The Patrolman's description of the men sounded like they had been subjected to long and intense interrogation, but what was the point of the torture of people who had been bought from underground merchants and were not members of a hostile organization? It's not that I'm unguessed about this, but there are so few clues that the so-called conjecture is just a guess.

But one thing that is basically certain is that the reason why Inoue is able to smell a lot of painful memories in the air here is because there have been many people here who have been brutally tortured.

"How are those people doing now?" I asked.

The patrolman replied honestly, "It's all disposed of." ”

Naoto Inoue asked, "Dispose of it, do you mean to kill it?" ”

"Probably right?" The patrolman was asked like this, and he was not sure, "But as I said before, I am just a patrolman and I don't know so much information." ”

Inoue asked, "So, what about the person in charge of the torture?" Also here? ”

"No...... has been killed. The patrolman was silent for a moment, and continued, "There were quite a few people in charge of the torture, at most twenty or thirty, but they were all killed one after another. ”

"By whom?" Naoto Inoue asked, "The Lord of Ants?" ”

"No, it's a Faceling." Said the patrolman.

Naoto Inoue almost reflexively looked at me, but he barely controlled it, and asked, "Facelings have been here?" ”

"I heard it was." The patrolman nodded, "I haven't seen it with my own eyes, otherwise I would have died." I've heard that the Facelings killed everyone who had been involved in torture. Now this stronghold is already panicked, and everyone is afraid that they will be the next to die, and they can't sleep peacefully every night. This has been going on for a while. ”

"Aren't you worker ants not even afraid of death?" Naoto Inoue asked.

"There are really a lot of people among us who are not afraid of death. The Lord of Ants once taught us that the value of life depends on the gesture of death. It's important to die for. My colleagues also believe that if you die for the Lord of Ants, then it is glorious. "But if the opponent is a Faceling, that's a different story." No one knows where he came from, what he thinks in his heart, or what power he uses. It's all unknown, like a ghost. Even now, he's probably lurking in the shadows somewhere, spying on us. I'm scared...... If I was inexplicably killed by an inexplicable Faceling, and I was confused until the end, then what on earth am I alive for? ”

As he spoke, he suddenly glanced at me slightly, but after meeting my gaze, he quickly turned his face back.

Maybe he's suspecting I'm a Faceling. But he shouldn't know that what he said before was probably the work of a disfigured murderer, and the latter did have the ability to lurk in the shadows.

I asked him if the Ant Lord had ever been here, and he nodded, "The Ant Lord does come and go here from time to time to check on those who are being tortured. But he's not here now. ”

"So, where are the 'earthworm eyeballs'?" I asked.

Hearing this, he shook his head and said that he had never heard of such a thing.

"Then take us to the rooms where the tortured people have been." I say.

"Okay." He said obediently.

We started moving down the hallway.

But after walking for more than a minute, he stopped coldly when he passed a "crossroads".

"What's wrong?" I asked,

"It's kind of weird." He turned his head to look at the hallway on his left, which looked like the light bulbs were all out of order, completely submerged in darkness, "it was still lit before......"

"Be careful!" Suddenly, Naoto Inoue's face changed, "There is a psychic reaction, this feeling is ...... A super-psyker? There's a super-psyker approaching! ”

He looked nervous, "There are two of them, and both of them are super-grade psionics?" Wait, one of the reactions is ......"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming from the darkness, and slowly approaching.

Two super-grade psionics? Isn't there only one super-grade psyker here? I gazed intently into the darkness. Soon, I saw a figure come out of the darkness, and there was only one figure. The darkness had faded from the man's body like a veil, and I could see his appearance: about thirty years old, bald, very tall, but very thin.

It's a special psionic who can manipulate space as mentioned by his previous cronies!

But for some reason, he appeared scarred, and it was all burned. When he saw us, he subconsciously stretched out his hand, his lips moved, and he was about to say something, but he didn't have time at all. Because in the next second, a raging flame erupted from under his skin. The flame was not his own means of attack, but it was attacking himself, setting his whole being on fire.

In the blink of an eye, he was burned to a charred corpse and fell to the ground.

There was another foot-sound, sounding in the darkness. After a few moments, the second man came out of the darkness. This person is Xu Shengxing.

*

Xu Shengxing's body was sparsely covered with sparks, and he glanced at the corpse of a super-grade psyker on the ground as if he were looking at garbage, and then looked at me, "Faceling? ”

The patrolman next to me looked over in horror and stiffened.

