49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 313: Chapter 290: Interrogation and Conception

Beneath the ruins of Ba Song’s manor, Guan Tong looked at the four unconscious people before him, considering the questions he would ask them.

Shangyuan Zi stood to the side. Even though the battle had been over for a while, she was still reeling from the outcome.

She wasn’t surprised that Shadow could defeat the squad sent by the Divine Son. After all, his title as the "World’s First Ascender" wasn’t just for show; it was earned through one victory after another.

What surprised her was how easily Shadow had won. The official Ascenders from Sakura Prayer were like toys he could manipulate at will.

’How did the gap between them get so wide?’

Shangyuan Zi was curious.

She didn’t know that the fundamental reason Guan Tong could win so easily was his massive reserve of Psychic Power.

And, crucially, this Psychic Power could be converted into combat strength.

If either of these two conditions wasn’t met, he might still have won, but it would have been impossible to do so this easily.

For one thing, without a large reserve of Psychic Power to support him, he would have been unable to deploy his Shadow Realm, which had given him a huge environmental advantage from the very start of the fight.

"I’m going to interrogate these people separately," Guan Tong said. "You can start by questioning your two team members."

Shangyuan Zi nodded and asked, "After we’re done, are we going to let them go?"

Guan Tong looked at her, astonished. "What? Of course not. Did you forget they came here to kill us?"

"..."

"I show no mercy to those who want to kill me and have already acted on it."

After speaking, Guan Tong took the squad’s Commander and Suzuki, the one with the Profile ability, to another room.

He pulled a bucket of water from his Storage Ring and splashed it on them.

The shock of the cold water made them both shudder and wake up.

Their faces turned deathly pale as they realized their situation.

The Commander looked around. Seeing that the only other captive was Suzuki, he asked fearfully, "The... the others?"

"Dead," Guan Tong said. "You’re still alive because I have questions for you."

The Commander froze for a few seconds, then stiffened his neck, shut his eyes, and adopted an uncooperative posture.

Guan Tong wasn’t in a hurry to resort to force. He looked at the other woman. "And you?"

"I... I..."

Suzuki stared at the man whose face was shrouded in shadow, completely unable to believe this was the outcome.

Even now, she was still in a daze. ’I was just transferred to headquarters to work on a case. How did one thing lead to another and land me in a situation like this?’

"You’re not going to talk either?"

In response to Guan Tong’s question, Suzuki shook her head. "I don’t know what to say... Do you have any questions?"

"Suzuki!" the Commander at her side opened his eyes and roared. "You will not betray Sakura Prayer! You will not betray Lord Divine So—"

THUD!

Before he could finish, Guan Tong sent him flying with a kick. He slammed hard against the wall, and his head lolled to one side as he passed out again.

Suzuki jumped in fright. Guan Tong said, "My questions can wait. First, tell me about your squad."

"..."

Suzuki’s expression was conflicted. She didn’t seem to know whether she should cooperate with Guan Tong. She also wasn’t sure if talking would mean betraying Lord Divine Son.

’But if I don’t talk...’

She had to admit, she was terrified.

Although she had joined the Public Security Bureau as a Sheriff after gaining the [Profile] ability, her work was mostly administrative. She had almost never been in the field and had never dealt with vicious criminals.

Now, facing Shadow, even though he hadn’t said anything threatening, his mere presence was overwhelming.

Especially now, whenever she closed her eyes, the scene in the forest would flash in her mind. The image of her teammates being impaled by sharp Shadow Thorns and Shadow Spears had become her nightmare.

"I... I’ll talk."

Fear triumphed over loyalty.

She confessed everything: how she was originally working a case at the Antu Public Security Bureau, went to headquarters with her superior, Yoshino, to report, was kept there to join a special task force because of her ability, and then used the power of the spores to create a Profile sketch that confirmed Shadow’s identity...

Guan Tong listened in silence.

The explosion case Suzuki had been investigating at the Antu City Public Security Bureau and the administration building infiltration case at headquarters were both related to him.

And she had produced results; her [Profile] ability had actually managed to partially reconstruct the scenes. But as she herself said, she originally had no leads. It was only after accepting the spores that her thoughts suddenly became clear.

’Spores again,’ Guan Tong thought. He had been intentionally ignoring their existence for the past few days, not wanting to develop any reliance on them.

’If I can just maintain this state, I might be able to pass this rule’s trial without a hitch.’

But now, hearing what Suzuki said, he realized that the spores could be quite useful in certain situations. They weren’t just a nice-to-have; sometimes, they could turn the tide.

"I’ve told you everything I know... I haven’t hidden anything."

After she finished speaking, Suzuki kept her head down, not daring to look at Guan Tong’s shadowed face.

Her brain still throbbed with intermittent pain, a result of the severe backlash she suffered when she tried to use her Profile ability on him in the forest.

Guan Tong said nothing. He left her there and went to wake up the squad’s Commander again.

"Give up! I won’t say a thing!" The Commander was still defiant upon waking.

Guan Tong wouldn’t be polite with someone like this.

He took out his Corpse Whistle and blew a single note. Three Living Dead immediately crawled out from the ground.

