Chapter 517: Simple and Brutal (Two-in-One)

It was still the same study-like room.

Mu Tian sat in his seat without speaking.

Yan Jing stood across from him, also silent.

They had been like this for quite a while.

"Don't you have anything to say?"

Mu Tian finally lost his patience and spoke.

Yan Jing looked confused.

"I wouldn't know. Aren't you the one who called me here?"

"I was wondering why you weren't talking."

Mu Tian's face darkened.

"I told you to catch the mole, and on your very first day, you got the only interrogators in the Great Prison killed."

"Hey now, you can't throw accusations around like that, Boss." Yan Jing held his hands up in denial.

"I didn't kill them."

Mu Tian furrowed his brows.

"If you hadn't made such a massive spectacle of it, why would those three have died?"

"Now there's no one to separate truth from lies. Who's going to identify the mole?"

Yan Jing chuckled.

"This is what you call a brilliant plan, Boss."

"Don't you get it yet? It's called luring the snake out of its hole."

Mu Tian raised an eyebrow.

"And did you catch the snake?"

"Nope."

"Then why did you—" Mu Tian swallowed the last word, a vein throbbing in his forehead.

He felt something was wrong with this human. It had been a long time since his emotions had fluctuated this violently.

Yan Jing looked perfectly confident.

"I might not have caught the snake, but someone definitely did."

"Who?" Mu Tian asked, his interest piqued.

"You!"

Yan Jing smiled.

"Ai Qing told me your eyes are everywhere in the Great Prison's work areas. I think she's right, otherwise how would you know exactly what I've been doing?"

"You tell me. Name whoever made a move yesterday, and I'll catch them."

The vein on Mu Tian's forehead bulged.

He really wanted to jump up, pry Yan Jing's eyelids open, and show him exactly what Ai Qing meant by "eyes."

But a few seconds later, his face smoothed into calm.

"Carry on."

"I don't care what you do."

"Within five days, I want to see the mole."

Faced with Mu Tian's "delegation of power," Yan Jing lowered his gaze, a faint smile touching his lips.

"Alright. I'll be going, then."

With that, he walked out the door.

Mu Tian stared at the closed door, his gaze unreadable.

He muttered softly, "He did that on purpose."

"He's testing exactly how much power I have in the prison."

"That guy is playing dumb."

"He's far smarter than I imagined—much smarter."

"Don't you agree?"

He looked up at the painting across from him.

"The so-called eyes aren't an ability."

Outside the door, Yan Jing listened to Mu Tian's voice amplify in his ears, and whispered inwardly:

It's his informants.

Just like Wen Qiao, he can't see Xiao Xin.

He isn't strong enough to be terrifying yet.

Similarly, he didn't mention that when I went to the Restroom yesterday, I visited the crime scene and even stabbed one of the corpses again... But he didn't expose me.

Yan Jing sighed softly.

If Mu Tian had chewed him out at the end, it would have meant he truly didn't know who made a move last night.

But Mu Tian had held back.

It was useless, however.

Just now, Xiao Xin had been wiggling its butt and doing a shaman dance right in front of him. Before that, it had spent hours peeping in his room, listening to every word of his conversation with the painting.

If he could endure all that and still act the part, Yan Jing would have to admit the man was quite a character.

Although that possibility existed, Yan Jing decided to ignore it for now.

Walking out, he saw Ai Qing turn back to look at him in surprise.

"Are you done?"

"Obviously." Yan Jing smiled.

"The Boss is very satisfied with my approach. Extremely satisfied. Satisfied beyond words."

"Impossible."

Ai Qing blurted instinctively.

"Why don't you go ask him?"

Yan Jing pulled the door shut behind him, offering the same line as before.

Ai Qing clenched her fists. Her iceberg of a face looked ready to erupt like a volcano.

"Then what do you plan to do next? Everyone who could tell truth from lies is dead."

Yan Jing smiled.

"It doesn't matter. We have corpses, and corpses talk."

"You mean those puddles of mashed meat?"

Ai Qing said coldly, "Even if a forensic doctor examines that mush ten thousand times, it won't yield any results."

"It would be faster to check the surveillance footage."

"You seem to really want me to check the cameras." Yan Jing gave her a half-smile.

Ai Qing's expression was frosty.

"I'm simply offering a possibility."

"A good possibility." Yan Jing nodded.

"I should check the cameras. Yesterday, I told only you and that hoodie kid about the mass inspection, and then all three interrogators died in the middle of the night. So, the people who made a move must be pitifully few, and they definitely wouldn't have thought to tamper with the surveillance."

"Even if they did tamper with the cameras, it doesn't matter. We just pivot from hunting the mole to hunting the killers, then to checking the footage, and finally to tracking down whoever messed with the cameras. Those guys must be the biggest idiots around. If we just investigate, we'll have it sorted in two days." Yan Jing looked at her. "That's what you mean, right?"

Ai Qing's expression grew even darker.

"It was just a suggestion. If you won't take it, come up with your own plan."

"I told you, corpses can talk." Yan Jing looked at Ai Qing and smiled.

"We just need to find someone who can summon souls."

"..." Ai Qing's expression shifted.

