Forge a path to success.

Chapter 95 First Severe Torture, Then Interrogation
Nine o'clock in the morning, in the city lord's office.

The curtains were drawn, making the room pitch black. A single candle stood on the desk, its dim light illuminating three faces with shifting emotions. Ji Qiufeng rested his chin on his hands, remaining silent for a long time. Youyou, meanwhile, held a small knife coiled around its tail, gesturing with a sinister smile in the air.

The tip of the knife was pointed directly at a terrified eyeball. Van der was bound to the armrest of a chair with two ropes, screaming pitifully and helplessly, "What do you want! Let me go! I'm calling the police if you keep this up!"

Ji Qiufeng's face darkened: "You can call the police, but all the police in this city are my men..."

"Someone is openly threatening us! How can you act like a city lord?" Vande protested vehemently.

"Keep yelling, no one will come to save you even if you yell until your throat is hoarse!" Youyou hissed.

"And then it got even worse! Now this is actually a threat, oh what's going on, dragon!" Vande slumped in his chair, pitifully raising his tentacles. "Both of you big shots come from prestigious families, why are you picking on a little devil like me... I have no grudge against you, please let me go..."

"Tch, spineless coward."

"They're mollusks, they don't have bones!"

Having grown tired of playing, Youyou tossed the knife aside. Ji Qiufeng pulled out a paper fan and laughed, "The term 'reputable sect' is well used. Your fearlessness stems precisely from these four words. Youyou is a Gu Long, and I am a martial arts practitioner. You know we never kill indiscriminately, so you may say it but feel at ease, don't you?"

These words immediately revealed what the Eye Demon was thinking, and Vande chuckled awkwardly, "You have eyes... no, I mean, you are incredibly perceptive..."

Ji Qiufeng tapped the table with his paper fan: "You know the importance of one's background. Even if it doesn't represent one's character, it can at least serve as a direct guarantee. In the myriad islands of the Submerged Realm, there are many powerful individuals who come from humble backgrounds, but those with insight and ability mostly come from the training of major powers. Now, here's the problem: you claim to be from the 'Twilight Library,' but we've never heard of that place before..."

The city lord opened his fan, a half-smile playing on his lips: "Tell me, how can we trust you like this?"

Upon hearing this, Van der became truly agitated, thrashing about on the armrest of his chair: "That's because you're ignorant! Our library has a rich history and a long-standing tradition; it was established long before the Candlelight Era! My teachers are all industry leaders and academic elites; I've read more books than both of you combined. How could this be faked?!"

Ji Qiufeng waved his fan, signaling him to calm down. Youyou sneered, "Then I'd like to ask you, which Dust Isle is the Twilight Library on? If it truly has a history, how could we have heard of it?"

"Our library is an independent island, we don't need to do business with small fry," Vande said arrogantly. "I don't know the exact coordinates, our confidentiality is always top-notch."

"Oh~~~" Youyou drawled, "So, who are some of the famous people in your library?"

“There are so many! Just among those I know are ‘Foam’ Takley, the inventor of 17 practical techniques including Mental Invisibility; ‘Ice Melting’ Furatali, the master of Octopus Karate; and the erudite ‘Light Gall’ Cicitata, whose hidden weapons were once sold all the way to Shura Island…”

Fan De perked up and immediately began reciting a string of dishes fluently. Ji Qiufeng listened and took notes, then leisurely waited until the long list ended before coldly saying, "Never heard of any of them."

"How could this be!" Vande cried out in anguish. "Lord Ji! You must seek justice for me!"

“I’ve never heard of these people either… but judging from your appearance, you don’t seem to be faking it.” Ji Qiufeng said with difficulty, “What should we do? According to the city’s laws, suspicious persons of unknown origin must be expelled from the city and exiled three thousand miles away…”

"No, no, no! I can prove my innocence!" Van Der racked his brains and suddenly came up with a plan. "That's it! Knowledge! I, Van Der, am well-read and know far more than ordinary people. This is genuine knowledge that can't be faked. Ask me any questions you like, and if I can answer them, that will prove my identity!"

“That’s a good idea,” Ji Qiufeng nodded. “Tell me about your understanding of the Dustless Land.”

“…Huh?” Vande was dumbfounded. “Where?”

"The headquarters of magic scholars. Although it's not a path to advancement, it's still quite well-known." Ji Qiufeng glanced sideways. "Sounds like you don't know it?"

Vande was truly panicked this time. It had complete confidence in its knowledge reserves, but this damned force... it had never seen anything like it in books before! Speaking of which, those old relic in the library were the kind of guys who wouldn't let go of historical documents... Could it be that they haven't gotten any new books in a long time?

“You’ve touched on a blind spot in my knowledge.” Van der began to break out in a cold sweat. “Could you ask me something else…”

"So, is this the Land of Delight?"

“I know that!” Vande breathed a sigh of relief. “Paradise is the territory of the 7-point powerhouse ‘Joyful Child,’ an independent dust island famous for its artificial life and game rules…”

Ji Qiufeng listened patiently to the end, then asked, "The Divine Tree City-State?"

"The territory of the Divine Tree and the Forest People, is this even a question of common sense?" Vande's confidence returned, and he began to pontificate. "Let's not even mention 'Senluo,' which we are here. The former Netherworld Divine Kingdom is also half of it. The city-state 'Jingsha' in the western part of the Senluo Secret Realm should be the one you are most familiar with. That place has a strong artistic atmosphere, and its pollen paintings are unique..." Vande rambled on and on, like a brain bodybuilder trying his best to show off his knowledge. The two judges asked questions from time to time and nodded frequently, seemingly quite impressed with him. After 1 hour and 32 minutes of review, Vande finally received a "temporarily harmless" reprieve. As he walked out the door, the Eye Demon sighed deeply, looking at himself, which had shrunk a little: talking too much had dried up his tentacles, and he desperately needed to rehydrate.