The Commander’s heart sank when he saw their blood-red eyes.

"It seems you recognize them," Guan Tong said. "That’s right. These are the Living Dead from the [Night of the Living Dead] rule."

"Wh-what do you want?!"

"What do you think?"

Guan Tong ordered the three Living Dead to surround the Commander.

"If you don’t talk, I’ll let them eat you alive."

"!!!"

The Commander had actually prepared himself for torture, but he assumed Shadow wasn’t a professional. He figured the methods would be nothing more than beatings and the like, which he could withstand.

He never would have imagined that Shadow would summon a few Living Dead... The pain and terror of being gnawed to death by these zombie-like creatures were simply unimaginable.

Sitting on the floor nearby, Suzuki was also trembling from head to toe. Even though the three Living Dead weren’t surrounding her, she was utterly terrified.

"Have you made up your mind?" Guan Tong asked.

"..."

A war was raging within the Commander. As he stared at the three Living Dead with their mouths agape, all focused on him, his mental defenses rapidly crumbled.

In ancient times, many warriors preferred to die on the battlefield rather than be captured. The reason was their fear of being subjected to cruel torture.

And now...

The Commander clearly remembered what happened after the so-called bonus rule for the [Night of the Living Dead] was announced. He had personally witnessed many people being mangled by the Living Dead.

The gruesome scene was something he couldn’t bear to recall.

"It seems you’ve made your decision," Guan Tong commanded. "Get him."

The three Living Dead immediately roared and pounced on the Commander.

This completely shattered his spirit. He screamed, "I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Get them away from me!"

Guan Tong ordered the Living Dead to back off and asked with a deadpan expression, "From now on, you’ll answer whatever I ask."

...

When Moon Fate and Wuyan Clan woke up, the first person they saw was Shangyuan Zi.

Although the two weren’t tied up, they had no Psychic Power left, making resistance or escape impossible.

But when they recalled what happened in the forest, their attitude changed instantly.

"Captain, I’m willing to continue serving under you," Moon Fate said first. "If you’re going against the Divine Son, I’ll help."

Wuyan Clan added, "Me too."

"..."

"I know you might find this despicable, Captain, but this is how it is when the strong devour the weak. If we had known Shadow was that powerful, we never would have chosen to be your enemies."

"We hope you’ll give us a chance, Captain, for old times’ sake."

’It’s meaningless whether I give them a chance or not,’ Shangyuan Zi thought. ’Shadow is the one making the decisions here.’

Still, she could get the full story from them first.

"I need to ask you a few things."

"Please ask, Captain. We’ll tell you everything we know."

「Ten minutes later.」

Guan Tong personally interrogated Moon Fate and Wuyan Clan again, then went outside with Shangyuan Zi to compare intelligence.

The intel he needed was mostly related to the Divine Son, including the location of his residence, his security detail, and so on.

Among the four, only the Commander, a trusted subordinate of the Divine Son, knew anything of value. As for Moon Fate and Wuyan Clan, besides revealing that the Divine Son had promised they could atone for their crimes by capturing Shangyuan Zi, they had no useful information.

And Suzuki, aside from having met the Divine Son once and receiving a word of verbal encouragement, knew even less.

"They begged me for mercy," Shangyuan Zi said. "They said they’re willing to follow your orders."

Guan Tong said, "I told you before. They came to kill us and they acted on it. That’s unforgivable. Besides, I can’t trust treacherous, two-faced people as subordinates."

"...Forget about those three, then, but I don’t think Suzuki deserves to die."

Hearing this, Guan Tong glanced at Shangyuan Zi. "If you want to let her go, fine. But what happens to her after she goes back might not be much better than death."

Shangyuan Zi nodded silently.

She knew it too. If everyone else died and only Suzuki returned, she would undoubtedly face a harsh interrogation.

"But as long as there’s life, there’s hope, right?" She stuck to her opinion.

Guan Tong was a little surprised. "That doesn’t sound like something you would say."

"..."

"Whatever. I’ve gathered some intel on the Divine Son. That man has to die. I plan to take him out before this rule’s trial ends."

Shangyuan Zi asked, "Aren’t you worried about the consequences?"

"When he sent people to kill me, was he worried about the consequences? It’s strange, isn’t it? When the high and mighty bully others, people think it’s natural. But when the bullied fight back, people start throwing around arguments about consequences and not picking fights you can’t win... The times have changed, Shangyuan Zi."

"...I understand. I’ll fight alongside you, as promised."

Hearing this, Guan Tong watched her for a moment as a vague idea began to form in his mind.

The idea had been brewing for a long time and was related to the massive amount of Sublimation Coins he had accumulated. Leaving these Sublimation Coins unused was, in its own way, a waste.

It was like in peacetime, when wealthy tycoons let tens or hundreds of billions lie dormant in a bank, earning interest. By not circulating in society, this would eventually cause an economic winter of upper-class inflation and lower-class deflation.

What Guan Tong wanted to do was get his stagnant pool of Sublimation Coins flowing and help more Ascenders strengthen themselves.

"Perhaps this is an opportunity."

"An opportunity?"

"Yes. I’m still thinking it over. I’ll tell you later."

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