The scarred man's real name was Charlie. The dossier said he was greedy. It claimed he worked with outsiders to smuggle statue fragments and trafficked women. He made three hundred silver coins from these crimes.

  Stirling sniffed at this number.

  Three hundred silver coins? What a joke!

  Who the hell would risk so many lives for three hundred silver coins? And hire viscera-refining samurai?

  That number multiplied by ten would be more likely!

  Anyway, Stirling's goal wasn't the survey. He only wanted to find out where The Gray Spector bought statue fragments. It could be his strategic reserves.

  Thinking this, Stirling took the key from the jailer. He opened the cell door and hunched over as he stepped into the cave.

  The cave was dimly lit. Stirling, with an oil lamp in hand, walked over to Scarface. He lifted Scarface's drooping head and called out.

  "Charlie?"

  Hearing his name, Scarface's eyelids twitched. He then fought to open his eyes. Seeing Stirling standing before him, a sneer crept across his face.

  "Don't look at me with your dead fish eyes. I won't ask who's behind you. I just want to know who you are working with, and where you got those statue fragments?"

  Stirling, smelling Charlie's pungent stench, covered his nose as he asked.

  However, Charlie laughed a grotesque "Hahaha" after hearing Stirling's words. Then, like a mad dog, he pounced on Stirling with a roar, trying to bite his face.

  Stirling was ready. He reached out and slapped Charlie hard across the cheek. The immense force sent Charlie spinning through the air. Without the two bone-piercing chains holding him back, he would have flown a long way.

  After the attack, Stirling glanced at his palm in surprise. He realized his strength had grown a lot after reaching the Extreme Skin Realm. This made the attack feel a bit unadopted.

  Stirling's slap shocked Charlie, saliva and blood mixed, dripping onto the ground. This Scarface man kneeled there, frozen, as if questioning his own existence.

  It was lucky this guy was a skin-resurfacing samurai. Otherwise, that blow could have broken his bones and left him partly paralyzed.

  Stirling bent down, gently patted Charlie's face, and continued:

  "When you did something worse than a beast, did you ever expect you would earn this retribution? Listen, I came from hell to give you a punishment to make you regret being human. But if you can reveal the channel to the divine statue, I can spare you some suffering."

  Charlie's pupils, bit by bit, focused on hearing this. He looked at Stirling and burst into laughter.

  "You son of a bitch, trying to fool me?! Don't you know who your grandpa Charlie is?! Use whatever tricks you have; Grandpa Charlie will be a coDistrict if I cry out in pain! Come on, grandson!!!"

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "Haha haha!!"

  Stirling was a little annoyed; his eyes narrowed a tad.

  It seemed this guy definitely didn't want to confess. The prison guard said torture was pointless. Even if Charlie talked afterDistricts, it might not be true.

  Stirling stroked his chin and looked around. He noticed a bowl of water beside him. In a flash, an idea popped up.

  Stirling walked to the cell corner and grabbed the bowl of water. He returned to Charlie, who looked stunned. Then, Stirling dipped into the blood on Charlie's body with his finger before leaving the cell.

  After that, Stirling looked around. No one was watching him, so he walked deeper in. He found an empty cave and crawled inside.

  As Stirling stepped into the empty cave, he used blood from Charlie. He wrote "truth revealed, skin-resurfacing realm only, five minutes" in small letters on the bowl. Then, he stared at it closely.

  A few breaths later, a line of text appeared in Stirling's vision.

  [Current Enhancement Required a Lifespan: 17 Days; Enhance?]

  17 days, so-so.

  Stirling thought, then said to himself, "Yes."

  Right after, Stirling saw a flash of light. Then, he noticed the water in the bowl looked a bit murky.

  [Truth or Dare]

  [A Truth Revealed Technique from an Unknown Cult. After ingestion, it can control the deepest nerves in the cerebral cortex. Then, to speak without hesitation and without reservation, but only for five minutes.]

  [Remaining Lifespan: 2 years and 167 days]

  The corners of Stirling's mouth turned up slightly. Then, he picked up the bowl and went back to Charlie's cave.

  At this moment, Charlie thought Stirling was going to feed him water and turned his head.

  Stirling walked over, pinched Charlie's jaw together, and poured the water from the bowl into his mouth.

  "Ugh, glug, glug..."

  Charlie stared wide-eyed at Stirling. But after a few breaths, his eyes glazed over.

  Stirling knew the "truth" had worked and tentatively asked:

  "Have you fucked your brother's wife?"

  Hearing the question, a hint of struggle flashed in Charlie's eyes, then he nodded and said:

  "Yes, I have."

  This answer is consistent with this person's usual style. Stirling sensed this guy wasn't faking it.

  "The statue fragment, where did you buy it?"

  "A guy named Eight."

  Charlie answered expressionlessly.

  "Is Eight from Farfield City? Where does he live? How do you do your deals?"

  "I don't know. I first contacted Eight through someone else. He's usually away, but he passes through Farfield City once a month. We meet at the Six Horses District tavern on the ninth day of every month."

  Stirling asked again,

  "Besides you, who else knows about Eight?"

  "No one. The deputy leader knows Eight's existence, but not the details of the deal. That way, I can take ten percent of the profits each time."

  Charlie said mechanically.

  Stirling raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself that this was, in fact, a stroke of luck. After asking for more details, he got ready to knock Charlie out and leave. Then, he heard hurried footsteps coming from the end of the corridor.

  Stirling listened carefully and recognized that at least three or four people were coming down. He moved in fast and applied a rear-naked cross choke on Charlie. Charlie passed out in under three breaths.

  Stirling didn't hit Charlie on the neck to knock him out. He felt he hadn't yet mastered his strength control, so he picked the safest way.

  Just then, hurried footsteps echoed in the corridor and approached Stirling.

  Stirling dusted himself off and walked out of the cell with a frustrated expression. He happened to see several people dressed in Flying Cloud robes walking toward him.

  To his surprise, these ... Night Watchmen were all unfamiliar faces. The thought immediately crossed Stirling's mind.

  "They are from the inner city..."

  Three Night Watchmen dressed in Flying Cloud uniforms strode up to Stirling. The leader sized him up, and asked:

  "Are you Luis Chilavert?"

  Stirling bowed in greeting.

  "Exactly."

  "We have taken over this case. Please leave right now!"

  Upon hearing this, Stirling calculated the time. Charlie had taken the Truth Potion less than five minutes ago. Handing him over now might lead to unforeseen circumstances. So, he said:

  "What does this mean, sir? I'm investigating this case on the orders of the Special Envoy of Yearning Palace. Does the Special Envoy have a new command?"

  The leading watchman sneered:

  "Traitor! Don't you even have a look at what you're wearing? No matter how much you lick the envoy's pussy, you're nothing but a maggot. Crushing you is just a matter of one kick.!"

  "We are acting on orders from Patrol Shaman, Commander Khan, to take over this case! Get out of here!" With that, the man's eyes widened, and his right hand went straight to the sword at his waist.