Chapter 185: Reasoning

As the elevator doors opened, Song Cheng saw Yu Sheng leading his two gang members into his line of sight—Eileen sat on Yu Sheng's shoulder, Hu Li stood to the side, but compared to these familiar faces, Song Cheng's gaze quickly fell on the thing Yu Sheng was holding in his hand.

It was a "club" that looked utterly ferocious: rebar welded with several rings, covered in blades, iron nails, and rusted metal fragments. Song Cheng, with years of frontline experience, had seen countless bizarre "weapons," yet his first reaction upon seeing this thing was still a twitch of the corner of his eye; he felt that even taking a photo of it and posting it online would require blurring—truly, just looking at it hurt.

Yu Sheng walked out of the elevator holding his Tetanus Staff, looking at Song Cheng with excitement, his expression as if he had finally found a pillow for his nap: "Where are those two Angel cultists?"

Song Cheng was completely dazed; to be honest, the day the Director invited Yu Sheng to the Special Operations Bureau, he knew the other party would sooner or later show up at the headquarters building as if returning home, but he never expected this guy to bring such a thing along; his attention was entirely fixed on that club: "... Tell me first, what the hell is that in your hand? Didn't the guards stop you?"

Yu Sheng paused in surprise at these words: "Guards? What guards?"

Song Cheng slapped his forehead: "Oh right, I forgot you didn't even use the main entrance..."

Yu Sheng chuckled, lifting the Tetanus Staff to weigh it in his hand—after returning last time, he had modified this very useful war club again, now with at least double the nails and rebar on its tip—then held the thing out in front of Song Cheng: "This is the wonderful tool we'll need later."

As this terrifying club swayed before his eyes, Song Cheng's peripheral vision caught that near the head of the rebar, two metal plates had been welded on, each plate scorched with two crooked characters: one plate read "Reason," the other read "Critique"...

"I need to have a good chat with those two Angel cultists," Yu Sheng said, looking at Song Cheng very seriously, "You help arrange it."

Saying this, he casually slung the club over his shoulder: "Lead the way."

Before the words had fully left his mouth, he heard a cry of shock from his shoulder; turning his head, he saw Eileen had already fallen to the ground...

Yu Sheng frowned: "Eileen, what are you doing sitting on the floor?"

"You damn well swung me off with that club!" The small doll rushed up and delivered an elbow strike to Yu Sheng's knee, "Can't you tell left shoulder from right?!"

Yu Sheng: "...!"

Song Cheng, covered in cold sweat, watched the chaotic yet seemingly self-consistent scene before him; although he was used to seeing all sorts of bizarre scenes in the Special Operations Bureau headquarters building, he had indeed never seen a scene of this style before; only after the doll finally quieted down did he hesitate and glance at the club in Yu Sheng's hand: "I roughly know what you're planning to do... but I must remind you, the Special Operations Bureau has regulations; we are a legitimate functional department—even for interrogating cultists, there are standard procedures and prohibitions."

Yu Sheng thought for a moment: "Then what if the surveillance is broken?"

"... Even if the surveillance is broken, it's not allowed, and it's simply impossible for any area in this building to experience a 'surveillance vacuum'..."

Song Cheng had barely spoken halfway when he suddenly heard his phone ring in his pocket; he took it out, glanced at it, and quickly answered: "Ah, Director."

A calm voice came from the receiver: "The surveillance system for Human Prisoner Containment Zone A-16 Section is broken."

"... Director?"

"Do I need to repeat myself?"

Song Cheng immediately felt a layer of cold sweat break out on the back of his neck; he instinctively looked back; although the corridor was empty, the Director's gaze was falling on him from all directions, and the closest line of sight was even less than half a meter away: "No, no need!"

"Very well, take him there."

After putting away his phone, Song Cheng looked at the Traveler Inn trio before him with a strange expression.

"... Follow me, I'll take you to the containment zone."

Yu Sheng hadn't heard the voice in Song Cheng's phone just now, but he could guess the situation—obviously, everything happening in this building could not escape the eyes of a certain Director lady.

He felt even more at ease, a smile appearing on his face; with Eileen on one shoulder and "Reason" on the other, he stepped forward to follow Song Cheng, and as he walked, he curiously asked a question: "Do you usually watch those bands full of lesbians..."

Song Cheng's tone carried exhaustion: "That was my daughter's doing! I set it back, and she just changed it back again..."

Under Captain Song Cheng's lead, Yu Sheng and his group wound their way through this Special Operations Bureau headquarters building, which was like a spatial labyrinth; they passed many doors clearly set up for security considerations and corridors and compartments with eerie atmospheres; Yu Sheng could feel as if he had already left the building's "main structure" and was heading toward some kind of "depth of space"; after walking for quite a while, they finally passed through the last "office" flashing with red lights; after pushing open the large door at the end of the office, a circular hall resembling a "transportation hub" appeared in his field of vision.

