Chapter 950: A Thing So Dumb That If You Fell into a Pigpen, Even the Pigs Would Look Smarter |
.......
Lu Ding grabbed him by the collar, yanked him close, and slowly leaned down.
The brutality in his eyes gradually surfaced.
It was true that one who hadn't experienced another's suffering shouldn't tell them to be kind.
But let's be real—putting it bluntly, when you wear the 749 uniform, if you're going to do something like this, either don't do it at all, or have the guts to make it flawless.
Now that it's been exposed.
How is Lu Ding supposed to handle people and things!?
Covering it up?
That's impossible.
This wasn't even just a rule violation anymore.
This was a disciplinary and legal offense.
And that rare natural treasure hadn't been split with Lu Ding—not a single share.
As for severe punishment.
Lu Ding's head still ached.
He gritted his teeth, black smoke curling from the corners of his mouth, a red glow flickering in his brutal eyes.
"If you're not satisfied, you should've gone far away!!!"
"Don't go screwing things up in the Great Han!!"
"If you're not satisfied, you should've wiped your own ass clean!!"
"It's easy to say 'merits offset faults'!"
"If I let you off today, will someone under me tomorrow, who earns merits—big merits—turn around and run rampant in the western region?!"
"You're such a goddamn fool!!"
Lu Ding released his collar and shoved him to the ground.
"I'm asking you, what's the situation over there!?"
Zheng Tai scrambled to his knees, kneeling properly: "In reply to Grand Duke Lu, we've already arranged a confirmed time to meet at the rotten ship dock, then escort them through First Gorge to Pine Forest Plains."
"The Child Association will send an elder at the Spirit Refinement Eighth Layer, Countercurrent Chill and Zither Aria, to receive us."
Lu Ding listened: "Countercurrent... and 'Chill'? She's worthy of such an elegant alias."
He glanced back, arrogance hidden within the brutality, like a star surrounded by the moon: "Don't say I didn't give you a chance."
"Bring your son along with you."
Zheng Tai didn't understand: "Grand Duke Lu, I only have one son. Everything was done by me alone. Please show mercy, don't implicate him. He hasn't..."
Lu Ding's head was about to explode.
"I really don't like talking to people like you—a thing so dumb that if you fell into a pigpen, even the pigs would look smarter. You're practically dripping with stupidity!!"
With that, he pressed the switch on his chest bodycam.
"Must I increase the workload for Xinghe and the others, making me spell it out, and write an extra report about the bodycam switch operation?"
"Listen up."
"In your case, it's impossible not to deal with you. If I don't deal with you, I can't lead the team. But the severity is still up for discussion, depending on your performance."
"Since you're currently surrendering yourself, plus earning merits to atone for your crimes, your punishment will be reduced."
"Have your son go with you. When the time comes, he'll provide a situation report on your behalf, then participate in the operation and put himself in harm's way."
"After it's done, we'll credit your son with the merits, and you'll be arrested as you should be. This way, the losses are minimized."
"Don't say that I, as the special envoy, don't look out for you. This is already a great act of leniency. If you weren't so thoroughly rotten..."
Lu Ding suddenly raised his hand as if to strike, and the abrupt movement made Zheng Tai flinch in instinctive avoidance, only to hear Lu Ding say: "I'd have killed you long ago!"
Now Zheng Tai understood.
No matter how lenient Lu Ding was, he couldn't avoid being dealt with. This matter counted as merit, but it couldn't offset the fault.
It was just a difference in sequence that could reduce his punishment, not eliminate it, and even with the reduction, the penalty wouldn't be light.
In that case, once he was sitting in prison, what use were the merits?
Better to give them to his son, so his son could have a better future.
Having grasped this point, Zheng Tai hurriedly kowtowed, thumping his head on the ground: "Thank you, Grand Duke Lu! Thank you, Grand Duke Lu! Grand Duke Lu's great kindness, Zheng Tai will never forget!"
"Enough, enough. Put away those feudal habits. The Great Han doesn't do that anymore. We're in a modern society now. I'll stay hidden in the shadows and act according to the situation."
Zheng Tai slowly rose and bowed again in gratitude: "Thank you, Grand Duke Lu."
He turned and left, leaving behind a desolate silhouette.
One step, heaven; one step, hell.
Though Zheng Tai had taken a misstep with this one.
Still.
After all these years, it was worth it.
People are full of contradictions.
Zheng Tai was no different.
Back then, his talent hadn't been exhausted, so he was unwilling to accept it. Later, he broke through to the Five Restrictions Middle Stage, and now, he could make no further progress.
Or perhaps he was never a thoroughly evil person to begin with.
To advance within the Five Restrictions, it wasn't just about supplementing resources; you also needed the approval of your Inner Demons.
When he broke through from the early stage of Five Restrictions to the middle stage, that reckless, desperate conviction had earned the approval of his Inner Demons at the time.
But by using his convenient identity to ambush someone he knew, he had unwittingly laid down another layer of shackles on his Inner Demons.
Not everyone can break through and rebuild.
At least Zheng Tai couldn't. In other words, on the path of cultivation, he had reached his own limit. Unless he encountered a heaven-sent opportunity, this life would be it.
So when, following Lu Ding's orders, he called over his son Zheng Feng.
Zheng Tai said this: "Xiao Feng, your father let you down."
"Your father isn't as good as you thought."
"You used to say you wanted to make me your idol, to be someone who rises from the mud unstained... It was your father who held you back."
Barren land cannot produce noble flowers.
But the passion of youth is impulsive and defies common sense.
Perhaps Zheng Feng was one of the few clean people in this Mouth of the Evil Prison.
Influenced by his father since childhood, his dream was to become a great hero, serving the nation and its people.
And now...
Zheng Feng stood frozen in place, unable to speak for a long time.
He didn't understand why his father would say such things.
But his father must have had his reasons. Yet no matter what the reason, Zheng Feng found it hard to accept.
He couldn't believe that his father, who was clean in office and so much better than the bureau chiefs elsewhere, had also made mistakes.
Until Zheng Tai handed him the situation report he had already written.
"Tonight, your father and I will carry out our last mission together. When the time comes, we'll both act as informants for His Excellency the Grand Guardian. After it's done, you hand in the situation report."
"His Excellency has promised me he'll credit you with merits!"
"Do a good job and make up for your father's regrets. Your father has lived a life with a clear conscience, except for that one incident."
Zheng Feng didn't have the courage to open his father's situation report.
He only asked: "What about you, then?"
"I..."
Zheng Tai thought for a moment, his tone filled with complete abandon: "Rather than be publicly judged and sentenced, your father would rather remain a clean bureau chief. I know I was wrong, but I can't bear the price."
"Your father is going to be a coward."
"A sinner and a martyr—you are my son. What do you think I should choose?"
He could live.
He would just have to go to prison.
But he didn't want to give up his reputation. He didn't want his imprisonment to affect his son's future.
His son was far stronger than him!
He had a much brighter future ahead.
He didn't want his son, before he had even grown up, to be pointed at and cursed, to have a label slapped on his head saying he was enjoying the benefits of his father's corruption and crimes.
Even though Zheng Feng had never enjoyed any such benefits.
But once Zheng Tai was convicted, rumors would inevitably spread through word of mouth.
For his son's sake, and for his own reputation, Zheng Tai chose to go out in a blaze of glory—to die a heroic death tonight!!!
After all, Lu Ding had set a precedent at White Ridge when dealing with those investigators who had made mistakes.