Chapter Ninety-Two: Waiting by the Stump for the Rabbit

Is it him?

Hart Bryan was dressed with striking simplicity: a gray short-sleeved T-shirt, dark brown trousers, and a baseball cap. He stood about six feet tall.

Dropped into a crowd, he would not have drawn a second glance.

Plainly, Hart Bryan had no idea that three people were secretly watching him from the shadows. He held a newspaper with an easy air, yawning now and then.

Just then, Kelly emerged from the apartment building in an immaculate suit and passed by him.

At the roadside, Kelly hailed a taxi with a raised hand. Once it pulled away, Bryan grew anxious. He tossed aside the newspaper and hurried to the curb, only to find there were no taxis available.

Then he noticed a car parked by the road.

He walked over, knocked on the window, and said slowly, “Follow that taxi ahead. I’ll give you five hundred lang.”

Without waiting for their agreement, he pulled open the door and got in.

“What are you staring at? Drive,” Bryan urged anxiously. He had been staking this place out for days, and at last Kelly had come out. He could not afford to miss the chance.

Inside the car, Li Changqing and the other two sat frozen in bewilderment, staring at Bryan, speechless for a moment.

“I’ll add another five hundred,” Bryan said with a frown, his voice sinking.

“Thank you, boss,” Li Changqing replied.

“What are you waiting for? Drive!”

Hu Xiong nodded, slammed the accelerator, and set off after the taxi ahead.

“I was a little hasty just now. Rather abrupt of me.” Sitting in the car, Bryan tried to excuse his behavior. “The truth is, I’m a detective. The person in that taxi is the target of my investigation.”

Li Changqing nodded. “Understandable, understandable.”

As he spoke, Bryan took out one thousand lang and handed it to Li Changqing. “Long live understanding,” he added.

Li Changqing put the money away and occasionally glanced at Bryan beside him.

North City Park lay on the northern edge of Nanlin City. It preserved a vast stretch of dense woodland in excellent condition; within it, winding forest paths and a few recreational facilities had been added without harming the woods themselves.

At the park entrance was a modest little plaza, with a crystal-clear fountain in the center.

Bryan’s eyes stayed locked on Kelly. He saw that Kelly was making a phone call.

After the car stopped, Bryan was just about to get out when Li Changqing’s phone suddenly rang.

“Hello, my friend, where are you?”

It was the voice of Kelly Losetti.

Bryan froze and turned to look at Li Changqing.

Suddenly, Bai Chuan in the front passenger seat moved. He seized Bryan by the hair, slammed his head downward, and drove a punch into the back of his skull.

Caught utterly off guard, Bryan’s vision went black, and he passed out on the spot.

“Kelly, something suddenly came up on my end. I can’t make it to North City Park.”

“You—”

Hearing Kelly on the phone erupt into curses, Li Changqing quickly hung up.

“This guy really is a bit slow...”

Hu Xiong swore that in all his years with Bureau Thirty-Six, this was the first time he had ever encountered something like this.

What was this, if not waiting by the stump for the rabbit?

Mingzheng Orphanage, in the interrogation room beneath the headquarters of Bureau Thirty-Six.

A basin of cold water was thrown over Bryan, jolting him awake.

“Where is this?”

Soaked through, Bryan discovered that his hands had already been locked in chains. Two iron spikes had been driven into the shoulder blades in his back.

It was a method used specifically to seal a person’s mana and spiritual energy.

“Welcome to Bureau Thirty-Six.”

Seeing the three men before him, Bryan went blank. Bureau Thirty-Six?

They were people from Bureau Thirty-Six?

Bryan hurriedly spoke, panic flooding his eyes. “This is robbery! Kidnapping! I am a citizen of the Lamela Empire. What you’re doing could trigger an international dispute—”

“Drop the act.” Hu Xiong smiled. “Protector of the Moluo Sect, servant of the Hound God Juglas. That’s you, isn’t it?”

At those words, Bryan hastily shook his head. “I don’t know any Moluo Sect, and I don’t know any Hound God Juglas. I’m innocent.”

Hu Xiong nodded. “I also very much hope I caught the wrong man. Since you’re not one of the Moluo Sect, and you know nothing of Juglas—”

“Then say this out loud three times: the Hound God Juglas is a pile of dog shit.”

“Once you’re done, I’ll let you go immediately and apologize to you.”

Bryan’s mouth twitched. He was a devout servant of the Hound God Juglas; as a believer, how could he dare blaspheme his own deity?

“Silence counts as admission.” Hu Xiong smiled and rolled his shoulders, then looked at Bai Chuan beside him. “You or me?”

When it came to interrogation, Bai Chuan was the expert. Many people could not withstand his methods.

Compared with him, Hu Xiong fell somewhat short; all he would do was give someone a beating.

“To save time, I’ll do it.” Expressionless, Bai Chuan stepped forward, gripped Bryan’s fingers, and bent hard.

Crack.

The sound of bone breaking came from three fingers.

“Ah!”

The pain shot through Bryan’s hand, and he could not stop himself from screaming.

“Stop! Stop!”

Bai Chuan’s face was cold. He had not the slightest intention of stopping. He continued, breaking all ten fingers one by one, then moved up the arm, crushing the bones bit by bit.

Cold sweat poured from Bryan. His face turned deathly pale, and panic seized his heart.

This man was a devil.

Bai Chuan’s interrogation was indeed unlike that of ordinary men. It was simply cold, methodical torture, and he did not even ask questions.

Watching from the side, Li Changqing only knit his brows slightly and said nothing.

Before long, Bryan could bear the pain no longer—or rather, no longer endure the added torment to his mind.

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk...” Bryan’s voice was trembling now. “Ask me anything. I’ll tell you.”

Bai Chuan showed no intention of stopping the torture. Calmly, he went on. “Speak. I’ll stop after you’ve finished.”

“How many of your Moluo Sect came, why did you come to Nanlin City, and what are you planning to do?”

Bryan’s teeth chattered as he replied, “Twenty in total came. We came here to bring about the descent of the Hound God Juglas. Under Juglas’s guidance, we must find a blood descendant of the Losetti family and use that bloodline to awaken him.”

“The Losetti family holds immense power in the Lamela Empire. We heard that one member of their family was in the Vermilion Bird Federation, so we hurried here, intending to seize Kelly Losetti.”

Bai Chuan asked calmly, “Then why haven’t you acted?”

“It isn’t time yet. The original plan was for the night of the full moon, four days from now, when yin energy will be at its strongest. Only then would be the proper time to sacrifice Kelly Losetti. If we moved too early, we feared it would arouse your suspicion...”

“I’ve said everything. You can stop now, can’t you?” Bryan said in agony.

Bai Chuan’s torment still did not cease. Calmly, he said, “Repeat everything you just said again, exactly as before, but in reverse order.”