Chapter 37: Chapter 37: You Have No Choice
Wu Chang originally acted unintentionally, wanting to catch Liu Wu’s handle, to use it to coerce him and extract some information.
Unexpectedly, this move hooked a big fish.
When he went in, he was clean and tidy, seemingly an ordinary villager. But Liu Wu came out in a different attire, with seventeen or eighteen faint red grudges following him.
The owners of these grudges were all players.
The last scene they encountered in life was being dragged into the Ghost Cry Forest by Liu Wei and Liu Wu, tortured by various cruel methods, until death.
This kind of experience should have tightly bound their grudges to Liu Wei and Liu Wu, but inside the village, Wu Chang had never seen any trace of grudge on their bodies.
The reason they could escape these grudges should be related to the attire on Liu Wu’s body.
What surprised him even more was that the red fleshball grudge encountered while recovering Liu Ning’s soul was not the main evil spirit of the Year-End Sacrifice but something from the Ghost Cry Forest.
No wonder that the villagers he treated the next day had symptoms of possession vastly different from Liu Ning.
There are two "evil spirits," one of which is an imitator, which explains things.
Wu Chang’s eyes became exceptionally eager, "Liu Wu, oh Liu Wu, you’ve truly delivered me a great surprise."
"Why are you here!" Seeing Wu Chang suddenly appear in front of him, who was supposed to have gone to Chen Family Village, Liu Wu was horrified.
Wu Chang pointed the muzzle at Liu Wu’s forehead and kindly reminded:
"Brother Liu Wu, hidden weapons do not have eyes, do not act rashly and needlessly risk your life."
The Silver Dawn conceives silver bullets too slowly, and it’s very wasteful when dealing with non-spirit bodies and monsters.
To achieve shooting freedom, before entering the dungeon, he purchased a hundred armor-piercing bullets.
Each bullet costs 10 Rotten Silver Coins, buying 100 rounds at a discount of fifteen percent, each bullet being equivalent to 8,500 in the real world.
They are expensive, but the advantage is they can ignore worldview integration into the dungeon.
The power of the bullets is only slightly stronger than real-world handgun armor-piercing bullets, but it’s more than enough to pierce through C-Level dungeon Liu Wu.
Liu Wu didn’t know what kind of hidden weapon Wu Chang’s short stick was, but the death threat coming from the short stick was extraordinarily clear, deterring him from acting rashly.
The saying goes, giving up the knife for the people and wielding the knife makes one a thief.
With the cunning unique to bandits, Liu Wu immediately changed his face, rightly and sternly questioning:
"Hero Wu, everyone in our village treats you as an honored guest, attending to you without slight, why do you attack me?"
Wu Chang pressed the muzzle against Liu Wu’s forehead, frisking him while asking:
"The hospitality refers to the time I hadn’t finished my dinner before being dragged to save people, toiling till the deep night. The next day, I was woken up early, treated as a free doctor with a lineup of people waiting to be treated. After that, without any rest, no lunch, I was chased out to run errands?"
"Uh..." The momentum Liu Wu had painstakingly built up suddenly dissipated, and sweat began forming on his forehead.
Didn’t everyone just exchange some pleasantries? Why are you taking it so seriously? Where’s your heroic demeanor?
"At least we were sincere," Liu Wu said stubbornly.
Wu Chang, with a half-smile, asked, "Sincere, as in right after I saved the village chief’s granddaughter, you and Liu Wei were planning how to deal with me?"
Hearing this, Liu Wu’s whole body trembled, his eyes filling with ferocity, ready to fight for his life.
Wu Chang pulled the trigger, and the bullet grazed Liu Wu’s cheekbone, giving him a presidential-style ear.
Liu Wu’s eyes instantly cleared, lowering himself back to the ground. "How did you know?"
Wu Chang ignored Liu Wu. Following the introduction of the Village Guard, he removed all the weapons Liu Wu had hidden on him. Feeling it wasn’t safe enough, he bound Liu Wu tightly with a thick rope.
He looked up and down the trussed-up Liu Wu, muttering in a low voice, "What a hassle, why not just kill him and search the soul directly."
Seeing the panic appear on Liu Wu’s face, he laughed and said, "Don’t worry, I’m just joking, to lighten the atmosphere."
Liu Wu laughed along with him.
Wu Chang: "I’ll be serious when you aren’t cooperating."
Liu Wu’s smile immediately froze.
Seeing Liu Wu’s expression become increasingly uneasy, Wu Chang knew his purpose was achieved.
Bandits business is putting their heads on their belts. To make a name for themselves, they must be unafraid of death; threatening them with life and death terms is meaningless. To truly extract information, it’s better to strike at their hearts.
Only when they feel fear will they cooperate and tell the truth.
Wu Chang nodded at Liu Wu behind him, then turned back expressionlessly and said:
"I ask, you answer, don’t think of deceiving me, for someone can help me distinguish truth from falsehood."
