Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 745
"Killing me will prove that the 'patriots', including Lu Zui, cannot control their hatred and fury. Then, the ideology and the 'belief' you persist with will be pure garbage. How will you be able to maintain your current level?
"The four Core Formation Stage Cultivators will be chasing after you later. If their belief wavers after they kill me, how can they fight the battle next?
"Just like that, I cried and rolled on the ground. Even Lu Zui was shocked. Then, the news that you'd been found came over. That was how I luckily survived."
Li Yao was rendered speechless for a long time.
Guo Chunfeng patted his shoulder. "Young brother, are you very disappointed?"
"Not exactly." Li Yao tried to adjust his facial muscles. "I'm just a bit surprised. Brother Guo doesn't seem like someone who is scared of death."
"I was not scared of death." Guo Chunfeng's eyes pierced through the underground and landed somewhere far, far away. "However, I was scared that I wouldn't see my wife and my daughter again. Very scared.
"Now that I've earned enough time and fulfilled my responsibility as a Cultivator to my country and my compatriots, should I fulfil my responsibility for my wife and my daughter next?
"Young brother, when you are my age and have your own wife and children, you will understand me.
"On the ground that my principles are not violated, as long as there is a slim chance that I can reunite with my family… not just kneeling down and begging for mercy, I guarantee that I will lick the bottom of Lu Zui's shoes if he asks me to."
Li Yao was dazed for a long time, but then he suddenly smiled.
Perhaps it was not an answer that he expected, but at the very least, Guo Chunfeng was still alive. He could still go back home on his own feet and meet his wife and daughter. His wife and daughter needed to neither attend to his funeral nor cry on the countless cold nights in the future.
Could there have been a better outcome?
"Brother Guo, if I ever have the chance, I would love to visit your home and see what the place that attracts you so much really looks like!" Li Yao said sincerely.
"Hahahaha. It's just a regular house." Guo Chunfeng laughed in delight. "My daughter will be exultant if you are there—the legendary Ultra-Level Federal Hero, Vulture Li Yao! She won't be able to fall asleep again for the next three days!"
"Brother Guo, we both know that it is not true." Li Yao was more or less embarrassed. "You are the greatest contributor in the battle. If we're talking about heroes, you are certainly the real hero here."
"Alright." Guo Chunfeng changed the topic. "If we don't stop, we'll spend the next three days adulating each other. Let's talk later at my place when this thing is over. Now, let's watch the footage of Lu Zui's interrogation. I feel that something is wrong, but I can't tell exactly what it is. Take a look at it."
"No problem!"
Li Yao walked to the analysis center next to the interrogation room, where hundreds of light beams were displaying the picture of Lu Zui being interrogated ever since he was captured.
Almost all of the interrogation was a one-on-one competition between Guo Chunfeng and Lu Zui. Even the tiniest muscle reactions when Lu Zui was speaking were monitored and analyzed carefully.
In the picture, Guo Chunfeng said calmly, "Director, your scheme has been exposed. It is a doomed cause now! If you do not give up, the interests of the federation will be harmed, and more blood will be shed for nothing! If you are a real patriot as you claim to be, just confess everything now for the federation and for everything you want to protect!"
After a long silence, Lu Zui replied in a bitter smile, "If you win, you are a king; but if you fail, you are a rebel."
He began his confession. His speed was low, but his words were very clear. The information was unambiguous, too.
In a few hours, he gave up dozens of secret bases of the Patriots Partnership and a complicated connection network as well as several production centers of the Demon God Virus in the East Ocean and the southern rainforest.
According to the information, the Core Formation Stage Cultivators and the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators in the capital city took action immediately and marched to the places all over the country, trying to demolish the Patriots Partnership before they reacted.
Up to now, the dense of the Patriots Partnership in the capital city and the few cities nearby had been discovered. Hundreds of 'patriots', as well as tremendous files and even virus samples, had been captured.
Generally speaking, Lu Zui was quite cooperative, with barely any resistance.
