, like ducks being force-fed.

Among those people were men and women, the elderly and the young, some with dull, vacant gazes, others paralyzed by terror.

Compressed until their faces were flushed purple and breathing became a struggle, they gradually stirred as they noticed someone entering. They struggled, cried out, and desperately stretched their arms out of the cages, shouting incoherently, only to be met with an even deeper suffocation.

Save me, save me... Their overlapping cries grew weaker and weaker, until in the end, words were lost entirely, leaving only strings of groans and wails laden with syllables of despair.

Cheng Ruyi felt the world spin dizzily in his head.

*Glug, glug.*

Beneath the suspended cages stood a massive, steaming cauldron.

A cauldron filled entirely with blood.

The blood within was bubbling under the heat of the fire, and within it, white bones rolled ceaselessly amidst the boiling crimson.

Feeling as though he were losing his mind, Cheng Ruyi finally failed to suppress the nausea and bent over to vomit.

Luo Shaofeng and Shuangling, however, maintained utterly indifferent expressions. Glancing at Cheng Ruyi, Luo Shaofeng said to Shuangling, "This new batch still doesn't know the rules."

Hearing this, Shuangling immediately stepped forward and randomly pulled one of the many levers on the wall. With the clatter of chains, an iron cage slowly descended from the air.

"Every time you make a noise, someone must die," Shuangling's icy voice echoed in the cavern.

Two guards drew their sabers and stepped forward to wait beside the cage. Shuangling produced a key, but instead of immediately opening the door, she said softly, "There are too many people in this cage. Hard to breathe, isn't it?"

"I will open the cage. All of you may come out, or you may push just one person out."

"You have ten seconds. Anyone who remains outside when time is up will be thrown into the cauldron."

"Of course, you may also choose to remain inside together, in which case I will pick another cage."

With those words, Shuangling unlocked the cage door. Everyone, including Cheng Ruyi, stood frozen in shock.

Shuangling spoke again, "Will you continue to endure the suffocation, or will you push someone out? You have only one chance—choose for yourselves."

A woman standing near the cage door instantly burst into tears, desperately grabbing onto the person beside her. Her frantic movements only compressed the others inside the cage even further, making breathing nearly impossible for everyone.

Shuangling counted, "Ten, nine, eight..."

The wails grew louder. Some people were already turning purple in the face, and the occupants began frantically shoving outward. Predictably, the woman was pushed out toward the edge of the cage. Desperate, she grabbed onto the man beside her, trying to drag him back in, but both of them were forced entirely out of the cage.

"Seven, six..."

With quick reflexes, the man scrambled back into the cage, slammed the door shut from the inside, and held it tightly against her.

"Five, six..."

Flinging herself forward, the woman clawed frantically at the iron bars, crying and pleading in a hoarse voice, "Let me back in... I don't want to die, I don't want to die!"

No one inside the cage responded; some even reached out to help press the door shut more tightly.

"I beg of you... please... I don't want to die!"

With the expression of a tranquil puppet, Shuangling softly uttered, "Two, one."

The moment the word "one" fell, the woman erupted into a string of broken, shrill shrieks.

The guards grabbed her by the hair and waist, dragging her toward the cauldron. At the same time, the cage door clicked shut, and with the sliding of chains, it was hoisted back up into the high ceiling.

"...Stop!"

Unable to endure it any longer, Cheng Ruyi felt the scene before him was simply not something of this mortal world! Trembling, he tried to halt them, but the free individuals present ignored him entirely. Gritting his teeth, he rushed forward to wrestle with the guards dragging the woman, only to have his right arm instantly dislocated by Shuangling.

A dull pop echoed as the joint gave way. Suppressing a groan of pain, Cheng Ruyi experienced a fleeting flash of hesitation in his eyes—

Breaking free, his left hand swiftly drew a dagger from his waist, and he lunged forward, plunging the blade deep into the woman's heart!

At the same instant, his left arm brandishing the dagger was violently snapped by Shuangling, and the weapon fell to the ground with a sharp clang.

Overwhelmed by the agonizing pain in both arms, Cheng Ruyi collapsed to the floor with a muffled groan. Forcing his head up, he watched as the woman stopped crying out, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, blood spilling from the corners of her mouth as life quickly faded from her body.

Frowning, Cheng Ruyi let out a quiet sigh of relief. He truly could not bear to watch a fellow human being thrown alive into that boiling cauldron of blood.

Since he was utterly powerless to save her... at least he could let her die a swift and painless death...

Clearly unaccustomed to such a turn of events, Shuangling and the two guards all turned to look at Luo Shaofeng.