Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 73 - Why Make a Good Kid Cry (2)

Chapter 73 – Why Make a Good Kid Cry (2)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Uncle Gongsun… no, Min Chun-gi… at first believed he could endure it.

More than endure, he thought he could buy time by feeding lies to get out of the situation.

Torture itself was never an effective technique for extracting the truth to begin with.

Because the one being tortured could just spew lies to delay the pain and focus on buying time.

And the reliability of information spilled while not in one’s right mind from pain wasn’t exactly stellar either.

But…

“Master Jang says you’re lying? Why are you hurting our Master Jang’s feelings?”

“What kind of bull… ”

“This is Master Jang’s revenge.”

“AAAAAAARGH!”

Ju-seong was the physician’s disciple. He knew well which parts of the body to torment to inflict pain.

But had it ended there, he would have had to leave with nothing but an armful of lies.

Ju-seong detected Min Chun-gi’s heartbeat and cold sweat with his sensitive ears.

And used them as tools to determine truth from lies.

No matter how hard Min Chun-gi tried to spew lies, Ju-seong would administer torture before he even finished speaking.

Min Chun-gi keenly felt that this was precisely what the world called Separating Sinew and Dislocating Bone.

Originally, Separating Sinew and Dislocating Bone was the name of a martial art used by an ancient master from the Song dynasty era.

In today’s martial world, where that martial art had been lost, it was used as a general term for torture techniques that had reached a realm of their own.

“I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”

No repeated conditioning was necessary.

After experiencing punishment for trying to lie two or three times, even the greatest fool in the world could tell the truth word by word.

“Hmm, let’s see. Min Chun-gi of the Military Might Min Family from Huguang Province… Killed your talented younger brother two years your junior out of jealousy and fled, then joined the Assassination Curtain using your family’s stolen treasures and martial arts.”

Ju-seong stroked his chin as he organized the information.

“This gentleman turns out to have quite an impressive history. A son of the Military Might Min Family, famous for producing military personnel, and a member of the Assassination Curtain at that… Hey, Min Chun-gi.”

“…What.”

“What do the ‘real’ members of the Assassination Curtain call themselves?”

Min Chun-gi’s eyes went wide as he exclaimed.

“Wait, how did you know…!”

-CRACK!

“Don’t open your eyes so cutely like that. It’s creepy.”

What Ju-seong had asked about was concerning the ‘real assassins’ of the Assassination Curtain.

According to this fellow, he had been a special-class assassin of the Assassination Curtain.

Ju-seong recalled April, whom he had met in Yunnan.

That man had confided everything about his background, including information about his adoptive father, the April Pavilion Master.

The April Pavilion Master had also originally been a first-class assassin of the Assassination Curtain, going independent and establishing the April Pavilion during the process of annihilating a sect called the Shooting Sun Sword House.

In Ju-seong’s view, it was rather unnatural for a member of the Assassination Curtain to just up and go independent and establish a sect like that.

Surely secrecy was the lifeblood of an assassin group… they let people go independent just like that?

This man here was the same. A troublemaker who fled his family after causing problems, and someone from whom loyalty or blind devotion couldn’t be expected.

So the conclusion Ju-seong reached was that all these first-class, special-class types were merely peripheral members of the Assassination Curtain.

If compared to a family, collateral branches. If to a sect, lay disciples.

Those who take orders and act, but aren’t really insiders.

Sure enough, Min Chun-gi’s face went pale as if he hadn’t expected this to be figured out.

When Ju-seong stared at him hard, Min Chun-gi slowly opened his mouth.

“…They’re called Night Guests. They’re the ‘real’ Assassination Curtain. They don’t classify themselves as first-class or special-class among themselves. They’re true assassins. Among the Night Guests, there are even those at mere first-rate or second-rate level, but… Even I couldn’t be confident of preserving my life against their attacks.”

“Good information. Night Guests, huh… Just from the name, they look like the type that would do only shady business. Anyway, even as an outside member of the Assassination Curtain, you must have some connection to the Ten Thousand Ears Gang, right?”

No matter that he wasn’t an insider, he was still a special-class assassin of the Assassination Curtain. Likely he knew more than Cheong-rang, who was an organization member of the Ten Thousand Ears Gang.

“…That’s right. I know their headquarters location.”

After hearing the location of the Ten Thousand Ears Gang’s Sichuan Province headquarters, Ju-seong stared steadily at Min Chun-gi and spoke.

