The young henchman sniffed twice, strode into the inner room of the interrogation room, and swiftly severed the two hand puppets.
The Deadwood Vine, deprived of nutrients, quickly dried up, while two new Deadwood Vine puppets soon sprouted from the [ Shit Appraisal Master's] wrist. One of them removed its hat and bowed.
"Hello everyone, I am Investigator II."
The other hand puppet, which wasn't wearing a hat, was bowing with its hand on its chest.
"Hello everyone, I'm the second unlucky guy being interrogated."
The interrogator sighed at the comical scene and gave an order to the two men beside him:
"Go cut off his hand."
One of his subordinates immediately looked surprised:
"My lord, isn't this inappropriate? What if he really isn't colluding with the Blood Corpse, but is actually an envoy from some Holy See?"
The interrogator waved his hand impatiently:
"Cut it off first, why are you worrying about a person in a vegetative state? Don't you see how quickly his wound heals? If it really doesn't grow back, I'll personally pay for a prosthetic leg for him."
Upon hearing this, the young subordinate didn't say anything more, exchanged a glance with another subordinate, and entered the inner room of the interrogation room to begin the torture.
Both hands were severed from the wrists, and the flesh that was not yet completely dead, along with the puppets attached to them, twitched continuously, as if they were two little people who had been cut in half at the waist but were not quite dead yet.
[ The Shit Appraisal Master ] also provided the two villains with their final line of dialogue:
"Ouch, that hurts!"
Looking at this abstract scene, the interrogator suddenly began to question the meaning of life and wanted to check his watch to see how much time was left before he got off work.
He rubbed his face with both hands to hide his out-of-control expression; he didn't want to do this awful job today.
Thousands of miles away, Ed looked at the somewhat blurry scene before him and suddenly felt much better.
With the barrier of the Wilderness of Chaos, and given that he was only a Middle Tier Low Level, the real-time visuals and audio for the other players were no longer very clear.
Even though it went from high-definition Blu-ray to 720p, Ed could still sense the despair of the three interrogators from the slightly blurry color blocks.
A tough guy, a stand-up comedian, and a puppeteer are putting on a benefit performance in three interrogation rooms of a prison.
The interrogation lasted an hour, and the three men failed to utter a single meaningful word.
Ed knew the three players were already in a playful mood, and could only hope that Gray would be more reliable and clear up the misunderstanding with the Graycast Corridor officials as soon as possible.
A well-trained traveling merchant should be reliable, right?
Gray's current body was mostly sculpted by Ed, so he can naturally synchronize his perspective with Ed's.
The scene shifts, Ed sees an interrogation room that is slightly brighter than the other three.
Standing before Gray was a scarred interrogator whose aura was noticeably more terrifying.
"I'm the warden here, you'd better tell the truth."
The merchant cleared his throat and said:
"This is a very complicated story, and I want to emphasize one thing before we begin."
"What?"
Gray looked at Bennett in the wheelchair:
"He is the chief engineer of the Antasia, not some so-called stolen goods!"
How do you prove it?
There's a short lever on the back of the wheelchair; pull it and he'll admit it.
Ed cut off the view and covered his face with his hands.
Damn it, Gray seems to have caught it.
Even though the only viewer had left the live stream, Gray, oblivious to this, continued recounting his experience.
The scribe, whose hands had been specially modified, wrote with lightning speed, striving to record every word Gray uttered.
Even though many details have been omitted, Gray's narration continued uninterrupted for ten minutes.
After Gray finished speaking, the two clerks quickly took out small bottles of lubricant they carried with them and began to maintain the structure on their hands.
Both of them had a premonition that if they continued to work at this intensity, it wouldn't be long before they would have to go through the process of filing for work-related injury compensation.
The scarred man had listened intently from beginning to end, and seeing that Gray had stopped speaking, he summarized:
"You encountered Corpse Tide during your last journey, and after surviving by sheer luck, you were taken in by this ' Second Holy See ' for a while. They even helped you rebuild your body, repaired your fortress, and were willing to sell us food?"
"That's right, exactly."
Gray nodded.
The scarred man sighed:
"Yes, that's exactly it. It's just too wonderful, which is why I think you've been bewitched by the Blood Corpse who are skilled at creating illusions."
"This is impossible, sir. If this is true, how do you explain the grain, and those three messengers..."
"Those three messengers might also be puppets with limited control, and the food might be faked made of flesh and blood. However, I have already had the interrogators secretly collect their body samples for testing, and the results will be available soon."
After recounting his experience, Gray took a couple of breaths and then said:
"I suggest you don't torture those three people. They really are members of the Tree Worship Church and are on our side. You'll have to apologize once the misunderstanding is cleared up."
This time, the scarred interrogator actually nodded:
"Don't worry, I've assigned three of my most composed interrogators to question them. They'll only use simple intimidation tactics before officially confirming their identities, and the sample collection won't be too painful. Hopefully, your friends will be mentally strong enough to handle it."
I see. Well, let's hope the three interrogators can pass the test of mental fortitude.
Gray silently lamented for the three interrogators who were on the verge of breaking down, then looked at the interrogator in front of him:
"Where is my process at? When will I be released?"
The scarred man said coldly:
"It's not that simple. First, we need to find your last performance report to confirm the existence of the Second Holy See. If you've truly fallen into an unknowing illusion, then the content of your last report might also be something you've imagined."
"After all, the Blood Corpse hadn't revived a few months ago, so you had almost no chance of being bewitched back then."
"Secondly, the notary public in your area will provide you with identification. He's on his way, Bobby. You should remember him, right?"
"Third, your relatives also need to personally verify your identity. I have already sent someone to notify your uncle and wife."
"Fourth, we also need to confirm this vampire count..."
"Chief Engineer."
"We need to find out exactly what's going on with this chief engineer... Don't you know your own limitations? If the Earl were so easy to capture, they would have been extinct long ago. In the end, I think he's the one who's been bewitched."
Scarface sighed as he finished speaking:
"So, everyone is willing to believe you, but your experience is, in a sense, even more miraculous than a resurrection, which is why they are so wary..."
"I understand, then I'll wait."
Gray knew that his interrogator had no reason to lie to him, so he began to sit in silence with him.