However, after watching the interrogation videos, Li Yao frowned as hard as Guo Chunfeng did.
Chapter 1134: There's Only One Truth! |
Lu Zui was like a gambler who had wagered all his belongings only to lose everything. All his emotions other than frustration and desperation had flowed out of his body. The only thing that was left was an empty shell that was answering Guo Chunfeng's questions mechanically.
However, behind the frustration and desperation, Li Yao vaguely sensed a hint tranquility.
Not the tranquility of gloom and giving up everything, but the tranquility of waiting before the arrival of a storm!
"Something is wrong.
"Lu Zui is too peaceful, desperate, and frustrated. He is a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator. His belief should be unwavering. Would he give up so easily?
"He just suffered a brutal failure. In his eyes, the federation should be hopeless now. However, faced with such an outcome, he didn't even struggle but simply confessed everything at the earliest opportunity. Is he watching the Patriots Partnership get demolished just like that?"
Looking at Guo Chunfeng, Li Yao said, "I want to meet him."
When the two of them stepped into the prison cell, Lu Zui, locked up in barriers, was sitting cross-legged in a corner. He was absent-minded while staring at a dim light on the ceiling.
Several bugs crashed into the light, producing cracking noises, but they never retreated.
Lu Zui was completely focused on the few bugs. He did not even bother to greet Li Yao and Guo Chunfeng.
Now, time was on Lu Zui's side again because Li Yao and Guo Chunfeng could not afford to wait. Guo Chunfeng could not help but ask, "Director, what are you looking at?"
"I'm looking at the future." Lu Zui's voice was both deep and slow, as if it was floating up from the depths of a swamp, with mud dripping from his every word. "The future a hundred years from now.
"In the decades to come, after the demon race surrenders and mankind secures a glorious victory, the capability of the federation soars quickly. Everybody dwells in the illusions of peace and prosperity, unable to free themselves. Li Yao and Guo Chunfeng, the two Cultivators who have facilitated everything, become the great heroes for the public!
"When the demons just surrender, they conceal their aggressiveness and pretend to be innocent lambs and hardworking horses. They sneak into the federation in the most humble and docile position, shouldering the most arduous and dirty work.
"With the joint efforts, the federation is flourishing. Everything seems to be developing to the perfect direction.
"However, good days don't last long.
"Gradually, the population of the demon race grows larger. With their advantage in survival abilities, the demons spread out to all the resource planets in the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector, and even the larger world.
"Human beings, in comparison, have a hard time immigrating into the Blood Demon Sector because of their weak bodies.
"As a result, there are more and more demons, and they are occupying more and more worlds. Over time, they seize the critical posts in the new federation.
"The war in the past is slowly forgotten as the two parties are more and more integrated. The activities of demons demanding their rights are gaining popularity. To stabilize the federation and to resist the imperium, the demon race, as the disadvantaged people, gets all kinds of privileges from the police makers. The rules, ethics, and even laws that have passed on for thousands of years are smashed into pieces because they are 'biased'. Even the word 'demon' will become a taboo because it is not politically correct.
"Maybe demons by then will no longer be called demons. They will be 'the physically extraordinary' or 'the federal citizens of Blood Demon descent'.
"Even so, the demons are still not satisfied. They are still pushing forward in every aspect. They replace our rules with their rules, they contaminate our culture with their culture, and they twist our history with their history! The heroes who sacrificed themselves on the battlefields to resist demons are no longer regarded as real heroes, and the dramas and movies with expert demons as protagonists will be aired blatantly!
"In the end, every human kid loses wariness of the demon race and forgets the hundreds of years of struggle of their ancestors. They are even ashamed of their natural-born suspicion!
"The changes will not happen in an instant but take place slowly and surely over the span of decades under the banner of 'love, peace, and integration'.
"Nobody will realize that it is another invasion. The idiotic public will only be brainwashed by the media and the consortiums. The shrewd politicians, however, think that they can take advantage of the strength. Only the few people who are sober can see through the danger behind everything, but their voice is too low. Even if they say anything, they will be accused of being the remnants of the Patriots Partnership and be despised for 'sabotaging the integration'.
