Thinking about how he had actually stolen Sesame Thompson's monster, Chris Brooks felt waves of guilt in his heart. He gave a hard kick to Mr. Sullivan, who was playing dead in front of him, then turned around, flopped heavily into his chair, hugged his head and groaned, “You bastards have really screwed me over! I have no idea what this Maitreya Sect is about, and I’m just pretending as hard as I can—how long can I keep it up?! Besides, if there really is a Maitreya Sect and they come looking for me, let’s see how you all clean up the mess then!”

“Sir, cough, sir, please don’t worry!” Mr. Sullivan clutched his bruised neck, coughing as he tried to reassure him in a low voice, “I, I already thought of a foolproof plan this morning!”

“Nonsense! What could that pig brain of yours possibly know besides tricking people?!” Chris Brooks glared fiercely at Mr. Sullivan, raising his foot to kick him again.

Seeing this, Mr. Sullivan quickly scrambled backward a few steps, then covered his butt with one hand and his head with the other, adding in a pitiful tone, “I really can come up with a solution. I used to follow Parker and once handled a Maitreya Sect case. I know all about their scriptures, rules, and various tokens!”

“You?” Chris Brooks stared at him with wide eyes, actually feeling a bit impressed. Mr. Sullivan, unnerved by the look, hurriedly backed away a few more steps and said quickly, “This morning, while no one was watching, I used your name to sneak back to the yamen. I stole all the confiscated items from that case. Look, this is the Great Bright Shield of the Maitreya Sect. Whoever holds this token is the master of a hall. Any member below the hall master must obey his orders when they see it.”

As he spoke, he shakily pulled out a shield the size of a fist from his waist and raised it above his head with both hands.

Chapter 008: Commander of the Left Army

The shield was cast from bronze, with a sun protruding from the center on one side, surrounded by patterns radiating like sunlight. The other side was decorated with endless flames, surging and mighty. Both the design and the craftsmanship were mysterious and ancient to the extreme. Even if you brought it to the twenty-first century, it’s unlikely anyone could make such a thing in just two or three hours.

Seeing this, Chris Brooks couldn’t help but look at Mr. Sullivan with a bit more respect. He frowned and sighed, “So what if I have this thing? A fake is still a fake. For every lie you tell, you need ten thousand more to cover it up. If Sesame Thompson really wants to get to the bottom of things, a few questions and I’ll be exposed.”

At this, he felt another surge of anger toward Mr. Sullivan and stood up, ready to punch him. The other clerks and jailers rushed forward to hold back his fist, pleading desperately, “Sir, please calm down, please calm down. Mr. Sullivan is doing this for all of us. Without your identity as hall master, there’s no way you could protect the nearly thousand households nearby. The rest of us would have died in last night’s chaos!”

“You bastards, you’re all smooth talkers!” Chris Brooks couldn’t hit Mr. Sullivan, so he sat back in his chair, fuming. “How long can I keep up this act? It’s easy to fake evidence, but what about the details? What if Sesame Thompson suddenly summons me? How am I supposed to answer questions about the Maitreya Sect?!”

“Sir, with all due respect, I believe that Sesame Thompson and Chief Steward Thompson probably won’t ask you too much about the Maitreya Sect!” Mr. Sullivan, having dodged a beating, quietly scooted back and knelt on the ground to reply.

“Why?!” Chris Brooks was a bit dizzy from all this, gripping the table and frowning as he pressed for an answer.

“It’s a long story!” Mr. Sullivan finally got a rare chance to explain, so he gathered his thoughts and reported in a low voice, “Although Sesame Thompson is known as the Grand Commander of the Red Turbans in Xuzhou, in fact, before the uprising, he wasn’t a disciple of the White Lotus Sect—at least, not a core disciple. I never heard of him holding any position in the White Lotus Sect. As for the Maitreya Sect, it was founded in the Northern Wei, and for over a thousand years has been separate from the White Lotus Sect. In recent years, under the leadership of the sect leader Monk Foster, the Maitreya, Manichaeism, and White Lotus Sects have merged and all revere the Great Bright God, but they’re still clearly distinct and haven’t really integrated. Right now, Monk Foster is leading his top disciples fighting in Huguang, and has no time to manage sect affairs. The area north of the Yangtze is in chaos thanks to the Red Turban Marshal Andrew Baker…”

Being a scholar and a low-level clerk in the yamen for years, Mr. Sullivan was well-versed in all the religions strictly banned by the court. According to him, the Maitreya Sect and the White Lotus Sect, favored by Red Turban leader Andrew Baker, had no direct affiliation. And with Sesame Thompson’s status in the White Lotus Sect before the uprising, he had no right to question a Maitreya Sect hall master too closely.

Chris Brooks could just take advantage of this loophole, using the Great Bright Shield that the Xuzhou authorities had confiscated from a Maitreya Sect leader’s home to keep up his bluff. After all, the former Maitreya Sect leader Monk Foster was busy with war and had no time to manage sect affairs. And with Xuzhou and Huguang, where Monk Foster was now, both in chaos from war, it was nearly impossible to exchange letters!