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At that moment, Lei Luo calculated the time; Liu should be supervising on the west side. After bringing someone over, he searched for a while but couldn't find anyone. He then went to Liu's office, and before he could knock, the door swung open from the inside. Seeing the person who opened the door with red, swollen eyes, Lei Luo's heart sank. "Liu Fan, where's your father?"
Liu Fan remained lost in his sorrow, not responding, and simply moved aside to let him pass. Lei Luo eagerly leaned in to take a look inside; at eye level, there was no one. He glanced up and saw a horrific face hanging in mid-air, tongue protruding.
Startled, Lei Luo fell back onto the ground, unable to maintain his usual calm demeanor. He pounded his thighs with both hands and said in a choked voice, "Liu Fan, what happened to your father? Don't just cry—hurry and bring him down! There might still be a chance to save him. What on earth is going on here?"
No matter how much Lei Luo urged him, Liu Fan remained motionless, stubbornly staring at his father's face, silently weeping. It was the Office of Censors that intervened and lowered the body. They checked for a pulse and examined the temperature before stating, "There’s no body heat; rigor mortis has just begun. The time of death should be no more than an hour ago."
Lei Luo got up from the ground and slapped Liu Fan several times. "You followed your father every day to learn his craft and served him without letting him be alone for even a moment! Liu Fan, tell me! How did he hang himself right under your nose? Who is the murderer?"
A member of the Office of Censors spoke up for Liu Fan, explaining that the scene was clear: it was a suicide. Analyzing the footprints on the ground revealed that when Liu hung himself, Liu Fan had knelt down but did not intervene; he merely stood by watching as Liu struggled in pain.
Upon hearing this explanation, Lei Luo slapped Liu Fan again. Liu Fan silently endured it, tears flowing even more fiercely. "Crying! What good does it do? You just watched helplessly! Why didn’t you stop him?"
After receiving several more slaps, Liu Fan finally released the pent-up emotions within him and shouted, "I tried to stop him! I knelt down! I begged him! But my father said that fortunately it hadn’t caused a greater disaster; he would die to atone for our family so that there might be a chance for survival."
Qi Shuo asked, "So you're saying that the mechanism at Lake Bottom was indeed created by your father?"
Liu Fan nodded. "When my father saw you all heading that way, he knew today’s events would likely be exposed. He pulled me into the room and told me about the mechanism without leaving any time for preparation before hanging himself."
Lei Luo exclaimed, "But why?"
"My son went missing one day," Liu Fan continued. "After searching everywhere, my father suddenly told us that he had sent the child to an old friend to learn skills and build a foundation. I found it strange why he hadn’t mentioned it earlier; why wait until our whole family had been through such turmoil before revealing it?"
My father mumbled something about being afraid we wouldn’t want to part with him and wanting to wait until he was far away before telling us. I believed his words then but only learned today that the child had been kidnapped and used as leverage to force my father into compliance. My father truly had no method left; after several delays, he created such an easily discoverable mechanism.
If only it had been more complex—given his abilities—you all would never have discovered it, and perhaps the Liu family could have escaped this calamity. But my father felt uneasy, especially after the Crow of Crows incident when the Court demanded a thorough investigation. He received news that could have allowed him to cover up some details regarding the mechanism but chose not to do so; perhaps he was waiting for his own judgment as a form of atonement.
"Lord Lei," Liu Fan pleaded, "you know what kind of person my father is. If he hadn’t been driven to desperation, how could he have gotten involved in such matters? He always said he was just an ordinary citizen with a skill that wouldn’t let him starve—he wanted nothing more than a peaceful life."
"My lords," he continued earnestly, "everything my father did was under duress. In light of his dedication to Riri, I ask you all to spare the Liu family."
After saying that, he began to bang his head against the ground. After just two strikes, blood started to flow from his forehead.
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