Chapter 39: The Truth; New Lottery Rewards!

Among the dozens of members of the Burning Fire Clan who were defeated, a few were still barely alive. One of them was the third-level psychic with the bald head—brutally injured, but not dead. He had been deliberately spared and was now dragged in front of Yun Ming.

Yun Ming crouched in front of him with a calm, almost gentle smile. "Baldy," he began, his tone friendly yet unnerving, "why did your Burning Fire Clan attack our students?"

The bald man's face was pale, blood still seeping from the arm Yun Ming had broken earlier. Though the executive officers had kept him alive, the pain and trauma were clearly overwhelming. Cold sweat poured down his temples as he trembled, teeth clenched tightly.

Yet despite the agony, he managed to squeeze out a defiant response through gritted teeth.

"No comment."

Yun Ming chuckled, not bothered in the slightest. "Okay, let's change the question. Recently, abnormal beast tides occurred in both Huaihai City and Xiahai City. Members of your Burning Fire Clan were spotted among the chaos. Do those beast tides have anything to do with you?"

Again, the bald man responded with bitter silence. "No comment."

"Tsk. So stubborn." Yun Ming's smile faded. His demeanor, which had felt almost scholarly a moment ago, shifted subtly into something more ominous.

Suddenly, without warning, he reached forward and grabbed the bald man's other uninjured arm. He seized one of the fingers tightly.

"Crack!"

"AAAHHH!"

The bald man let out a blood-curdling scream as Yun Ming broke his finger with casual cruelty. He twisted in pain, body contorting as the fresh agony overwhelmed his senses.

"You're all alone now," Yun Ming said coldly. "There's no point in being stubborn. No one's coming to save you."

The bald man opened his mouth to speak but was too overwhelmed by the pain to utter a single word.

"Hong Feng," Yun Ming said calmly, calling over one of the Executive Department officers.

Hong Feng nodded and stepped forward. She knelt beside the bald man and extended her hand, which began to glow with a faint blue light. Gentle healing energy enveloped his broken arm, stopping the bleeding and dulling the pain.

The bald man panted heavily, clearly relieved by the sudden cessation of agony. But that relief didn't last long.

Yun Ming reached for a second finger.

"I'll give you one more chance. Will you speak?"

The bald man clenched his jaw and shook his head weakly.

"Crack!"

Another scream echoed into the night.

"AAAAHHH! Hahaha…"

This time, the man's laughter was manic and broken. Desperation was starting to creep into his eyes, even as he tried to hold on to his pride.

"If you've got the guts," he hissed between gasps, "just kill me already!"

Yun Ming tilted his head, looking at the man with curious amusement. "You're quite brave, I'll give you that."

Then he leaned in slightly, his tone dropping into something far colder.

"You know, they say the fingers are connected directly to the heart. The pain runs deep, doesn't it?"

His smile returned, but this time it was more chilling than kind.

"Even if your fingers break, you still have toes. And let me tell you something about our Hong Feng here—she's excellent at healing. Resetting bones is child's play to her."

He turned to Hong Feng and gestured politely. "Isn't that right?"

Hong Feng merely nodded, expression calm and professional.

"So here's what we'll do," Yun Ming continued. "We'll break every one of your fingers and toes. Then Hong Feng will fix them... and I'll break them again. Over and over. Want to guess how many times you can take it before you beg to speak?"

He looked gentle. Polite, even. But every word out of his mouth sounded like something out of a nightmare. The bald man shuddered as the reality of Yun Ming's cruelty truly sank in.

"I… I'll talk! I'll talk!" the man cried out in terror, his psychological defenses finally crumbling under the weight of fear.

From behind, Smith watched it all unfold in silence, his face pale.

Despite how elegant and scholarly Yun Ming appeared on the surface, his actions told a much darker story. First, he had effortlessly broken the beast-transformed man's arm in one punch. Now, he was calmly snapping the fingers of another man while smiling.

So this is the Executive Department…

It was becoming clear that anyone who made it into that division was not just strong—they were ruthless when necessary.

And in a world as cruel as this, perhaps being kind was a luxury no one could afford.

