36: Chapter 36 The Prisoner

Within the Interrogation Court of the Zhenwu Division, three sealed stone chambers stood side by side.

The stone walls were thick and soundproof, preventing any communication or visibility, completely sealing off all sound and sight.

Chun Tao, Wang Yu, and Wang Huaian were led into separate cells, one person per room, strictly isolated for individual interrogation.

Whether they confessed, denied, or how the interrogation proceeded was completely unknown to the other two.

Isolating information and locking away the unknown amplified the suspicion and fear deep within the human heart.

This was a classic interrogation method that Lin Qing had learned in his previous life.

Lin Qing knew very well that these three were bound by private affairs, Family ties, and interests; if tried together, they would only encourage each other and hold on to their denials. Only by separating them and breaking them one by one, using the information gap to tear apart their alliance, could he force them to betray each other and collapse from within.

Lin Qing walked toward the first stone chamber on the left.

The guards locked the door tightly, and the one-on-one private interrogation officially began.

The stone chamber was dim, damp, and cold; a solitary lamp flickered, and the chill seeped into the bones.

Chun Tao sat curled up on the stone floor, trembling, her face deathly pale. Having personally administered poison for years and being tainted by toxic substances every day, with every piece of evidence against her, she knew in her heart that she would never have a good ending.

Lin Qing walked in slowly and closed the stone door. With only the two of them in the cramped cell, a suffocating sense of oppression washed over her.

There was no torture, no instruments; only a cold, definitive statement that crushed her last shred of delusion.

"Chun Tao, you have personally administered poison for years, murdering the Young Lord of the main lineage. You are stained with blood and beyond redemption. Regardless of whether you confess or not, your death sentence is set; there is absolutely no path to survival."

This short sentence completely extinguished the last hope Chun Tao had.

Over the years, she had willingly done all sorts of dirty deeds, living in constant fear every night. The only things that kept her going were Wang Yu's false promises and her own self-deceiving infatuation. She had always thought that if things were exposed, Wang Yu would remember their old feelings and protect her.

Only now did she realize that from beginning to end, she was nothing more than a disposable pawn.

Lin Qing's gaze was indifferent, his words like knives, dissecting the cruel truth layer by layer:

"You think Wang Yu has feelings for you? He knew that poisoning was a capital crime, yet he refused to do it himself, using sweet words to trick you into standing at the forefront and bearing all the sins for him."

"Wang Huaian is calculating and plotted the whole thing in secret. He used your infatuation to manipulate and control you, treating you as a clean, sharp blade that could be discarded once used."

"You are doomed to die. There are only two paths before you now."

"If you remain silent and refuse to confess, the case will become muddled. Wang Huaian and Wang Yu, holding high positions, can use their status to cover up and evade responsibility, likely receiving lenient punishment or even escaping unscathed. Only you will bear the full weight of the charges and be executed by slow slicing."

"Or, you can confess truthfully and expose all the hidden schemes. You will still face death, but you can drag out the masterminds, bring down the Wang father and son who used you, and make those who ruined your life and deceived your heart accompany you in this sin."

"Will you die in vain, or will you drag your enemies down with you? Which do you choose?"

Despair and resentment instantly swept through Chun Tao's mind.

Her years of infatuation had become a joke, and her years of endurance had not earned her a shred of pity. Why should she die alone while the perpetrators enjoyed their wealth?

Unwillingness—a monstrous unwillingness—completely shattered her final bit of fragility.

Chun Tao's eyes turned blood-red, tears mixed with hatred fell, and her hoarse voice carried a frantic determination:

"I confess! I confess everything! At first, it was Wang Yu who took the initiative to seduce me, promising to take me as his wife and grant me glory, tricking me into secretly administering poison to clear obstacles for him."

She gritted her teeth, her words piercing, nailing down their guilt without leaving any room for escape:

"The root of all the planning lies with Wang Huaian! He coveted the power of the main lineage, harboring resentment and unwillingness to stay beneath others, having plotted for years. Every timing, dosage, and method to hide the tracks of the poisoning was secretly instructed and arranged by him."

