The Huzhou massacre case was quickly settled after Zou Lan was caught. The scattered Menghan poison, the corpse disguised as Zou Lan, and Zou Lan's concealed appearance in Luzhou all became the best evidence to prove that he was the murderer. Shen Tingwei arranged for soldiers to surround the wealthy merchant's mansion and searched it inch by inch. They finally found a ring belonging to Zou Lan at the site where the fire started. As the sky began to brighten, it was fortunate that they were able to find relevant clues that showed Zou Lan sent someone to a pharmacy to buy the medicinal ingredients for the Menghan poison. The soldiers continued to follow the clues and unexpectedly found out that the corpse dressed as Zou Lan was actually the person who helped him buy the materials. On the other hand, the coroner sent by Shen Tingwei also found some new evidence on the charred corpses.

All of Zou Lan's crimes up until now have been exposed, and there was no longer any chance of reversing the verdict for the Huzhou massacre case.

After getting the final verdict on the case at noon the next day, Shen Tingwei personally watched the Huzhou officials as they made a public announcement. Two days later, the news of this tragic massacre swept through the capital like a storm and Zou Lan's name began to be frequently mentioned by everyone.

Due to the case causing a huge commotion and being such a negative influence, the emperor directly gave Zou Lan the death penalty before the case was handed over to the capital's government by the Huzhou officials. For the sake of Zou Ming and Shen Tingwei, the emperor didn't blame the rest of the Zou family and ordered to have only Zou Lan beheaded. However, Zou Qing was still punished and scolded by the emperor and was forced to take a long vacation. Yang Dexuan was angry and unsatisfied with this decision, but he couldn't make the emperor change his mind. He could only put all of the Zou family into his blacklist with hatred in his heart.

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The Huzhou massacre case stirred up the gossip circle in the capital. As Ye Zhizhou's business partner, Fei Jinchu wrote an urgent letter to him asking about his well being. After Ye Zhizhou received the letter, he was very touched and firmly decided to use the letter as part of his scheme. In his reply, Zou Lan was indirectly mentioned many times, which attracted Fei Jinchu's curiosity and he went out to understand Zou Lan's life story. The nails that had been buried in Mr. Storyteller were pulled out at this time. Various kinds of gossip about Zou Lan began to spread wildly, including ones about his evil mother, and his own arrogance and poisonous intentions.

[The probability of Fei Jinchu and the protagonist falling in love have dropped to 20%, may the host persist in his efforts.]

[The probability of Yang Qi and the protagonist falling in love has dropped to 0%. The second soul flag has been pulled out. Congratulations to the host, may the host persist in his efforts.]

Ye Zhizhou withdrew his gaze from the light screen and pulled on the leaning Shen Tingwei, "You still haven't caught Kang Run?"

"Don't worry. The mountain has already been sealed, we'll catch him sooner or later." Shen Tingwei put down the document of the final verdict sent by the Huzhou officials and put it together with the letter he wrote before giving it to the escort, telling him to hurry. He turned around and helped Ye Zhizhou pull up his cloak. "I'm sorry. Now that I'm so busy, I don't have time to accompany you."

"Your matters are more important," he leaned over and rubbed his lover's shoulder. He went through Kang Run's information in his mind and asked casually, "How many days will it take to wrap things up here?"

"Two days at most," Shen Tingwei embraced him, rubbed his hair and then pinched his earlobe. "What did father-in-law say?"

"He's still angry." His youngest son arrested his second son. The old-fashioned Zou Qing couldn't accept this story at all. He wrote several letters to scold him. At his angriest point, he even said that he wanted to break off all relationships with him... If he wants to scold him, sure. Right now, Zou Qing can only vent about him. He reckons that the atmosphere back at home with Old Madam Zou and Yuan Hui is very delicate.

Shen Tingwei knew that Ye Zhizhou had other plans in mind, so he didn't talk much about this topic. Instead, he started talking about the issue of arresting Kang Run.

He narrowed his eyes as he listened while tapping on the mirror stuffed in his belt with his mind whirring. Kang Run wasn't caught, Zou Lan calmed down abnormally fast and there was still one full soul flag left. He kept thinking that there's something wrong, but what could it be? Zou Lan didn't seem like the type of person to obediently wait for death.

Suddenly, he thought of a possibility. He quickly raised his head and asked, "Where is Zou Lan being locked up right now?"

"He has already been handed over to the government early this morning. Right now, he should be in Luzhou's prison."

The government prison... He frowned and asked, "When you went to arrest Kang Run, did you have any direct contact with him?"

"No. We only found some traces and objects left behind by him." Shen Tingwei gradually realized that something was wrong when he spoke, and his expression became heavy. He got up and walked our quickly. "I'm going to the prison."

