Chapter 229: Pointed out by All, Torture of Extreme Penalty

Avia was, of course, intimately familiar with this curious object, which Wang Yu often used as a notebook to record significant knowledge and events.

Once the page was tossed out, she caught it in her hand, channeling her mental energy to commune with the artifact—which Wang Yu had already unbound—thereby establishing herself as its new master.

As she turned the page, the characters inscribed upon it were ones only Wang Yu and Avia could recognize: Chinese, from Earth.

"This is... a curious object. And these characters—are they unique to Wang Yu's homeland?"

The girl did not attempt to conceal the page after opening it, instead sharing it with everyone present. Even Zieg, the most learned among them, found that he had no recollection of such strange script after examining the contents.

"Tongues of the World, er, ineffective..."

Sharl mobilized his void energy, casting a sorcery intended to translate unknown languages. Yet, as he blinked in confusion, he awkwardly realized that the characters on the page remained unchanged. That messy, terrible Chinese sat there plainly, and he could not decipher a single stroke.

"It’s fine, I can read it."

The girl waved her hand, signaling that she could interpret the text. In this world, she and Wang Yu were likely the only two people capable of understanding Chinese.

Deciphering a language is a task requiring vast amounts of data and experimentation. For Chinese, a language that spawns various internet slang variants in the modern digital age and carries inherent ambiguities and derivative meanings, the difficulty of translation increases exponentially.

After all, without a grounding in the social environment, who could possibly understand the sarcasm or the terms specific to unique products of Earth?

Relying solely on the Chinese Wang Yu left in the Endless Pages, one could not even begin to translate the content, not even remotely, through semiotics or cryptography.

The reason the "Tongues of the World" sorcery failed was quite simple: the spell worked by pulling traces of a language left in the void by a user's soul when that language was spoken, projecting the meaning from the material world.

But the void could not read Wang Yu’s "soul," and the girl’s soul was protected by mental barriers, which the void also could not penetrate. Thus, Chinese became a secret code between Wang Yu and the girl, completely impenetrable to outsiders.

The girl began to read carefully the few words Wang Yu had left on the Endless Pages. The time between the wizard being killed and the collapse of the secret energy space that spat Wang Yu out had been very short; Wang Yu had not had much time to write.

Using his own blood as ink, Wang Yu had left his message in his characteristically sloppy, atrocious handwriting.

After spending about ten seconds reading the words and a few more in contemplation, the girl looked up, her voice heavy with gravity and fury as she uttered two words: "The Royal Family."

The others present did not show much surprise; before the girl revealed who had moved against Wang Yu, they had already sensed it.

The recent descent of the God of Fear and the various anomalies leading up to it all pointed toward the rulers of this kingdom: the Royal Family.

And at this juncture, the only entity with the manpower to spare to deal with Wang Yu seemed to be the Royal Family, the only ones who had suffered no substantial losses in the catastrophe that had struck the capital.

"What reason could those damned people have to target Wang Yu? He has no background to interfere with the kingdom's politics, his strength isn't great enough to influence the kingdom's level, and his only notable status is that of an honorary viscount. Wait..."

Sharl muttered in dissatisfaction, expressing his deep resentment that the Royal Family would reach out to deal with Wang Yu at such a time. But as he spoke, he realized something was wrong. Was Wang Yu really... unimportant?

Perhaps Wang Yu’s usual low profile had caused others to overlook the role he played in major events. If one looked past the surface to the core, Wang Yu was definitely not a "transparent person."

The Blessed Vampire incident, the Demon Invasion, the Academy incident—Wang Yu’s shadow appeared in all of them. Especially in the Academy incident, Wang Yu had been thrust into the spotlight as the hero who saved Stevenson Academy.

Furthermore, his unique status as an Archbishop of the Nightfall Church, combined with his creation of the prayer communication network that directly altered the relationship between the Royal Family and the Night’s Edge, made his identity impossible to ignore.

Recently, outside the palace, after the conflict between the Hahn father and son and Wang Yu, the two were killed on the spot by a black-shadowed humanoid. Even though Wang Yu was quickly cleared of involvement after being taken in for questioning, it had once again brought him to the attention of many nobles and even the Royal Family.

