Chapter 73: Interrogation

“What’s her name?” Xiao Lin tried to find some topics of conversation with Gu Xiaoyue.

“@%&” Gu Xiaoyue said in the common language.

“What?”

“Her name. The pronunciation is just like that; there’s no way to translate it.”

Gu Xiaoyue hugged her knees as she looked at the bonfire, suddenly saying, “I roughly investigated the goods they were sending just now; most of it were different kinds of alcohol, probably to be sent to the soldiers at the border. There were also some weird-looking animals, probably used for transportation.”

Xiao Lin laughed out loud, “I think I know what those animals are. I don’t really know what the Normans call it, but the academies call them camel fowls.”

“Camel fowls?”

“Yeah, I heard that those animals actually have similar genes to chickens, and somewhat look like them too. However, they have similar traits to camels as well, being that they can tolerate hunger and thirst very well. They are widely used as transportation in the deserted and hotter areas of Planet Norma.” Xiao Lin explained very intently. Even though he never went to the library before, he still saw camel fowls that were reared by Department Head Song.

…

Gu Xiaoyue looked at Xiao Lin with her bright eyes in silence and said after a while, “That team of people are either dead or caught at the moment. This is our only chance; it might even be the best solution to the exam.”

Xiao Lin furrowed his eyebrows and said with some hesitation, “I know what you’re getting at, but there are way too many variables. It’s way too risky. I don’t think the chances of success are all that high.”

Gu Xiaoyue did not have much of an expression. “Then I’ll just bring a few men with me; you and the rest of them can bring the injured out of Sunset Canyon first to complete the compulsory task.”

Xiao Lin answered resolutely, “No way!”

Gu Xiaoyue blinked at him, her expression as calm as always. Xiao Lin and her were not mere acquaintances, so he immediately understood what the look meant: ‘Who are you to control me!’

Xiao Lin was furious, and said in agitation, “Have you thought of the consequences! Your lifespan… If you fail, you’ll…”

The Norman woman looked up at that moment, staring at Xiao Lin for a moment before quickly burying her head back down.

Gu Xiaoyue pushed her glasses, calmly saying, “The chances of success are quite high.”

“Bullsh*t!” Xiao Lin raised his voice by a bit and he stared into her eyes. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking. You want to disguise yourself as a Norman merchant and poison the alcohol while infiltrating the army camp! I’ve thought of it too, but the chances of success are way too low!”

“That might just be the solution.”

Xiao Lin was extremely angry at that point. “Screw the solution! How are you going to get in? Why would these Normans help us? Don’t forget: the reason they attacked us was because they saw through our identity! We’re invaders in this world. We’re absolutely the villains here!”

Gu Xiaoyue tilted her head and earnestly explained, “Even during the War of Resistance against Japan, there were traitors on both sides.”

Xiao Lin rubbed his eyes, “Do you think these people are Norman traitors? Ah, it’s not the time to discuss that. The only reason they would help us is if we threaten them or if we give them some benefit. We don’t have any benefits we can give them, so we can only threaten them. Would you trust them if we just threaten them? If they decide to betray us in the army camp, then we’ll be facing two large squadrons of infantry and one medium squadron of wolf cavalry; we wouldn’t even be able to retreat at that point!”

Gu Xiaoyue was still stubborn, “Then we can just kill off these people and I’ll go there myself. I can speak the language as well!”

Xiao Lin looked at the Norman woman who refused to talk, smiling bitterly. “You’re saying you want to kill off these people right in front of their faces; that’s not very good… Don’t even think about lying to me, you’re only at LV3 with your language skills, even if you can sort of grasp the basics, you have no understanding of anything remotely complicated. The most important thing is, no matter the accuracy, the phrases or the accent, it’s way easy to tell you apart. Don’t forget, if this woman knows any of the troops there, then your identity would immediately be exposed as well!”

“I know, but the possibility of success is still there. You can’t deny that.”

Xiao Lin felt a wave of frustration; she was not wrong. If they managed to disguise themselves as merchants and infiltrate the army camp, the first optional task would be completed very easily; they could even possibly complete the second optional task and kill the leader of the wolf cavalry squadron too.

It was very risky, but from the perspective of the academy, should optional tasks all not come with risk in the first place? The difficulty of the test would definitely be set so that not everyone could complete the optional tasks. Weighing the risks against the benefits was up to themselves in the end.

Gu Xiaoyue was right; that might be the correct solution. Judge Academy managed to complete the tasks all those years ago, even though they were grossly outnumbered, so they could very possibly have used these merchants as well. After capturing these merchants, Xiao Lin had considered the possibility as well, but very quickly shot himself down.

Gu Xiaoyue only had two years left in her life. Xiao Lin could take the risk, everyone else in their class could as well, except for this girl. She did not have any capital to risk!

Next to the bonfire, the two of them fell into an awkward silence.

Xiao Lin did not understand. Gu Xiaoyue did not seem like someone who did not care for her life; after all, she was the one who showed immense interest in increasing her lifespan during admissions. She might look very gentle and quiet, but she had very strong opinions. Xiao Lin understood very well that he had very little chance of changing her views.

The next day, a lot of them recovered quite a bit. However, the few injured ones were still not in good shape, so after some discussion, everyone agreed to continue resting there.

There had been some results from interrogating the Normans. They had already started doing it yesterday after capturing them, but there were no visible results. One of the reasons was language, but the Normans were also very stubborn. No matter what they asked, they would only constantly repeat a few sentences.

During the start, no one understood them. However, after a few repeats, they managed to make out a few curse words, even without Gu Xiaoyue’s translating.

The next day, after everyone had recovered quite a bit, they were no longer so forgiving. After being poisoned, attacked, and almost dying, even if it was just a simulated environment, it would still have cost them ten years of their lives, so a lot of people were absolutely furious. The perfect place to vent their frustrations were right in front of them.

No one used any overly cruel methods of torture, but they beat the Normans up with their fists and feet, even using their belts and other tools. Xiao Lin silently allowed it, but a few girls could not stand the sight of it. However, they had still gone through a whole month’s worth of training in the academy, on top of the fact that they were harmed by the Normans yesterday, almost losing their lives. The girls turned around in silence and did not stop it.

Gu Xiaoyue was the only one who had a LV3 in the language, so she had to stay there to translate; otherwise, the interrogation would be meaningless. However, facing such a gruesome scene, the girl acted as if everything was normal. She even said that if it was not enough, she did not mind helping out with her magic…