Chapter 205: Modification In Progress
The Jingzhao Yin felt a pang of regret in his heart. Why hadn’t he discovered the problem a little earlier? Now it was too late; the person had been taken away by Your Majesty, so how was he supposed to continue the investigation?
He slapped his forehead hard and cursed himself under his breath as an “idiot.” How could he have forgotten that the other party’s son was now a favorite in the Emperor’s heart, a great celebrity? Not to mention killing his stepmother and half-brothers and sisters; even if he killed his own father, nothing would probably happen!
The question was, what should he do now?
With a mind full of official troubles, the Jingzhao Yin paced in circles cursing the people of the Dingguo Duke’s Mansion for a long time before pulling a long face and heading to the prefectural office up front. Thinking with a broken-can-be-broken mindset: “Whatever happens, happens. I’m done with it. You all play by yourselves! Hmph!”
Mo Ziyuan had been busy as could be in the large camp on the outskirts of the Capital these past two days and had no idea that a fabricated charge had already been pinned on him by the Jingzhao Yin.
At dusk, he galloped on horseback along the official road on the outskirts of the Capital. The army was setting off the day after tomorrow, so tomorrow he needed to prepare some things to bring on the road. He had always prepared everything himself when going to the border region before and was very experienced.
As soon as he entered the city gate, he saw Lin Xin waiting to one side with a beaming smile.
“Xin’er! Why are you here?” Mo Ziyuan walked toward her in surprise and asked.
Lin Xin deliberately didn’t answer. Instead, she looked him up and down from head to toe carefully several times before saying with a hint of schadenfreude: “I’m here to see the murderer who nearly wiped out his own family!”
That tilted head was so cute it made Mo Ziyuan’s heart itch, especially the two little braids hanging over her shoulders, as if they were constantly taunting him: “Come catch us quick!” So much so that he didn’t even hear clearly what Lin Xin had actually said.
“Did you come specifically to wait for me?”
“Huh?” Lin Xin widened her eyes. “Didn’t I make it clear just now? Your stepmother and your pair of half-siblings were both killed, then their corpses were burned. Everyone is guessing you’re the murderer!”
“What?” Mo Ziyuan’s eyes widened even bigger than hers. “When did this happen?”
“Either last night or this morning. The remains of that horse carriage along with those charred corpses are still at the Jingzhao Prefecture Yamen. Your father was also summoned into the palace by the Emperor.” Lin Xin said.
“All of them… all dead?”
Lin Xin shook her head. “I only heard it through the grapevine, so no one knows the exact details, especially after the Emperor got involved. I advise you to go into the palace and clear things up. Otherwise, they’ll all think you did it, and they might cover it up. Then the real murderer will get away scot-free.”
Mo Ziyuan nodded. “Got it. I’ll take you back first, then head to the palace.”
“Take me back? As if I could get lost by myself? Go quickly!” Lin Xin refused.
“Alright then, I’ll go first. I’ll come find you tomorrow. The Western Frontier conditions are harsh, so we need to bring more useful things. No need to bring too much silver, since it can’t be spent anyway.” Mo Ziyuan reminded her.
“Okay, we’ll talk tomorrow when we meet.”
Mo Ziyuan still couldn’t control his restless hands and stroked her little braids twice before mounting his horse and galloping off to the imperial palace.
“Ah! Aaaah! Ah~” Piercing screams kept coming from the room. The two men in black guarding the door stood there expressionless, their eyes full of disgust.
There were four people in the room altogether. One of them, Mo Zichen, wearing only a pair of underpants, sat in a huge bathtub with a lid that had a small opening just right around his neck, leaving only his head exposed outside. There was another identical bathtub beside him, from which the continuous screams were emanating.
Since this morning, he hadn’t left this bathtub. The men in black who brought him said that starting today, they would temper his muscles and bones, that is, transform his body.
At first, they made him drink several bowls of herbal medicines of various colors—some bitter, some sweet, some fishy and stinky. In short, each bowl tasted different, making him so nauseous that he vomited several times.
Every time he vomited some amount, they would make him drink that same amount back. In the end, he felt like what he was vomiting was blood.
Finally, no one brought more medicine. He had just breathed a sigh of relief when an even more brutal punishment arrived. After he finished lunch, these two huge bathtubs were carried into the room, filled with thick red liquid and floating with many strangely colored plant leaves or fruits.
Without a word, those people stripped him naked, leaving only his underpants, and pressed him into the liquid.
Then the torture began. The bottom of this bathtub was actually hollow. Those people placed a blazing charcoal basin in the empty slot below, making Mo Zichen feel like a large piece of braised meat being simmered.
As the heating time grew longer, the water temperature in the bathtub rose higher and higher, eventually bubbling up in strings of little bubbles as if boiling. He also felt intense pain.
At first, he gritted his teeth and refused to scream, but later he really couldn’t hold back. All the pores on his body seemed to expand from the boiling, and little worm-like things drilled into his body through the pores, as if his body were some delightful place, making those little worms extremely active as they surged through his skin, bones, and meridians. He was in such agony that he fainted.
“Ah~” Another inhuman scream rang out, then the air suddenly fell quiet. The men in black inside and outside the room all breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally fainted again. His screaming was too piercing; they all wanted to cover the kid’s mouth or knock him out.
The man in black who brought Mo Zichen was used to this. His fingers quickly tapped several major acupoints on top of Mo Zichen’s head, and his originally closed eyelids began to tremble slightly.
“Ah! It hurts so much! I don’t want to transform my body anymore—kill me! I can’t take it… Aaaah~” Just as he regained consciousness, Mo Zichen was defeated by the intense pain in his body. His eyes streamed with physiological tears as he shouted hoarsely.
“Shut up! Scream again and I’ll seal your mute acupoint.” The man in black standing by the bathtub flashed impatience in his eyes, snorted coldly, and threatened.
But by now Mo Zichen had completely lost his reason to the pain and couldn’t care less about any threats. He just screamed hoarsely until he fainted again.
Fainting and waking, waking and fainting, over and over about ten times, before Mo Zichen’s punishment finally ended. He lay limp as the men in black fished him out and stuffed him into the other bathtub.
The water temperature here was just right and even gave off a strange fragrance. As soon as he soaked in, he felt the pain in his body ease considerably, finally managing to regain consciousness and reason.
After soaking for about half an hour, he was fished out again, roughly wiped a few times, and stuffed under the quilt.
“Today’s transformation is over. Rest well. You can only eat tomorrow. In seven days, I’ll check your body condition to see if the prescription or dosage needs adjusting. Rest as much as possible these days—best not to get out of bed.” The man in black finished speaking and left without a backward glance.
The remaining two people quickly cleaned up the room. One carrying each of the two huge bathtubs full of liquid, they left expressionlessly.
