Interrogation

Li Shiming shook his head and took out several copper wires, connecting one end to the needles.

Then he stood behind Big Beard, making sure Big Beard could not see what he was doing.

He sent the other ends of the copper wires into the Server Room Space and connected them to the output terminal of the Uninterruptible Power Supply.

His movements intensified Big Beard's pain, and Big Beard's screams grew even louder.

Li Shiming gave a cold laugh. With his consciousness, he controlled the Uninterruptible Power Supply inside the Server Room Space, making the output terminal connected to the copper wires release a high-voltage current.

Big Beard's screams suddenly stopped. It was not because the pain had ceased. On the contrary, the pain had been magnified to an indescribable degree.

High-voltage electricity, at least in the secular world, had never appeared before.

Connecting high-voltage electricity to pain nerves produced a pain no one in this world had ever tasted.

The high-voltage current Li Shiming released lasted only two seconds, but those two seconds felt to Big Beard like a long journey through hell.

When the high-voltage current stopped, all that remained of Big Beard was his heavy, ragged breathing.

Big Beard hated the strength of his own body a little. Otherwise, he should have passed out long ago.

Even if he died, he never wanted to experience what he had just felt again.

"I'll confess!" he opened his mouth wide and forced out two words.

Li Shiming had been thinking of giving him another round, only for Big Beard to prove so useless that he could not withstand even a single shock.

Li Shiming was straightforward as well, casually pulling out all the needles stuck in Big Beard's body.

He was not worried that Big Beard would refuse to talk. Reporting to the authorities would have to wait until tomorrow morning, and he had the whole night to interrogate him slowly.

Of course, there was another reason he had removed the needles.

He had found several papers on lie detection. Through his five senses, the IBMz15 Mainframe could analyze and judge Big Beard's heartbeat, micro-expressions, pupils, and other aspects, thereby determining whether Big Beard was lying.

"My name is Pei Xinlu!" Big Beard finally recovered somewhat and first gave his name.

After saying his name, he looked at Li Shiming's expression and found that Li Shiming showed no reaction at all. He knew Li Shiming had no idea who the name belonged to.

He had thought Li Shiming was also a martial artist. If he was a martial artist, he would definitely have heard of him, one of the ten great experts of Central Capital.

"I came under the orders of Lord Li Wenfeng to take your head!" Big Beard concealed nothing, nor did he dare to. Li Shiming's methods had terrified him.

"What office does Li Wenfeng hold?" Li Shiming asked when he noticed Big Beard referring to Li Wenfeng as Lord Li.

"He is Prince Shun's Estate Steward." Big Beard said everything he should and should not have said. He gave up thinking and answered whatever Li Shiming asked.

No matter how unfamiliar Li Shiming was with Great Xia's situation, he still knew some important information.

Prince Shun was the third prince, and also an important contender for the throne. Prince Shun's Estate Steward was a third-rank official.

Although Prince Shun's Estate Steward did not have as much power as the prefect of Nanling Prefecture, his rank was a full two levels higher. If Prince Shun could become emperor, the future of this Prince Shun's Estate Steward could even lead straight into the Grand Secretariat.

When Li Shiming thought of Li Wenfeng's name, he could not help thinking of his father, Li Wenyuan. Both of them bore the surname Li and belonged to the Wen generation.

"Watch him. Report to the authorities tomorrow morning!" He turned and left the room, instructing the guards.

The next morning, the Court of Judicial Review took over the case. Li Shiming received Lord Hu, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, at home.

"Greetings, Uncle Hu!" In the reception hall, Li Shiming bowed with the courtesy of a junior.

The reason he called him Uncle Hu was that this Lord Hu, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, was one of the good friends Li Wenyuan had instructed him to visit.

"Brother Li has raised a fine son. At such a young age, you've already become a Juren and are about to take the Great Examination!" Lord Hu said with a smile, helping Li Shiming up.

"It was only a stroke of heavenly luck!" Li Shiming said modestly.

"Since we're family, I'll speak frankly with you. This Pei Xinlu has quite a reputation in Central Capital. Someone able to invite him to act is backed by a force that will be very difficult to shake. I hope you won't be too impulsive. After this incident, no one will dare make a move against you again!" Lord Hu lowered his voice and said.

Li Shiming already knew who the force behind it was, but he did not say it.

He had his own thoughts. If he truly had no strength to truss a chicken, then he would indeed need the government's help.

But he could barely be considered a Cultivator. Dealing with secular people was not difficult. Even if the other side was powerful, they could not withstand a single Talisman.

Of course, he also understood the meaning behind Lord Hu's words. Pei Xinlu's crime could be settled, but digging any deeper would be difficult.

"My father told me that if I ran into Trouble in Central Capital, I should seek Uncle Hu's help. I'll listen to you!" Li Shiming said with a smile.

"Good. Since you trust me, I'll do my best to help you!" Lord Hu relaxed and promised with a smile.

He had had no choice but to come this time. After hearing that Li Shiming had been attacked, everyone in the Court of Judicial Review, from the lower-ranking officials to the minister himself, had felt their scalps nearly explode.

Although Li Shiming was only a Juren, he was a fifteen-year-old Juren, and the matter had already reached the emperor's ears.

With the level of Li Shiming's essays in the Autumn Examination, as long as he did not make a major mistake in the Great Examination, he would definitely become a presented scholar.

Moreover, many officials in Central Capital knew that if Li Shiming became a presented scholar, his ranking would certainly be extremely high, because the emperor liked auspicious signs. A real, tangible auspicious sign like this was something no chief examiner could possibly ignore.

Leaving all that aside, Li Wenyuan's connections in Central Capital also directly influenced the Court of Judicial Review's attitude.

Lord Hu's purpose in coming personally was that, regardless of how the case progressed, he had to calm Li Shiming down and make sure nothing happened to this person who was extremely likely to become an auspicious sign at the start of the coming year.

In addition, there was something Lord Hu did not say: the Court of Judicial Review had roughly guessed who the mastermind was.

Whether or not the Court of Judicial Review had evidence, they would warn the other party. If anything happened to Li Shiming in Central Capital before the Great Examination, it would be causing Trouble for the Court of Judicial Review.

After seeing Lord Hu off, Li Shiming summoned Steward Zhang.

"Young Master!" Steward Zhang bowed and saluted.

"Do you know Li Wenfeng? Tell me about him!" Li Shiming asked.

The reason he asked Steward Zhang first was that he had no other connections in Central Capital. If he wanted to investigate, he could only start with his own household.

When Steward Zhang heard the name, hesitation appeared on his face.

"Can you not speak of it?" Li Shiming asked again in a low voice.

"Young Master, Li Wenfeng is your Second Uncle, but Master cut ties with that side years ago!" Steward Zhang had no choice but to answer.

This news greatly shocked Li Shiming. He had considered many possibilities, but he did not expect Li Wenfeng to be Original Body's Second Uncle.

A biological uncle hiring an assassin to kill his nephew—looked like he had stumbled into a grand clan's ethical melodrama.

Li Shiming was not troubled by being in the middle of it. Instead, he viewed it from the lofty perspective of an onlooker.

Because he was a cultivator, he would transcend the mundane sooner or later. On top of that, the feelings he had inherited from Original Body were only toward his father, Li Wenyuan, and not toward this Second Uncle.