Catching Monsters

Chapter 359 A Devout Believer
People from the Western Regions and those from the Central Plains look very different, and can be easily distinguished at a glance.

Jiang Yun slowly turned to look at Butterfly: "Butterfly, why don't you report the whereabouts of this group right now, and I'll consider it a meritorious deed for you to atone for your crimes..."

Upon hearing this, Butterfly's eyes widened, and she felt that this commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was shameless.

She shook her head: "Commander Jiang, I've already done a great favor by helping your family get rid of the Gu poison. Don't push your luck."

“Butterfly Girl, although your Central Plains dialect is quite good, some of your vocabulary is still not quite accurate.” Jiang Yun paused and reminded her, “This is not called being kind-hearted, but rather being forced into it.”

Seeing that Butterfly was unwilling to reveal the whereabouts of her accomplices, Jiang Yun didn't stand on ceremony and said to Qi Da, "Take her back to our Eastern Garrison Office and lock her up."

"Yes."

"You're shameless, you're untrustworthy, you..." Butterfly thought for a long time, and even though she wanted to curse Jiang Yun, the most venomous word that finally came out of her mouth was "you're shameless."

She's clearly a skilled poisoner, but her verbal skills are rather lacking.

Zidane chuckled. Such insults were nothing more than a tickle to the Imperial Guards.

When prisoners were locked up in the imperial prison and subjected to torture, they could utter the most vile and offensive words.

After letting Wen Chen, who was following behind him, return to the Sanqing Temple first, Jiang Yun and Qi Da quickly returned to the Dongzhen Fusi.

Soon, officials of the rank of General and above from the Eastern Garrison Command rushed into a living room.

In the center of the living room, there was a map, which roughly depicted the general terrain of the entire capital city.

All things considered, now that there is no garrison commander and Yang Liunian has been detained by Wang Longzhi, Jiang Yun, as a commander of a thousand, is already the highest-ranking official in the Eastern Garrison Command.

The number of centurions in the Eastern Garrison Command was quite large, totaling more than fifty.

Twelve centurions.

Qi Da looked at the map and said, "Lord Jiang, the North City and East City have been handed over to the North Garrison Command for searching, while the South City is under the jurisdiction of the South Garrison Command."

"Our search area is in the East City."

It's normal that the Northern Garrison has the largest number of personnel and searches a larger area. Jiang Yun stroked his chin and said in a deep voice, "Searching like this is no different from looking for a needle in a haystack."

With a population of nearly two million, Beijing is a giant city.

This is completely different from the city with a population of two million in my previous life.

In my past life, there were many tall buildings, made of reinforced concrete, and each building could house countless people.

Jiang Yun stared at the floor plan, completely clueless. He said to Qi Da, "Everyone, go search first. If you find any clues, come back and let me know immediately."

"Yes."

The people inside the Eastern Garrison Command were already quite impatient, and everyone wanted to make this contribution.

As for the fact that the more than fifty people in the Southern Garrison Command had allowed these twelve to escape, the people in the Eastern Garrison Command did not seem to care too much.

In the eyes of the people of the Eastern Garrison, what else could the guys in the Southern Garrison do besides fighting amongst themselves and investigating the Northern Garrison and their Eastern Garrison?
Soon, people left in droves.

Zidane was also impatient; if he could achieve this great feat, he might even get a promotion.

Jiang Yun then called out to him to stop.

Qi Da paused for a moment, then asked, "Lord Jiang, is there anything else you need?"

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Jiang Yun rolled her eyes at him and said slowly, "The capital is so big, if these thieves just find a house to hide in, who can find them?"

Zidane frowned: "Sir, what do you mean?"

"If we really want to find it, we have to find a way through that butterfly girl."

“I understand.” Zidane nodded and rolled up his sleeves. “I’ll go get two skilled interrogators right now. After a good beating, I don’t believe the girl won’t confess.”

Jiang Yun quickly raised his hand to stop Qi Da: "Use your brain, besides torture, don't we Jinyiwei have any other way to make prisoners talk?"

Upon hearing this, Zidane fell into deep thought. After a long while, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he said, "I understand, sir. I'll lock two more people in and try to get information out of her..."

"But that's not very reliable either. Maybe we should resort to torture."

Jiang Yun shook his head and slowly said, "Release them."

"Huh?" Zidane was taken aback, then asked, "What does Your Excellency mean...?"

Jiang Yun said slowly, "This is the fastest way to find their hideout."

"Take your men and set up checkpoints on all the streets in advance, keep a close watch on them, and don't lose track of them."

"Yes." Zidane nodded emphatically.

……

At the back gate of the Eastern Garrison Command's office, Butterfly followed behind Qi Da with some surprise: "You really want to let me go?"

Zidane said calmly, “Butterfly Girl, didn’t our Commander Qianhu say he would release you? Our Commander Qianhu is a man of his word. Just now, there were many people outside, and releasing the girl in public would be impossible to explain to his superiors.”

Upon hearing this, Butterfly looked somewhat surprised. She truly hadn't expected that Commander Jiang would actually be a man of his word. Had she been cursing the wrong person earlier?
Just as Zidane was about to send Butterfly away, his men, disguised and lying in wait, were already covering the streets outside.

Unexpectedly, Butterfly didn't leave immediately, but instead asked, "Where is your commander?"

"Huh?" Zida was taken aback and said, "Miss, what are you trying to do?"

