33: Chapter 33 Prisoner

The cold iron chains struck Chen Fan's bones with every jolt of the horse.

He was tossed onto the horse's back like a sack of cargo; every jolt sent a tearing, excruciating pain through his chest.

Around him were the rhythmic hoofbeats of the Xiushan Princes Mansion guards and the metallic clanking of their armor.

The Princess was carefully protected in the center of the formation, while he was nothing but a prisoner in chains.

White Lotus Sect, Su Xin.

He would remember this debt.

He didn't know how much time had passed when the procession stopped.

He was roughly yanked off the horse by two guards and dragged into a magnificent mansion.

Passing through long corridors and winding around rockeries and streams, he was finally thrown into a dark, damp underground cell.

"Clang!"

The heavy iron door slammed shut behind him.

Xiushan Princes Mansion, dungeon.

Chen Fan leaned against the cold wall and slowly slid to the ground.

The air was filled with a musty, bloody stench.

Black Wind Mountain was gone.

The bandits who had drunk wine and split loot with him were either dead or had fled.

Second-in-Command Iron-Armed Monkey and Third Chief Smiling Tiger had likely died right there in the chaos.

His short career as a mountain king had come to such a hasty end.

The wound on his chest was still burning with pain; Captain Li Zhong's blow with the back of his blade had been powerful enough to shatter his internal organs.

What a fool.

Chen Fan cursed silently.

To pass up such a massive credit just to drag him back alive.

Interrogation? What was there to interrogate a bandit leader about?

He closed his eyes and began to calculate silently.

Dying at the hands of Captain Li Zhong, a seventh-rank officer, had been the original optimal plan.

Now that the plan was ruined and he was locked in a dungeon, he had completely lost the initiative.

Next came waiting for trial, followed by being beheaded by some unknown executioner.

That would be a huge loss.

Possession of an executioner, spending the rest of his life dealing with the dead?

No, absolutely not.

He had to find a way to find another high-value target before he was executed.

Footsteps approached from afar.

The small window on the iron door opened, and a pair of cold eyes stared at him from outside.

"Click."

The lock opened, and Captain Li Zhong entered with two guards.

The torchlight cast flickering shadows across his gloomy face.

He looked down at Chen Fan, who was slumped on the floor.

"Black Wind Demon, do you know your crimes?"

Chen Fan raised his head and grinned, revealing a bloody, indifferent smile.

"Crimes? As a bandit, I have plenty. I wonder, Officer, which one are you asking about?"

Captain Li Zhong's fists clenched, cracking audibly.

Suppressing his rage, he asked, word by word, "I only ask you this: what did you do to the Princess?"

Chen Fan leaned against the wall and shifted into a more comfortable position.

"Nothing."

His reply was nonchalant, as if he were discussing a trivial matter that had nothing to do with him.

"Nothing?" Captain Li Zhong laughed in extreme anger. "The Princess was disheveled, poisoned, and unconscious on your bandit bed! And you tell me you did nothing?"

"Believe it or not, that's up to you." Chen Fan couldn't even be bothered to argue.

He only wanted to know one thing now.

"When will you kill me?"

The mouthful of interrogation tactics Captain Li Zhong had prepared was instantly stuck in his throat.

He froze.

The two guards behind him also froze.

They had interrogated countless heinous criminals—some who begged for mercy, some who denied everything to the death, some who cursed loudly.

But they had never seen anyone so calmly urge their own death.

Had this bandit leader gone mad?

"You want to die?" Captain Li Zhong's voice became incredibly chilling. "It won't be that easy!"

"Defiling the Princess is a heinous crime! The Prince of Xiushan has ordered that you be carved into a thousand pieces and executed by slow slicing!"

Slow slicing?

Chen Fan's heart sank.

That was not a good way to die.

Being sliced to death piece by piece, he wouldn't even be able to tell which executioner dealt the final blow—how would the System judge that?

The risk was too great.

"Then what are you waiting for? Do it now." Chen Fan urged.

Watching his impatient demeanor, Captain Li Zhong's rage was replaced by immense confusion.

What on earth was he playing at?

"Hmph, you're lucky to be alive for a few more days." Captain Li Zhong snorted coldly. "Something else happened in the mansion, and we can't deal with you for the moment."

"What happened?" Chen Fan asked instinctively.

"Don't ask what you shouldn't!"

Captain Li Zhong scolded him, but seeing Chen Fan's indifferent attitude, he couldn't help but want to use words to strike at the bandit.

"The night you were captured, the library of the mansion caught fire. Assassins infiltrated and stole several important texts."

White Lotus Sect again.

Chen Fan understood instantly.

What a brilliant feint.

Using the scandalous affair between himself and the Princess to draw the entire mansion's attention, then seizing the opportunity to steal the texts.

The White Lotus Sect had grand ambitions.

"So, until we clear up the case of the assassins, your dog life will have to be spared." A cruel sense of satisfaction appeared on Captain Li Zhong's face. "The Prince of Xiushan wants you to wait for death to arrive in despair."

So that was it.

The small worry in Chen Fan's heart instantly vanished.

Not only was he not worried, but he actually wanted to laugh.

A delayed execution was a wonderful thing!

This meant variables.

It meant he still had a chance to choose a better "target for rebirth."

"Officer." Chen Fan suddenly spoke.

"Any last words?"

"Nothing." Chen Fan flexed his chained wrists. "I just wanted to tell you one thing."

"The Princess is still pure."

"Although I am a bandit, I'm not low enough to lay a hand on a drugged woman."

Captain Li Zhong's body trembled slightly.

He stared hard at Chen Fan, seemingly trying to see traces of a lie on his face.

But there were none.

On that rough face, there was only utter frankness.

"Do you think anyone would believe you now?" Captain Li Zhong laughed self-deprecatingly. "The Princess was abducted by you and then found in your bed. It's rumored everywhere that the Princess has already lost her chastity to a bandit. Even the Prince... harbors doubts."

"You ruined the Princess, and you ruined the reputation of the Xiushan Princes Mansion!"

Chen Fan stopped talking.

He just felt it was absurd.

A White Lotus Sect Saintess who wanted to use a borrowed knife to kill, the Yellow Robe Army who wanted to frame others, a muddled and lecherous Prince of Xiushan, plus himself, a bandit leader seeking death.

Everyone was swept into a massive vortex, unable to help themselves.

In the end, only the Princess, a defenseless woman, became the victim.

In this world, a woman's chastity was more important than her life.

Captain Li Zhong looked at the silent Chen Fan, assuming he had nothing left to say, and lost all interest in further interrogation.

"Stay here and behave."

He threw out a cold sentence, turned around, and walked out of the dungeon with his guards.

"Clang!"

The heavy iron door closed once more.

"Click!"

The sound of the iron lock falling came from outside.

The dungeon returned to darkness and deathly silence.

Chen Fan lay on the cold straw, listening to the retreating footsteps outside. Far from feeling any despair, he was thinking about something else.

The library was stolen, and the Prince of Xiushan was furious.

Perhaps he would come to interrogate him personally, as he was the only lead?

If he could die at the hands of the Prince of Xiushan...

That would be a leap to the heavens, transforming from a bandit into a prince!

But that was just wishful thinking; the Prince of Xiushan would never kill someone himself, let alone come down to the dungeon to interrogate a prisoner.