Chapter 458 The Cruel Truth
The heavy iron door was opened with a sharp "clang".
Hua Lan shrank back suddenly as if frightened, buried her head even lower, and her body shook even more violently.
The steady sound of footsteps approached from afar, echoing in the silent dungeon with an invisible sense of oppression.
Su Muyang was dressed in a dark casual suit, standing with his hands behind his back, outside the cold iron bars.
His gaze penetrated the dim light, looking down at the woman in the corner.
"Orchid."
Su Muyang spoke, his voice was not loud, but it echoed clearly in the cell, with a penetrating power that saw through everything, and he had no intention of beating around the bush.
"The spies and assassins you trained over the past year have almost been eliminated."
"Your two 'relatives' on Yongning Street, which were Xiyu's spy base, have also been wiped out."
Hua Lan raised her head, tears welling in her eyes, filled with fear and innocence:
"My Lord, spare my life! I... I really don't know what you are talking about! I followed my mother to Beijing to find my relatives, but I didn't know that my aunt had already passed away. I had no choice but to sell buns on Yongning Street to make a living..."
"I really don't know anything! Please enlighten me, my Lord!"
Her voice was so mournful and sad that it was enough to touch the heart of anyone who didn't know the truth.
"No need to act."
Su Muyang let out a soft sigh, his eyes revealing a hint of complexity and...pity.
"Who could have imagined that the Ghost-faced Military Advisor, the pillar of the Xiyu Royal Court who had helped him hold off the Great Yan Iron Cavalry for half a year, was actually a weak, powerless woman from the Great Yan Kingdom?"
"Hua Lan, I have to admit that you have some skills. But you cannot win against me and His Majesty."
Hua Lan's hand in her sleeve stiffened almost imperceptibly, but the confusion and fear on her face became even more intense.
She shook her head desperately, sobbing, "My Lord! What you are saying... I don't understand! If I have done anything wrong and angered you, my Lord, please have mercy on me and spare my elderly and ignorant mother!"
"I...will leave it to you, my Lord!"
She knelt in front of Su Muyang and kowtowed to him continuously.
Su Muyang looked at her and sighed again.
The sigh sounded particularly heavy in the silent cell:
"Hua Lan, do you know that the smarter you are, the more...stupid you are?"
Hua Lan still looked at him blankly, tears silently falling.
Su Muyang took a step forward, leaned down, and pierced deep into her eyes. Every word he spoke was as clear as an ice pick:
"You trusted the jackal too easily and avenged the wrong blood feud. Tell me, are you stupid?"
The carefully maintained confusion and fear on Hua Lan's face were like ice struck by a heavy hammer, and cracks appeared in an instant.
Su Muyang continued to tear at her bloody scar:
"A year ago, in Yulan Village, Sunset Town, an entire village was massacred. All the men had their hearts dug out alive, and all the women, from sixty-year-old women to two-year-old children, were gang-raped and defiled."
"Among them are your grandparents, your father, your brother, your sister, and two twin sisters who are only five years old!"
"And your eldest uncle, second uncle, and fourth uncle's entire family!"
"That day was your grandfather's sixtieth birthday, and your entire family traveled from Sunset Town to Magnolia Village to celebrate. Your mother caught a cold and had a high fever for several days, so she didn't go with you that day and 'luckily' survived."
"The entire village has gathered at your grandfather's house to celebrate his birthday. That's where the crime scene occurred."
"You saw with your own eyes a group of 'soldiers' wearing 'Dayan' uniforms and speaking 'Dayan' official language, committing such a heinous crime!"
"And you were saved by a 'kind-hearted person' who 'happened' to be passing by and 'helped out', and you managed to escape by luck. Right?"
"After those beasts, worse than pigs and dogs, leave, you will burn down your ancestral home and the entire village, then take your mother and surrender to Xiyu."
"Shut up! Shut up!!!"
Hua Lan's body began to tremble violently, as if being whipped by a poisonous whip.
She raised her head suddenly, and all her disguises collapsed completely.
Those tearful eyes burst out with tremendous, poisonous hatred, fixed on Su Muyang's face, and a low growl like a trapped beast came from his throat.
That look seemed to want to devour the person in front of him alive.
Su Muyang met her biting gaze, his eyes painful and sharp:
"Open your eyes and take a look! What do you think is the truth?!"
He suddenly took out the secret reports on Xitong Pass that Luo Yunzhen had given him from his sleeve and threw them hard on Hua Lan's face.
"You relied on your own wisdom to hold back our Dayan army for half a year, preventing us from advancing an inch in our attack on Xiyu."
"You single-handedly cultivated a network of spies and assassins throughout Dayan in a short period of time. This level of mental prowess is rare in the world!"
"Have you never had the slightest doubt?"
"Did you ever doubt your mother who 'luckily' escaped?"
"Have you ever doubted your 'savior'?"
"Have you ever doubted the master you are now fighting for your life to serve? What kind of person are you?!!!"
Hua Lan seemed to be under a spell, staring at the secret report on the ground.
After a long time, she stretched out her hand stiffly like a puppet, picked up one with trembling hands, and looked at it in the dim light outside the cell.
Every word was like a red-hot iron, burning her eyes and branding her heart.
Her face lost color bit by bit, turning as pale as a ghost.
"No--!!!" She shook her head desperately.
Her breathing became heavy and rapid, as if she would suffocate at any time.
When she saw the most crucial lines—about the true identity of her 'mother', about the true face and purpose of her 'savior'...
She threw the secret report to the ground and screamed shrilly as if she had been bitten by a poisonous snake:
"No! It's fake! It's all fake! You made it up! You lied to me! You lied to me!!"
She was like a madman, clutching her hair tightly with both hands.
Su Muyang looked at her collapse, and the complexity in his eyes became even stronger.
His voice lowered, full of solemnity:
"Prince Wu and General Luo have dedicated their lives to military service, shedding blood and sweat for Dayan!"
"Their blades are only pointed at the enemy, and their military discipline is as strong as a mountain and as iron as iron!"
"You may not trust me, Su Muyang, but you should not distrust those soldiers who risk their lives to defend our country at the border!"
"You may not believe this military intelligence report written in black and white, but Hua Lan..."
He stared into her bloodshot eyes and spoke each word with certainty: "Do you dare to trust your own eyes? Your own ears again?!"
Before he could finish his words, Su Muyang grabbed Hua Lan's collar without giving her any explanation, as if he was holding a tattered rag doll.
While Hua Lan was in shock and pain and had not yet reacted, he moved as fast as lightning and in a few leaps and bounds, he took her and disappeared into the heavy guards and deep darkness of the dungeon.
…
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