This son-in-law is wicked in a good way!

Night fell over the capital of Dawu.

But in the west of the city, flames soared into the sky, and thick smoke billowed towards the palace.

At this moment, all five city garrisons responsible for protecting the capital region have been mobilized to seal off all city gates and apprehend the White Lotus Rebellion traitors.

Zhang Ping'an hurriedly returned to the Night Watchmen's office and changed into his uniform.

Zhao Qianshan has already completed the troop mobilization at Qingshan Hall.

"Sorry boss, I'm late," Zhang Ping'an said as he ran over.

"Come in!" Zhao Qianshan said with a gloomy expression.

"We received news from the Night Watch scouts that the snack street in the west of the city had been looted by the White Lotus rebels. No one on the street was spared; all the people were killed by the rebels, who also set fire to the houses."

"His Majesty is furious and has ordered the Night Watch to apprehend the culprit immediately!"

"Set off!"

Zhao Qianshan personally led the operation, his silver cloak standing out conspicuously in the night, incredibly flashy.

Zhang Ping'an followed in the group, heading towards the West City Snack Street with Wang Qisheng and Zhou Weidong.

"Ping An, how does Miss Meixiang taste?" Wang Qisheng asked with a sly grin.

Zhang Ping'an rolled his eyes at him: "You came out before you even went in."

Old Wang's eyes lit up: "Ping An's words have a double meaning!"

At this moment, Zhou Weidong solemnly reminded him, "Ping An, no matter what you see later, you must remain calm."

Zhang Ping'an's heart sank, a serious look flashed in his eyes, and he nodded, humming in agreement.

West of the city.

Because of its remote location, the residents here are mostly ordinary people living at the bottom of society.

The security situation is extremely poor.

However, because it was so close to the academy, it was possible to do business with the students, which led to an increasing number of people living on this street.

The rows of houses are close together, making transportation inconvenient and posing a significant safety hazard.

In the event of a fire, those closely packed wooden houses would be like powder kegs, ready to ignite at any moment.

Zhang Ping'an followed in the Qingshan Hall's procession and could see half the sky reddened by the fire from a distance.

The scorching heat waves came in waves with the wind, making people feel uncomfortable.

"stop!"

Suddenly, Zhao Qianshan shouted from the front, and the group immediately stopped.

"No, although the fire has been extinguished, the residual heat is still very high, making it impossible to enter the scene to investigate."

"Everyone, go and look around. There must be someone who escaped. Once you find them, bring them back to the yamen immediately."

"yes!"

The crowd responded loudly.

"Wang Qisheng, you and a few others form a team and search westward from here."

"The rest of you will join my team and search southwards from here."

"Set off!"

Such a large fire almost engulfed the entire food street, which should have caused a huge sensation.

Even people who are fast asleep will immediately escape.

Moreover, it's only the hour of Xu (7-9 PM), and even in ancient times when there wasn't much entertainment, most people weren't asleep at this hour.

However, after searching all the way, Zhang Ping'an's team did not find a single survivor.

Zhang Ping'an grew increasingly anxious. If everyone perished in the fire, what about the witnesses at Old Man Li's noodle shop?

It will be difficult to find another witness to identify Sun Xing.

Why did the White Lotus Sect appear at this particular time? And why did they set fire to this remote and insignificant snack street in the west of the city?

The chill in Zhang Ping'an's eyes grew stronger, and his hand gripping the knife hilt tightened unconsciously.

If it's really as he thinks, then Sun Guihua deserves to die a thousand times over!

Not far away, squads of city guards were carrying buckets of water to put out the fire.

These are the imperial guards; clearly, even the Empress can't sit still any longer.

With the arrival of the city guards, the temperature quickly dropped, but it was still not suitable for people to enter.

But Zhang Ping'an didn't care about that and immediately rushed into the ruins.

"Safety, danger, come back quickly!"

Zhou Weidong and Lao Wang called out urgently from behind, and in the end they had no choice but to rush in with Zhang Ping'an.

