Chapter 3960 — Someone Turned

If the Law Enforcement Hall had once conducted itself with at least some semblance of order, then after Gongyang Jun took office, the men beneath him became utterly unrestrained; they would stop at nothing to achieve their ends. Among the Three Stack Pavilion, this was widely acknowledged as the most tyrannical generation the Law Enforcement Hall had ever seen—and at the same time, the most capable.

Often, even the senior members of the Council of Elders could not dictate terms to Gongyang Jun and his subordinates, and as for outside opinion, they did not deign to consider it at all.

Consider this: when Nan Tianyong, the supervisory deacon of the Soaring Pavilion—one of their own—died, Gongyang Jun dismissed the matter with indifference simply because it did not interest him. Now this case had claimed only a single life, that of Meng Jueming, and so naturally it could never catch Gongyang Jun's eye.

By the current rules of the Law Enforcement Hall, so long as Hall Master Gongyang Jun did not intervene midway, his subordinates held absolute discretionary power over a case and need not care how the outside world or the Pavilion's upper echelons might view it—because Gongyang Jun would shoulder every ounce of pressure on their behalf, leaving them no worries at all.

This was the source of Ma Jian's confidence. Gongyang Jun would certainly have no interest in such a petty case, and under his protection, so long as Ma Jian concocted a plausible excuse, he could do as he pleased without fear. Thus Xu Lingchong's request that he frame Wei Zhao seemed to him a trifling matter, hardly worth a thought.

This had caught Wei Zhao completely off guard, and he found himself utterly unprepared. In a place as authoritarian as the Law Enforcement Hall—and worse, in Ma Jian's hands—this time it was genuinely difficult.

Ma Jian's strength was not especially great; Wei Zhao was confident he could handle him. But if the man dared to raise a hand within the Law Enforcement Hall's own territory, then he was surely a dead man—ten lives would not be enough to save him. Unless… Shangguan Lan'er intervened with force.

Of course, that was a last resort, and Wei Zhao believed Shangguan Lan'er could not simply stand by and do nothing. But it was a desperate measure at best—tantamount to admitting that the mine collapse had been his own doing.

"What do you want?" Wei Zhao asked in a low voice. The only way to respond now was to take things one step at a time.

"What do I want?" Ma Jian burst out laughing, smug and triumphant. "I certainly don't want anything. I am an enforcement officer, and you are the murderer who caused the mine collapse and killed Meng Jueming. I am merely doing my duty—preparing to send you to the executioner's block!"

Ma Jian had expected that after these words Wei Zhao would panic and cower like any ordinary man. Instead, Wei Zhao showed no alarm at all; on the contrary, he arched an eyebrow with perfect composure and said, "Tell me—do you run roughshod like this, covering the sky with one hand, does your Hall Master Gongyang Jun know?"

Whatever methods Gongyang Jun used to rule his subordinates, however much he shielded his own—of one thing there could be no doubt: no superior would ever want a subordinate who acted wantonly.

What they wanted were obedient, capable watchdogs—not self-important curs that ruined everything they touched. That was an iron law.

However monolithic the Law Enforcement Hall might be, it must still have its internal rules. Even if Gongyang Jun himself did not intervene, there was no way such a case could be left entirely to Ma Jian to manipulate at will. Otherwise, the Hall's interior would have rotted away long ago—how could it possibly enjoy its present, sun-at-zenith prestige?

"Heh, is your brain broken, boy, or has a few people calling you the Welcome Pavilion's number-one newcomer made you think you're actually somebody? Let me tell you, a specimen like you doesn't even count as a scallion—you'll never catch our Hall Master Gongyang's eye. So you'd best give up that hope right now. I guarantee you, even if you're sent to the executioner's block, Hall Master Gongyang will never so much as glance at you!" Ma Jian laughed with unbridled, cackling insolence.

Yet before he finished laughing, the hidden door of the interrogation room suddenly opened. A man entered, whispered a few words in his ear, and Ma Jian's expression changed abruptly.

"Those two worthless ants—they actually dared say such things? They took everything I told them and let it go in one ear and out the other, did they?" Ma Jian ground his teeth and clenched his fist.

So that was it! Wei Zhao relaxed inwardly. The man had spoken very softly, but with his extraordinary perception, he could still catch the gist of it.

What the newcomer told Ma Jian concerned the testimony of the two guards at Mine No. 10. As the parties closest to the point where the collapse began, they, like Wei Zhao, had been summoned for questioning.

Of course, there was one difference between them and Wei Zhao: Wei Zhao was the murderer in Ma Jian's eyes, whereas they were the witnesses meant to nail the charges firmly onto Wei Zhao.

From the very moment he took the case, Ma Jian had already hinted to the two of them what they should and should not say; the script had long since been prepared.

In fact, in Ma Jian's plan, the two did not even need to fabricate testimony that they had seen Wei Zhao strike the fatal blow. They need only embellish slightly the events of that day and tilt the account in a direction unfavorable to Wei Zhao.

With a passable logic and the testimony of these two so-called eyewitnesses, Ma Jian could pin the crime firmly on Wei Zhao's head—and if all went smoothly, sending him to the executioner's block would be no difficult feat.

Everything had been under Ma Jian's control. But what he never anticipated was that the very link he had considered most secure—those two insignificant guard lackeys—had now both turned on him!

Not only had the two guard lackeys failed to follow his instructions and slant their testimony against Wei Zhao, but they had spoken up in unison to clear him.

"After Meng Jueming arrived at Mine No. 10, we don't know whether he was testing something or had some other reason, but he forced Wei Zhao to dig here and there at random. Then the collapse happened. It's hard to say whether there's any direct connection between the two, but even if there is, the root of it lies with Meng Jueming. His death in the collapse was his own doing—it had nothing to do with Wei Zhao."

Those were the two guards' exact words. Though their accounts differed slightly in detail, the meaning was identical.

Hearing this, Wei Zhao secretly counted himself fortunate. Thank goodness he had pulled those two to safety during the collapse—and thank goodness they were not the sort to repay kindness with betrayal. Otherwise, had they truly given false testimony, he would have had no place to plead his case.

Damn it—if this kept up, everything would be undone at the final step!

Ma Jian fixed his triangular eyes on Wei Zhao with venomous hatred. Just as Wei Zhao had surmised, the Law Enforcement Hall might ignore what anyone outside thought, but it must still hold fast to its internal iron rules. (To be continued…) R752