Free Web NovelChapter 65: Chapter 65: Taking the Stage
"Su Mu, how dare you!"
Seeing his brother covered in blood, a flash of pain crossed Zhao Ji’s eyes as he roared in fury.
"Who gave you permission to act so recklessly!"
"The Da Xuan Law."
Su Mu glanced around, his brow furrowed slightly.
He saw that Wang Liu and the others had already been captured by the men Zhao Ji brought. They were now standing behind the crowd, heads bowed, their hands held by their captors.
"Zhao Gui is suspected of hiring someone for a murder. I arrested him according to the law. He gathered a mob to resist and suffered the consequences of his own actions.
Chief Zhao, is there a problem with that?"
A mocking smile touched Su Mu’s lips. "Or are you saying, Chief Zhao, that you intend to bend the law for personal gain and protect your own blood?"
"Nonsense!"
Zhao Ji said angrily, "Su Mu, I originally thought you were merely incompetent. I never imagined you were this vicious.
I ordered you to solve the case within a set time. When you couldn’t, you resorted to this filthy tactic of framing someone—and you framed a relative of mine, no less.
If a black sheep like you is allowed to remain in the South City Bureau, who knows how many more people you’ll harm."
"Men, seize him! If he dares to resist, kill him without mercy!"
Zhao Ji bellowed.
The constables looked at each other, their faces filled with hesitation.
They all knew Su Mu; he had even covered night patrols for many of them before.
"What? Do you dare defy my orders as well?
If you don’t want this job, then get the hell out! There are plenty of people who would kill to be a constable!"
Zhao Ji was furious.
"Sergeant Su, my apologies."
An old constable sighed, drew his saber, and pointed it at Su Mu.
His whole family depended on his salary. If he lost this job, they would all starve.
With someone taking the lead, the other constables also drew their Constable Sabers.
"Sergeant Su, why don’t you just come back to the Government Office with us and explain things clearly..." one constable couldn’t help but say.
"Enough of this nonsense! All of you, attack! Su Mu is resisting arrest with a weapon—by law, he can be executed on the spot!" Zhao Ji urged impatiently.
’His brother was still bleeding. That damned Su Mu deserves to die!’
"Chief Zhao, are you sure you want to do this?"
Faced with so many drawn blades, Su Mu showed not a hint of panic. Instead, he spoke calmly.
"Zhao Gui hired an assassin. This matter originally had nothing to do with you. If you insist on this path, you won’t be able to escape a charge of harboring a criminal."
"Bullshit!"
Zhao Ji raged, "Zhao Gui is a law-abiding citizen for all to see! For you, Su Mu, to try and turn black into white in South City, you must be blind as a bat.
Go, kill him for me!"
Unable to contain his fury, Zhao Ji drew his own Constable Saber with a CLANG.
’Today, he would make sure Su Mu died here.’
"I understand now."
Su Mu sighed and said slowly, "The evidence is right before your eyes, yet you choose to ignore it.
Zhao Ji, as the acting chief of the South City Bureau, you have bent the law, harbored Zhao Gui, and now that the crime is exposed, you are still trying to cover it up.
Let me tell you, this case is too big. You can’t cover it up."
Su Mu pointed at the corpse on the ground, its neck half-sliced open.
Anyone who wasn’t blind could see something was wrong with the body.
How could an ordinary person’s skin be that dark?
"Never mind you, not even He Yuxing could cover this up," Su Mu said.
"Who do you think you are? Since when is it the place of a lowly squad leader like you to point fingers in South City?"
A vicious glint flickered in Zhao Ji’s eyes, and his entire body radiated a thick killing intent.
’Whatever Zhao Gui did, it wouldn’t matter. As long as he killed Su Mu, none of the constables present today would dare speak a word out of turn.’
’Once Su Mu was dead, no one in South City could compete with him for the position of chief constable.’
’He would become the undisputed chief of the South City Bureau.’
