บท 312: Expected Outcome

I went to my bedroom, but I didn't go to sleep. I stealthy exited through my window, and with one silent jump, I made it to the roof. I could see the whole village. 'Let's see what happens' I thought, and observed. After a while of waiting, I found what I've been looking for. 'As I thought. My Extracts are too good for the people to know about them' I thought. What I referred to, was people who were spies in the village. I refused to believe, that all the villagers would be united. I expected for some people to have ulterior motives, and that was the exact reason why, I surveyed the whole village.

In total, I saw four different people travelling in different directions. They were either at their Half Step of Outer Limits, or passed it. 'Do you really think, I will let you escape?' I thought, and disappeared from where I was standing. I chased after the first guy, and quickly caught up. I approached him stealthily, and quickly tapped him on certain pressure points. He fainted, without realising what just happened. I carried him to the next person, and then the next person, and so on. They had no way of outspeeding me. Soon, all four laid fainted on the ground in front of me.

'So, two older guys, a woman and a kid. Interesting' I thought. They were obviously spies. I grabbed all of them, and returned to Finch's house. I jumped up, and landed on the roof. I left them there, and headed towards Finch's bedroom. When I arrived, and said "Follow me, I know you are not asleep". Finch opened the door a bit confused, but obliged anyway. I took him to the roof, and asked "Who are they?".

Finch was a bit surprised. He took a closer look, and said "They lived here for quite some time. The kid trained from a young age with others. Why did you bring them here?... Do you think..". I replied "Isn't this obvious? Did you think my medicine was nothing special? The spies in the village would move out immediately, and report such findings. This is the living proof, right in front of you. Can you imagine what could happen next?".

Finch creased his brows, and said "War". I replied "Exactly. If not other villages, then city or cities would invade this place. Why do you think I didn't hand any of my medicine to them? This medicine, it's not something to scoff at. I even doubt the Royals have something like this. I may be wrong, but the normal cities would not have it for sure". Finch nodded, and said "I let my guard down. You are right, we should interrogate them. Thankfully, you didn't kill them". I said "I'm not stupid. We need a private place. You can take them for interrogation, while I watch the village. To wake them up, either beat them up, or use your Aura. Whatever you see fit".

Finch nodded, grabbed them, and made his way somewhere to interrogate them. I looked around the village, but didn't notice any more movement besides some guards walking around. This was part of my plan. I wanted the event to be big, in order to root out these spies. 'Now, I just need to make sure, no other spy exists' I thought.

I wasn't disappointed. Well into the night, three more people moved out, and ran in two separate directions. Two people seemed to be together, as they travelled in the same direction. The third person, was heading in a different direction. Judging by their speeds, they should've broken through their Half Steps of Outer Limits. I went after the lone guy first, and quickly fainted him. I then caught up with the other two, and fainted them as well.

I knew where Finch went, as I observed the whole Village. I couldn't really go there though, this was a measure I decided on, in case more of them appeared. I returned to Finch's roof, and dumped the captives onto it. I didn't have to pay much attention to them. The pressure points I tapped, were responsible for sleep and rest. They had no way of waking up themselves, for at least four hours. That didn't mean someone couldn't wake them up forcibly. If one applied pressure on them, or beat them up, they would wake up. I stood there and scanned the village, waiting for Finch to return.

Finch finally returned after about two hours, and asked surprised "You caught more of them?". I nodded in response, and asked "Did you find something out?". Finch replied "Yes. They were all going to their villages, located not very far away from here. After a bit of persuasion, they admitted to spying". I asked "What are you going to do with them?".

Finch replied seriously "They are dead. I will not tolerate betrayal". I said "Good, get rid of their families too. I don't care whether they are innocent or not". Finch replied "You don't have to tell me that, I know when to be ruthless". He was still pissed, but that was understandable. I nodded, and said "I will interrogate these three by myself. You stay here, and catch anyone who tries to leave the village. I will try to find out more".

Finch nodded, and said "Alright. See that house over there?". He pointed at a certain house, on the fringes of the Village. I nodded, and said "I already know where you've went". He continued "When you enter, descent to the basement. When you are there, activate the Formation using this", then passed me a small metal rod. I took it, grabbed the three, and headed towards the house.

Inside the house. I quickly found the basement, and activated the Formation using the small metal rod. Any sound I could hear from outside, was now gone. 'Good, this seems to be working' I thought, and tapped on a few pressure points on the first guy. I could wake him up forcefully, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He woke up a bit disorientated, and then noticed me. He asked "Nex? What's going on?".

I asked "Where were you going?". The guy seemed stunned, and replied "I wanted to get my child back. He went to another village, and I wanted to bring him back to take that medicine". I knew he was lying. After so many years of studying Human behaviour, patterns and the words they used, there would be very few people, who could actually fool me. He was not one of these types of people.

I asked "And the real reason?". He replied a bit angry "It's the real reason! I don't understand why are you asking these questions. I can.." before he finished, I broke his arm. He screamed at the top of his lungs, but no one would hear him. I asked again "Why were you going outside. Mind you, if you give me a wrong answer, I will break the other arm". He screamed and shouted "Monster. You fucking monster!".

This was not the answer, I wanted to hear. I broke his second arm. At this point he screamed for a while, then fainted. 'No you don't, it's not going to be that easy' I thought, and picked him up. After tapping a few pressure points, he woke up again. When the pain hit him, he started crying and begging. I asked "Why. Did. You. Go. Outside?".

He cried, and begged "Please… no more….". I broke his leg this time. He fainted again, but this wasn't a problem for me. I woke him up, and said "I can do this all night long you know. Besides, I have two other guys, I can torment. Last chance. You either answer, or I will torture you till you die a miserable death". He finally cracked, and said "I will… Don't kill me… I will say".

I still held him up, and replied "I'm listening". He said between his breaths "I was going... to the Yeran Village... to report... the medicine... you brought". I asked "Now, who sent you here?". He said while gasping for air "Hah....Hah… It was… not only this village. There… There were others… who were sent… to different villages… This is… how things are… There are spies… Hah… In every village". I let him continue. "Hah… Each Village… Chief… sends some people… to other villages… This is… to spy on them… and find out… their weaknesses... wealth… or strength…".

I asked another question "How often do you report back?". He replied "I… not that… often… A few times… in a year". I snapped his neck, and threw him to the ground. 'So, new spies can arrive, when the old ones don't report. This can be problematic' I thought. I needed a solution, to stop the news spreading. 'Even if I didn't announce my Extracts publicly, the whole village would find out anyway. There was no other ways, to improve the overall strength of the whole village... Maybe this was a bad idea… I wanted for them to be stronger, and not to worry about them… but it seems this resulted in the exact thing, I wanted to avoid in the first place' I thought, trying to figure out a solution.