Chapter 95: First Severe Punishment Then Torture
Nine o'clock in the morning, in the city lord's office.
The curtains were drawn, and the room was pitch black. A single candle stood on the desk, its dim light illuminating three gloomy faces. Ji Qiufeng rested his chin on his folded hands, speechless for a long moment. Youyou, meanwhile, curled a small knife around his tail, gesturing in the air with a sinister grin.
The tip of the knife was facing a terrified eyeball. Vander was tied to the armrest of a chair with two hemp ropes, crying miserably and helplessly: "What do you want to do! Let me go! If you continue like this, I will call the police!"
Ji Qiufeng's face was gloomy: "You can call the police, but all the police in the city are my people..."
"Someone has started to threaten us openly! How can you still act like the lord of a city!" Vander protested fiercely.
"Keep screaming, no one will come to save you even if you scream your throat out!" Youyou hissed.
"And then it gets even worse! Is there really such a threat now? What the hell, this dragon!" Finder slumped on the armrest of his chair, raising his tentacles pitifully. "These two big guys are from famous and upright families, so why would they bother with a mere eye demon like me... We have no grudges against each other, please spare us..."
"Tsk, soft bones."
"We are mollusks, we don't have bones!"
Tired of playing, Youyou tossed the knife aside. Ji Qiufeng pulled out his paper fan and said with a smile, "The phrase 'reputable and upright' is a good one. You're so fearless because of it. Youyou is an ancient dragon and I'm a martial artist. You know we never kill indiscriminately, so you feel relieved even though you say that, don't you?"
This sentence immediately revealed what the Eye Demon was thinking. Fander smiled awkwardly, "You have good eyes... No, you are very perceptive..."
Ji Qiufeng tapped the table with his paper fan. "You know the importance of origin. Even if it doesn't represent a person's character, it can serve as an intuitive guarantee. Across the countless islands of the Shendong Realm, it's not uncommon to find powerful individuals who came from undeveloped backgrounds. However, those who are knowledgeable and capable are mostly cultivated by larger forces. Now, here's the problem. You claim to be from the 'Twilight Library,' but we've never heard of this place..."
The city lord opened his fan and smiled, "Tell me, how can we trust you?"
Upon hearing this, Vander became furious and thrashed on the armrest of his chair. "That's because you're so ignorant! Our library has a history and a heritage, and that's a long-standing tradition that dates back to before the Candlelight Era! My teachers are all industry leaders and academic elites. I've read more books than the two of you combined. How can this be fake?!"
Ji Qiufeng waved his fan, signaling him to calm down. Youyou sneered, "Then I have to ask you, which island is the Twilight Library located on? If it truly has a history, how could we have never heard of it?"
"Our library is an independent island. We don't need to do business with small fry." Vander said arrogantly, "I don't know the exact coordinates. We always keep it confidential."
"Oh~~~" Youyou stretched out his tone, "Then who are the famous people in your library?"
"There are so many! Among the ones I know alone are 'Foam' Takoli, the inventor of 17 practical techniques including mental invisibility; 'Melting Ice' Fratali, the master of Octopus Karate; and the erudite 'Light Gallbladder' Cici Tata, whose hidden weapons were once sold as far away as Shura Island..."
Fan De was now in high spirits, and he began to recite a string of dishes fluently on the spot. Ji Qiufeng listened and took notes. After the long string of words was finished, Youyou said coldly, "I've never heard of any of them."
"How could this happen!" Fander screamed, "City Lord Ji! You must seek justice for me!"
"I've never heard of these people... but judging from your appearance, you don't seem to be lying." Ji Qiufeng said in embarrassment, "What should I do? According to the city's laws, suspicious people with unknown origins must be expelled from the city and exiled three thousand miles away..."
"No, no, no! I can prove my innocence!" Fan De racked his brains and suddenly came up with a plan, "That's right, knowledge! I, Fan De, have read a lot of books and my knowledge far exceeds that of ordinary people. This is real material and cannot be faked. You can ask any questions you want. If I can answer them, it will at least prove my identity!"
"That's fine." Ji Qiufeng nodded, "Tell me about your understanding of the Dustless Land."
"...What?" Vander was dumbfounded. "Where?"
"The headquarters of the magic movement scholars. Although it's not a place for leaping to the highest level, it's still quite famous." Ji Qiufeng squinted his eyes. "It sounds like you don't know?"
This time, Vander was really anxious. He had 100% confidence in his knowledge, but this broken force... he had never seen it in books before! Speaking of which, those old antiques in the library were the ones who kept holding on to historical documents... Could it be that they hadn't bought any new books in a long time?
"You've touched upon my blind spot." Vander began to sweat. "Please ask something else..."
"Then seek the Land of Fun?"
"I know that!" Vander breathed a sigh of relief. "The Paradise is the territory of 'Happy Child', the 7-point master. It's an independent dust island famous for its artificial life and game rules..."
Ji Qiufeng listened patiently and then asked, "Shenshu City-State?"
"The territory of the sacred tree and the forest people, do you still need to ask this common sense?" Finder's confidence returned, and he began to give instructions. "Let's not talk about the 'Senluo' we are in. The former Nether Kingdom also counts as half of it. The one you are most familiar with should be the city-state 'Jingsha' in the west of the Senluo Secret Realm. The artistic atmosphere there is strong, and the pollen paintings are unique..."
