"I, I don’t know."
Jiang Tao said, a little guiltily.
He regretted it immensely in his heart.
If at that time, he hadn’t left alone, but chose to go with the others, would he not be in the current situation?
"You don’t know?"
The three people opposite him naturally didn’t believe him.
"Kid, if you didn’t know, would you have had such a big reaction before? Do we have to use some torture for you to honestly tell us what happened, hm?"
The big man on the left had a murderous look in his eyes.
"Young fellow, my fifth brother’s temper is notoriously violent. If you piss him off, the consequences will be very miserable. It’s better to cooperate with us and tell us what you know, so you don’t have to suffer, right?"
Another middle-aged man said kindly.
Jiang Tao shivered.
He certainly knew what the consequences would be if he didn’t cooperate with them.
However, if it weren’t for Chen Fan’s intervention that day, a few of them, including Shen Si, would have already died at the hands of those Feng Country People.
If he told the truth, wouldn’t that be acting like a treacherous scoundrel?
"Alright then."
Song Wu sighed, looking a bit disappointed.
"Fourth Brother, bring out the stuff."
"Yes, Second Brother."
The middle-aged man who had spoken kindly earlier suddenly produced a palm-sized box.
The exterior of the box was pitch black, giving off an eerie feeling for some unknown reason.
"Guess what’s inside?"
The middle-aged man asked with a smile.
Jiang Tao couldn’t help but swallow hard.
His intuition told him that whatever was in that box was definitely not something good.
The middle-aged man didn’t wait for his reply. He opened the box with his left hand, revealing a blood-red centipede inside.
Stimulated by the light, the creature that had been lying quietly suddenly raised its upper body, exposing its mouth the size of a bottle cap, filled with countless tiny teeth.
"!!!"
Jiang Tao was so scared that his heart almost jumped out of his mouth. He screamed, "What, what is that thing?"
"Blood Centipede. Heard of it?"
The middle-aged man extended his finger, letting the Blood Centipede crawl onto the back of his hand.
If an ordinary person saw this scene, their heart would probably stop beating.
But the man showed no fear at all. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it. "I have painstakingly nurtured this little treasure. It’s extremely obedient. Whatever I tell it to do, it will do. Just imagine,"
He looked at Jiang Tao with deep meaning in his eyes, "if I let it crawl into your mouth later, down your esophagus, into your body, and slowly eat away at your internal organs, bit by bit, what kind of scene would that be?"
Even the fierce-looking big man got goosebumps all over from these words.
His method involved brute force, slowly grinding Jiang Tao’s bones to powder.
But compared to Fourth Brother’s methods, he was far outmatched.
Not to mention, seeing a centipede the thickness of two fingers and about ten centimeters long, crawling into one’s mouth—most people would probably break down on the spot.
"No, no."
Jiang Tao was so scared that he was sobbing and begging for mercy, "Please, don’t do this. I really don’t know anything. I really don’t know anything."
"You still won’t tell the truth."
Fourth Brother of the Song Family sighed, "Second Brother, what next?"
"Hmm."
Song Wu nodded, smiling, "Anyway, he’s not the only one. If we don’t get information from him, we can get it from someone else. It’s the same either way."
"That’s true."
Fourth Brother of the Song Family gave a cruel smile.
Before they came, they had specifically inquired and found out that Shi Tao had already left the headquarters during the day, with only an Elder Wang remaining to oversee things.
However, someone who had lived for several hundred years like that would not concern himself with such trivial matters.
Only if the headquarters was turned upside down would such a person be alarmed.
Jiang Tao’s eyes widened as he watched the Blood Centipede get closer and closer. He tightly shut his mouth and clenched his teeth.
"Naive."
Fourth Brother of the Song Family sneered disdainfully and tapped Jiang Tao’s body twice.
The next second, Jiang Tao’s mouth opened like a switch had been activated and couldn’t close again.
"No, don’t."
He made inarticulate sounds.
However, he couldn’t stop what was about to happen.
"I’ll talk, I’ll talk."
The next moment, he completely broke down, tears streaming from his eyes.
In his heart, he really wanted to keep the secret.
But what was happening before him was something he had never imagined. He was completely unprepared mentally.
"What did you say? Your voice is too low, I can’t hear you." Fourth Brother of the Song Family said deliberately.
"I said, I’ll talk, please, let me go, let me go." Jiang Tao used all his strength.
The Blood Centipede was already in front of him, its antennae already inside his mouth.
"Since you’re willing to talk, put it away." Song Wu said.
"Yes, Second Brother."
Fourth Brother of the Song Family retracted his hand, and the Blood Centipede obediently crawled back into the box.
"Hoo, hoo..."
Jiang Tao took deep breaths.
In just a few seconds, he felt like he had walked through the gates of hell, his clothes were soaked in sweat.
"If you cooperated earlier, there wouldn’t have been so much trouble." Fifth Brother of the Song Family snorted, filled with disdain.
"Speak."
Song Wu said, "Tell us everything you know, honestly, without any cover-up or fabrication. If I find any discrepancies in your statements, you will face consequences far worse than just being scared."