Yan Zheng was thrown into a room violently, and the restrictions imposed on him were also lifted. The heavy iron door slammed shut behind him, shaking off a piece of dust on the ceiling.
Yan Zheng climbed up from the ground with difficulty. His five senses had been blocked for a long time, and now they suddenly recovered. It took him some time to adapt. He didn't expect that the feeling of having his five senses blocked was so bad. At first, he thought it was nothing, but he didn't expect it. After a while, he completely lost the concept of space. He was trapped in the boundless darkness and almost lost his spirit. Fortunately, this feeling did not last long and the restriction was lifted in time. Otherwise, Yan Zheng felt that he might directly Go crazy.
Yan Zheng looked around. The oil lamp on the ceiling was emitting dim light, and the floor was covered with brown fur carpet. The room was not small, and the decoration in the room was the same as that of a hotel. There was a bed and a A chair, and it looks like the only thing missing is a TV. This doesn't look like a prison cell, but more like a residence.
The carriage was very fast, but no spells were cast on it, and the time spent on the road was not too long. And there was no power from the Censor's Mansion in the area near the border, so these supervisory censors obviously came from elsewhere and were only temporarily borrowed. After seeing this place, Yan Zheng roughly guessed his location, which was Qingguan Town, the border town closest to the Eighth Guard Post.
He had never been here before, but he had only heard those veterans mention it to him. Every quarter, the two nearby guard posts would send capable soldiers to meet at the junction of their respective guarding areas to exchange intelligence at the metropolitan level. The soldiers are familiar with each other and exchange feelings. After all, some special situations require the cooperation of two or more guards to solve them.
So some veterans went to Qingguan Town, and they told Yan Zheng a lot of things, but Yan Zheng only remembered that the buns at Wang Ma's bun shop in the town were delicious, and he must try them if he had the chance.
Yan Zheng went to the window and wanted to look out, but the place had already been sealed off. The only light source in the room was the dim oil lamp above his head. In fact, it was meaningless to determine where he was. No one would notice at all. His disappearance, or some divine soldiers suddenly appearing to save him, to deal with the current situation, the only person he can rely on is himself.
When he was on the carriage, he had roughly guessed what the supervisory censor wanted to do with him. As the only survivor of the fifty-seventh exploration operation, if he wanted to understand the situation at that time, he must be questioned, and Now that so much time has passed, the news of the failure of the exploration operation must have been spread to the imperial capital. In order to monitor the efficiency of the censor's actions, it is reasonable to start the investigation now.
But Yan Zheng didn't quite understand why they treated him like a prisoner. After all, being able to come back alive was considered a credit, otherwise they didn't even have anyone who knew the situation at the time. Could it be that they suspected that he had become a deserter? This is not impossible. After all, the Dalin Dynasty punishes deserters extremely severely. Those who escape from battle will be dealt with by military law, and their families will also be implicated.
Yan Zheng sat on the chair. He could not move his hands and his mind was not stopping for a moment. Assuming that he was regarded as a deserter now, the next thing he would face would be the interrogation of the supervisory censor.
The official position of the supervisory censor is not high, but the power they hold is terrifying. For officials with solid evidence and clear crimes, they can deal with them at will, ranging from demotion to demotion, removal from office and exile, to imprisonment in heaven, and questioning after autumn. They also have an army that is independent from the regular army - the Black Flag Army. Therefore, all civil and military officials are afraid of them, fearing that they will come to their door one day. Many criminal officials just see the extremely gorgeous clothes. A black robe will make you wet your pants.
Yan Zheng had also heard about their interrogation methods, and there was nothing worth mentioning about the physical pain. Many of the methods of torture and confession made people shudder just listening to them.
There is a kind of criminal method called dripping water torture. The prisoner is tied to a bench, a hanging bucket is hung above the head, and a hole is drilled under the bucket, so that the water in the bucket drips steadily onto the prisoner's head.
This kind of criminal law is nothing at first, but after a period of time, it will become extremely unbearable. At the same time, some people will cast spells to continuously accelerate the process and make the pain come faster, even for the fierce barbarians and those in the Yuxu realm. Even the monks could not bear it. After such torture, few prisoners remained silent.
However, it still depends on Yan Zheng himself whether he wants to undergo such a punishment. What the supervisory censor wants is just a result. If the testimony of the interrogation is enough to satisfy them, then there is no need to torture him. But if the result is not satisfactory, If they don't want it, then they will definitely use all their means to give in until Yan Zheng can give them an answer that satisfies them. He should understand the stakes involved.
Yan Zheng leaned against the back of the chair and crossed his legs. He subconsciously wanted to pick up the pen, but found that his hands were locked tightly. He smiled bitterly and began to sort out the thoughts in his mind.