Vander rambled on and on, flexing his intellectual muscles like a mental bodybuilder. The two judges intermittently asked questions and nodded frequently, seemingly approvingly. After an hour and 32 minutes of deliberation, Vander was finally granted a suspended death sentence, stating "temporarily harmless." As he walked out the door, the Eye Demon sighed and shrank slightly: His tentacles had dried out from all that talking, and he desperately needed hydration.
The candle on the table had burned down, its melted wax dripping into the copper dish. Ji Qiufeng drew aside the curtains, letting bright sunlight stream into the room. The wax in the dish, in contact with the sunlight, changed color, transforming into a warm, amber-like orange.
Youyou glanced at him and said, "I'm not lying."
The fourth-level relic, the "False Candle," is made from the remains of a sinner. Its wax can distinguish good from evil, true from false. Anyone with malicious intent standing in the candlelight will be absorbed by the flame and transformed into wax.
Ji Qiufeng blew out the candle and put the precious relic away. After an hour of questioning, he had come to a conclusion.
"I've never heard of such a race as the Beholder, but they might actually exist in the Library."
"Did you really believe it?" Youyou was still sensitive. "Just because it didn't lie doesn't mean it's true. With a slightly larger space, a relic that can self-regenerate, and a few skilled illusionists, anyone can create a 'hidden power' that the little guy would believe in. Many demons have used this trick before."
"But he remained ignorant of all in-depth questions about the Outer Dao, even the seemingly unrelated hooks I deliberately threw out." Ji Qiufeng pointed out the key point. "According to Hengkong, it didn't remember the knowledge about the Empire until it saw the Immortal Machine with its own eyes. This kind of precise sealing is difficult for you and me to achieve."
Interference with fate is subjective. The more one knows, the more likely one is to encounter misfortune. Therefore, many scholars who study secret knowledge conceal themselves within a completely sealed space, imposing a seal upon themselves. The scholar themselves does not "know" the knowledge, and no one can prove the research conducted within the chamber. In this way, the truth becomes an unopenable box. Unless the sealer takes the initiative to open the box and decipher it, no one in the outside world can prove that they possess the secret, and currents cannot interfere with its fate.
Regardless of whether the library existed or not, the people behind Finder had protected it well. Youyou understood this, and she pondered, "You think the library is the sealed chamber... then how?"
"It's well-versed in ancient lore, but knows almost nothing about more recent powers, especially those that emerged after the Great War." Ji Qiufeng pushed the notebook towards her. "It's like a rift has been carved into the river of time... hiding behind a high wall in the name of history."
"You think they're hiding in the mists of history? That's ridiculous. That's the realm of the Deathly Heretics!"
"History isn't a distant concept. If it can be shattered, it can also be 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, "Alas! Your girl is not one to worry about either."
"what ever."
"Go away, you old bastard." Youyou rolled his eyes and tried to grab his tea.
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After walking out of the office, Fan De felt relieved, knowing that being able to come out alive meant that he had passed the test.
These influential figures, with their backgrounds, were always suspicious, eager to skin and rip apart any individual whose origins remained shrouded in mystery. But putting himself in their shoes, Finder could understand their reasoning. The clutches of the outsiders were truly terrifying and must be guarded against. While the Empire of Truth, which directly annihilated its enemies, presented a direct threat, the First Abyss, like the First Abyss, which invaded from within and replaced them, was equally terrifying. No one wanted to see their entire family wiped out by harboring a passing stranger, so they were thankful that Huilong City had been able to keep it.
"The museum owner never told me that traveling is so difficult these days..." The Eye Demon sighed.
Bright lights illuminated the white marble floor, and uniformed elites hurried to and fro. Every morning at headquarters was a bustling scene, and as the elites coordinated their work, they never failed to glance down at the ground, glancing at this strange new arrival. Vander held his head high, unflinching, a small, specially crafted pass dangling from his neck, signifying him as a supervisor personally appointed by the Inspector General.
During his first few days in Huilong City, Finder had truly opened his eyes. He defined Huilong City by his own standards: a city of genius, brimming with madness from top to bottom. This madness was evident in the building's illogical, three-story structure, and was fully reflected in the core personnel, whose genius and idiocy were a near-perfect balance. Thus, every day, you'd see the Chief Inspector thinking with his spine, the Captain using his shield as a hammer, and the pharmacist concocting pills in the kitchen. People turned a blind eye to these anomalies, as calm as they walked past a roadside fruit stall selling melon-shaped compressed manure.
Looking at their demeanor, it's easy to understand: if you want to live well in this place, you can't use your brain. Fortunately, Finder didn't have a brain, so he happily integrated into the city and believed that he had the city's average mental resistance. Unless it rained shit from the sky, he would remain motionless.
It proudly displayed its ID card and used it to enter the elevator, which led directly to the 33rd floor of the temple (it had to ask the cleaning lady for help when swiping the card because the card reader was too high to reach). When it entered the temple gate, Vander cheered: "Master Vander, I'm back!"
No one responded. The temple was filled with ominous dull sounds and even ominous, deep breathing. Finder looked closely and saw a metal frame in the center of the temple. A familiar man was suspended in an X-shape by chains, his back exposed. A blonde woman stood nearby, holding a whip-like blunt instrument, her breathing rapid, her face flushed with excitement.
Fander shrank back to the doorway: "Sorry to bother you two, take your time..."
Ji Huaisu's gaze quickly turned towards him: "Come here too!"
Vander quickly ran out the door, his eyes filled with fear: "No! You two can play however you want, but don't involve me!"
(End of this chapter)
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