Chapter 1516: Hard Interrogation

A booming shockwave rippled through the arena as the central structure collapsed inward. Safety glass that had separated the spectators from the beasts cracked with a spiderweb hiss before bursting into a rain of jagged fragments.

Workers shouted for everyone to leave the room, then sirens blared, and to add to the panic, the wild animals were released from their cages and went on a rampage. When they smelled the human scent, their instinctive response was to go into hunting mode.

Panic erupted as people screamed, climbed over chairs, and trampled each other in their attempts to escape. The air was filled with the roars of monstrous beasts and the primal terror of the trapped crowd.

Amid the chaos, Clift and Samuel moved with cold focus. They draped a jacket over Igor’s limp body, pulled his hood down, and dragged him toward the exit, blending into the frenzied crowd.

Behind them, security scrambled, shouting orders, trying to locate Igor’s position. But his VIP box was empty, and the arena was a churning storm of bodies. Finding one man in this madness was impossible.

The moment they burst through the arena doors and into the open air, a black SUV screeched to a stop in front of them. Jay leaned over the wheel, eyes wide and urgent. Clift didn’t waste a second; he heaved Igor’s unconscious body into the back seat, then climbed in with Samuel close behind.

The doors slammed shut. Clift quickly scanned the interior, then his brows tightened. "Where’s Cupcake? And Hotspice?"

Yes—Hotspice. For some inexplicable reason, that was the nickname they settled on for Zhao Li Xin, and from this point forward, it would cling to him like a sticky rice. Fortunately, Zhao Li Xin didn’t bother by it.

If only he could bear the name Zhao, the name of the man who had turned a blind eye to the endless torture he had endured in the imperial palace, then any name, no matter how strange or absurd it sounded, he would accept it without any resistance.

Before Clift could work himself into a full panic, both front doors flew open in perfect synchronization.

"Looking for me?" Lory slid into the front seat with a triumphant grin.

Zhao Li Xin gets himself into the back seat beside Igor, calm as ever, not even breaking the sweat.

Jay’s grin stretched wide. "Nice work, people. Seatbelts on, Cupcake."

"Seriously," Lory pouted as she yanked the seatbelt across her body, "I want a different nickname," she insisted.

"We’ll see cupcake," Jay laughed, and hit the gas pedal.

The SUV shot forward, joining the river of panicked vehicles fleeing the chaos. Tires screeched, horns blared, and the deafening roar of the collapsing arena faded behind them as they disappeared into the night.

__________________________________

___A moment later__

A single flickering bulb cast a sickly yellow glow across the damp warehouse, its light barely cutting through the haze. Shadows clung to the corners, thick and unmoving.

In the center of the room sat a man slumped on a wooden chair, his wrists bound tight with coarse rope. His expensive white shirt clung to his skin, soaked through with sweat from the oppressive heat.

A low groan escaped his lips. His lashes fluttered, but his eyes refused to open. Somewhere in the haze of his half-conscious mind, a voice called to him—soft at first, almost distant.

"Hey... wake up."

He stirred, letting out another muffled groan. The voice came again, sharper this time.

"Wake up."

Still, his body wouldn’t obey. His head hung low—until something sharp and sudden cracked against his cheek.

SLAP.

"WAKE UP!"

His body jerked violently, and his head snapped up. Breath rasped through his throat as he blinked against the dim light. His vision swam, then steadied—revealing rusted walls, dripping pipes, and faces he didn’t recognize.

He squinted, disoriented. Where... am I? This wasn’t his room. This wasn’t anywhere he knew.

"Oh, he’s awake," a man muttered in an unexpected tone.

"Told you," a woman replied in a proud, yet playful tone. "Sometimes, you just have to slap them to wake him up."

Igor blinked several times, forcing his blurry vision to focus. Shapes slowly sharpened into figures.

In front of him stood a woman with brown hair cascading over her shoulders, a beautiful face framed by soft light, and lips full and tinted with color. She was stunning, but Igor didn’t trust what he saw. With the right spell, anyone could change their appearance, and he was sure everyone in this room had changed their appearance.

Beside her were four men. One, broad-shouldered and muscular, sat lazily on a crate, his gaze heavy and watchful. The other two stand one on her left, and one on her right, while another one...he didn’t see him as he stood behind him, eyeing him.

Igor swallowed, his throat dry as sandpaper. "Who are you?" His voice came out cracked and hoarse, the words barely holding together.

The woman tilted her head, a sly smile tugging at her lips. "That’s not important, is it? What is important..." Her eyes narrowed, gleaming with mischief and danger. "...is that we know who you are. And we know what you’ve been working on."

A flicker of relief slipped through Igor’s chest. If they wanted information from him, that meant he still had value—and they wouldn’t kill him.

He just needed to stall long enough for someone to come and save him. He refused to believe no one would get him, for his work was too valuable, too important, thus they needed him, desperately

"I—I don’t know what you’re talking about," he stammered, forcing a weak smile, his voice trembling as he feigned confusion.