"Eventually, when the stinky demons occupy our streets, steal our jobs, take away our women, and tarnish our flag, some of them will wake up in regrets.
"But it will be too late. The country will be like a patient whose cancer has proliferated to the entire body. There's no way to reverse the illness at all.
"Maybe, at that time, the patient will regret not following the doctor's advice in the beginning and cutting off all the cancerous organs with the sharp scalpel, no matter how important the organs appeared to be!
"This is everything I've seen, Supervisor Guo. No, that's not right. I should call you 'Director Guo'. The new director of the Secret Sword Bureau, are you interested in watching it together with me?"
Li Yao and Guo Chunfeng looked at each other and both felt tricky.
Guo Chunfeng sighed. "Director, do you know who he is?"
"Of course," Lu Zui replied casually without even looking at Li Yao. "A retard who thinks he is smart. A moron who thinks that he is not corrupted by the Blood Devil when he fell victim to the evilness a long time ago."
"Director!" Guo Chunfeng raised his voice. "With everything coming to this point, do you still not regret what you did at all? Li Yao saved the federation time and time again. He is a well-deserved federal hero, but in order to achieve your goals, you vilified him in such shameless ways and even involved Ding Lingdang, Professor Mo Xuan, and so many other people!"
"I didn't vilify him," Lu Zui said calmly. "The accomplishments in the past cannot make up for the wrongdoing today. At this moment, I still maintain my opinion that the real Li Yao died in the Blood Demon Sector and that the one who is alive is but a devil residing in Li Yao's shell. The devil is going to ruin the federation eventually!
"I tried to stop the devil, but it is too cunning, too strong, and too good at taking advantage of the weakness of humanity. Therefore, I failed in the end.
"Do I feel bad? Of course!
"But do I regret? Hehe. I'm not sorry for what I did. I don't regret!"
Li Yao narrowed his eyes and confronted Lu Zui for the first time. "You don't regret, and yet you confessed the nests of the Patriots Partnership. The organization is now falling apart, and the 'patriots' are being captured. Why?"
"As I said, when you take a gamble, you must brace for failure," Lu Zui replied lazily. "I didn't kill Guo Chunfeng on 'Hidden Star' because our organization was doing everything not for personal grudges but for justice and the future of the federation!
"Killing Guo Chunfeng would only have made me feel better, but the country would have lost an excellent director of the Secret Sword Bureau, which was against my belief. So, I didn't do it.
"By the same logic, now that we've failed with no possibility of a comeback, is there any necessity to struggle in vain and waste the federation's resources?
"Now that I've failed, I might as well admit my failure quickly. Consider it the last bit of dignity I save for myself!"
Li Yao scratched his head. He was not an interrogation expert. Lu Zui's theory sounded rather self-consistent without many loopholes, but why was he feeling more and more puzzled?
"You are not admitting your failure!" Li Yao suddenly bulged his eyes and stared at Lu Zui. "You still have possibility of a comeback! Everything you are doing right now is the same as what Guo Chunfeng did on 'Hidden Star'. You are buying time… for someone else!"
Lu Zui's eyes were hollow, devoid of any feelings. He smiled and continued studying the moths that were darting toward the light.
"No! No! No!"
Li Yao thought so hard that he felt that his brain was exploding. He retrieved the locations of the nests of the Patriots Partnership that Lu Zui had confessed again. Finally, he found the source of his uneasiness.
"Lu Zui, in the past twelve hours, you've confessed thirty-seven nests, but thirty-one of them are located in the south of the federation or in the East Ocean!
"The few most important bases of the Demon God Virus, which are protected by the experts, are even at the southmost part of the country!
"What is the meaning of that? Does regional discrimination prevail in the Patriots Partnership and you only recruit southerners?"
Lu Zui simply closed his eyes in silence, but he gradually put on a scornful smile.
