Gao Wu Da Qin: You don't want your secret to be known, do you?

Chapter 77 Desperate for Suicide and Escape, No Such Person Found: Zhang Beihai

The lingering excitement of the "Amazing Beauty Contest" gradually faded into the dust of daily life. 👑💙 ➅➈Ŝђ𝓤𝐱.ⓒ𝐎𝓜 💣🐻

The once-popular "Master of Surprising Beauty" faded into obscurity after only a few weeks, like autumn leaves falling into the background.

Occasionally, someone might remember a few names, but most would laugh and say, "They're just a bunch of little brats who haven't even reached the Martial Apprentice level. How capable can they be? Our village chief is a Martial Master of the Third Realm!"

The Lishan Court of Justice branch office.

The morning sun shone into the hall of the Court of Justice, where several judges were drinking morning tea and reading newspapers.

Just then, footsteps came from outside the gate, and a disheveled middle-aged man walked to the gate of the Court of Justice.

The old man at the door glanced at the middle-aged man and asked, "Is there something you need?"

The middle-aged man held up an arrest warrant. "I want to turn myself in!"

The old man rubbed his ears. "Are you going to commit suicide?"

The middle-aged man leaned closer to the old man and said, word by word, "Turn yourself in!"

The old man's wrinkled face was full of disgust as he waved his hand repeatedly, saying, "Go commit suicide somewhere secluded, don't die here, it's bad luck! I'm too old to drag a corpse!"

Upon seeing this, the middle-aged man kicked the old man, who fell to the ground unconscious.

The middle-aged man barged into the Court of Justice compound, heading towards the Lishan Court of Justice office. "Is anyone there? I want to turn myself in!"

Faced with this business offered to him, the Lishan Court of Justice responded quickly. Seven or eight burly uniformed court officials surrounded the middle-aged man, and he was then taken into the interrogation room.

Under the dim light of the interrogation room, the man's distinct angular features were clearly visible. Comparing him to the wanted criminal named "Zhang Beihai" on the warrant, at first glance, they looked about 70-80% alike. Apart from his slightly sallow complexion and thin, malnourished appearance, they were practically identical.

The Lishan Court Official realized he might have caught a big fish, but to be on the safe side, he thought it best to go through the proper procedures.

The director of the Lishan office, a master of the Great Martial Master realm, personally stepped forward to begin the interrogation.

The director, holding the arrest warrant, sized up the middle-aged man in the interrogation chair. "What's your name?"

The middle-aged man said, "Zhang Beihai."

The director asked, "What did you do wrong?"

The middle-aged man said, "Twelve years ago, during the final Stargate battle, I piloted the Natural Selection ship to attack and kill all the crew members on the Blue Space and plundered all their supplies."

The director's eyes gleamed as he glanced at the portrait on the wanted poster. "The wanted poster shows that you were wanted in Xianyang. Why didn't you surrender in Xianyang? Isn't it pointless to come to Lishan to surrender?"

The middle-aged man said, "I still have some things to take care of, so I can't turn myself in. I've finished what I was doing, so I'm turning myself in right now."

The director asked, "What's the reason for turning yourself in? Is it because you had a change of heart and thought killing your comrade was wrong?"

"No!" the middle-aged man said. "Back then, the Blue Space was already planning to attack our Natural Selection. I was just a little earlier than them. I had no psychological burden in killing them. If I had to do it again, I would still kill them! It stems from the self-preservation instinct of life itself, because only one ship could survive at that time!"

The director chuckled, "If that's the case, then why did you turn yourself in?"

The middle-aged man rubbed his cheeks with both hands. "I've implicated my student! He should have been famous and successful, but now he's disappeared without a trace. I believe he's been implicated because of me. If I turn myself in, my student will be safe and sound, so I'm turning myself in."

The director nodded and said, "I've looked at your file. You were also a court official before. Do you know what the consequences were after you turned yourself in?"

The middle-aged man said, "Send him to a military court and prosecute him for treason. The punishment ranges from life imprisonment to execution."

The director looked at the middle-aged man and said, "Very well, since that's the case, I won't say anything more. According to the normal procedure, you can wait here for a while, and Xianyang should give you a reply soon."

The silence didn't last long; a clerk hurriedly brought over some documents.

In the dim light, after reviewing the materials, the director blinked, a look of disbelief appearing on his face. ♔🎄 ➅➈ѕᑌχ.𝓒𝓞Μ ✎☠

The middle-aged man said, "Can you be more efficient! Hurry up and sentence me! I'm in a hurry to get on my way!"

