Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 90: Interrogation Transcript

“Name?”

“One Zhang Red.”

“Be honest, I’m asking for your real name!”

“Zhang Little Red.”[1]

The oil lamp flickered inside the dingy interrogation chamber. Fang Qingyun crossed his arms as he sneered at the suspect they had just apprehended. Constable Captain Wei locked his gaze onto One Zhang Red as he fired one question after another, while a young constable diligently scribbled down the details of the interrogation at a table by the side.

“Gender?”

“Male.”

“Cultivation?”

“Great Perfection Apex Late Foundation Establishment Stage.”

Captain Wei snorted. “Jot down ‘Late Foundation Establishment Stage’ and skip everything before that. Zhang Little Red, I’m telling you now, if you think that fairness is compromised with us handling this case, you can request recusal, in other words, to have someone else take over. Do you want to request a recusal?”

“I request...”

Captain Wei made a drawn-out “Hmm,” his voice rising in pitch.

Zhang Little Red hastily corrected himself, “No no no, I’m not requesting recusal.”

“Tell me then, what got you in here?”

“Not paying for barbeque skewers?”

Fang Qingyun was annoyed. “Forget about interrogating him and execute him on the spot. We’ll just say that he violently resisted during arrest and would rather die than surrender, taking his own life with poison.” This was something Fang Qingyun was definitely capable of doing.

Still shackled, One Zhang Red hurriedly blurted out, “I’ll confess, I’ll confess. It was around ten days ago. I woke up at the bottom of a cliff. I probably slipped by accident when I passed by the mountain on the west side of Yanjiang Commandery. By the time I came to, I realized that I was in a mountain cave, likely a dwelling of some cultivator. It looked like nobody’s been there for a long time. I gingerly walked in, but apart from a book, I found nothing valuable.

“In fact, this was the book you confiscated when you frisked us. The book recorded some obscure talismans and complementary arrays. One example is the Lifespan-Reversal Talisman and Lifespan-Reversal Array. According to the description in the book, the Lifespan-Reversal Talisman can convert lifespans into cultivation for myself. I happened to be at a bottleneck stage, so I was hoping to break through in one go and advance to the Golden Core Stage. It will be carefree for me then. Besides, this breakthrough method can also allow one to extend their lifespan. It was too tempting.”

Fang Qingyun lashed out in ire. “I’ve consulted the commandery governor. Based on the scale of your setup, breaking through from the Foundation Establishment to the Golden Core Stage is nothing; it’s more than enough for you to break through from the Golden Core to Nascent Soul Stage!”

One Zhang Red grumbled inwardly, I know that it’s wasteful too, but I didn’t know of other methods.

Naturally, he couldn’t say that out loud. One Zhang Red pretended that he didn’t hear Fang Qingyun chiding him. “I’m a talisman cultivator myself, so it didn’t take long for me to master the Lifespan-Reversal Talisman. Setting up the Lifespan-Reversal Array is also not difficult. I just have to arrange the talismans in the shape of the array.

“Since the talisman’s effects on cultivators are undetectable and only induces sleepiness in mortals, it’s easily overlooked. Moreover, once the array is fully set up, there wouldn’t even be signs of sleepiness.

“However, the array requires too many talismans, so it’s impossible to paste them up in a short span of time. Fortunately, I met two companions. They are the other two people you’ve arrested.”

“Speaking of which, there’s something I find strange. Those two people aren’t from Yanjiang Commandery, but they happened to show up here, and they couldn’t remember the reason for coming. Anyway, we hit it off right away and decided to break through the Foundation Establishment Stage together.

“We were prudent in not leaving any traces and laying low when you were making a fuss to search for the Lifespan-Reversal Talismans. We felt that this place was becoming more dangerous, so we wanted to leave Yanjiang Commandery. Before we left though, we heard that there is a very famous barbeque shop here and wanted to give it a try. All of you turned up before the skewers were even served.” One Zhang Red’s face was contorted in bemusement. He just couldn’t figure out where they had slipped up.

Captain Wei naturally wouldn’t tell him that the zealous shop owner had reported them.

