Light Fortress
Chapter 158 - 146 Kill Chen Mei

Chapter 158: Chapter 146 Kill Chen Mei

"Have you seen this photo before?"

"Yes..."

"I need his information."

"I can give it to you, but I have conditions..."

The cramped interior room, the vague conversation, all of it was deliberately blurred, making it look very private and mysterious. Moments later, the screen displaying the video turned off, and Chen Mei, sitting on the other side of the interrogation table, was dumbstruck. He stared blankly at the forged surveillance video from the interrogation room, not knowing what to say.

He had completely underestimated the methods and the thick skin of the old fox before him.

This was the Grand Judge of East Continent.

"You’re... fabricating the truth," Chen Mei managed to say after a long silence.

"Oh... am I?"

Zhou Jiren shrugged his shoulders and retorted, "The truth... who knows?"

"I said I would let a part of the parliament see the content of the interrogation, and this is the content. You know how to act appropriately, reading the room, willing to shed blood and lose your head for the special operations team." Zhou Jiren said, "So I promoted you... and combined with the reaction of Chen San that night on the river bank, I believe most people will think that what’s in this video is the truth."

"Young man, smile."

Zhou Jiren spoke earnestly, "You really are a member of the special operations team now, I’ve already reported this to the parliament in advance. That should be good news, right?"

"I underestimated your shamelessness... But so what?" Chen Mei quickly calmed down and said, "I won’t cooperate with your work. I don’t recognize this so-called special operations team at all."

"I know what kind of person you are."

Mr. Shu spoke nonchalantly, "A loner, indifferent to everything else, at your age, I was the same. Except, you’re more capable than I was back then."

Chen Mei simply closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

This time, Zhou Jiren didn’t use wooden vines to restrain him but continued, "You’re strong, young, having reached the Deep Sea Eleventh Layer... but do you know what price you’ve paid?"

"Continue to practice this body technique, and in a few years, I’ll be attending your funeral, watching your father cry in front of the coffin," the old fellow said lightly. "The person who taught you this body technique has a hidden agenda; he isn’t really trying to save you."

"Then who is?" Chen Mei suddenly opened his eyes, his voice emotionless, "Surely not some hypocritical politician who abandons his wife and child."

Still too young.

The moment Chen Mei spoke, Gu Shen knew... the old fox had won this game of chess.

"Is that so. You’ve admitted the existence of ’that guy’ then," Zhou Jiren said, lifting his hands and propping his chin. He looked at Chen Mei with a meaningful gaze.

In fact, this interrogation had been a gamble from the start.

Xiao exists.

Xiao is the one who taught Chen Mei body techniques.

Both points were mere speculation... a character never recorded in the archives. If Chen Mei kept his mouth shut, no one could match the character to the speculation.

"Now, I think we need to have a proper talk," Zhou Jiren said, his tone light. "Do you know the price you’re paying for practicing this body technique?"

"..." Chen Mei narrowed his eyes.

"Your bones are gradually being eroded by a powerful external force... Now is your golden age, the side effects have not fully manifested, but if I’m not mistaken, the bone pain occurs periodically, the edge diminution effect, even painkillers are becoming less effective," Zhou Jiren said as his fingers lightly tapped the desk. Several wooden vine strips, as if alive and conscious, were jumping on Chen Mei’s body, relaying the true state within his body: "This body technique has given you unmatched power... but also drained the vast potential you originally had. With your ’Time Slow’ top-tier ability, you could have slowly progressed to become a Titled figure respected by the world. But now? If you stop now, there’s still time. Continue to practice, and you’ll be stuck here all your life. Moreover, your life will be short."

"I don’t care."

Chen Mei said flatly, "If it ends, it ends."

He had already started to disregard his own life...

With this response, Gu Shen felt a chill, even with Xiao’s teachings, it was extremely difficult to achieve the Deep Sea Eleventh Layer in such a short time.

Chen Mei was a genius with both extremely powerful will and talent.

Yet such a genius was gradually transforming into a fanatic of the "Changjiu Foundation."

"You don’t care... good... you don’t care..."

Zhou Jiren chuckled softly, "Do you think he would care?"

Chen Mei was startled.

"I’m telling you now... what kind of good deeds the person we’re tracking and pursuing has done." Zhou Jiren slammed a stack of case files onto the table. These were the misdeeds committed by the Changjiu Foundation in recent years.

The ivy handcuffs were unlocked.

Chen Mei hesitated for a moment. He didn’t attempt to escape inside the interrogation room; instead, he flipped through those files... These files had the name of the Changjiu Foundation removed and were summarized with losses and brief case descriptions instead.

New Year 629, Qinggang Building explosion, 67 people perished.

New Year 630, Yinghai District’s subway loop encountered a Transcendent invasion, 183 people dead.

...

...

And so on.

All were atrocities of the Changjiu Foundation.

There were some famous disasters among them that he had heard of before.

After looking through everything, Chen Mei still didn’t say a word. He placed the files back on the table; the next moment, the ivy handcuffs were clamped around his hands once more...

Chen Mei remained indifferent, lost in a trance.

It was evident that these files had a significant impact on him.

"This is an extremely dangerous Spiritual Transcendent who has developed many Believers," Zhou Jiren took out that yellowed photo again and said, "This is the Judgement Institute’s genius Judge... Zhou Yu, he died in a fire. You’re both geniuses, and I don’t want you to become another casualty."

Seeing that photo, the trance-like expression on Chen Mei underwent a change.

He furrowed his brows and muttered, "What did you say...?"

Zhou Jiren squinted his eyes.

He repeated, "Genius Judge Zhou Yu, died in a fire."

"That’s impossible."

The words were not fully uttered when they were interrupted.

Chen Mei quickly adjusted his state. He took a deep breath, shook his head, and said, "From this moment on, I will not believe these files, and I refuse to communicate with you."

Gu Shen flipped open Zhou Yu’s file and handed it over, but Chen Mei only glanced at it before diverting his gaze.

"This reaction... is odd."

Gu Shen was somewhat puzzled.

On the other hand, Zhou Jiren was not in a rush at all.

"No problem, if you want to drag this out... then we’ll accompany you," he said lightly. "I don’t know what kind of connection you two have established; you seem to trust him a lot."

"But does he trust you?"

Chen Mei was still expressionless.

"The surveillance room footage and the special action team’s member list will be released by me. This is all easily verifiable," Zhou Jiren spoke lightly. "I think he’s been restless since the moment you were arrested... what measures do you think he’d take if he knew he was betrayed?"

The next moment, Chen Mei’s pupils contracted slightly.

"Perhaps killing you would be the safest and simplest solution."