21st Century Necromancer-Chapter 248 - 245: Torture

Kojo Kyoko watched as the police carried away the body and left a few officers to guard the scene, and only then did she turn to leave the building that had already been half burned down.

She didn’t go far, though, after rounding two street corners and making sure the police couldn’t see her, she blended into the shadows and, using the Moonshadow Dancer’s ability to traverse through shadows, circled back.

However, Kojo Kyoko did not return to the crime scene, but instead entered a building opposite the scene. In there, the Dark Warrior and the Cunning Speaker, who were with her earlier, were beating a sleazy-looking man.

"Speak, why were you surveilling the abandoned building across the street!" the Dark Warrior reached out, pulling the man, who had already been knocked to the ground, up by the collar, and demanded fiercely.

The man obviously had been beaten, his face bruised and swollen, with blood leaking from a split in his lip, and his glasses were broken, with one lens shattered and twisted to one side, a pitiful sight to behold.

But none of the three present felt any sympathy for him.

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The Dark Warrior and the Cunning Speaker hadn’t been any kind of good people before joining the Mingyue Society, previously using the powers of the Transcendents in a gray occupation, they were not strangers to ruthlessness, and although Kojo Kyoko was just an ordinary dojo instructor before serving Chen Yu, her only concern now was to fulfil Chen Yu’s orders, not letting her emotions interfere.

Moreover, from the looks of the scene, the man had been hiding here for quite some time, with a telescope and camera set up on the windowsill, clearly having been surveilling the site, indicating he was no good guy and not at all innocent.

"I... I’m just a journalist, staking out news here! I really didn’t do anything, please let me go!" the man put on a pitiful act, seemingly trying to evoke sympathy from Kyoko seeing that she was a young woman, crawling towards her feet and clutching at her boots, tearfully pleading, "I’m really just an ordinary journalist, just staking out for news and taking pictures, that’s all! Please, let me go!

If it’s money you want, I’ll give it all to you, just let me go!"

However, he chose the wrong person to beg for mercy.

The sword scabbard, wrapped in the Sword Bag, struck his face with such force that it distorted his features and sent him flying, even knocking two teeth out of his mouth in the process.

This was a technique from Japanese swordsmanship known as "Handle Strike". Of course, a true Handle Strike should involve striking with the sword handle and then drawing the blade, but here, using the scabbard to strike was a modification of the technique, albeit with very effective results, at least leaving a very clear mark on the man’s face.

"Who are you, what are you doing here, and what all do you know? Tell me everything, and maybe you will be spared," Kyoko Kojo stepped toward him, the fear evident in his eyes, while simultaneously unwrapping the Sword Bag to reveal the handle, "If you think of saving yourself with lies and deception..."

Kyoko Kojo crouched down, exposing a pair of fair thighs beneath her skirt—an undeniably exquisite sight—but the man didn’t dare to let his gaze wander because Kyoko Kojo’s sword was already drawn. Under his terror-filled scrutiny, her Beloved Sword Tachiba spiked his right hand directly into the floor.

The man was about to scream, but Kyoko Kojo simply grabbed his chin, muffling the sound in his mouth.

"If you tell the truth honestly, you can suffer a little less, but if you hide anything, I’ll cut off your fingers one joint at a time." Kojo Kyoko’s beautiful face bore no expression, and her tone was so even as she uttered the chilling threat. It seemed as if she were simply stating a normal occurrence, "A hand has five fingers, adding up to fourteen joints altogether.

I’m quite curious to see how many you can withstand."

As she spoke, Kojo Kyoko pulled out a small hilt that was attached to the side of her sword sheath and stabbed it directly into the man’s pinned right pinky finger at the first joint. She tore off the first joint of his little finger in a tearing motion that was almost savage.

They say each finger is connected to the heart, and the man instantly felt an unbearable, excruciating pain as a joint was torn so violently. The intense pain made his eyes bulge, veins on his forehead throb, and a cold sweat break out all over his head. He wanted to scream and struggle, but the Dark Warrior beside him held him down firmly, rendering him immobile.

In agony, he could only moan painfully, "I really don’t know anything... what you’re doing is illegal..."

"It seems you have a strong will, but no matter, I’ve only cut off one joint; you have thirteen more on your right hand, and I can take my time with those. And after the right hand, there’s still the left hand.

If that’s not enough, there are other parts of your body to cut." Kojo Kyoko’s gaze turned icy, clearly angered by the man’s lack of cooperation because it hindered her from fulfilling the task Chen Yu had assigned, "Although it would be dirty to use Tachiba on someone as filthy as you and I would need to clean my sword afterward, for my master’s mission, I don’t mind making you experience death by a thousand cuts.

First, stop the bleeding—don’t let him die like this."

"Understood." The Cunning Speaker nodded, took out a talisman from their pocket, and affixed it directly onto the man’s right arm, which immediately stopped the bleeding.

——————————————————————

While Kojo Kyoko was interrogating the man, Misumi Mikoto and the police had also transported the discovered body back to UDI, preparing for an autopsy.

"Wait a minute! That body..." Out of breath, Dr. Nakado burst into the autopsy room’s entrance, his eyes full of determination and earnestness, "Let me do the autopsy."

"No, according to the principle of avoidance, if this body really is related to the case of your girlfriend being murdered eight years ago, Dr. Nakado, you must recuse yourself," Misumi Mikoto could understand why Dr. Nakado would want to perform the autopsy himself, but she nevertheless denied his plea.

After all, his girlfriend who was brutally murdered eight years ago also had a red, goldfish-shaped mark in her mouth, just like the body in front of them. And the body of Dr. Nakado’s girlfriend who was killed eight years ago... he had performed the autopsy with his own hands.

It was exactly for this reason that Dr. Nakado’s original autopsy report was invalidated, and he himself was listed as a murder suspect and subjected to investigation and prosecution.

He had been pursuing the truth of this matter for eight years, and he had joined UDI precisely because it gave him access to unnatural death bodies across the country, which was convenient for his investigation.

Now, after eight years, a clue had finally emerged. Putting herself in his shoes, Misumi Mikoto felt that she might have been even more impulsive and excessive, but the more she understood, the more she couldn’t allow Dr. Nakado to proceed, because doing so would only waste a precious opportunity.

"Dr. Nakado, it’s been eight years for a new clue to appear. Do you really want to see it slip away again? If you perform the autopsy today, the results will be invalidated just the same!" Misumi Mikoto insisted, hoping he wouldn’t act rashly.

Held by Director Kamikura, Dr. Nakado, upon seeing Misumi Mikoto’s resolute gaze, hesitated for a moment before suppressing his inner hatred and impulse and bowing deeply to her, "Please, Dr. Misumi."