Chapter 85: Chapter 81: Caught in the Net (Part 2)

"Looks like I don’t need to step in. You can handle him on your own."

Zhu Huaishan walked out from the street corner, his face showing approval.

Wen Gensheng clutched his lower abdomen, looking up in pain. He shuddered. "Ma...ster?"

Zhu Huaishan didn’t even glance at him, saying to Zhao Lin, "Although his Qi Sea is destroyed, most of his Power Realm cultivation still remains. Don’t forget to sever the tendons in his hands and feet, too."

Upon hearing this, all the blood drained from Wen Gensheng’s face, leaving it ashen.

The constables rushed over. With everyone lending a hand, they tied his hands behind his back and put him in shackles.

Zhao Lin felt that wasn’t secure enough, so he had his men wrap him in another layer of rope, trussing him up like a rice dumpling before he was satisfied.

"Huh, isn’t that the Shopkeeper of Yunlai Inn? Why’s he being arrested?"

"You’re late, you missed it. The Shopkeeper knows martial arts. He was just fighting the constables with a knife!"

"Really? He always seemed so kind. What crime did he commit?"

By now, the docks had gotten busy. A crowd had gathered to watch the spectacle, chattering amongst themselves.

Tian Dabang squeezed through the crowd and asked cautiously, "Constable Zhao, what case is Wen Guangshun involved in?"

Zhao Lin was just about to announce it to the public anyway. In a low voice, he said, "You’ve heard of the serial rape and murder case, haven’t you? He’s the one who did it."

As soon as the words were out, the crowd erupted in an uproar.

"Wen Guangshun is over fifty, isn’t he? How could he do something so monstrous?"

"This just goes to show, you can know a person’s face, but not their heart. You can paint a tiger’s skin, but you can’t paint its bones!"

"Actually, I always knew he had a kind face but a black heart. You were all just fooled by him..."

Seeing that he had achieved his goal, Zhao Lin ordered, "Take him to the inn! We’ll bring him and the physical evidence back to the yamen together!"

...

In front of the inn’s main entrance, a plain-looking, middle-aged woman was wailing and crying her heart out.

"There’s no justice! My husband’s been taken by the authorities! I don’t know which heartless bastard framed him."

Zhao Lin and his men returned to the inn with Wen Gensheng in custody. Seeing them, the woman immediately rushed forward, crying out, "Officer, you must have the wrong man! My husband could never do something like this."

A constable stepped forward to drive her away. "Get back! Just because you say we got the wrong man, that makes it true?"

Unwilling to give up, the woman cried, "Husband, say something!"

Wen Gensheng’s eyes were shut tight, and he didn’t say a word.

The constable pushed the woman aside and said impatiently, "Stop obstructing our investigation! If you keep causing trouble, we’ll arrest you too."

The woman was silent for a moment, then suddenly shrieked, "My husband is impotent! It absolutely couldn’t have been him!"

At that, everyone was stunned, their eyes going wider than the next.

Wen Gensheng’s face turned beet red. He opened his eyes and roared, "Get lost! I’m the one who did it!"

Terrified, the woman collapsed to the ground.

At that moment, the smoke in the secret tunnel was gradually clearing. Two constables soaked their handkerchiefs in urine, held them over their mouths and noses, and went down into the tunnel.

After a short while, they brought a box out of the tunnel, along with dozens of pieces of undergarments.

Liang Song used his knife to pry open the box. It was filled with jade artifacts.

He Qingquan picked up one of the jade pieces and deliberately read aloud, "Wanli Jade Shop!"

The onlookers let out gasps of shock.

"Heavens, how many people has he victimized!"

"Tsk, tsk. Well, I’ll be damned. Today has really been an eye-opener!"

"Wen Guangshun is finished this time. Even a hundred heads wouldn’t be enough for the executioner’s axe..."

Zhao Lin had his men load Wen Gensheng and the evidence onto a cart and then departed.

The woman who had just been crying for justice suddenly chased after the cart like a madwoman, wailing, "I was blind! To have spent twenty years with that inhuman monster! I’ve wasted my life..."

While the cart was moving, Zhao Lin had Tu Wuyan sever the tendons in Wen Gensheng’s hands and feet. Upon arriving at the yamen, he was thrown directly into the main prison.

The news spread quickly, and the heads of the Six Divisions all came to offer their congratulations.

