Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Eighth Rank Martial Artist Chen Fei was briefly stunned, then said, "I couldn’t get anything out of them. They just claimed they drank too much and lost control... My lord, is there something wrong?"
Gu Zhan nodded slightly, saying, "I’ve thought back carefully to what happened that day. Those thugs only came into the tavern after I entered. They hadn’t drunk as much as I had before they started acting crazy—and all three went mad at the same time, conveniently deciding they didn’t like me. It’s too much of a coincidence."
Chen Fei’s brows furrowed. He said, "My lord suspects they were deliberately targeting you?"
Gu Zhan nodded lightly, saying, "I suspect someone was pulling strings behind the scenes. Otherwise, just a few thugs—even if they didn’t know who I was—wouldn’t dare try to kill someone."
Chen Fei said in a deep voice, "Then I’ll interrogate them again."
"I’ll go in person," Gu Zhan said.
With that, Gu Zhan picked up his Horizontal Saber and left the room.
Chen Fei hurried to follow.
...
The dungeon of Linjiang Prefecture, under the direct jurisdiction of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. After Gu Zhan entered and revealed his identity, the jailers quickly brought those thugs to the interrogation chamber.
Gu Zhan walked through a dark, narrow corridor and entered the interrogation room,
The prison, already chilly and grim, suddenly felt stiflingly hot.
For in the interrogation room a blazing charcoal fire burned, and all kinds of red-hot torture implements—branding irons, iron brushes, bamboo sticks, whips—were all at hand.
The three thugs were chained to wooden posts.
Gu Zhan remembered these men well, for his predecessor had been beaten to near death by this very group. If Chen Fei hadn’t passed by, he probably would’ve been killed on the spot.
The identities of these thugs had already been investigated thoroughly,
They were the sort of hoodlums who prowled the markets, nobodies who only cared about feeding themselves. Usually, they survived through petty theft, con jobs, or some minor robbery.
Gu Zhan waved his hand lightly, signaling the accompanying jailers to leave. So now only he, Chen Fei, and the three thugs remained in the interrogation room.
Gu Zhan’s face was calm as he walked over slowly, gently stirring a red-hot branding iron. In a low voice, he asked, "You lot—do you still recognize me?"
"We do, we do."
The thug in the center, seemingly the leader, put on a fawning smile and said, "Lord Gu, Lord Gu, this really was a misunderstanding! If we’d known who you were, no way we’d have laid a finger on you, not for all the guts in the world!"
"Good that you recognize me." Gu Zhan looked to Chen Fei and asked, "What sentence did they get?"
Chen Fei quickly replied, "They have to pay compensation and serve one year in prison."
Gu Zhan nodded slightly, then asked, "Captain Chen, every year, aren’t there some people who die mysteriously in this dungeon?"
Chen Fei replied, "Of course there are."
The thugs immediately panicked. The leader stammered, "Lord Gu, you can’t abuse your power for private revenge—we’ve already confessed, the government office has sentenced us..."
Clang—
A metallic ringing as white light flashed,
Gu Zhan’s Horizontal Saber leapt from its sheath and, with one stroke, sliced open the leader’s throat. Blood sprayed everywhere in an instant.
"Ugh... ugh..."
The thug stared in shock, mouth agape as if to speak. But only a faint sound emerged before blood flooded his mouth and he quickly perished.
In that instant,
The two remaining thugs shuddered all over, faces filled with terror,
Even Chen Fei jumped, staring in disbelief at Gu Zhan.
In Gu Zhan’s mind, a synthesized mechanical voice rang out:
[Experience Points +5]
Gu Zhan narrowed his eyes. Just as he expected: killing different people yielded different experience points. It matched the rules of a game—the stronger the target, the greater the reward.
He gently shook the blood from his Horizontal Saber, and turned his gaze to the remaining two thugs.
At this moment,
Both thugs were ashen-faced, eyes wide with terror.
"M-my lord, spare us..."
"Mercy, my lord! We truly didn’t mean it..."
"My lord, I have an elderly mother of eighty..."
Gu Zhan barely raised his eyelids, speaking softly: "I’ll give you one last chance—who ordered you to kill me?"
A flicker of panic flashed in both their eyes.
One of the thugs swallowed nervously, saying, "M-my lord, it’s truly a misunderstanding, no one—"
With a soft splurt, the blade pierced flesh.
The talking thug lowered his head, staring at the Horizontal Saber now buried in his heart. Blood welled in his mouth as his life ended swiftly.
[Experience Points +6]
Once again, the system’s notification echoed in his mind.