There were charred corpses everywhere, and the smell of smoke mixed with the aroma of meat made Zhang Ping'an feel nauseous.

The charred corpses were indistinguishable in gender. However, from the small body, one could vaguely discern the child's age.

As for the scene of large corpses embracing small corpses in the ruins, it made Zhang Ping'an's eyes bloodshot, and his anger surged straight to the top of his head.

Wang Qisheng and Zhou Weidong both had bloodshot eyes and were clenching their teeth so tightly that they made a grinding sound.

Zhang Ping'an ran quickly through the ruins, hoping to find survivors, even just one.

Unfortunately, he was disappointed; the entire street was in ruins.

Everywhere was scorched earth, and some corpses were reduced to nothing more than piles of blackened skeletons.

awful!

Terrible!

Terrible!

Zhang Ping'an stood there dumbfounded. As a modern person with a soul, he had never witnessed such a human tragedy.

I can't even think of it.

A thousand people were on the street, but none survived.

It felt like my heart was being gripped by a giant hand, tighter and tighter, the pain was so intense I couldn't breathe.

He suddenly squatted down on the ground and burst into tears.

She cried and cried, then vomited violently until she vomited mucus.

Click!

A clap of thunder suddenly echoed in the night sky.

Immediately afterwards, the rain began to fall in torrents, pattering down relentlessly.

In an instant, the entire capital city was shrouded in rain.

Wang Qisheng and Zhou Weidong stood guard on either side of Zhang Ping'an, one hand on the hilt of their swords and the other on their hips.

They didn't try to comfort Zhang Ping'an; they understood that this was the reaction of most normal people upon seeing a dead person for the first time.

It was just that Zhang Ping'an's first time was a bit too cruel for him.

Finally, Zhang Ping'an stopped vomiting.

He suddenly lay down on the muddy ground, spread-eagled, staring blankly at the night sky.

As a time traveler, he felt that he possessed knowledge that was thousands of years more advanced than that of this era.

He has always approached the world with a carefree, playful attitude.

He overlooked the cruelty of feudal society, the darkness of court struggles, and the fact that this was an era that didn't value the lives of ordinary people at all.

However, tonight's fire completely woke him up.

This is not a game world. The people he visited during the day were struggling to survive at the bottom of society.

He saw the ordinary people at the bottom of society, making small efforts amidst this immense despair.

I remember that couple who ran a cloth business had a chubby little boy who was only six months old. During the day, when Zhang Ping'an played with him, the boy would laugh and babble at Zhang Ping'an.

He still remembers the baby's clean and pure gaze.

But now, in the ruins right beside him, lie two charred corpses, one large and one small.

These ruins are vaguely reminiscent of the couple's home.

Suddenly, Zhang Ping'an recalled four lines from Zhang Zhengqu.

It was as if a Taoist practitioner had suddenly realized the Tao. He felt that at this moment, the four sentences of Zhang Zai were clearer and more profound in his heart than ever before.

He no longer felt that Zhang Zai's four sentences were empty rhetoric; he saw them as the words of a great Confucian scholar with the world in his heart, expressing his aspirations to heaven and earth.

"Hey, is he alright?" Zhou Weidong walked over and quietly asked Old Wang.

Old Wang shook his head: "Although Ping An always seems to have a kind attitude, this kid is more cunning than you or me. Let him have some peace and quiet, he should be fine."

Old Wang is the oldest and has started a family, so he clearly sees further ahead than Zhou Weidong.

"ah!!"

Zhang Ping'an suddenly jumped up, drew his broadsword from his waist, and began slashing wildly at the rain.

"Kill, kill, kill..."

As if countless unseen demons lurked in the night, Zhang Ping'an slashed wildly like a madman.

Zhou Weidong was a little worried and wanted to step forward to stop him, but Old Wang held him back and shook his head at him.

Finally, Zhang Ping'an was exhausted, and his broadsword clattered into the rain.

He knelt on the ground and bowed deeply to the ruins.