A brave man may not live, but he cannot die

Chapter 314 Great Memory Restoration Technique
When Quinn saw the man tied to the chair, he finally understood why Golden Wind hadn't been able to catch him for so long.

So they were hiding here enjoying themselves.

Quinn had seen the wanted poster that Golden Wind had sent to the underworld. It was a young man in his early twenties, very thin in the picture, and looked as agile as a monkey.

At this point, Hunter was no longer visibly old. His cheeks were swollen like fermented dough, one eye was black and the other was purplish-blue, and he was missing an ear. A water pipe was installed above his head, drawing water from the neighboring river. The water had been pouring down on him for who knows how many days. He lay there, his breathing barely audible.

Upon seeing the newcomer, Hunter's lower body trembled. The kind-looking, long-haired priest, holding a book, appeared to him like a demon wielding a long fork. His pupils dilated, and his breathing became disordered, but he was bound to the chair and had nowhere to retreat.

"Oh dear," Xisa sighed in distress, "I'm not skilled enough, and you've made a fool of yourself in front of you."

“What do you mean by ‘not skilled enough’?” Quinn asked, as if he were seeing him for the first time. Even though he had fought with Sissa, he never thought that this priest would be so violent.

"Interrogation is a science."

Sissa squatted down in front of Hunter and pulled the large loaf of rye bread, which had been soaking in water for three days and still wasn't soft, out of his mouth. Hunter immediately wailed in a trembling voice, "I don't know, I don't know—"

"In the Empire, there's a saying: 'There are no secrets in the interrogation room.' Interrogations require skill; you must protect the suspect's human rights, privacy, and fairness. By doing this, it seems I haven't protected your human rights, violated your privacy, and treated you unfairly."

Hunter shook his head violently, crying out, "I fell down myself, it has nothing to do with you, Father! Please forgive me—please forgive me!!"

Quinn, standing to the side, glanced at the proverb.
Most books about the Philippian Empire in the Southern Continent are filled with accusations and contempt, describing the vast northern empire as a "tyrannical state devoid of human rights." As evidence of this view, the massive intelligence agency "Gebeu," which is directly under the emperor, is a prime example of human rights abuse and is notorious.

The proverb "There are no secrets in the counseling room" is used to describe the interrogation methods of the Gbeu. It is rumored that prisoners who are uncooperative or dishonest in the police station will be sent to the Gbeu for "councils." In order to protect the privacy of prisoners, lawyers are not allowed to enter the counseling room. The prisoners are exactly the same when they go in and come out the same way. There are no traces of abuse on their bodies, but their emotions become unusually stable, and they will answer any questions. This is known as the "Great Memory Recovery Technique."

The world only knows that the Gebewu is a secret service organization, but it is unaware that it is the empire's superhuman police force, the largest in the world. No one knows exactly how many superhumans the Gebewu has, or how many imperial agents have infiltrated the Southern Continent and the Eastern Kingdom.

Two hundred years ago, the turmoil in the Empire dealt a heavy blow to Gebeu, and in recent years it has gradually lost its former glory. However, judging from the tone of Sisa, the so-called "lack of skill" refers to Gebeu's Great Memory Restoration Technique.

Did Sissa receive special agent training in Gbewu?
"Hey." Quinn glanced at him with his Demon King's Eye and warned, "Stop with the interrogation art. This guy's about to die. Have you been soaking him in water all this time?"

This is almost indistinguishable from a water prison.

“Your Excellency the Arcanist, not everyone has the Academy’s magical potion that can make prisoners behave.” Sissa pulled at Hunter’s eyelids, observing the whites of his eyes as she spoke. “Once an Abyss Transcendent falls asleep, his soul returns to the Abyss. If Mr. Q silences him over there, all our efforts will have been in vain.”

"I...I don't know anything about Mr. Q—" Hunter said weakly, "I know nothing about these Abyss Relics you're talking about. One day I woke up and suddenly gained this knowledge. Please save me—"

“Since ancient times,” Sisa said unmoved, “almost all captured Abyss Transcendents have said the same thing, after all, death is not the end for them.”

"The abyss will take his soul, and once he betrays his companions, endless torment awaits him. Isn't that right, Mr. Hunter?"

Hunter slowly closed his eyes, but his lower lip trembled incessantly, as if reflecting his inner fear.

“What is his destiny?” Quinn asked.

