blueteamnovel Chapter 90 A Wise Judgment: Distinguishing Truth from Falsehood
Chapter 90 A Wise Judgment: Distinguishing Truth from Falsehood
Chapter 90 A Wise Judgment: Distinguishing Truth from Falsehood
After Zhao Siping finished speaking, Chen Yu nodded.
"It seems that all these people have come for the Nine-Leaf Fire Lotus."
Then he turned to the bandit leader.
"I still have a few questions about Quanxi Village."
He slightly pressed down on the deer-slaying knife in his hand.
The bandit leader shrank back in fear.
"My lord, my lord, please ask away!"
"Tell me everything you know! Tell me everything!"
Chen Yu's gaze fell on his face.
"A total of seventy-seven people died in Quanxi Village."
"You said your Fierce Tiger Stronghold has dozens of people, and you went into the mountains to search for traces of the Fire Ape?"
"Then tell me, what happened in Quanxi Village? Who inflicted the knife wounds on the villagers?"
The bandit leader's body jolted violently.
A fleeting hint of panic flashed in his eyes.
With his keen senses, Chen Yu caught the panic perfectly.
"A knife, a knife wound?"
The bandit leader's voice sounded somewhat unsteady.
"Sir, that fire monkey's claws are as sharp as knives. Could it be its doing?"
"I've examined the fire ape's claw marks; they don't match the knife wounds."
Chen Yu resolutely blocked the railway.
As a martial artist specializing in swordsmanship, he could spot the problem at a glance.
"All the corpses in Quanxi Village had knife wounds. A few wounds were shallow, but most were fatal from a single blow."
He paused, then continued.
"Judging from the method, this was definitely the work of a human martial artist. I now strongly suspect that it was you scum who did it!"
The words fell.
Several sword guards around him gripped their spear shafts tightly at the same time.
The bandit leader's face turned deathly pale under the campfire.
"It wasn't us, it really wasn't us!"
His voice was choked with sobs.
"Sir, you're right. That knife wound wasn't inflicted by the Fire Monkey, nor was it caused by our Fierce Tiger Stronghold!"
"It was Black Wind Stronghold! Those bastards from Black Wind Stronghold! They were the ones who did it!"
A thick piece of firewood in the campfire popped open with a crack.
Sparks flew into the air and were then scattered by the night wind.
"Oh? Black Wind Stronghold was behind it? Have you seen anyone from Black Wind Stronghold?"
Chen Yu stood quietly in front of the bandit leader.
His fierce gaze locked onto the other person's face.
"Then you need to tell me properly, why did they come here? What is your relationship with them?"
The bandit leader's lips trembled a few times, and beads of sweat rolled into the corners of his eyes, stinging him and making him blink repeatedly.
But he dared not wipe it, nor did he dare look into Chen Yu's eyes.
"I—I don't know."
His voice was so low it was almost inaudible.
Chen Yu narrowed his eyes slightly.
The "Trial of Good Thoughts" has been quietly launched.
Deep within his pupils, a faint, eerie light silently shone.
This is the equipment effect of the Ahura statue.
It requires no stimulation from Qi and blood, and leaves no trace.
Once his mind locks onto the target and he makes a judgment request in his mind, the other party's next words will be subject to the scrutiny of the rules.
If what you say is true, everything will remain as usual.
If someone is lying, a dark red mark will appear above their head.
This mark can only be seen by Chen Yu himself.
A moment later, the red "Druger" badge appeared above the bandit leader's head.
"You're lying!"
Chen Yu pressed the blade against his skin, just enough to allow a drop of blood to slowly slide down the blade.
The bandit leader trembled with fear and collapsed to the ground.
"I—I can't say."
Chen Yu remained silent for two breaths.
"There are seventy-seven people in Quanxi Village, including the elderly and children. If you don't confess honestly, I'll assume you killed them, and this blood debt will be on your head!"
"No! We didn't kill them!"
The bandit leader, filled with fear, suddenly roared.
"It's the chieftain! He took money from Black Wind Stronghold!"
