V1: Chapter 35: Sometimes Death is a Relief

The priest's mouth gaped open, drool dripping from his chin.

Liang Lin dislocated his jaw, then grabbed his hair and slammed his head against the ground repeatedly until the medicine bag fell from his mouth and landed on the ground. By this time, the priest was delirious from the blows, a large bump swelling on his forehead, still bleeding.

Wow, that was ruthless.

Liang Di covered her eyes with her hands, but peeked through large gaps in her fingers.

"Speak! Speak! Where are those girls?"

The priest's eyes were filled with tears, and he mumbled something for a long time without uttering a single word.

Liang Lin slapped him hard across the face, so hard that one of his teeth loosened.

"You've got guts, huh? You'd rather die than talk, even torture won't work?"

"Aba aba aba..." the priest mumbled incoherently.

Liang Lin raised her hand and slapped him again, this time knocking a tooth out. The tooth even spun several times in the air before landing on the ground.

“Are you playing dumb with me?!”

“…Liang Lin, you forgot to put his jaw back on.”

“…”

The air suddenly fell silent.

“Ahem.”

Liang Lin blushed, using a cough to cover her embarrassment.

Snap!

The priest’s jaw was put back on.

“Speak,” Liang Di spoke, keenly aware that the priest was definitely not the mastermind. The mastermind was someone else entirely. “If you talk, we can guarantee your life.”

The priest pursed his lips tightly, making them a thin line.

“I know you have a mastermind behind you. You’re not the mastermind. To put it bluntly, you were threatened, or there’s something in it for you, right?”

Liang Di hit the nail on the head, and the priest’s expression softened slightly.

“I can tell you with certainty that if you take us to rescue those girls now, you won’t be hanged. Why? Because the missing girls are all commoners, none of them are nobles. In this world, a commoner’s life is worthless. You’ll spend a few years, or even decades, in the imperial prison at most. You won’t lose your life.”

Liang Di coaxed, “Besides, you’ll help us, which is… a way to atone for your crimes. You’ll get a few years of probation, as long as I put in a good word for you with the Knights.”

The priest’s eyes drooped completely. “Really?”

“Really.”

Liang Di’s attitude was very sincere, her lie sounding so convincing that Liang Lin believed her. She even quietly asked Liang Di, “Is what you’re saying true or false?”

“Are you stupid? If I don’t say it, will he say it?” Liang Di gritted her teeth and whispered in Liang Lin’s ear.

“Oh… then I’m relieved.”

If this kind of bastard isn’t hanged, the world will truly be in chaos.

“Don’t worry, Father, we’re from the Knights of the Order, and we’re nobles. With just a word from us, we can guarantee your life. And… this lady (pointing to Liang Lin beside her), she’s the best swordsman in our Order. With her here, your master can’t harm you.”

After saying this, Liang Di nudged Liang Lin with her elbow.

“Ah, yes, I am indeed the best swordsman.” Liang Lin straightened her back.

This was a genuine statement.

“Well… alright, I’ll tell you.” The priest looked around in terror. “You… you all need to come closer to me, I’m scared…”

Liang Lin and Liang Di surrounded the priest, who whispered, “Those girls are hidden beneath this church. Just turn the arm of the statue, and a secret door leading underground will appear.”

“What about the needle marks on their hands? What do you want that blood for?”

“It was… it was for Baroness Rita… she wanted it.”

Liang Di seemed to understand. She hesitated for a moment, “I’ve heard that the blood of young, beautiful girls can maintain a perfect youthful appearance. It’s just a story, isn’t it? Mrs. Rita, she believed it, didn’t she?”

“I don’t know the specifics, but we were just providing her with the blood. What she used it for, none of us asked, and we dared not ask.”

“So, the marks on those girls’ bodies, you did 'that' too?” Liang Di suddenly asked.

Liang Lin looked at Liang Di in astonishment. Liang Di had never told her about this before.

The priest stammered.

"It was them, them... um... it was all them who did it. I'm a priest, I'm a priest, how could I do such a heinous thing?"

"Tell the truth!" Liang Lin grabbed the priest's collar.

The priest trembled at the thought of the two slaps Liang Lin had given him earlier, and instantly confessed everything.

"I! I also violated them! I also violated them!" The priest, snot and tears streaming down his face, acted as if he were the victim, trying to excuse and justify his actions, "I'm a man after all... those women, those women, when they were being bled, they were stripped so naked, those white bodies! I, I'm a man after all! I really couldn't control myself... it really can't be blamed on... ughh!"

Spurts!

Liang Lin used a small knife to slit his throat.

"The most rotten trash of the Soteland Empire, no, you don't even deserve to be called trash."

Liang Lin maliciously used the priest's face as a handkerchief to wipe the blood from the knife.

The priest thrashed about on the ground like a fish out of water, his eyes wide with terror and despair. He tried to speak, but every time he opened his mouth, blood gushed out, staining the nearby white floor crimson.

"What are you doing!"

Liang Di grabbed Liang Lin's hand.

Liang Lin shook it off.

"What use is this kind of trash in this world? He's not even as useful as a fallen leaf. Living is a waste. His only value is death."

Liang Di sighed.

"I don't blame you for killing him. I just wanted him as a human shield. When we go down there, we'll definitely encounter danger. Let him go ahead of us and help us hold off the rest."

Hmm…that actually makes some sense.

Looking at the priest still writhing on the ground, Liang Di continued, "Besides, even if he doesn't die, he'll definitely be hanged. You were too hasty."

"No, that's different."

Liang Lin kicked the struggling priest, a sinister smile spreading through the room, sending chills down one's spine. "Hanging is too easy; he only has to struggle for a short while. But having his throat slit is different. I only made a shallow cut; he'll bleed continuously, feel his life slowly slipping away… That's the real punishment!"

"Sometimes, death is a release, but a painful death is not."

Her evil smile, like a distorted painting, instantly darkened and bewitched her once beautiful face.