XH 192 - Blame Fifth Miss Liu as well
The prison of the Guilin Kingdom was full of activity in the early morning hours away until the sun rises. That place was also the only brightly lit building in the area.
Green smoke had covered a part of the prison building, accompanied by a strong smell of burnt flesh. The rescue team, wearing a face mask and gloves, trembled in fear but they must enter the prison to evacuate the injured guards and prisoners.
In a simple attire, Doctor Bai and the Third Prince arrived just in time to witness the Minister of Justice passing sealed letters to a fast speed messenger for the Emperor and other involved ministers.
"Your Highness the Third Prince! Doctor Bai!" A thin man in his late fifties hurried to greet them, his forehead filled with sweat. "We apologize for asking your help in such an inappropriate time and manner."
"Do not worry about such small issues," Long Zhu calmed Lord Xiang, the right-hand man of Minister of Justice. "We will need to trouble you to guide Doctor Bai to the patients."
"Not a bother. This way, please!" Lord Xiang walked in quick stride and added with his long legs, Doctor Bai and the Third Prince had to move fast to keep up with his speed. But they still managed to maintain their graceful look in that desperate speed walking.
"Out of seven-eight prisoners, only twenty-four are affected by the poison. They are hallucinating, but fortunately, they did not behave violently. Their skin is quickly turning green, showing signs of airborne poison," Lord Xiang quickly reported and passed clean white face masks and gloves to them. "Please wear them to avoid being exposed to the poison."
Without complaining, the teacher and disciple wore them with familiarity and ease.
"Bring me to the doctor in charge," Doctor Bai requested seriously.
"Of course."
Lord Xiang brought them to an open field where twenty-four poisoned prisoners were spread out, lying on the floor with few doctors and helpers tending to them.
"Doctor Shen! I apologize, but please spare us a moment of your time. Doctor Bai is here to offer his help."
Doctor Shen turned his aged body towards them so quickly that they could hear faint sounds of bones creaking. "Doctor Bai! It's a pleasure! A real pleasure indeed!"
"Greetings, Doctor Shen. Could you give me your orders so that I could provide some help?" Doctor Bai requested politely. Even if he was known as a legendary doctor, he would always humbled himself before those that shared the same profession as him.
Doctor Shen nodded. "Yes, we shall exchange pleasantries later, do let me. I may be the doctor in charge of these prisoners, but when it comes to poison and antidote, I can never compete with Doctor Bai. I will have to ask Honorable Doctor Bai to find the cure."
"I will do my best to create a cure. Before that, please tell me how you arrange the prisoners according to their treatment priority."
"Teacher, I will need to discuss some matter with Minister Qin," Long Zhu interrupted. "I will return to help after."
Doctor Bai nodded. "No need to hurry and discuss the matter properly. There are plenty of knowledgable doctors here to help everyone."
"Doctor Bai, the poison was spread after the prisoner exploded himself. Do you need to check his remains?" Lord Xiang asked.
"Not for now. It's a priority to stabilize the patients first before I can investigate the poison from the source itself." Doctor Bai's eyes flickered to a body covered with a white cloth on the other side to prevent them from hindering anyone.
Leaving the treatment of the prisoners to his teacher, Long Zhu used his light footstep technique to arrive next to Minister Qin in just a blink of an eye.
Minister Qin was not surprised at Long Zhu's sudden appearance. His nose and mouth were covered by the white napkin, a striking contrast to his darker shaded skin. His demeanor was calm, his straight spine resembled a leader in control of the situation. However, his hair was messed up, which was the only sign that he was ruffled by the situation.
Beside him was the muscular but shorter than average head warden of the prison, looking as grim as Minister Qin. They were listening to a report directly from a guard.
Minister Qin cupped his fist. "Third Prince! Forgive us for letting you see such a terrible scene."
Long Zhu waved the concern away. "I heard the Gu Dan spy had exploded himself and managed to spread poison to the prisoners. How did this happen?"
"It's my fault for not expecting the prisoner to be able to use Qi explosion on himself," the head warden said darkly.
"It's no one's fault," Minister Qin countered. "We are just not experienced in dealing with Gu Dan's people."
"Is the explosion that powerful enough to destroy his cage and the ceiling?" Long Zhu inquired.
The prison was built a level lower than the outside ground level. As for the Gu Dan spy, he was placed at the second level underground, secluded with no other prisoners around him. Only three guards were stationed there solely to keep an eye on the spy.
The Gu Dan spy was chained to the wall, with special chains that could suck his Qi. He must have used his own life force to produce enough Qi at that moment to explode himself with strong force enough to destroy the ceiling.
"I have neglected the prison upkeep," the head warden admitted, looking embarrassed. "The poison is able to reach the floor above is due to the cracks between the floors. That explosion managed to kill two of the guards stationed at a closer distance to the prisoner, and the remaining was seriously injured and affected by the poison. The explosion managed to create a hole from the cracks and allowed the poison to attack the prisoners."
Long Zhu sighed and shook his head. "This is no one's fault. Just like Minister Qin said, we can only blame our inability to expect miscellaneous issues."
