Chapter 563: Chapter 155: Celestial Prison! What Kind of Decent Person Would Like This?

What decent person would come to the Celestial Prison looking for fun?

Isn’t this just making a fool of oneself?

But as they spoke, the Ministry of Justice people immediately thought of some rumors they’d heard.

Some said that Ye Liuyun took great pleasure in watching prisoners be punished to death, and most of the convicts in the Imperial Prison and Purgatory ended up dead because of this.

At first, they hadn’t taken it too seriously.

They just assumed some gossiping fool had made it up. What kind of decent man would have such a hobby?

But now...

That rumor might just be true after all!

"Governor Ye, every single prisoner in the Celestial Prison is accounted for. If anything happens without cause, I’ll have a hard time explaining it to my superiors!"

In reality—

If the prisoners in the Celestial Prison were really that important, it wouldn’t be so easy to get them sprung with a bit of money.

The main reason, really, is—

Quite a few inmates here actually come from well-to-do families.

They’re just waiting for their families to pay up to bail them out.

If these people all end up dead, how much money would I lose? Even thinking about it hurts my heart!

"Is that so?"

Ye Liuyun wasn’t the least bit surprised by such a reply.

If he’d agreed that easily, Ye Liuyun would have found it stranger.

So not only did Ye Liuyun look unsurprised, he even smiled and said—

"Come to think of it, it’s been a good while since I last visited your residence. As it happens, my guys have been complaining to me lately about being a bit strapped for cash. Surely, my lord, you won’t be so stingy?"

"..."

Not an idiot.

No way would he miss the threat underneath Ye Liuyun’s words.

Recalling last time—the scene still vivid as locusts swept the place.

Anything of value got hauled away.

"But don’t worry, I’m only borrowing it for my investigation. Once we clear things up, I’ll return it all. After all, I’m not some villain, right?"

"Right, right, right!"

Quickly chiming in to agree with Ye Liuyun.

His face plastered with a toadying smile, looking just like that middle-aged merchant who’d shown up with a bribe minutes ago.

Sweat already beading on his forehead.

Return?

Words are cheap—he’d said before he’d return what was taken, yet nothing has been seen since.

But rumor had it—

The embroidered uniform guards running with Ye Liuyun were all feasting big and making money hand over fist.

Thinking of that hurts a little.

After all—

That was all his own damn money.

"Ahem! To tell you the truth, Lord, the Celestial Prison hasn’t had an inspection in a while either. Frankly, with so many prisoners, it probably affects the prison’s daily operations."

"To be honest, if you hadn’t come today, we were planning to thin out the numbers a bit anyway."

"You’ve come at just the right time, my lord!"

Compared to the family fortune he’d just managed to rebuild, losing a few miserable convicts—who probably deserved it anyway—wasn’t a big deal.

At worst, it would cost him some money.

So long as he was still alive, there would always be more chances to make it back.

But if Ye Liuyun really set his sights on him...survival itself might become a question.

"Really?"

Ye Liuyun feigned surprise, as if he hadn’t noticed the change in his expression.

"Wouldn’t it be awkward for me, an Embroidered Uniform Guard, to meddle in your Celestial Prison affairs?"

"Not at all! Not at all!"

The man shook his head vigorously.

Back when Ye Liuyun was just a Grandmaster, he’d already been utterly unrestrained.

Now that he was a Grandmaster among Grandmasters, no one in the Ministry of Justice dared step on Ye Liuyun’s toes.

"Having Governor Ye involved is the Celestial Prison’s greatest honor!"

As he spoke, he raised his arm to wipe the sweat from his brow—it was impossible to tell if it was from poor health or pure terror.

"Good, good. I was worried I might trouble you."

At these words—

Ye Liuyun smiled mildly and patted the other’s shoulder.

Other than matching his smile, there was nothing else to do.

Only nod over and over again, desperate to look as if he wasn’t the slightest bit troubled.

...

Just as Ye Liuyun had expected—

There were a lot of inmates in the Celestial Prison, but they ranged wildly in quality.

Just one glance—

All of them had nothing but white-grade Talent Entries; even green was rare, let alone the higher blue or purple grades.

Looking at these sallow, skinny faces—

Anyone could tell these were just vagrant scapegoats dragged in for show.

After a quick scan, Ye Liuyun cast a sidelong glance at the Ministry of Justice officer beside him.

A touch of guilty conscience, clearly.

The official, catching Ye Liuyun’s gaze, responded only with a dancing, sycophantic smile, afraid to say a word.

But—

Ye Liuyun didn’t bother to press.

Even if they were scapegoats, the Celestial Prison wasn’t like Purgatory or the Imperial Prison—here, the prisoners weren’t subjected to daily torture.

In fact—

As vagrants, getting three meals a day used to be impossible.

But locked up in the Celestial Prison, even though they lost their freedom, at least they’d get food—no risk of starving to death.

When you think about it—

It’s pretty damn ironic.

Some people spend a fortune just to get out.

And for others, staying inside is actually more secure than being outside.