After the interrogation ended, Captain Wei ordered him to sign his name and fingerprint. “Write down your name at the bottom of every page. On the last page, write ‘I have reviewed the above statements and they are consistent with what I have said.’ After that, press your fingerprint wherever you sign.”

~~~

As usual, the next day, Captain Wei brought a silk banner. He was even wondering if he should set up an office at the barbeque shop and live there. The efficiency of capturing offenders here is much higher than patrolling all day! If this goes on, becoming the chief constable will be within sight.

“Shop owner Lu, your barbeque shop has good feng shui, outstanding people, and a prime place.”

Lu Yang gave a humble smile. “Whether the place is prime is secondary; what’s most important is having outstanding people.”

“Things have been too busy at the yamen lately. Once it’s less busy, I’ll see if I can apply to award you with an ‘Excellent Establishment’ wooden plaque.”

“That would be amazing. Here, I just boiled some water; have a drink while it’s hot.” Lu Yang enthusiastically poured a cup of water. “Why are you still so busy? Haven’t you caught the perpetrators?”

“Well, we have arrested the culprits and also found the place where one of them had confessed. It’s a deserted mountain cave. Some wanted criminals from the diabolic path probably hid in there before. After the Lifespan-Reversal Talismans are torn down from the locations, it should be considered case closed.

Follow current novels on ƒreewebηoveℓ.com.

“The problem is the coming Spring Harvest Festival. By the looks of it, there will be twenty percent more people compared to the previous year. I wanted time off, but the chief constable didn’t approve of it. He said that I should patrol more during this festive period.”

“Feel free to come and take a break here if you’re tired from patrolling. Our shop will be operating as usual during the festival.”

After seeing Captain Wei off, Meng Jingzhou let out a long breath. “Finally, it’s over. The last few days had us on edge hunting for those Lifespan-Reversal Talismans every day. Maybe One Zhang Red saw how hard of a time we were having and came here to surrender himself.”

Man Gu paused for a moment. I don’t think this was what One Zhang Red really had in mind.

Lu Yang noticed that Lan Ting had been making some gestures for a while now and asked curiously, “What are you doing?”

Lan Ting didn’t even look up. “I’m experimenting with a new automatic skewering array where the bamboo skewers can automatically string the meat together.”

Lu Yang picked up a bamboo skewer with two fingers and lifted it pensively. Suddenly, he tossed a few pieces of meat into the air, then hurled the bamboo skewer out. Unfortunately, the bamboo skewer brushed past the meat without stringing them together.

Man Gu didn’t understand what Lu Yang was trying to do and thought that the latter was playing some new game.

On the other hand, Meng Jingzhou’s eyes lit up. “Are you thinking of practicing covert weapon techniques by skewering meat with the bamboo skewers?”

Lu Yang smiled, implicitly affirming Meng Jingzhou’s conjecture.

Soon, Meng Jingzhou joined in the training and experimented with how he should apply precise force to skewer the moving pieces of meat in midair.

Man Gu hesitantly asked, “This...isn’t something the righteous path does, right?”

Lu Yang answered in a prim and proper manner, “That’s not quite right. Have you not heard of the saying ‘The bamboo clings to the green mountains unyieldingly, its roots firmly planted inside cracks of the rock. It stands resolute despite weathering through countless trials, unafraid of wind from the four directions?’

“Bamboo is resilient and refined—the mark of a humble gentleman. How could using bamboo as a weapon be considered a covert weapon? This is a weapon only a gentleman uses.”

Man Gu felt as if he had just seen the light. “So that’s how it is. Let me try too then.”

Lan Ting was focused on experimenting with her array, a few bamboo skewers hovering in midair. Whoosh! The skewers lodged themselves straight into the wall, their ends still vibrating.

Had the target been a person, they would have died.

“Its power is a bit too much.” Lan Ting scratched her head in frustration. I’ve already tried my best to reduce its power. “If I can’t make an automatic skewering array, I might as well crank the power up to the maximum.”

The two tiger-henchman ghosts trembled uncontrollably as they watched the scene of “devils dancing around madly.”

1. His real name is “Zhang Xiaohong.” The only character that is the same is “red” or “hong.” ☜