“Gluttony, Sequence Nine, Servant.” Sissa stood up, tore the large loaf of bread in her hand into powder, and forced it into Hunter's mouth, making him eat. “Strange, isn't it? Gluttony, Greed... I reckon among those who ran away after hearing the news, there was also Lust. In the past, the fates of the Abyss Transcendent beings hiding in the city were very singular; the 'Administrators' only distributed Abyss relics of those with the same fate as themselves. But Axwell, apart from 'Pride,' has all the Abyss Sequences.”

“No, there is arrogance,” Quinn said slowly.

"Has the academy caught them?"

“No, I encountered him in the Abyss.” Quinn paused. “Mr. Q is an Abyss Transcendent of the Arrogant Fate. As for his Sequence number, I don’t know.”

The hand that was feeding him stopped, and Sissa's gaze lingered on Quinn for a moment before she asked with interest, "You've fought him before?"

Quinn nodded. "What a pretentious fellow. It's a pity I didn't see what he looked like."

"The abyssal layer?"

Quinn nodded again.

"Impressive." Xisa exclaimed in admiration, then asked meaningfully, "You graduated from the academy? I've had a lot of dealings with the administration office in the past, but I've never heard of such a powerful superhuman teacher in the academy."

Quinn didn't answer directly, but vaguely said, "My arcane skills are quite average."

He stepped out of the shadows and stood in front of Hunter, looking at the man whose mouth was covered in breadcrumbs, whose eyes were filled with the despair of death, yet who was forced to swallow his food due to the instinct of human survival.

"Don't secret agents have any torture techniques?" Quinn gave an example: "Like hypnotic techniques that can make people's eyes sparkle with hearts and go "oh oh oh oh oh" or something like that."

“The souls of Abyss Transcendents are corrupted by the Abyss, making ordinary incantations ineffective.” Sissa changed the subject: “However, we can still give it a try. But we can only try it once.”

Quinn understood what he meant.

Sissa removed the hose from Hunter's head, then rolled up her sleeve to wipe the water from his face, and said gently, "I won't make things difficult for you. Just tell me, how did Mr. Q get in touch with you, and how did he deliver the Abyss Relic to you?"

"Don't tell me you found it on the road. Abyss relics have an expiration date; they don't last long under the sun."

Hunter finally spoke, his voice tinged with desolation: "If I answer you, will I live?"

Sissa just smiled and didn't say anything.

When a priest on Earth is asked, "Can you find evidence that God ever existed?!" he also gives this ambiguous look.

“You don’t know their methods,” Hunter said with a bitter laugh. “I will be tormented there for the rest of my life, until my soul decays in the abyss.”

Quinn finally spoke: "And what about your father, old Hunter, the good doctor who ran a pharmacy in Seawell his whole life? And your mother, and your sister?"

Hunter suddenly struggled to his feet, as if his dying soul had been ignited. He cursed at Sissa, "What have you done? What have you done to them?! Damn it, you hypocritical devil, aren't you a priest? Threatening others with your family, is that something a religion should do?!"

“Oh, that has nothing to do with me.” Sissa looked at Quinn innocently.

“Of course the Church wouldn’t do that,” Quinn shrugged. “But don’t forget, who were you delivering goods for? In the Eye of the Golden Wind, you ran away with the goods.”

"No way, Godfather, Godfather... No, my father saved many brothers' lives, he wouldn't be so ungrateful."

“If it were just ordinary goods, Ike would let it go. But what you sent concerns the lives of his entire family. You should know what you're sending, right?”

Hunter paused, stunned. He'd been locked up for so long that he was somewhat dazed. He mumbled, "No, wait, Mr. Q should be able to handle it, Q."

Immediately realizing his slip of the tongue, he turned pale and shut his mouth.

Quinn's eyes narrowed, while Sissa chuckled, "Looks like my judgment was right, Mr. Q is indeed connected to that gang." A name flashed through Quinn's mind—

The government-in-exile in Jengen.

“Is Mr. Q Ike Carpenter?” Sysa asked.

Hunter remained silent.

Quinn shook his head and answered the question: "No. Ike is a ninja, so it's unlikely he would know about this."

How do you know he's a ninja?

"Do you think I'm some kind of innocent undercover agent?"

"Did you hear that?" Sissa pointed to Quinn beside her. "That guy, the newly promoted Red Flower Double Sticks of the Golden Wind, is the undisputed leader in the gang. Even Ike has to give him some respect—"

Hunter stared at Quinn with some doubt; he had never seen this person in Golden Wind before.

