Clark's old tears kept streaming down from the corners of her eyes, making anyone who saw it feel heartbroken. Edward Clark's throat moved; he said softly, "Grandmother, please don't be sad. I'll go help the Guo family collect the bodies."

"What? No way!" The old lady became anxious. Though she was grieving, she was not confused.

"The Guo family committed a capital crime and were beheaded and left in the marketplace by the court. If you help collect their bodies and accidentally anger the authorities, we can't bear the consequences! Grandson, you must not get yourself involved."

The old lady was right; collecting the Guo family's bodies was quite risky.

"Grandmother, the three days for leaving the bodies in the marketplace have passed. The court can't be unreasonable. I'll be careful." Edward Clark's attitude was very firm. In the past, the old lady would never have agreed, but in these past few days, her grandson had truly grown up—especially being able to come up with the clever idea of using beggars to fend off the yamen runners, which showed his quick wit.

Clark finally agreed. She reached out, took out two gold beads, and stuffed them into Edward Clark's hand, instructing, "Protect yourself carefully. If you run into any yamen runners, give them the gold beads. Those brutes are all greedy for money. Your safety is more important than anything else."

Edward Clark nodded vigorously, assuring the old lady not to worry.

He turned and left. When he reached the temple gate, footsteps suddenly sounded behind him—it was Mark Brooks striding up to catch him.

"I'm coming with you!"

Edward Clark hesitated a little. "It could be dangerous!"

"I'm not afraid!" Mark Brooks clenched his fists. "The Guo family was kind to me. Mark Brooks is not someone who forgets kindness. Why should only you get to be the hero, and not let others repay their debts of gratitude?"

Edward Clark opened his mouth but had nothing to say. Heaven knows, he really wasn't trying to be a hero! But he couldn't explain, so he could only let him misunderstand. The two of them, one after the other, left the ruined temple.

After passing through several streets, the execution ground suddenly appeared before them.

From a distance, over a hundred corpses lay scattered in disarray, with no one tending to them.

Fortunately, it was early winter and the weather was cold; otherwise, they would have already rotted and stunk. Even so, the thick stench of blood made one's skin crawl. The common people all avoided the execution ground; even if they had to pass by, they covered their mouths and noses, hurried past, and couldn't bear to look.

The yamen runners had only guarded the place for two and a half days before leaving early.

The constables who usually threw bodies into the mass grave didn't dare to move them this time, since the Guo family had committed treason. They could only leave the bodies there. A gust of wind carried the heavy stench of blood straight into their nostrils. Mark Brooks felt his stomach churn, unable to suppress the rising bile. The more he tried to hold it back, the worse it got.

Mark Brooks had seen dead bodies before, but never so many, and never so gruesome. He couldn't take it anymore, turned aside, and vomited several times before finally catching his breath.

He glanced curiously at Edward Clark, wanting to see him looking just as miserable, but to his surprise, Edward Clark's expression was calm, as if nothing had affected him. And in fact, that was true. Although the scene before him was tragic, in his previous life Edward Clark had handled far too many corpses—there was once a car accident with dozens of deaths, some burned to charcoal in a fire, some drowned for dozens of days, bloated and rotting, crawling with maggots... In short, the scene before him was still within the acceptable range!

But just because he looked calm on the outside didn't mean he felt the same inside!

Think about it—who was Guo Wei?

A loyal old minister entrusted with the emperor's orphan, holding great military power, a pillar against the Khitan, the Great Wall of the court!

Just because the emperor was suspicious, he ruthlessly killed him, implicating his whole family. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms—truly a dark and chaotic era, so cruel!

At that moment, a few dogs suddenly appeared from somewhere. Their eyes were all red, the hair on their backs bristling, heads lowered, growling menacingly, almost like wolves.

One old dog went straight for a corpse, bared its huge teeth, and bit into a thigh, tearing at it fiercely. The other dogs howled and pounced, joining the gruesome feast.

Suddenly, a stone was hurled over, hitting the old dog squarely on the head, making it roll several times and whimper on the ground.

Mark Brooks's eyes turned red too. He recognized that corpse—it was Old Wang, the coachman from the Guo residence. He had once been Guo Wei's personal guard, later became a coachman at the prime minister's mansion, and was said to have been injured and had no sons. He was especially kind to the little beggars, often helping them and even giving them medicine from the mansion for injuries.

Some people had encouraged Old Wang to adopt a godson to carry on his family line.

But Old Wang always shook his head. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but as a lowly coachman, how could he be a father to someone, letting a child suffer with him?

Old Wang quietly saved up money. He planned to wait for Guo Wei to return, then ask the master to let him go. He would buy a few acres of land in the countryside, then adopt a godson and raise him—that way, he would be worthy of the child.

Old Wang's wish was good, but he would never have the chance to fulfill it.

When the imperial uncle came to arrest people, Xiuyun brought the young master to him. Philip Thompson helped cover for them, saving the young master, and then helped Xiuyun escape.

But in the next moment, he was caught. Someone in the mansion turned traitor and told the imperial uncle Li Ye that Philip Thompson was injured—how could he have a son!

Li Ye immediately ordered severe torture, trying to force out the whereabouts of the child.