Meng Hechuan walked out of the back residence of the government office, his left hand supporting his waist and his right hand adjusting his official hat. The moment he saw Song Jinzhao, he immediately straightened his back, transforming into the imposing and majestic prefectural magistrate.
Miss Song, what brings you here?
Song Jinzhao took a step back and bowed. I heard that the assassin who attacked my younger brother yesterday refuses to disclose the mastermind who hired him. I have a way to make him tell the truth.
Meng Hechuan explained, The leader of those men hasn't uttered a single word even after I subjected him to severe torture. What method could you possibly have, Miss Song?
Song Jinzhao's lips curled into a faint smile. I can make him beg for death, yet be unable to die.
The morning sunlight filtered through the tiny windows of the dungeon into the cells. The prisoners locked inside were all unkempt and covered in grime. Though they were alive, their spirit was worse than that of beggars.
Seeing Song Jinzhao enter, the five men whose arms she had slashed instantly tensed up, shrinking into the corners in fear that Song Jinzhao might strike again.
Meng Hechuan pointed at the leading thug, who was tied to a cross-shaped wooden stake and covered in blood, and said, This man's name is Xiao Hu. He and his brothers have been operating around Anyang Prefecture in recent years, making a living by taking people's money to eliminate their troubles. Because they are tight-lipped and highly secretive, those who hire them usually have to pay a hefty sum of silver to enlist their services.
Song Jinzhao asked curiously, Has no victim ever thought of reporting them to the authorities?
Meng Hechuan looked helpless. Many commoners are too afraid of retaliation to report to the officials. Furthermore, this group always covers their faces when they strike. Without knowing what they look like, we can't catch them.
Not everyone possessed Song Jinzhao's skills to capture them on the spot.
This time, Xiao Hu had failed completely. All of his subordinates were captured, without a single one spared.
Xiao Hu opened his sweat-drenched eyes, his bloodshot gaze fixed fiercely on Song Jinzhao. His crushed molars pierced his gums, and the wounds that had stopped bleeding began to ooze beads of blood once more.
If he had known Song Qiming was so troublesome, he should have killed him right at the beginning, and none of the subsequent events would have happened.
Seeing that his gaze was as stubborn as it had been last night, Meng Hechuan spoke up, Miss Song, what is this method you spoke of?
Song Jinzhao stepped forward and took a bamboo tube out of her sleeve, placing it on a rack. It was slightly thicker than a thumb and twice as long.
Untie him and bind him to the torture bed.
Receiving a glance from Meng Hechuan, the bailiffs in charge of the interrogation stepped forward, used a key to unlock the iron chains binding Xiao Hu's limbs, and strapped him to the torture bed.
Xiao Hu raised his chin and said stubbornly, The underworld has its own rules. Even if you kill me, I won't say a word.
Song Jinzhao took a white porcelain bottle from her robes, opened it, and poured out a black pill, which she then dissolved in a bowl of water.
Meng Hechuan and the others covered their noses and mouths, stepping back.
It was incredibly foul, worse than a latrine, so foul that it made one nauseous and want to vomit.
Force it down his throat.
A bailiff knitted his brows into a tight knot. Holding his breath, he pried open Xiao Hu's mouth and poured the unimaginably foul-smelling liquid from the bowl down his throat.
The stench overwhelmed Xiao Hu's senses of smell and taste, and a physiological reflex made him want to vomit.
The bailiff forcefully pressed down on his skull and squeezed his jaw.
Xiao Hu tried to open his mouth but couldn't. In the end, he was forced to swallow the liquid back down into his stomach, along with the vomit that had surged up into his throat.
Bitch, I'll kill you sooner or later! Xiao Hu felt as if he reeked from the inside out. Having been force-fed a belly full of what seemed like feces and urine, he felt that even his flesh tasted like excrement.
Song Jinzhao picked up the bamboo tube she had placed on the rack and opened it. That was just the appetizer. Now comes the main course.
For men who spent their days fighting and mingling among piles of corpses, pain was a commonplace occurrence.
Rather than killing them with a single strike, the dual torment of flesh and spirit was what truly instilled terror and dread in them.
Two twenty-centimeter-long centipedes crawled out of the bamboo tube and rested on Xiao Hu's face.
The touch, as light as a feather, made Xiao Hu's limbs go numb. He didn't dare to move a muscle, and the pores all over his body stood on end.
The cell was as suffocatingly quiet as being underwater, and everyone's gaze was fixed on the two centipedes.
They were larger than ordinary centipedes, with red, yellow, green, and black colors intertwining. Just looking at their colors gave off an eerie feeling.
Meng Hechuan didn't dare to swallow the saliva pooled in his throat. His voice was as faint as a gossamer thread, so quiet it was barely audible.
Miss Song, are these centipedes poisonous? Don't let the man die.
Song Jinzhao replied, These are the centipedes I use for making medicine. They are mildly venomous but not lethal.
Just as Meng Hechuan was about to heave a sigh of relief, the centipedes resting on the man's face began to crawl.
Xiao Hu watched helplessly as they stopped right over his eyes.
Seeing that the centipedes' legs were about to reach into his eyes, he frantically squeezed his eyelids shut. His eyelashes trembled in sheer terror, and his entire body shook.
This was nothing compared to the post-apocalyptic era, when humans were parasitized by various mutated insects and turned into living hives that triggered trypophobia, nausea, and intense discomfort. A mere two centipedes were nothing in Song Jinzhao's eyes.
One centipede crawled along his eyelid to the corner of his eye and slipped into Xiao Hu's ear, while the other stopped on his tightly shut mouth, attempting to burrow inside.
As the centipede crawled down his ear canal, the intense sensation made Xiao Hu writhe and twist his body violently. He could clearly feel exactly where the centipede was crawling.
The moment his eardrum was pierced, an agonizing pain swept through Xiao Hu's brain.
The instant his mouth relaxed slightly, the centipede clinging to his lips swiftly crawled inside.
His pupils dilated. Unable to bite down or spit it out, Xiao Hu began to struggle violently, rattling the iron chains with loud clanking sounds.
He opened his mouth wide, trying to fling the centipede out, but it was already too late.
The bailiffs with weaker psychological fortitude closed their eyes, turned their heads, and ran outside to vomit. Meng Hechuan fought back his nausea, feeling as though those two centipedes were crawling all over his own body.
He had never used such an interrogation method before.
Looking at the unfazed Song Jinzhao, Meng Hechuan hugged his own body tightly. His throat constricted, feeling as if he would throw up in the very next second.
