Chapter 018: Interrogation Under Torture

Wang Bo wanted to surrender, not because he couldn't defeat these several hundred imperial guards.

In fact, with his strength, not to mention a few hundred imperial guards, even if there were ten times that many, Wang Bo could still beat them all down. But what then?

What could he do, kill all these people?

Wang Bo was not that cruel.

Let all these people go?

Who knows, the moment he turns his back, the other side might return with even more troops to surround and attack Wang Bo.

In a flash, Wang Bo thought it over. The reason the other party wanted to capture him was because they suspected he was connected to something called the Demon Pearl, but Wang Bo didn't know what the Demon Pearl was.

So he surrendered first, went back with them, and after figuring out what the demon pearl was, he would then resolve the issue.

Otherwise, Wang Bo would have no choice but to go on a killing spree and storm the imperial city.

But that would be too much trouble.

Therefore, Wang Bo chose a more convenient and simpler method.

Moreover, Wang Bo could be certain that this group had already captured everyone in the Wang residence, including the steward and his two personal maids, Liu'er and Yu'er.

Although he had not yet developed deep feelings for these two maids, after spending a few days together, he had grown somewhat fond of them and did not wish for them to die in this conflict.

After weighing everything, Wang Bo simply chose to surrender.

Of course, the most important point was... Wang Bo's surrender did not mean losing his freedom. If he wished, he could regain it at any time. After all, the people here could not hold him.

"Seize him!" Yuchi Zhenjin's mind raced through countless twists and turns upon hearing Wang Bo's surrender, and finally he gave the order. The imperial guards, holding shields, approached step by step, not daring to be the least bit negligent.

Wang Bo looked at Yuchi Zhenjin with a faint, ambiguous smile and offered no resistance.

In the end, a large number of imperial guards swarmed forward, bound Wang Bo tightly with ropes, and tied him up securely.

Everyone present breathed a collective sigh of relief.

While Yuchi Zhenjin breathed a sigh of relief, he was somewhat puzzled by Wang Bo's actions; he did not understand why Wang Bo would surrender so meekly, and he suspected there might be some secret behind it.

But that did not stop Yuchi Zhenjin from giving the order.

"Escort him back to the Court of Judicial Review, interrogate him under severe torture, and make sure he reveals the whereabouts of the Demon Pearl."

"Yes!"

All members of the Court of Judicial Review responded in unison.

Half an hour later, Wang Bo, escorted by the group, returned to the Dali Temple.

Along the way, Wang Bo was docile and offered no resistance, even subtly probing about the demon pearl, but no one paid him any heed, so he simply shut his mouth and prepared himself.

After returning to the Court of Judicial Review, Wang Bo was escorted by the crowd to the prison cell and strung up.

The high official of the Court of Judicial Review, Zhang Zhicheng, personally supervised; at his urging, one jailer after another brought out the most horrific instruments of torture and placed them before Wang Bo.

Zhang Zhicheng pulled over a chair, sat down in front of Wang Bo, and asked, "Do you know what place this is?"

"I know — the prison of the Court of Judicial Review!"

Zhang Zhicheng asked again, "Then do you know that of all those who enter my Court of Judicial Review prison, not a single one has ever walked out intact?"

"I don't know."

Zhang Zhicheng asked again, “Then you certainly don’t know that within the Dali Temple Prison, there has never been a mouth that couldn’t be pried open.”

"That, I truly didn't know," Wang Bo said with complete candor.

Zhang Zhicheng pointed at the bloodstained instruments of torture one by one. "From the moment these instruments were made, they were designed to torment prisoners as much as possible, to make them suffer unbearably and feel that living is worse than dying."

"I know your hard skills are astonishing, but no matter how hard your skills, they cannot withstand these iron-forged instruments of torture."

If you honestly confess the whereabouts of the demon pearl, I may yet spare you from punishment.

But if you insist on not speaking, then I can only let you taste the severity of the punishments in my Marble Prison.

Wang Bo nodded obediently and said, "I'll confess, I'll confess everything. I'll say whatever you ask, but I have one question, and I hope you can answer it."

"Speak."

"What exactly is this 'demon pearl' you keep mentioning, and why do you all think it has something to do with me?"

Zhang Zhicheng: "...I see you won't shed tears until you see the coffin. Men, let him taste the might of my Court of Judicial Review prison."

A jail warden nodded, and without hesitation took out a red-hot branding iron from a stove, walked up to Wang Bo, raised the iron, and pressed it toward Wang Bo's face.

Wang Bo neither dodged nor evaded, watching the warden with a faint, mocking smile.

Humph!

The red-hot iron pressed against Wang Bo's face, emitting a faint sound, but there was no smell of burning flesh.

The prison warden, who had been grinning viciously, couldn't help but widen his eyes, revealing an expression of disbelief.

Wang Bo sneered, "Your branding iron isn't up to snuff, is it? How about you heat it up some more, raise the temperature a bit?"

The warden stepped back with a look of horror, staring at Zhang Zhicheng in panic.

Zhang Zhicheng suddenly leaped up from his chair, stepped closer, and stared at Wang Bo's smooth face, his expression twitching as he demanded, "You, just who are you?"

Wang Bo, a native of Luoyang.

"Bullshit!" Zhang Zhicheng had never seen a human who wasn't afraid of a branding iron.

He had seen people who practiced hard martial arts, but no matter how hard the martial arts, they were still human. Yet Wang Bo was not even afraid of a red-hot branding iron—this was beyond what hard martial arts could explain, wasn't it?

Zhang Zhicheng's heart grew somewhat somber, and he ordered: "Men, bring out the other torture instruments!"

The bamboo book clamps onto the body!

The prisoner's hands are cuffed and fixed in place, and a vest woven from bamboo strips is wrapped around their chest and abdomen. The torturer twists the ropes attached to both sides of the vest, using the constricting force to crush the prisoner's body. After the punishment, no marks are visible, but it causes the prisoner unbearable agony.

But for Wang Bo, this was utterly child's play; even when the prison officer pulled the rope until it snapped, Wang Bo's expression remained unchanged.

Afterwards, a warden struck Wang Bo all over his body with a heavy staff—his head, wrists, chest, ribs, and elsewhere—yet Wang Bo's expression remained unchanged, the corners of his mouth twisted in a faint, almost mocking smile.

After that, there were the twelve special torture methods unique to the Court of Judicial Review, which required the use of special instruments. Each method had a specific name, such as Immortal's Bridge and Eggplant Shackle, and they were extremely cruel and terrifying. Those subjected to them generally could not survive all twelve before perishing.

But to Wang Bo, none of this mattered in the slightest.

These punishments, designed for ordinary people, were utterly ineffective against Wang Bo, who possessed a body of steel.

The reason Wang Bo endured these punishments without changing his expression was, first, that he wanted to experience the feeling of being tortured for a confession, and second, that he wanted to deflate the arrogance of this group of people.

After the prison wardens had applied every punishment to Wang Bo, apart from beating his clothes into tatters, they did not even break his skin.