Is That Prison Food That Smells Good? It’s the Judge! - Chapter 4

The last button was fastened. Yan Zhi paused, his hand brushing against the red pendant at Fan Jue’s neck.

Fan Jue suddenly pulled away. “Grand Inquisitor, don’t touch things you’re not supposed to.”

Yan Zhi lifted his eyelids and withdrew his hand. “Is this pendant important to you?”

Fan Jue pulled the pendant out from under his buttoned shirt, straightened it, and then stared at Yan Zhi with a strange expression.

Yan Zhi stared back.

After a long moment, Fan Jue chuckled and turned back to adjust his clothes. “Hah, digging for information? You’re out of luck. I don’t remember either… It’s normal to forget things from a thousand years ago, right? But it probably means a lot to me.”

“If you don’t remember,” Yan Zhi said, “why do you think it’s important?”

“Why so many questions? I just feel it,” Fan Jue replied, thinking the Grand Inquisitor asked way too much. He paused to consider. “When I first woke up, this was the only thing I was holding. I have a vague feeling… it was given to me by someone very important.”

Yan Zhi’s gaze met Fan Jue’s crimson eyes, a hint of genuine surprise in his expression. “You still remember?”

“Grand Inquisitor, you’re acting like a real little question baby… Or are you just too used to interrogating prisoners?” Fan Jue quipped, though he continued to answer. “It’s just a few scattered fragments from a long time ago. I don’t know who he was or what he looked like. I just have a vague sense that he was very good to me, that he took care of me…”

“Took care of you,” Yan Zhi repeated the words.

“Yeah,” Fan Jue said. He noticed Yan Zhi’s fixed gaze and figured the man was trying to pry out more information. But Fan Jue really didn’t remember anything else and didn’t bother hiding it from the Grand Inquisitor. He thought for a moment, then offered a plausible guess. “Maybe it was…”

Yan Zhi watched him in silence.

“Maybe it was my dad,” Fan Jue said, voicing the answer from the depths of his heart. “He was by my side before I even took human form, and he took such good care of me. Who else could it be but my dad? After all, a father’s love is as steady as a mountain…”

The more Fan Jue talked, the more convinced he became. He completely missed the way Yan Zhi’s expression shifted from momentary shock to a slow fade, until he finally looked at him with a gaze that was hard to describe.

“Fan Jue, Heavenly Devils perhaps don’t have fathers.”

Fan Jue paused, glanced at Yan Zhi, and then spoke again. “Then maybe it’s my mother? Or a sibling? Anyway, it’s all possible…”

“…” Yan Zhi’s expression returned to its usual cold mask. “Perhaps.”

“Maybe they’ll come to rescue me one day,” Fan Jue teased deliberately. “When they do, we can eat you together.”

Yan Zhi replied, “Heavenly Devils don’t eat people either.”

“Oh, is that so?” Fan Jue seemed a bit disappointed. “Still, I’ve always felt others are unreliable.” He’d have to take care of Yan Zhi himself after all.

He glanced at the clean shirt he was wearing and asked, “Is this shirt yours?”

Yan Zhi didn’t say yes or no. “It’s new.”

A faint smile touched Fan Jue’s lips. “Then aren’t you going to change my pants? They look scorched. It’s a miracle they didn’t tear when I was moving around earlier.”

Yan Zhi tilted his head. “You want me to change your pants for you?”

Fan Jue shrugged, his tone deliberately casual. “Isn’t it normal that I don’t know how to wear your kind of clothes?”

Yan Zhi didn’t fall for his act. “If you’re not familiar with them, just stay naked. You can’t get out anyway.” With that, he left the remaining clothes behind and walked out of the cell.

Silence returned to the room.

Fan Jue glanced at the familiar iron bars and then scanned his surroundings. The furnishings were as simple as could be, and the walls were lined with various torture devices. He wondered who had arranged them. This place seemed to be a secret chamber, and while he had been feigning unconsciousness earlier; he noticed that Yan Zhi apparently lived right across from him.

From Yan Zhi’s room, one could enter this cell by moving a painting in the hallway.

The cultivator who had placed the seal nearby was clearly powerful. While it couldn’t stop Fan Jue, any attempt to break it by force would definitely alert Yan Zhi next door.

Tsk… This is a real headache, Fan Jue thought.

