Can a System Have Bad Intentions? - Chapter 187

Magistrate Zhao immediately said, “Teacher Zhao is being held next to He Yujiao. If Young Master Lu wants to see him, I’ll bring him here now.”

Lu Tang hesitated for a moment. “Has he eaten in the past few days?”

Magistrate Zhao was puzzled. “Although he’s imprisoned in the dungeon, we still provide three meals a day.”

Lu Tang paused, then looked at Magistrate Zhao with a troubled expression. “So, after he eats, does he…?”

She nearly blurted out the words for defecation.

“… Does he relieve himself?”

Magistrate Zhao didn’t understand the significance of the question but answered truthfully, “Since being captured, it’s been six days. Because the dungeon food is different from outside, he has eaten very little. So, in these six days, he has only urinated.”

Lu Tang asked the question without much hope, considering it had been six days. Who goes that long without relieving themselves?

Upon hearing this, her eyes lit up. “Quickly prepare some laxatives and give them to him. After he relieves himself, find the hardest thing inside, about this big.”

Lu Tang gestured the size of a malted milk ball.

“Once you find it, bring it here and make him eat it.”

Gagging from the side, Gu Zongming almost threw up.

Making him eat Teacher Zhao’s excrement? What kind of twisted interrogation is this?

Gu Zongming turned green and shouted at Lu Tang, “Despicable! If you have the guts, give me a quick death.”

Lu Tang looked at him coldly. “Why should I give you a quick death? Do you deserve it? Today, I’ll make you eat Teacher Zhao’s excrement. Tomorrow, I’ll switch it up with He Yujiao’s. If we capture new prisoners later, we can make a mix.”

Qin Mo, standing nearby, felt his stomach churn.

Gu Zongming turned pale, about to curse Lu Tang, but was so nauseated he couldn’t even speak. He could only manage to gag: “Yue—”

He had never encountered someone so disgusting. The scenarios Lu Tang concocted in her mind earlier had already made him nauseous. Now this was even worse.

He had never heard of such a method—forcing a prisoner to eat another prisoner’s excrement, especially after several days.

As he continued to retch, Lu Tang sat down at a table opposite him, spreading out a map and pulling out a reading pen.

This was one of the few tangible items left to her by the system.

“Go prepare it quickly, Magistrate Zhao. I’ll see if I can get some information in the meantime.” She urged Magistrate Zhao while placing the reading pen on the map, directly pointing to the position of the Western Mountain Camp. “The Western Mountain Camp is under your control, isn’t it?”

When the system was still operational, she could set keywords using the reading pen. Now, with the system formatted and silent, she wanted to see if she could extract any relevant information just by pointing at the map.

The Western Mountain Camp being under Gu Zongming’s control was no secret. Spitting out bile, Gu Zongming sneered, “Why ask the obvious? No matter what you do, I won’t say a word. You can forget about it.”

The reading pen showed no reaction at the Western Mountain Camp position.

Lu Tang sighed inwardly. It seemed keywords were necessary.

“System?”

“System?”

She called out twice, but there was no response. Lu Tang stared at Gu Zongming, feeling helpless.

How could she possibly master advanced interrogation techniques?

However, Qin Mo, who had been watching her map closely, suddenly asked Gu Zongming, “Do you also have people at Mount Li?”

Gu Zongming’s retching paused momentarily, a clear sign of discomfort that Lu Tang noticed immediately. But then he continued to retch.

Qin Mo grabbed a pen and circled the position of Mount Li on the map.

Instead of using brute force, he realized psychological tactics might be more effective, questioning specific locations and watching Gu Zongming’s reactions to discern where his hidden soldiers might be.

He patted Lu Tang on the head. She was quite clever.

Suddenly feeling clever, Lu Tang moved her chair aside, giving the main seat to Qin Mo.

Qin Mo had been battling with the military since he was thirteen. Over the years, he had encountered and interrogated many spies.

Some spies were tough and refused to speak, but as long as the right questions hit their critical points, their subtle expressions could reveal clues.

With this map and known information, Qin Mo pondered for a while before saying, “You had Gu Yunhe take those children from Qingshui County not only to the Western Mountain Camp and the male brothel but also to Zhongduo. So, Zhongduo should be another one of your bases.”

This time, Gu Zongming’s eyes shot up to Qin Mo, his gaze fierce.

Qin Mo smiled. “If my assumption is correct, one of the children from the Qiao family was first sent to the Western Mountain Camp and, after a year of outstanding performance, was transferred to Yunnan-Guizhou. That outstanding performance must have been decided by you. So, in the Yunnan-Guizhou area, are you collaborating with the local Tusi or have you established your own forces?”

Qin Mo mixed guesses with insights, but this strategy wouldn’t last long. Gu Zongming realized the tactic.

Gu Zongming sneered, “Do you think I’d fall for your trick twice?”

Qin Mo remained calm. “Who knows? I have to try. So, are you collaborating or operating alone?”

He stared directly at Gu Zongming.

Gu Zongming gritted his teeth and laughed maliciously. “You guess.”

At this moment, Magistrate Zhao entered with the Minister of Justice and the Chief Justice.

Magistrate Zhao held a small bowl with a black, foul-smelling substance. “Young Master Lu, we found this, but it’s not the same size you mentioned.”

Lu Tang glanced at the bowl and nearly gagged from the stench. It wasn’t the size of a malted milk ball, but about the size of a fingernail. She quickly looked away and waved her hand. “Make him eat it.”

Regardless of whether it was the right size, it had to be tried first.

Though…

She might not be able to look at malted milk balls the same way again.

Gu Zongming couldn’t believe they were serious. Already nauseous, seeing the foul-smelling substance brought near made him nearly faint.

Officers rushed over, pinning his arms and legs, forcing his mouth open.

To prevent him from vomiting it out, Magistrate Zhao thoughtfully prepared antiemetic medicine and patches.

Once the substance was forced down, Lu Tang eagerly awaited the result.

“Gu Zongming, is there a hidden army at Mount Li?”

Gu Zongming’s stomach churned violently. He wanted to vomit or curse, but when he opened his mouth…

“You idiots think you can fight against the warriors of our kingdom? There’s an army of 8,000 warriors hidden in Mount Li’s belly. Each one of them is capable of wiping out the nearby government offices.”

His words stunned Magistrate Zhao.

Could excrement really have such an effect?