Chapter 21: Rare

Soon, a team dispatched to apprehend the leader of Seven-Bend Bay dashed out from the city gate.

As soon as this team exited, the entire city of Zhixu shimmered, rippling and fading like a mirage, until the vast city suddenly vanished into thin air.

Outside, people heading towards the city gate gradually stopped, all dumbfounded. The city was gone; the world was vast and empty, with only distant mountains and an open wilderness remaining. If they hadn't seen others also approaching the same spot, they would have thought they had taken the wrong path.

Many people didn't know what was happening. Some, however, knew that only one situation could cause this: Zhixu City had closed its gates and completely sealed itself off.

This was a very rare occurrence; many had never witnessed it, and most had only heard about it.

The guards on the city wall saw no change in the outside scenery; everything remained as it was...

In the guest wing, the seemingly calm Ba Yingshan visited again. Upon seeing Qi Yueru, he immediately urged her in a low, anxious voice, "Hurry, you can't stay here any longer. Leave this place quickly."

Qi Yueru also sensed something was wrong from his reaction. She certainly had to ask, "What's wrong?"

It would have been better if she hadn't asked. Once she did, Ba Yingshan couldn't help but fly into a rage, gritting his teeth and saying, "Believing your nonsense to arrest those two local scoundrels has made the Prison Inspector suspicious. The Prison Inspector has already taken over the jail and is personally participating in the interrogation."

Qi Yueru said in disbelief, "Arresting just two people can alarm the Prison Inspector? This is your territory. How did you manage to mess this up?"

"Who would have thought that woman, Lan Qiaoyan, would also get involved..." Ba Yingshan immediately explained the general situation of what had happened.

Qi Yueru was speechless after hearing this. She hadn't expected such an unexpected turn of events, where Lan Qiaoyan would misunderstand it as an action targeting her. How could one explain this?

If one were to say Lan Qiaoyan was trying to save her future son-in-law, not to mention Ba Yingshan, even Qi Yueru herself didn't believe Lan Qiaoyan would fancy such an insignificant person. Being a woman herself, she could empathize.

So it seemed this really was just a misunderstanding.

She couldn't care less whether it was a misunderstanding now. Things had reached this point, and Supervisor Du had personally intervened. Although Ba Yingshan claimed the clues had been cut off, she didn't dare to linger any longer. If they truly dug deep into those two local scoundrels, it would be easy to make connections to certain things.

She immediately followed Ba Yingshan's advice, quickly packing her belongings, ready to leave.

Earlier, she had been nagging them to let her take her son's and brother's remains out for burial. However, there was a rule here: all exiles who died in this place were to return to dust and earth right here. But there were exceptions to everything. She couldn't afford to worry about this now, fearing that if she delayed, she wouldn't even be able to escape.

It was inconvenient for them to leave together. Ba Yingshan exited the wing room and went ahead, but just a few steps after leaving, he suddenly stopped, looked up at the empty sky, and his expression changed.

Qi Yueru, who was looking out from inside the room, saw that he hadn't left and was standing there, not reacting for a long time. She immediately walked out, surveyed her surroundings, and just as she was about to ask, Ba Yingshan spoke first, "I'm afraid you won't be able to leave for now."

Qi Yueru asked nervously, "What do you mean?"

No sooner had she spoken than the answer arrived. City Lord Ba's trusted subordinate rushed over and reported in a low voice to him, "City Lord, the Prison Inspector has ordered the city sealed. All passages leading out of the city have been cut off!"

Ba Yingshan gravely acknowledged with a hum. After dismissing his subordinate, he turned and glanced at the grim-faced Qi Yueru, then quietly said, "Are you satisfied now?"

He was clearly mocking her for not listening to his advice earlier and insisting on causing trouble.

At this point, Ba Yingshan didn't say much more to vent his frustration. He motioned for her to return to her room and wait safely, then quickly left.

After thoroughly understanding the current situation within the city, he went directly to Supervisor Du.

Supervisor Du was still pacing around the star map in the pit, leisurely placing pieces.

After Ba Yingshan bowed, he respectfully asked, "Prison Inspector, why is the city sealed?"

Supervisor Du glanced at him and explicitly informed him, "Shi Chun and the other person were framed. We are arresting the instigator, some leader from Seven-Bend Bay."

"Framed? Is this true!" Ba Yingshan was furious. He immediately cupped his hands and requested, "Your humble subordinate will personally lead men to apprehend them!"

Supervisor Du held a gem between two fingers and waved it. Staring at the star map, he said, "There might be an inside traitor. You should recuse yourself."

The words were simple and direct—this was the power of authority. It left Ba Yingshan speechless; he could only reluctantly agree, obediently cooperate, and then dutifully withdraw.

In the evening, someone delivered the items specified by Supervisor Du: the confessions of Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang, along with some detailed related information.

After Supervisor Du read through them, he pondered for a while. Then he went up to the top floor again.

There were new changes in the top-floor space. A brocade couch had been added, and Nie, with his head propped high on a pillow, was sleeping on his side.

The open black umbrella was tossed on the floor. The paintbrushes and pigments on the table also looked like they had been carelessly discarded.

Supervisor Du walked to the side of the couch. Addressing the person who seemed to be asleep, he recounted the details of Shi Chun and the other's confessions. He also narrated the collected biographical information about the two.

With a clear objective, it wasn't difficult for him to obtain non-secret information. Moreover, Shi Chun had managed East Nine Springs with considerable renown, and countless people had already inquired about and learned about him.

For the first half of the biography, Supervisor Du spoke generally, trying to be as brief as possible, because his main focus was the latter part: Shi Chun offending Qi Yueru's son, Shen Youkun; and his sudden acquisition of a large amount of supplies a month ago. This was so he could then perform a correlational analysis of the events.

Unexpectedly, before he could reach the latter part—merely after he mentioned that Shi Chun had, over several years, successively sent dozens of people out of East Nine Springs, proving his considerable capability—Nie, who had been sleeping on his side on the brocade couch, suddenly opened his eyes.

Then Supervisor Du couldn't continue speaking, because Nie had extended a hand towards him, clearly indicating he wanted the papers in his hand.

Not listening anymore, wanting to see for himself—this was a very rare occurrence. As this prominent figure rarely showed interest in anything anymore, Supervisor Du was actually stunned. It wasn't until Nie beckoned him with a finger that he quickly offered the papers with both hands.

With the stack of papers in hand, Nie slightly shifted his body, settling into a more comfortable reclining position for reading. He first looked at the page Supervisor Du had been on, seemingly reading it very seriously and meticulously.

This scene greatly surprised Supervisor Du, who was waiting nearby.

After finishing the current page, Nie proceeded to read through all the papers, page by page, one after another, including the confessions of Shi Chun and the other person, which had already been mentioned. Finally, he turned back to the first page, the one Supervisor Du had handed him.

Appearing half-asleep, he stared at it again for a while, then slowly spoke, "So, in these years, he had at least dozens of opportunities to leave the place of exile, but he gave them all to others."

He, who rarely spoke normally, actually spoke because of an insignificant minor character.

Supervisor Du was very surprised, and he didn't know why the other party's focus was on this particular point. Nevertheless, he nodded and said, "That is indeed true. According to the information collected, it's not really a secret. After Shi Chun became the leader of East Nine Springs, he openly told the people there that he grew up on the 'hundred families' meals' of East Nine Springs and would not let anyone down. He said that as long as even one person couldn't leave, he wouldn't leave, and that he would definitely be the last one to leave."

Nie's gaze was still on the papers. "In other words," he said, "he actually did that, and he succeeded."

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