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Outside the interrogation room, the Explosion Squad members, who had already grown accustomed to Li Yao's screams, all felt their lower bodies tighten. They instinctively bent over and pressed their legs together.

They did not actually know what the Third Hokage had done to Li Yao inside.

But those piercing screams still triggered an instinctive reaction from their bodies.

It was clear that the pain of that "stimulation" was not something an ordinary person could endure.

Bang!

Inside the interrogation room, Li Yao lay on the torture bed. He had forcefully raised his head, trying to tighten the bandages around his neck and suffocate himself to death. Yet before the sensation of suffocation could arrive, he passed out from the pain. The back of his head slammed heavily against the bed, his blood-red eyes rolled back, tears of blood streaming from them.

"Illusion Technique - Dark Walking Technique."

The Third Hokage was truly ruthless, unwilling to miss even the slightest opportunity to invade Li Yao's Chakra.

Every time Li Yao passed out from unbearable pain, his Illusion Technique - Dark Walking Technique would be cast right on cue.

This time was no exception.

Of course, as expected, this attempt to invade with illusion Chakra failed once again.

But unlike before, the Third Hokage was no longer calm this time.

He frowned, a trace of hesitation flashing through his gaze as he looked at Li Yao's vacant face.

Even the pain of this kind of "stimulation" could not make this guy's consciousness collapse. Could more torture really work?

Yet aside from continuing the torture until his consciousness collapsed and could no longer resist the invasion of his illusion Chakra, the Third Hokage could not think of any other way to obtain this guy's memories and acquire the improved Spirit Transformation Technique.

"Continue. I refuse to believe anyone can endure endlessly escalating pain."

Very quickly, the Third Hokage's gaze hardened. There was no other way—only the path of mental collapse remained.

"Water Style - Water Shock Wave."

"Hmm?"

After a blast of Water Style, Li Yao, who would normally have awakened, did not wake up this time. The Third Hokage's brow furrowed slightly. Then his eyes flashed and his expression shifted. He sent another three Water Style attacks at him. The water in the entire interrogation room rose to his knees, yet Li Yao still showed no sign of waking.

"His body has developed a stronger self-protection mechanism!"

The Third Hokage's eyes lit up. His pain torture was working.

Previously, Li Yao would also pass out from excessive pain, but a blast of Water Style would wake him.

This time, several Water Style attacks had hit him, yet Li Yao showed no signs of waking at all. This meant Li Yao's mind could no longer bear the pain of that stimulation and had begun strongly refusing to take control of his body's senses.

This showed that the physical pain had inflicted even more severe damage upon Li Yao's mind.

The Third Hokage believed that if this continued, Li Yao's mind would collapse sooner or later.

"I'll spare you for tonight. But if you think refusing to wake up will let you escape your fate, you're far too naive."

"You will wake up eventually. And when you do, that will be the beginning of your greatest suffering."

After glancing at Li Yao on the bed, the Third Hokage gave a faintly mysterious smile, then packed up and left.

Once outside the interrogation room, the Third Hokage specifically instructed Ran not to treat Li Yao's injuries tonight.

In the middle of the night.

Li Yao woke up.

He had no choice but to wake up.

He was awakened by waves of indescribable pain coming from below his abdomen.

Extreme pain could cause Li Yao's self-protection mechanism to activate and knock him unconscious, but a weakened form of that extreme pain could also wake him from unconsciousness.

The pain now was clearly not as severe as when the Third Hokage had acted.

Yet it still felt as though an invisible, long needle had been stabbed into him. That intense, lingering ache made Li Yao howl in agony all the same.

But Li Yao did not dare move his body at all. Even though his face was twisted with pain, he did not dare move even the slightest bit.

Because as long as his body shifted even a little, causing the slightest movement in his position, pain comparable to the long needle's stimulation would sweep over his cerebral cortex again.

Li Yao did not sleep the entire night.

The recurring pain from below his abdomen kept him awake even though he was exhausted.

Yet that was not the thing that tormented Li Yao the most.

What tormented and terrified him most was the increasingly heavy pressure within his body as the next day arrived. It told Li Yao that being unable to sleep from pain was not truly that frightening.

The passage where the blood at the wound had coagulated after the stimulation was like a sealed reservoir dam, with the constantly accumulating fluid increasing the burden on the sutured wound.

"Hiss..."

Li Yao sucked in a sharp breath. He had already lost count of how many times he had done so.

Whenever the pressure approached, his body's instinctive response would urge the wound to split open.

In an instant, pain as intense as if his flesh were being torn apart forced Li Yao to suck in a sharp breath with a twisted expression, barely managing to suppress the pressure again.

But just like a reservoir dam, if it did not release water, the water would only continue to rise until it eventually overflowed the dam.

Although Li Yao's face had already flushed crimson and twisted in agony as he tried to suppress the crushing pressure inside his body.

Faced with the ever-increasing pressure, Li Yao finally failed to hold on. The pressure within him exploded, bursting through the wounds that had been clotted and blocked by coagulated blood.

The built-up pressure was so immense that, like a bursting dam, it forced the wound wide open in an instant, viciously tearing apart the wound left by the long needle that had pierced through him last night.

"Ah...!"

In an instant, Li Yao's piercing screams rang out through the interrogation room once more.

But unlike last night, aside from the twisted agony on Li Yao's face, there was actually a faint, distorted sense of pleasure from the release of pressure.

The torment of pleasure and pain intertwined pushed Li Yao even closer to a mental breakdown.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Outside the interrogation room, the Explosion Squad members heard the impacts coming from the door. Every one of them turned pale, instinctively clamping their legs together as they looked toward the interrogation room in terror, then immediately turned away, not daring to look any longer.

They already knew what the Third Hokage had done to Li Yao last night.

They knew full well what the knocking sounds just now had been.

Even with their high tolerance for pain, merely imagining the excruciating agony Li Yao was suffering inside sent chills down their spines.

They had truly witnessed just how terrifying the old interrogation methods were.

The Explosion Squad members felt that way from imagination alone; one could only imagine how much pain Li Yao, the one actually enduring it, was in.

As expected, Li Yao fainted again.

Likewise, as expected, the genjutsu Chakra of "Genjutsu—Bringer-of-Darkness Technique" descended upon Li Yao.

In the corner to Li Yao's left, the Third Hokage revealed himself.

That bastard was truly sly. Today, he had caught Li Yao completely off guard; Li Yao had not noticed at all that the Third Hokage had slipped into the interrogation room long ago.

All so he could seize the moment Li Yao fainted and give it another try.

Of course, just as before, the genjutsu Chakra invasion failed again.

The Third Hokage was not annoyed. As long as it proved that physical torment was effective and could drive Li Yao into mental collapse, he would not give up.

He could take it slowly.

After tormenting him with pain, there would be itching, psychological terror, and all kinds of tortures targeting the body's senses.

When it came to torturing people, the Third Hokage, who had lived through the final years of the Warring States Period, was far more proficient than many current Anbu members.

He believed that as time passed, Li Yao's mind would inevitably crumble bit by bit.