The director's expression was strange, but adhering to the professional ethics of a court official, he still read out in a serious tone, "Sir, please calm down. Based on the reply from the Court of Justice in Xianyang, I deduce that you are probably not Zhang Beihai!"

The middle-aged man was taken aback. "I'm not Zhang Beihai? Then who am I?"

"Who you are, I don't know either," the head of the Court of Justice said, holding the documents. "According to the reply from higher-ups, Zhang Beihai did resist arrest and escape when he was arrested that day. The Xianyang Court of Justice did issue a city-wide arrest warrant, which was later upgraded to a nationwide warrant! But on the third day after the warrant was issued, Zhang Beihai appeared. When he was preparing to escape Xianyang by high-speed train, he was surrounded by special agents from the Court of Justice. After on-site negotiations failed, a gunfight broke out between Zhang Beihai and the special agents. He was killed in the gunfight, and his body was dissected. He had been hit by 19 bullets all over his body, almost riddled with bullets!"

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man's eyes widened in disbelief. "How could this be! I'm still alive! How could I be dead! Did you get the wrong file for the Xianyang intelligence report?!"

The director, too lazy to say much, simply gestured for someone to hand the intelligence to the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man frantically held the intelligence report, staring intently at its contents. Just as the director had said, it bore the official seal of the Court of Justice at the Xianyang headquarters, clearly displaying the standard format of an official document. The content was exactly as the director had described, and there were even two photos: one showing the Special Operations Department surrounding Zhang Beihai, and the other showing Zhang Beihai lying on the ground riddled with bullets.

The middle-aged man stared intently at his own photo in the official document from the Court of Justice. His appearance was so lifelike, exactly the same as the wanted poster, that he looked even more like Zhang Beihai than he did!

Am I really dead?

If I were to be shot to death!

So, who am I now?

Did something happen in between?

The director stood up, lit a cigarette, and said impatiently, "First thing in the morning, I thought I was going to get a big credit for nothing, but it turns out it's another false alarm!"

"Beat this guy up and throw him out! Teach him a lesson! Don't waste public resources coming to our Court of Justice all the time!"

Several burly court officials suddenly surrounded the middle-aged man and began to hack at him!

With a scream, the middle-aged man was thrown out the gate by the court officials.

The old gatekeeper had already been helped to his feet and was sitting in a chair sighing. When he saw this bastard again, he was so frightened that he instinctively covered his groin with his hands, took a few steps back, and hid in his gatekeeper's hut, never to come out again.

The middle-aged man got up, his face covered in dust, but his heart was filled with ecstatic joy.

I'm free! Zhang Beihai is dead! Hahaha! From today onwards, my name is Zhang Nanhai! Hahaha—"

Oh, and hurry up and pick up my nephew!

The entrance to the orphanage at the end of Lishan Mountain.

The middle-aged man, "Zhang Nanhai," was repeatedly apologizing to an elderly man, "I'm so sorry, Dean, I suddenly changed my mind. I think it's better to keep the child with you! I'm really sorry!"

The stern-faced old director of the orphanage said irritably, "You're really strange! Yesterday you were crying and begging me to take this child in, and now you want him back! What kind of guardian are you? Are you suffering from schizophrenia?"

Zhang Beihai said awkwardly, "I'm really not mentally ill. I just drank too much yesterday. I'm sorry! How about this, I don't need the deposit or tuition. Please, Dean, do me this favor!"

The dean sighed, and a short while later a teacher led out a chubby-faced boy.

The little boy had a wild look, especially his eyes, which shone brightly. Upon seeing Zhang Beihai, he excitedly shouted, "Uncle! I knew you wouldn't leave me here!"

Zhang Beihai gave the dean an awkward smile, then pulled the little boy outside. The five or six-year-old boy was very mischievous and kept making faces at the dean behind him.

The sky was bright and clear, and the winter wind was gentle.

The little boy held up a sweet, stringy lollipop and kept saying, "Uncle! Didn't you go out to run errands? Why are you back so soon!"

Looking at the bustling traffic in Lishan City Square in the distance, Zhang Beihai sighed, "It's done!"

The little boy asked curiously, "Is it done? So fast?"

Zhang Beihai sat on a bench by the street with his child. An outdated promotional video for the movie "Jinghong" was playing on a projection screen in front of them.

On the holographic projection screen, you can clearly see a young man in a golden armor standing on a radiant arena, his eyes full of youthful vigor, with the stars and the sea behind him!