“I just gave him a piece of my mind, and since I was wrong, I have to apologize to him.” Butterfly’s eyes showed a hint of sincerity.

Of course, to Zidane, that sincere look was no different from that of a fool.

Zidane gave an awkward laugh and casually said, "It's alright, our Commander is infamous and he's used to being cursed at..."

"Miss, it's getting late, you should leave soon."

Butterfly frowned, as if suddenly realizing something. Her foot was about to step out the door, but she stopped in mid-air, slowly turning back to ask, "Wait, are you planning to let me leave so you can find my companions?"

"Hahahaha." Zidane laughed awkwardly. "Look at what you're saying, girl. We don't have that many tricks up our sleeves." ...

Jiang Yun was sitting in the study, humming a tune, flipping through a book called "Miscellaneous Records of the Western Regions" in his hand. The book was written about a hundred years ago by a traveling monk who went to the Western Regions and recorded his many sights and experiences.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Enter."

The door was quickly pushed open.

Zidane walked in with a dark expression.

"What? You lost them?" Jiang Yun's expression changed slightly when he saw this.

"What do you mean, 'lost'? That Butterfly Girl went back to the prison on her own and even closed the door behind her."

Soon, Zidane recounted the whole story. After listening, Jiang Yun smiled and said, "This Butterfly Girl is quite clever."

"I'll go see her myself."

Jiang Yun quickly got up and headed towards the Imperial Prison. When he arrived inside, Butterfly was sitting cross-legged in her cell, quietly waiting there, with a thoughtful look on her face, seemingly lost in thought.

"Butterfly Girl, you have failed to appreciate my good intentions." Jiang Yun looked at the butterfly in the prison, then glanced at the imperial prison, and said, "There are only the two of us in the prison now. Let me guess what you two are planning to do."

“As far as I know, the Western Regions are Buddhist countries and don’t have much interaction with the Central Plains.” Jiang Yun paused and said, “Your dozen or so experts suddenly arrived and killed many high-ranking officials of the Zhou Dynasty.”

"What is it for?" Jiang Yun paused. "People do things with a purpose."

"Want to seize power? I'm afraid your Western Regions kingdoms have no interest in that."

"So they're after something or someone, right?"

“I can cooperate with you.” Jiang Yun smiled. “You’ve already seen it for yourself; I’m a man of my word.”

"As long as you honestly confess the purpose of your group's visit to Zhou, I will..."

"Cooperation?" Upon hearing this, Butterfly suddenly reached out, took out a black pill, and handed it over: "Eat this. This is the Heavenly Fragrance Soul-Destroying Powder. It requires an antidote every six months. Once you've taken it, I'll tell you."

“Butterfly Girl, you still don’t understand your situation.” Jiang Yun said, taking out the bamboo tube containing a mixture of highly poisonous substances.

"What are you planning to do now?" Butterfly asked, her eyes wide.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll just feed you,” Jiang Yun replied.

"You can't do this! I already helped you save someone!"

Jiang Yun shook his head: "You were the one who administered the poison, so how can it be considered as helping me save someone? At most, it's just making amends."

"Since you're no longer of any use to me, if you don't talk, I'll poison you."

After saying that, Jiang Yun opened the cell door. Butterfly tried to resist, but Jiang Yun had already pried open her mouth and was about to pour poison into her mouth.

Butterfly was terrified; she had never encountered anything like this before. In her panic, something Jiang Yun hadn't expected happened...

She actually started crying.

"You are shameless and despicable!"

“Master is right, you people from the Central Plains are all shameless and despicable.”

"It makes absolutely no sense."

He was living peacefully in the Western Regions when his master suddenly sent him to the Central Plains, and he even encountered such a shameless Imperial Guard.

If I hadn't come to the Central Plains, I wouldn't have encountered this situation.

If I hadn't come to the Central Plains, I wouldn't have encountered such a shameless person.

"Are you done crying?"

"After you've finished crying, drink the poison."

Jiang Yun's expression remained indifferent, showing no sign of pity or tenderness.

"You!" Butterfly gritted her teeth, her eyes shifting slightly. "I can take you there myself! But you can only come alone!"

"If you don't agree, then feed me this poison and kill me!"

"Okay." Jiang Yun smiled and nodded in agreement without hesitation.

"You are not allowed to bring any subordinates with you; you must come alone. You swear it."

Jiang Yun nodded: "I swear to Buddha that I will be the only one following him. If I break this vow, may Buddha punish me."

The butterfly was stunned for a moment: "You believe in Buddha?"

“I am a very devout believer, and I often make vows to Buddha.”

The people of the Western Regions had been worshipping Buddha for many years, and making an oath to Buddha was considered the most vicious oath imaginable.

Seeing Jiang Yun make such a solemn vow, Butterfly breathed a slight sigh of relief and began to believe it to some extent.

Soon, Jiang Yun led Butterfly out of the prison gate. Qi Da, who had been waiting outside, rushed forward when he saw the two of them come out.

Jiang Yun said with a serious expression, "Commander Qi, withdraw everyone. No one is allowed to follow me and Butterfly Girl. Do you understand?"

Zidane paused for a moment, then nodded: "I understand."

Seeing his reaction, Jiang Yun couldn't help but ask, "Did you really understand?"

Zidane nodded: "I really understand."

(End of this chapter)