Hearing Gu Chengyin bring up this old matter again, Shangguan Yuan felt a surge of anger rush straight to his head.
His face flushed red, veins bulging on his neck, and his voice grew even higher and sharper than before:
Nonsense! Gu Chengyin! How many times have I told you! There is no problem with the accounts of my Ministry of Revenue!
That is just normal wear and tear from storage! A few minor discrepancies, how could it come to this?!
You are clearly exaggerating, fearmongering, and deliberately framing me!
Furthermore, I am not suspended! His Majesty merely sympathized with my days of hard work and specially granted me time to rest at home!
This defense was an old tune, his consistent public excuse.
Downplaying severe accounting issues as normal loss, and sugarcoating a suspension and house arrest as His Majesty's sympathy.
This rhetoric might hold up normally, but saying it now under the watchful eyes of the public made it seem exceptionally pale and feeble.
Sure enough, as soon as his voice fell, a drawn-out chorus of boos erupted from the crowd of onlookers outside.
Obviously, the real reason for Shangguan Yuan's suspension and confinement had long spread throughout the Divine Capital. His excuses could not even fool the commoners.
Shangguan Yuan's face turned alternately red and white, stung by the jeers.
But he stubbornly held his ground, his expression unchanging, and continued to retort with full vigor:
Besides! From the moment I returned to the estate yesterday until now, I haven't taken a single step out of these gates!
Not a single person from top to bottom in this estate has gone out either!
Gu Chengyin, do not think that just because you lost your mind investigating a case, offended people you shouldn't have, and suffered retribution...
...that you can pin the blame on me! Don't think I don't know.
You ended up like this because you took on the major case of the Left Vice Minister's sudden death!
In order to increase the credibility of his words, Shangguan Yuan, in a moment of desperation, accidentally blurted out the strictly sealed news of the Left Vice Minister's sudden death.
The Left Vice Minister died suddenly?!
Which Left Vice Minister? Could it be the one from the Ministry of Revenue?
The Left Vice Minister of Revenue? That's Xiao Bichang, right?
Vice Minister Xiao is dead?! Sudden death?!
When did this happen? How come we didn't hear a word about it?
No wonder things felt weird today.
...
As soon as these words came out, it was truly like a clap of thunder detonating in the crowd, triggering an even greater uproar and commotion!
The Left Vice Minister of Revenue, Xiao Bichang, was dead? And a sudden death at that? This was absolutely earth-shattering news!
Countless gazes instantly focused on them, even overshadowing the attention on the assassination case itself.
Even Wang Gangfeng's brows instantly knitted into a knot upon hearing the words about the Left Vice Minister's sudden death.
He looked at Shangguan Yuan, revealing a look of displeasure and warning on his face.
This matter was of grave importance and the situation was still unclear. Shangguan Yuan's loose lips could easily spark unnecessary panic and speculation.
Wang Gangfeng was just about to step forward to signal Shangguan Yuan to watch his words and actions, but it was already too late.
Gu Chengyin seemed completely enraged by Shangguan Yuan's words.
The look of grief and indignation on his face deepened. Without waiting for Wang Gangfeng to speak, he preemptively roared back, directly steering the spearhead toward an even more sensitive direction:
Is that Xiao Bichang not the Left Vice Minister of your Ministry of Revenue?!
As the Minister, with the Ministry of Revenue making such a massive blunder, if you made him take the fall to help you get away, would he dare say no?!
You must have used coercion and bribery to make Vice Minister Xiao shoulder all the blame, and then murdered him to silence him and eliminate future troubles!
Now that you see me taking over this case and determined to investigate it to the end, you were afraid I would find out you are the real mastermind, so you decided to kill me too!
Shangguan Yuan! This move of sacrificing a pawn to save the king is truly ruthless and venomous!
Although Gu Chengyin's words were logically crude and full of emotional accusations.
They exploited the superior-subordinate relationship between the Minister and the Vice Minister, as well as the suspicious nature of Xiao Bichang's sudden death.
He forcibly connected three events: the accounting problems, the sudden death of the Vice Minister, and the assassination of the Marquis.
Weaving them into a complete conspiracy theory.
Although this story had quite a few loopholes, in such a crowd-inciting situation, it was highly provocative and contagious.
At the very least, it successfully pinned Shangguan Yuan firmly in the position of the prime suspect.
And it shoved the fuse of the bomb that was Xiao Bichang's sudden death right into Shangguan Yuan's hands.
As expected, the surrounding crowd exploded again, their discussions like boiling water:
My god! Such a thing happened?!
Minister Shangguan forced his subordinate to death? And wanted to kill the Marquis to silence him?!
This is too ruthless?!
No wonder Vice Minister Xiao died so suddenly.
It's terrifying when you think about it!
...
Shangguan Yuan trembled with anger and began to retort loudly, speaking without thinking:
Gu Chengyin! Where is your brain?! Was it smashed by the assassins?!!
I am the Minister of Revenue, that's true! But my surname is Shangguan! Xiao Bichang's surname is Xiao!
Even if Vice Minister Xiao was taking the fall for someone, it wasn't for me, the Minister! It was for the Xiao...
At this point, Shangguan Yuan stopped abruptly, as if an invisible hand had seized his throat.
The angry expression on his face froze instantly, turning into a terrified pallor, his eyes wide and round.
He looked left and right in panic, his gaze sweeping over the suddenly changed face of Wang Gangfeng, and over Gu Chengyin at the door.
Sweeping over the now dead-silent crowd outside the estate, bead-sized drops of cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.
This hesitant appearance, clearly having misspoken and anxious to cover it up, was more convincing than any direct accusation.
The entire scene fell into a deathly silence.
The crowd that had been noisy and boiling just moments ago now seemed to have been collectively cast with a silencing spell.
Everyone held their breath, their eyes wide, looking at Shangguan Yuan in disbelief.
Some of the sharper onlookers had already begun to subconsciously shrink their necks.
Hiding behind the crowd, their hearts pounding:
Mother of god, is this something that can be said in public?
Did we just hear something we shouldn't have?
Is it still in time to run away now?
The Great Luo Laws shouldn't have a clause about silencing bystanders, right?
Just as Gu Chengyin was preparing to strike while the iron was hot and fan the flames higher, a voice suddenly came from the side:
Record this down.
These few words were plain and simple, yet they exploded in everyone's ears like thunder from the highest heavens!
Gu Chengyin turned to look, and then saw that a clerk had appeared next to Wang Gangfeng at some unknown point.
Holding a thick dossier and a brush in his hands.
And those few words were spoken by Wang Gangfeng to the clerk.
With the brush in the clerk's hand sweeping non-stop, it meant that Shangguan Yuan's unfinished half-sentence had been officially recorded by the Censorate in the form of an official document.
This was not a street rumor; it was a written record that could be used as evidence in court.
Shangguan Yuan looked as if he had been struck by lightning, his face instantly turning as pale as paper, entirely drained of blood.
His body swayed, almost unable to stand steady.
He pointed a finger at Wang Gangfeng, his lips trembling, wanting to say something, but unable to spit out a single word.
All that remained was a sense of desperate terror.
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