Guo Chunfeng was a top-tier interrogation expert. He had not been able to see the truth because he was too involved. Now that Li Yao had reminded him, he immediately realized what was going on. "Are you suggesting that he is distracting us?
"The thirty-seven nests he confessed are all of paramount importance. The toughest members of the Patriots Partnership are gathered there!
"To demolish those nests and to capture all the members, not only are the local Cultivators on the move, the experts in the north and the central part of the federation are also marching toward the south on crystal warships!
"Right now, most of the Core Formation Stage Cultivators and the Nascent Soul Stages in the federation are concentrated in the rainforest in the south and on the ocean to deal with the Patriots Partnership. It is impossible to get them back soon!
"Li Yao, you are not suggesting that there is someone behind Lu Zui, who is another leader of the Patriots Partnership on par with him, if not in a higher position, are you? Everything that Lu Zui has been doing is exactly like what I did for you. He is buying time for the guy so that the guy will be able to activate the backup plan!"
With a solemn, Li Yao nodded. "Don't you find it odd, Brother Guo? Now that I think of it, to set me up, Lu Zui made use of a lot of connections and resources in the military, the circle of politicians, and the world of Cultivators. Isn't it too much for the identity of 'the director of the Secret Sword Bureau'?
"Also, our victory this time has come too easily, hasn't it? The Patriots Partnership has planned carefully for such a long time taking all the factors into consideration. Have they not prepared a 'Plan B' as their desperate resort when their primary plan fails? Are they going to be suppressed just like that?"
Guo Chunfeng was having goosebumps all over his body. He bulged his eyes. "Another leader of the Patriots Partnership? Who—who are you suspecting?"
"Tearing off all the disguises, there can only be one truth!"
Li Yao pressed his temples. The deep brilliance in his eyes was unbelievably sharp and mysterious while Li Yao said, one word after another, "Jiang Hailiu, the Speaker of Parliament!"
Chapter 1135: Simpleminded! |
Guo Chunfeng suddenly shivered. "Young brother, why did you say that?"
Lu Zui, who was crouching in the corner with eyes closed like a monk, suddenly widened his eyes, with disbelief beaming out.
"Very simple. My experience!" Li Yao sneered. "I have travelled in the sea of stars for more than ten years. After bloody battles, large and small, and mysterious schemes, I have concluded an incontrovertible law of nature, which is—
"Wherever I go, as long as I'm involved in a scheme, the one behind it is always the local leading person of the righteous forces, one that always seems frank and outspoken!
"When I went to Iron Plateau, I was involved in the assassination of a chief and the internal strife of the six tribes. The one behind the curtain was Yan Xibei, the previous leading person of Iron Plateau!
"When I went to Heavenly Saints City, I was involved in the schemes of Iron Plateau and the coup of the Second Imperium. Eventually, it was Xiao Xuance, the leading person of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City and the strongest expert of the Flying Star Sector!
"When I was in the Blood Demon Sector, from the perspective of the demon race, the hiatus of the Red Tide Plan and the destruction of the Eye of Blood Demon was sort of a scheme, too, and it was planned by the leading person, Jin Tuyi, the nominal commander-in-chief of the demon army!
"Now, I'm already back in the Heaven's Origin Sector, and I'm involved in the incident of the Patriots Partnership again. Isn't it obvious who is behind the curtain? It's certainly the leading person of the Star Glory Federation, the Speaker 'Jiang Hailiu'!"
"…" Guo Chunfeng.
"…" Lu Zui.
Guo Chunfeng wiped off his sweat. "Young—young brother, you do have a marvelous way of thinking. However, do you have any valid proof?"
"Of course, I don't suspect anybody randomly!" Li Yao replied confidently. "First of all, since the guy is capable of making Lu Zui sacrifice for him willingly, he must be on par with Lu Zui in position, if not higher! In the entire federation, few are qualified, but the Speaker is an exception!
"Secondly, don't you think that Speaker Jiang woke up too uncannily, Brother Guo? It was exactly the moment when Lu Zui was revealed, and everything was settled. As a result, it was only natural for him to clean up the mess that Lu Zui left for him!
