Qingzhou, Jibei City.
Ye Ling was brought to the interrogation room expressionlessly for the ninth interrogation.
"Ms. Ye, are you still not going to talk?" Zhang Henshui looked calmly at Ye Ling, who was sitting on the interrogation chair.
Ye Ling did not answer Zhang Henshui's question, but instead scanned the surroundings:
Unlike the previous times, during the first eight interrogations, even if Zhang Henshui dismissed other interrogators, he would always keep He Qingshi here. However, this time, only Ye Ling and Zhang Henshui were in the entire interrogation room. Even when Ye Ling entered earlier, the interrogation chair wasn't even locked properly. The armed police simply told her to sit down and left.
Seeing Ye Ling remain silent, Zhang Henshui was not in a hurry. He took out a ladies' cigarette from his pocket and offered it to Ye Ling, saying, "Have one? Haven't touched one for almost half a month, right?"
Ye Ling silently took the cigarette and motioned for Zhang Henshui to light it for her.
Taking a light puff and exhaling a ring of blue smoke, Ye Ling revealed an expression of satisfaction and enjoyment.
"Speak, you've contacted me eight times in over ten days, and each time you've only hinted at things. What exactly do you want?" Ye Ling flicked the ash and said.
In the previous eight interrogations, although Zhang Henshui and He Qingshi both claimed to have conclusive evidence of her collusion with the Yama Hall, they had never used it. Over time, Ye Ling began to doubt Zhang Henshui's words – after all, who would believe that a police officer holding evidence against a criminal would give the criminal so many chances to get off lightly?
Hearing this, Zhang Henshui chuckled, took out a videotape, and inserted it into the nearby projector.
A slightly blurry image immediately appeared on the small TV in the interrogation room. However, when Ye Ling saw the recording, her eyes widened abruptly, her breathing became ragged, and her hands even began to tremble.
This was because the recording playing on the small TV was none other than the external surveillance footage from the Tang family villa on the outskirts of Shisan Hang, Huzhou.
From her driving in with King Taishan, to King Wuguan and his followers entering, and then to the ability management bureau launching their encirclement and arrest – the entire sequence, spanning several hours, was perfectly captured.
Ye Ling's blood suddenly felt cold. The ladies' cigarette in her hand was almost burnt down, and she hadn't even flicked the ash.
With this single videotape, she, no, the entire Tang family, would definitely not see tomorrow's sun.
But Zhang Henshui did not end the interrogation. Instead, he asked, "How many times have you contacted King Taishan these past few days?"
Upon hearing this, Ye Ling's body could no longer hold back. A shiver caused her to drop the ladies' cigarette in her hand. The burning tip fell to the ground and smoldered quietly, while the ash scattered all over, emitting wisps of smoke.
Yes, during her detention by the Ability Management Bureau, Ye Ling had been using secret methods to try and contact King Taishan, but for some reason, she couldn't reach him.
This gradually gave Ye Ling a thought – had King Taishan abandoned her?
And now, with Zhang Henshui asking this question, Ye Ling's psychological defense crumbled, and the suppressed emotions of a long time surged into her heart.
Seeing Ye Ling's face completely filled with fear and helplessness, Zhang Henshui smiled slightly. He walked slowly to Ye Ling and placed a box of cigarettes and a lighter into her hand, saying,
"As you can see, I have no shortage of evidence to send you and the Tang family to the execution ground," Zhang Henshui said, staring intently at Ye Ling. "What I lack is intelligence about the Yama Hall."
"I need to know the movements of all Yama Hall personnel, including King Taishan," Zhang Henshui said, pushing a piece of paper and a pen to Ye Ling. "This is your last chance to strive for a lighter sentence. If you continue to resist stubbornly, then tomorrow I will have no choice but to submit this material as evidence for trial, citing the reason of unsuccessful interrogation."
Ye Ling's gaze flickered between the cigarettes and Zhang Henshui, her pupils trembling more and more…
After a long time, Ye Ling took a deep breath and said something that greatly surprised Zhang Henshui:
"King Taishan should be in Suzhou now. Perhaps even in the Dunhuang ruins."
…
The most recent stretch of the Path of Suffering was filled with flying crows.
However, these crows' bodies were all imbued with extremely high temperatures. The moment they touched the skin, white smoke would immediately appear and sizzle. On this stretch of road, even Master Wu Hai couldn't manage others and had to focus on dealing with these crows, as they preferentially attacked the monks.
After this final stretch, less than one-seventh of the entire team remained.
All those who passed the test rested on the scalding sandy ground without exception. No one cared about the scorching sand beneath them, and no one spoke.
The Dragon Capital University had very few casualties. Only the female teacher who was driving turned back during the fourth segment. Most of the others endured to the end with a kind of inexplicable willpower and tenacity.
As for Qian Xiao, he used his "money power." Except for the thorny anklets in the second segment that required enduring the pain, all other trials could be resisted using various rare and precious treasures.
"Daoist Priest Qinglian," Master Wu Hai, who was meditating on the ground, suddenly said. "Do you know why there were so many crows in the last trial?"
"Uh…" Qinglianzi thought for a moment and didn't understand Wu Hai's meaning, so he replied, "Could it be related to why you came here?"
Wu Hai chuckled and asked, "Daoist Priest, you've never been to a temple, have you? I mean a Buddhist temple."
"Hmm… no." Qinglianzi had been busy with cultivation and finding tasks before, and had basically not participated in any exchanges between Buddhism and Taoism.
"Then let me ask you, which Buddha is enshrined in the center of the main hall of my temple now?"
"Uh… the Tathagata Buddha?" Qinglianzi recalled and tentatively replied.
"It is the Tathagata," Wu Hai said, "but not the Tathagata Buddha, nor the Medicine Buddha or Maitreya, but the Mahavairocana Buddha. Crows are a symbol of Mahavairocana Buddha."
"We elder monks have discovered that the new generation of monks appear to naturally accept Mahavairocana Buddha as the central figure, but when asked about the Three Buddhas – Dipankara Buddha of the past, Shakyamuni Buddha of the present, and Maitreya Bodhisattva of the future – they are completely clueless."
"This subtle distortion of perception has sounded the alarm for us, and we have begun to secretly seek ways to address the problem."
"Until we came here," Wu Hai said, pointing to the Gobi Desert behind him. "We saw a dialogue in the murals here."
"A person asked: 'A thousand Buddhas perish, and a thousand Buddhas are born. Where do the dead Buddhas go; where do the future Buddhas arrive?'"
"At that moment, we suddenly realized that the current Buddhist realm had undergone a tremendous change from the Buddhist realm of the past."