Chapter 408: Found Them

Ji Kongliu's words stirred up the attending Ironclad agents' anticipation for the rumors.

Seeing is believing, hearing is doubting. Only by witnessing this Divine Constable Yang's methods with their own eyes could they be convinced that those previous battle records were real.

After all, how many Ironclad agents—even Sixth-Rank ones—could spend their entire careers rooting out that many Rong Tribe spies?

Yang Ling didn't waste words. He walked straight up to the dozen or so figures.

He picked a man in his early thirties and asked:

"What crime did you commit?"

The young man's face was expressionless: "I killed my cousin."

"What weapon did you use?"

"A dagger."

"Where did the dagger come from?"

"It's always been at home."

Yang Ling didn't use his Insight Technique. He simply listened quietly to the young man's heartbeat and the flow of his blood.

He sensed every muscle, every pore on the man's body.

Including the subtle details of his facial expressions.

The number and frequency of his blinks.

"No problem, he's not lying."

Yang Ling was briefly stunned. Was it really this coincidental that he'd found the true culprit on his first try?

Were the remaining dozen or so all hired actors arranged by Ji Kongliu?

"Did you stab your cousin to death with the dagger?"

"Yes."

"How many times did you stab him?"

"I can't remember."

Yang Ling continued questioning for a while longer. Based on his extraordinary perception, this young man wasn't lying.

He really had killed his cousin.

The Ironclad agents present furrowed their brows slightly, because in their view, the questions Yang Ling was asking were all very ordinary.

The more ordinary the questions, the harder it was to find clues from them.

Watching Yang Ling walk toward the next suspect.

Captain Wei's expression was somewhat strange as he murmured:

"He didn't even ask when the crime was committed, or how the suspect was caught..."

Li Huaiyi felt a flicker of delight, but then he remembered seeing Yang Ling's skills in the Water Qilin Cave, and a trace of doubt crept into his heart.

Yun Buchuan frowned slightly. As the Director of the Public Security Division's Third Division, he too felt that the questions Yang Ling was asking weren't hitting the core.

Ji Kongliu remained silent, simply watching quietly.

Yang Ling came before a woman, roughly in her forties, with a somewhat flustered look on her face.

"What case are you involved in?"

"G-Great sir, I just took a few little kids out of the city for a stroll, I really had no ill intentions..."

The middle-aged woman forced a stiff smile onto her face, but the panic in the depths of her eyes only deepened.

A human trafficker?

Yang Ling took a step forward and immediately heard her heart pounding wildly.

Her blood flow suddenly accelerated.

This was fear, not the nervousness that came with lying.

"You're not admitting to your crime?"

Yang Ling asked casually: "How did the Ironclad Department sentence you?"

"They convicted me of trafficking."

The middle-aged woman said in a low voice.

Yang Ling could already sense something was off.

This woman wasn't lying either.

One killed his cousin, one trafficked children.

There were already two criminals here.

"Director Ji said there's only one true criminal, so this doesn't add up."

Yang Ling looked back at the young man from before and cast an Insight Technique at him.

[Li Ming, no illegal records within the last thirty days]

"When did you kill your cousin?"

Yang Ling looked at the young man and asked again.

The young man: "Three days ago."

Still no signs of lying.

A hint of gravity crept into Yang Ling's eyes.

How was his foolproof perception failing on this guy?

He cast another Insight Technique at the middle-aged woman.

[Zheng Chunhong, no illegal records within the last thirty days]

"When did you traffic the children?"

Yang Ling looked at the middle-aged woman and asked once more.

The middle-aged woman said in a small voice: "It should be... seven days ago? I, I can't quite remember."

Yang Ling's mind stirred. There was nothing wrong with what this woman was saying either.

Whether it was her facial expressions, her heartbeat, her blood flow speed, or even the muscle tremors in her limbs—none of it was off.

"How interesting. These two clearly haven't committed any crimes, yet I can't rely on my perception to tell truth from lies in what they say."

"No wait, it's that even when they lie, they can do it without changing their expression, without flushing or losing their breath. This is absolutely professional..."

"Scammers?"

Yang Ling walked over to the third, fourth, fifth person... asking the same kinds of questions as before.

