Half-step Purgatory

Durin stroked the black cat on the armrest of his chair, sitting on the black leather sofa. Through the glasses perched on his nose, his gaze passed over the long table in front of him and settled on the man kneeling on the carpet:
"I understand, you've made money in Naples, your business has been very successful, and you've led a happy life. You've had those secret police, friends in both the law and the underground, and even the Royal Family speaking on your behalf."
"You don't need a friend like me, I know that. You're afraid of owing me a favor, and you don't want to get involved in troubles."
"But now you come to me and say, 'I beg you, Mr. Durin of the Corleon family, please help me seek justice, so that my life and my family will not suffer and sink into despair.'
Yet, in your eyes, I was nothing more than a second-rate artist involved in movies and music. Even at the brink of death, you still show me such disrespect, not even willing to call me by my title... Keeper of Secrets."

Durin's Diary

"Your Majesty, your youngest daughter is already thirty-seven, and if I'm not mistaken, Protector Durin of the Nation is merely twenty-three this year, still in his nominal age," the Old Man said as he looked at Mrs. Qi with drooping eyes while the young woman was serving him food.


Noticing his drooping eyelids, the young woman smiled to please him.


You really are afraid, aren't you? It's just a jest. Ever since returning to Qiantang, the Old Man asked himself, he hadn't executed anyone in decades.


As for the past, Yumen Pass was so vast, there were always young men who became deserters for various reasons. Deserters had to die, otherwise how could one lead troops into battle, how could one defend the homeland, and how could he ensure that the common people on this land could live peacefully afterward.


Thinking this, the Old Man took a piece of meat with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.


Chapter 248: Self-Inquiry