Chapter 488: Torture Befalls

Xiao Yin looked at Gu Jiu Ling and couldn't help but stare for a moment; Gu Jiu Ling always healed and saved people, although sometimes she had a few little schemes and tossed a little temper.

But in Xiao Yin's eyes, she had always been a lovely and kind girl; this time she ran over here to help him interrogate the prisoner, and he actually couldn't react for a while.

"I'll come up with a way to pry open his mouth!"

Gu Jiu Ling didn't wait for Xiao Yin's agreement and walked over to the prisoner tied in the middle.

The prisoner slowly lifted his eyes to look at Gu Jiu Ling and gave a cold laugh.

"Scum!" he gritted his teeth, and blood seeped out from the corner of his mouth.

"You're practically asking for death!" Xiao Yin had lost his patience; not only did this man refuse to confess, he even shouted insults at Gu Jiu Ling, his killing intent surged, and the Dragon Spring Sword he had drawn was blocked by Gu Jiu Ling.

"Prince! Stay calm!"

"Insulting someone doesn't hurt; I'll take care of him!"

They had caught several people who had placed dead rats in the well opening; all were trained assassins, most had committed suicide by poison, and only this one remained alive because the Prince swiftly knocked the poison hidden at his fingertip away.

Now if we let this person die, we would lose one chance to condemn the Jiangnan salt merchants.

After all, ambushing and killing the Imperial Envoy midway, even creating a plague, there's no need to examine those accounts; this alone is enough to sentence him to death.

The big man shouted loudly: "Quickly kill Grandfather! In eighteen years Grandfather will be a fine man again! Kill!"

Gu Jiu Ling stood before the big man and gave a cold laugh: "Surely it's the fine dog those people raised!"

"He looks like iron bones, saying that even if he dies he's still a fine man!"

"I spit on your face! What kind of hero is it to slaughter innocents?"

"After this plague in the town, so many have died, most of them frail elders and children; have you let dogs eat your conscience?"

The man momentarily froze, turned his face away, and let out a cold snort.

Gu Jiu Ling gritted her teeth and said: "You devils, do you even have a next life? Dream on! You beasts who slaughter innocents don't even get a chance to be reborn!"

"Today I won't waste words with you! You claim your bones are hard, so I want to see just how hard you are."

Gu Jiu Ling ordered Yun Duo, who had followed behind, to carry a box over; Gu Jiu Ling took the box and brought it straight to the man's face.

The man who had been a bit arrogant just now was actually stunned in place.

Gu Jiu Ling gave a cold snort, opened the box, and inside lay a glistening, smooth red centipede; the centipede had been suffocated for a long time, and as soon as the box opened it tried to dart out, but Gu Jiu Ling clamped it tightly with tweezers, instantly twisting its body like a flower.

The moment the big man saw the centipede, all color drained from his face.

"Ling Feng, pry open his mouth!"

Ling Feng also jumped in fright, secretly thinking he was indeed as ruthless as the Prince.

He stepped forward and violently pried open the prisoner's mouth; the prisoner struggled desperately, but with both hands tightly bound, he could not break free.

Gu Jiu Ling directly clamped the centipede and shoved it in; the centipede instantly darted into the man's mouth.

Ah!!

I don't know if it was from fright or something else, but the man let out a miserable howl.

"Give me another!" Gu Jiu Ling's face darkened as she fixed her stare on the howling man before her, recalling the children who had died horribly from the plague, especially an eight-month-old infant she could not save no matter what, who died in her arms.

The mother's desperate wails and the sound of her kowtowing still echoed in Gu Jiu Ling's ears.

Gu Jiu Ling gave a cold laugh, opened the second box, and inside was a red small snake, obviously highly venomous.

She tightly gripped the snake's head and brought it to the prisoner already drenched in sweat; although the snake's head was clamped, it still hissed.

For the first time, fear appeared in the big man's eyes as he endured the abdominal pain and pleaded.

"Kill me! Kill me!"

Gu Jiu Ling coldly laughed: "Killing you would just let you scum off easy!"

"I'm a doctor, so I won't let you die instantly from poison; I'll also feed you medicine later, rest assured, enjoy it slowly, and next time we'll switch to a fresh one!"

"No, no!" the big man's psychological defenses crumbled inch by inch: "Spare me! Spare me!"

Finally he yielded, and Gu Jiu Ling laughed even more.

"Spare you? Then why didn't you spare the innocent children, elders, and the pillar men of families in the town, as well as those children's mothers?"

"When have you ever shown a shred of mercy, sparing those innocent commoners?"

"Speak! Who is the mastermind behind this? Give your testimony, sign and seal, human and material evidence are indispensable, then I'll spare you!"

The big man's face turned ashen, his whole body trembling nonstop; the centipede just fed had nearly cost him half his life, and if we fed him a snake…

He doesn't fear Xiao Yin's torture for confession, but he fears Gu Jiu Ling's method of tormenting people.

Gu Jiu Ling watched the man's collapse, her eyes flickering slightly: "Ling Feng, pry open his mouth!"

Ling Feng watched the scene, his scalp going numb, he raised his hand and pried open the man's mouth again, seeing the small snake in Gu Jiu Ling's hand about to be shoved in.

The man finally broke down and shouted loudly.

"It's Gu Yiniang! It was Gu Yiniang who gave the Eldest Young Master the idea!"

"The Eldest Young Master originally wasn't keen on doing this, after all a plague is hard to control; once it spreads in Jiangnan it's no joke!"

"Gu Yiniang said it's fine; earlier you were chased by our people in that village, and it was intentional to drive you to this side's small town."

"The town is rather remote, so we just threw those rats into the well water here; once you caught the disease and lost your fighting strength, our people would come in and wipe you out all at once."

"As for the townsfolk, it doesn't matter; we'll just burn the place down, then there'll be no one to contradict us! Moreover, after the fire, it will block the plague's spread and won't affect Yangzhou either."

Gu Jiu Ling furrowed her brows fiercely, locked eyes with the man before her, threw the snake back into the box, and closed it.

Immediately afterward she punched his face, the blow filled with immense anger, and Gu Jiu Ling felt the back of her hand throb painfully.

Xiao Yin hurried over, wrapped his palm around Gu Jiu Ling's hand, and embraced her.

"Yun Duo! Take the Princess Consort out!"

"Jiu Ling, you go out now; I'll take care of the rest."

Gu Jiu Ling didn't know how she had walked out of this hellish cell and come outside, where moonlight entwined the surroundings, so gentle.

Gu Jiu Ling drew a deep breath, her brows furrowing.

Gu Nanxiang, it really is Gu Nanxiang.

This wretch must die! If not dead, it cannot quell the people's anger!

Xiao Yin stared deathly at the assassin who had finally broken down, each word deliberate: "You just said that once the corpse of a plague victim is burned, the plague will not spread?"

At that moment, the man's abdomen ached so badly he kept trembling, nodding repeatedly, he had no strength left to speak.

Xiao Yin's Dragon Spring sword slowly rose, pressing against his throat: "Seven years ago, did the Cao Clan people also go to Qi Sha Gu?"

The man's eyes widened instantly, his gaze filled with terror.