He picked up the neatly folded pants. They were simple gray trousers with an elastic waistband, which was a considerate choice for a “modern illiterate” like himself.

He casually stripped off his pants, revealing the Heavenly Devil’s curves, as perfect as if sculpted by God.

As Fan Jue changed into his new clothes, he wondered: How should I approach this Grand Inquisitor?

Fan Jue found the man strange. Or rather, as he’d thought before, Yan Zhi didn’t seem human. He seemed to possess a true divinity, showing no favoritism to anyone. He neither flattered his colleagues like Zhang Xi and Warden Feng, nor did he ever judge prisoners like Fan Jue.

It was as if he were truly, eternally impartial.

A boring creature molded by the Heavenly Dao, Fan Jue thought.

But… the more a person is placed on a pedestal, untouched by the mortal world, the easier it is for something unexpected to drag them down into the mud.

Desire is also a form of malice.

Fan Jue repeated the thought in his mind.

He had just tested Yan Zhi again. Every time Yan Zhi encountered matters of this nature, he seemed to instinctively become stiff and unnatural.

Remembering that this world was one where men paired and procreated with other men, Fan Jue formed a plan.

What if I use this to get a hold of him?

****

Fan Jue had planned to lie low for a few days, get a feel for his surroundings, and then make his move. To his surprise, Yan Zhi found him first.

“Fan Jue, I’m offering you a chance to reduce your sentence,” Yan Zhi said, standing beside the iron bars with an impassive expression.

Fan Jue seemed completely uninterested. “How much? A year? Five? Ten? It all looks the same to me.”

After all, his sentence was a thousand years.

“One hundred years,” Yan Zhi said slowly.

Fan Jue paused. He studied Yan Zhi through the bars for a moment, then looked up with a smile. “Still not enough to matter.”

Yan Zhi watched him coldly. “Are there other conditions?”

“Can you agree to them?”

Yan Zhi thought for a moment. “As long as it’s not evil, I can agree to your terms within a certain range.”

Fan Jue laughed. “A ‘certain range’? Grand Inquisitor, you’re cheating. You’re the one who defines that range.”

“I’ll agree to anything I can do, as long as it doesn’t involve letting you out,” Yan Zhi said.

“Oh?” Fan Jue’s interest was finally piqued. “Now I have to think this through. Tell me, what do you need my help with?”

“A demon is using a stolen Demon-Suppressing Stone to cause trouble.”

“Who?”

“A Gecko Spirit.”

Fan Jue smirked. “They’ve really moved up in the world, haven’t they?”

Yan Zhi fell silent.

“Is catching him really that hard for you?” Fan Jue asked. “Why do you need me to step in? After all, I’m the only one who can actually get close to him.”

“It wouldn’t be difficult,” Yan Zhi said, his gaze dropping. “But he’s using humans. We cannot harm them.”

“So, humans are helping him?” Fan Jue’s eyes lit up. That explained everything. These self-righteous cultivators were always so worried about harming humans. No matter how powerful Yan Zhi was, having humans involved would tie his hands.

Fan Jue grinned. “So you mean I should be the one to kill the humans? Fine.”

Yan Zhi frowned. “Fan Jue, accumulating too much karmic debt will bring heavenly punishment.”

Fan Jue deliberately provoked him. “Tsk. That’s why I’m the perfect choice. I’m already the Heavenly Dao’s sworn enemy for all eternity. I might as well keep your hands clean.”

Yan Zhi’s voice turned cold. “Fan Jue.”

“Getting angry?” Fan Jue watched Yan Zhi’s expression closely, then broke into a fresh smile at the right moment. He quickly changed his tone. “Ah, ah, ah… I’m just joking… I get it. You just want to use my Soul-Seizing ability to get the Gecko Spirit’s location from those humans without harming them, right?”

Yan Zhi’s expression softened slightly. He studied Fan Jue for a moment before nodding and calmly averting his gaze. “You will be temporarily free during the mission. However, you must sign a ten-day blood pact with me. You cannot harm anyone or escape.”

A blood pact required the voluntary consent of both parties to be bound by their divine souls. If broken, the violator’s soul would be destroyed.

“Looks like I can’t run away after all…” Fan Jue sighed dramatically, then nodded. “Fine, I agree.”

Yan Zhi nodded in return. The next second, his Divine Sword unsheathed, but only to lightly slice his own finger.

