Chapter 153: Whipping

Mr. Song stepped over to Song Yuqing's side, looked down at where Song Yuqing stood, and asked, "Should I bring Xiao Lin in for questioning?"

Song Yuqing gave a slight nod. "Yes."

If he remembered correctly, Xiao Lin was responsible for half of the Xiao family's various torture devices. Since Xiao Lin had committed treason, he deserved to taste the Xiao family's cruel methods.

Song Yuqing added, "Make sure he stays alive. I'll come check on him when I have time."

Xiao Jinshi replied, "Alright."

Xiao Jinshi wasn't worried the brutality would shock Song Yuqing, nor was he afraid that Song Yuqing would see him as ruthless.

He and Song Yuqing had done far more ruthless things together.

Sometimes, Xiao Jinshi felt that he and Song Yuqing were cut from the same cloth—ruthless and unforgiving toward those who had wronged them.

Weren't they basically soulmates?

Xiao Jinshi asked, "How far are we taking this? What's the plan?"

Xiao Jinshi moved closer as he asked.

Song Yuqing tilted his head slightly but hadn’t yet spoken when Xiao Jinshi planted a kiss on his cheek.

Song Yuqing: "..."

Song Yuqing couldn't be bothered to continue the conversation with Xiao Jinshi. He turned and walked away.

Xiao Jinshi called after him, "Brother, wait for me! Are you angry?"

"Brother!"

Catching up to him at the door, Xiao Jinshi still wore a carefree, teasing expression.

Xiao Jinshi didn’t know why Song Yuqing suddenly stopped in his tracks. He naturally slipped his arms around Song Yuqing from behind, pulling him into an embrace.

Like some large, possessive dog, he made no secret of his desire. Song Yuqing’s slender waist was firmly held as Xiao Jinshi asked, "Brother, were you waiting for me?"

Song Yuqing’s cold gaze landed on a group of alphas staring at him and Tan Shu’s amused gaze.

Xiao Jinshi let out a warm puff of air. Song Yuqing quickly covered Xiao Jinshi’s mouth, and only then did Xiao Jinshi sense that something was wrong.

He looked up and saw the curious looks of numerous alphas under his command.

Their gazes were fixed on Song Yuqing.

Their curious eyes held a dawning realization—their aloof Mr. Song was, in private, being clung to and embraced by an alpha like this.

And he even allowed another alpha to call him "brother."

Rather than releasing him, Xiao Jinshi held on tighter, as if Song Yuqing belonged to him.

A cold smirk tugged at his lips. "Like what you see?"

One of the alphas instinctively nodded. Of course... Mr. Song was...

But after nodding, he glanced at Song Yuqing’s impassive, tired face and quickly lowered his head, blushing.

Mr. Song’s collar was rumpled, and some alphas couldn’t help but imagine Xiao Jinshi’s hand slipping under Mr. Song’s clothes, caressing his slender, pale waist.

Tan Shu chuckled mockingly. "Qingqing, the dog by your side certainly doesn’t know how to behave."

Song Yuqing pushed Xiao Jinshi away and snapped coldly, "Let go."

Xiao Jinshi, reluctant to obey, kissed Song Yuqing’s neck before finally releasing him.

Song Yuqing turned to Tan Shu. "What are you doing here?"

Tan Shu replied casually, "I heard you captured Xiao Lin. I was worried you might do something rash, so I came to check on you."

Song Yuqing was inherently reckless and relentless—traits that made him unsuitable for pursuit missions or frontline combat.

Once Song Yuqing was let loose, there was no guarantee he would return unscathed.

"I just didn’t expect..." Tan Shu stepped forward, smoothing Song Yuqing’s rumpled collar, "...to see this scene."

Song Yuqing: "..."

Brushing past Tan Shu and not calling for Xiao Jinshi, Song Yuqing left the scene.

The modified alpha bodies proved highly effective on the battlefield.

Their combat capabilities far surpassed those of ordinary psychically-controlled robots, and Hurst was eager to see what fully mechanical alpha units could achieve.

Moreover, these were fully mechanical alphas that wouldn't diminish.

As long as their psychic essence remained intact, they could continuously swap bodies and return to the battlefield.

They had achieved "immortality," while the alphas of Xinzhou repeatedly used their psychic energy in battle, suffering physical damage each time. Even if they didn’t die in combat, irreversible trauma would likely shorten their lives.

With such powerful assets, it was only a matter of time before Sri Lanka dominated the Four Continents.

Lately, Hurst had moved operations completely to the mine cave, overseeing Su Quan’s work on producing new robots.

Hurst asked, "When will you contact the people from Xinzhou?"

Su Quan replied, "Xiao Lin has already gone."

Hurst frowned. According to his intelligence, Xiao Lin had been captured.

Before Hurst could ask further, Su Quan brought a finger to his own lips, signaling Hurst not to disturb him.

Zheng Kaiji asked, "I heard you captured a key opponent. Would you like me to interrogate him? Our intelligence department is pretty professional at this."

Song Yuqing was intently studying the dissected alpha gland, which contained numerous intricate nerves. Absorbed in his examination, he didn’t immediately respond to Zheng Kaiji.

Zheng Kaiji grew uneasy. Taking on the interrogation task was a logical move, but what if Song Yuqing doubted their motives?

The prolonged silence made Zheng Kaiji increasingly uncertain of Song Yuqing’s thoughts.

Just as Zheng Kaiji was about to give up, Song Yuqing looked up and asked, "What did you say?"

Zheng Kaiji wasn't sure whether Song Yuqing had genuinely not heard him earlier, but he spoke up anyway, "I request to interrogate Xiao Lin."

