Torturing out a Confession

Watching your body slowly rot was a very unnerving thing.

The skin and flesh would melt, revealing the white bones underneath...

The entire process was like you were watching something die in slow motion. Every second and every detail were clearly shown to amplify the torture and suffering.

But Qin Jiu was fine.

He was far from being unnerved, and just felt a little regretful.

Perhaps it was because the entire process was too magical, it didn't feel realistic.

Or perhaps it was because he was just too confident.

He sat in his usual spot in the ruins the entire time with his jacket lying beside him. The white silk shirt he wore was stained with blood.

He bent one of his legs and examined the bones on his hand as he waited patiently.

When the blood on him was too excessive, only then did he open the roll of bandages 922 had forced onto him.

He wasn't interested in appreciating the flesh wound so he didn't take off his shirt. Instead, he directly wrapped the bandages around his shirt.

When 021 entered the monitoring room, she was met with this scene.

She frowned and asked, "Why is he wrapping it like that? Don't tell me Invigilator 001 doesn't know how to treat a wound. What kind of joke is this?"

922: "How could that be?"

"Then what is he doing?"

"Covering blood, I guess."

021 was stunned, "What?"

"Covering blood, not stopping blood." 154 said.

Sure enough, the Qin Jiu in the monitoring screen proceeded to wrap another layer of the bandages around his shirt and then around his finger.....uh, finger bones.

Blood once again stained the new layer of bandages, but it didn't penetrate through as deeply as before. In other words, the blood was no longer that obvious.

He rested his arm against his knee and looked into the distance in thought.

When the end of the confinement period was about to be reached, he stood up and straightened his shirt. Apart from slight sluggishness in his actions initially, one could hardly tell that there was a problem. It was as if his injury was only affected his hand.

Only someone with extremely strong willpower was able to do this....

But was this really necessary?

Did he really have to be so stubborn and hide all his weaknesses?

021 who saw this couldn't help but mutter this internally.

In the screen, Qin Jiu interlaced his fingers to adjust his gloves and then raised his head and looked around.

He appeared to be looking for something.

Soon, his eyes stopped moving and happened to meet with 021's eyes across the screen.

".....He's not looking at us right? A coincidence?" 021 pointed at the screen.

"Mm. "Said 154, "He probably is."

"Are you serious? He can tell where the surveillance cameras are?" 021 asked incredulously, "How is that possible?"

922 nodded: "It's true. When he was at the invigilator's area, he could always point out the location of the system….."

154 thought about it and added: "He really, really hates being bound and controlled. He hates it more than most people so he has always been a little more sensitive....."

As they spoke, Qin Jiu actually gestured something to the screen. He indicated for the invigilators to come and then made a "shh" gesture.

021: "...…."

After thinking about it, she quietly went down to the basement.

You Huo was still asleep. Remembering Qin Jiu gesture, she quietly walked around him and opened the door to the confinement room.

Qin Jiu was standing next to the door. He lowered his voice and said: "I entered a few minutes earlier than the others. To be fair, shouldn't I be able to go out first?"

021 frowned: "You—–"

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Qin Jiu again pressed a finger to his lips.

021 glanced at You Huo and whispered: "What do you want?"

Qin Jiu raised an eyebrow and just asked: "Can I or can I not?"

021 stared at him. A moment later, she understood.

He wanted to leave first so that he could return and do something in advance. Perhaps it was something crazy and a little risky, so he wanted to avoid the others...

No, most people wouldn't be able to keep up with him, nor could they work together with him.

There was only one person he wanted to avoid.

021 looked at Qin Jiu.

This man was obviously sick and pale, but he still maintained strong vitality.

She was suddenly at a loss.

Because of all the past events and the rumours she had heard, she really didn't like this top ranking invigilator. However, after interacting with him over the past two exams, Qin Jiu had always surprised her.....

She suddenly started to doubt herself.

A few minutes later, for the first time in her life, 021 agreed with Qin Jiu's request and allowed him to be released a little earlier than the others.

***

In the castle, the thick smell of blood filled the air.

There were dead examines, the Duke himself and also dark shadows on the wall.

After several kills, Zhao Jiatong finally realised that the shadows didn't appear randomly and would only appear when the Duke was at his weakest.

She had killed the Duke five times, and those shadows had also appeared five times. They were like ghosts that could never be put to rest.

It wasn't until the first batch of examinees returned and she received the news that You Huo and Qin Jiu was suffering from the curse that Zhao Jiatong was able to return to her senses.

Stopped in the corner by the others, she gasped for air while watching the Duke come back to life again and wander back downstairs with his cloak fluttering behind him.

"Can't be killed, can't be burned and can reassemble even after splitting him apart..." Zhao Jiatong frowned, "How on earth do we kill him?"