’So what if a few mud-legged peasants died?’
’The great figures in the Inner City wouldn’t care about such trivial matters.’
’Then, South City would still belong to Sima and him, Zhao Ji!’
"If you’re a brother to me, Zhao Ji, then attack together! Hack him to death!"
Zhao Ji was cautious by nature. He knew Su Mu had grasped Blade Aura, and if it came to a life-or-death fight, he wasn’t confident he could kill him alone.
But even if Su Mu was skilled, with so many of them, one slash from each man would be enough to mince him to a pulp.
"Boss, want me to take care of them for you? This one’s on the house, no charge," Wei Yongfu grinned at Su Mu.
"No need."
Su Mu shook his head.
"Zhao Ji, I gave you a chance. You were just too useless to take it.
If you had been able to uphold justice and denounce your own kin today, then there would have been nothing I could do to you."
Su Mu looked at Zhao Ji, sighed, and said, "You have brought this upon yourself; you have no one else to blame."
Seeing Su Mu’s completely composed expression, Zhao Ji wished he could stomp that ridiculously handsome face into mush.
He was just about to urge the constables to hurry up and cut Su Mu down,
when he saw Su Mu slowly unbuttoning his outer coat.
He couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.
’What is the meaning of this?’
’Is he going to strip before he dies?’
’Taking off his clothes before a fight... is he afraid of getting his Official Uniform dirty?’ Wei Yongfu was also completely bewildered.
SHHICK!
Just then, with a flick of his right hand, Su Mu ripped off his outer Constable Uniform.
What was revealed underneath was not an undergarment, but another Official Uniform.
A Brocade and Ink Shirt.
On the chest and back were white circles, like two patches.
"Taiping Bureau, White Clothes, Su Mu."
Su Mu methodically dusted off his lapels, raised his hand, and held up a palm-sized waist token.
CLATTER! CLANG!
The sound of weapons hitting the ground rang out. Every constable’s face was a mask of horror, and their bodies instinctively sank lower.
The Taiping Bureau!
As everyone knew, the Taiping Bureau rarely intervened in local affairs. But when they did, heads were certain to roll.
Slaying demons and vanquishing evil—most of the time they dealt with monsters, but they could also execute corrupt officials.
The moment Su Mu revealed the Brocade and Ink Shirt, the color drained from Zhao Ji’s face. He trembled slightly, nearly losing his grip on his Constable Saber.
’A White Clothes of the Taiping Bureau... how is this possible?’
’How could Su Mu possibly be a Taiping Bureau White Clothes?’
’Don’t Taiping Bureau White Clothes need to have a Cultivation at the Fourth Stage of Body Tempering at the very least?’
’The key is, if you’re a goddamn Taiping Bureau White Clothes, why are you pretending to be an ordinary junior constable?’
’Aren’t you just setting people up to fail?’
’If you had revealed your identity earlier, what would I have had to fight or compete for?’
’Forget arresting Zhao Gui—if you had wanted to kill him, I would have handed you the knife myself!’
Behind the crowd, Wang Liu and the other constables wore expressions of joyous relief, as if they had just been snatched from the jaws of death.
’Sergeant Su is actually a Taiping Bureau White Clothes?’
’I thought we were doomed this time, but who would have expected such a massive surprise?’
’As expected, Sergeant Su never disappoints.’
"No, you can’t be a Taiping Bureau White Clothes! It’s fake! It’s all fake!"
Zhao Ji’s face was contorted in a snarl as he tried to grasp at the last straw.
"Are you suggesting that someone would dare to impersonate the Taiping Bureau?" Su Mu asked with a ghost of a smile.
"Are you crazy? Who would dare impersonate someone from the Taiping Bureau?"
Wei Yongfu pushed his jaw closed with his hand, then pursed his lips and said, "Heh. You’re so used to bullying people with your power. How does it feel now that the tables have turned?"