And I looked at Xu Shengxing. This is the first time I've faced Xu Quanan as a Faceling since the Faceless Killer killed him. Although he and Xu Quanan have already broken up, this is a father's revenge after all, even if he kills me as soon as he sees me, it is not surprising. I waited vigilantly for his attack. However, he didn't seem to have the intention of killing, and he didn't have the angry look I imagined. He just looked at me coldly and asked, "What are you doing here?" ”

I was still thinking about how I should answer, and Inoue seemed to feel that he shouldn't be so transparent. He plucked up his courage and said, "We have come to fight against the Lord of the Ants. ”

Xu Shengxing glanced at Naoto Inoue, and then turned his gaze back to me, "This psychic medium who eats inside and outside is your current partner?" ”

"He's not my partner, we're just a temporary partnership." I said, "What are you doing here?" ”

I didn't expect him to answer, but he did, "Enforce the law impartially." ”

In other words, he is also here to crusade against the Lord of Ants. Speaking of which, he did say to me some time ago that he "suddenly had a job". That's what work refers to? While Naoto Inoue and I were secretly operating, the Public Security Bureau was also investigating the location of the Ant Lord, and it was locked down by Shun Teng?

I thought and asked, "You're alone?" ”

"Do you have an opinion?" He asked rhetorically, full of gunpowder.

Naoto Inoue cautiously interjected, "What is this corpse on the ground?" ”

"It's just a space-manipulating psyker." Xu Shengxing said, "Although he is a super-grade psionic, he doesn't have much combat experience at all. It's no more difficult to solve than a first-level psyker with combat experience. ”

I didn't expect that the super-grade psionics who were so guarded by us were actually solved by Xu Shengxing first.

Inoue Naoto was stunned for a moment, then quickly woke himself up, and asked, "Since everyone has the same purpose, why don't you go together first?" ”

Hell if he says yes, I think.

But hell did I hell. He actually nodded, and then said, "I'm not going to fight with you in this kind of place." ”

There's definitely something wrong with that. From what I know about Xu Shengxing, it is indeed possible that he may make the choice of "it is not right to conflict with us" here based on reason. But he already disliked the Facelings, and coupled with the previous incident where the "Facelings" killed his father, he would never have let go of the contradictions so lightly. I didn't want to get into a conflict with him, but things were going so smoothly that it was suspicious.

I asked the patrolman to continue to show us the way, and Xu Shengxing followed. As I moved forward, I paid attention to Xu Shengxing's movements. He would occasionally cast a gaze at me. I felt like he was looking at me more strangely than before. In the past, when he faced me as a Faceling, he probably saw me as an "accomplice" in the cripplement of his son, and thought that "he might be my son". But he couldn't think that way anymore.

I don't know if he is just pretending not to take it to heart now, but in fact he is thinking about how to kill me. Don't take it lightly.

Naoto Inoue would sometimes look at Xu Shengxing with a lot of heart, and then sigh. I can probably guess what he was thinking. Originally, he wanted to crusade against the Ant Lord before the others in order to gain credit, but since Xu Shengxing appeared here, it meant that his plans were all in vain. And I was also known about my cooperation with me, so it was inevitable that I would be talked about. It can be said that he lost his wife and lost his soldiers.

"You can be said to have lost all your money this time." I said to him, "Do you want to continue?" ”

"Of course." Without thinking, he said, "Even if you don't get the credit." Since the Lord of the Ants is a heinous crime, there is no reason for me to retreat. ”

At this moment, the patrolman suddenly became bold and asked Xu Shengxing, "Why was the ant colony removed from the white list by the beaver leadership?" ”

"There's no place for you to speak here." Inoue said.

The patrol officer bowed his head in silence.

Naoto Inoue turned to Xu Shengxing and asked, "Why was the ant colony removed from the whitelist by the beaver higher-in-command?" ”

"Can you just ask yourself?" The patrolman couldn't help but say.

"Or else?" Inoue asked rhetorically.

"You didn't think you used to be that kind of personality." Xu Shengxing glanced at him.

"It's called the Black of the Ink." Inoue said. I don't know who he was talking about.

Xu Shengxing answered the question just now, "Actually, it's not a big deal." Since the collapse of the Dark Beaver, the Ant Colony has become the first underground organization in Beaver City. And the beaver higher-ups are worried that the ant colony will become the second dark beaver. That's it. ”

The patrolman snorted, "However, the Lord of Ants is the messenger of the sky......"

"Where is there any messenger of heaven, it is nothing more than an ordinary person." Xu Shengxing sneered disdainfully, "For more than eighty years, as long as you try to overthrow him, he will be simply overthrown. Because his power does not come from within, but from you. This is also true for those officials. As the saying goes, water can carry a boat, and it can also capsize a boat. When you lift him up, he is the mysterious and terrifying Lord of the Ants; And when you stop lifting him, he will immediately fall to the ground. I guess somewhere in his heart has been so frightened. ”

The patrol officer was silent.

A moment later, we came to an iron gate.

"This is it." Said the patrolman.

On the way, I already told Xu Shengxing about this place. At this time, Xu Shengxing took the lead and pushed the door directly. And we are not far behind.

