Volume 5 Chapter 36: Tearing Apart the Ship

Thriving Prosperity's great owner was also watching from shore right now.

As the great owner of a merchant company on the level of Thriving Prosperity, his abilities might be far greater than those of any official in Breath River.

From the initial assassination to the pursuit and arrest, bringing out the corpse, letting the mother arrive, and then forcing his superior officer through the will of the people, Lin Xi's actions could be said to be extremely meticulous, exceptionally beautiful. Moreover, the strength of character he displayed was something that even made this great owner feel a heart of cherishing talent.

However, when Lin Xi's sword actually stabbed straight through Xu Chengfeng's body in front of everyone's faces, while he was filled with shock, his brows also furrowed tightly, his heart even more so filled with extreme disappointment.

Yunqin law strictly permitted interrogation under torture only when there wasn't enough proof, let alone this type of direct assassination, threatening with death.

Doing this in full light of day, under everyone's eyes, this was completely ignorant bravery, completely opposite of the beautiful way of doing things before. Moreover, Yunqin law strictly prohibited extorting confessions, precisely in order to prevent miscarriages of justice from appearing. Compared to mediocre officials who always paid attention to the rules, those officials who always acted rudely and unreasonably because of their own feelings were even more useless and terrifying. This was especially the case for some vigorous and hot-blooded youngsters, even more so because of their own impulsiveness which led them to commit extremely bad things.

In his eyes, Lin Xi's performance immediately dropped from heaven down to underground.

It could even be said that even if he wanted to help Lin Xi, he couldn't help him at all.

This sword was thrusted out in the open, it could already be said that Lin Xi was no longer an enforcer, already a criminal guilty of terrible crimes.

...

Since the position he held was different, the great owner of Thriving Prosperity was naturally extremely rational. However, for the surrounding people, Lin Xi's sword represented an unyielding bravery that didn't care about life or death.

For Xu Chengfeng who was directly stabbed, this type of feeling was naturally even stronger.

"You... you dare do something like this?"

When he saw his own blood flow along the sword, Xu Chengfeng, this prince of a Three Towns Battalion Commander was in a bit of disbelief. "For the sake of of someone that had nothing to do with you, you don't even care about your own life anymore?"

"What do you think?"

Lin Xi looked at Xu Chengfeng coldly, starting to slowly move the sword, making the blade's ice-cold terror completely spread through Xu Chengfeng. "I don't want my life anymore, but do you want yours? If you don't speak, then you'll lose your life immediately. I'll accompany you in death to uphold justice for everyone, this still isn't a loss for me. If you speak up now, I believe your father won't care, perhaps still having a chance to keep your life."

"Lin Xi... you!"

Lian Zhanshan, the military official, and all of the others' faces completely changed, but they didn't dare take a step out of fear that Lin Xi would move his hands a bit, thus causing Xu Chengfeng to die on the spot. "Hurry, call over a doctor in preparation!" An Internal Affairs Sector official roared out. "Contact Town Supervisor Dong!"

Xu Chengfeng's teeth were grinding, feeling the ice-cold sword moving in his body. Under the true threat of death, he completely lost his original calmness and arrogance, his entire body trembling, yet not daring to tremble as he screamed, "They are in Exquisite Boat's inner cabin."

"Exquisite Boat?"

Lin Xi didn't ask any more. Du Weiqing, Second Grandpa Zhang, and the others whose faces became snow-white already looked towards the decorated pleasure boats in the south.

There was one decorated pleasure boat that was white, the word 'exquisite' written on the archway.

Originally, Lin Xi was still a bit confused, but when he saw this rather distant pleasure boat, as well as Du Weiqing and others' eyes, he completely understood. He coldly looked at Xu Chengfeng, saying, "Turns out it was this close... those girls that were captured by you, they are all just inside that boat?"

"Yes... so what... doing this type of thing, what benefits are there..." When he felt his blood continuously flow out and his body that was becoming more and more cold, Xu Chengfeng screamed out hysterically. "You still aren't letting me go?!"

Lin Xi laughed, not releasing Xu Chengfeng, instead saying to Du Weiqing and the others, "Go and search that Exquisite Boat."

Following these words, Gao Zhe and the other Silver Hook Lane's people all fell weak onto the ground, their entire bodies shaking all over.

When he saw Gao Zhe and the others' reaction, Lin Xi turned around, seeing Lian Zhanshan and the others who already couldn't help but come over, their expressions becoming even more furious, the people who were becoming even more stirred up, he instead said in a relaxed and carefree manner, "Return."

...

Time returned to several minutes ago. Lin Xi had just called Du Weiqing and the others to a stop.

When he saw the clearly complacent Gao Zhe, under everyone's confused eyes, Lin Xi calmly made a gesturing motion towards Gao Zhe. "Boss Gao, please come here to the side for us to discuss some things."

"I wonder what sir wishes to ask of me alone?"

Gao Zhe followed Lin Xi a dozen or so steps out. When Lin Xi stopped at the edge of the boat, he cupped his hands, asking with a smile.

"Do you know why I have so much confidence today?" Lin Xi looked at this extremely confident middle-aged merchant, also smiling.

