After hearing what Yun Zhonghe said, instead of blowing his top, Xu Anting laughed and sneered. "You are still being stubborn when you are about to meet your maker. You already confessed even before we started to use those interrogation techniques on you. I have never seen anyone who would betray our order so readily."
The sexy lady, Xu Antiing, said coldly, "Yun Zhonghe, there is no use in quibbling anymore. What you have confessed just now was hard evidence, evidence that you have betrayed the Order of the Black Dragon and the empire."
"So, you are saying that there is no way I could clear my name, not even if I jump into the River Tian?" Yun Zhonghe said.
Xu Anting said, "Every part of you is filthy; there is no way for you to wash away your sin."
Xu Antiing said, "Turn over a new leaf in your next life."
"Let's do it…" said the brother and the sister simultaneously.
The red hot iron was pressed mercilessly against Yun Zhonghe's chest.
Sizzle… The smell of something burning immediately filled the room, and dense smoke rolled out.
"Argh! Arghh! Arghh! Arghhh!" Yun Zhonghe was screaming with all his might, and his whole body was shivering.
The guards around him were watching as they gritted their teeth. It felt so good to vent their anger this way.
However, Xu Anting soon noticed that something wasn't right.
Yun Zhonghe wasn't crying out in pain but in pleasure.
There was such a freak in this world who enjoyed being branded?
Very soon, he noticed something else. The smell of burned cloth hung in the air, but there was no smell of burning skin.
He immediately walked forward and pulled open Yun Zhonghe's clothes. There was a bronze mirror under his shirt, and the searing iron was pressed onto the bronze mirror while Yun Zhonghe was not hurt at all.
"Ah, you found out my secret," Yun Zhonghe said. "People as handsome as me are usually somewhat obsessed with ourselves; we carry a mirror with us all the time. Occasionally we feel hungry, and we have to look at our reflections to sate that hunger."
No one reacted to him.
Right then, there should have been a person like the supporting actor in a comic dialogue asking, "Why?"
"Handsomeness is everything," Yun Zhonghe said. "It can even cure hunger. When you are as handsome as me, you feel like you are eating the choicest delicacies just by looking at your own reflection. Have you seen the dark circles under my eyes? Do you know why I can't sleep well? It is because I am often awakened by my handsomeness before six o'clock in the morning. It is very annoying, really."
The people around him shuddered.
"Shopkeeper, can I beat him to death?" one of the guards asked in a trembling voice. He couldn't stand it anymore.
Xu Anting's fat face gave a slight twitch, and he put the already cooled branding iron back into the charcoal brazier.
A few minutes later, the branding iron was heated until it was red hot again.
Xu Anting took it out and walked toward Yun Zhonghe. He said, "Since you are awakened by your handsomeness, I shall disfigure you, and then you can sleep well every day."
After that, he moved the branding iron slowly in the direction of Yun Zhonghe's face.
"I would like to see if the skin on your face is as tough as your bronze mirror."
Yun Zhonghe laughed. "Shopkeeper Xu, Shopkeeper Xu, hold on!"
Then, he suddenly became serious and said, "I told you, everything I did just now was just an act. I knew that you were testing me from the beginning. I was also testing you guys, but you let me down."
"You can talk your head off, but you still aren't getting out of this," Xu Anting growled.
In the current situation, there was nothing Yun Zhonghe could do to clear his name. It seemed like he was destined to be disfigured.
"Sister, look inside your belt. Is there a note?" Yun Zhonghe said.
Xu Antiing was stunned. Her fingers dug into her belt, but there was nothing.
"On your back, right above your buttocks," said Yun Zhonghe.
Xu Antiing reached for the part of the belt on her back, and she found a piece of paper. When she opened it, she saw a sentence. "Xu Anting, do you really think it's interesting to pretend to be a member of the Black Blood Hall? What the f*ck are you testing me for? I have already seen through your trick."
The eyes of the brother and the sister opened wide, and they couldn't believe what was written on the note. Xu Anting quickly rushed to his sister, grabbed the paper, and carefully read through it a few times.
After Yun Zhonghe had entered the basement, he had been tied up the whole time. Besides, he was very weak. His only chance to put the paper inside Xu Antiing's belt had been the second he entered the basement.
At that moment, the interrogation hadn't even started.
