Chapter 349: Scapegoat

Lin Ke Xin sensibly brought a cup of tea, handed it to Chen Yongren, and stood behind him.

Soon, Nie Yu arrested the two people in charge of procurement and transport and brought them back to Room 76.

Seeing Chen Yongren also sitting in the interrogation hall, Nie Yu hurried over to his side: "Consultant Chen, I was just about to call you—I've already brought the people back. How should we interrogate them?"

Behind Nie Yu, several lackeys escorted two people.

"How to interrogate?" Chen Yongren's eyes flashed with cruelty: "These damned bastards killed my brother and took my sister—how do you think I should interrogate them?"

"Of course we'll slowly play with them. Come on, let me see them first—I damn well will personally interrogate them today!"

"Separate them and lock them up, so they can't collude!"

"Yes!" Nie Yu waved his hand: "Hurry up and carry out Consultant Chen's orders!"

The two unlucky fellows were each locked up in adjacent interrogation rooms.

Chen Yongren took the opportunity to lock his mind control onto them, ordering them to act according to their usual nature.

He then walked toward one of the interrogation rooms, with Nie Yu at his side, introducing the two individuals' situation.

As Chen Yongren entered, Hu Yuan, the person in charge of procurement, was shouting loudly.

"Let me go—do you know who I am? Do you know who my father is?"

"You dare to arrest me, you dare to move a finger—I will absolutely not let you off."

"Release me immediately, and I'll pretend this never happened!"

……

Hu Yuan had also heard what had happened recently; Room 76 is a den of iniquity, he knew better than anyone that coming in at this time would bring no good outcome.

Even if he didn't die, he would be skinned alive.

No, once you come in, you shouldn't even think about surviving.

Scanning his gaze at Hu Yuan, Chen Yongren directly sentenced him to death.

Simply put, this bastard, relying on his position as head of the procurement department, often bought goods from ordinary small merchants at extremely low prices.

It's hardly buying; it's more like extortion—he doesn't pay on time, and even on settlement day he finds excuses to drive down the goods' prices.

Every small trader who dealt with him complained bitterly, but could only endure it in tears.

Yet on the reimbursement documents, he wrote the normal purchase price, using it to line his own pockets.

Since Hu Yuan dared to act so lawlessly, he also relied on having a father who was an official in the city government.

With such a scourge, not torturing him thoroughly and letting him die in endless pain would be unjustifiable.

"Here, I am your father!" Taking the whip handed over by Lin Ke Xin, Chen Yongren lashed Hu Yuan without hesitation.

"Damn it, why I'm looking for you—you know it yourself."

"Speak—who ordered you to poison the dishes!"

"Who is your superior?"

"What exactly is your identity!"

"Ah—" Hu Yuan let out a piercing wail, and a clear whip mark quickly appeared in the middle of his cheek.

"My patience is limited; if you don't want to die, confess everything honestly, and I'll let you die a quick death." Chen Yongren said while whipping Hu Yuan.

"Poison? What poison?" After a few lashes, the formerly arrogant Hu Yuan immediately became somewhat honest: "Sir, hear me out—I don't know anything, I really don't know anything."

"I'm just in charge of procuring supplies; even if you gave me eight hundred courages, I wouldn't dare poison anything."

"Cut the crap—if there's a problem with the supplies you procured, who else would I blame but you!" Chen Yongren's face darkened: "You still dare to talk back—just watch me not whip you to death!"

Pa—pa—several lashes landed.

Hu Yuan's skin split and flesh tore from the whipping, and he howled in agony.

Nie Yu also, following Chen Yongren's gaze, kept propping up Hu Yuan's heels.

Even inside the room one could clearly hear the sound of bones grinding; Hu Yuan's body kept trembling, beads of sweat the size of peas covering his cheeks.

"My bones, my bones are about to break."

"Take it away, hurry and take it away."

"It hurts, it really hurts."

Hu Yuan continued to struggle in ghostly wails, but Chen Yongren showed no sign of stopping or easing up—instead he whipped even harder.

"Damn it, you bastard still dare to be stubborn."

"Today I'll see just how hard your mouth is!"

Not long after, he was whipped into a bloody mess, with no decent skin left on his body.

Nie Yu looked at Chen Yongren.

He well knew that Chen Yongren's sister and brother had died at the banquet; facing the possible killer of them, how could he hold back?

There was a dedicated supervisor in the banquet's back kitchen.

Only Hu Yuan and Wang Xing, locked up next door, had the greatest chance of having poisoned things in the whole incident; we could only find a breakthrough from them.

Agents' mouths are naturally tough; without applying some intensity, it's hard to get them to speak.

Facing this bloody scene, Lin Ke Xin remained unmoved, earnestly watching Hu Yuan as well as Chen Yongren who was conducting the interrogation.

Chen Yongren knew better than anyone that Hu Yuan was innocent.

But without finding a few scapegoats, how could we get past this matter?

No matter how we look for them, we have to give an explanation to Tengyuan Jintai.

For now we're just going through the motions.

After all.

Opportunities to torture a traitor don't come often—we have to make good use of them.

When the time is about right, Chen Yongren will directly use mind control to make them honestly confess their crimes.

Hu Yuan was hung up again, and under Chen Yongren's direction, the interrogators continued the questioning.

In response, Chen Yongren said only one thing: "Keep beating him until he's willing to talk!"

Then he brought Lin Ke Xin to the next room.

While Hu Yuan was being beaten, Wang Xing's situation wasn't any better.

He was hung up, with not a single patch of good skin on his body, the air reeked of a burnt smell, and fingernails, toenails, and several broken teeth littered the ground.

"Hu Yuan has already conspired with you to poison the food, and he's pushed all the blame onto you, claiming you threatened him to do it." Chen Yongren said with a deliberate smile.

Hearing this, Lin Ke Xin's expression didn't change, but she silently thought, "How crafty."

Chen Yongren was clearly trying to trick them, hoping they'd turn on each other like dogs.

"I..." Wang Xing had just begun to speak.

Chen Yongren then controlled Wang Xing's thoughts, making him speak according to his arrangement.

"Nonsense, Wang Yuan can't escape responsibility for this either!"

"This damn bastard actually tried to pin the black pot on my head!"

"It's clear he wanted to drag me down with him, he never paid me the money he promised, I too was screwed by him, Chief, you have to believe me!"

"I'll say it, I'll say everything!"

Wang Xing struggled desperately, letting out a loud roar.

Under Chen Yongren's control, Wang Xing confessed everything in detail, one by one.

Afterward, Chen Yongren returned once more to the room where Hu Yuan was held, repeating his lines.

Using the Mind Control Skill, he made Hu Yuan put on a show—from stubbornness to panic when the truth came out—until he finally confessed honestly how he administered the poison, admitting his crime.

Soon.

Two copies of their confessions—admitting mutual collusion, betraying their own, and causing the deaths of many government officials—were recorded and compiled.