Soul Torture

In the dim stairwell, two men stood silently.

www..co

M

In the darkest corner of the stairwell, an even quieter Orange Cat crouched.

The two men and the cat remained completely motionless.

Like stone statues.

Gu Shen vaguely remembered someone calling his name.

Then he had turned around uncontrollably and met that person's gaze.

When he woke again, he was here.

"So dark..."

Above, below, left, and right was a chaotic darkness. He could see nothing.

Where was this?

It felt familiar—somewhat like the Awakening of Insects Dream Realm, yet not entirely the same.

He lowered his head to look at his palms, but all he saw was drifting mist. His consciousness remained, but his physical body no longer had substance...

"This is Han Dang's 'dream.'"

A ball of white light slowly condensed, becoming the sole ray of light within the darkness.

The so-called white light was not Chu Ling herself, but an oil-paper lantern she held in her hand. It looked steeped in ancient charm, making her resemble an exorcist girl from a comic book. The flame in the lantern illuminated the darkness in every direction, dispersing the mist.

"Just Now, Han Dang used the most direct method possible to pull you into a dream."

Chu Ling raised the lantern, illuminating the shadowy end in the distance—

Gu Shen saw another version of himself sitting in a narrow chair, bound tightly in iron chains, his head hanging low. This was a dream world, where everything was created according to Mental Power... Clearly, Han Dang was the ruler of this world.

"Pulled me into a dream..."

Gu Shen found himself unable even to clench his fist. The sense of strength within him was gradually fading, and he felt like a tuft of willow down that would scatter with the slightest breeze.

"Your Mental Power isn't strong enough to resist Dream Weaving by someone at Han Dang's level," Chu Ling said. "But at the last moment, I formed a Mental Link with you and forcibly retained a strand of your consciousness. So... you haven't completely sat down in that chair yet."

She pursed her lips toward it.

Looking at that chair, Gu Shen felt a wave of oppression in his chest.

Simply staring at the other him sitting there with his head lowered immediately filled him with an overwhelming sense of helplessness.

"What will happen if I sit down?"

"Once you sit down, you'll lose control over your own consciousness." Chu Ling lowered her voice. "Within Han Dang's dream, your soul cannot conceal anything or deceive anyone. He'll obtain every piece of information he wants to know... Because Luo Er and Zhong Wei were protecting you at close range, he originally had no chance to approach you. Who would've thought that leaving Da Teng City this time would end up backfiring?"

Gu Shen pondered this. "So... I still retain the last sliver of autonomy over my consciousness."

"That's right. He can't detect or sever my Mental Link." Chu Ling spoke slowly. "The situation isn't looking good. If Han Dang only interrogates you, your consciousness shouldn't suffer too much damage."

Gu Shen sharply caught the ominous implication.

"What if... it's more than just an interrogation?" His heart skipped a beat. "What if he tortures me?"

"No matter who it is, getting hit hurts. If he tortures you... it'll depend on whether you can endure it."

After thinking for a moment, Chu Ling said, "Even if you can endure it... you'll probably be beaten half to death, with your consciousness severely damaged."

"What if I can't endure it?"

Gu Shen's right eyelid began twitching violently.

"People can die in dreams created through Dream Weaving... Even a shallow dream doesn't mean absolute safety." Chu Ling lowered her eyes. "If your consciousness collapses, you may become an uncontrolled one, or you may simply die. That depends on what Han Dang wants."

Just as he'd expected... Contact with Han Dang basically meant being pulled into a dream. He might evade it once, but not forever.

This feeling was awful.

He had no room to fight back at all.

After being subjected to Han Dang's Dream Weaving and entering this dream, he was a fish on the chopping block.

"Fortunately, according to the files, Han Dang isn't the type who likes to resort to violence... And we can infer that he doesn't want to expose himself yet." Chu Ling said, "Do you remember that incomplete recording? Han Dang deliberately erased the memories of those security personnel at the fire scene. His investigation in Da Teng City this time is being conducted in secret underground, and he doesn't want anyone to know."

"So all I can hope for is... that he'll only interrogate me later and won't torture me." Gu Shen stared at the Suit Man, gritting his teeth. "That bastard wouldn't be so shameless, would he?"

Actually, if it really came to torture, that would still be manageable.

Gu Shen didn't believe Han Dang would dare kill him here.

What gave Gu Shen more of a headache was how he would deal with the coming "interrogation"...

Interrogation! Another interrogation!

Within Han Dang's dream, he was unable to lie.

He was definitely going to ask about the details of the Fire Disaster Case. Maybe he already suspected that his Transcendent Ability did not exist at all... If he lost control and revealed the truth, everything would be over.

Han Dang straightened his tie and smoothed the wrinkles in his suit.

He looked down at the pitiful boy in the chair and snapped his fingers.

A torrent of cold water appeared out of thin air and crashed down, drenching Gu Shen from head to toe.

The Mental Link broke at that instant—

Gu Shen jolted awake. Bone-deep cold flooded over him. He raised his head to look at Han Dang, his face filled with "panic."

"Gu Shen, the 'S' in whom Zhou Jiren placed such high hopes."

Han Dang spoke softly. "I've always been curious—just how exceptional was the genius worth protecting at all costs, even with an Amnesty Decree? But now that I've seen you today, I'm disappointed."

"Judging by the bloodstains on the rooftop, the power you awakened should be a Mental Affinity Transcendent Ability, right?"

Han Dang crouched down until he was level with Gu Shen and said blandly, "But your Mental Power is far too weak... You couldn't resist my Dream Weaving at all. You didn't even have the slightest awareness of resistance."

"..."

Gu Shen opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but he could not force out a single word.

"'I don't understand what you're talking about.'" Han Dang smiled. "That should be what you want to say... Yet when the words reach your lips, you simply cannot say them, no matter what..."

"How does that feel?"

Gu Shen stared at Han Dang in shock.

The Suit Man spread open his arms, and his voice suddenly became as imposing as a god's!

"My dream domain... is called 'Truth'!"

Han Dang's figure abruptly scattered. His suit turned into flying sand, his voice into wind. Sand and wind swept through every corner of the dark dreamscape.

"Here, what I say is truth. No matter who enters the dream, within the Truth Domain, no one can lie."

The next moment, he suddenly appeared beside Gu Shen and raised one hand, as though touching something... A ghastly pale lamp lit up in the darkness, its light shining down on Gu Shen and making him look even more like a prisoner.

"We shall meet... in our truest forms."

Han Dang stepped backward as if he had stumbled by accident. His body instantly crumbled to ash and fell into the boundless darkness.

The next moment, the flying sand gathered five paces in front of Gu Shen. The man landed neatly in a comfortable high-backed chair, without the slightest trace of embarrassment—only elegance and composure.

He casually rested both elbows on the armrests.

The ghastly pale light revealed the object separating them.

It was a cold, jet-black long table.

This place had completely transformed into an interrogation room, with walls slowly emerging all around them.

"What a pity, boy who loves acting—you ran into me." Han Dang stared into Gu Shen's eyes, expressionless. "I watched the interrogation footage from the A-009 incident. You'd been playing dumb since then, hadn't you?"

A hoarse rasp came from Gu Shen's throat.

He could not speak. He could not deny it.

"Don't struggle. It's useless."

Seeing this, Han Dang smiled.

"Next... I will subject you to Soul Torture."