Chapter 87: Interrogation

As Chen Ling cut his own face open, Winter Harbor became so quiet that only the sound of the wind remained.

For some reason, looking at Chen Ling’s sliced face and that faint smile, everyone felt a sense of hair-raising dread...

“...That’s enough.” The Sixth-Rank Law Enforcer finally spoke, “Take him to the room to treat his wounds first, and prepare for questioning.”

The two Law Enforcers breathed a sigh of relief. They helped Chen Ling and walked straight toward a small house not far away.

This small house was clearly requisitioned temporarily, probably a private residence of some family, cramped and dim.

Chen Ling was helped inside and sat on the edge of the bed. After the two Law Enforcers brought him gauze and medicine, they told him to wait here... Chen Ling heard them push the door and leave, but they didn’t go far, instead guarding outside the door.

Chen Ling simply applied medicine to his face and wrapped it with two layers of gauze, then didn’t bother with it anymore.

After all, for him, who possessed 【Faceless】, the face was just a consumable. As long as he tore off this layer of skin, he would still have a perfect, flawless face.

Over the next half hour, four or five groups of people came one after another.

Some were Law Enforcers, some were politicians from Aurora City, and others were of unknown origin, but they were likely big shots in Aurora City...

They asked about the process and details of the incident over and over again, especially the deaths of Yan Xicai and Lu Xuanming.

Chen Ling directly pushed the blame for Yan Xicai’s death onto Jian Changsheng; as for Lu Xuanming’s death, he pushed it onto No. 8.

Strictly speaking, Chen Ling didn’t actually lie; he just omitted some details and made the actions of some characters misaligned.

Even if these people entered the Ancient Treasury again and searched the crime scene thoroughly, they would find almost no flaws, unless they entered the abyss at the bottom of the cliff and found the District 1 Law Enforcer corpses he had thrown down.

But even if they found them, their faces had been disfigured by Chen Ling, and with their bodies smashed into meat paste, it was almost impossible to confirm their identities.

Soon, the Law Enforcers received more news:

They found an empty K18 train in a warehouse near Winter Harbor, suspected of having been fused with some kind of sacrificial vessel.

This discovery further corroborated Chen Ling’s testimony that the Fire-Tampers had indeed completed the face-swapping by attacking the train... The K18 train connected the seven major districts, and a train that didn’t exist in the archives picking up District 1 Law Enforcers at the starting station would basically not arouse suspicion. Moreover, the Fire-Tampers had cleaned the train too thoroughly, leaving no clues at all.

As for whether it was possible that other districts had been swapped... no one suspected it at all, because Chen Ling had no reason to lie about this, and the fact that he himself had ridden the train and hadn’t been replaced was the best evidence.

“...So, is the interrogation over?” Chen Ling rubbed his eyes wearily, “When can I go back?”

“Should be soon.” A Law Enforcer guarding the door answered hesitantly.

“Should be?”

“After all, this is the first time such a serious trial accident has occurred, and the implications are too great... Besides, the Star Chamber of Commerce and that Seventh-Rank Law Enforcer are not to be trifled with. They originally hoped their successors would go through the trial and step onto the divine path, but they all died inside... Tell me, can they just let it go?”

Hearing this, Chen Ling’s frown deepened, “What does that have to do with me? It was the Fire-Tampers who killed them.”

“But the Fire-Tampers are all dead too.” The Law Enforcer said meaningfully, “Everyone died, but only you survived... If they want revenge on the Fire-Tampers, they can only start with you, trying to find more clues.”

“But I’ve said everything I know.”

“What if you hid something? These big families always have ways to make people spit out everything they know, and can even reconstruct everything you’ve seen... Only then will they feel at ease.

Of course, after doing this, most people are either dead or crazy...”

Chen Ling’s heart sank.

If those people in Aurora City really used such methods on him, wouldn’t everything be exposed?

“Doesn’t that count as using lynching? Do the Law Enforcers not care?”

“It counts, yes... This is strictly prohibited by Aurora City... But tell me, among these Law Enforcers and Law Enforcer officers, who is willing to go against them? If they want to take you away, who dares to stop them?”

Chen Ling fell silent.

At this moment, the Law Enforcer seemed to realize he had talked too much and quickly explained, “Brother, I was just saying... It’s not certain yet.”

Chen Ling didn’t respond. He suddenly remembered that the group of people who had repeatedly asked him about the details of Yan Xicai and Lu Xuanming’s deaths had all looked somewhat gloomy after asking...

【Audience Expectation +5】

A bad premonition surged in his heart. He closed the door and began to think in the room: if someone really wanted to take him away, how could he break the situation?

Run?

With so many Law Enforcers surrounding the place, where could he run?

Just then, a low conversation came from outside the door, and immediately after, the door of the house was pushed open.

Outside the door was a man in black. He wasn’t wearing the standard Law Enforcer trench coat, but a fabric that was expensive and warm. He was followed by two Law Enforcers, one of whom was the one who had just spoken to Chen Ling, looking at Chen Ling with full sympathy.

“Law Enforcer Chen Ling.” The leading man said slowly, “Come with me.”

“Where to?”

“Aurora City.”

Chen Ling frowned, “Who are you? Why should I go to Aurora City?”

“Who I am is not important. What’s important is... you must come with me today.” The man’s gaze tightened, and a terrifying pressure was released from his body, submerging Chen Ling like a tsunami!

A phantom of a divine path appeared—it was a divine path Chen Ling had seen not long ago... the Path of the Book God.

Compared to the other person, Chen Ling’s current mental force was vastly inferior. Undoubtedly, the other person’s rank was above the Fourth Rank, but not yet at the Fifth Rank, because compared to the aura of that Fifth-Rank Law Enforcer, there was still a gap.

If nothing went wrong, this person was the manpower sent by the Star Chamber of Commerce or that Seventh-Rank Law Enforcer.

Because kidnapping Chen Ling was technically a violation of Aurora City’s regulations, they couldn’t directly send Law Enforcers to take action and could only use some experts outside the system. And this possessor of the Path of the Book God in front of him was clearly their person.

“What if I refuse?” Chen Ling said word by word.