“Still won’t talk, huh?”
Guan Tong walked up next to Adam and asked. Though the latter had used torture on the Holy Father, he hadn’t gone too hard, as if afraid of accidentally killing him.
Adam shook his head. “This bastard seems dead set on it. Not a single word. Quite the tough nut.”
But his next words came through the Mind Network to Guan Tong: “I think this Holy Father is strange. This tough-guy act... it’s not what you and I expected.”
Ye Dang deliberately kept the Holy Father from hearing this. Guan Tong understood the intent.
He felt the same way.
In his and Adam’s earlier judgment, someone like the Holy Father would have to be utterly terrified of death, desperately collecting new believers to stack up spare lives. A man like that, staring death in the face, should have been begging for mercy, not putting on this defiant display, this resolute refusal to spill a single word. It was a jarring contradiction.
“Maybe you should take over the interrogation,” Adam said, still through the Mind Network. “You’ve definitely got more tricks up your sleeve than I do. And I’m afraid if I keep going, I won’t be able to stop myself from killing him.”
Guan Tong nodded. “Leave it to me.”
“By the way.” Adam shot a glance back at Scarface, who was still rooted to the spot, too scared to move. “What did that guy tell you?”
Guan Tong gave a summarized account of Scarface’s confession. Adam was stunned. “Bruce actually... actually did something like this? That son of a bitch should burn in hell... He’s the king of Suroma, for crying out loud!”
Even after everything Bruce had put him through, Adam still couldn’t believe the king of Suroma would send over a thousand of his own High Mind Power Ascendants to be mind-controlled by the Holy Father.
Adam’s reaction was the same as most people’s.
It was also why so many refused to believe Beixing’s earlier announcement.
To be precise, it wasn’t that they didn’t believe Beixing’s officials—it was that they couldn’t believe any national leader would deliberately sacrifice so many of their own High Mind Power Ascendants. In anyone’s eyes, that was something only someone with a screw loose would do.
Especially since Suroma had been spending huge sums poaching Ascendants from other countries. Without undeniable evidence, people simply couldn’t wrap their heads around Bruce’s logic of actively recruiting while simultaneously killing them off.
Of course, others were in the dark because they lacked the full picture. But from Guan Tong’s perspective, as a victim of Bruce’s actions, the king’s logic was crystal clear.
“In Bruce’s eyes, maybe he sees everyone the same—except himself and a select few. Whether it’s his own people or foreigners, they’re all just disposable pawns to be used and discarded.”
“Especially since those Ascendants were all under the Holy Father’s mental control. If the operation suddenly stopped, wouldn’t they risk blowing their cover when they went back?”
Putting himself in Bruce’s shoes, Guan Tong could think of two reasons for his actions.
First, whoever had stopped the Bright Moon from rising was undoubtedly a strong player, and from the rival nation of Beixing at that. If the “clearance quota” was really limited, eliminating this strong player early would mean one less competitor down the line.
Second, all the Ascendants involved in the operation had been secretly mind-controlled by the Holy Father. If the operation was aborted and this leaked, Bruce’s position as king would be toast. So no matter whether the Bright Moon was stopped in advance or not, the “Array Action” had to proceed, and all participating Ascendants had to die. That was the only way to leave no loose ends.
But according to Scarface’s confession, Han Qiu had told him another theory.
That Bruce wasn’t just doing this—he seemed to be running an experiment.
That point bothered Guan Tong. If Han Qiu’s guess was right, Bruce’s experimental goal and his attempt to capture the Holy Father alive must be connected somehow.
Guan Tong still couldn’t figure it out, but he had a feeling that whatever Bruce was plotting, it had to be a massive conspiracy.
As for what role Han Qiu played in all this, that was also unknown.
The only thing certain for now was that Han Qiu and Bruce weren’t on the same page. Both were on guard against each other, using one another.