And more importantly, how should they do it without activating the curse?

As for what You Huo and Qin Jiu's state was like, she didn't dare imagine. Just the thought of it was unbearable. She didn't want to see the two of them become ghosts and be trapped in the dark church forever.

"Even if we think of something, we don't dare try it." One person hit the nail in the head.

"Yeah, we can't try it. If we try it, the two might worsen faster."

"Not only that, we've also ate and drank which is equivalent to agreeing to sacrificing ourselves. This curse will definitely affect us sooner or later."

"That's right!" Another person wondered, "We all ate but why are we fine?"

"How much did you eat and how much did the they eat? I think it might be because the Duke was resurrected to many times in one night and the curse was transferred too quickly. Those two were selected firstly because they ate more, secondly because they're the most powerful and thirdly because they were the first to kill the Duke."

"Speaking of which....I noticed that they didn't deliberately eat less during dinner. Did they do it to attract the curse?"

Everyone's expressions were heavy and complicated.

"I don't know if I remembered correctly, how long is this exam? I don't seem recall it being mentioned." Someone suddenly asked.

Zhao Jiatong said in a quiet voice: "No, the exam didn't give us the exact duration. I am certain."

Everyone fell silent. Someone then asked: "Then that means it won't be enough just surviving until the time limit? How do we get out?"

"Then...…." Someone spoke up, "Since the Duke cannot be killed, we can only kill the sick."

There are only two ways to get rid of the curse———

Kill the Duke so that everything returns to how it was in the beginning.

Or kill all the patients and let them be relieved from their pain.

The second option was something they had always been trying to avoid but now it seems that it cannot be avoided.

Several examinees gritted their teeth and got ready to head to town.

But they were then stopped by Zhao Jiatong: "All the sick....then does that include the newly cursed too?"

Those examinees instantly stopped.

"...…How did the examinees before us pass this exam?" 

"Maybe someone was ruthless, maybe no one had been able to pass this exam. We still don't know how true those NPCs words are...…"

"Anyway, I can't do it."

At least, not yet.

Everyone was completely stuck by this problem. They struggled and struggled, but they couldn't think of a way to achieve both conditions.

The Duke would always rest for a while after a kill, so he didn't go upstairs again.

After who knows how long, the door to the castle was pushed open and Qin Jiu walked in.

Zhao Jiatong almost immediately rushed down only to find after reaching the first floor that Yang Shu had ran down faster than her.

This lady who would always speak harshly was actually quite soft inside. Hearing about the curse, she had rushed down with her medicine bag and immediately pulled out a needle when she saw Qin Jiu.

But on the contrary, Mr. 001 avoided the needle. He laughed and said: "Save it. I don't need it."

Yang Shu's eyes immediately narrowed: "Bullshit. Are you the doctor or am I the doctor? If I say use it, you must use it. I don't need to save it. I still have more here so the other one will get it too."

Miss Yang had always been tough. She would probably be on par to 021.

Qin Jiu guessed that she probably wouldn't relent if he didn't let her do what she wanted and could only reluctantly agree.

Yang Shu: "Show me your arm!"

Qin Jiu didn't follow suit: "Forget about the arm, I'm afraid of breaking off your needle. If you really have to give me an injection, give it to me here. There's at least still some normal flesh here."

As he said that, he pulled down his collar slightly.

Yang Shu froze with the syringe in her hands for a moment before suddenly understanding the meaning behind his words.

It was very strange. This stubborn lady's eyes had actually turned a little red.

She blinked her eyes a few times and suddenly stored away the syringe. Pushing Zhao Jiatong forward, she turned around and hurried away: "I should go check on Zhou Qi to see if she has woken up."

Zhao Jiatong was no better.

She had never imagined that there would be a day that she would worry about 001. She also realised at this moment that this ranked 1 invigilator was very strong; so strong she couldn't stand it.

"You...…"

"I'm okay. It's still tolerable." Qin Jiu interrupted: "But I might need to rest a little first. As for the other matters, we should wait for the others to return."

Zhao Jiatong originally wanted to say a few more things but when she heard him say that he wanted to rest, she immediately agreed: "Then hurry and sleep. I won't hold you here anymore. Let's talk when everyone's here."

Qin Jiu bid goodbye and strode upstairs.

After taking a few steps, he turned around and added, "I don't like people knocking on the door when I sleep so….."

"When Gao Qi returns, I'll let him stay in our room first." Zhao Jiatong reassured.

"Thanks."

Five minutes later, there was a soft sound at the base of the castle.

Qin Jiu stood up and glanced at the balcony above him before walking away.