"The four Core Formation Stage Cultivators will be chasing after you later. If their belief wavers after they kill me, how can they fight the battle next?
"Just like that, I cried and rolled on the ground. Even Lu Zui was shocked. Then, the news that you'd been found came over. That was how I luckily survived."
Li Yao was rendered speechless for a long time.
Guo Chunfeng patted his shoulder. "Young brother, are you very disappointed?"
"Not exactly." Li Yao tried to adjust his facial muscles. "I'm just a bit surprised. Brother Guo doesn't seem like someone who is scared of death."
"I was not scared of death." Guo Chunfeng's eyes pierced through the underground and landed somewhere far, far away. "However, I was scared that I wouldn't see my wife and my daughter again. Very scared.
"Now that I've earned enough time and fulfilled my responsibility as a Cultivator to my country and my compatriots, should I fulfil my responsibility for my wife and my daughter next?
"Young brother, when you are my age and have your own wife and children, you will understand me.
"On the ground that my principles are not violated, as long as there is a slim chance that I can reunite with my family… not just kneeling down and begging for mercy, I guarantee that I will lick the bottom of Lu Zui's shoes if he asks me to."
Li Yao was dazed for a long time, but then he suddenly smiled.
Perhaps it was not an answer that he expected, but at the very least, Guo Chunfeng was still alive. He could still go back home on his own feet and meet his wife and daughter. His wife and daughter needed to neither attend to his funeral nor cry on the countless cold nights in the future.
Could there have been a better outcome?
"Brother Guo, if I ever have the chance, I would love to visit your home and see what the place that attracts you so much really looks like!" Li Yao said sincerely.
"Hahahaha. It's just a regular house." Guo Chunfeng laughed in delight. "My daughter will be exultant if you are there—the legendary Ultra-Level Federal Hero, Vulture Li Yao! She won't be able to fall asleep again for the next three days!"
"Brother Guo, we both know that it is not true." Li Yao was more or less embarrassed. "You are the greatest contributor in the battle. If we're talking about heroes, you are certainly the real hero here."
"Alright." Guo Chunfeng changed the topic. "If we don't stop, we'll spend the next three days adulating each other. Let's talk later at my place when this thing is over. Now, let's watch the footage of Lu Zui's interrogation. I feel that something is wrong, but I can't tell exactly what it is. Take a look at it."
"No problem!"
Li Yao walked to the analysis center next to the interrogation room, where hundreds of light beams were displaying the picture of Lu Zui being interrogated ever since he was captured.
Almost all of the interrogation was a one-on-one competition between Guo Chunfeng and Lu Zui. Even the tiniest muscle reactions when Lu Zui was speaking were monitored and analyzed carefully.
In the picture, Guo Chunfeng said calmly, "Director, your scheme has been exposed. It is a doomed cause now! If you do not give up, the interests of the federation will be harmed, and more blood will be shed for nothing! If you are a real patriot as you claim to be, just confess everything now for the federation and for everything you want to protect!"
After a long silence, Lu Zui replied in a bitter smile, "If you win, you are a king; but if you fail, you are a rebel."
He began his confession. His speed was low, but his words were very clear. The information was unambiguous, too.
In a few hours, he gave up dozens of secret bases of the Patriots Partnership and a complicated connection network as well as several production centers of the Demon God Virus in the East Ocean and the southern rainforest.
According to the information, the Core Formation Stage Cultivators and the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators in the capital city took action immediately and marched to the places all over the country, trying to demolish the Patriots Partnership before they reacted.
Up to now, the dense of the Patriots Partnership in the capital city and the few cities nearby had been discovered. Hundreds of 'patriots', as well as tremendous files and even virus samples, had been captured.
Generally speaking, Lu Zui was quite cooperative, with barely any resistance.
However, after watching the interrogation videos, Li Yao frowned as hard as Guo Chunfeng did.