Guan Tong thought to himself: “Alliances of schemers are always fragile. Everyone’s focused on maximizing their own interests, so the moment things go south, they stab each other in the back. They can never truly cooperate.”
“Just like Scarface, when faced with a life-or-death crisis, he didn’t hesitate to sell out Han Qiu. For people like that, they can only work together as long as they keep winning. One loss, and they tear each other apart.”
“And that’s why I don’t think I’ll lose to these people. At least I have some truly reliable comrades, people I can trust with my back.”
Adam listened to Guan Tong’s account and fell silent, brow furrowed.
For him, the more inhuman and insane Bruce’s actions were, the more dangerous his family was under the king’s control.
He wanted nothing more than to charge straight into the New Covenant, but that would be suicide and wouldn’t save anyone.
“Take a moment to settle down.”
Guan Tong could see the worry in Adam’s heart and told him to calm down.
Then he turned his attention to the Holy Father, who sat on the ground in stony silence, his expression cold.
He wasn’t going to resort to torture this time. He was going straight for the knockout blow.
His palm flipped, and the [Truth Serum] item appeared in his grasp.
Since the Holy Father hadn’t even reached the Second Stage of Ascension, his Mind Power upper limit was definitely lower than Guan Tong’s. That meant this item’s effect would definitely work.
He used his Shadow to pry open the Holy Father’s mouth and force-fed him the serum.
The Holy Father couldn’t resist. As soon as the serum entered his body, his expression went slack, his eyes staring straight ahead as if he had been hypnotized.
“What’s your relationship with Bruce? Do you know why he wants to capture you?”
The serum’s effect only lasted three minutes. Guan Tong couldn’t afford to waste time and went straight for the most important questions.
The Holy Father’s voice was flat, devoid of emotion. “I don’t know Bruce. I don’t know why he wants to capture me.”
Guan Tong pressed on. “What’s your arrangement with Han Qiu?”
The Holy Father: “I don’t know Han Qiu.”
“!!!”
Guan Tong and Adam’s hearts both jolted at that. They exchanged a look and saw the shock in each other’s eyes.
The Holy Father didn’t know Han Qiu? How was that possible?
Was Scarface’s confession all a lie? No, that couldn’t be...
Guan Tong suddenly realized something, and his expression turned grim.
Adam realized it too, and stammered, “Shadow, if I’m not mistaken, this guy might be...”
“...Yeah. He’s probably not the real Holy Father.”
No wonder this guy hadn’t reached the Second Stage of Ascension, and his Mind Power had to be lower than Guan Tong’s, yet Guan Tong couldn’t see through his ability... It was because the one using the ability wasn’t him. This guy was just a puppet! A fake!
That explained his “unbending” act. It had to be the real Holy Father, the one pulling the strings behind the scenes, who had brainwashed him with mental control to ensure he never spilled any secrets.
Guan Tong took a deep breath and continued, “Who are you? What’s your exclusive Mind Power ability?”
The “Holy Father”: “My name is Yiri. I’m a pastor. My exclusive Mind Power ability is ‘Divine Skin.’”
“Divine Skin? What does it do?”
“I can choose a person as my ‘master god.’ The master god can use my body to exert their own abilities.”
“...Just as I thought.”
Guan Tong’s guess was completely correct. Ye Dang’s guess was also correct.
The real Holy Father, that coward hiding in the shadows, didn’t even dare to show his face in his own territory.
Even giving orders to the people he had mentally controlled, he needed a puppet stand-in. This was caution to the extreme—or perhaps cowardice to the extreme!
It was only then that Guan Tong understood what Han Qiu had meant when he made Scarface relay that message.
That “hand over a ‘version of yourself’” line was obviously telling the real Holy Father to hand over a substitute to Bruce.
This meant Han Qiu had already realized the “Holy Father” he was dealing with was a fake. The real controller was still in hiding.
By having Scarface deliver that message, he was both tipping them off and subtly threatening the real Holy Father: “Listen to me, or your secret gets out.”