"This... if the Captain chose to seek revenge, that mission beneath the abyss would surely have been reserved for Wang Yu. In other words, the Royal Family had already begun plotting against him back then?"

A chill ran through Sharl’s heart. A behemoth like the Royal Family possessed eyes and resources that were hard for an individual to imagine.

He possessed a certain ability to glimpse the future, but he could only see fragmented possibilities; on a grand scale, he could never achieve what the Royal Family could.

"It’s the prayer communication network. That must be what caused the Royal Family to harbor such malice toward Wang Yu. They can tolerate the rise of a new capable person because individual power is ultimately limited and can be brought under their control."

"But they cannot tolerate the chains binding the Night’s Edge being broken. In their eyes, this is an unstable factor that must not be left alone. At the same time, the kingdom cannot function without the Night’s Edge, so they can only strike at the source of this development, even if it is meaningless."

Zieg analyzed the situation with cold severity. His own experience of being threatened through his sister’s safety had allowed him to see through the ugly essence the Royal Family had hidden behind a hypocritical veil for decades—a mask now completely torn away.

Indeed, with the external enemy Sewentan completely eradicated and the internal instability of the new nobility dealt with, the Royal Family had, aside from the four border dukes who did not interfere in domestic affairs, seized absolute power. This allowed them to maintain a facade of righteousness while acting unscrupulously in the shadows.

"We, the Night’s Edge, previously chose to turn a blind eye to the Royal Family’s injustices and intentional oppression for the sake of the kingdom’s overall 'stability' and the lives of its residents. But this is no reason for them to impose malice upon our members without bottom lines."

"This time, we cannot choose to compromise. We will never ignore the safety of Mr. Wang Yu, who brought 'change' to the entire Night’s Edge."

Gilbert spoke sternly, his opinion reflecting the stance of the other Night’s Edge squad leaders.

"Thank you, everyone. Now, all we need to do is find where Wang Yu is being held so we can launch a breakthrough rescue. I will handle this. I will conduct a comprehensive scan of the void spatial coordinates around the palace. As long as I can find a specific anomaly, I can determine Wang Yu’s location."

"Within three days, I will check every location. After that, I ask you all to join me in the assault."

Avia bowed solemnly to those present. The firm conviction in her eyes had almost solidified into reality. A girl focused on a single goal was terrifying.

And the safety of Wang Yu, the person she cherished most, had touched her absolute limit. Even if she were facing the God of Light, Avia would dare to fight to the death.

"Can you really hold up under this? Even a simple spatial coordinate scan is an application of spatial sorcery and magic. The toll on your spirit and body will be immense."

Sharl asked with concern. Only he, as a mage and sorcerer, understood the implications of the girl’s plan. To scan an area as large as the palace for spatial coordinates within three days using magic and sorcery—how could that be possible?

"I can do it, and I must do it."

The girl showed no intention of backing down, responding to Sharl’s subtle dissuasion without hesitation.

"Understood. If you need any help, come to me. My family can still provide some funding and alchemical materials."

Sharl said no more. The attitude the girl displayed made him realize that persuasion was meaningless; believing in and supporting her was the only right course of action.

"Everyone, apologies for being unconscious; I just woke up. But Miss Sufang has told me everything that happened to Wang Yu, and I have been listening to your discussion through the magic communication device."

"Miss Avia, you don't need to push yourself so hard. I have a better way to confirm Wang Yu’s location. Thanks to him and Father Fang, I have been able to face my own identity. At the very least, let me use this identity to do something for him..."

Edward’s voice rang in everyone’s ears after Sharl finished speaking. Compared to his past, slightly immature tone, Edward now sounded significantly more mature and resolute, and he brought with him news that was enough to stir everyone’s spirits.

...

"Your body is truly fascinating... sub-lethal doses of truth serum are automatically purged by your system, while excessive doses cause your body to collapse entirely—neither sorcery nor magic can save you. Is it really this difficult to get something out of your mouth?"

In the dark dungeon, Rudolph looked at Wang Yu, who was suspended against the wall with his hands and feet bound by iron chains, and clicked his tongue in wonder at the several holes in his chest.