Chapter 1134: There's Only One Truth! |
Lu Zui was like a gambler who had wagered all his belongings only to lose everything. All his emotions other than frustration and desperation had flowed out of his body. The only thing that was left was an empty shell that was answering Guo Chunfeng's questions mechanically.
However, behind the frustration and desperation, Li Yao vaguely sensed a hint tranquility.
Not the tranquility of gloom and giving up everything, but the tranquility of waiting before the arrival of a storm!
"Something is wrong.
"Lu Zui is too peaceful, desperate, and frustrated. He is a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator. His belief should be unwavering. Would he give up so easily?
"He just suffered a brutal failure. In his eyes, the federation should be hopeless now. However, faced with such an outcome, he didn't even struggle but simply confessed everything at the earliest opportunity. Is he watching the Patriots Partnership get demolished just like that?"
Looking at Guo Chunfeng, Li Yao said, "I want to meet him."
When the two of them stepped into the prison cell, Lu Zui, locked up in barriers, was sitting cross-legged in a corner. He was absent-minded while staring at a dim light on the ceiling.
Several bugs crashed into the light, producing cracking noises, but they never retreated.
Lu Zui was completely focused on the few bugs. He did not even bother to greet Li Yao and Guo Chunfeng.
Now, time was on Lu Zui's side again because Li Yao and Guo Chunfeng could not afford to wait. Guo Chunfeng could not help but ask, "Director, what are you looking at?"
"I'm looking at the future." Lu Zui's voice was both deep and slow, as if it was floating up from the depths of a swamp, with mud dripping from his every word. "The future a hundred years from now.
"In the decades to come, after the demon race surrenders and mankind secures a glorious victory, the capability of the federation soars quickly. Everybody dwells in the illusions of peace and prosperity, unable to free themselves. Li Yao and Guo Chunfeng, the two Cultivators who have facilitated everything, become the great heroes for the public!
"When the demons just surrender, they conceal their aggressiveness and pretend to be innocent lambs and hardworking horses. They sneak into the federation in the most humble and docile position, shouldering the most arduous and dirty work.
"With the joint efforts, the federation is flourishing. Everything seems to be developing to the perfect direction.
"However, good days don't last long.
"Gradually, the population of the demon race grows larger. With their advantage in survival abilities, the demons spread out to all the resource planets in the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector, and even the larger world.
"Human beings, in comparison, have a hard time immigrating into the Blood Demon Sector because of their weak bodies.
"As a result, there are more and more demons, and they are occupying more and more worlds. Over time, they seize the critical posts in the new federation.
"The war in the past is slowly forgotten as the two parties are more and more integrated. The activities of demons demanding their rights are gaining popularity. To stabilize the federation and to resist the imperium, the demon race, as the disadvantaged people, gets all kinds of privileges from the police makers. The rules, ethics, and even laws that have passed on for thousands of years are smashed into pieces because they are 'biased'. Even the word 'demon' will become a taboo because it is not politically correct.
"Maybe demons by then will no longer be called demons. They will be 'the physically extraordinary' or 'the federal citizens of Blood Demon descent'.
"Even so, the demons are still not satisfied. They are still pushing forward in every aspect. They replace our rules with their rules, they contaminate our culture with their culture, and they twist our history with their history! The heroes who sacrificed themselves on the battlefields to resist demons are no longer regarded as real heroes, and the dramas and movies with expert demons as protagonists will be aired blatantly!
"In the end, every human kid loses wariness of the demon race and forgets the hundreds of years of struggle of their ancestors. They are even ashamed of their natural-born suspicion!
"The changes will not happen in an instant but take place slowly and surely over the span of decades under the banner of 'love, peace, and integration'.
"Nobody will realize that it is another invasion. The idiotic public will only be brainwashed by the media and the consortiums. The shrewd politicians, however, think that they can take advantage of the strength. Only the few people who are sober can see through the danger behind everything, but their voice is too low. Even if they say anything, they will be accused of being the remnants of the Patriots Partnership and be despised for 'sabotaging the integration'.
