Then, Vieno placed the cold corpse with the gaping hole in its chest forward, letting the three blasphemers clearly see the face of the body.
The third-rank blasphemer who still had one eye left had his pupils violently tremble.
At this moment, he seemed to have his throat constricted, unable to make any sound…
Time seemed to freeze for an instant.
The next second, fear poured over the three of them like ice water from the top of their heads, a piercing chill freezing their blood.
“Cap… Captain?!”
The weakest, second-rank blasphemer shouted in disbelief.
Because the familiar, pale face beneath Vieno’s foot was none other than the sixth-rank blasphemer they believed could sweep through all of Deya City, the one who was coming to rescue them from their predicament—Captain Haide!
Yet Haide now lay at the feet of this hooded woman like a dead dog…
This is bad. The informant’s intelligence was wrong. The Ninth Saintess’s Shadow Guard wasn’t that Spatial Elementalist at all, but someone else!
This thought appeared simultaneously in the minds of the three blasphemers.
The Church of the Goddess of Life was not a monolithic entity internally.
Some higher-ups, for certain benefits, could sell the Church’s confidential information, while others were spies planted by Wangsheng City from the start.
Therefore, obtaining information about the Ninth Saintess’s Shadow Guard was quite simple.
Just three days ago, an informant from Wangsheng City brought some exquisite little pastries to chat with the Sixth Saintess, Aisia, about everyday matters, and quickly managed to ask her what her original Shadow Guard, O’Mily, had been up to lately:
“O’Mily went to the border to protect the new Saintess. Right now, it’s Saint Dragon protecting me.”
The next day, the blasphemers coincidentally ran into O’Mily on the streets of Wangsheng City buying some strange medicinal herbs, immediately confirming that the Ninth Saintess currently had no Shadow Guard protecting her.
Thus, many from the radical faction began to stir, until they encountered Vieno…
The Ninth Saintess’s Shadow Guard was someone else.
They absolutely had to bring this important information back, otherwise it would be like sending sheep into a tiger’s den!
The third-rank blasphemer with his eye gouged out thought. It’s just a shame they had no chance to escape now.
Even the captain was dead. What means did they have to escape from Vieno’s sight?
“It’s fine. It’s just one less person to interrogate. There are still his three underlings here. When the interrogator arrives tomorrow, we can get a general idea from them.”
Truth said to Vieno with a smile, her appearance still looking harmless. If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, the blasphemers would never have believed she would gouge out someone’s eye!
“Tomorrow? I thought you were interrogating them right now.”
Having seen great storms and waves, Vieno didn’t mind at all why Truth’s right hand had blood on it, nor did she care why the blasphemer beside her had a bloody, mangled eye.
There was no need to ask. This was clearly the Hidden One taking action!
“I don’t know how to interrogate. Today, I can only keep them company a little.” Truth continued to cast Mist Healing Art on the third-rank blasphemer’s bloody, mangled left eye, while her gaze kept appraising him up and down, as if thinking about how to toy with him next.
This Saintess… did she just want to torture us for fun…?
The three blasphemers shuddered again. The thought that for the next entire day they would repeat the cycle of being tortured by the Ninth Saintess, healed, tortured again, healed again—this living hell of pain—caused their originally unshakeable convictions to gradually waver.
At least an interrogator could engage in some back-and-forth negotiation with them!
“Then, can I help? I know a little about interrogation. And I promise not to let Xiao Cai participate. As long as Xiao Cai doesn’t participate, I guarantee the prisoners won’t be in any life-threatening danger.”
As she spoke, Vieno drew a sharp bone knife brimming with cold from her bosom:
“I don’t know if your human interrogation methods are the same as ours. Our interrogation usually starts with the little finger, cutting off the prisoner’s fingers and toes bit by bit. If the prisoner doesn’t cooperate, then we move on to the limbs, then the facial features, until they become a ‘human pig.'”
“And after becoming a human pig, they are kept deep in the dungeon, fed with scraps until they die of old age, or simply thrown onto the street to fend for themselves. After all, letting a prisoner die directly is too merciful. It’s better to make them unable to live or die.”
Vieno said the most terrifying words in the most ordinary tone, even more horrifying than what Truth had said earlier.
This caused everyone present, including Truth, to be slightly stunned. Truth whispered in reply:
“That’s a bit… too much…”
“No, no, no. You must strike hard against those who want to harm you! Otherwise, being merciful to the enemy is being cruel to yourself!”