Previously, to extract information, Rudolph had administered a batch of truth serums to Wang Yu, but at low doses, Wang Yu acted as if nothing had happened.

Once the dose exceeded the limits of Wang Yu’s physical endurance, his body began to collapse. Neither magic nor sorcery could stop the decay that started from the cellular level.

This made it difficult to complete the interrogation with drugs. They needed the information Wang Yu possessed, not the life of this "trash" whose strength was only that of a mid-level official knight.

"If I weren't on a mission, I would certainly study you thoroughly—not just your interesting body, but also that powerful mental resistance mentioned in the reports. I didn't think much of it before, but after personal contact, I realize how miraculous it is."

Rudolph rubbed his hand over Wang Yu’s blood-stained, wounded body, his eyes filled with the joy of discovering something new, mixed with the regret of encountering something interesting that he could not fully study.

"Didn't I say? The prayer communication network has nothing to do with me. You’re wasting your time."

Wang Yu’s hoarse, low voice echoed in the dungeon, flat and devoid of fluctuation.

"Is that so?"

Rudolph, with a playful attitude, pried open Wang Yu’s eyelids, stared into his pupils, and licked his lips.

"I don't believe it. Archbishop of the Nightfall Church, do you believe that yourself? Rather than trusting Lady Celine’s judgment of you, I prefer to trust the conclusions I’ve drawn from analyzing the intelligence. Abilities might be masked, but logic cannot be."

"Squish."

Rudolph thrust his finger directly into Wang Yu’s eye socket, stirred it around, and mercilessly yanked the eyeball out.

Blood flowed freely. Rudolph looked at Wang Yu, who trembled twice, and satisfied, under the gaze of Wang Yu’s remaining left eye, crushed the extracted right eyeball in his hand.

"Right, Mr. Wang Yu? Your mental resistance might be strong enough to ignore external influence—even Lady Celine, as a Grand Astrologer, couldn't break you—but what about your willpower? How long can you endure this pain?"

Rudolph said with a smile, then picked up an enchanted steel saw with fine, serrated teeth from the table and placed it against Wang Yu’s left upper arm.

"This is a torture saw inscribed with runes I don't even fully understand. It will slowly sever your limb over the course of twenty-four hours. During this time, your flesh will endure pain many times over."

"Mr. Wang Yu, how about it? If you don't want to endure this agony, you’d better tell us what we need to know sooner. At the very least, you won't have to suffer eternal torture. And perhaps, there is a one-in-ten-thousand chance that we might show mercy and exile you to the borders, far away from the kingdom."

Rudolf leaned in close to Wang Yu’s ear, whispering in a low, gravelly tone that mirrored the seductive murmurs of a devil.

"..."

Silence. Wang Yu said nothing at all.

"Clang!"

Rudolf tossed the saw aside, abandoning his efforts on Wang Yu, and let it clatter against the prison floor with a sharp, ringing cry.

Shrugging his shoulders, he paced the room with a touch of feigned helplessness, muttering under his breath.

"Fine, I knew such trifles would be useless against your lot. Who was the last one dragged here, the one whose secrets were wrung out through agony? Oh, I remember now—some poor, wretched scapegoat."

"Perhaps for knights like you, who are so 'hard' in every sense of the word, only this method will suffice."

His tone shifted abruptly from playful to icy. Rudolf produced an object, and as Wang Yu looked on with his remaining eye, he recognized it: the long spike that the high-ranking knight had forced him to drive into his own abdomen during the ambush.

"I hope that as you watch your body lose its transcendence, as the battle aura woven into your very flesh dissipates, as the essence that grants you knights your superhuman strength is purged, and as all your power and everything you are decays toward oblivion, you do not weep and beg for mercy. Just tell me everything, and let me kill you."

A long spike was driven into Wang Yu’s abdomen. His left eye widened for a fleeting moment; he could feel the battle aura within him surging toward the spike, only to be expelled from his body the instant it touched the metal.

"No need to thank me. I’ve specially treated this spike; you should find that the time it takes for you to unravel is five times longer than usual. Ha."

Patting Wang Yu on the head, Rudolf walked out, leaving him alone in the lightless, soundless void of the dark cage.