83 If witness A doesn't squeal, get snitch B to

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!," Moka screamed as he underwent his sixth round of torture.

After having been found out to be a traitorous rat, the Zhen Clan elders have been trying to get him to confess on who had sent him. To this end they had tried all manner of torture methods ranging from snakes, to burning needles, to hornets, to waterboarding to...goats.

Several large goats...

Regardless, Moka had yet to crack after everything he had been through up till now, and was still being resistant even after the elders had made use of Electrocuting Bullet Ants to bite his skin. While the screaming was cathartic at first, it was now getting pointless.

Right now Zhen Long, the First Elder, and Zhen Jin, the Fifth Elder, just watched on with boredom until the former finally had enough of the screaming.

"Alright that's enough. Call them off Zhen Jin."

"Aye."

Zhen Jin produced a jade bottle with a rose design carved into it from his sleeves and proceeded to uncork it. The scent of roses soon filled the air for a moment, causing the Electrocuting Bullet Ants to stop biting and crawl off of Moka's body and into the jade bottle. Once the last of the ants were inside of the bottle, Zhen Jin proceeded to re-cork it.

With the lack of electrostimulating torture, Moka proceeded to stop screaming and flop against his restraints. He looked a bit like a burnt potato at this point, but his will was still surprisingly strong.

"Cough! fucking...piss...drinkers." Now that Moka wasn't being electrocuted by a swarm of aether ants, he insulted the Zhen Clan yet again...like the last five times.

"Okay, this is getting us nowhere eldest brother, can we just kill him now?!," Zhen Jin complained with a frustrated tone, "He's too loyal to whoever sent him and it's starting to creep me out! Unless we get an ally or companion of his soon, we're stuck."

Zhen Long let out a long sigh in agreement to his brother's statement. This farce had gone on far longer than they had anticipated.

"Ya know something Moka, it's almost... commendable but how stoic you are against all of this torture," Zhen Long praised, "Almost admirable to a fault."

"Heh, thanks...'First Elder'...," Moka mocked, "It's why...I was...your father's...right hand."

"Yes, and now you're here. A filthy traitor," Zhen Long growled, "no...I don't think you were loyal in the first place. Better to say a filthy spy getting what he deserves!"

"Hah! Better...a spy...than a...invasive pest."

*Bam!*

At this last insult, Zhen Long slammed his fist into a table before using it to grab Moka by the neck, a fierce pale blue aura coming off of him. The ground at his feet began to freeze from how rapidly he was circulating his aether.

As Zhen Long stared into the former butler's eyes with bloodlust in his own, all he saw was mocking condescension.

"Do it! You'll never get a word from me you filthy-"

"Look out below!"

"Huh?"

*BAM!*

"GAH! What-who is that?!," Zhen Jin exclaimed.

"Please handle me with ca-wait is this a torture chamber?!," a man half-sealed in ice complained.

"What the what?"

"You?!"

Just as Moka was about to make sure Zhen Long turned him into a blood splatter and a curse that would definitely needed to be cleaned up later, the source of his current predicament came bounding down the stairs, accompanied by a half frozen man...one that he unfortunately recognized.

'Oh no.'

"Zhen Liu? What are you doing here? Who's that?," Zhen Long asked while still holding Moka in a death grip. He may have been about to murder someone, but he still had time to address his nephew. Especially since he showed up with a half frozen prisoner.

Not one to forget his manners, Zhen Liu quickly cupped his hands in greetings.

"First Uncle, Fifth Uncle," Zhen Liu quickly addressed, "wait...ain't today supposed to be Third Uncle's job to torture Moka?"

"Hangover."

"Ah."

"Xiao Liu...what's with the iced man?," Zhen Jin asked while gesturing towards the aforementioned iced man, who was trying to break himself free. It was mildly pointless, but the action made him feel better.

"Well...it's like this," Zhen Liu began. He then told his two uncles about how he found this neat orb thing inside of the mechanical centisnake head, but then almost got robbed by the dude in the ice block. Luckily for Zhen Liu, he had noticed in time.

"Thankfully one of my puppets was close enough to nail the thief with an art, and so here we are," Zhen Liu finished with a flourish while spreading his arms open like a showman, "by the way, that aforementioned orb is with Jin Fang right now

We're gonna bring it to the patriarch to figure out what it is."

"Okay...," Zhen Jin nodded, "why didn't you just kill this guy? Why bring him here?"

"Eep."

"Well I was about to...," Zhen Liu began to answer, "but, I figured it would be better if I brought him here so he could be tortured for information. He looks like a squealer and I'm pretty sure y'all could use someone a bit more...compliant? You could probably get away with just putting his nuts in a literal vice."

The iced man paled further when he heard what the Fourth Young Master said. He had expected the young man to be as lackadaisy as the rumors and information said, not unusually cruel like this.

When Zhen Jin heard Zhen Liu's suggestion, a dark smile formed on his face.

"Huh...you know... that actually does sound cathartic. Although, I could also make use of some-"

"Please don't torture me! I'll tell you whatever you need to know," the iced man suddenly screamed like a bitch, "I-I'll even tell you what I know about him a-and who we work for!"

The iced man used his one free hand to form a finger and point at Moka. The three Zhen clansmen and Moka all looked shocked at this statement. Zhen Long was about to brush off the man's statement, but noticed that Moka looked a bit more...nervous and agitated when the iced man said what he said. Looks like the iced man wasn't lying.

Zhen Long changed the focus of his gazed from Zhen Liu to the iced man, steeling it as he did.

"What do you mean by that?"

"L-like I said! Moka and I work for the same guy."

Zhen Jin stared on in disbelief at the this confirmation.

"Well godsdammit...guess we got out information."