As a member of the royal family, Vieno had long since eliminated countless siblings in the brutal royal strife.
If she didn’t have some thunderous methods, she wouldn’t have been able to peacefully serve as the dean at the Royal Academy.
“So, do you need my help?” Vieno continued to ask kindly.
Just as Truth was about to speak, suddenly, the weakest second-rank blasphemer’s emotions completely collapsed, and he shouted:
“Ahhhhh! I’ll talk! I’ll say anything!!”
Because the shout was too agitated, and he was already excessively terrified, the second-rank blasphemer’s voice was sharp, twisted, and cracked.
Immediately after, another blasphemer, whose emotions were also dominated by fear, followed suit:
“I’ll talk too! As long as you don’t turn us into human pigs, we’ll cooperate with anything! Please, Your Excellencies, show mercy! Don’t turn us into human pigs!”
Once one companion agreed to confess, it was only a matter of time before the others broke down as well.
And all of this was thanks to the traditional interrogation method of the beastkin.
After all, with this method, if the prisoner refuses to cooperate, the more limbs they lose, the higher the sunk cost, and the darker their future becomes.
Almost no one can accept a future as a human pig.
So for the prisoner, confessing from the start is the best outcome.
“Huh…? We’ve only just started… Why are you surrendering already?”
Truth said to the three blasphemers in a drawn-out tone, her face full of disappointment, though a trace of mockery flashed at the corner of her mouth.
Thanks to Vieno’s assist, she had successfully completed the interrogation in less than three minutes!
But even if Vieno hadn’t come, five minutes would have been about enough…
Ten minutes later, in front of the cathedral, as the large doors slowly opened, Truth and Vieno walked out together.
“Has the questioning concluded, Your Holiness?” Chief Koster immediately stepped forward and respectfully inquired.
“It’s concluded. I already know their purpose.”
“Oh, oh, that’s good… Huh?!” Only then did Koster react:
“They confessed?!”
“Yes, all thanks to Senior Vieno.” Truth pointed at the still-back-aching Vieno beside her and continued:
“The reason they came to Deya City to create panic was to deepen the conflict between us and Wangsheng City, trying to make us refuse the upcoming invitation from Wangsheng City.”
“Invitation?” Koster and Tia showed surprised expressions.
On one hand, they were shocked that Wangsheng City was actively extending goodwill again.
On the other hand, they were amazed that this mysterious woman could make those three guys obediently talk. How did she do it?
Could she be the legendary Saintess’s Shadow Guard…?
Then, Truth continued to explain, saying that the current blasphemers were actually divided into the Doves and the Hawks, which could also be called the Conservative Faction and the Radical Faction.
Facing the Ninth Saintess, who currently hadn’t been bewitched much by the Goddess of Life, the Conservative Faction believed they could attempt friendly communication, improve relations between the two sides, and promote border development.
The Radical Faction stated that they absolutely could not allow the lackeys of the gods to enter Wangsheng City, otherwise the face of the blasphemers would be utterly disgraced.
Thus, the two factions clashed openly and covertly.
One side decided to send a delegation to Deya City once again to invite the Ninth Saintess to visit Wangsheng City as a guest.
The other side, upon learning this, directly sent many people to Deya City to cause trouble and even considered trying to capture the Ninth Saintess…
In the future, attacks targeting Truth would only increase, not decrease.
“There are some more specific details. You can go in and ask them yourselves. And there’s one more very important thing…” Truth turned and whispered to Tia:
“After questioning them, throw those three blasphemers into the Mist to be dealt with. This is what the Hidden One requested.”
After finding out how the blasphemers knew about her Shadow Guard, Truth planned to turn their scheme against them.
She wouldn’t let these three spread the information that “the Saintess’s Shadow Guard is someone else” back, letting the blasphemers hiding in the shadows come to her themselves.
Immediately after, taking advantage of the three blasphemers still being willing to cooperate, Koster and the others rushed in to ask some more questions.
Tia, having received the Hidden One’s task, also went in. Then, at first glance, she saw the hollow left eye of that third-rank blasphemer, which gave everyone a fright.
When was this guy’s eye gouged out?!
Did the Saintess do it…? No, no, the Saintess wouldn’t do something so brutal. It must have been that Senior Vieno! Koster thought.
And the blood from this guy’s wound had been stopped, clearly he had been treated. Looking at it this way…
So what must have happened was Senior Vieno interrogating, and then the Saintess, unable to bear it, started healing him. Yes, that must be it!