Chapter 124 The Singer, Oh, Singer 57

Hou Yongcheng naturally refused to talk. He cursed and insulted like a madman, attempting to greet every one of Lin Xiangjun's ancestors up eighteen generations and descendants down twenty generations—unfortunately, by the time he reached the generation of Lin Xiangjun's grandmother, Lin Xiangjun had stuffed his mouth and beaten him soundly once more.

This time, Lin Xiangjun was serious and laid it on heavy.

Zhang Minxian watched with a deathly pale complexion—it was unclear how a paper figure could even exhibit an expression like "deathly pale"—and pulled Patrick Star aside to continue looking for clues.

"Not suitable for children, not suitable for children. Patrick Star, you're still just a one-month-old baby, and I'm a twenty-five-year-old maiden in the prime of youth. Watching too much of this will stunt your growth, it really will."

It was truly bizarre that she and Patrick Star, who were both supernatural entities if one really counted, could utter such an archaic and vicious curse as "watching too much will stunt your growth."

But, credit where credit is due, taking a beating really does help one sober up quickly.

In fact, Hou Yongcheng couldn't take it after just the first two stabs, but unfortunately, with his mouth stuffed, he couldn't say a word.

He had to endure dozens more stabs, painlessly losing dozens of pounds in the process, before Lin Xiangjun finally let out a long sigh of relief and asked with a beaming smile:

"Now, can you answer my questions properly?"

Hou Yongcheng nodded with one eye open and one closed, signaling that this time he would absolutely tell everything he knew without reservation.

Only then did Lin Xiangjun pluck the eyeball off the tip of her knife and stuff it back into his socket, then took his right hand out of his mouth and tossed it aside.

She remained beaming, but in Hou Yongcheng's eyes, she was no different from Satan.

No, she was even worse than Satan.

At least Satan would buy baby formula for single mothers and infants on the verge of starvation.

Is this purely the behavior of an American orthodox white Evangelical church?

(The Evangelical church, the one that, when a female influencer pretending her child was starving to death called for help, mockingly asked her why she didn't go work at a bar.)

"What is this piece of cloth used for?"

Now, Hou Yongcheng didn't even dare to hesitate, fearing that the next second the knife would plunge down and take his last remaining eye.

"This is the dress Hu Zhengzheng was wearing when she died, and it is also what she believes to be the true cause of her death."

Due to the intense pain, Hou Yongcheng's voice was somewhat distorted, sounding as if it carried a hint of mockery.

"She believes this is the true cause of her death, so she harbors a great deal of resentment toward this dress. Naturally, the dress was imbued with powerful strength. Just like how a hanged ghost's rope is the most dangerous, Hu Zhengzheng's dress is the part of her that holds the most concentrated ghostly energy."

"Hou Pan is a fake who borrowed Hu Zhengzheng's identity. Simply put, his power was stolen from Hu Zhengzheng. His own strength is very weak, so he needs items with powerful ghostly energy like this to enhance his own strength."

"This piece of fabric is what he cut from Hu Zhengzheng's dress."

Lin Xiangjun brought the piece of fabric closer to examine it.

Perhaps because the doors and windows on the first floor of the supermarket were closed and the lights hadn't been turned on, the room was very dim.

The fabric appeared a dull, grayish blue, and the bloodstains on it had already oxidized and turned black.

It looked like a moldy sky, heavy with oppression. Even though it was just a piece of rag, looking at it for too long made one involuntarily shiver.

The credibility of what Hou Yongcheng said was not low.

The logic was coherent and largely stood up to scrutiny, though the details were not handled properly.

It was likely a typical case of mixing truth with lies.

"What about the dress?" Lin Xiangjun asked.

She weighed the piece of fabric in her hand. It wasn't light, and it felt very soft and smooth to the touch, with no static electricity. It was clearly not cheap polyester.

"The dress itself is still on Hu Zhengzheng; Hou Pan only managed to steal this small piece," Hou Yongcheng replied.

"Then why were you so anxious just now when you saw this piece of cloth being found?"

According to Hou Yongcheng's explanation, this cloth provided ghostly energy to Hou Pan, so logically, it should have had nothing to do with him.

But his reaction just now clearly showed that wasn't the case.

He was too eager, as if he hadn't expected this item to be taken, and also as if he were extremely terrified of the consequences once this item was brought out.

"What consequences will there be after we take this thing out?" Lin Xiangjun asked.

Upon hearing Lin Xiangjun's question, Hou Yongcheng's body visibly twitched.

"...This thing maintains Hou Pan's power. If you take it away, Hou Pan's power will slowly disappear."

Just afraid of Hou Pan losing his power? Lin Xiangjun didn't believe it.

"Why doesn't Hou Pan keep this thing himself instead of hiding it with you? If he doesn't keep it himself, how can he obtain Hu Zhengzheng's ghostly energy?"

"Hou Pan wanted to carry it with him too, but this thing carries Hu Zhengzheng's own aura, and it's very intense. Carrying it would cause him to be targeted by Hu Zhengzheng, and then Hou Pan would be on a dead-end street."

"I kept this thing on the second floor, isolated in a special box so that it wouldn't be detected by Hu Zhengzheng. Now that your friend has taken it out just like that, Hu Zhengzheng must have already discovered it."

Saying this, Hou Yongcheng let out a self-deprecating cold laugh.

What happens when you are targeted by an instance BOSS?

In any case, it certainly wouldn't end well.

Lin Xiangjun pondered for a moment, judging how much of what Hou Yongcheng had said from start to finish was credible, and which parts were true and which were false.

This guy couldn't possibly be honestly telling the whole truth; Lin Xiangjun was very clear about that in her heart.

She had forced the clues out of him through violence, and since the other party wasn't doing it willingly, what he said certainly couldn't be one hundred percent guaranteed to be true.

She still had to make her own judgment calls.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Xiangjun had a rough idea, and immediately took out a [Mint Candy] and fed it to Hou Yongcheng.

This guy had taken quite a few stabs. Although Lin Xiangjun had exercised some control and hadn't caused any fatal hemorrhaging, with so many wounds bleeding non-stop, him dying from excessive blood loss was just a matter of time.

This guy couldn't die yet.

At least not for now.

The Mint Candy was a one-time c-rank prop, and its effects were quite good. Watching as all the wounds barely scabbed over, she didn't have to worry about him bleeding to death anymore.

Lin Xiangjun kept the candy wrapper as usual, took out [A Long Rope], and tied Hou Yongcheng up tight, just like tying a crab.

Feeling the restraints on his body, Hou Yongcheng just found it inconceivable.

"Why are you tying me up?"

"Afraid you'll run away."

"Didn't you break my hands and feet already?"

"Yeah."

Stunned by Lin Xiangjun's righteous tone, Hou Yongcheng almost started to think that he was the one with the problem in his head.

"You didn't tie me up when my hands and feet weren't broken, so what's the point of tying me up now that they are? Even if you didn't tie me up, I couldn't run away, could I?"