Chapter 17: The Reckoning

When the last person from Shu Cheng County's line had walked away, Lin Yuan was already standing less than ten paces from the long platform.

"Shu Cheng County complete!" Tao Si shouted, flipping a page in his ledger.

Lin Yuan tallied the numbers in his mind.

The disaster verification ledger for Shu Cheng County listed three hundred and sixty households. The number of households that actually showed up to receive relief was fifty-eight.

Adding up all three counties.

The ledger listed one thousand, one hundred and sixty households.

The actual number present was one hundred and ninety-one.

A difference of nine hundred and sixty-nine households.

"Master Fang."

Lin Yuan's voice wasn't loud, but the field was in a brief lull between the handover of two counties. The buzzing chatter died down for a moment, and the two words carried.

Fang De looked up and saw Lin Yuan standing before the platform.

"Master Lin? Is there something?"

"There is."

Lin Yuan walked to the front of the long platform, facing Fang De, with the dense crowd of disaster victims behind him. An unusual light flickered in his eyes—a fervor woven from a longing for death and compassion for the suffering masses.

"The relief distribution today has been handled efficiently by Master Fang. But I have a few numbers I'd like to verify with Master Fang face-to-face."

Fang De's smile remained unchanged, but his eyes tightened slightly. A subtle ripple of internal energy spread behind the long platform.

"What numbers?"

"He Fei County." Lin Yuan's voice rose a little as he urged the meager early-stage acquired qi within his body. "Master Fang's disaster verification ledger lists three hundred and eighty affected households. I counted just now during the distribution. A total of sixty households came to receive relief."

He paused, his gaze sharp as a blade.

"Three hundred and eighty households, sixty arrived. Master Fang, where did those three hundred and twenty households go?"

The ledger in Tao Si's hand behind the platform trembled.

Fang De did not answer immediately.

The disaster victims below the platform hadn't grasped the situation yet; most didn't understand what these numbers implied.

But some were already pricking up their ears.

"Master Lin," Fang De chuckled, his voice carrying a warning undercurrent of hidden force. "This is just the first day of relief distribution. Many victims haven't arrived yet. Roads were washed out by the flood. Some villages are dozens of miles away. They can't all arrive in one day."

"What about Lu Jiang County?" Lin Yuan gave him no respite, taking a step forward against that undercurrent of force. "The verification ledger lists four hundred and twenty households. Seventy-three households arrived. A difference of three hundred and forty-seven."

"Shu Cheng County, three hundred and sixty households, fifty-eight arrived, a difference of three hundred and two."

He recited the numbers for all three counties in one breath. The field gradually fell silent.

Those still waiting in line began to turn and look at him.

Fang De's smile stiffened, the muscles in his face twitching slightly.

"Master Lin, are you questioning the disaster verification data?"

"I am not questioning." Lin Yuan pulled a stack of hemp paper from his robe, a wild, cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "I am here to settle accounts."

He held up the first sheet, facing the disaster victims below.

"He Fei County. Master Fang's verification ledger lists three hundred and eighty affected households. But the Lu Zhou Prefecture land register clearly records, in black and white, that the total number of households in He Fei County's villages is two thousand, one hundred and forty."

A wave of noise rose from below.

The victims might not be able to read the words on the paper, but they understood the numbers "two thousand, one hundred and forty" and "three hundred and eighty."

"Master Fang compressed over two thousand households down to three hundred and eighty," Lin Yuan's voice was steady, yet carried a resolute finality. "Reporting less than two out of every ten houses. Those over one thousand, seven hundred households not reported, in Master Fang's eyes, are not disaster victims. Their fields washed away by the flood don't count as washed away, their collapsed houses don't count as collapsed, their dead don't count as dead."

Fang De's complexion changed. He had handled countless disaster relief operations in his life, and no one had ever dared to publicly expose him like this during a relief distribution.