"In the Great Prison, only that person can summon souls."

"Don't do anything reckless."

"Is that so?" Yan Jing's gaze was calm.

"My system quest told me that person has a child. May I ask what tier and Pathway he is?"

Ai Qing gritted her teeth.

"The Young Master is indeed a Soul Tether, but his wedding day is fast approaching. He is not allowed to be disturbed right now."

Before she could finish, Yan Jing cut her off.

"The Boss already gave the word. I'm in full charge, and I can do whatever I want."

Yan Jing stared straight into Ai Qing's eyes and spoke softly. "I believe you know what 'full charge' and 'whatever I want' mean, Warden Ai."

"Or are those desperados so bold they'd dare target the Young Master?!"

Yan Jing's voice suddenly rose like a muffled thunderclap, piercing Ai Qing's ears with a sharp stab of pain.

She looked into Yan Jing's placid, unruffled eyes, hiding the violence and resentment in her own as she lowered her head slightly.

"I'll make the arrangements now."

"No need." Yan Jing smiled again, as if the person who had just shouted the warning wasn't him.

"Just tell me where he is. I'll go inform him right now."

"I'm afraid word might leak again."

Word might leak...

The words were incredibly blunt and ugly.

Ai Qing clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms. Trembling slightly, she nodded.

In a pure white room, Ning Wei lay on his bed, quietly reading a book.

He had asked Tan Yan for the book, claiming he wanted to study psychology.

He hadn't mentioned the real reason: Wen Xu.

He felt that Wen Xu possessed a terrifyingly strong ability to read people, and he wanted to learn it.

But the book Tan Yan ultimately brought him was titled The Mentally Healthy Husband .

It was a blatant insult.

But Ning Wei didn't argue or make a fuss.

A husband's psychology was still psychology. Learning a little was better than nothing.

Knock, knock, knock!!!

Hearing the door, Ning Wei set the book aside.

The door pushed open, and the person who walked in was a human he had seen before in God Storage Land.

Yan Jing.

Ning Wei's pupils shrank.

Upon seeing Ai Qing trailing beside Yan Jing, Ning Wei quickly turned his head away and pretended to look for his book.

"Young Master Ning."

Yan Jing smiled. "There are some matters in the Great Prison that require your assistance. The Boss sent me to ask for your opinion."

"What matters?"

Ning Wei held the book up, covering the lower half of his face.

"Your father, Lord Mu Tian, suspects there's a mole in the Great Prison and sent me to investigate."

Yan Jing smiled.

"Yesterday, I notified all the staff to prepare for an ideological screening today. But before today even arrived, the three workers responsible for identifying truth from lies died."

Ning Wei finally steadied his nerves. He moved the book aside and smiled.

"That just proves this prison is truly finished. Good. It should have been finished a long time ago."

"Young Master!"

Ai Qing spoke up coldly, but Ning Wei glared right back at her.

"I'm talking to Warden Yan. What gives you the right to interrupt, Ai Qing?"

"Are you going to treat me the way you usually do, even with Warden Yan right here?"

"Oh?" Yan Jing's gaze shifted to Ai Qing.

"How do you usually treat the Young Master, Warden Ai?"

"I—I don't." Caught off guard by their combined assault, Ai Qing immediately defended herself.

"I have treated the Young Master with consistent respect."

"Consistently terribly!" Ning Wei snapped.

"You might not know this, Warden Yan, but Ai Qing has always thought my origins were shady. She doesn't take me seriously at all."

"Absolutely not!" Ai Qing panicked slightly.

She usually targeted Ning Wei firstly because his existence threatened her and Tan Yan's positions as candidates, and secondly because Ning Wei was close to Cen Ji. But ultimately, if the higher-ups' attitude toward Ning Wei hadn't been so ambiguous, she wouldn't have dared to act against him so openly.

Since Ning Wei couldn't reach Mu Tian anyway, she had free rein.

But things were different now.

Yan Jing could see Mu Tian multiple times a day.

If Yan Jing embellished the story...

Ai Qing's iceberg of a face was currently covered in sweat.

"Get out, I don't want to see you!"

Ning Wei ordered.

Ai Qing opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Yan Jing smiled.

"Go on, Ai Qing. I'll have a few words with Young Master Ning. On our way here, I could tell you were distracted, like you had something else you wanted to do. Go ahead."

Bang!

Ai Qing left.

Yan Jing opened his mouth to speak, but Ning Wei subtly pointed at the ceiling, indicating that the walls had ears.

But Yan Jing spoke anyway:

"It's fine. They can't hear us."

They couldn't hear?

Ning Wei paused.

Wen Xu seemed to have this ability too. It looked like the relationship between the two of them really was deep.

With the surveillance blocked, Ning Wei's expression relaxed somewhat.

"How did you get in?"

Yan Jing smiled.

"Doing a quest, how else."

Ning Wei's face remained unsmiling.

"Do you have any idea that you ruined the warden's plans last time? If he finds out you're that human, he could kill you in seconds." Yan Jing just smiled.

"As long as you don't say anything, who else in the Great Prison knows besides Cen Ji?"