Behind the iron door is a dark room, with no lights inside. Xu Shengxing casually threw out a flame, and the flame fell on the ground in the center of the room, but it was not extinguished, but formed a one-person-high bonfire, and the fire light shone all over the space. It was then that we realized that the room was slightly larger than the tennis court, with bare cement everywhere and no other furnishings. It's just that the floor and walls are covered with blood that seeps inside, and there are a lot of chains and shackles that grow out of everything like seaweed. To put it simply, even if the room is overcrowded, everyone will be able to have at least one shackle attached to their body.

This is the containment chamber for those who have been tortured.

At this moment, Naoto Inoue suddenly let out an irrepressible howl. He fell to his knees with his head in his hands. Xu Shengxing and I hurriedly went to check on his condition. I saw him press his forehead against the floor, then lift his head up, and slam it down again, with a hideous face.

"Memories ......," he said bitterly, "memories ...... Got in......"

He lifted his finger with difficulty, bit the tip of his finger, and then drew a symbol crookedly on his forehead, which gradually eased his face.

"What happened?" Xu Shengxing asked.

"I should have expected that. The density of painful memories in this containment chamber was so high that they intruded into my mind without even my permission. He still seemed to be quite uncomfortable, trying to stand up, but his legs went limp, and he sat down on the ground.

He gasped for a moment, then simply sat down and continued, "Fortunately, there aren't that many intruders, and I've now temporarily sealed my psychic ability. ”

"Did you 'see' anything just now?" I asked.

"I guess I saw it." He said, glancing at me, "And it has something to do with you." ”

It has something to do with me. I thought to myself, and then looked at him, "Tell me about it." ”

He nodded.

*

What Inoue saw were the memories of the people who were tortured here. Through these memories, he was able to figure out what had happened in the containment chamber.

Since about half a year ago, for an unknown purpose, the Lord of Ants has started buying human beings from underground merchants. The people who were bought were transported here by the ant colony, and then subjected to inhumane torture.

The content of torture covers all kinds of ancient and modern methods, even the so-called skinning and Ling Chi are just unimaginative methods, and waterboarding and electrocution are used to the point that even the user is tired of it. Their pain nerves became extremely sharp under the effect of the drug, making the severe pain even more unimaginable.

At first it was just ten, twenty, thirty...... And then the number gets bigger and bigger. Sometimes the ant lord will also ask his subordinates to go to other places to arrest people, some are marginal people in other towns and villages, and some are refugees in border areas, all of which are prey that no one cares about even if they are missing. Occasionally, the defeated members of the hostile organization will be thrown in, and they will be killed to the outside world, but in fact they will be locked up here and tortured endlessly.

No one knows why the Ant Lord would do such a crazy thing, but there is no doubt that the Ant Lord is quite enthusiastic about it. Not only did he torture people himself, but he also had some loyal enough worker ants to torture them, otherwise he would not have been able to do it alone. The number of victims is also increasing, at most more than 200 people, and it takes the cooperation of machines to be able to "take care" of them. Unlike the "mysterious organization" of the Facelings incident, the ant colony, as an old underground organization, has done a good job in both preliminary work and secrecy, and none of the residents living on the ground know that there are more than 200 miserable souls who howl day and night in the underground tunnels. Not only can they not die, but there are even people who specially hold healing psionic items to heal their wounds, repeating the previous torture process countless times.

The ant owners and worker ants skillfully grasp the mental endurance of the victims, bringing the victims "just right" extreme pain. When they are somewhat familiar with the current pain, he will take them to the next stage of hell. But sometimes, they also have the opportunity to rest. It was not the mercy of the Ant Lord and the Worker Ants, it was just to delay their complete numbness, so that they could breathe.

Once, the Lord of the Ants left the containment chamber with the worker ants satisfied. They gasped in pain, not knowing who it was, and suddenly brought up the Facelings.

Facelings, who is that? Someone asked

The first to speak were probably locals, and they were once hostile to ant colonies. He told the questioner that the Facelings were the ones who killed bad guys, and although he didn't know the true face, he had killed many famous bad guys.

I hadn't heard of Facelings, but I did know of one called the Faceless Killer. Someone answered.

Whether it's a Faceling or a Shapeless Murderer, will he help us and kill the bad guys who torture us? Someone also made a sound.

The few people who knew about the Facelings and the Shapeless Killers told the rumors to more people. It was as if they were in hell, but they saw the spider silk falling down, and they were desperate for someone to save them.

But no one came to save them.

Day after day, I don't know how long it has been. They looked at their shattered bodies and broken hearts, and they no longer wished they could be saved.

They have all gone mad, and even if they are given a healthy body, they will never be able to return to society.

They only cursed, cursed in despair, so that those who had tormented themselves to the fullest, who had taken pleasure in their fears, and pains, and despair, would be swallowed up by a greater darkness.