"Xiao Jinshi, after all, has a blood relation with Xiao Lin. He should recuse himself from interrogating Xiao Lin."

Song Yuqing: "No need for that."

Zheng Kaiji's expression remained unchanged, but he was now certain that Song Yuqing was unwilling to let him get close to Xiao Lin.

The next moment, however, he heard Song Yuqing speak again, "But I'm heading over now. You can come with me and offer some suggestions to Xiao Jinshi."

Zheng Kaiji: "I wouldn't call it offering suggestions. We're more than willing to cooperate with Xiao Jinshi."

Song Yuqing's face still showed little emotion. "Mm."

In the dungeon, the thick smell of blood hit them just walking down the corridor.

Zheng Kaiji could only enter by following behind Song Yuqing.

They walked all the way to the very end, where Song Yuqing scanned his face. The cold alloy door slid open silently, and an even stronger mix of rust and disinfectant washed over their senses.

The space inside wasn't large, with metal walls that gleamed coldly under the lights. A man was strapped to a bed with special restraint bands, his body covered in wounds in various stages of healing, some still seeping blood.

Hearing the noise, Xiao Lin struggled to lift his head, revealing a face pale and contorted from pain and blood loss, yet the ferocity in his eyes remained undiminished.

Xiao Lin had endured relentless torment during this time. Every time his wounds were close to healing, they were split open again.

That was nothing compared to what came next—Xiao Jinshi would have people slice open his flesh, cut by cut. When he was on the brink of death, they would treat him again.

These people were devising every possible method to torture him.

Song Yuqing sometimes came too. When he did, he would observe impassively for a while, and most of the time, he wouldn't speak.

Just as Xiao Lin thought today would be no different, and Song Yuqing would remain silent as usual—

Song Yuqing cast his eyes down and spoke, "Still not planning to talk today?"

Xiao Lin sneered, "I have nothing to say."

Song Yuqing took up a scalpel—razor-sharp—cut open Xiao Lin's clothes, and sliced into the alpha's abdomen.

Xiao Lin instantly clenched his fists, fine beads of cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

But then he heard Song Yuqing's dispassionate voice, "I don't understand what benefit you get from following him. After all, he clearly doesn't care much about whether you live or die."

"Do you remember you're from Xinzhou?" Song Yuqing raised his gaze, meeting Xiao Lin's bloodshot eyes, filled with pain.

"Ugh..."

The alpha's temple veins bulged, clearly wracked with pain to the point of near death.

As he spoke, Song Yuqing used forceps to extract a metal sliver and dropped it onto a tray.

The metal sliver landed on the tray with a crisp sound.

Warm blood completely saturated the rubber gloves on Song Yuqing's hands.

Blood welled from the wound, pooling on the metal bed, dyeing everything crimson.

Song Yuqing then made an incision above the ribs and extracted another metal sliver from there.

Without pause, Song Yuqing removed more than twenty of these thin metal pieces from various parts of the alpha's body.

Some of these metal pieces were for eavesdropping, others for tracking.

Zheng Kaiji stood by, watching the entire scene, his gaze turning icy. His mind raced, trying to decipher Song Yuqing's motive for bringing him here.

Was it to warn him, to let him know that his methods would not go easy on traitors?

Or was it to show him that those from Srilan were no good, implanting such trackers in their own people's bodies?

After finishing, Song Yuqing washed his hands and then turned to Zheng Kaiji. "You may proceed with the interrogation."

Zheng Kaiji: "..."

The man was already half-dead. What was there left to interrogate?

Dispose of Xiao Lin outright?

But Song Yuqing clearly had no intention of speaking further with him and had already directed his subordinates to clean the metal pieces.

Zheng Kaiji brought the whip down on Xiao Lin. "Are you going to talk or not?"

Xiao Lin: "That's just tickling. If you can't do better, let Song Yuqing take over."

Even Song Yuqing whipped harder than this old fool. What's he trying to pull? Trying to win over a prisoner?

Besides, he might hate Song Yuqing, but at least Song Yuqing's face was easy on the eyes, and his hands were pale and slender when holding the whip.

Even if he didn't want to admit it, he had to say his foolish brother and Hakimi had some taste.

At least being whipped a few times by Song Yuqing wouldn't give him nightmares.

Being whipped by a hypocritical dog like Zheng Kaiji would make him sick to his stomach at night.

Zheng Kaiji: "..."

Could it be that a few lashes from Song Yuqing felt like a reward to Xiao Lin?

Zheng Kaiji: "You're being picky now?"

Song Yuqing sat to the side, resting his chin in his hand, tapping his finger lightly against his cheek. His eyes were cold as he reminded, "He told you to whip harder."

"Mr. Zheng." Song Yuqing's voice carried a hint of icy amusement. "He's even instructing you on your work now."

"Are you going easy on him?"

Zheng Kaiji: "..."

Song Yuqing stood up, walked over to a row of torture devices, and took down a black whip studded with barbs. He gave it a flick, and the whip cracked through the air.

Xiao Jinshi, hearing that Song Yuqing had arrived, hurried over. The moment he stepped inside, he saw Song Yuqing holding the whip.

The black whip in Song Yuqing's hand made his skin appear even paler, like snow, while the handle seemed almost too thick to grip properly.

Xiao Jinshi's gaze darkened, inexplicably wishing the whip would fall on him instead.

But Song Yuqing didn't punish people without reason, nor did he use such methods lightly.

It seemed the only one who received this kind of treatment was Xiao Lin, the traitor.

Xiao Jinshi grasped Song Yuqing's hand. "Brother, why are you doing this yourself? Did he make you angry again?"

Author's Note:

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