Ning Wei sighed.

"I can only guarantee that I won't say anything."

"What do you actually need me for?"

"Like I said, those three interrogators got turned into mashed meat. I need your help to pull their souls out."

Hearing this, Ning Wei's expression turned grave again.

"They died last night? Then you're too late."

"The longer a soul has been dead, the less information you can get out of it."

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he jumped.

"Who else did you tell that you were going to have me summon the souls?"

"No one else." Yan Jing smiled warmly.

"Just Ai Qing."

Hearing this, Ning Wei shot up from the bed and hurriedly threw on his coat.

"We need to hurry! If we don't move fast, all the evidence will be gone!"

In the palm-sized room, ink-like Weird Energy slowly retracted from every corner, retreating back into Ning Wei's fingertips.

Ning Wei's expression was grave.

"There were indeed departed souls here, but they've already been destroyed."

Yan Jing stepped from the Restroom at the entrance, past the kitchen clinging to the wall, and stopped in front of Ning Wei by the bed.

"By someone's hand?"

Ning Wei nodded.

"It could only be by someone's hand."

"The previous two rooms we checked were the same. The souls were deliberately destroyed."

"This makes things difficult."

Yan Jing turned his head and looked at Ai Qing, who was lingering at the doorway, refusing to come in.

She wore a white sweater beneath a white fleece-lined fur coat, unwilling to squeeze into the cramped room.

"Warden Ai, I only told you about this, didn't I?"

Those words made Ai Qing burn with rage.

"What do you mean by that? Are you suspecting me? Couldn't the killers have just taken care of the souls last night while they were at it?"

"Warden Yan, if you can't figure this out, you can just tell the Boss. There's no need to force it."

Ai Qing sneered.

"Of course, if you want me to take the fall, I have nothing more to say. We can go confront the Boss together."

Ai Qing was unexpectedly forceful. Yan Jing smiled and didn't argue.

"Where is Tan Yan?"

"I don't know," Ai Qing replied, her tone turning cold.

"If you have any other orders, give them now. If not, I'd like to take Lord Ning Wei back."

"He's in a sensitive period right now, and the family he is marrying into doesn't want him constantly showing his face outside."

"Even after the wedding, they feel the same way."

Being spoken of so sarcastically by Ai Qing made Ning Wei's face turn extremely ugly.

But Yan Jing reached out and stopped him.

"I have no other orders."

Yan Jing said with a smile.

"Then we're done here."

Ai Qing sneered at Ning Wei.

"Young Master, let's head back."

Looking sullen, Ning Wei walked past Yan Jing and stopped beside Ai Qing.

The two of them walked away.

Sensing that Yan Jing was still standing where he was, Ai Qing curled her lip and scoffed.

"A human is a human in the end... a lowly species..."

But just as the two reached the end of the corridor and were about to turn the corner, Yan Jing's voice suddenly echoed behind them.

"Warden Ai, I said I had no other orders. I never said you could leave."

Ai Qing felt a flicker of doubt, unsure of what Yan Jing was trying to pull now.

She turned back and looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"You wanted a confrontation, Warden Ai. Let's go have one."

Yan Jing smiled.

"Right now. We're going to see the Boss."

Ai Qing suddenly felt an inexplicable chill.

"Now...? It's too late. He's already resting."

"No, no, no. Right now."

Yan Jing's smile remained.

"All three of us."

"It really is a bit late," Ai Qing tried to deflect. But there was a blur in her vision, and Yan Jing was suddenly right in front of her.

His hand gripped her arm.

"Let's go, Warden Ai."

Ai Qing truly panicked now. Burning with rage, she tried to teach Yan Jing a lesson, but before the Weird Energy around her could even surge, a bone-piercing agony shot up from her arm.

She stared in horror at Yan Jing's hand. It looked completely ordinary, so pale it didn't seem to have undergone any hardening. Yet the sheer physical force in his grip forcibly crushed the Weird Energy circulating inside her body.

What kind of monster was this?

Fear gripped her heart, and sweat beaded on her forehead.

"What the hell are you trying to do?! Let go! I'm warning you, let go right now!"

But Yan Jing had no intention of letting go. Hoisting Ai Qing up like a chick, he twisted her arm.

Ai Qing, a candidate.

Someone who would be treated as an honored guest anywhere she went.

Right now, she felt as though her arm had been snapped clean in two.

With a flick of Yan Jing's wrist, she was sent flying, crashing into the wall.

The impact sounded like a clap of thunder.

Her white fur coat was instantly shattered to tatters as a mist of blood erupted into the air.

Ai Qing's white hair spilled wildly. Completely devoid of any strength to resist, she went limp, dragged along by Yan Jing like a dead dog. "Good!"

Ning Wei clapped his hands.

He had long been annoyed that a Seventh Rank dared to bully him, a Summit.

"Take her away! Arrest her!"

"You're coming too."

"Alright... Hmm? Me too?" Ning Wei cast a guilty glance at Yan Jing.

Smiling, Yan Jing hoisted the miserable, glassy-eyed Ai Qing in his hand.

"You're not?"

"I am, of course I am."

Ning Wei nodded vigorously.