As the only survivor of the fifty-seventh exploration operation, he has a unique advantage. There are no other witnesses and only traces on the scene can confirm his testimony. Basically, what he narrates will naturally be regarded as true. situation, and although he did not participate in the entire operation, he caught up with the scene of the failure of the operation. This part is what the supervisory censor is most concerned about.
The other details are harmless. He is just a low-level ordinary soldier. It is impossible to know too many details of the operation. If he talks too much, it will be exposed. So there are only three problems that may arise. How did they encounter the World-Eating Death Crocodile? How did he survive the attack of the Hades Crocodile? The most important third point is, does the supervisory censor know about Luo Tianchen's private actions?
It is certain that Luo Tianchen's action was approved by the two commanders, otherwise he would not have been able to take the thirty-man squad away from the main force, and the Luo family behind Luo Tianchen would not publicize this action. Their original intention The plan must be to use the exploratory operation to secretly bring back the red gauze bodhi, so there is a high probability that the supervising censor, with his hands and eyes, will not know about this situation.
Yan Zheng secretly prepared a plan in his mind, trying to make his emotions and expressions as natural as possible to avoid being seen.
The imprisonment did not last long. It was estimated that after a day, the heavy iron door was roughly pushed open. Yan Zheng was dragged out by two Xuanjia soldiers and escorted to another more spacious room. One of them held the Yan Zheng was pressed on the cold iron chair, and the other person took out another pair of shackles to tie Yan Zheng's feet, and the two of them then retreated.
A slightly indifferent voice sounded from the wall in front of Yan Zheng, "Tell us, what happened during the exploration operation?"
This sound reminded Yan Zheng of the mechanical sound that issued an alarm. Both sounded emotionless. There was nothing in this spacious room except the iron chair he was sitting on. It should be a temporary interrogation room.
"Everything was normal from the beginning. We followed the predetermined route under the leadership of Dutong. After arriving at Jingling City, we carried out simple supplies, and then started to head towards the plateau. After we climbed up to the plateau, we set up on it We visited several garrison points, the general also drew a new map, and then began to return from the plateau."
Yan Zheng paused for a while, as if recalling the details. He swallowed and continued.
"On the way, a large dark cloud floated over, and the underworld crocodile suddenly appeared from it. Then a violent storm began to fall in the sky. Rui Dutong blocked the wind and rain, and everyone withdrew into Jingling City. After that, we used the city wall to I fired my siege crossbow at the Underworld Crocodile, and cooperated with Yu Dutong to break through the Underworld Crocodile's defense, but it was of no use, the Underworld Crocodile swallowed all of us."
There was a fearful expression on Yan Zheng's face, as if he remembered those horrific experiences. He was silent for a long time, and then slowly said: "I didn't know anything after that. When I woke up again, there was a scene in the sky. It was in ruins, so I looked for some food in the basement, took back all the armor plates of my comrades that I could find, and then I followed the road signs and finally ended up here."
After listening to Yan Zheng's narration, the supervisory censor behind the wall expressionlessly accepted the briefing that had just been sent by the Xuanjia soldiers. Yesterday, they had sent a capable force to conduct an on-site inspection. The briefing in his hand was the content of the inspection. It wasn't his style to just take word of mouth, but unexpectedly, Yan Zheng's testimony was not much different from the content of the briefing.
The World-Eating Crocodile is comparable to the peak of Void Climbing. The exploration team has no chance of surviving when encountering it, and the plateau is still unknown. It is reasonable that they accidentally triggered something. In addition, the briefing raised a possibility, because They sensed some indescribable aura on the armor left by the soldiers. Now the armor fragments have been sent to the Imperial Capital for further inspection.
Another supervisory censor looked at Yan Zheng in the interrogation room. After answering the questions, he sat on the chair honestly without being too panicked. The supervisory censor asked: "Since everyone has been swallowed How did you survive if you went down?"
"I only remember a veteran holding my hand, and I can't remember the rest." Yan Zheng replied.
The supervisory censor narrowed his eyes, and powerful consciousness instantly enveloped Yan Zheng in the interrogation room. Without any warning, Yan Zheng felt that his body was wrapped in countless sharp blades, and pain like cutting was felt throughout his body. This was The torture on the soul was far more painful than the torture on the body. The intense and continuous pain made Yan Zheng's spirit begin to weaken, and the truth seemed to be blurting out.
He bit his tongue hard with his teeth, almost biting it off with so much strength. He used the pain in his body to fight against the pain in his soul, allowing his sluggish spirit to gather together again.
"That's enough, what he said is true." A hand was placed on the hand of another supervisory censor, stopping him from continuing to cast spells. It was the previous supervisory censor, "The failure of the exploration operation is related to these The lower level warriors have nothing to do with it, it’s their armor that’s the problem.”
The other supervisory censor put away his consciousness, and his eyes were always focused on Yan Zheng in the interrogation room, but what he expected did not happen, because the poor soldier had completely passed out.