Ye Zhizhou quickly hurried after him. "I'll go with you!" It was his carelessness. Since it was Old Madam Zou who was behind Zou Lan and giving him instructions, then the person who contacted Kang Run was probably not Zou Lan but rather Old Madam Zou! The news of Zou Lan's arrest must've spread all over the capital now, Old Madam Zou should also know about it. Since she knows about it, how could she be so stupid and let Kang Run meet Zou Lan in the mountains? Those traces in the mountains should be a diversion left by Kang Run. At this time, he may be lurking in Luzhou, waiting for and opportunity to rescue Zou Lan. He depended too much on the plot information given by the system and ignored such obvious plot changes. Damn it! He should have realized it as early as when Zou Lan's encounter with Zhan Xuemi happened ahead of schedule.

The two quickly hurried to the prison and saw Zhan Xuemi squatting in front of Zou Lan's cell, holding a big food box while chattering about something.

"Why are you here?" Ye Zhizhou strode past him and followed his gaze to look into the prison cell. When he saw that Zou Lan was still there, his jumping and panicking heart finally calmed down. With a headache slowly forming, he turned to look at Zhan Xuemi to say, "Didn't I arrange for someone to send you back to the capital? Why did you come back again?" This young master of the Hou family is like a child who hasn't grown up. Whenever Ye Zhizhou sees him, he gets a headache.

"I just wanted to see this villainous person who looked like a good man once more before I left..." After taking a weak glance at Shen Tingwei who had taken a step forward, he shrank his neck back as he swallowed down the word 'beauty' that was about to slip out and whispered, "When I came here, I happened to run into the kitchen maid that gave the prisoner food. That... how can that food actually be considered human food? This Zou Lan was about to be beheaded after returning to the capital, I thought that he might as well have a good last meal so I went to the restaurant and bought some food for him..." As he continued to speak, his words were said with the feeling of being wronged. "I was being so kind but he even ignored me. It's not like I made him kill people or am the one chopping off his head."

Shen Tingwei's look changed. "You said the person who delivered the meal was a kitchen maid?"

"Yes." When Zhan Xuemi saw Shen Tingwei's face becoming darker, he became even more terrified. "It was a strong-looking kitchen maid. When they saw me come in, they even saluted me. A very polite person..."

Not good!

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Shen Tingwei and Ye Zhizhou looked at each other and then Shen Tingwei directly went up and kicked the prison cell door open.

"What are you guys doing?" Zhan Xuemi was frightened by this sudden action. He stared at the two people with wide eyes and suddenly lowered his voice while saying, "Are you going to break him out of jail? That's not good. Although this villainous man is your relative, he's extremely bad, no..."

"It's not a kitchen maid that delivers the food to the prison." Ye Zhizhou looked deeply at Zou Lan, who had been curled up and unmoving in the corner of the cell this entire time. He clenched his fist tightly. "The kitchen maid you saw is the person who came to break him out of jail."

"What?!" Zhan Xuemi was terrified.

The iron locks on the door seemed to be tightly wound and sealed, but in fact, they had already been cut. Shen Tingwei had only slightly kicked the door but all the chains broke and fell to the ground. Shen Tingwei pushed the door open and took large steps into the cell. He brushed the hair away from Zou Lan's face, touched his neck, and then shook his head while looking at Ye Zhizhou solemnly. "It's a human skin mask. The person's already dead, but based on the body's temperature, it hasn't been that long since he died."

The officers on guard outside quickly rushed inside when they heard the noise and were stunned greatly when they happened to hear his words.

Shen Tingwei got up and said in a deep voice, "Send the orders, seal the city gate and search the city! "

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The foolish officers came back to reality one by one and then ran out in a hurry. This criminal was just moved to this prison and he already escaped. Our lord is unlucky. If the lord encountered this bad luck, how could they, the door guards, have a good life anymore?

Ye Zhizhou took a deep breath, exhaled, and then rubbed his forehead. "It must be Kang Run's doing... What on earth was he thinking? Although assassins take money for their work..." But Zou Lan caused so much trouble that he even disturbed the emperor. Slightly smarter people wouldn't touch the job with a ten-foot pole. Was Kang Run stupid?

"Blame me. I shouldn't have given him over to the Luzhou government." Shen Tingwei stepped forward and stroked his hair soothingly.

"You were following the rules of the court for these affairs." Ye Zhizhou felt somewhat helpless. He waved his hand and walked outside. "They can't have run far. Let's not rely on the Luzhou government to search the city and just do it ourselves."

Shen Tingwei caught up with him and nodded obediently. "Okay, I'll immediately move the troops."

Zhan Xuemi looked at them walk away, and then turned his head to look at the corpse in the prison cell left behind by everyone. He trembled with fear and dashed out. "Oh mother, I'm never going to run around to play anymore. The outside world is too terrifying!"

They spent the entire day searching through the city without success.

Ye Zhizhou sat in the inn room, closed his eyes and slowly spread his spiritual power, searching inch by inch. Although he didn't leave his spiritual power on Zou Lan's body before, he brushed the other side several times and somewhat remembered his aura. Using just this to locate someone is difficult, but it wasn't impossible.

