131: They caught a terrorist instead of a thief.

Inside the Yamen Prison, Zhou Yan and the other two were standing in front of a cell.

“Lord Zhou, the scale of this operation is truly immense.”

“I just wonder if the person behind you can handle a situation this big.”

Qiao Wenbin was the highest-ranking official present, so he was confined to a separate cell.

Zhou Yan stood before the cell door, feeling a slight sense of emotion.

The last time he was in a prison, he was the one locked inside. He never expected the roles to reverse, with him being the one to send others in.

To Qiao Wenbin, this expression of reminiscing about the past looked like confident assurance.

“I didn't expect Lord Zhou to be so confident. I wonder how much evidence you've truly gathered?”

“Or perhaps the person behind you has long been prepared to pull off something huge today?”

“Prince Kang... Heh heh, what an impressive move!”

Watching Qiao Wenbin grit his teeth in the cell, Zhou Yan snapped out of his thoughts, utterly confused by what he heard.

“Who is Prince Kang?”

“Pfft~ Hahaha.”

Hearing Zhou Yan's question, Qiao Wenbin finally couldn't help but burst into laughter—he was laughing out of sheer anger. He truly hadn't expected the other party to still be playing dumb even now.

“Lord Zhou, oh Lord Zhou, you truly are humorous!”

“What do you mean by that?” Zhou Yan asked flatly.

“Since you entered officialdom, everything you have done has been earth-shattering!” Qiao Wenbin said, even clapping his hands in admiration.

“Oh?”

“To possess such depth of strategy at your age truly makes me ashamed!”

What is this guy talking about? Zhou Yan thought, feeling that the other party seemed to have misunderstood something.

Qiao Wenbin stood up and paced back and forth inside the cell.

“First, you disrupted Prime Minister Zhang's Spirit Fish business, and then you targeted the Jiangzhou black market,” he suddenly turned and pointed at Zhou Yan, “Wasn't that your doing?”

Zhou Yan answered frankly: “That is indeed what I did.”

Upon receiving the answer, Qiao Wenbin started pacing again, shaking his head in frustration from time to time.

“I was once foolish enough to think it was all a coincidence! Looking back now, it's truly laughable.”

Although Zhou Yan didn't understand what he was saying, he casually responded to keep the conversation going.

“What you said makes some sense.”

This response completely shattered the composure Qiao Wenbin had barely maintained, and his emotions became agitated.

“I suppose that ever since you returned from the Secret Realm, every step you've taken has been carefully planned! And I am nothing more than a pawn you used to dismantle the Duke's influence in Jiangzhou!”

“Hmph, is it that complicated?”

Qiao Wenbin walked step by step to the cell door, his eyes fixed on Zhou Yan. “The reason you didn't move against me earlier was to seize this opportunity today and catch us all in one swoop, right!”

“Me? Never heard of it!” Zhou Yan took a step back and made a dismissive gesture, avoiding the risk of the other man's spit landing on his face.

“Clap!”

A sudden sound attracted everyone's attention.

“Old Xiao, what are you doing?”

Zhou Yan looked at Xiao Sheng, who had somehow Acquired a block of wood and was clapping it against the wall.

Xiao Sheng gave an awkward smile.

“I thought your conversation had quite a rhythm, and somehow... I felt like clapping something to accompany it.”

Ignoring Xiao Sheng's actions, Qiao Wenbin started talking to himself again.

“It seems you already know quite a bit. What a pity, the Great Cause is irreversible. Once our mission is complete, it will be an act benefiting countless people.”

“What does the death of a few common folk matter? Zhang San dies today, Wang Si dies tomorrow, Zhao Wu dies the day after—how many people die in this world every day?”

“Perhaps their deaths originally had no value, but we are giving their deaths value, allowing these ordinary people to advance the Great Cause, making them greater—isn't this a good thing?”

What on earth is this guy talking about? Zhou Yan felt that what Qiao Wenbin understood and what he was actually doing were two completely different things.

His initial actions were merely for revenge, because those two “seafood” assassins claimed they were instructed by Qiao Wenbin to kill him.

However, based on the pamphlet provided by the Joyous Union Sect and subsequent investigations, Zhou Yan already knew that Qiao Wenbin and the two assassins actually had little connection; they were more like an employer-employee relationship, and the transaction wasn't even fully completed. He originally just wanted to cause some trouble.

The true mastermind was someone from Prime Minister Zhang's faction, specifically, someone from the Great Yu Truth Cult.

