Chapter 501: The Easy Interrogation

"I didn’t say anything." The young man looked at him angrily.

"You didn’t have to, any reaction when everyone else is staying silent can be an answer." Lian replied with a smile.

Although the real answer was that he already knew they were from the Third Region, he only wanted to gain some kind of control over the conversation that was about to happen.

The commander gave the young soldier a cold look, that look said as much as a shout.

He sat down in front of the commander, the man was still connected to the ground by ice from his wrist and lower leg, and despite his defeat, he had not lowered his head ...his eyes were full of hatred.

"I would like to ask why you are stopping us from moving forward?" Instead of wasting time, he went straight to the main point.

The commander remained silent.

At that moment, One took a step forward and slammed his foot against the ground.

Boom.

The ground under his foot sank slightly.

The man gave a short look at his jaws and then put his eyes back on Lian.

"Even if you know, it is useless for a foreign thief like you."

"So there is something worth hiding." Lian tilted his head slightly.

The muscles in the commander’s jaw tightened.

"If your goal was to protect the Third Region, you wouldn’t stay here. If you wanted to drive us out of this area, you would destroy the camp. If you wanted to start a war, you would kill many more people."

The commander did not take his eyes off him and Lian leaned forward a little more.

"But you attack exactly enough to stop the groups from moving forward... not enough to make the base decide to send real forces."

There was no answer, but this silence was different from the man’s expression, it was no longer simple hatred and he had become alert toward him.

The young Vorhelm noticed it, he had hit the right point.

"So you only want to buy time."

"Shut up, foreigner." One of the younger prisoners, who was tied to the ground with ice several meters away, suddenly said.

The commander immediately turned his head toward him.

Lian did the same, there was silence for a moment and then he gave a small smile.

"I think you should have said that to your commander, but anyway, then my guess was right."

The young man only then realized that his own reaction had been an answer, he clenched his teeth and closed his mouth.

Lian stood up again.

So this part was clear too, they wanted time.

But for what? A caravan that had to pass? A transfer of forces? The evacuation of an area? A monster that had to be hunted?

Or something that had to be taken away before the people from Earth arrived?

He looked at his Colony member and gave him a signal to increase the pressure on these natives.

One lowered his large head, now his jaws were exactly above the commander’s shoulder.

"What is on the other side of the pass?" Lian then asked.

"Nothing." The commander answered without hesitation.

He looked at him for a few seconds, since this man did not want to answer, the pressure had to be increased even more.

Then his eyes moved to One and the ant bent down a little more, his jaws closed right beside the man’s ear.

Clack!

The sound of them hitting each other echoed through the ruins.

The commander did not even blink, but a drop of sweat moved down from the side of his temple.

"That was a bad answer, if I don’t get a better answer, you will lose one of your ears."

"Even if you cross this pass, you will find nothing but death!" The man looked at him with hatred.

Lian stayed silent for a moment and then one of his eyebrows rose slightly.

Interesting.

The man had not said,

"We won’t let you cross."

He had not said,

"That area belongs to us."

He had said that they would find nothing but death, this choice of words could have been conscious or unconscious, if it was the first, it could have been some kind of word game.

But if it was the second, then there was something there that this man considered dangerous.

But either way, both confirmed one thing.

"So there is something there and you are not done with it yet, that’s why you need time."

Again, there was no direct answer, but the young Vorhelm no longer needed a verbal answer, he had almost understood everything and only did not know exactly what that thing was.

"When the priests finish their work, none of you will—" At that moment, the young man who had exposed himself earlier said angrily.

"Shut up!" The commander shouted and cut him off.

But it was too late and Lian calmly turned his head toward the young man.

"Priests?"

The man’s face changed slightly and the young Vorhelm looked toward the commander again.

It should not be forgotten that their languages were different and the System was currently providing advanced translation, so if this man had used a word in their language that was translated as priests, he was referring to religious authorities.

He took one calm step forward.

"A few days of buying time and priests who are working on something on the other side...let me guess, there is a religious place there, right? Since you are from the Third Region, then it is related to the Divine of Light."

This time, the younger man held his breath and the commander closed his eyes, even the others could not control the expressions on their faces.

And this revealed everything that needed to be revealed.

"I found it." Lian smiled.

"It doesn’t belong to you, barbarian thieves!" The commander said in a voice full of anger.

"I haven’t even said what I plan to do yet." He shrugged, although it was already certain that their next destination would be that place.

The commander did not answer, but that sentence was the final confirmation.

There was something on the other side of the pass, something belonging to the Divine of Light’s religion and the people of the Third Region only needed a few more days to finish their work.

Considering that the attacks were still continuing, it was clear that they had not finished yet.

Lian moved a few steps away from the prisoners, from the top of the bridge, he looked at the other side of the broken gate.

The thick fog was still hiding a large part of the plain.

He put all the new information together in his mind again.

People from the Third Region.

Priests.

An operation that would take several days.

Limited attacks on exploration groups.

Avoiding a massacre that could anger the Federation.

And a religious area connected to the Divine of Light.

They did not want to defend the borders of their country, they were hiding something and more exactly, they wanted no one to find that place until a certain task was completed.

He turned back toward the commander.

"What did you find?"

"That has nothing to do with you."

"Tell me its name."

"You think because you beat a few people, I will tell you anything you want?" The man gave a cold smile.

He looked at him for a moment, then simply turned his head toward One.

"Do whatever you want." The commander said simply, as if he had accepted death.

This time he was truly ready, and Lian noticed it too, more threats probably would not give him any new information, so he chose another path.

"Okay."

He walked over to one of the younger prisoners, the same one who had made the mistake about the priests earlier.

"Bastard, you—" The commander immediately said, but before he could finish his sentence, his mouth was sealed with ice.

One came toward them and, following his master’s order, opened his jaws and completely licked the young man’s face.

Fear filled the young prisoner so much that he even soiled himself.

Lian ignored it and told One to place half of the man’s head between his jaws, and the giant ant did exactly that.

The young man’s fear became several times stronger, his whole body started shaking, but even then he still did not dare to open his mouth.

He did not even dare to curse anymore, afraid that he would become the next meal of this damn monster.

"How many days are left until the priest finishes the work?"

"Two?"

There was no reaction from the other side.

"Three?"

Suddenly, his eyes moved very slightly.

"So there are three days left, well, what are they doing that takes so long? Are they just opening the door there now?"

Again, there was no clear reaction, the young man was still trying to stay silent despite all the fear he was feeling.

"No...then it has already been opened."

This time, the man’s eyebrows tightened slightly.

Lian paused, maybe that was wrong.

"Or part of it has been opened and the main part is still sealed."

This time, the man’s jaw tightened.

He smiled, he had gotten the answer he wanted.

Now the situation was clearer.

A ruin, probably only recently revealed, one part was accessible and another part was still sealed, the priests needed three days to fully open it.

The Third Region was willing to fight foreigners for several days to stop them from reaching that place.

And its connection to the Divine of Light was almost certain too.

"Thank you, our next destination is clear."

"Don’t even think about going there." The young man finally opened his mouth and said with hatred. "That shrine does not belong to you, no foreigner has the right to set foot inside it, the moment you enter, you will be punished by the goddess!"

Lian simply ignored him.

"a shrine belongs to the Divine of Light, huh?" His eyes turned toward the distance.

Kain also looked toward the place where the fog behind the broken gate had swallowed everything.

Only a few hours ago, they had been discussing that they might find something interesting in the unknown areas.

Apparently, they did not need to search for very long.

And worse...or perhaps better, what they had found could be directly connected to him.

"Now at least we know where we need to go."