"Eventually, when the stinky demons occupy our streets, steal our jobs, take away our women, and tarnish our flag, some of them will wake up in regrets.
"But it will be too late. The country will be like a patient whose cancer has proliferated to the entire body. There's no way to reverse the illness at all.
"Maybe, at that time, the patient will regret not following the doctor's advice in the beginning and cutting off all the cancerous organs with the sharp scalpel, no matter how important the organs appeared to be!
"This is everything I've seen, Supervisor Guo. No, that's not right. I should call you 'Director Guo'. The new director of the Secret Sword Bureau, are you interested in watching it together with me?"
Li Yao and Guo Chunfeng looked at each other and both felt tricky.
Guo Chunfeng sighed. "Director, do you know who he is?"
"Of course," Lu Zui replied casually without even looking at Li Yao. "A retard who thinks he is smart. A moron who thinks that he is not corrupted by the Blood Devil when he fell victim to the evilness a long time ago."
"Director!" Guo Chunfeng raised his voice. "With everything coming to this point, do you still not regret what you did at all? Li Yao saved the federation time and time again. He is a well-deserved federal hero, but in order to achieve your goals, you vilified him in such shameless ways and even involved Ding Lingdang, Professor Mo Xuan, and so many other people!"
"I didn't vilify him," Lu Zui said calmly. "The accomplishments in the past cannot make up for the wrongdoing today. At this moment, I still maintain my opinion that the real Li Yao died in the Blood Demon Sector and that the one who is alive is but a devil residing in Li Yao's shell. The devil is going to ruin the federation eventually!
"I tried to stop the devil, but it is too cunning, too strong, and too good at taking advantage of the weakness of humanity. Therefore, I failed in the end.
"Do I feel bad? Of course!
"But do I regret? Hehe. I'm not sorry for what I did. I don't regret!"
Li Yao narrowed his eyes and confronted Lu Zui for the first time. "You don't regret, and yet you confessed the nests of the Patriots Partnership. The organization is now falling apart, and the 'patriots' are being captured. Why?"
"As I said, when you take a gamble, you must brace for failure," Lu Zui replied lazily. "I didn't kill Guo Chunfeng on 'Hidden Star' because our organization was doing everything not for personal grudges but for justice and the future of the federation!
"Killing Guo Chunfeng would only have made me feel better, but the country would have lost an excellent director of the Secret Sword Bureau, which was against my belief. So, I didn't do it.
"By the same logic, now that we've failed with no possibility of a comeback, is there any necessity to struggle in vain and waste the federation's resources?
"Now that I've failed, I might as well admit my failure quickly. Consider it the last bit of dignity I save for myself!"
Li Yao scratched his head. He was not an interrogation expert. Lu Zui's theory sounded rather self-consistent without many loopholes, but why was he feeling more and more puzzled?
"You are not admitting your failure!" Li Yao suddenly bulged his eyes and stared at Lu Zui. "You still have possibility of a comeback! Everything you are doing right now is the same as what Guo Chunfeng did on 'Hidden Star'. You are buying time… for someone else!"
Lu Zui's eyes were hollow, devoid of any feelings. He smiled and continued studying the moths that were darting toward the light.
"No! No! No!"
Li Yao thought so hard that he felt that his brain was exploding. He retrieved the locations of the nests of the Patriots Partnership that Lu Zui had confessed again. Finally, he found the source of his uneasiness.
"Lu Zui, in the past twelve hours, you've confessed thirty-seven nests, but thirty-one of them are located in the south of the federation or in the East Ocean!
"The few most important bases of the Demon God Virus, which are protected by the experts, are even at the southmost part of the country!
"What is the meaning of that? Does regional discrimination prevail in the Patriots Partnership and you only recruit southerners?"
Lu Zui simply closed his eyes in silence, but he gradually put on a scornful smile.
Guo Chunfeng was a top-tier interrogation expert. He had not been able to see the truth because he was too involved. Now that Li Yao had reminded him, he immediately realized what was going on. "Are you suggesting that he is distracting us?