"All right," Yun Ming said, standing upright. "Let's begin with something simple. Why did you target our students?"

Smith and Yan Yue both leaned forward slightly. This was something they had been dying to know.

"I… I don't know the exact reason," the bald man stammered. "We just received orders from our leader. The mission was to eliminate both of them—there was no explanation given."

"You're sure you're not lying?" Yun Ming's eyes narrowed slightly.

"I swear! I'm not lying!"

"Who is this leader? Where is he?"

"I don't know! The leader rarely shows up. We can't find him—he finds us."

Yun Ming's expression grew darker. "Then let me ask you this: were you involved in instigating the recent beast tides?"

"That… yes. It was orchestrated by the leader," the bald man admitted. "But how exactly it was done, I don't know. We were just told to use the chaos to kill the two targets."

He answered every question in detail, hoping that honesty would spare him from more pain.

But for Smith, that truth only made things worse.

The leader of the Burning Fire Clan started an entire beast tide... just to kill us?

How could they be so bold?

What kind of person had that kind of power and confidence?

"Do you have any other bases? In the City of Sin or anywhere else?" Yun Ming asked.

The bald man shook his head. "I wouldn't know. I'm just a low-level leader. I don't have access to that kind of information."

"Well then," Yun Ming said, standing up and brushing the dust from his sleeves, "thank you for your cooperation."

The bald man breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he was about to be spared.

Shing!

But the next second, a dagger slid across his throat.

His eyes widened in shock, and he clutched at his bleeding neck. A gurgling sound escaped his mouth before he collapsed, lifeless.

The Executive Department never left enemies behind.

"Now that we've confirmed the beast tide was orchestrated by the Burning Fire Clan, we'll need to launch a full investigation into them," Lan Feng said, his expression serious.

This wasn't good news by any means.

"But that's for later," Yun Ming replied. "Let's head back for now."

The group left the City of Sin and drove back toward the academy. In the back of the vehicle, Smith and Yan Yue sat in silence.

Their target status within the Burning Fire Clan... was not good news.

"Don't worry," Yun Ming said from the driver's seat. "The teachers are here for you. No matter who's behind it, we'll find them."

"Thank you, teacher," Yan Yue said with a forced smile.

Smith, on the other hand, was lost in thought.

He wasn't afraid.

But he was incredibly curious.

---

Ding!

[Mission Completed: Investigate the cause of the beast tide]

[Reward: 500 energy points, 1 lottery draw unlocked!]

Huh?

Smith's eyes lit up. The dark cloud over his mind seemed to lift instantly.

No matter what, I'll worry about everything else later. For now…

"System! Open the lottery system!"

A virtual spinning wheel appeared before his eyes.

[Flying Thunder God Technique (Already Owned), Sage Mode (Already Owned), Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, Eight Trigrams Seal, Shiki Seal, Four Symbols Seal, Mangekyō Sharingan (Basic), Illusion: Jag-hang Technique (Already Owned), Wood Style: Wood Clone (Already Owned), Wood Style: Cutting Technique]

Ten rewards in total. Unfortunately, four of them were duplicates.

As for the rest… well, some were rather average.

"System, can I refresh the lottery rewards?"

[Yes. Refreshing requires 100 energy points.]

"100 points to refresh? That's robbery!"

Smith almost cursed out loud. If the system had a mother, he'd definitely give her a piece of his mind.

Still, after grumbling for a moment, he clenched his jaw.

"Fine! Refresh it!"

The wheel shimmered. Golden light flashed across his vision.

[Congratulations! Lucky Draw Boost Triggered — All Rewards Upgraded by One Tier!]

Smith's eyes widened as the reward list changed dramatically.

[Mangekyō Sharingan (Basic), Wood Style: Tree World Advent, Wood Style: Unsealed Healing, Mangekyō Sharingan: Amaterasu, Wood Style: Woodman Technique, Summoning Beast: Nine-Tails, Summoning Beast: Eight-Tails, Summoning Beast: Outer Path Demon Statue, Eight Trigrams Seal, Four Symbols Seal]

Smith stared at the list in awe.

What... what kind of god-tier rewards are these?!

Now he was truly excited.

pàtreøn (Gk31)