Based on the available information, Zhou Yan roughly judged that the Great Yu Dynasty was internally divided into multiple factions, with the largest currently being the Duke's faction and the Prime Minister's faction.

The two assassins and Qiao Wenbin belonged to different camps, and they probably just wanted to divert trouble onto others before they died.

Zhou Yan knew all this, yet he still acted against Qiao Wenbin, for a simple reason.

The man had indeed committed many offenses and had also plotted against him, so he might as well clean him up along with the others while he had the chance. He wasn't specifically targeting him, but he wouldn't let him slip away either.

Whether they belonged to the Prime Minister's faction or the Duke's faction made no difference to Zhou Yan. Since they were wrong and had offended him, it was a perfect opportunity to help cleanse the officialdom of Jiangzhou.

However, the fanaticism Qiao Wenbin displayed when mentioning the “Great Cause” was exactly the same as that of the two assassins.

This kind of fanaticism couldn't be faked, yet they clearly belonged to two different factions and should theoretically have no connection.

During the time Zhou Yan was thinking, Qiao Wenbin continuously preached his grand philosophy. Zhou Yan didn't hear a single word, engaged in a mental brainstorm the entire time.

Wang Yao, standing nearby, seemed provoked by these words and intended to go inside and crack open the head (make a watermelon) of this person who was spreading heresy and possessed the demeanor of a Demonic Sect member.

Fortunately, Sage Xiao stopped him first, otherwise, Zhou Yan might have just clicked 'skip' and the NPC would have died in the cell.

Seeing this, Zhou Yan quickly intervened, telling Wang Yao to calm down and emphasizing that everything should wait until Senior Brother was ready; there would be plenty of time to deal with them then.

Looking at the somewhat deranged Qiao Wenbin, Zhou Yan couldn't be bothered to talk to him anymore.

After all, Zhou Yan never intended to follow procedure strictly like an Imperial Censor. He came to the prison purely to look at his achievements.

Since the charges were already listed, coming for a look was truly just coming for a look.

Seeing that this official was mentally unstable, and the surrounding people were also affected by the atmosphere, either crying or raging, Zhou Yan lost the desire to stay any longer.

Just as he was instructing Xiao Sheng and Wang Yao to have their men guard these people carefully to prevent any potential accidents, Qiao Wenbin suddenly mumbled behind him.

“The Dragon Transformation is unstoppable... no matter who you are, no matter who is behind you.”

“Ding! Side Quest: 'Unveiling the Dragon Bone Sacrifice Secret, Stabilizing the Heavenly Dynasty and the Supreme Heaven' has been activated.”

“Click [Details] to view the quest content.”

Zhou Yan was instantly dumbfounded. He slowly turned his head to look at Qiao Wenbin, who was staring straight back at him from inside the cell.

“No matter what you intend to do, trust me, I will make sure you stop here, both you and your plan.” After saying this, Qiao Wenbin closed his eyes.

Wait, buddy? What are you muttering about?

How did you just babble a couple of sentences and shove a quest onto me?

I honestly didn't know anything just now!

Although he thought this internally, Zhou Yan still silently clicked open the quest details.

“The Player, by investigating clues regarding the source of Blood Food, delving deep into a Demonic Sect stronghold, and searching for Great Yu's secrets, finally obtained crucial information from the enemy's mouth under severe interrogation.”

“Huh? Are you talking about me?”

Could this be the legendary World Line Convergence?

Quests with such complex prerequisites are considered one of the characteristics of Seeking the Dao.

Zhou Yan couldn't help but recall the time he stayed up late grinding dungeons, selected a bunch of strange options due to exhaustion, did a bunch of inexplicable things, and ended up triggering a hidden BOSS.

Doesn't this count as catching a thief and ending up with a terrorist?

Zhou Yan hadn't expected the charges to pile up so much, and yet they were still stacking; he never stacked buffs this aggressively.

He rubbed his neck, gave an embarrassed smile, turned around, and walked back to Qiao Wenbin's cell.

“Tsk, ah, how annoying. Look at the trouble this has caused...”

“Originally, it was somewhat personal revenge disguised as official business, and I felt slightly bad about it.”

“But now, I can only feel a little *more* 'bad' about it.”

Watching the other party open the cell door and slowly walk in with a kind smile, Qiao Wenbin froze, instinctively covering his chest with both hands.

“You... what are you going to do?”