The most astonishing part was that Yun Zhonghe had already been put under surveillance when he was still a kilometer away from Anting Tavern, and no one had seen him write anything at all.
What did that mean? It meant that he had written the note way before he came to Anting Tavern.
In other words, Yun Zhonghe had already deduced a few days ago that Xu Anting would pull this sort of trick on him.
His shrewdness was jaw-dropping!
Xu Anting shot his sister a black look, and he thought to himself, "You are very good at kung fu while Yun Zhonghe is very weak physically, but he managed to put the note on the inside of your belt without you noticing. What the hell were you doing?"
Yun Zhonghe then said, "Shopkeeper Xu, don't blame your sister. Although I am physically weak, I do know a few tricks. People often think that I can only steal hearts because I am good-looking. They don't know that I steal other stuff too. After all, before I turned ten, I made a living by stealing. If I didn't hit my daily quota, ten silver sycees, I wasn't allowed to eat. If I stole less than five silver sycees, I was beaten. Less than three, and my hands would have been chopped off."
Yun Zhonghe was telling the truth; the Yun Zhonghe in this world had never missed a target after he turned six. Those were bitter memories.
On the other hand, although Xu Antiing had pretended to be bold and worldly-wise, she was very innocent and shy. When Yun Zhonghe put his hand on her waist, her whole body down to the roots of her hair had shivered. How would she have noticed when Yun Zhonghe slipped the note inside of her belt?
After looking over the note a few times, Xu Anting threw it into the charcoal brazier to burn it.
He looked at Yun Zhonghe again, and deep down, he was very surprised.
He wanted to deal a head-on blow to Yun Zhonghe during their first meeting, but he ended up… getting a slap in the face.
"He already knew that you would make this move a few days ago, and you were just a supporting actor who made his show complete. F*cking embarrassing!" the man thought.
Yun Zhonghe was as cunning as the devil. He hadn't encountered a person so clever for a long time. This round, Xu Anting knew that he had lost. The whole Anting Tavern had lost to Yun Zhonghe, a gigolo.
"What now? Shopkeeper Xu, can we start discussing the mission?" asked Yun Zhonghe.
Xu Anting walked up to him and freed him. He made obeisance and said, "Xu Anting, a centurion in the No-King Division of the Imperial Order of the Black Dragon."
Yun Zhonghe said, "Yun Zhonghe, the Imperial Order of the Black Dragon."
When he got up, he said, "Can you get me a pot of water?"
A short while later, someone brought him a pot of water.
As Yun Zhonghe washed his face to remove his makeup, his young and handsome facial features finally resurfaced.
"Can I have my mirror back?" Yun Zhonghe said.
Xu Anting returned his mirror to him.
Yun Zhonghe held his mirror, walked to a brighter spot, and looked at his reflection.
After eight days, he was finally looking at his extremely gorgeous face again.
"Days without seeing you creep like years. I have missed you so much. How are you, handsome guy?" Yun Zhonghe said to the mirror in a cordial tone.
At that moment, Xu Anting couldn't help but shudder. The urge to disfigure Yun Zhonghe had become stronger.
After looking at the mirror for three whole minutes, Yun Zhonghe was satisfied. He put the mirror carefully under his clothes against his chest. He then sat on a chair and said pompously, "Come on, Xu, you can start reporting now."
"Mister Yun, I am your superior," Xu Anting said with a poker face.
"Oh, you are?" Yun Zhonghe got up immediately from the chair, bowed, and said, "Go ahead, Sir Xu, please give your commands."
Xu Anting felt like there was a cloud hanging over him. Was this guy really going to be his partner from now on?
The atmosphere in the Order of the Black Dragon was very solemn, and all the members were reserved. They rarely smiled because their job involved plenty of danger. They danced with the devil every day, and a tiny mistake could cost dozens or hundreds of lives.
Therefore, everyone in the Order of the Black Dragon was poker-faced.
They wouldn't use a word more than what was necessary, not even extra punctuation.
"Mr. Yun, I suppose you already know that the chief officer of the mission in the City of Torn Gust is Sir Feng Xingmie," Xu Anting said. "Two years ago, he faced an unprecedented failure, causing a fatal blow to the empire's undercover forces in the City of Torn Gust. Almost all the strategies failed."
Yun Zhonghe shook his head and said, "I did not know that."
