Chapter 60: Letting You Leave the Mortal World

As Qin Chuan casually twirled the weapon in his hand—the very homemade pistol he himself had tucked into his waistband—the Captain in Black stared in utter disbelief. He had no idea when Qin Chuan had managed to take the gun from him. Recalling their brief exchange, Qin Chuan had attacked head-on, leaving no chance for a surreptitious theft from behind. Wait—could it have been at the very first moment they clashed?

The Captain replayed the scene in his mind, pushing the timeline back. When he first arrived on his motorcycle, it was this man before him who had sent him flying with a kick, and for an instant, their bodies had passed close by one another. It must have been in that fleeting moment that the gun was stolen.

“Have you figured out when you lost it?” Qin Chuan asked, his tone laced with mockery.

The Captain in Black nodded. At this point, he harbored little thought of resistance, having realized that he and this imposter deputy captain were not even in the same league. To continue fighting would be nothing but courting humiliation.

“So, what do you want?” he asked, voice low and grave.

Qin Chuan grinned. “What I want is simple. Answer a few questions truthfully, and you may leave.”

“Truly?” The Captain’s face was incredulous.

Qin Chuan nodded solemnly, as if worried his adversary might overthink things. He quickly raised two fingers skyward and added, “If I break my word, let lightning strike me from the heavens.”

Though the Captain hardly cared for oaths—if curses truly worked, his past deeds would have long since left him nothing but ashes—Qin Chuan’s earnest vow in such a moment conveyed a sense of urgency, a desperate thirst for the truth. That, paradoxically, made the Captain believe him more than before.

“Deal! Ask your questions!” he urged, eager to get this over with and away from here, even if for just a second sooner.

Qin Chuan wasted no time. “Who exactly is Mr. Long?”

“Long Tiancheng, head of the third branch of the Long family in Yan Capital,” the Captain replied, meeting Qin Chuan’s gaze to prove he spoke the truth.

Qin Chuan’s heart skipped a beat; he hadn’t expected the truth to come so easily. He could sense no deception in the man’s answer.

He pressed on, “So, Long Tiancheng was also involved in the destruction of the Qin family all those years ago?”

“He should have been,” the Captain replied. “Back then, I was only a minor leader in charge of intercepting escapees. The one who maintained direct contact with me and ultimately gave the retreat order was Long Tiancheng himself. At the time, I didn’t know his true identity. It was only when he contacted me again for dirty work that I recognized his voice and realized who he was.” The Captain’s voice was slow, as if recounting a story.

Qin Chuan nodded, believing this to be the truth as well. He was an expert in interrogation, body language, and microexpressions. Typically, those who lie under questioning display tension, unease, and awkward physical movements, whereas truth-tellers appear more relaxed and natural. The eyes, too, are a crucial giveaway: most liars, out of guilt or fear of being exposed, avoid the interrogator’s gaze. A third clue lies in the voice; many people’s voices become strained, higher pitched, or tremble when they lie, sometimes even stammering. But none of these signs appeared in the Captain in Black. This was enough to show that his words were, for the most part, the truth—at least as much as he knew it.

“Can you contact Long Tiancheng now?” Qin Chuan asked after a moment’s thought.

The Captain shook his head, utterly certain. “Absolutely not. Before this kidnapping operation, Mr. Long made it clear that, regardless of success or failure, he would have no further connection with us. If you don’t believe me, I’ll call his number right now.”

Eager to prove himself, the Captain took out his phone, found the contact marked “Mr. Long,” and dialed, immediately putting the call on speaker. The automated voice promptly announced that the number was invalid.

“See? I wasn’t lying,” he said, face earnest.

Qin Chuan nodded in satisfaction and continued questioning him about the details previously provided by the deputy in black. Their accounts matched, though the Captain in Black was more meticulous, describing preparations for the kidnapping of Qin Youyou down to the smallest details, even listing the trivial expenses incurred for monitoring at the school, such as buying meals and drinks for students.

Qin Chuan found these minutiae tedious, but refrained from interrupting—the Captain’s thoroughness was, after all, a display of sincerity.

But when the Captain began to recount the number of times the watchers had used the restroom, Qin Chuan could bear it no longer and swiftly redirected him back to more crucial matters.

“Besides Long Tiancheng, do you know of anyone else who was involved in the destruction of the Qin family?” he asked.

At this, a look of confusion crossed the Captain’s face. After five or six long minutes of silence, he spoke with some agitation, “I recall hearing Mr. Long mention once that someone called Brother Shen was also involved, but I have no idea who this Shen is.”

Shen? Qin Chuan quickly searched his memory. Among the top-tier families in China, there were three with the surname Shen—one in Yan Capital, one in the Magic City, and one in the northeast. As for the second- and third-tier Shen families, there were at least fifty or a hundred; searching for an unknown “Brother Shen” without further clues would be like seeking a needle in a haystack.

Still, he could always confront Long Tiancheng for answers. As formidable as the Long family in Yan Capital was, it hardly concerned Qin Chuan.

If they truly were among those responsible for the Qin family massacre, then wiping out the entire Long family would be no loss—after all, the policy of “better to err on the side of ruthlessness than let a foe escape” was not the exclusive domain of villains.

“I’ll be meeting with Long Wuhen soon anyway; I can probe her for information. Who knows what useful intelligence I might uncover?” With this thought, the tight chord in Qin Chuan’s heart slackened somewhat. At last, he had a concrete direction for his investigation.

“Don’t just wait for my questions—tell me everything you know about the Qin family’s destruction, all at once,” he commanded.

Seeing the cold expression on Qin Chuan’s face soften, the Captain in Black breathed a sigh of relief. Evidently, his information had satisfied the man, bringing him that much closer to keeping his life.

“All right, all right. I’ll tell you everything I know,” he agreed, as eager to please as a dog wagging its tail. He went on to describe in detail the pursuit and attempted killings of the few Qin family members who had managed to escape, though he shifted all blame for the killings onto other assassin teams.

Noticing a flicker of disbelief on Qin Chuan’s face, the Captain hastily added, “None of the escapees were particularly strong, so there was no need for me to act personally.”

The subtext: My team did kill members of the Qin family, but it was my subordinates who did it, not me!

“Anything else?” Qin Chuan asked indifferently.

The Captain shook his head. “No. I’ve told you everything I know. You’ll let me go now, right?”

“Of course. I always keep my word.”

Yet, despite his assurances, Qin Chuan made no move to step aside.

The Captain’s heart plummeted, but he still could not give up hope. He asked tentatively, “You… you plan to go back on your word?”

“I have never broken a promise in my life,” Qin Chuan replied at once.

“Then why are you blocking my way?” the Captain asked, bewildered.

“What exactly did I promise you?”

“You said if I answered truthfully, you’d let me leave.”

“Exactly. I’ll let you leave… this world!”

“…”