Lory’s chuckle sliced through the air—soft, smooth, but cold as steel. She stepped forward, the dim light catching the sharp line of her jaw and the glint in her eyes.

"Igor Renovich," she began, her tone deceptively calm, "Graduate of West Collum University. You graduated as the youngest in your class, with summa cum laude, nonetheless. A promising Creator with a very bright future..."

She paused, her lips curling faintly. "Until you got yourself involved in a little questionable experiment, about mana transformation, and because of that you killed twenty gifted children, at least that’s what the report said," she shrugged.

Igor froze. His heart thudded painfully in his chest.

Lory’s gaze didn’t waver. "After that, you were sentenced to Baxter Maximum Security. Official reports say you died during the chaos of the prison riots. But we both know that’s not true." Lory tapped her boot, the sound echoing across the concrete floor. "Someone pulled you out. Paladin, maybe... or Luxembourg’s men. Or both. Either way, they didn’t save you out of kindness. They needed you, didn’t they?" She squinted her eyes.

"They needed you to continue Ethan Hamilton’s project, right? What was the name... oh yeah, the Mana Deterrent Device." Lory tilted her head, smiling almost sweetly as she stepped back into view. "So... what do you think? So far so good?"

Igor’s face drained of color. How—how could they know that? They’d erased everything about him the moment they broke him out of prison. Every file, every record, every link to his past life should be erased by now. No one outside the classified network should have known about him.

And in that moment, the truth sank into him like a stone plunging into cold water; he wasn’t in the hands of ordinary agents. No, He was in the hands of people far more dangerous than he’d ever imagined, someone who was not afraid to provoke Luxemborough and the S.A.I.N.T. organization.

His jaw tightened, breath trembling through clenched teeth. "What do you want from me?"

"I thought it was obvious?" Lory looked at Igor as if he were a fool, a look that stung all the more for a renowned genius like him. But she continued, "Tell me everything about the Mana Deterrent, and what they plan to do with it." Her expression grew colder.

Igor’s jaw tightened, his mind convulsing as he tried to decide what to do. He lifted his eyes and stared at Lory. The girl was calm and collected, her expression unreadable.

He concluded she was a professional, and so were the men beside her. Of course they were; otherwise, how could they have kidnapped him under the protection of Paladin and Dragxtarn?

"Mana Deterrent... just like the name, it’s to block mana from gifted people, so they wouldn’t be able to use their mana," Igor muttered.

Jay rolled his eyes. "That’s simple, that’s just like mana blocker. Do you think we’re stupid? If that’s all it was, they wouldn’t have been so insistent on getting Ethan Hamilton, nor would they have taken such a risk to break you out of prison. So stop stalling and tell me everything you know."

"I don’t know!" Igor spat. "They don’t tell me anything. I just— I was just there to finish the job Hamilton’s boy left, that’s all!"

Clift’s eyes darkened. He knew Igor was lying and that he knew more than he was admitting. But he was being stubborn, perhaps thinking they wouldn’t dare to do anything to him. Clift turned around, then took off his jacket and placed it on the cart next to Samuel.

Igor, seeing Clift’s movements, immediately felt a bad premonition. "Hey—what do you want to do?"

Clift ignored him. He rolled his long sleeves to his elbows as if preparing himself. Samuel looked at Clift. "Need help?" he asked casually.

"Just shut his mouth, it’s gonna be loud," Clift said, then glanced at Lory. "She acts tough, but she’s softhearted. I don’t want her to be bothered by his scream."

Samuel stifled a chuckle. "She doesn’t have to," he said sincerely. After all, in his understanding of the royal family, a princess like her didn’t need to involve themselves in something this barbaric. But, Lucient, afterall, was different from the normal royal family.

Clift smiled bitterly. "No, she doesn’t."

It’s been part of Lucient’s education to let the young heir of the Lucient family expose the dark side of the world, to learned themselves, and to understand so they will make a better judgment in the future.

Clift turned around and walked toward Igor.

Igor’s lips trembled, his face ashen. "W–what do you want?"

The overhead light shone above Clift’s broad figure and cast his shadow across Igor’s face. "Tell me what they’re planning with the Mana Detterent device," Clift said, his voice cold with threat.

Igor shook his head frantically. "I don’t know—I told you, I don’t know anything!" he insisted.

Clift said with a resigned look. "Well, I tried to be nice here..." He gestured at Samuel.

Samuel stepped behind Igor, then placed his hand over Igor’s mouth, and pulled him backward to make him sit straight. Igor’s eyes widened, fear and panic flooding him. He didn’t know what Clift intended to do, but he was certain it wouldn’t be good.

Lory drew in a deep breath and let out a slow exhale. She kept her expression stoic. She could not let the enemy see she was softhearted, or they would take advantage of her. She must look tough, indifferent, and cold; she had to look intimidating to make the enemy she will not give any mercy.