The candle on the table was half-burned, and the melted wax dripped into the copper dish. Ji Qiufeng drew back the curtains, and bright sunlight streamed into the room. The wax in the dish changed color and shone brightly upon contact with the sunlight, turning into a warm, amber-like orange-yellow.

Youyou glanced at it: "He's not lying."

The fourth-grade relic, the "false candle," is made from the remains of a person who has committed a grave sin. Its wax can distinguish between good and evil, and between truth and falsehood. Those with malicious intentions who stand under the candlelight will have their flame absorbed and turned into wax.

Ji Qiufeng blew out the candles and put away the precious relic. After an hour of questioning, he had already made up his mind.

"I have never heard of the Eye Demon race, but the library may indeed have one."

"You really believed it?" Youyou was still sensitive. "Just because it didn't lie doesn't mean it's true. A slightly larger space, self-replicating relics, and a few skilled illusionists, anyone can create a 'hidden force' that the little guy can believe in out of thin air. Many demons have used this method."

"But he remained ignorant of all in-depth questions related to heretics, and he didn't even touch the hooks that I deliberately threw out, which seemed to be unrelated to heretics." Ji Qiufeng pointed out the key point, "According to Heng Kong, it only remembered the knowledge about the Empire after seeing the Immortal Machine with its own eyes. Such a precise seal is something that neither you nor I can do."

Fate's intervention is a subjective matter; the more one knows, the more likely one is to encounter misfortune. Therefore, many scholars who study esoteric knowledge hide themselves in absolutely sealed spaces, sealing themselves away. The scholars themselves do not "know" the knowledge, and no one can prove the research that took place within the sealed chamber. In this way, the truth becomes an unopenable box. Unless the one who placed the seal actively opens and deciphers it, no one in the outside world can prove that this person knows the secret, and the current of fate has no way to interfere with its destiny.

Whether the library exists or not, those behind Van Der have protected it very well. Youyou understood this, and she pondered, "You think that library is a secret chamber used for sealing... then what's the method?"

"It knows everything about ancient times, but it knows almost nothing about more recent powers, especially those that emerged after the 'Great War'." Ji Qiufeng pushed the notebook to her. "It's like carving a rift in the river of time... hiding behind a high wall in the name of history."

"You think they're hidden in the mists of history? That's absurd! That's the realm of the dead!"

“History is not an unattainable concept; it can be shattered and also utilized.” Ji Qiufeng poured tea for the two of them. “Besides, we’ve encountered similar situations before.”

Youyou's eyes flickered, and like him, she thought of the blonde girl. She sighed deeply and flicked her tail: "Sigh! Your girl is no easy task either."

"what ever."

"Go to hell, you old geezer." Youyou rolled her eyes and went to snatch his tea.

·
After leaving the office, Vande felt much relieved, knowing that surviving meant he had passed the test.

These powerful figures with impressive backgrounds are always suspicious and paranoid, wishing they could skin and gut every enigmatic individual. But putting himself in their shoes, Vande could understand their thinking; the clutches of outsiders were truly terrifying and had to be guarded against. The Truth Empire's direct annihilation of enemies posed a tangible threat, while the First Abyss's infiltration and replacement of its inhabitants was equally terrifying. No one wanted to wipe out their entire family by sheltering a passerby; Dragon City was already grateful to have allowed it to stay.

"The curator never said that traveling is this difficult these days..." Eye Demon sighed.

Bright lights illuminated the white marble floor, and uniformed elites hurried to and fro. Every morning, the headquarters building was bustling with activity; as the elites communicated and coordinated their work, they wouldn't forget to glance down at the floor and observe this strange newcomer. Vande stood tall and fearless, a specially made small access pass hanging around its neck, indicating that this eye was an assistant officer personally appointed by the detective.

In the few days since arriving in Huilong City, Vande had truly seen his eye. He defined Huilong City by his own standards: a city of geniuses, radiating a madness from top to bottom. This eccentricity was evident in the nonsensical three-dimensional structure of the building, and fully displayed in the core personnel within, whose genius and idiocy were roughly evenly matched. Thus, every day you'd see the chief detective thinking with his spine, the captain wielding a shield like a hammer, and the apothecary concocting pills in the kitchen. People were completely oblivious to these oddities, as calmly as they walked past a fruit stand selling melon-shaped compressed manure.

You can easily understand it by looking at their expressions; if you want to live well in this place, you can't use your brain. Fortunately, Vande didn't have a brain, so it happily integrated into the city and considered itself to have the city's average level of mental resistance, remaining as still as a mountain unless it rains shit.

It proudly displayed its credentials, which allowed it to enter the elevator and go straight to the 33rd-floor temple (it needed the cleaning lady's help to swipe the card, as the card reader was too high for it to reach). As it squeezed through the temple doors, Vande cheered, "Lord Vande, I'm back!"

No one answered it; the temple was filled with ominous dull thuds and even more ominous low breathing. Vande looked closely and saw a metal frame in the center of the temple, with a familiar-looking man suspended by chains in an X-shape, his back exposed. A blonde woman stood to the side, holding a whip-like blunt weapon, her breathing rapid, her face flushed with excitement.

Van der slowly shrank back outside the door: "Sorry to disturb you two, please take your time..."

Ji Huaisu's gaze snapped over: "You come here too!"

Van der dashed to the door, his eyes wide with terror: "No!! You two can do whatever you want, but don't drag me into this!!!"

(End of this chapter)