"Wow, so handsome!" the little boy exclaimed, pointing at the young man. "Uncle, I know this guy. His name is Qin Feng, and he's the champion of the Amazing Swan Competition!"

Zhang Beihai looked at Qin Feng, ruffling the little boy's head with his large hand, "You'll be even more handsome and stronger than him in the future!"

The little boy hesitated and asked, "Really?"

Zhang Beihai laughed, "Of course! You're the only son of the Zhang family. Your name, Zhang Han, will definitely be more renowned and prestigious than Qin Feng's in the future!"

The little boy's eyes shone with the fearless fervor of a newborn calf. "If my uncle teaches me, I'm sure I can surpass him!"

"Ha ha!"

Zhang Beihai smiled brightly, his eyes fixed on Qin Feng's figure. He knew in his heart that some people could not be taught, and that he had already used up all his luck in meeting him.

Just then, a middle-aged man in a jacket sat down on the other side of the bench. He raised his hand and gently patted little Zhang Han's head. "This kid's good. He'll amount to something great someday! He might not be as good as Qin Feng, but he won't be too far behind. It's just that too much candy is bad for a child's teeth! He shouldn't eat any more!"

The middle-aged man casually slapped the child's lollipop onto the ground.

Zhang Beihai stared warily at the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man looked to be in his fifties, with rather ordinary features. He was the kind of person you could look at ten times and then quickly forget.

Zhang Beihai discovered that Zhang Han, whom he was holding, had quickly fallen asleep after being slapped on the head by that person. "Who are you? What did you do to my nephew?!"

The middle-aged man's voice was hoarse. "Don't look at me like that. I have no hostility towards you. I'm here to tell you a few things."

Zhang Beikai asked, "What's the matter?"

The middle-aged man took out a letter from his pocket. "Your decision to leave Qin Feng was undoubtedly a very wise one, both for you and for Qin Feng. Congratulations on surviving this battle of the elites. Now you can enjoy your retirement! Here is an envelope containing a stable place to live, a good job, and some savings—enough to raise Zhang Han and ensure a happy life!"

Zhang Beihai took the letter, looking at the middle-aged man with hesitation, "Who exactly are you?"

The middle-aged man stood up. "It's getting late. You can still make it to the station! The sooner you leave, the better for you!"

As Zhang Beihai watched the middle-aged man's back, he suddenly grabbed the man's left arm with his right hand and tore off the cuff, revealing a deformed tattoo of the character "廷" on his left arm!

Zhang Beihai's eyes gleamed. "I should have known! The Court of Justice was putting on an act! Who exactly are you?!"

The middle-aged man, realizing he could no longer hide it, simply took off the necklace from his neck. The moment the necklace fell off, his facial features transformed into a completely different appearance.

Looking at the man's weathered appearance, Zhang Beihai excitedly clasped his hands in greeting, "Your Excellency! My old leader! Zhang Beihai greets Lord Cui!"

This man was none other than Lord Cui, the third-in-command of the Court of Justice in Xianyang and later appointed as the Assistant Magistrate!

The position of Assistant Minister of the Imperial Stud, while not as high as the Nine Ministers (such as the Commandant of the Guards, the Palace Attendant, the Grand Master of the Palace, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Ceremonies, the Minister of the Imperial Clan, the Minister of the Imperial Treasury, and the Minister of Grain) in the Qin Dynasty's official system, was still a high-ranking position among the Nine Ministers! Moreover, it was a core high-ranking official in the Ministry of Justice!

There was a time when Zhang Beihai had only seen this old leader in group meetings, but had never actually spoken to him face to face.

Cui Puling looked at Zhang Beihai with a hint of helplessness and said, "Why bother! You've already left this situation, yet you still insist on exposing my identity!"

Zhang Beihai looked at his former superior and gave an awkward, apologetic smile. "I was just worried! I always felt the Court of Justice wouldn't let me off the hook! And sure enough, it was an old acquaintance! Servant, didn't you come looking for me right after I left the Lishan branch?"

Cui Puling said, "Don't ask so many useless questions. What I can tell you is that your case is closed! The case was supervised by Lord Cheng! The process was our classic trick: in public, with witnesses and physical evidence, we shot the double dead in front of everyone, followed by an autopsy. We handled it flawlessly, ensuring that no one can overturn your case! I suppose you've already seen the photos of your gruesome death at the Lishan Court. Forget about the identity of Zhang Beihai from now on! Start afresh."