"He should have been punished by our order for a failure like that," Xu Anting said. "However, there were special circumstances, and Lord Xu vouched for him with his life and career. That was why he was given a chance to start over."
Yun Zhonghe didn't even know who this Lord Xu was, but he was obviously somebody important in the Order of the Black Dragon.
Xu Anting continued, "Although he kept his official position, everything regarding the mission in the City of Torn Gust since then has fallen under the supervision of the No-King Division."
The Order of the Black Dragon was an enormous organization. It was divided into nine divisions, and new divisions were added or eliminated according to the circumstances. For instance, a division called the Nanzhao Division was added specifically to tackle an enemy in the south-west. When the enemy was defeated and became an inextricable part of the Great Ying Empire, the Nanzhao Division was dissolved.
Five years ago, the Southern Zhou Empire changed its strategy from marching south to marching north. The Land of No King became the target of the two kingdoms' military strategies. In the same year, the No-King Division of the Order of the Black Dragon was established. The division's activity focused entirely on the Land of No King.
"A few days ago, we received news that Sir Feng Xingmie had picked you to execute the mission in the City of Torn Gust, Mr. Yun. That news wreaked havoc in the No-King Division, and some of the officers were strongly against that decision. It was very intense," Xu Anting said. "If Sir Feng Xingmie hadn't staked his life and slammed his Inspector's Golden Token on the table, the Dark Cavalry of the No-King Division would already be on their way to stop or even arrest you."
Yun Zhonghe hadn't known about all this, but he had guessed that Feng Xingmie's decision to engage him to execute the mission in the City of Torn Gust would invite a great deal of criticism and pressure.
"Sir Feng Xingmie was appointed directly by the empire to manage the affairs in the City of Torn Gust, and although he ranks lower than the Admiral of the No-King Division, he has autonomy. He was very determined to employ you, so the Dark Cavalry of the No-King Division could only retreat. However, a few officers in the Admiralty House wrote a letter of condemnation and sent it to the Imperial City to condemn Sir Feng Xingmie's incompetence and arrogance. They appealed to the empire to dismiss him from his position, escort him to the Imperial City, and denounce him."
"I am merely a centurion, so I was originally of little importance. The failure two years ago was a catastrophic disaster to the undercover forces of the Order of the Black Dragon in the City of Torn Gust, and to my surprise, I became an important asset in this branch of the order. My words matter."
"Sir Xu, you may as well come clean with me," Yun Zhonghe said.
"I received two orders, one from Feng Xingmie, and one from the Admiralty House of the No-King Division," Xu Anting responded flatly.
"Sir Feng Xingmie's order was that you, Yun Zhonghe, would execute the mission in the City of Torn Gust, and I should support you in all respects."
"The order from the Admiral of the No-King Division was to engage Viper to execute the mission in the City of Torn Gust, and I should support him in all respects. In addition, to maintain secrecy, I should arrest you immediately and escort you to the order's secret prison in the empire's territory. There, you would be imprisoned for life."
Viper? Who was he?
Xu Anting explained, "Viper is an elite secret agent. He has never failed to accomplish a mission in the past ten years. He has made countless imperative contributions to the empire, and he is the best of the best. Originally, he was assigned to execute the mission in the City of Torn Gust, and you took his place."
"Moreover, I'm not afraid to tell you that I am an admirer of Viper. All of us are."
"Mr. Yun, you haven't gone through any training at all. You are just a hooligan from the lower class, and the high-ranking officers thought that Sir Feng Xingmie was out of his mind to assign such an important task to you."
Even Yun Zhonghe thought that Feng Xingmie was crazy, let alone the high-ranking officers of the Order of the Black Dragon. It was too out of place.
Xu Anting asked solemnly, "Mr. Yun, tell me, who should I choose? Should I pick you or Viper to execute the mission of the City of Torn Gust? Which order should I obey?"
The situation was getting more interesting. Two Black Dragon agents were going to compete for Jing Zhongyue?
Yun Zhonghe asked, "So where is this proud Mister Viper of the Order of the Black Dragon?"
"He is here already," Xu Anting said. "He arrived a few hours earlier than you."
That made Yun Zhonghe's hair stand on end. He wasn't nervous but bellicose, like a gamecock which was about to enter the ring.
His heart was swelling with excitement.
He felt as high as a kite at that moment. It was time for him to show off and perform again!