Chapter 1746

"Yes, I'll go notify Captain Fang Li right away."

A female soldier immediately turned around.

At this point, Zhao Chi had finished scouring the territory.

There was no need to check the remaining storehouses and such; he could just look at the loot list later.

He could now judge that this place was safe.

After the Driving Technique expired, Zhao Chi separated from Gu Qing.

Only now did the surrounding smell of blood and rot seem a little fainter.

Having too keen a sense of taste was sometimes its own torment.

What he needed to do now was go find Zhuang Ya and see if Meng Meng's belongings had been thoroughly extracted.

During this time.

Su Qin and Li Ruanyu each had Zhao Chi add 10 and 5 points of energy respectively, and Zhao Chi activated them all immediately.

He quickly arrived outside the stone house where Meng Meng was being held.

Before even going in, he heard bursts of pig-slaughtering wails.

Truly crying out for daddy and mommy.

Going in for a look, Zhuang Ya had indeed lived up to expectations.

"Zhao Chi, it's all out. I just verified it with water — picked clean."

"Not bad, well done."

"Haha, of course!"

Zhuang Ya was a little pleased.

Zhao Chi asked, "Meng Meng, I just heard you say you were going to surrender and then sell out Captain Wang? Who is Captain Wang? How can you be sure that betraying Captain Wang would make the World-Breaking Army let you go?"

Meng Meng lay sprawled on the ground, his whole body convulsing.

Hearing Zhao Chi's words, he didn't answer, but instead kept begging Zhuang Ya:

"I've handed over everything, really everything, you verified it too — why are you still burning me? Your lord Zhao Chi already said he'd hand me over to your higher-ups. If you burn me to death, she won't be able to get the contribution points either."

Zhuang Ya looked at Zhao Chi.

Zhao Chi repeated the question.

Meng Meng looked at Zhao Chi and shook his head: "No, this kind of thing I can only say to Zhao Chi. Let Zhao Chi come over and I'll tell her."

During the battle, Zhao Chi had remained inside Gu Qing the whole time.

Meng Meng had assumed Gu Qing was Zhao Chi. The name Zhao Chi didn't sound much like a woman's name, but who could be sure about such things?

Now the real Zhao Chi was standing right in front of him, and he had no idea at all.

Zhao Chi asked Zhuang Ya, "What do I do if he won't answer me?"

Zhuang Ya gave a cold laugh: "Easy."

Fire sprang from her fingertip, and she pointed it downward.

"Owow my mama, owowowowowowowow!!"

It seemed that when humans screamed in agony, they made this kind of wailing sound too.

"I'll talk! I'll talk! I'll talk!!"

Zhuang Ya stopped the fire.

Meng Meng nearly passed out.

Zhao Chi waited a moment, then said, "Speak. Next time I burn you it'll be for 10 minutes."

Meng Meng said without hesitation: "Captain Wang is our mole. I stumbled onto it by accident. This is absolutely true. Although I don't have direct evidence, if you just investigate him you'll definitely find out."

Zhao Chi frowned: "Captain Wang? Which Captain Wang?"

Meng Meng said: "The vice captain of the Blaze Squad."

"Blaze Squad?"

"Yes, the Blaze Squad!"

This was really something.

He'd learned of a traitor.

The Blaze Squad was also a veteran squad of the White Tiger Regiment. Its captain was Feng Liyan, who was extremely skilled in fire-element spiritual techniques.

The vice captain was Wang Moran, who was likewise highly accomplished in fire-element spiritual techniques.

Who would have thought Wang Moran was actually a Heavenly King Army man?

But this was only Meng Meng's one-sided account. Zhao Chi wasn't familiar with the people from other squads at all, and didn't know if it was true or false.

But if this was the case, it was best to keep him alive for now.

Hand him over to Li Ruanyu, let Li Ruanyu extract the intelligence, and then kill him.

But there was still one problem.

Zhao Chi asked, "How do you know that once you tell us this intel, we'll let you go? Now that you've said it, can't I still kill you if I want? What can you do about it?"

Meng Meng's eyes went wide.

He stared at Zhao Chi in utter incomprehension.

"You... what are you trying to do? You can't break the rules. Even though you're stronger than me, there are plenty of lords stronger than you. You can't do this!"

Zhao Chi said, "I don't have time to waste words with you. Answer whatever I ask, and don't say anything irrelevant. Understand?"

Meng Meng's face was still full of incomprehension.

Zhao Chi looked at Zhuang Ya: "He doesn't understand. Make him understand."

Before Zhuang Ya's hand even reached out, Meng Meng shrieked: "I understand! I understand! I understand! No no no, I'll answer right now!"

But Zhao Chi didn't call a halt, so Zhuang Ya continued executing the order.

Flames burst forth, and Meng Meng howled in agony.

After a moment, Zhao Chi repeated his question once more.

"How can you be sure that once you tell us this intel, we'll let you go?"

Meng Meng sobbed: "That's the default rule, everyone just goes along with it… ah wuwuwu ah~~"

"I'm fucking asking you a question! Do you think I want to hear you cry? Waste my time again and I'll chop off another leg!"

"Ah!? I'll talk, I'll talk! But I already said it, this is what everyone goes along with."

"Why? Explain it clearly!"

"Th-this still needs a why? Everyone's a lord, winning and losing is normal. If I win this time and kill the other side, then next time I lose wouldn't I also die? So everyone just goes along with being able to buy their life, either with money and supplies, or by providing important information. Isn't that perfectly normal?"

There's even such a saying?

This was the first Zhao Chi had heard of it.

During class before, he hadn't heard the instructors mention it either.

But that was normal too—no instructor would teach students this kind of thing, after all it couldn't exactly be brought out in the open.

But thinking about it, it made sense.

War was inherently uncertain; even with the upper hand, plenty of accidents could lead to defeat.

And once such a defeat happened, it was a complete reset to zero.

If such a default rule existed and people actually followed it, it was fairly normal.

Especially in wars between two factions.

Both sides would have plenty of lords captured and defeated by the other.

When the time came, they'd still have to exchange prisoners.

Including before—Zhao Chi's clan brother Zhao Huai and clan sister Zhao Jiao, after being captured by the Heavenly King Army, weren't killed either, but were released after ransom was paid.

And at that time the Zhao clan was still just an ordinary family, nowhere near a match for the Heavenly King Army.

Under those circumstances the Heavenly King Army still released people—maybe there really was such an unwritten rule.

Victory and defeat are a soldier's daily bread.

That wasn't just empty talk.

Everyone was a lord, everyone feared death.

No one dared claim they'd keep winning forever.

So having such an unwritten rule was really quite normal.

In case of losing, at least there was still a life to keep.

If two sides were closely tied, even frequently at war—like the World-Breaking Army and the Heavenly King Army.