The money gained from the tax on citizens were mostly used to maintain the palace, pay the minister's wages and feed the soldiers. But no one had ever thought to maintain the prison building. Most people have an aversion to think of unpleasant things, which include the life of the prisoners inside the prison cell.
Even if a person from a rich background was imprisoned, they either have family that quickly cut ties from them to avoid implicating the rest of the family, or a prisoner with an influential background that can grant release in a few days.
No one bothered to spare much thought in maintaining a dark and cold place. Most people have the mindset that the prisoners deserved to live in such a place because they committed a crime. They deserved no mercy.
"I will ask His Majesty to allot some funds from the budget to rebuild the prison. Did anyone visit the spy before his suicide?" Long Zhu asked.
The head warden waved the guard to help out the others and cleared his throat. "I have passed down an order that no one is allowed to get close to the prisoner. I trust the guards I've assigned to guard the prisoner, but strictly speaking, my guards are used to accept money from others to allow them a short time with prisoners."
Long Zhu smiled wryly. "Head warden, aren't you too honest about your guards' faults?"
"I would not insult Your Highness' intelligence by hiding this fact."
Minister Qin cut in. "The reason why head warden tell you this is because the guards had accepted money. The guards hated Gu Dan people and don't mind outsiders to inflict some injuries."
"You are saying, the spy is being beaten up as revenge for those honorable soldiers that could not survive from the war with Gu Dan?" Long Zhu asked with a raised eyebrow. "They are not afraid of his blood and poison?"
"There's no physical harm towards the prisoner. Only one person with enough power to put pressure on my guards had visited the spy," the head warden explained. He had personally warned the guards of how dangerous the prisoner was and expected them to value their lives.
"That person has enough power to put pressure on you as well, head warden?" Long Zhu asked and literally put pressure on the warden.
The head warden was no ordinary person and a strong cultivator as well, but his face went a shade paler under Long Zhu's tyrannical pressure. He was strongly reminded that behind that gentle smile lies a man with a short fuse.
The head warden lowered his head. "A warden like me does not have the courage of a tiger towards his masters."
Long Zhu's eyes were cold like arctic. "The Second Prince personally came over to deal with the spy? How touching."
Minister Qin blinked, puzzled. "How is that touching, Third Prince? Isn't this move placed risk onto himself? If we report it to the Emperor, he will be in trouble." In his eyes, the Second Prince's brain did not work well enough.
"Yes, that's why it's truly touching," Long Zhu mocked. It was touching because Long Shan was willing to do such a dirty and dangerous thing for Liu Chu Chu. "What did he talk to the spy?"
The head warden could finally breathe easier when Long Zhu retracted his pressure. "Nothing. The Second Prince only stared at the prisoner for a long time and leave after securing the pawn shop's workers' release."
Long Zhu shook his head. "He must have found the spy's spatial storage with their secret dealings and took it away."
The head warden's face twisted. He was the one that checked the prisoner for any hidden items. After finding a spatial storage ring, he had thought that was it and did not check the prisoner closer.
"Head Warden, you will need to be more careful next time," Minister Qin reprimanded.
"I apologize for my lack of attention," the head warden quickly bowed apologetically.
Long Zhu turned to look at Doctor Bai approaching them with Lord Xiang behind him. "Am I interrupting?"
"Not at all," Minister Qin said. "Head Warden, go and help out the transferring of the other prisoners." Those unaffected prisoners might use this chance to run away.
"Yes." The head warden quickly went to where he was needed.
"I apologize for rejecting the request to help out with the interrogation," Doctor Bai apologized with guilty gaze, half-hidden by his long eyelashes. "Perhaps this would not have happened then."
"Do not apologize for standing up for your principles, Doctor Bai. I understand your reason and I fully respect it. If you expect me to blame you, then I will have to blame Fifth Miss Liu as well," Minister Qin said.
Long Zhu, Doctor Bai, and Lord Xiang just smiled and did not say anything in Fifth Miss Liu's defense. In their opinion, it was right for them to blame it all on Liu Chu Chu!
Even Minister Qin himself thinks that way!
"I will do my best to cure them," Doctor Bai said. "I have checked their condition and I can't conclude if they are poisoned or not. Their symptoms do not match with the usual signs of poisoning. That's why I need to take a look at the original source."
Minister Qin's expression turned into worry. "His remains are still in his cell. His body are in pieces and my men do not have the capability of bringing the remains out without risking spending more time around the poison."
"Your men that had gone in to investigate was not affected by the airborne poison attack," Doctor Bai informed. He had checked them and they were healthy. "It should be safe for us to enter."
Minister Qin refused to let Lord Xiang enter, so he and the head warden lead the way for Doctor Bai and Long Zhu.
Only the head warden had seen the remains before, so the rest of them had to rely on their strong mentality to overcome the gruesome sight that greeted their eyes. No one pointed out each other's pale face.
When the others saw the calm and indifferent Doctor Bai, they had to wonder what kinds of horror he had witnessed to be unaffected by the sight before them.
