The Ink-Punishment World

In the first year of Zhongping, the Yellow Turbans laid siege to Liangqi County. My father, Chen Man, was a clerk in the county office. He uncovered how the powerful Huang family had hidden households and seized farmland. The ledgers were burned that very night, and he died in prison. I was twelve that year. They branded the word “Bandit” on my face, threw me into the death cell, and kept me there for eight years. On the night the Yellow Turbans were about to enter the city, the Huang family planned to open the city gates from within. The first blade I borrowed belonged to the soldier guarding me. They reason with the powerful. I don't. I just dig pits and wait for people to fall in. A branded convict, starting from nothing: borrowing blades, overturning convictions, changing the rules. The world owes my Chen family one thing. I'll take it back myself.