Chen Yu glanced at the top of the bandit leader's head.
No red marker appeared in the void.
The statement about receiving money is true.
The bandit leader kept this money transaction a secret for a long time, not daring to mention it.
Chen Yu guessed that it might be because once they admitted to receiving the money, the nature of the matter would be different.
If they don't charge money, they can say they were cheated out of their money by Black Wind Village.
But now that they've taken the money, they're just colluding with Black Wind Stronghold and sharing the spoils.
"How much money did you receive?"
Chen Yu continued to ask questions.
"Five thousand taels of silver, plus a ten percent share of the Niutou Mountain mine."
The bandit leader lowered his head and said.
Chen Yu mentally reviewed the string of numbers.
Five thousand taels is no small sum; it's enough to feed a small mountain stronghold for two years.
But what's more valuable are the mine owners, who have a steady stream of income.
"Five thousand taels, plus the mine share."
Chen Yu repeated the string of numbers.
"The price offered by Black Wind Stronghold is quite generous, but they may not intend to honor it."
The bandit leader nodded bitterly, his voice growing softer and softer.
"The chieftain took the money and told us to consider it a short-term job for Black Wind Village. After picking the flowers, we would go our separate ways and go our separate ways."
"But when we got down the mountain, we discovered that the people from Black Wind Stronghold were all elites, with even Wang Kui, one of the Nine Thieves of Black Wind, personally leading the team!"
"After we discovered the fire monkey's trail, Wang Kui's expression changed, and he even prepared to kill us to silence us."
"The chieftain sensed something was wrong and secretly told us to back off, but before we could retreat, the Black Wind Stronghold's blades came crashing down!"
"We had no choice but to flee down the mountain! But the fire monkey was killing people in Quanxi Village, so we secretly escaped back up the mountain."
Chen Yu's gaze swept over the bandit leader's head again.
There is no red label.
This statement is also true.
"You fled down the mountain and passed through Quanxi Village."
Chen Yu continued down the path.
"When the Black Wind Stronghold caught up, they killed even the villagers. Why?"
The bandit leader's shoulders trembled violently.
"Because the villagers saw the fire monkey! Black Wind Village is afraid the news will leak out!"
"Moreover, our people infiltrated the village, and Black Wind Stronghold didn't know which house in the village was hiding our people, so they searched room by room."
His voice trembled more and more.
"They searched everywhere and killed indiscriminately, regardless of gender or age, hacking anyone they saw! Wang Kui said that rather than leaving any survivors to report to the city garrison, it was better to kill them all and eliminate any future trouble!"
Chen Yu did not respond immediately.
He had previously thought that the villagers of Quanxi Village were harmed by the fire ape.
It now appears that Black Wind Village was the main perpetrator of this bloodshed.
Black Wind Stronghold believed that the best outcome would be to seize the Nine-Leaf Fire Lotus and escape unscathed.
If things are exposed, it will definitely attract pursuers from all sides.
Following this line of thought, anyone who might leak information should be eliminated.
The people of Liehu Village wanted to kill them because they knew about their connection to the Nine-Leaf Fire Lotus.
The killing of the villagers of Quanxi Village was a completely unexpected disaster.
But there's still one issue that hasn't been resolved.
"Why did Black Wind Stronghold know that fire apes roamed Bull Head Mountain? And what do they want the Nine-Leaf Fire Lotus for?"
Chen Yu asked slowly.
The bandit leader bit his lip hard.
The last trace of color drained from his face.
"I don't know, I really don't know!"
He shook his head desperately.
A glint flashed in Chen Yu's eyes.
The "Druger" badge immediately lit up above this guy's head.
Then, the Deer-Slaying Blade pressed down another point.
"Hiss!"
Tiny beads of blood immediately seeped out on her neck.
"Waaaah! Don't kill me! I'll tell you everything!"
The bandit leader was so frightened that tears streamed down his face.
"Behind Black Wind Stronghold lies the Great Yellow Merchant Guild!"