Chapter 186- The Darkness of The Tower

Hearing what Liu Guanyi said, an expression of shock appeared on the village head's face.

"How… how did you figure it out?" He managed to squeeze those words after calming himself down.

"How did I figure you out that you are most likely some kind of members of a group that opposed the central government in the tower? It's pretty simple." Liu Guanyi smiled.

"First, as I have said before, we already have visited a human settlement in this region before. Since this is in the middle area, especially as it is considered the "outskirt", we know that the culture and traditions are likely to be different from the inner area."

"However, I didn't expect that it will be "that" different. Not only you guys are isolating yourselves and only trade among yourselves, and are quite unfriendly to regulars, or what you always call as "outsiders" instead."

"Secondly, even if you are very isolated, I don't think it's normal for your community and those who live around here to not even have pockets, the spherical item that I gave you earlier, to communicate. After all, even though it's rare, those outsiders do come here from time to time, right?" Liu Guanyi smiled.

"You might not know, but pockets are a necessity in the tower. Not having it means that you plan to live in a hard mode. Even if your community is isolated, you guys are still in the middle area, not the outer area. If you guys live in the outer area, I might give it a second consideration but since you guys are not, this whole situation and air in this place are…"

"Reek of abnormalities I have never found anywhere in the tower." Liu Guanyi emphasized his words with a cold tone.

Hearing the young man speak with a firm and cold voice as he stared into his eyes, questioning him, he couldn't help but gulp his saliva.

This young man was sharp!

Just by observing for a few minutes after they had arrived in his village and probably a couple of visits to some places in the region, he managed to get really close to what his forefathers tried to hide in many generations and had almost uncovered it!

"I don't know anything about the pockets, honored guests, really! As for being unfriendly with the outsiders, it was because there had been some tragic incidents back then involving the outsiders that slowly developed into our aversion against the outsiders!" The old man quickly responded with sweat trickling from his temples.

Listening to his answer, Liu Guanyi only smirked. "It seems that you still won't open up, huh? No need to be so worked up yet, old man, I still have even more to say." Making his face froze up in surprise as if the words "wait he still had more?" were plastered on his face.

"When I visited a small town, a few thousand kilometers away from here, quite a long distance from this village, I gave a merchant a pocket to communicate, just like you. When I was about to go, I told him he could keep it as a gift for helping us in our task. However, he was unexpectedly insistent of not accepting it, despite that it's pretty helpful for him as a merchant."

"And that really tells and pinpoints something, if you catch on, old man. Nobody would reject a gift that's so helpful for them, especially if you are a merchant who pursues profit. And his face at the time, gives out something just like your face, right now." Said Liu Guanyi with a calm, yet powerful voice.

"Now, tell me, old man, is there someone who controls the places in this region, preferably someone who already dealt with your ancestors and that is also an entity that was against the ten great families and the Zahard Empire, the central government of the tower? If not, the merchant wouldn't have done something like that, and don't tell me you didn't know about them or you know nothing at all."

"If you are still trying to lie or divert the questions by babbling about unrelated things, then we aren't going to ask you anymore." Liu Guanyi stopped to let his words sink in.

"Instead, what I am going to do is, since you have personally wasted our precious time, I am going to ask our questions to the villagers, beginning from your own precious two family members in the house."

Hearing the ultimatum, the village head became silent as his thoughts worked as fast as possible to think of a solution to the problem, giving a satisfying answer without endangering himself and his community.

Yet, after a few seconds of chilling silence, as the two guests stared at him intensely, coldly waiting for his answer and decision, he couldn't think of any solution, and with each more second passed, it could force them to take a drastic measure that would doom everyone in the village.

Knowing this, he had no choice, they had every single advantage in their favor. In fact, it was already pretty reasonable for them to not force their way immediately and asked him nicely.

"Alright, I will tell you everything you want, honored guests, but I do hope that you will keep your promise after hearing my story." He said with a sigh.

"Don't worry, we always keep our promise." Liu Guanyi said reassuringly. "As long as you explain everything without hiding any details, especially the history and connection of FUG in the region, we will let you go."

Hearing this, he didn't seem to be shocked anymore and only let out a soft sigh. "You are very observant, young man, how did you manage to find it out?"

"It's simple, the adults in here seem to recognize the symbol of the Zahard Empire pretty well, too well in fact, as once they see it, the expression on their faces tells what kind of story probably happened to them in the past by the Zahard Empire."

"Sigh… young people these days, becoming more and more terrifyingly smart and powerful. You even know that there are two people other than me in the house. Is this what outsiders like you can do?" Asked the village head.

"Something like that is merely a fraction of what we can do, old man. We are much more special than the common regulars you can find anywhere in the tower. When you saw us at the entrance of the village, the fate of everyone in the village is already sealed."

Liu Guanyi smiled. "So now, tell me everything, every secret that this place has."