"The thirty-seven nests he confessed are all of paramount importance. The toughest members of the Patriots Partnership are gathered there!
"To demolish those nests and to capture all the members, not only are the local Cultivators on the move, the experts in the north and the central part of the federation are also marching toward the south on crystal warships!
"Right now, most of the Core Formation Stage Cultivators and the Nascent Soul Stages in the federation are concentrated in the rainforest in the south and on the ocean to deal with the Patriots Partnership. It is impossible to get them back soon!
"Li Yao, you are not suggesting that there is someone behind Lu Zui, who is another leader of the Patriots Partnership on par with him, if not in a higher position, are you? Everything that Lu Zui has been doing is exactly like what I did for you. He is buying time for the guy so that the guy will be able to activate the backup plan!"
With a solemn, Li Yao nodded. "Don't you find it odd, Brother Guo? Now that I think of it, to set me up, Lu Zui made use of a lot of connections and resources in the military, the circle of politicians, and the world of Cultivators. Isn't it too much for the identity of 'the director of the Secret Sword Bureau'?
"Also, our victory this time has come too easily, hasn't it? The Patriots Partnership has planned carefully for such a long time taking all the factors into consideration. Have they not prepared a 'Plan B' as their desperate resort when their primary plan fails? Are they going to be suppressed just like that?"
Guo Chunfeng was having goosebumps all over his body. He bulged his eyes. "Another leader of the Patriots Partnership? Who—who are you suspecting?"
"Tearing off all the disguises, there can only be one truth!"
Li Yao pressed his temples. The deep brilliance in his eyes was unbelievably sharp and mysterious while Li Yao said, one word after another, "Jiang Hailiu, the Speaker of Parliament!"
Chapter 1135: Simpleminded! |
Guo Chunfeng suddenly shivered. "Young brother, why did you say that?"
Lu Zui, who was crouching in the corner with eyes closed like a monk, suddenly widened his eyes, with disbelief beaming out.
"Very simple. My experience!" Li Yao sneered. "I have travelled in the sea of stars for more than ten years. After bloody battles, large and small, and mysterious schemes, I have concluded an incontrovertible law of nature, which is—
"Wherever I go, as long as I'm involved in a scheme, the one behind it is always the local leading person of the righteous forces, one that always seems frank and outspoken!
"When I went to Iron Plateau, I was involved in the assassination of a chief and the internal strife of the six tribes. The one behind the curtain was Yan Xibei, the previous leading person of Iron Plateau!
"When I went to Heavenly Saints City, I was involved in the schemes of Iron Plateau and the coup of the Second Imperium. Eventually, it was Xiao Xuance, the leading person of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City and the strongest expert of the Flying Star Sector!
"When I was in the Blood Demon Sector, from the perspective of the demon race, the hiatus of the Red Tide Plan and the destruction of the Eye of Blood Demon was sort of a scheme, too, and it was planned by the leading person, Jin Tuyi, the nominal commander-in-chief of the demon army!
"Now, I'm already back in the Heaven's Origin Sector, and I'm involved in the incident of the Patriots Partnership again. Isn't it obvious who is behind the curtain? It's certainly the leading person of the Star Glory Federation, the Speaker 'Jiang Hailiu'!"
"…" Guo Chunfeng.
"…" Lu Zui.
Guo Chunfeng wiped off his sweat. "Young—young brother, you do have a marvelous way of thinking. However, do you have any valid proof?"
"Of course, I don't suspect anybody randomly!" Li Yao replied confidently. "First of all, since the guy is capable of making Lu Zui sacrifice for him willingly, he must be on par with Lu Zui in position, if not higher! In the entire federation, few are qualified, but the Speaker is an exception!
"Secondly, don't you think that Speaker Jiang woke up too uncannily, Brother Guo? It was exactly the moment when Lu Zui was revealed, and everything was settled. As a result, it was only natural for him to clean up the mess that Lu Zui left for him!
