Chapter 29: This Man is Truly a Demon!
The sudden attack took La Bull completely by surprise, leaving him momentarily stunned. It was only after a while that he could gather his thoughts, his voice thick with both anger and fear as he demanded an explanation.
"Mr. Lott, what are you doing? The Ship Gang has never crossed paths with the Pedroel family... Don't forget, the port is our domain. I suggest you reconsider..."
La Bull's voice was full of fury as he attempted to threaten Lynn, but before he could finish, Lynn swiftly dislocated his other arm and threw the large man, now curled up in pain, onto the ground.
"I ask, you answer. Understood? Cooperation will be beneficial for both of us," Lynn said coldly, crouching down to meet La Bull's eyes.
The hulking man, drenched in cold sweat from the pain, bit down hard, refusing to make a sound. He stared daggers at Lynn, his mind racing, unable to fathom why the son of Baron Pedroel would attack him. Could it be that someone in the Ship Gang had unwittingly offended him?
Before he could think further, Lynn's voice cut through his thoughts.
"First question... Your name."
La Bull glared, feeling humiliated. Wasn't that obvious?
"Answer!" Lynn's voice remained icy. After waiting for two seconds, he swiftly pulled out the dagger from La Bull's waist and thrust it towards his right hand.
"La... La Bull..." The large man screamed at the top of his lungs; he wasn't about to lose his precious right hand over a trivial question.
Lynn's hand didn't waver as the dagger pierced through La Bull's hand. However, to La Bull's astonishment, there was no pain. Looking down, he saw that the blade had gone between his fingers without cutting him.
"You have only one second to answer each question. There will be no next time!" Lynn said coolly, immediately asking the next question.
"Gender?"
"Male!" La Bull spat out through gritted teeth, convinced that the man before him was insane.
"Place of birth... Hmm, where were you born?"
Lynn continued his barrage of questions, starting with the obvious before moving on to more difficult inquiries about the Ship Gang's trade routes and operations. Whenever La Bull hesitated, Lynn would break another finger.
In just a few minutes, six of La Bull's fingers were broken, leaving him in a state of semi-conscious agony.
"Alright, since you seem to have forgotten which foot you used to step out of your house three days ago, let me ask something simpler," Lynn sighed in mock disappointment before abruptly asking, "Where is Crippled Laude?"
"He's..." La Bull instinctively began to answer, but stopped abruptly, terror flashing in his eyes as he shook his head. "I... I don't know."
"I've told you before, cooperation is in everyone's best interest," Lynn sighed again, his tone exasperated. In truth, he wasn't skilled in interrogation, and everything he knew had been hastily researched the night before.
But since La Bull wasn't willing to talk, Lynn had no choice but to use more extreme measures.
Lynn's eyes narrowed as he thought about the Ship Gang—a group of former pirates who had turned to "legitimate" business. According to La Bull's confession, beyond shipping and trading, they engaged in all manner of illegal activities: piracy, human trafficking, smuggling contraband, even murder. In his previous life, La Bull would have been executed a hundred times over for his crimes.
"Have you ever heard of flaying?" Lynn asked in a slow, deliberate tone.
Flaying?
La Bull shuddered as Lynn continued, "First, you make an incision along the spine, splitting the skin down the back. Then you carefully slice along the muscle fibers, peeling away the skin before the victim bleeds out..."
Lynn described the ancient torture method in vivid detail, explaining how to make each cut, how much blood would flow, and how long each step would take.
La Bull was paralyzed with fear, certain that this madman was about to skin him alive. Trembling, he stammered, "Mr. Lott, I truly don't know where Laude is."
"Is that so? But I've heard you're his most trusted lieutenant," Lynn mocked.
"The truth is, Mr. Laude trusts no one..." La Bull stammered, his voice filled with terror. "I only know he left the port town three days ago..."
"If you won't talk, that's fine. We have plenty of time to play," Lynn said, rising and dusting off his pants. Last night, as he researched interrogation techniques, he had come across many intriguing and non-lethal methods that he was now eager to try.
Half an hour later, La Bull lay crumpled on the floor, nearly broken by the dual torment of mind and body. He confessed to everything under Lynn's relentless questioning, even admitting to once embezzling an entire ship's cargo and staging a shipwreck.
But regarding Laude's whereabouts, La Bull genuinely knew nothing. After trying several psychological tactics, Lynn had to concede that La Bull wasn't lying.
According to La Bull, Laude had left town two days ago, which coincided with the day Ankruq led his men to raid Ur Town. It was also the day the Drunken Tavern had been raided by the Church, and Old York had disappeared.
It was likely that Laude had received word of these events and fled in fear.
Only a few high-ranking members of the Ship Gang knew that Laude wasn't in the port town.
"It seems you, his so-called most trusted aide, are nothing more than a decoy," Lynn mused, looking down at the crumpled La Bull.
La Bull knew much about the Ship Gang's secrets, but his knowledge of Laude's secret dealings was limited. He only knew that every year, on Monday, Laude personally oversaw the transport of certain large shipments, but he had no idea where these ships were headed.
Lynn pondered for a long time. Laude's caution and cunning were beyond his expectations. The man had likely anticipated betrayal or capture among the Ship Gang's upper echelons.
But Laude couldn't possibly sail alone, which meant that some core members of the Ship Gang were in on the secret. The others, like La Bull, were merely decoys, following orders and being sacrificed when necessary.
Lynn reviewed the names and backgrounds of the Ship Gang's leaders that La Bull had provided. Any one of them could be Laude's hidden pawn.
As he considered this, an idea suddenly sparked in Lynn's mind.
Since he couldn't find Laude, why not force Laude to come to him?