A bead of blood emerged.

Fan Jue stared at the blood on Yan Zhi’s fingertip for a while, thinking for the first time that he seemed like a real person.

Yan Zhi stepped forward and reached through the iron bars. His blood-stained index finger touched Fan Jue’s forehead.

It was a little cold.

Fan Jue watched Yan Zhi quietly.

This was an opportunity.

Soul-Seizing… What if the soul Fan Jue seized was Yan Zhi’s?

****

Fan Jue was temporarily free.

Though Yan Zhi had ordered him to stay by his side at all times, it didn’t stop him from being fascinated by everything new in the modern world.

“Is that a lamp on the wall? I’ve seen them in books… Why don’t they use them in Stone Prison? And what’s this glowing rectangular box? The things inside are moving! Also, that needle on the round plate keeps spinning. Doesn’t it get tired?” Fan Jue wandered around Yan Zhi’s bedroom, looking utterly delighted.

“A chandelier, a computer, and a clock. Stone Prison is sealed, so electricity can’t be used there,” Yan Zhi replied impassively. “What books were you reading in prison?”

“Reading about them isn’t the same as seeing them in person. I could only guess what they were like,” Fan Jue said, spreading his hands. “Um… I’m actually quite curious about that little rectangular box… the phone.”

Yan Zhi pulled something from a drawer by his desk and tossed it to Fan Jue. “Your phone. It’s for the mission later.”

Fan Jue’s red eyes widened slightly. He caught the brand-new phone and tilted his head at Yan Zhi. “How do I use it?”

“…” Yan Zhi stared at him in silence for a moment before finally stepping forward to turn the phone on for him.

Thirty minutes later, Yan Zhi set the passcode for Fan Jue’s phone to 123456. He added his own contact info, along with Zhang Xi’s and Wang Yisun’s, and taught Fan Jue how to make calls and send texts.

“Learn these first.” Yan Zhi enabled the “Easy Mode” for seniors on the phone, then went to the balcony to call the Director of the ABMA, likely to discuss Fan Jue’s situation.

Fan Jue glanced at the figure on the balcony, then down at the phone in his hand.

He opened the contacts list, found Wang Yisun’s name, and thought for a moment. Instead of calling, he tapped the chat icon.

The “Handwriting Input” keyboard automatically popped up.

Fan Jue slowly wrote a few words and sent them.

Fan Jue: It’s me, Fan Jue.

The reply came back almost instantly.

Wang Yisun: Oh, which scammer is this? Sending a text… what an old-fashioned trick. Hahaha… Your Majesty is busy sewing clothes, how could he possibly message me? Get lost, you fraud!

Fan Jue: ?

Fan Jue: …Do you want to hear a method that’s even more effective than your Thumbtack Tire-Bursting Technique?

Wang Yisun: !!! How do you know about my Thumbtack Tire-Bursting Technique?!! You you you…

Wang Yisun: My plan was so meticulous, no one else could possibly know about it! Are you really Your Majesty?!!

Fan Jue: …

Wang Yisun: Your Majesty! You escaped? As expected of you!!!

Fan Jue: I just made a few deals to buy back a little freedom.

Wang Yisun: Good, good, good! Keep it up! Your Majesty, what was that “better method” you mentioned earlier?

Fan Jue: Hmm? I recall I already explained it once.

Wang Yisun: Oh! Right! To seize Yan Zhi’s soul! But doesn’t he lack any malevolent desires?

Fan Jue: He does… then we’ll just have to create one for him.

Yan Zhi is like a sheet of pure white paper, looking utterly righteous. But if a single drop of ink were to seep in…

Wang Yisun: Good, good, good! So, Your Majesty, what kind of malevolent desire will you start with?

Fan Jue: Lust.

The other end went silent for a moment.

Fan Jue found it a bit strange, so he sent a question mark.

Wang Yisun replied: Hehehe… You mean… you’re going to seduce Grand Inquisitor Yan? But I’ve heard he’s famously… well, let’s just say it seems a bit difficult, doesn’t it?

Fan Jue thought about Yan Zhi’s unnatural expression and the way he turned his face away.

Fan Jue: How so?

Fan Jue: Don’t you think Yan Zhi is the type who would fall for someone if they just relentlessly pursued him?

Wang Yisun: …

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