Before him was a dirt path. If you followed the path down and around the foot of Carlton Mountain, you could see the town under the night sky.

***

When You Huo was awakened by 021, the second patch of examinees had already left.

He looked at the open confinement rooms and asked 021: "You gave me another dose?"

021 pointed at 922: "Ask him."

She threw out that sentence and left with a calm look, but it looked more like she was running away. As soon as she went upstairs, she hid inside the monitoring room.

922 patted his own shoulder and said: "You also have a large one here and there was a lot of blood on the floor so we...gave you another injection."

He nervously gave his explanation and thought You Huo was going to get angry.

But unexpectedly, the other party was only lost in thought for a while. He asked: "How long since they've left?"

"About 20 minutes."

You Huo nodded. He got up and entered the confinement room.

922 similarly slipped back upstairs.

If it was the usual, You Huo would do something to disgust the system after separating people so maliciously. 

But today was an exception——-

Because he had something he wanted to do alone.

As he didn't know if the result would be good or bad, he didn't want to involve Qin Jiu this time.

The three hours in the dark was unusually long but in the end it still passed.

021 sent You Huo back to the base of the mountain and said with her usual stern expression while pointing at the metal fence: "If you go through this you will see the castle."

But You Huo instead asked: "Which way is the town?"

021: "Huh? This way."

She pointed towards a barren grassy area in the opposite direction before realising that something wasn't right: "Why are you going to the town?"

"Torturing out a confession."

You Huo threw out those words and disappeared into the night.

After passing through the grassy field, sure enough, the town was ahead.

The small church stood eerily next to the central fountain with its stained-glass windows glistening from the lights inside.

You Huo ignored the discomfort in him and jumped over a wall into the backyard of the church before heading straight into the dungeon.

The witchdoctor was gagged and bound tightly by rope. He huddled fearfully in the corner of the dungeon.

Both his hands had been replaced with pig's trotters, so he knew that You Huo and Qin Jiu were capable of doing anything; they didn't do it just to scare him.

You Huo grabbed his collar and woke him up with a punch: "How do you kill the Duke?"

The witchdoctor subconsciously wanted to touch the place he was punched but he was met with the ugly and strange-looking trotter instead. His expression turned gloomy for a second before changing into a smile: "Oh no, you've now realised that there's a problem?"

"How do you kill the Duke?" You Huo repeated coldly.

The witchdoctor's eyes rolled around. He was probably trying to think of a trick or thinking about negotiating something.

You Huo threw him away like he was throwing away a piece of garbage. He turned around and dragged a sheep over and then he expressionlessly raised his knife.

The witchdoctor had personally witnessed how scary he and Qin Jiu could be. Just that one time was enough to traumatise him.

When he saw him about to cut off the sheep's leg, he curled up his legs and cried: "You must make him die voluntarily!"

You Huo's movements stopped. His blade was only a few inches away from the leg.

The witchdoctor breathed a sigh of relief.

"Speak more specifically." You Huo stared him down.

To avoid the same problem from occurring again, he forced the witchdoctor to reveal everything.

"The moment he is killed, he must be willing to die."

"How is that possible?" You Huo frowned.

The witchdoctor stared at the tip of his knife. Seeing that it had lowered by another inch, he quickly exclaimed: "It's not completely impossible!"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you forget? He is using someone else's body." The witchdoctor said quietly, "The heart that's beating inside him is someone else's heart. It's not impossible making him willing to die if you know of a way to wake up the remaining consciousness."

"Let me tell you a secret." The witchdoctor said: "Some bodies have very strong willpowers. While the Duke is dying, the remnants of their consciousness may be forced out and that could be of help. After killing the Duke, remember to go as far away as possible; don't let him come into contact with anything living."

You Huo asked suspiciously: "Once the Duke is dead, what will happen to you?"

The witchdoctor sighed, "It's a little troublesome, but it's not too bad."

Seeing that he won't be able to get anything else out of him, You Huo threw him back.

He turned and left.

When he returned to the small hut, he suddenly heard soft rustling.

Someone was pitifully calling out to him.

You Huo followed the sound and looked around. He found the bloody priest hiding under the bed. The other party grabbed his boots and said hoarsely: "Didn't you just leave? Why are you back?"

Clearly, this pitiful man hiding here could no longer differentiate time. Although it was already the middle of the night, his memory was still stuck in the same state from this afternoon.

The priest quietly whispered: "Burn the castle. Remember.....after killing the Duke, you must burn the castle. Don't listen to the witchdoctor. Must burn. Only fire can save the dead."

And underground in a place no one could see, the witchdoctor secretly snickered: "The body has already been dead for more than three days. Even gods can't wake it up."

KK has something to say:

Miss Yang Shu is actually a big softy. Love her.