The Empress's No.1 Lackey

The cell held several people, all of whom were now awake, looking at her with either indifference or concern.

No one spoke.

Everyone was waiting for the impending torture.

Since they were imprisoned last night, they had been "disrupted" and detained. They didn't know what had happened to their other companions, but they could hear heartrending screams throughout the night.

What truly dispirited this group was not the fear of torture, but a sense of confusion.

On the way here, they had already learned of the news about the Grand Tutor and the death of the Zhao thief together.

The death of the Zhao thief was certainly welcome news, but the death of the Grand Tutor left them without a "guiding light," feeling lost and helpless.

Lin Yuebai could only constantly comfort the others:

The Queen Wen is still alive; the Princely Heir is still alive; key members like Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun are still around.

The brothers and sisters of the Kuangfu Society are still fighting in various places.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, the sound of a prison door opening came from the corridor, followed by footsteps. Several prison guards entered, glanced at everyone, and said, "Lin Yuebai, come out for a moment."

"Sister!" The boy next door cried out in agony.

But he could not stop it as Lin Yuebai was roughly dragged out by the prison guards.

When this female sorcerer, with a vacant expression, braced herself for the impending abuse, she found that the guards were not taking her to the torture chamber.

Instead, they brought her to a quieter area.

In the dungeon corridor lit by a brazier, the shackled Lin Yuebai saw Wu Ling and Qing Niao, standing like guardians outside an interrogation room.

"It's you! Traitors! Court running dogs!" Lin Yuebai glared angrily and cursed the two traitors.

Wu Ling couldn't be bothered to respond, while Qing Niao looked at her with pity in his eyes and a sneer on his lips:

"I hope you'll still be the same when you come out later."

Lin Yuebai was somewhat bewildered as she was pushed into the interrogation room.

...

In the room, there was only a table and a few chairs.

At this moment, sitting in the interrogation seat were a man and a woman, one of which was Lin Yuebai's former friend, Yun Xi.

The other... had his feet propped up on the table, body leaning back, resting in a chair, flipping through some documents with a look of disdain mingled with superiority.

"Zhao! The Zhao thief?!"

Lin Yuebai was thunderstruck, her eyes widened as she stared incredulously at the smiling traitor Zhao Douan.

She had seen Zhao Douan's face in the crowd before and was familiar with him.

"Lin Yuebai, right? The data says you managed a small sub-branch in the society and even participated in the assassination attempt at Hu Ting? Haha, interesting... During the Battle of Feng City, you clashed and even fought with others in the society under Qing Niao's threat... Tsk tsk, even more interesting..."

Zhao Douan casually tossed the booklet onto the table, crossing his hands and watching her with interest:

"Are you interested in turning over a new leaf and redeeming yourself? For Yun Xi's sake, who strongly recommended you, if you come over to the side of light, I can overlook your past assassination attempt for now."

Yun Xi glanced at him: So direct?

"You... weren't you dead?!" Lin Yuebai stumbled, leaning against the iron door as if she'd seen a ghost.

Yun Xi expressionlessly explained the situation briefly and quickly.

Upon hearing it, Lin Yuebai's eyes suddenly lit up: "So, the Grand Tutor is still alive?"

"Not far from death," Zhao Douan said lazily:

"In just a few days, beheaded at Cai Market, as long as you publicly incriminate Zhuang Xiaocheng, I will..."

"Pah! Dog official! I will never yield!"

Zhao Douan was unsurprised, seeing this familiar reaction, he seemed to see the once personally trained Yun Xi.

He sighed softly and took a recording scroll from his sleeve:

"After watching this, I hope you're still able to curse."

Then, the scroll emitted a light, exceptionally clear in the dim dungeon.

It was, indeed, a scene of the Empress and Zhao Douan interrogating Zhuang Xiaocheng in the Zhao family's study room at that time.

"What the Grand Tutor is laboring over is how to oppose me day by day, how to fabricate history, slander me, and decorate Xu Jianwen's rebellion as evil, misleading the people?"

"A man is a knife's meat, I am the fish's flesh..."

The conversation at that time echoed in the interrogation room.

Zhao Douan had arranged for Gongshu Tianyuan to secretly record from outside, guessing the Empress's idea, and she didn't stop him.

Throughout the conversation, although Zhuang Xiaocheng said little, with a death-seeking attitude, he similarly did not retort during the Empress and Zhao Douan's questioning.

It was an attitude of acquiescence.

And often, acquiescence itself represents a lot.

Lin Yuebai froze, and when the images on the scroll finished playing, she was still incredulous: "This is..."

Yun Xi sighed lightly, sneering:

"What did you think? Why did I turn to the court? Did you think I was weak? Or coerced by threats? No, I recognized the true face of the Old Zhuang, tore apart the lies..."

Then, she described her journey to enlightenment and showed her the pile of documents on the table, prepared to prove Zhuang Xiaocheng's hypocrisy and construction of lies.

Finally, Zhao Douan looked at her with pity:

"You should have noticed it too, that too many people in the Kuangfu Society don't truly uphold the ideals of supporting the society, and too many have long known that Zhuang Xiaocheng was lying, just maintaining the lie through tacit agreement."

He stood up, walked towards the door:

"You are a smart person, think twice and hopefully make the right choice."

Zhao Douan walked out of the interrogation room, watching the dust floating in the light by the window at the end of the corridor, suddenly feeling it would be fitting to have a cigarette now.

About two quarters later, the door of the interrogation room opened, Zhao Douan didn't turn back, still gazing at the light filtering through the bars on the wall.

"How is it?"

Behind him, Yun Xi came over and calmly said:

"She listened to me, agreed to return to the cell to help persuade more people and stand out to expose Old Zhuang's hypocrisy."

Zhao Douan was unsurprised: "Just follow the method I demonstrated and keep going."

He sneered:

"Actually, these people are not fools, so in this period, they've surely pondered the taste inwardly, understanding that they were viewed as Abandoned Children by Zhuang Xiaocheng from the start. Whether it's reluctance to see their beliefs crumble or heed their companions' opinions, they are holding on stubbornly."

"Facing these people, no punishment is needed, just a mental attack, giving them a righteous reason to defect to the court and become 'traitors'; they will naturally switch sides..."

The reason Zhao Douan divided the prisoners into two parts was to artificially create division.

And with a whole night of screams, he intended to instill fear in Lin Yuebai's group.

"People are afraid of death; few are not afraid, just bound by some illusory moral shackles, unable to come down."

"Just like when the Alien Race attacks the city, even if to avoid criticism, they must hold on until the end. But if the Alien Race holds up a Puppet Emperor on their side, the defending soldiers can surrender without concern."

Zhao Douan spoke without feeling, as cold as a machine.

He had seen too many similar things in history books.

Yun Xi pondered: "What they lack is just a justifiable reason to change sides?"

"What else," Zhao Douan turned, pinching the girl's cheek casually:

"Do you really think all the rebels are like you, foolishly thinking of martyrdom all day?"

Uh... Yun Xi glared angrily but didn't dare to make a sound.

Zhao Douan laughed heartily and walked past her towards the gate of the Imperial Prison:

"The remaining people are up to you, the ones persuaded can also be turned into spies, and you and Wu Ling will lead them, continuing to sweep away the remnants of the rebels and redeem themselves. Ha, thinking they can just defect once to wash away their great sins; what wishful thinking."