While detaining Xu Chengfeng for a night, he already saw that even though Xu Chengfeng was fierce, it was only because of his status. In reality, Xu Chengfeng was also greedy for life, afraid of death. Otherwise, if it was someone who was a bit more ruthless, Xu Chengfeng could have completely purposely made some injuries to frame him. This way, Lian Zhanshan and the others could directly use this as a reason to interfere. However, Xu Chengfeng didn't even dare do this, taking the initiative to spill everything, everything going just as he planned.

The reason why he waited a night wasn't just to wait for some information and people, but also to wait for his ability to recover.

Now, everyone thought that he had his hands bound, but in this grand play, victory was already in his grasp!

"You all really are brazen, truly treating the safest place as the most dangerous place. Indeed, when normal people search your entire decorated pleasure boat, they definitely wouldn't think that the people they wanted were actually precisely in another boss' pleasure boat. With a town Enforcer's ability, if I searched your ship here but couldn't find anything, there might not be any chance of searching another place. Even if there was enough manpower, the higher ups won't approve of it." Lin Xi looked at Gao Zhe whose expression became a bit shocked because of his words. "If I told you that I already knew that you all hid the people I'm searching for in the Exquisite Boat's inner cabin secret room, would you still remain as calm as you are right now? Do you still dare claim to be this pleasure boat's boss?"

An explosion erupted in Gao Zhe's head, his body immediately going soft, about to fall weak onto the ground. However, Lin Xi didn't let him fall, reaching out a hand to support him.

When he saw the change in Gao Zhe whose face lacked the slightest trace of color, sweat covering his entire body like starch, Lin Xi seriously said, "Since you have already handled matters to this extent, you should know that capturing girls to sell them as prostitutes, someone who did this type of nasty deed, the punishment will be even more severe than a homicide case. Not only will the main people involved be tortured and executed with a thousand cuts, the culprit's family members will all be sent out to serve in the border armies."

After saying this, Lin Xi paused slightly, asking seriously once more. "I wonder if you can endure the taste of lingering death, if you can endure seeing all of your household be transferred to the border army for penal servitude?"

"Sir Lin, please spare me!"

As soon as Lin Xi's words finished, Gao Zhe whose entire body was like mud already broke out into sobbing pleas.

"You have one chance to slightly reduce your guilt, I can at least guarantee that your family members won't be harmed." Lin Xi looked at Gao Zhe, calmly and seriously saying, "You need to testify against Xu Chengfeng, and there has to be conclusive proof, not the type that can still make him leave this case unsettled. Otherwise, you should also understand that with his position, in the end, you are still the main culprit, this Silver Hook Lane is still related to you, unrelated to him."

"I have an account book, it is precisely in the wall of my residence in East Port Town, some silver dealings recorded inside of it." Gao Zhe almost completely lacked the ability to think, the previous calm and scholarly aura completely disappearing without a trace. He looked at Lin Xi with a sluggish expression, saying, "Also, those girls trapped in Exquisite Boat, some of them have gone through his hands, they all know that he is the boss of Exquisite Boat, all of this can be used as evidence against him."

"Good, take a moment to calm down. If others said that you were terrified or went crazy, the confession you gave inaccurate, there will be a powerful witness missing, unable to bring him down. At that time, the ones affected will still be your family."

Lin Xi looked at this middle-aged merchant who was previously loyal to Xu Chengfeng without much sympathy. He turned around, and then headed towards the sneering, still a bit confused Xu Chengfeng. He faced everyone on the river deck and river bank.

"Xu Chengfeng, Gao Zhe has already spoken, you are precisely Silver Hook Lane's true owner. Those people that you captured are precisely in Exquisite Boat!"

He took a deep breath, and then reached out a finger, pointing at the distant white pleasure boat, his biting cold voice ringing through the entire shore.

When his cold and raw voice which was like thunder sounded, it completely shocked everyone here.

When everyone's eyes couldn't help but follow his finger, concentrating on that white pleasure boat, after Xu Chengfeng stared blankly for a moment, he cried out and jumped, crazily screaming at Gao Zhe, "Gao Zhe, you f*cking dog... you actually dare frame me!"

"Help me watch them."

Lin Xi said to Second Grandpa Zhang who was incredibly shocked. Without even giving Lian Zhangshan and the others a look, he directly jumped down from Silver Hook Lane, walking towards Exquisite Boat under the furious shouts that became louder and louder.

...

"Just what did he say to Gao Zhe to receive such breakthrough progress?"

On the shore, Thriving Prosperity's great owner was also speechless.

He didn't know that Lin Xi already used his unique ability, victory long within his grasp. He originally thought that the situation already reached an impasse, yet judging from Xu Chengfeng's crazy reaction and the changes in the expressions of Silver Hook Lane's important figures, he knew that things already came to a huge turning point.

No one dared stop Lin Xi.

It was because when one walked the path of righteousness, there would naturally be a type of grandeur that left everyone in admiration. That was why right now, even though Lin Xi was walking alone, what surrounded him was actually the roaring sea-like spirit of the people.

Kacha!

The entrance into Exquisite Boat's inner cabin was directly smashed open by Lin Xi.

Dawn radiance scattered from Lin Xi's hands, within the faint green light, this wooden decorated pleasure boat was directly cut apart. Lin Xi directly tore down the ship, exposing everything to broad daylight.

Suddenly, everyone's breathing stopped.

As the walls of the ship were cut through by Lin Xi, some figures were exposed from within.