Chapter 3: Rough Roads Ahead (6)
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“I say, brother, can you not be such a j*rk to me?”
Fatty, with a bruised nose and face, slumped against the cold wall, grumpily talking to the generic male character.
“Don’t rush! This is called deep infiltration. Otherwise, how would you know where White Peach is locked up?”
The male character was busy looking around, gripping the iron bars and glancing left and right.
Fatty muttered a few complaints but fell silent for now.
Actually, An Luo wasn’t too rough on him; out of respect for the Master Sister, he just left him with a bit of surface damage—nothing a few days of rest wouldn’t fix.
However, hearing the ruckus outside the Law Enforcement Hall’s dungeon, Fatty couldn’t help but get anxious.
The crime of attempting to m*rder the Sect Leader was no small matter, especially with so many Heavenly Sword Sect Disciples in the Small Thousand World. If the Law Enforcement Hall didn’t control the situation and let those angry folks storm in for some indiscriminate revenge, the four of them might end up meeting their maker right then and there.
“Lin Ge, your idea stinks! Even if we knew where the Master Sister and the Second Palace Master were locked up, what can we do being stuck in here? Are we supposed to stab each other and hope we resurrect to break in?”
The male character shushed him, “Don’t worry, Fatty, stick with your Lin Ge; I’ll make sure you don’t suffer. Listen, Wang Qianshan has already started interrogating White Peach, and it seems a whip has been involved.”
Fatty jumped, quickly holding his breath and straining to listen.
Sure enough, amidst the distant shouting, he faintly heard the muffled crack of a whip.
“That j*rk! Grass!”
Fatty slammed his fist against the ground.
“Lin Ge, we can’t just sit here and wait, right? If you keep dawdling, the Master Sister will surely face the same fate, and you can tolerate that?”
“I just need a bit more time.”
The male character glanced back at Fatty, his eyes seemingly shining with a hidden glimmer, making Fatty freeze momentarily.
“Alright, let’s wait a bit more.”
Fatty chose to trust the male character, his thick fingers scratching the hard floor, seemingly trying to reduce the annoyance swelling in his chest.
In the interrogation room.
White Peach was suspended by iron chains on either side, barely touching the ground on her tiptoes, her body dangling like a coat on a clothesline, swaying and ready to fall, causing unbearable pain.
After twenty lashes,
her exposed skin bore crisscrossing whip marks, bl**d dripping down onto the floor.
“Still not telling the truth?” Wang Qianshan said coldly.
White Peach hung her head, her bangs plastered to her sweaty forehead, making her expression hard to read.
“I already said… you don’t believe me… cough cough… what can I do?”
Wang Qianshan chuckled, “Do you think we’re three-year-olds?”
“Falsely accusing someone? There are no words needed!”
“You just said you took the fishermen to the deep sea to fish, but due to a storm, you had to find refuge on an island. Then… you can’t remember anything after that?”
White Peach nodded, “At the time, I had a bit of a conflict with Ren Dan from our sect, and maybe I fell into a trap of theirs, and when I woke up, I was already on my way away from the sea.
It must have been Luo Ying who saved me.”
Wang Qianshan, “… heh, you think you can play dumb in the Law Enforcement Hall? You not only participated in the Flowerless Palace’s dark bl**d ritual, but you also incited Luo Ying to assassinate the Sect Leader! What’s your goal? Do you want Heavenly Sword Sect to be as mad and bloody as Flowerless Palace?”
White Peach tilted her head to the side, eyes half-closed, seemingly giving up on talking to Wang Qianshan.
“Give me more lashes!”
Another dozen lashes came crashing down.
White Peach didn’t utter a word; she looked like she had passed out.
A bucket of cold water was suddenly dumped over her, and she groggily awakened.
“Go get Elder Lei Wanying from the Monster-Catching Tribe.”
“Yes, Elder.”
Before long, the bearded Lei Wanying stepped into the bl**d-stained interrogation room.
“Tsk tsk tsk, Elder Wang, you’re fierce towards the Monster Race but even harsher on humans!”
Wang Qianshan snapped, “Elder Lei, do you know who this is? It’s White Peach from the Flowerless Palace! Nearly ten thousand innocent fishermen have died by her hands. If we don’t go hard on her, how can we face those who’ve perished?”
“So, you want me to check if she’s telling the truth?”
Wang Qianshan nodded, “I want to know the whole story, but this girl is very tight-lipped. No matter how much I beat her, she won’t say anything.
I didn’t intend to trouble Elder Lei, but it seems I have no choice.”
Lei Wanying said, “Fine, let me give it a try.”
Wang Qianshan briefly recounted the interrogation results to Lei Wanying, who then approached the pale White Peach and placed his hand on her forehead.
Though she wanted to evade, her body simply wouldn’t cooperate, and sharp pain surged like a tide—at this point, she was close to her limit.
Since discovering some half-demons hidden within the Heavenly Sword Sect, part of the Monster-Catching Tribe, led by Lei Wanying, had been stationed at Sky Sword City to prevent further infiltration by the Monster Race.
Now that White Peach was stubbornly mum, Wang Qianshan remembered that Lei Wanying seemed to have a way to probe into a person’s heart. This was a unique skill of the Monster-Catching Tribe.
About ten minutes passed,
and Lei Wanying slowly stood up.
Wang Qianshan hurriedly asked, “How did it go?”
“This girl has a firm mind. Although it took some effort on my part to enter her head, it wasn’t wasted.”
“So she was lying?”
Lei Wanying shook his head, “No, her testimony was all truth.”
Wang Qianshan’s face turned skeptical, “How is that possible? The Thousand-Mile Eye saw her killing nearly ten thousand innocent civilians; how can she suddenly forget everything?”
Lei Wanying said solemnly, “I won’t comment on what you said, but based on what I found during my probe, the memories related to this incident in her mind are just that much.
She is not lying.”
Wang Qianshan, “…”
What use are you, old man? Go find somewhere cool and go sit!
After sending off Lei Wanying, Wang Qianshan returned to the interrogation room, feeling somewhat dejected, as if all the previous torment had been for nothing.
“Forget it, let’s just send her back to her cell, and bring Luo Ying here.”
“Yes, Elder.” The assistant replied.
Moments later, Luo Ying, unshackled, was escorted into the interrogation room by two disciples.
The ground still bore the fresh bl**d left by White Peach, and Luo Ying frowned slightly, already guessing what had just happened.
“White Peach has confessed everything. Luo Ying, if you come clean, perhaps you can be spared. After all, you acted under her influence, not of your own volition. Right?”
Wang Qianshan wore a pitiful look.
Luo Ying remained silent,
apparently still unable to process Ling Xiaozu’s sudden departure.
Wang Qianshan snorted coldly, just about to pound the table and unleash his fury, when to his surprise, Lei Wanying rushed back into the interrogation room.
“Wang Qianshan, how did the Small Thousand World get completely sealed off?”
“What? What’s been sealed off?”
“Those outside can’t get in, and those inside can’t get out! Hurry up and think of something!” Lei Wanying urged.
Wang Qianshan was immediately dumbfounded.
What’s happening? He had never heard of the Small Thousand World being sealed since he joined the Heavenly Sword Sect!
“Let’s go check it out!”
…
PS: Just two updates today; I spent a lot of time organizing the outline. If all goes well, I’ll resume the update count tomorrow.