But he would always add one final question at the end:

"Have you committed any crimes in the past?"

Everyone's answer was no.

The Ironclad agents present were somewhat confused, not knowing what purpose that last question served.

Ji Kongliu, however, had a glint in his eyes, as if he'd thought of something.

"Director Ji, you seem to know Yang Ling's intent? What's the use of that last question of his?"

Yun Buchuan noticed something and asked casually.

Ji Kongliu smiled: "Let's wait until he's done questioning."

Yun Buchuan was also a Director like the other man, and had his own pride, so he naturally didn't press further.

By this time, Yang Ling had already reached the eighth person.

After a round of questioning, he added another line:

"Have you committed any crimes before?"

The man being questioned looked to be around forty-something and instinctively shook his head:

"No."

Yang Ling smiled and cast an Insight Technique at him.

[Wang Ergou, stole three taels of silver seven days ago, caught red-handed by the Ironclad Department with the stolen goods]

"Found them."

Yang Ling felt a bit emotional, but he didn't let his guard down. He continued questioning the remaining seven or eight people.

These seven or eight were exactly the same as the ones before. Every lie they told was as convincing as the truth.

No flushing, no racing hearts.

At this point, Yang Ling was certain that aside from Wang Ergou, the rest were probably experts brought in by Ji Kongliu.

These guys had completely normal Status Panels. They weren't even Martial Artists.

In fact, they were just ordinary people.

But they weren't ordinary.

At the very least, they'd nearly caused his Spirit stat of 280 points to fail.

Only Wang Ergou, the real thief, lacked this kind of special ability.

So when he asked whether the man had committed crimes before.

Wang Ergou got nervous.

It wasn't that Yang Ling was certain the man had really committed crimes in the past.

This was just human nature. Even a completely clean, innocent person asked this kind of question by a Sixth-Rank Ironclad agent would be nervous—and if he wasn't, then there was something wrong with him.

Yang Ling looked at Ji Kongliu:

"Director Ji, I'm done with my questioning."

"You don't want to ask a few more rounds? They have half an hour, and you could question for half an hour too. The time that's passed so far is only... less than a quarter of an hour."

Ji Kongliu said thoughtfully.

Captain Wei and the others exchanged glances. Was it really this casual?

With just about a quarter of an hour of questioning, he could be certain he'd found the true criminal?

"This subordinate already has his conclusion."

Yang Ling clasped his fists.

Ji Kongliu said no more and had paper and brushes brought over:

"Write down your names."

All the examinees wrote down their names.

Then Ji Kongliu had the paper and brushes given to all the Ironclad agents present.

"You've all been observing from the sidelines. Even though you didn't question them personally, you should have your own guesses by now."

"Write down your names as well."

The Ironclad agents inwardly groaned.

They'd watched the entire process, sure, but they were still completely in the dark.

Yun Buchuan recalled the questions Captain Wei and the other Ironclad agents had asked earlier, then thought about Yang Ling's questioning process, and suddenly smiled:

"Director Ji, I'll write down a name too."

"Director Yun has such leisure as well? Alright, write down a name."

Ji Kongliu was slightly surprised, but still smiled and nodded in agreement.

Before long, several hundred answer sheets were delivered to Ji Kongliu.

Ji Kongliu casually flipped through them, then suddenly called out an Ironclad agent's name:

"Don't tell me who you picked first. Tell me the reason you chose them."

That Ironclad agent froze, then said awkwardly:

"Director Ji... I just filled it in randomly."

Ji Kongliu had anticipated this. He then looked at another Ironclad agent:

"What's your reason?"

"...This subordinate filled it in randomly."

"Mm."

Ji Kongliu questioned over a dozen people in succession. More than half had filled in randomly, and the rest had flimsy reasons that were clearly random guesses too, with a few extra attempts at making excuses.

Ji Kongliu didn't get angry. His gaze fell on the two Sixth-Rank Ironclad agents:

"One of you chose Li Ming, the other chose Zheng Chunhong. Tell me your reasons."

Captain Wei looked at the other Sixth-Rank in surprise:

"You chose Zheng Chunhong? You picked wrong, brother. Obviously it should be Li Ming."