“Chief, we’ve taken back your herbs,” Xu Ya said.

“Good, bring them in.” Jiang Li nodded and asked the meches to put the herbs on the three carriages to the courtyard. There weren’t many of them, so they finished moving them very soon.

Although Jiang Li had agreed to cooperate with Yang Zike and Zhang Ling said he would take the herbs back from the City Guards. Jiang Li would suffer a great loss if anything happened. So Jiang Li asked Xu Ya, Wu Zong and Pang Kui to take the remaining money of the Sirius Gang and that from the halls with them.

There were a total of three hundred thousand taels of silver.

This time the three of them didn’t go to the large Chambers of Commerce. They went to some small businesses or people who picked herbs separately and they bought herbs from those people. So, they put in quite a lot of time and effort to get the three carriages of herbs. The herbs on each carriage cost a hundred thousand taels of silver.

“You did well this time.” Jiang Li nodded. “What rewards do you want? Books? Martial Arts? Pills? Or money? Hm, maybe not money. The Quicksand Gang is already poor now.”

The three of them looked at one another and said, “It’s our pleasure to help you, Chief.”

Jiang Li smiled and took out three jade bottles. He gave one to each of them. “These are the ‘Internal Energy Pills.’ You two have just reached the next level and formed the internal force. The ‘Internal Energy Pills’ are great for level-one Martial Artists. As for Xu Ya, you should be reaching the next level soon. I’ll also give you the ‘Internal Energy Pill’ first.”

“Thank you, Chief.” Wu Zong and the others were thrilled and took the pills respectfully.

“Go on.” Jiang Li waved his hand.

“Yes, Chief.” The three of them bowed and left on the carriages.

“Chief.” Jiang Li was going to convert the herbs into energy points, but Wang Chao and Ma Han came. They stood at the door and yelled, “Chief, Bai Zhanbo has finished the interrogation. He asked us to come and notify you.”

“So fast,” Jiang Li said immediately. “Let’s go to the interrogation room.”

“Yes, Chief.” Wang Chao and Ma Han led the way, while Wang Gang and a few other meches walked next to Jiang Li. They always stayed close to him.

…

In the interrogation room.

Since it was already night the room was dark, so there were a few candles on the walls. The yellow fire moved, changing the shape of the shadows of Jiang Li and the others.

“Gulp!” Ma Han swallowed hard. The atmosphere was a bit terrifying.

“Chief.” Suddenly, Bai Zhanbo walked out of the shadow and was stopped by Wang Gang before he approached Jiang Li. He stopped and sized Wang Gang up.

“What have you got?” Jiang Li asked.

“Everything’s here.” There was a paper with words all over it in Bai Zhanbo’s hands. “I’ve asked her everything and written them down on this paper.”

“Of course, you can also ask her more questions. But…”

“Is she dead?” Jiang Li asked.

“Almost.” Bai Zhanbo shrugged.

“Take me inside,” Jiang Li said.

“You want to look at my masterpiece? That’s great. She’s right there…” Bai Zhanbo led the way excitedly.

Clang! The door was opened.

In the dark room, there was a strong smell of blood. A black chair covered in blood stains sat in the center of the room. And there was a mutilated body on the chair. All of the scales on the body were peeled off and scattered on the floor. She was murmuring unconsciously.

“Oh…” Wang Chao and Ma Han threw up right away.

“Are you not satisfied with my work?” Bai Zhanbo’s smile disappeared and he looked at Wang Chao and Ma Han.

“No… No…” Wang Chao and Ma Han waved quickly.

“We can’t save her.” Jiang Li took a pistol from the Firearm Mech next to him and pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced through the head of the monster. She stopped breathing and died. Jiang Li ended her pain.

“Chief, why did you kill her? She’s the first monster I’ve interrogated. She can still hold on for a while. What a shame,” Bai Zhanbo said.

“Bai Zhanbo, I hope you did well,” Jiang Li said. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t want to know what’s going to happen to you.”

“Please have a look, Chief.” Bai Zhanbo smiled and gave Jiang Li the piece of paper. “I believe you’ll be really satisfied with my performance. This is truly a big fish. To be honest, I never thought you could catch her.”

“A big fish.” Jiang Li raised his eyebrows as he took the paper from Bai Zhanbo. He then started reading it carefully. His expression kept changing constantly.

Qing Ya. That was the name of the monster. She was the only daughter of Qing Wenling, the City Lord of Green Scale City in the Red Eyebrow Empire.

She was superior and there should have been a thousand guards next to her. However, the guards left on the night Jiang Li sent the meches to Stone Village, as they had a negotiation with the Barbarians.

Qing Ya didn’t like the Barbarians, so she didn’t go with them. That was why Jiang Li had the chance to catch Qing Ya.

Since Qing Ya had a superior status, what she knew was completely out of Jiang Li’s expectation. Jiang Li was thrilled and many questions in his mind were answered.

First, a few months ago, the monsters in Green Scale City of the “Red Eyebrow Empire” formed an alliance with the Barbarians in Deserted City of the “Black Snake Empire.” They wanted to conquer Yongan City and attack Pingding City. After that, they would take down “Black Dragon County” of the Qian Dynasty.

If they invaded “Black Dragon County,” the Qian Dynasty would lose almost 1/32 of their territories.

The most terrifying thing was that the City Lord of Yongan City, Dugu Huangcheng, and the State Lord, Yang Zike, actually had a secret trade with the Monsters and the Barbarians.

“Qingshan Valley,” Jiang Li said the name of a place. “According to Qing Ya, Dugu Huangcheng and the Monsters have come to terms. The Monsters promised to give Dugu Huangcheng tons of resources to reach a higher level and heal his wounds after taking down ‘Black Dragon County.’ Three days later, the Monsters will ambush the army of Pingding City in Qingshan Valley.”

“Pingding City.” Jiang Li mumbled, “I’m not sure who the City Lord of Pingding City is. Also, how did Dugu Huangcheng convince them to send their army here? The information from Qing Ya can only be used as a reference. I can’t trust her completely. I feel like there’s a conspiracy behind this.”

Jiang Li pondered for a while and felt like things were getting complicated. “The Red Eyebrow Empire, Qian Dynasty, Black Snake Empire, the three races are all involved. Things are definitely not that simple. Besides, Qing Wenling’s only daughter, Qing Ya, died in my hands. If the news spreads, I’ll be in trouble. I haven’t got enough meches yet.”