They could see that Zhao Lin was a man who got things done. Coupled with the County Magistrate’s favor, his promotion to Chief Constable was only a matter of time, so they came early to get on his good side.

Shi Dahai and Jin Liqun were also the type to ride the prevailing wind. They praised Zhao Lin to the heavens, so much so that even he felt a little embarrassed hearing it.

"Chief Constable Zhao, what about this silver?"

After the others had left, Shi Dahai took out the hundred-odd taels of silver Zhao Lin had given him and asked.

Zhao Lin waved his hand. "Do what we originally said. Divide it among the brothers. Oh, and give a little extra to the two men who went into the tunnel."

Shi Dahai quickly agreed, "Don’t worry, Chief Constable Zhao. You can count on me."

Zhao Lin then went to the records room, took out the files for the two cases, and had He Qingquan help write the report, documenting the progress of the investigation and the arrest process over the past few days.

By the time he finished with all this, it was already past noon.

With the confession on his mind, Zhao Lin hurried to the prison to check on how Wen Gensheng’s statement was coming along.

Although the facts were all there, if Wen Gensheng refused to cooperate, matching the dozens of murders to their specific cases would take an unknown amount of effort. They would probably have to call on Tu Wuyan.

However, Zhao Lin felt relieved after he arrived at the prison.

Wen Gensheng was in a solitary cell, wearing a heavy cangue. A scribe was questioning him through the iron bars.

Perhaps because he had nothing left to lose, Wen Gensheng had no intention of hiding anything and confessed to all his crimes in one go.

It was just that some things had happened so long ago that he needed time to recall them.

The scribe wiped sweat from his brow as he recorded the confession.

The scribe was Elder Sun, a veteran clerk who had worked at the yamen for decades, but this was the first time he had ever encountered such a criminal. The confession already filled dozens of pages.

Zhao Lin stood by and listened. Wen Gensheng’s voice was low and smooth, as if he were talking about things that had happened to someone else.

After the confession was recorded, Zhao Lin picked it up and read through it from beginning to end. He found that it basically matched the cases in the official documents, and even included several more.

"Thank you for your hard work, Elder Sun."

Zhao Lin saw the scribe off, then walked to the front of the cell and sat down. He said slowly and deliberately, "Shopkeeper Wen, I have two more questions for you."

Wen Gensheng grinned, his voice low and smooth. "Please ask, Constable Zhao. I’ll tell you everything I know. However, I have a question for you as well."

Zhao Lin gave him a strange look and said noncommittally, "Then I’ll ask first. Why did you kill the merchant from the jade shop? From what I can see, you never robbed your victims for money before. Were you short on cash?"

Wen Gensheng shook his head. "I’m not very interested in money or possessions. That man was from my hometown, and I went to his room for a chat since I had nothing better to do."

"In the middle of our conversation, for some reason, the bastard just kept making fun of me, so I killed him. I didn’t actually touch any of the jade."

’That jade merchant died for nothing,’ Zhao Lin thought. He continued asking, "You settled down in Qinghe County and for years you only committed your crimes elsewhere. Why did you start offending on your own doorstep this year?"

Wen Gensheng thought for a moment and replied, "I used to be an employee. Every year I’d use the excuse of visiting family back home. Later, I became the shopkeeper, and I’m older now. Plus, my legs aren’t what they used to be, so I stopped going out."

Zhao Lin felt he wasn’t telling the whole truth. He stared at him for a moment. "You haven’t committed any crimes in the last ten years. What was the reason? Don’t tell me you suddenly found your conscience?"

"I didn’t expect you to know even that."

A flicker of surprise crossed Wen Gensheng’s eyes. "Ten years ago in Taizhou, I grabbed a woman. I thought I had her under control, but it turned out she knew martial arts. I wasn’t careful, and she kicked me in the thigh..."

As he spoke, his calm face twisted into a ferocious expression, and his voice grew coarse. "But I made sure she ’enjoyed’ herself too, HAHAHAHA..."

Looking at that twisted face, Zhao Lin felt a wave of disgust and said coldly, "Then you can ’enjoy’ yourself in prison."

Wen Gensheng shuffled forward two steps on his knees, grabbing the bars with a fawning smile. "Constable Zhao, how did you know my real name?"

Zhao Lin didn’t speak. He just showed him the official document.

"The twenty-third year of the Hongxi reign, Xingyun Sect..."

Even after Zhao Lin had left the prison, Wen Gensheng remained sitting on the ground, muttering to himself endlessly.