“Last question, Mister Min. You also deal in children, right? Taking debtors’ kids and selling them off here and there…”

Min Chun-gi grinned a crooked defiant smile and met Ju-seong’s eyes.

“Why? Those brats’ lives are obvious anyway, aren’t they? Wouldn’t it be better for them to be sold to some rich household where they might get an opportunity? I make money, they find new opportunities… This is what mutual benefit looks like.”

“Hmm…”

Ju-seong slowly nodded, then looked over his shoulder.

“Dong-sam.”

“Yes.”

“You said you started being a gangster in the North Gate back alleys to stop debtors from selling their own kids.”

“Ah, yes.”

Ju-seong turned his head back to look at Min Chun-gi and asked.

“Chun-gi, is that true? Did this guy really do that?”

Instead of answering Ju-seong’s question, Min Chun-gi looked at Dong-sam and sneered.

“Dong-sam. Watching you was amusing, seeing what you’d do next. Do you think those hopeless bastards actually did what you told them just because you beat them up and told them not to sell their kids and wives?”

“…”

Dong-sam watched Min Chun-gi with a deliberately composed expression.

But his wavering eyes couldn’t be hidden, and Min Chun-gi, noticing that, got even more excited and ran his mouth.

“They all secretly sold them. They probably said they wouldn’t in front of you because they were scared of getting hit. But am I the only one running the lending business in Chengdu? Since you wouldn’t take them, they went to Chu Myeong-i at the East Gate to sell them.”

“Wow… Chu Myeong-i, that son of a bitch? First time hearing that.”

“Stupid bastard… The money from selling those kids flowed right back to me through you. The gambling debts they paid you diligently claiming they earned it through work! Every bit of that money you handled was money from selling people, you fool.”

“Man, my head is spinning. Damn…”

Dong-sam let out a hollow laugh while rubbing the back of his neck, then suddenly grabbed a broken table leg and charged.

Looking at him now, the commoner had rather nimble movements. The kind of bodily motion suggesting considerable talent for martial arts.

Of course, his skill was not enough to break through Ju-seong’s reach.

“Calm down.”

Ju-seong said while grabbing Dong-sam’s arm.

“Oh, yes. I got a bit worked up.”

Dong-sam was pretending to suppress his expression and lower his arm, but the moment Ju-seong relaxed his grip, he tried to lash out again.

Of course, after being blocked by Ju-seong again, he realized it was impossible and threw down the table leg.

Ju-seong slowly turned to look at Min Chun-gi and spoke.

“Why make a good kid sad?”

Min Chun-gi snickered and replied.

“Good? Who’s good? That gangster bastard who goes around beating people?”

“Even Wudang Sect and Shaolin Temple go around beating people. What matters is who you beat and why. On that account, our Dong-sam here is no worse than Shaolin monks.”

“…That’s a bit much.”

When Dong-sam spoke as if flabbergasted, Ju-seong nodded along.

“Maybe that’s a bit much. Anyway, Dong-sam… Let me ask you. Is Min Chun-gi deserving of death? Is he just worthless to the world while living, merely a demon who plunges more people into suffering?”

Dong-sam asked in a bewildered tone.

“Why are you asking something so obvious?”

Permission granted.

Immediately, five tiny claws popped out of Ju-seong’s right hand guard.

“Mister Min, thanks for living.”

Ju-seong severed the thickest artery with a single gesture. The claws made of Kunlun Iron were sharp beyond words.

-SPURT!

The martial artist’s sturdy heart spasmed, spurting crimson blood.

It was as if the departing evil soul was hastily shedding the sins accumulated in its body, trying to become clean by letting go of all it had carried.

“…Of course, fat chance. The sins will cling to your soul and won’t come off.”

Centered on the chair where Min Chun-gi sat, a crimson mark formed a large arc.

At its edge stood Dong-sam. Bright red flowers had bloomed at his feet.

He suddenly raised his eyes to look at Ju-seong.

“…Why didn’t you let me do it?”

Ju-seong wiggled his fingers.

“If it were you, you would have beaten him to death painfully… Honestly, I wanted to do that too. But it’s better not to. If you live following cruel desires, you’ll find yourself becoming a new Uncle Gongsun before you know it.”

Ju-seong mumbled out a rough moral lesson, then felt a hot energy surge to his head and sat down in a cross-legged position.

“I need to meditate for a bit, so stand guard.”

“…Here?”

“Here.”

Blood was dripping from the chair, and the unconscious bound people still lay strewn about.

The gambling den in chaos was quiet as death. Dong-sam stood there blankly like a fool, standing guard.