Qin Siyang was not good at interrogations.
He was better at killing people.
"Unfortunately, killing people can't solve every problem."
He sat on a tree stump, looking at the scrawny young man suspended before him by hemp rope, and felt a little drained.
"I used to think killing people was a hassle. Now it seems not being able to kill them is even more of one."
To find somewhere completely secluded, Qin Siyang had carried the corpse-like young man through one alley after another before finally finding an abandoned courtyard.
A [Thief] Sequence Ability User needed to take things with his own hands to activate his skills. So before the scrawny young man woke up, Qin Siyang had carefully bound the fingers of each hand together, then tied both hands tightly together, and finally secured his arms before hanging him from an ancient tree that had died but had yet to break.
"Ten years since the Apocalypse arrived, and this tree is still standing despite being dead. That's no small feat."
Qin Siyang looked at the scrawny young man hanging from the tree, thoroughly satisfied.
He had also gathered tools such as hammers and nails from the abandoned warehouse nearby to assist with the interrogation.
Now everything seemed foolproof. All he needed was for the scrawny young man to wake up.
Yet half an hour passed, then an hour, then two hours, and the scrawny young man still hung there with his head lolling like a corpse, showing no signs of waking.
Qin Siyang grew increasingly uncertain. "Did I kill him with that punch?"
He held his hand beneath the young man's nose.
"He's still breathing. He should be fine." Qin Siyang sighed in relief, then curled his lip. "He really can't take a hit. I didn't even use my full strength, and he's been out cold for two hours."
As if he had heard Qin Siyang's contempt, the scrawny young man's head stirred twice.
"Finally awake."
Qin Siyang patted the young man's face. Once he saw him open his eyes, he sat back down on the stump.
The scrawny young man was still dizzy when he woke. He blinked hard several times before finally coming back to his senses.
He struggled a couple of times and discovered that he had been tied up and suspended in the air. Sitting before him was the eighteen- or nineteen-year-old boy who had attacked him!
His eyes immediately widened. "Who are you?! How dare you attack a Sequence Ability User!"
The moment the scrawny young man spoke, Qin Siyang felt somewhat reassured.
Fortunately, he sounded rather dim. Getting useful information out of him should not be difficult.
Who else could attack a Sequence Ability User? Another Sequence Ability User, of course!
Rather than answer, Qin Siyang took out his silver coin. "I'm the one who left this silver coin."
"You?! You dared to follow me?! Do you know who my uncle is?!"
"Who is your uncle?"
"Qian Wendao, chief of the Information Section at the Sequence Ability Management Bureau!"
Qin Siyang was completely dumbfounded.
Huh?
It's going this smoothly?
Wasn't this scrawny young man supposed to endure everything and refuse to name the person behind him? Then I'd threaten and tempt him, finally get a false answer, and keep torturing him until I got the truth?
As soon as the scrawny young man opened his mouth, Qin Siyang had known he was dim.
But he had never expected him to be this dim.
Qin Siyang sighed. "Your uncle must have spent eight lifetimes earning the blessing of a nephew like you."
Sensing that Qin Siyang was not complimenting him, the scrawny young man frowned. "What do you mean?!"
"Exactly what I said."
Then Qin Siyang reconsidered. Something felt off.
If this scrawny young man was so brainless, how had nobody spotted him collecting the silver coins before?
Even a cunning woman like Roylena, whose every word was a lie, had been unable to track him down?
Something's strange here.
Just then, the scrawny young man spoke again. "My uncle always collected the money himself before. He was busy today, so I picked it up for him while I was here. Let me go if you know what's good for you! If my uncle finds out, you'll pay for this!"
Oh.
Qin Siyang nodded.
Now it made sense.
Qian Wendao had always collected the silver coins himself. A section chief who had created a loophole in the Administration Bureau was certainly no pushover. He must have been extremely cautious, which was why he had never slipped up.
Today, a reckless novice had come instead, and Qin Siyang happened to catch him, exposing the whole thing.
Qin Siyang thought, Looks like I really do have a God watching over me. No, the Gods these days are all bizarre entities. I should say luck is on my side.
"Hurry up and let me go! Otherwise, I'll definitely tell my uncle!"
"You're so mouthy now. Why didn't you dare throw your weight around when your teammates were bullying you?"
"I... I couldn't be bothered arguing with them!"
Qin Siyang shook his head. "You were afraid you'd offend them and get kicked out of the team."
"All they could do was kick you out of the team, and you didn't dare say a single harsh word. I'm someone who might kill you, yet you still dare threaten me?"
Qin Siyang gave him a cold smile. "I really don't know how you've survived this long. Maybe it really is because you have a good uncle."
"You... you're going to kill me?!" The scrawny young man's eyes darted about, his expression visibly panicked.
He really had never considered that possibility. Qin Siyang's words stripped away all his earlier arrogance.
He realized that the boy before him might actually have killed people before!
"My uncle is Qian Wendao! If you kill me, he'll definitely avenge me!"
At the scrawny young man's words, Qin Siyang could no longer hold back and snorted with laughter.
"What are you laughing at?!"
"Didn't your uncle tell you what this silver coin was paying for?"
The scrawny young man swallowed. "No... but I know you must need my uncle to do something for you, so you gave him a silver coin as payment!"
Qin Siyang nodded. "An idiot, but not a complete idiot."
"Are you insulting me?"
Qin Siyang looked at the young man in his early twenties, his eyes filled with bewilderment.
He came from a good family, he was a Sequence Ability User, and he was several years older than Qin Siyang. How could he be so stupid?
Even Li Jingwen, that vicious and hopelessly foolish woman, was several times smarter than him.
Qin Siyang stood, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "I've heard your uncle isn't exactly honest when he does things for people. Even if I killed you, it would just be one crook turning on another. Understand?"
"Never mind. Get some more rest. I'm going to check whether you're telling the truth."
"Rest? I don't want to rest! Let me-"
Before the scrawny young man could finish, Qin Siyang punched him in the jaw again, knocking him unconscious.
"There's a ninety-nine percent chance this idiot is telling the truth."
"But just to be safe, I'll go to the [Aixico Virtual Chatroom] and verify that it's Qian Wendao before letting this idiot go."
Qin Siyang lowered the man from the tree, then carried him to an abandoned warehouse he had picked out beforehand to hold him.
Afterward, he returned to the tree and put aside the interrogation tools he had prepared earlier-the saw, hammer, nails, scissors, and so on.
"All that preparation, and I didn't get to use any of it."
Qin Siyang let out a wistful sigh.
"Fools really do have their own kind of luck."
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