Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

The setting sun filtered through the eaves, casting fine bamboo shadows on the felt table. Liang Dahai paced three times around the table, his fingers like dry branches twirling the end of his club, occasionally wiping the sweat from his brow with his sleeve—like an old Taoist priest shaking a stick in a temple. He suddenly froze, his neck veins bulging as he leaned forward, but the club tip only skimmed the surface.

"Click."

The white ball nudged the red ball, and as if drawn by a thread, the two balls slowly moved to the pocket. The red ball trembled on the edge of the copper mesh before finally falling.

"Master, is there something on your mind?" Liang Dahai straightened up, thinking about where to make his next move.

Zhang Jingwei stood in the shadow of the column, his knuckles burning the paint on his golf club: "No."

"Is it the latest case?" Liang Dahai said as he pushed into the cave again.

Zhang Jingwei still responded unhappily: "No."

Liang Dahai stuck his butt out, taking aim, and said, "Why has the young master been—"

Zhang Jingwei forced three words out of his mouth slowly: "Hit, quickly."

Liang Dahai was so frightened by the words "Quenching Ice Chips" that he shuddered, and the tip of his club drew an arc with a "crack". The white ball knocked the balls apart, and five or six colorful balls rolled in all directions, but none of them landed in the pocket.

Zhang Jingwei breathed a sigh of relief, strode forward, leaned over the pool table, and thrust the butt of the cue against his shoulder socket.

"Oh!"

The white ball exploded the ball pile like a cannonball, and one ball hit the copper mesh frame with a "bang", shaking the whole table and making the felt carpet tremble. But the ball seemed to be teasing him, and did not go into the hole, but bounced out instead.

"Master, you said Mu Tou was going to be a soldier..." Liang Dahai pinched the deerskin to wipe the end of the pole, his mumbling voice mixed with the chirping of sparrows on the eaves and drilled into people's cochlea, "In the future, he will carry the rice jar and repair the beams..."

"Ergou, take over." Zhang Jingwei stared at the remaining ball marks on the table, shook his head in frustration, and said to Liang Dahai who was walking slowly, "You can also lend a hand."

"I can't do it." Liang Dahai suddenly putted the ball lightly, and a ball slid into the bottom pocket with a "pop". He said with a smile, "I have to save my strength to make new things for the young master."

Zhang Jingwei's back teeth felt sore from biting them.

He clearly remembered never teaching anyone how to play billiards, but now Liang Dahai had turned the gentle push into a sorcery: the white ball always crawled along the edge of the table, and the colored balls always spun around the pocket, even the rebound path just blocking his hitting line.

Another shot.

Liang Dahai stuck his butt out, aiming for the middle pocket, and nudged the cue seven times before releasing it. As the red ball rolled across the table, Zhang Jingwei could even see the ripples left by the pressure on the velvet.

"Do you think there are any similarities between table tennis and Go?" Liang Dahai blew away the yak wool that had stained the club head, smiling until the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes formed chrysanthemum petals. "Both require careful planning before taking action, and calming down..."

"Wow!"

Zhang Jingwei suddenly swung his club, sweeping away the remaining balls. The balls on the table clattered and scattered. Zhang Jingwei said to him seriously, "My life span is really not worthy of playing with you!"

After saying this, he swung his arms and walked towards the government office angrily.

……

I sat in the government office for most of the day.

To be honest, he had never thought about becoming an official. He had originally wanted to follow the example of the county leaders and conduct research in the countryside. But to be frank, he had never even seen what his own county chief looked like in his entire life, so he had no textbook to learn from.

The county magistrate in the TV series was busy solving cases all day long. He was wondering why the protagonist in the TV series would always mysteriously die wherever he went after becoming an official, and he could inexplicably find out the cause of death.

There was clearly a case right in front of him, but he was unable to do anything. He knew who the murderer was, but he didn't know what to do with it.

At this moment, Huang Liang hurried over and said to Zhang Jingwei in a panic, "Sir! Two patients who were imprisoned today were unexpectedly killed in prison!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jingwei frowned and asked suspiciously, "Was he really hit to death?" Since Gao Yang's previous jailer had a history of being tortured into confessing, Zhang Jingwei began to doubt the authenticity of this incident.

Huang Liang nodded quickly and replied affirmatively, "It's absolutely true, sir! The strong yamen runners have already taken the body to the morgue inside the yamen. However, this is really strange... I found that they seemed to feel no pain at all. The wounds they inflicted on themselves are simply unbearable to look at. Moreover, they are obviously two old and weak people, but they can fight against the young and strong yamen runners without fear, and even have the upper hand!"

After listening to Huang Liang's description, Zhang Jingwei thought to himself, "Pain loss...what on earth is going on?"

Huang Liang continued, "Sir, I'm worried there might be some conspiracy. If someone with ill intentions were to cultivate this kind of alien, the consequences would be truly disastrous! Even if it's just a mob, they might be able to rival the imperial army!"

Zhang Jingwei's mind suddenly flashed back to the banquet he had attended the day before. He recalled the two Taoist children standing in the room at the time. They looked anything but alive. The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. His body began to tremble uncontrollably, and he uttered two words tremblingly: "Zombies?"

Huang Liang asked in confusion, "What is that?"

Zhang Jingwei explained to Huang Liang what zombies are from the perspectives of witchcraft, virus, and infection.

Huang Liang was dumbfounded after hearing this, but then he analyzed, "This is similar to the story 'The Bloody Sacrifice of Jiangnan.' Legend has it that there was a corpse carrier in Xitan. His face was so ugly that living people avoided him. Because he was ridiculed by the world, he devised a scheme and used secret methods to cause corpse transformation. The transformed corpses ate human flesh and harmed the world."

Zhang Jingwei raised the corner of his mouth slightly, and said with a half-smile: "I just said it casually, and you actually believed it."

Huang Liang responded with a serious face, "Although this is just a strange story, since I became a coroner, hearing such rumors has made me feel a little more respect for the undertaker."

Zhang Jingwei's expression grew serious. He stared at Huang Liang and said slowly, "These deceased were persecuted. I will give them an explanation!"

Huang Liang nodded, expressing his understanding of Zhang Jingwei's determination, and continued, "Sir, although the Gaoyang Shi family is a relative of the Prime Minister, if an official fails to punish a powerful and aristocratic family who breaks the law, how can he face the people, and how can he face the official robes he wears?"

Zhang Jingwei sighed in agreement, "You're right, but this case seems to have been solved on the surface, but in reality it's still so complicated and confusing."

Huang Liang pondered for a moment and analyzed, "Your Excellency is referring to solid evidence. The identities of the deceased are very complex. They don't belong to a specific group of people, nor do they have a direct connection to the Shi family. Therefore, if we want to truly uncover the truth of this case, we will probably have to wait until the patients regain consciousness."