But he could also tell Ike's fate. This was a secret within Golden Wind. Mr. Q had warned himself not to mess with that 'Nick.' Could he really be a newly promoted high-ranking member of Golden Wind?

“Our church is moral,” Sissa said, and it was true that the church wouldn't really threaten someone with their family. But her next words chilled Hunter to the bone: “But this guy didn’t. Be careful, before Mr. Q can even save them, your family might be—”

He glanced at Quinn, signaling him to continue.

Quinn said nothing, only smiled.

Saying something would be fine, but not saying anything made Hunter both anxious and afraid. He was struggling, but the images of his sister and parents kept appearing before his eyes.

"The nearest Holy See is three hundred kilometers from Aishwell." Sissa, in her presence, loosened the ropes around him. "If you cooperate, I can buy you a train ticket to Calest. The Holy See's primordial fire can burn your soul; don't worry about falling into the abyss after death."

"What?!" Quinn suddenly interrupted him, asking seriously, "What fire?"

"Huh? Oh," Sissa tilted her head, then corrected, "It's the sacred fire of the sun, the one that's been lit at the highest point of the church for 1,400 years without going out."

Quinn waved his hand. "Let's continue. I've just never heard of this name before, so I'm a little curious."

"Anyway, as long as you can stay awake until then, you don't need to worry about what happens after you die."

Hunter kept his head down and did not answer.

He did not choose between life and death.

It's not about choosing how to die, but about choosing how to die.

The two waited in front of him for a long time, but Hunter made no further move. Sissa shook her head regretfully, "Looks like we'll have to make a trip to Golden Wind. Bringing his family here is really not something I'm used to doing; it's like I'm acting like a villain."

“Father Sysa.” Just as Sysa turned to leave, Hunter finally spoke, his voice regaining some vitality, “I know about you. You were quite famous in those brothels.”

Quinn thought to himself, "Persuading prostitutes to reform is a niche, perverse hobby."

"So I believe you."

Believe? Is he some kind of noble person?
"If you promise me you'll rescue my family, I'll agree to your terms," ​​he pleaded.

At this point, Xisa should have agreed immediately, but he only looked up and thought for a moment, then, holding the divine book, said with guilt, "I don't have that much ability; I can only promise to try. So I can't agree to your request."

Hunter smiled. "That's enough."

Then, before Sissa could ask any questions, he began to speak on his own: "My father made a lot of money treating gangsters, so I grew up better off than other children and was able to afford to go to school in Eastwell."

“My father told me that being a doctor was a dead-end job, and that staying in Westwell meant a lifetime of no advancement. He wanted me to become an official, but what he didn’t know was that civil service positions in Westwell were all pre-selected, and there was no chance for us Westwell commoners.”

He spoke slowly, his voice hoarse, each word requiring all his strength to utter, as if a dying man were reminiscing about his life.

"After graduating from school, I didn't pass the interview at the city hall. I didn't dare tell my father, who had spent a lot of his savings to support my education. He waited at home for news of me, so I wandered around Eastville every day. My money quickly ran out, and I thought about borrowing some."

"Then I met him, a Western Continent man named Jack."

Quinn and Sysa exchanged a glance, reading the same thought in each other's eyes—these Abyss Transcendent beings of Eswell were indeed like a net.

"When it comes to borrowing money, especially high-interest loans, they usually ask about collateral, your job, or your home address. But their questions were really strange."

He asked me if I had any religious beliefs.

“I told him I believed in the sun, and he was willing to lend me money.”

"Are you a believer in the Light?" Quinn asked.

"Without churches, they're no longer believers. They just don't believe in other gods."

In Tamiur, most people are like Hunter.

Without a particular faith, they are born as children of the sun, and the "god" they pray to is the creator god. However, they are not strictly speaking believers in the light, because they do not participate in church activities and do not strictly adhere to the doctrines of the light faith. This group makes up one-third of the total human population and forms the core of the papacy.

In other words, they can also be considered abelian, since worshipping the sun is a universal value of the Taimouran, and even believers of other religions would acknowledge that the sun has an equal or even higher status than their own god.

"He agreed and was willing to lend me a large sum of money, telling me to go to a specific location the next day to collect it."

Xisa was energized.

"What location?"

"A bookstore. Dongwei Bookstore, where there's a very pretty clerk with light brown hair and a smile as bright as a sunny day."

He cherishes, dreams, and reminisces about the day that changed his life.

(End of this chapter)