Zhang Beihai asked impatiently, "How is my student Qin Feng doing?"

Cui Puling looked at the setting sun on the horizon and muttered, "He's living better than you! The King personally received him, and the brothers in the inner court said that the King was very pleased after seeing him and summoned several concubines that night! You shouldn't bother him anymore; it will only bring you trouble."

Zhang Beikai said, "That's good, that's the best."

Bathed in the light of the setting sun, the two figures cast long, distant shadows.

Cui Puling crossed his arms and sighed slowly, "To be honest, I really admire you, kid. To have such a capable student and still manage to escape unscathed, you're quite something in every way! You live a more dignified life than 99% of the people in our Court of Justice!"

"No way!" Zhang Beihai laughed. "I'm just a deserter from the battlefield. How could I be as outstanding as the leaders say?"

Cui Puling patted Zhang Beihai on the shoulder, "Your new documents and new name are in the envelope, Zhang Xihai. Remember to change your name from now on, don't call me Zhang Beihai. It's best to be careful in everything you do. Things aren't quite right in the world right now, so don't go looking for trouble."

Zhang Beihai said helplessly, "Alright, what you say is right, but what do you mean by 'the world is not right'? Can you give me a hint?"

Cui Puling shook his head and said, "You're not the Minister of Justice anymore, why are you still so fond of gossip! Stop asking around, it'll help you live a few more years."

Zhang Beihai said, "I'm not the Minister of Justice anymore, so it's okay for me to ask a few questions! Go ahead and ask! I'm very tight-lipped!"

Annoyed to the point of exasperation, Cui Puling muttered, "Wandering the world!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Beihai seemed to understand something. "Isn't this quite normal? Every year, several philosophers from various schools of thought would claim to send disciples to travel the world, but in the end, it all fizzles out and never comes to fruition."

Cui Puling said, "The Court of Justice has announced that the person traveling throughout the land this time is the head of the Jixia Academy of Confucianism, a top expert in the world today, the Confucian sage Mencius! The Confucian school has already sent envoys to inform the seven kingdoms and major powers and sects. If nothing unexpected happens, it will be within the next few months. Mencius will definitely travel throughout the land. At that time, there will be another great chaos in the seven kingdoms. I'm afraid it will leave behind a mess."

Zhang Beihai jumped up, "Why would Master Meng need to travel the world?! A man like him has already achieved everything in life, what need does he have for traveling the world? It's unnecessary!"

Cui Puling lit a cigarette, looked at the bustling traffic in the distance, and after a long while said, "You've never been a high-ranking official in the Court of Justice, so you don't know."

"There are two kinds of travel in the world: one is called disciple training, and the other is called establishing a sainthood."

"The 'Wandering the World' people we usually see are simply disciples who are very promising, and the sect places great hopes on them, so they are sent out to seek their own opportunities! This kind of wandering the world doesn't require much skill, nor does it have much fame!"

"But the second type is different! The second type of traveling the world is modeled after Confucius's travels throughout the world during the Spring and Autumn Period. The sage's current practice of traveling the world is the second type!"

"What does the second type of traveling the world mean? It means that the Sage will punish evil and promote good, and fight for justice! Don't you remember when Confucius traveled through the Spring and Autumn Period? Countless schools of thought were crushed by Confucius in a short time. Confucius even wiped out all traces of their existence and their destiny! Without destiny, all your historical records will disappear without you even realizing it, and you will no longer exist in this world!"

"Leaving aside distant examples, let's talk about the once-popular Gu Dao, unorthodox sects, spirit writing, right-handed methods, and spirit possession. How arrogant and domineering they were back then! In the late Spring and Autumn Period, they even kidnapped the sons of feudal lords to blackmail them! This left the various feudal states angry but dared not speak out!"

"And the result? After Confucius and his seventy-two disciples swept through the area, not a single one of those heretical sects was left alive, completely purging the martial arts world of that year. It was truly a super annual purge of the entire martial arts community!"

"If your sect doesn't align with Confucius's principles, he has the right and the power to purge you, and the world will accept it! No one will blame Confucius; he's already given prior notice. You've run into trouble, that's your problem!"

"Just tell me, aren't the various schools of thought panicking right now? The Mohists and Legalists are doing a bit better; they usually act uprightly and aren't afraid of being investigated! But if they encounter some small, cunning, and deceitful individuals from minor sects, they could face annihilation!"