Shen Tingwei, who was inspecting a residential area in the city, seemed to have noticed something. He glanced at the inn where Ye Zhizhou was located and his tense facial expression slightly relaxed.

On the ridgepole of a house not far from the city gate, Zou Lan hugged himself in panic before looking at Kang Run, who was dressed in all black, with tears streaking his face. He asked anxiously, "What should we do now brother Kang Run?"

Kang Run let down the curtain and turned to look at Zou Lan expressionlessly. "Aunt Tao did my master a favor. Since I promised her that I would save you, I won't break my promise. You can be at ease."

"But the city has been closed off, and the government soldiers will check in here soon. We..."

"I heard that you put poison on your face to change your appearance. Once the poison is cured, then wouldn't your face change?

"How did you know?" Zou Lan looked at him suspiciously. "Brother Kang Run, w-why are you asking about this?"

Kang Run took out a porcelain bottle from his clothes and stroked it preciously. He glanced at Zou Lan from the side and the corners of his mouth curved up, showing a smile. "It's a pity that my master left behind this cure poison pill..."

Zou Lan was frightened by his sinister smile and couldn't help unconsciously moving backwards. He patted his clothes intuitively, but after touching emptiness, he suddenly remembered that all the things he had to defend himself were already taken away by the government soldiers. He increasingly felt worried in his heart. He pulled down the corners of his mouth and showed a more pitiful expression and said in a soft tone, "Brother Kang Run, you're so skillful. I believe that you can get me out. You've been working all day, you should go to sleep for a while. I'll watch over you."

"And give you the chance to steal everything on me and run away by yourself while I'm asleep?" Kang Run looked at him with a smile that didn't look like a smile. He suddenly bent over and pulled out a dagger from his boot and turned around. "In this world, I don't trust anyone except Master."

Alarm bells rang in Zou Lan's head, but his face became more innocent. "You're thinking too much, brother Kang Run. I'm just a weak ger, how can I..."

"But you, as a weak ger, killed more people than I have." Kang Run interrupted him and resumed his expressionless look. "I'll carve your face, or you eat this pill yourself. Which one do you choose?"

"Brother Kang Run..."

"I've already prepared a plan to abandon my assassin life and live as an ordinary person." Kang Run suddenly came forward and pinched his cheek, waving the dagger close to his face. "But because of your grandmother's damned favor and her holding my master's information, I had no choice but to risk it all to save you, this hot potato."

Zou Lan's eyes followed the dagger's movements, holding his breath in horror.

"I read the announcement outside; you really deserve it. Even an assassin has people they would never touch, such as children and babies... But your heart is harder than an assassin!" Kang Run released Zou Lan's face and shook the porcelain bottle. "Don't call me brother, and don't put on that pitiful face in front of me. It will only make me angrier. Now tell me, are you going to take this medicine or not?"

Zou Lan's face was already completely pale. He didn't dare to resist and took the medicine obediently.

The Huadu pill was very effective. Within a few minutes, Zou Lan's face gradually expelled dirty black blood. The intense pain that felt like ants were biting his flesh made Zou Lan want to scream and roll, but his body was tied up by Kang Run, and his mouth was stuffed with cloth towels so he could only forcibly endure.

20 minutes later, the toxin was completely expelled and he fainted.

Kang Run withdrew his gaze that was looking outside and threw a blood replenishing pill into Zou Lan's mouth. His gaze swept over the real face under the dirty blood and sneered, "Ugly garbage."

[The probability of Kang Rung and the protagonist falling in love has dropped to 50%, may the host persist in his efforts.]

He finally found the trace of a certain fluctuation in his spiritual power net. After he noted the position, he quickly withdrew his spiritual power. He threw an Anshen pill into his mouth and covered his forehead. Luzhou City was too big and he accidentally exhausted his spiritual power...

Glancing over at the screen that popped up in front of him, he stood up with a headache and suspected that he hallucinated. What was the protagonist doing that made Kang Run's love probability decrease by itself...

After opening the door, he called for a guard and gave him some instructions. He returned to his room and fell onto the bed, stuffing another Anshen pill into his mouth as he closed his eyes. Hopefully, his lover can use some force and quickly catch them after getting their coordinates... He's going to be in a coma for a while...

The author has something to say:

Thank you ╰Bing, Du Zhuan, Junshi, 1 degree pudding, Wildfire Spring Dream for the landmines! Love you so much = 3=

PS: Seeing an angel that said that I am writing suspense detective stories... No, [ Erkang Hand, I clearly wanted to write happy sweet stories!]

PS: Short Play → Zou Lan: I won't let anyone let me die easily!

Zou Lan doesn't want a quick and easy death lmao, we have like 2 and a half chapter left before the next arc

Recently I've been using the forest timer app with Shiru and man I've been so productive lately