"Wang Yu is by no means innocent. He participated in the whole process, scouting the Young Lord's schedule, passing messages, and covering up flaws. He cooperated fully in everything and was the core accomplice."

"I was the sacrificial pawn placed in the open, while they, father and son, were the wolves hiding in the dark!"

Chun Tao held nothing back, revealing all the conspiracies, private transactions, and hidden details. With the heart of someone seeking revenge before death, she firmly nailed Wang Huaian and Wang Yu to the crime.

The interrogation ended, and the stone door opened.

Chun Tao's testimony became ironclad evidence. In the two adjacent cells, it remained dead silent; no one knew of the collapse and betrayal that had happened here.

In the second stone chamber, it was sealed and silent.

Wang Yu was trapped alone in the darkness, restless and uneasy.

He was a cowardly, incompetent playboy with no ideas of his own, having lived his whole life relying on his father. Without anyone to support him and with all outside news cut off, the fear of the unknown constantly amplified, gnawing away at his mind.

The stone door slowly pushed open, and Lin Qing walked in.

Looking at the flustered, out-of-control Wang Yu, whose eyes were filled with cowardice, Lin Qing went straight to the point, throwing out the fatal information gap:

"Chun Tao has already confessed everything."

One sentence instantly broke Wang Yu's psychological defense.

He went cold all over, his legs went weak, and his face instantly drained of all color.

"She has already explained everything clearly—how you feigned affection to trick her into poisoning, how you secretly cooperated and covered up the crimes, all details listed one by one. She stated that everything was done under your direction, and you, in turn, were following Wang Huaian's orders."

Wang Yu shook his head hurriedly, defending himself in a panic: "No! I am not the mastermind! It was all forced by my father, Wang Huaian!"

"I am not asking for reasons, only results," Lin Qing interrupted coldly.

"Chun Tao's crimes are unforgivable, and she was destined to die. Now that she has voluntarily revealed the inside story, she may be spared from torture."

"And you, if you insist on denying it, all the blame will fall on you. You will be defined as a co-conspirator and suffer the execution of slow slicing."

"Do not harbor delusions that Wang Huaian will protect you. You know full well what kind of person he is. To gain a bit of power for the Family, he plotted to poison his own eldest brother's son. Do you think that in the face of life and death, he will die for you? As long as he confesses first and pushes everything onto you, claiming you acted on your own and rebelled, he can stay out of it, and only you will surely die without a whole corpse."

"But if you confess now and take the initiative to testify that Wang Huaian is the mastermind, revealing the truth of his plot to poison his Junior, you will be the second person to confess. Weighing the two, you may be spared the death penalty and only sentenced to hard labor to atone for your crimes, at least preserving your life."

On one side was a brutal execution, death, and disgrace; on the other was surviving in the world with a path to life.

Inside the sealed cell, there were no Family ties, no alliance constraints, only a naked choice of life and death.

Wang Yu was inherently greedy for life and afraid of death. In the face of the ultimate threat of death, the fragile father-son bond instantly crumbled.

He completely collapsed, kneeling on the ground, roaring a confession with a crying voice:

"I confess! Everything was planned by my father, Wang Huaian! It was he who resented the main lineage and was filled with ambition. It was he who taught me to use Chun Tao's feelings to do evil and forced me to participate in this poisonous plot!"

"I was acting under orders the whole time, unable to do otherwise. The true culprit has always been him!"

The second interrogation concluded; Wang Yu completely betrayed his own father.

Under layers of isolation, Wang Huaian in the innermost room was still kept in the dark, stubbornly holding on.

In the last stone chamber, the atmosphere was suppressed to the extreme.

Wang Huaian sat in one corner, his expression steady, his eyes hiding the arrogance cultivated by years of scheming.

He had spent his life calculating human hearts, believing he could grasp Chun Tao's infatuation and control his son's cowardice; the three of them were an unbreakable alliance. As long as he gritted his teeth and refused to admit guilt, the one-sided testimony of two Juniors could not possibly convict him of the major crime of being the mastermind.