"This time, Master Meng is retracing the path of the Spring and Autumn Period. Whether he will establish a sage or not, I don't know, but he will definitely unleash a massacre, and quite a lot of it! Especially for a master of Master Meng's caliber, if he were to openly threaten a massacre, the consequences would be extremely severe!"

"So now the intelligence networks of the entire seven kingdoms are in a panic, and they're all notifying their smaller sects to keep quiet for ten or twenty years and stop sending performance reports to Master Meng!"

Zhang Beihai gasped. "That's terrifying! Boss, you've been working so hard lately! You need to take better care of yourself!"

Cui Puling continued, "Compared to Master Mencius traveling the world, I'm more worried about the strategists! Tell me the truth, will your student become an official in Xianyang? If your student intends to become an official in Xianyang, I'm considering retiring to my hometown now and taking early retirement!"

Zhang Beihai laughed. "Isn't that unnecessary? What kind of trouble could a brat not even eighteen years old cause? You're overthinking it, sir!"

Cui Puling said seriously, "I'm not joking with you! Right now, everyone in the Court of Justice, from top to bottom, is most worried about this strategist brat taking over. If he does, we might lose our year-end bonuses and performance bonuses! This concerns the interests of our brothers, so you must give me a definite answer!"

Seeing his leader's seriousness, Zhang Beihai patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, leader, my student will never become an official in Xianyang! I've known him for over a year, how could I not know what kind of person he is? He's just not cut out to be an official! Back in Longcheng, I asked him to be a class monitor, and he actually shirked the responsibility, saying that dealing with people was too tiring, and he'd rather use that time to do push-ups to strengthen his body! Listen to that kind of nonsense!"

"Back in Longcheng, besides sunbathing, sleeping, and regularly running and doing push-ups, his biggest hobby was looking at black stockings."

"How could someone who doesn't even aspire to be a class monitor possibly dream of becoming an official in Xianyang!"

"I can even boldly predict that even if the king appreciates him and gives him an official position, he will quickly mess things up and then shrewdly run away!"

"So he'll never become an official! He'll just make a quick buck and run away! Boss, instead of worrying about him becoming an official, you should pay more attention to whether he's been up to any tricks lately, like investing in businesses or something! If he makes any moves, you should follow immediately and then get out as quickly as possible. You might be able to make a fortune! This guy has plenty of shady ways to make money!"

Hearing Zhang Beihai's words, Cui Puling felt relieved and nodded, "Alright! I'll keep an eye on him later. But I have to remind you of something! After you leave, never tell anyone you're his teacher again. That kid is too good at stirring up trouble, especially lately. He's been skinning the rich and powerful people in Xianyang alive!"

Zhang Beikai asked, "How exactly will you skin me alive?"

Cui Puling said, "How else can they expose him? He initially used the guise of teaching for free to gather a large group of people to learn how to forge mechs. For the first few days, he taught very diligently, and those second-generation rich kids from Xianyang learned quite a bit, like a completely new mutated language. But later on, it became outrageous! He started encouraging students to buy all sorts of learning materials and conduct various experiments, even making them bring their own materials. He took the successful experiments and continued experimenting on the failed ones! In this way, it was equivalent to all the second-generation rich kids in Xianyang working for him!"

"In this situation, how could the royal family and newly rich in Xianyang sit idly by? They've encountered their own children claiming to have learned something, and their children are about to be completely misled by this student! This student even argues that he collected these experimental subjects simply to leave a memento of his youth, with no other intention. Moreover, as a blacksmith, the most precious thing is not the result but the process. Your children have learned the process, gained experience—isn't that a wonderful thing?"

"The nobles came to the Court of Justice to file a complaint, but we couldn't do anything about it. First, Qin Feng never asked these students to call him 'teacher.' Second, they paid the fees voluntarily, so there was no extortion or forced sale. Third, the Qin Feng they complained about is a strategist. This kid took down a leader of the Five Cities Garrison on his first day, so our Court of Justice didn't dare to investigate him at all. So, after a while, the matter was left unresolved."

"We managed to smooth things over, but the nobles' anger hasn't subsided. The material costs are getting higher and higher, and now many nobles are in a bind, being skinned alive by your students! Everyone in Xianyang is hoping he'll get out of here as soon as possible. Every day he stays, the royal family and the newly rich suffer... Sigh, where's Old Zhang? When did he leave without even a word!"

Lord Cui looked around at the empty surroundings and shook his head. Like student, like teacher.

The more shameless the students are, the faster the teacher will run away!

(End of this chapter)