BXBX NOVEL Chapter 225 Hasta's Interrogation (1)
Looking at Leon, who had a worried and confused expression, Eli immediately understood.
The hesitation on Leon's part was completely reasonable, in her opinion. This is because the responsibility of the Emperor was too great for Leon at the moment.
His hands were already full of looking for ways to make the Capital be a safe place for her and Little Han. To add the Empire on top of his current burdens, Eli could also feel that this would not be easy for Leon to carry.
She held Leon's hand and looked at him with assurance in her eyes, "Whatever your decision is, I am here to support you. We're in this together."
Unsatisfied about how she expressed her heart out, she took his hands and placed it on her cheeks, transferring a little bit of warmth from her body.
She wanted to let Leon feel that no matter what, she will do her best to help him and stay by his side.
Leon nodded silently, noting in his heart that whatever decision he takes, there must be no hesitation on his part.
To fight for the throne or not, his actions must be of good intentions. It is just that once he chooses the other, there will be no turning back.
--
In the past few weeks, the tension within the Capital kept rising and rising.
This was the same in a certain underground dungeon where seven notable people were now preparing to conduct the final phase of the investigation with the captives.
"The second captive Hasta is not doing well. As you already know, we have found out that this was the side effect of using the curse without replenishment. It is definite that after he takes this potion, his life will be lost because his body was already bad enough to even tolerate the non lethal dose of the rock freesia." Kayden explained to the team with a serious expression.
Holding two crystal bottles of a yellow green potion, Kayden looked at Keren and Leon while confirming one last time, "Do we have enough clearance in using this to our captives?"
Keren answered with a valiant and resolute tone, "The High Priest has given us the permission. The consequences for using the potion on the second captive will be taken as the corporal punishment for using a heretic curse."
Leon also replied with a serious expression, "The Emperor also approves the use of this potion."
"Alright." Kayden nodded and prepared to administer the potion to Hasta.
Prior to this, the captives have already been transferred into a specialized investigation room that was ridden with security and isolation arrays. Just like a modern interrogation room layout, there's an annexure that allows spectators to view and hear the proceedings inside the interrogation room while the activity is happening.
Eli came up with this layout, as she emphasized the modern psychological requirements in conducting investigation. She also suggested setting up multiple recording stones to ensure that everything that was happening could be kept for future use.
The interrogation team would be General Farauld, Leon and Joab. But because they only had three minutes to conduct the interrogation, the team chose the most experienced General Farauld to ask everything under three minutes.
Activating the light in the room, Eli and the others saw the suspended body of Hasta in a fetal position at the center of a fiery red magic circle.
Lifting a bronze timer glass, Kayden looked at everyone and reminded, "Once you see me flip this hourglass, your three minutes will start. For the second captive, there may be a few minutes of extension; however, that would already be unreliable information. Everything that is said after the sand in the glass was exhausted will no longer be the absolute truth."
"Understood!" Everyone acknowledged.
With that, Kayden and General Farauld entered the main interrogation room wearing face changing masks to ensure that their identities couldn't be found out even at the captive's death.
Being suddenly exposed to the light, a weakened and confused Hasta opened his eyes and examined his surroundings. He looked at the two people who were also looking at him with undetectable expressions.
After the fight in the forest, Hasta hardly ever remembered anything that happened. All he remembered was endless pain that was not even brought by torture of his captives, but of the after effects of the curse power devouring his body because he did not have his replenishment on time.
Every minute he was awake, it was like there were a million ants devouring his flesh in a slow yet extremely painful way. But whenever he looked in his body, the confusion would strike him because his body was completely intact and free from any superficial wounds.
The only relief he would taste was when his captor's doctor would feed him some kind of a life extending potion. It contained a little bit of life essence that gave him an hour of relief.
But during that peaceful hour, there were three people who would take turns in interrogating him, extracting information from his side. He tried to figure out who these three people were, but in the end, he was not able to associate him to any known person in the capital.
Being bound by his loyalty with the Empress and the Duke, he held on and never gave any crucial information that would give out his master's plans and intentions.
He would have not cared that he would give them information; however, after staying in a cage full of arrays, he felt that the bond of the oath he had with the Empress and Duke was cut off.
This would mean that if he ever violated his oath of loyalty to his masters, they will never detect them nor will the punishment reach his body.
It was as if he was placed in a void that cuts off all kinds of connection he had outside!
But he could feel that he would not hold on for long.
It was only a few days ago that he realized that the pain he was feeling was actually his soul being eaten by the curse magic.
Finally seeing that his end would not be long, somehow he felt that he would no longer have to care for these people who were about to interrogate him again.
Even in his final days, they will never extract any information through him!
Hasta looked at the two men with confidence in his heart. He could vaguely feel the control of his body much more than his consciousness, this would also mean that he may die soon.
Knowing this, he let out a mocking smile and mumbled, "You will never get any information from me.."
Kayden did not bother his taunt. Wearing a white coat and sterile gloves, he approached the weakened Hasta and replied with a challenging tone, "Hmmm, we can test that theory right now…"
Without waiting for the other party's reply, he expertly held Hasta's jaw up and pressed a specific joint, making the other reflexively open his mouth.
Then Kayden quickly flicked the crystal bottle open and poured out all of its contents into Hasta's mouth. He held the captive's jaw in an angle that the liquid would flow straight in his esophagus without a chance to reject the substance.
With all the contents of the bottle ingested by Hasta, Kayden tapped his fingers on a nearby stand, counting five seconds. He did this while still holding Hasta's jaw up with the other party figuring out how to resist the liquid he had just ingested.
After five seconds, Kayden flipped the glass timer looking at General Farauld, "You can commence.."
He let go of Hasta's head and immediately exited the main interrogation room. He observed Hasta's bodily reactions from the clear glass, not minding the his attempt to spit out the liquid frantically.
"Are there more of your kind lurking in the Empire?" General Farauld did not even waste a second and started to ask the question.
"We are only seven, trained to specially use curse magic, however there were many people under our command. There's around a hundred in total that are completely blended in the Empire." Hasta was panicking inside as he could not stop his mind and mouth in spilling out the truth that he knew.
'What kind of thing did the doctor feed to me?'
'How could this force me to spill things out of my control?!'
There was a deep sense of terror welling up from the depths of his heart as he realized that he had no control even on his soul.
"Tell us what extent of cursed weapons and powers they can utilize."