Bear School Astartes

Chapter 47: 47. Case Confluence

In the first five minutes of the interrogation, Lann didn’t ask a single question.

He just moved his hands, pressing deeply into Willis’s skin with the three-pronged spikes on the outside of his gloves, and then slowly, slowly dragged them across.

Unlike the previous abrupt and fierce punch, the pain of skin being gradually torn away by steel and strength could be fully felt by Willis’s body.

For someone who had just lost feeling in their lower half, with a sudden drop in security, this slow agony was enough to drive a person insane!

”Ah!!! Ah!!!”

The screams sounded as if they would rip his vocal cords apart.

”Ask! Ask whatever you want! I’ll tell you anything, just kill me afterward! Hurry up and ask, hurry!”

Willis frantically scratched Lann’s steel wrist guards, his nails flipping over, leaving bloody marks.

But whether it was the quality of the high Bear School armor or Lann’s own arm strength.

Willis’s struggles seemed insignificant.

Lann ignored his pleas and continued to act until the five-minute alarm set by Mentos went off, then he stopped.

By this time, Willis was already frightened.

Intellectually, he knew his information was needed; otherwise, there was no reason for torture.

But Lann’s action of starting with a five-minute period regardless of whether he could endure it revealed an attitude that seemed to not care about his life, letting emotion overpowered reason.

Willis knew he would die, knew it the moment his spine broke, but he desperately didn’t want to experience more pain before dying, not at all.

Lann watched the blood-stained face of the tortured man calmly, but Willis felt chilled under this calm demeanor.

”The first question, were you targeting me?”

The Demon Hunter slightly relaxed his fist from pressing against Willis.

”No! No! I don’t even know who the hell you are! We thought we just saw two unlucky bastards on the road and wanted to...”

Coincidence? It means the possibility of revenge disappeared.

But at the same time, it confirmed another possibility.

Words accompanied by painful howls.

”Ah, I understand. Head Eaters must have it hard too; wanting to stockpile food is perfectly normal, right?”

Lann seemed completely indifferent to Willis’s self-conscious words.

”Second question, was it your group involved in the mass kidnappings of children in Velen?”

”Yes, yes, it was us. Children, although, although they taste better, we also need money. When we arrived in Velen, someone offered a good price for them.”

Lann looked at Willis, nodding without emotion.

Even Head Eaters can’t completely detach from societal living.

Salt, iron, cloth, timber, livestock... Head Eaters also need these.

To be self-sufficient with these essentials, the manpower required would form a mini-society.

But as long as they’re involved in social economic activities — spending money — these needs can be easily acquired with wealth.

Therefore, the two major cases of grave impact in Velen at present, the Cannibal Faction and mass child disappearances, can be deemed one gang.

Yet Lann’s expression lacked the joy of cracking a case.

He’s not a detective, nor does he have a penchant for solving crimes.

The merging of the two cases only added another layer of determination to an already bloody situation for him.

No matter the other horrendous crimes they commit, when they shot Bernie and kidnapped White, lives became the inevitable price Lann demanded from them.

”Motives are clear, let’s discuss what’s truly important. Just one question...”

The studded glove’s five fingers spread, placed on Willis’s crown.

The muscles on the fingertips swelled inch by inch, veins bulging, and Lann’s formerly calm face now appeared twitching, unable to hide his rage.

Willis’s upper body was held by the skull, slightly lifted off the ground.

The cat eyes approached opposite Willis’s in extreme terror and resistance.

”Tell me, where do you take the children?”

Willis, once willing to speak freely, now hesitated for a moment.

Lann keenly detected this.

”Ah, it is indeed not simple, you hesitated. It seems the place where the children are held is very important to you, is that also your base? Makes sense, after all, they’re important ’goods’. Plus, the holding place and shipping point wouldn’t be too far, ’goods’ are conspicuous, you can only use sea route transport in Velen... Is your base in Velen’s western coast?”

Mentos quickly proposed possibilities while Lann’s consciousness simultaneously sifted through judgments.

In the cold fury, the Demon Hunter’s brain cell efficiency surprised even him.

Willis’s gaze suddenly flickered with panic.

Thus, confirming Lann’s guess.

Then, abruptly.

A ”boom” punch hit Willis’s cheek.

His pupils momentarily lost focus... This sudden punch completely stupefied him, psychologically and physically.

While the right punch struck, Lann’s left hand simultaneously changed posture.

A touch of foggy cold white magical light aimed at Willis’s head.

Yakxi Rune.

Willis’s head swayed on his neck like a drunkard, mind unclear.

”Tell me your location, Willis.”

Lann spoke with an unperturbed tone, words resembling a hypnotic script.

”Velen isn’t big, you’ve seen my skills too; how long would it take me to sweep through every coastal spot in Velen’s west that can hide dozens to hundreds of people? You can’t hide it, why not say it, give yourself a merciful ending?”

The major reason the Demon Hunter can’t rely on Yakxi Rune indiscriminately is its extremely weak effect.

For warriors like Willis, who stare death in the face without expression, the rune would likely daze them for less than two seconds.

As they possess strong willpower, seething with murderous intent.

Some powerful Warlocks’ mind-control spells could make such people turn and kill their wives and children without stopping.

But for the Demon Hunter’s magic tricks—

To coax words from Willis, Lann must first weaken him physically and mentally, then suddenly stupefy him, followed by giving a barely plausible reason to make Willis speak uninhibitedly.

”Yes, yes, can’t hide it...”

Willis’s words sounded like sleep-talking.

”On the western coast of Velen, near a village called Condell, we set up camp in those hills.”

”Village? Did you eat the village empty?”

Lann flicked the pieces of skin stuck to the spikes of his gloves, softly asking.

”No... ’Head Eater’ doesn’t allow us to hunt locally... he says if we did, we’d be discovered in Velen within two years.”

”’Head Eater’? Who is that?”

”Our leader... we don’t know what he was called before, he never says. Because he likes eating boiled heads, we call him that.”

Lann brushed a hand against his lower back, and the hunt dagger’s cold light gleamed in his palm.

”You all follow a boss without knowing his name? Since when was trust among crime syndicates robust?”

”Because... he provides food... gets money. This child trade was his idea. My outfit was also his idea. He seems like a brainless boar, but actually is the smartest... Wait! What are you doing? What did I say?! No, no, no... This isn’t what’s supposed to happen! Not supposed! Ah!!!!”