"Master Lin!" Fang De's voice suddenly rose sharply, his true qi surging, causing the teacups on the table to vibrate with a buzzing sound. "You—"

"Lu Jiang County." Lin Yuan ignored him, flipping to the second page, desperately urging the true qi in his dantian to project his voice far. "Land register total households: one thousand, eight hundred and seventy. Master Fang's verification ledger lists four hundred and twenty."

"Shu Cheng County." The third page. "Land register total households: one thousand, five hundred and ninety. Verification ledger: three hundred and sixty."

"Chao County." The fourth page. "Land register: one thousand, three hundred and forty-two households. Verification ledger—"

"Enough!"

Fang De slammed his palm on the table. A powerful surge of internal energy instantly erupted. A teacup directly shattered, porcelain shards flying.

"Lin Yuan! Where did you get that land register data? Disaster verification is a matter handled by the Ministry of Revenue according to regulations. You, an inspector, overstepping your authority to interfere with the verification process—do you know what crime this is?"

Lin Yuan put down the hemp paper. Meeting Fang De's murderous gaze, he showed no fear.

"Master Fang, whether I overstepped my authority or not will be judged by the court after I return to the capital. But I ask you one question now—"

He turned, facing the thousands of pairs of eyes below the platform.

"Victims from He Fei County present here, how many households are in your village? How many acres of your fields were washed away? How many people died in your village?"

Silence fell below the platform first.

Then a voice emerged from the crowd.

"I'm from Zhang Village in He Fei County! Our village has over eighty households! Twelve people were swept away the day the flood hit! The fields are all ruined! All ruined!"

It was Zhang Laosi, the first one to come up and receive relief silver earlier. He pushed his way to the front, his voice choked with sobs, screaming hysterically.

"Over eighty households! How many did the ledger write?!"

Another voice exploded.

"Chen Family Dam in Lu Jiang County! Our area has four villages combined, over three hundred households! The official who came to verify the disaster that day left without even looking!"

"River Mouth Town has over three hundred households! When they were registering, that clerk above wrote one hundred and fifty households and then closed the ledger!"

"Nan Wan Village, one hundred and thirteen households! That damned scribe didn't even enter the village!"

The voices grew more numerous, louder. The disaster victims who had been standing meekly in line with bowed heads seemed to suddenly come alive. They began to shout, to yell. Some raised their fists, others pointed at the platform.

Fang De's face turned ashen, a murderous glint flashing in his eyes.

"Tao Si!" he growled in a low voice.

Tao Si put down the ledger in his hand and made a gesture behind him.

The seven or eight bailiffs behind the platform, carrying short clubs, moved.

They began to walk forward, skirting the table, moving to surround Lin Yuan. The fierce aura of acquired-stage martial artists was released without restraint, making the victims in the front row gasp for breath.

Lin Yuan stood before the platform, not moving.

He saw the short clubs in the bailiffs' hands, and he saw the murderous light in their eyes.

But instead of fear, a surge of near-boiling, wild elation rose in his heart!

Come on! Beat me to death! As long as I die today on this platform for the country and the people, I'll ascend to immortality on the spot!

Ignoring the approaching killing intent, he continued flipping through the papers, his voice even louder, almost a roar.

"Wu Wei County, land register total households—"

"Shut his mouth!" Tao Si bellowed sharply.

Two bailiffs, carrying fierce palm winds, pounced on him simultaneously.

Before Lin Yuan could recite the number, a large hand imbued with powerful internal energy firmly grabbed his collar, brutally yanking his entire body backward. Another hand, like an eagle's talon, reached out, viciously twisting the wrist holding the papers!

Excruciating pain shot through him. The stack of hemp paper slipped from his fingers.

Several sheets scattered on the ground.

The disaster victims below saw this scene.

They saw a thin young man in official robes, holding papers filled with numbers, trying to seek justice for them, being forcefully restrained by two fierce martial artist bailiffs.

"Master Lin!"

Old Yu's roar, infused with the powerful true qi of a peak acquired-stage expert, exploded from the crowd like a thunderclap on flat ground!