Chapter 355 - 215: Great Family (4)

Chapter 355: Chapter 215: Great Family (4)

"It’s wonderful they’re found. So wonderful..."

Xie Yuan and Situ Qin were interrogating the captured guards when they heard a commotion from nearby. It was a cacophony of joyful shouts and mournful cries, tears of overwhelming relief, and people collapsing to the ground, sobbing.

They turned to look, and what they saw was a microcosm of life’s joys and sorrows.

"Which family is really behind you?"

Xie Yuan demanded, grabbing a guard by the collar.

"I-I don’t know."

The guard was terrified.

Xie Yuan and Situ Qin exchanged a glance, both frowning.

These guards were highly capable, yet after questioning several of them, they found that none knew who they were actually working for.

Many of them had been recruited from elsewhere, brought here, and kept under strict lockdown. They only took orders from a few leaders and knew very little.

Xie Yuan asked again,

"Did Mr. Qian ever say where he came from? If you lie, you’ll end up just like those men over there."

The guard glanced at the bodies of his comrades on the ground beside him, swallowed hard, and said in a low voice,

"Mr. Qian’s status is high and he’s very mysterious. We rarely saw him, let alone had a chance to speak with him."

Xie Yuan and Situ Qin’s brows furrowed. Something felt wrong.

When they were chasing "Mr. Qian" just now, he had commanded the guards all along the way, calling them out by name. This clearly contradicted what the guard was saying!

Xie Yuan’s eyes narrowed.

"Rarely saw him? Almost no interaction? I just saw him deploying you with great skill, which clearly indicates frequent drills. Are you still trying to lie? You’re not afraid to die, are you?"

The guard stared blankly for a moment, then said,

"Just now...?"

A strange feeling welled up in Xie Yuan.

"When I killed him just now, didn’t you see?"

"Just now... The one fighting you just now was Elder Liu, not Mr. Qian."

’Elder Liu?’

’Not Mr. Qian?’

Xie Yuan and Situ Qin froze for a second, their expressions changing slightly.

They had jumped to conclusions. Elder Liu hadn’t confirmed or denied it, and they had mistaken him for someone else!

’There’s someone even stronger than that formidable Elder Liu?’

A chill ran down their spines. They shot to their feet and scanned their surroundings, but found nothing.

The area with the victims was still abuzz with noise, while the captured guards remained dejected. Everything seemed unchanged.

But then, suddenly, they both whipped their heads around to stare at the guard in front of them.

They saw the guard’s face flush a deep red. He opened his mouth to gasp for air, but only managed a gurgling sound. His expression grew more and more agonized as he clawed at his own throat, seemingly unable to breathe no matter how he tried.

Two streams of black blood suddenly trickled from the guard’s nose. He slowly collapsed to the ground as foul blood began to pour from all seven of his orifices. He convulsed twice and then stopped breathing.

Xie Yuan and Situ Qin instantly took two steps back, their brows deeply furrowed.

"What a potent poison!"

Situ Qin’s face was taut with tension.

This guard was only the beginning. One after another, the surrounding guards, servants, and maids began to show the same symptoms. They were all unable to breathe, bleeding from their seven orifices. From the onset of the poison to their deaths, it took only a few breaths’ time.

Their expressions turned ugly. Seeing that all the captives were dead and there were no longer any living witnesses to interrogate, they felt a surge of frustration.

"AH!"

A cry of alarm rang out from behind them. They both whirled around, their faces paling.

The poison wasn’t limited to the guards.

Over where the abducted women and children were, their faces were also turning a deathly blue-black. Blood began to seep from their seven orifices as they all clawed at their throats, but it was useless.

They struggled for a moment, then collapsed one after another—THUD, THUD—like puppets with their strings cut.

"No! No!"

"Lian’Er!"

"Huwa, Huwa! Don’t scare your dad!"

The families who had just been reunited with their loved ones were instantly plunged from heaven into hell. They watched as their dearest kin lay in their arms, writhing in agony, their faces turning black as blood poured from their seven orifices, making only gurgling sounds. All the families could do was clutch their children’s hands in vain, crying out again and again.

But no matter how tightly they held on, no matter how deep the red marks they left on their hands, they could not keep their children from slipping away.

They had just been reunited after so long, and now they were separated by death, and in such an agonizing way.

The field ridges, which should have been a scene of joyful reunion, had suddenly transformed into a Purgatory on Earth.

The other townspeople scattered in terror, watching the scene with a mixture of fear and dread, an indescribable feeling churning in their hearts.

Xie Yuan and Situ Qin watched with wide eyes, their fists clenched, a towering rage burning in their chests. But the poison was overwhelmingly potent. Situ Qin could tell it had been planted in their bodies long ago; once activated, it was instantly fatal. Even if they had wanted to save them, it was too late.

She asked in a trembling voice,

"If-if he wanted to silence them, he could have done it back at the manor. Not a single one would have survived. Why activate the poison now?"

Xie Yuan’s face was as dark as a thundercloud. He said in a low, heavy voice,

"Mr. Qian is making a statement to us..."

Clearly, this Mr. Qian, wherever he was, had been watching everything unfold.

Such an act was not just a taunt, showing them that their efforts were all in vain. It was a declaration that he held everything in his grasp, that life and death were his to command.

To do this just for a demonstration... to give people hope only to shatter it... Looking at those few residents of Wu River who, heedless of any poison, clutched the corpses of their family and let out heart-wrenching wails—the feeling was enough to drive a person mad.

It was a demonstration of power, and it was also Mr. Qian’s sick amusement.

’Is this how a truly powerful family operates?’

’To them, perhaps common people don’t even count as human.’

Xie Yuan gritted his teeth and whipped his head around, scanning the area for any sign of Mr. Qian. But besides the living townspeople, there was nothing but a field of ghastly corpses, all dead from the poison. He found nothing.

’He’s probably long gone.’

Xie Yuan quickly circled the field ridges and found the middle-aged man whose arms he had severed. As expected, the man’s eyes were wide open and his body was stiff. He was dead.

He returned to Situ Qin’s side, his expression grim. As he slowly sheathed his Profound Weapon, a sudden flash of insight struck him.