Corridor entrances were neatly arranged before his eyes; fully armed guards, weapon systems pointing toward various corridors, and warning signs with obvious cautionary intent radiated a heavy sense of oppression.

Song Cheng said nothing; after performing identity authentication and registration, he led Yu Sheng and his group into one of the corridors.

Along the way, Song Cheng occasionally turned his head to look at Yu Sheng, who was walking as leisurely as strolling in a garden.

Yu Sheng, of course, noticed the other's gaze. "You know, I was actually about to come find you," he finally spoke up, "Right when you called to tell me you had caught those two Angel cultists, I had already changed clothes and filed a report for entry—I came to find you specifically to talk about these two cultists."

Song Cheng's eyes shifted slightly: "What do you mean by that? You..."

"I investigated some things yesterday—do you remember why Little Red Riding Hood and I went to the White Exhibition Hall in the museum back then? Yes, that was the exhibition hall where the sacrificial ritual took place; those two Angel cultists caused trouble there, which led to their current arrest... The contact person from the Curio Association who assigned the mission to Little Red Riding Hood recently died."

"I heard about this, but the investigation work is being handled by another department," Song Cheng immediately frowned, "From what you're saying, did you discover something on your end?"

"Those two Angel cultists were likely targeting 'Fairy Tales,' not Little Red Riding Hood personally, nor did they randomly select victims," Yu Sheng said slowly, "The Curio Association contact who met with trouble had many connections to 'Fairy Tales' before his death; whether his true cause of death was murder or an accident is hard to say; that requires your experts to step in, but based on what I have already uncovered, the reason he was targeted and manipulated by the Angel cultists was precisely because of his connection to 'Fairy Tales'—that group of cultists must have been planning this for more than just a day or two."

After Yu Sheng finished speaking, Hu Li, who usually rarely spoke to outsiders, muttered angrily: "I heard from my Benefactor about that deceased person's plight... Cultists are truly detestable."

Yu Sheng nodded: "In any case, the matter is quite complicated; I'll explain the details to you later."

Song Cheng listened to this information thoughtfully, while noticing he had arrived at the gate at the very end; but before ordering the door opened, he couldn't help but glance once more at "Reason" in Yu Sheng's hand.

"Honestly, are you sure you want to use that thing..."

"I have my limits," Yu Sheng said very seriously, "And I also brought Hu Li—she knows quite a few spells for regenerating flesh and healing bones; I promise you, I won't make things too difficult to handle."

"No, I'm not worried about that; I mean... mere physical pain is actually useless against those cultists," Song Cheng shook his head; he felt the "person" before him ultimately understood those mad, paranoid Angel cultists a bit too little, "I can see your... uh, 'enthusiasm' for this matter, but if such a simple and crude method could make them talk, we wouldn't still be unable to extract information from those two cultists by now."

After looking one by one...

Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow.

"You can use all the pain humans can imagine and endure, but for Angel cultists whose spirits have already become alienated, all of that is endurable, and can even be transformed into a 'noble sacrifice,'" Song Cheng added, "The Special Operations Bureau has many interrogation methods more effective than 'physical punishment,' including hypnosis, illusions, truth serums, and even high-tech gadgets like neural interference instruments, but the results are all about the same—you ask whatever you want, they won't answer."

He didn't put it too bluntly, but the implied meaning was already quite clear—

Beating people up, who can't do that? If it worked, it would have been done long ago; who really cares about cultists' human rights anyway?

However, Yu Sheng just smiled at him.

"Did I say I wanted to ask them for anything?"

Song Cheng was instantly stunned: "... Huh? Then why did you bring that thing over..."

"Just for fun."

The heavy gate slowly opened; Yu Sheng, holding the club, led Eileen and Hu Li to step inside, and then the large door slowly closed.

The armed guard standing by the door looked uneasily at the three "strangers" entering this high-security cell and finally couldn't help but speak up: "Leader, this isn't compliant, is it..."

"I'll take responsibility," Song Cheng said with a complex expression, looking at the tightly closed large door; he took a light breath, "Take me to the surveillance room."

"Okay, it's right next door..."

The pale blue light screen before him vanished; Yu Sheng looked curiously at this gadget that looked very advanced, wondering slightly what level of technology the Special Operations Bureau actually possessed, then his gaze settled on the bald man sitting not far away.

The other party simply raised his head calmly, looking this way with neither joy nor sorrow.

Those calm and pure eyes seemed to have already seen through everything.

His tone was calm, as if he had long transcended the wisdom of mortals—

"It seems many things will happen today. New tricks are coming—when will you realize that the Lord's faithful servant will not answer..."

Before the other could finish, Yu Sheng strode forward and smashed down with a staff.

Answer my ass.

He hadn't intended to ask anyway.

(End of this chapter)