Liu Wu turned his head to look back, staring at the empty woods, his spine felt a chill.
"Stop looking, you can’t see them. A whole forest of vengeful spirits is standing behind you, waiting to testify for me."
"First question, why did you attack so many passing players...passing heroes, and bring them into this forest for interrogation?"
"Let me count, eighteen vengeful spirits raised their hands, saying you killed them."
Upon hearing this, Liu Wu’s pupils suddenly contracted, as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight.
After a brief shock, he seemed to realize something and forced himself to stay calm, saying:
"Why else? Of course, it’s to extract the method of cultivation and gain an opportunity. But that little lunatic underestimated the number. I killed not just eighteen, but thirty-two!"
In response to Liu Wu’s probing, Wu Chang snorted through his nose and continued to ask:
"All eighteen of them said you took something from their bodies, shouting for you to return it. What did you take?"
"Impossible! Can you really see the spirits?!" At this point, Liu Wu was truly panicked.
The previous questions might have been leaked by the village guard’s little fool, who had secretly overheard the secrets over the years and told them to Wu Chang.
But Wu Chang’s second question, the little fool couldn’t possibly know about it; that was their greatest secret!
Wu Chang said matter-of-factly:
"Even if Liu Wei didn’t tell you, you should’ve heard the rumors in the village. Liu Ning’s living soul, I pulled it back from the Underworld the night before last."
Ruthlessness appeared in Liu Wu’s eyes as he shouted, "Kill him!"
As soon as these words were uttered, the Ghost Cry Forest around them wailed loudly, and the faint red resentment on Liu Wu’s mask became restless.
Wu Chang took out the Soul Cleansing Banner and pointed it at Liu Wu’s mask, suppressing the resentment.
He laughed scornfully and said, "You think you can command vengeful spirits in front of me?"
Liu Wu knew that if he continued, things would spiral out of control. He closed his eyes and stiffened his neck.
"I know nothing. Kill me or skin me, do as you please. If I cry out in pain, then hmm..."
Wu Chang pinched Liu Wu’s two lips together, pulling them up, forcefully interrupting the spell, preventing Liu Wu from uttering the most powerful part.
"Don’t be so quick to speak of death. I’m just a passerby without any deep hatred against you. I don’t care about your past actions. I’m merely curious about your actions and wish to compare them with my method of cultivation, so I’m here to ask a few questions."
"If you understand, blink your eyes, and we can continue our chat."
Seeing Liu Wu blink, Wu Chang released his fingers, allowing Liu Wu’s mouth, pinched into a duck’s bill, to return to normal.
Looking at his body riddled with pierced wounds, Liu Wu said sarcastically:
"Attacking from the shadows and crippling my arms and legs, is this what you call no malice? I’m truly curious what you noble young heroes consider to be malice."
Wu Chang shrugged, lightly saying:
"If I remember correctly, Liu Wei’s wife and children are in Huai Valley Village, and little Sanzi was just born half a month ago, right?"
Liu Wu snorted disdainfully, "Threatening with family, is that all you’ve got?"
"No, I’m merely reminding you to think more about their situation."
"For example, if I told the villagers that the evil spirit that attacked Liu Ning was actually a ghost you brothers were raising, and that Liu Wei attacked Liu Ning to seize the position of village chief, how would Liu Wei’s family cope?"
Liu Wu retorted, "That day’s actions were my own decision, nothing to do with my big brother."
"You care so much about Liu Wei—true brotherly love indeed."
The village guard boy had said that Liu Wei and Liu Wu had a great relationship. Last year, when the hunters went into the mountains and encountered a demon, it was Liu Wu who used his own body as a shield, sacrificing himself to protect Liu Wei, saving his life.
Liu Wu’s limp leg was the result of reattaching a severed limb, leaving a chronic root problem.
Wu Chang continued, "If that’s so, then I’ll say you’re innocent and just under Liu Wei’s control. Not only was the evil spirit problem caused by Liu Wei, but the two ritual failures before and after the year-end festival were all his doing."
Liu Wu shouted angrily, "My brother is loyal to the village! You think Uncle Shan would believe such nonsense?"
"Why wouldn’t he?"
Wu Chang stood up, patted the dust off his body, and said slowly:
"I’m a renowned hero, full of chivalry and courage, unafraid of danger, happening to pass by. You brothers, hiding in the shadows, raising demons, are the evil heretics."
"I just need to bring the villagers here. I have a way to prove you raised demons. Then, would the villagers believe me or Liu Wei?"
Liu Wu was so anxious his eyes bulged, "You!"
Wu Chang: "Let’s make a deal. As long as you tell me everything honestly, I’ll pretend to know nothing. Not only will I spare you, but I won’t tell the villagers about the Ghost Cry Forest incident. After the year-end festival, I’ll leave immediately."
"How about it?"
Liu Wu was silent for a moment, then asked, "How can I trust you?"
Wu Chang had anticipated Liu Wu’s dilemma and smiled gently, answering, "You have no choice."