Chapter 74: I Must Admit

Her hands moved like lightning, relentlessly striking his mind. Every nerve in his body throbbed with pain so intense that he wished he could end his own life.

“If you don’t want to endure this agony, then tell me the truth. What exactly is going on? If you do, I’ll let you go.”

Si Nuosang realized she might have gone too far; for people with minds like theirs, even ten seconds was the limit of endurance. Her hands were naturally imbued with a strange electric current. Although by the year 2550, many human potentials had already been awakened in various forms, the ability to stimulate nerves with electric currents from one’s hands remained rare. To avoid accidentally harming others, she had implanted electrodes under her skin to control these currents.

Just now, she had deactivated the external electrodes, releasing the full force of her power.

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk,” Wu Ming gasped, unwilling to endure a second round.

“Wu Ming, don’t! If you tell her, you’ll die,” someone nearby urged.

“I’d rather die, you know? I never want to feel that witch’s hands again,” Wu Ming shouted at the other man, his agony unbearable.

“Where did you get your gunpowder?” Si Nuosang asked coldly.

“Our leader gave it to us,” Wu Ming replied. Si Nuosang could tell he wasn’t lying.

“Why attack?”

“Our leader said we needed to reclaim what was ours,” Wu Ming answered, without hesitation or concealment.

Si Nuosang questioned him while taking notes. The calligraphy brush was awkward in her hand, but thanks to her elective history class, she managed to jot everything down.

“Why do you claim Liang City as yours? As far as I know, you’re merely a band of refugees, wandering outside the city and never attacking it. In fact, you even helped neighboring states to attack us.”

She pressed on.

“Liang City was seized by the Xuanyuan Dynasty through invasion. Our leader just wants to reclaim what was lost. Liang City was never Xuanyuan’s to begin with,” Wu Ming replied, tears streaming down his face, traumatized by the pain he had just endured.

“You are a hundred, a thousand times more terrifying than Xuanyuan Juesi,” Wu Ming added.

“Is that so? Thank you for the compliment,” Si Nuosang replied indifferently, unmoved by his judgment.

“Now tell me, where is your main base?”

Wu Ming hesitated at that question. But before Si Nuosang could react, he clenched his jaw and ended his own life.

“Damn it,” she cursed, immediately stuffing a cloth into the other prisoner’s mouth to prevent him from doing the same.

She hurried outside to inform Xuanyuan Juesi. After hearing what Si Nuosang had learned, Xuanyuan Juesi seemed impressed by her talent for interrogation, but regretted that the other man had managed to bite his tongue and kill himself.

When they re-entered the room, the remaining prisoner was also dead.

“What happened to him?” Xuanyuan Juesi asked, seeing the sword wound in the man’s chest.

“It wasn’t me,” Si Nuosang said quickly.

Xuanyuan Juesi examined the wound, then glanced at her. “I know it wasn’t you—but then who could it have been? To kill someone in such a short window is almost unbelievable. Or do we have one of their people among us?”

He looked at his own followers, but none of them had the opportunity.

“It’s possible,” Si Nuosang replied. The prisoner had been fine just minutes ago, but was now dead. Someone must have been watching in secret and struck as soon as she left the room. But where would the killer have hidden?

She looked up and noticed something odd about the beam overhead.

“Go up and check,” she instructed, unable to leap herself.

Xuanyuan Juesi vaulted lightly upward, discovering footprints above.

“There are footprints.”

He came back down.

“When did he get up there?” Si Nuosang wondered aloud. Xuanyuan Juesi had only left the room for a moment, and had been outside the entire time. There was no gap.

“I don’t know,” he replied.

“Was it before or after you left? It seems we’re no match for this person. Neither of us noticed anyone above us.”

Si Nuosang managed a bitter smile. They had focused entirely on the prisoners, neglecting to check their surroundings—if they’d only looked up, they would have seen it. Wu Ming had likely died because he glanced up and saw the assassin.

“Wu Ming must have seen him and killed himself rather than betray his people,” she observed. Xuanyuan Juesi nodded.

“Take them both out and deal with the bodies,” Xuanyuan Juesi instructed. The dead were no longer of any use; best to have them burned and buried.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Yuan Qianlü responded, leading the guards to carry the bodies away.

Si Nuosang and Xuanyuan Juesi walked on together. Xuanyuan Juesi examined the notes she’d taken, looking perplexed.

“What are these characters? Why can’t I read them?”

“They’re my own invention,” Si Nuosang replied hastily, making up an excuse. She’d forgotten he couldn’t read modern script—and truth be told, she herself struggled with the ancient writing. She recounted the prisoners’ words to him.

“I recall that Liang City became part of the Xuanyuan Domain thirty years ago. So these refugees must have been its original inhabitants?” Xuanyuan Juesi mused.

“Who ruled it thirty years ago?”

“I wasn’t even born then—how should I know? And besides, I’ve never cared about such things,” he said with a glance, his tone almost petulant.

“Ah?” Si Nuosang was taken aback. Was this really something Xuanyuan Juesi would say?

“What’s with that reaction?” he asked, pulling her into his arms. “How should I punish you, hmm?”

Si Nuosang immediately tried to push him away, but he was too strong. The whole situation felt suspiciously like playful flirting, and she found herself pausing.

“And what is my crime?” she demanded, looking up in annoyance.

“Because of you, they died. If you hadn’t stopped me from leaving, perhaps they’d still be alive. Don’t you think you bear some guilt?”

Hearing this, Si Nuosang did feel a pang of responsibility.

“But this is your territory, and it was your oversight that let someone infiltrate. That person was probably one of yours. So the fault is as much yours as mine,” she retorted, unwilling to accept the blame so easily. This man would not shift responsibility onto her shoulders.