The stone door opened, a faint light seeped in, and Lin Qing stepped in slowly.

"Wang Huaian, you have calculated your whole life, but in the end, you still lost."

The plain sentence was like a heavy hammer, striking Wang Huaian's heart.

"You thought your plan was flawless, but in reality, it was vulnerable. Three stone chambers, separate interrogations, isolating all opportunities for collusion. Chun Tao has already confessed everything, and Wang Yu has also admitted his guilt. The two pawns you were so proud of have already betrayed you."

Wang Huaian's face suddenly turned livid, and he retorted sternly: "Nonsense! The two of them were afraid of death and colluded to frame me; it is purely a fabrication!"

"Collusion?" Lin Qing's tone was flat, yet it carried absolute control.

"Three chambers isolated, seeing and hearing nothing, with no possibility of passing any messages. The two gave separate statements at different times, far apart, yet their words were completely consistent on key points like the poisoning cycle, the details of the conspiracy, and the private instructions, without the slightest discrepancy. With such ironclad evidence, how can you call it framing?"

The evidence was irrefutable.

"You used infatuation to bury a woman's life; you manipulated your own flesh and blood, forcing your own son to do evil for you. You thought that binding interests could stabilize everything, but you forgot that in the face of life and death, human feelings, Family ties, and alliances are all illusions."

"Now the two have confessed and testified; only you are resisting. If you insist on denying it, you will be treated as the primary culprit, facing the heavy punishment of slow slicing, bringing ruin to yourself and your entire branch."

"If you confess and accept the law, the testimonies of the three will form a closed loop, the case will be settled, and although you will be sentenced to heavy imprisonment, you can still preserve some dignity and keep your life."

Lin Qing looked down from above at this calculating old plotter, slowly delivering the final blow.

"You calculated all the pros and cons and understood human nature, but you failed to calculate that in a desperate situation, everyone has the instinct to protect themselves and survive."

The stone chamber fell into a long silence.

Wang Huaian's body went stiff, his scheming and arrogance completely collapsing in the face of layers of facts and desperate straits.

He understood clearly that the situation was lost, and there was no power to turn it around.

After a long while, an old, hoarse voice sounded, filled with endless despondency and despair.

"... I confess."

"Murdering the main lineage, planning the poisoning, manipulating my Juniors to act—all sins originated from me. Because I was unwilling to stay beneath others and harbored resentment for years, I caused this disaster. I will bear all the guilt alone."

Three separate rooms, three rounds of interrogation.

Isolating information, dismantling alliances, breaking schemes with human nature, and shattering delusions with desperate situations.

Lin Qing walked out of the interrogation court with the testimonies of the three. Zhao Feng and Wang Qingwan were already waiting outside. Lin Qing handed the testimonies to Zhao Feng and said: "My Lord, I have successfully fulfilled the mission."

Thus, the case was solved. Wang Huaian coveted the interests of the Wang Family's main lineage and plotted to kill the main lineage's heir, Wang Xiaolong. Wang Yu had his eyes on the status of the Wang Family's heir; once the old Clan Chief passed away in a few years, his father would be promoted to Clan Chief, and his status would naturally rise. Chun Tao was seduced by Wang Yu's affection and coveted the status of a young mistress of the Wang Family, so she had secretly administered poison for years.

First, she used hidden herbal chronic poisons to erode Wang Xiaolong's heart and Qi over the years. On the day of the act, she used another potent poison to make the problems in Wang Xiaolong's body explode completely. Wang Huaian only needed to make a slight move to cause the Qi and blood in Wang Xiaolong, who was also at the Middle Stage of the Third Rank, to go into chaos, causing him to die suddenly.

Wang Huaian was indeed the pillar of the second generation of the Wang Family. The poison he concocted was so hidden that it not only fooled the coroner of the Zhenwu Division but also the rest of the Wang Family.

However, it was a pity that it could not fool Lin Qing, who possessed modern knowledge. Some poisons might not be detectable in this world without modern medical knowledge, but for Lin Qing, grey fingernails and pupils of different sizes were typical characteristics of poisoning.