"The person who captured you is already dead..."
The man was stunned, lost in thought for a mont. Then his eyes suddenly widened, his mouth agape, as he tried to say sothing...
"He was known as the Old Goat Monster, his real na I do not know... perhaps it was Yang Gaodan, a traitor of the Tang Sect..."
Upon hearing this, the man beca frantic, flailing his hands and pointing at his throat, unable to speak.
Sui Yi frowned, reached out her hand, and suddenly pinched his Adam’s apple.
The man was terrified but dared not move.
Because he was all too aware of how formidable the young woman before him was.
Killing him would be as easy as turning her hand over.
In an instant, it was unclear whether it was Inner Strength or so sort of cool energy that entered his throat, but his voice, previously silenced by poison, seed to be revived...
After a while, Sui Yi withdrew her hand.
The man was silent for a mont before he finally spoke with a hoarse voice and strange emphasis.
It was like a broken bellows: leaking air but still, to so extent, understandable.
"I’m not... a traitor..."
Sui Yi crossed her arms and raised her delicate eyebrows slightly.
"I’ve seen a Human Skin Mask on his face, made from your skin, right?"
The man’s eyes flashed with pain and resentnt as he nodded, "Yes..."
He spoke the word clearly, seemingly driven by deep-seated hatred.
Then, as Sui Yi and the other man listened, he told his story in fits and starts, choppy and a bit chaotic, but the gist was discernible.
It turned out that this man was the real Yang Gaodan, a disciple of the Tang Sect with a respectable position within The Gate. He had been dispatched to Xinjiang to handle affairs, and over ti, his business had beco quite successful, making him a prominent figure in Xinjiang.
But one day, he was betrayed by a friend whom he had trusted for many years. He was poisoned, coerced to reveal the Tang Sect’s secret techniques, then had his face flayed and his identity stolen... For several years, he was held captive and tortured in various locations... The torture would have been bad enough, but he was also poisoned, which left him in a state of madness, no different from a brute or wild ape, enduring unspeakable degradation...
Those were days of such intense suffering that even recalling them sent a chill to his bones and made his entire body tremble...
With just a glance at the gloomy, damp, and foul-slling hut, Sui Yi and Zhang Wei had little doubt about the man’s plight. Sui Yi had previously witnessed the Old Goat Monster treating the man like an animal...
It was not hard to imagine.
"According to what you’ve said, your identity was stolen five years ago, and Yang Gaodan began stealing Tang Sect’s secret techniques and unique Hidden Weapons four years ago. So, that wasn’t your doing..."
Upon hearing this, Yang Gaodan looked at Sui Yi with joy: "You... you’re also a mber of the Tang Sect?"
The gratitude he felt for the young woman who rescued him from hell and cured his poisoned state was ineffable, and knowing that she was from the Tang Sect made him even more excited.
Speaking too much could slip the truth, after all he had suffered for five years, not ten or twenty, otherwise, even if the man was saved, he would still have been a fool.
Now at least, he could ask a clear question.
"No, I just have so relations with people of the Tang Sect," Sui Yi explained briefly before adding, "After I killed him, I saw the Human Skin Mask, and my curiosity wasn’t just idle. I understand you used to be a Jade Mine Owner in Xinjiang, correct?"
"Yes..." Yang Gaodan said regretfully: "Perhaps it was because that man saw back then with a vast fortune and owning two large Raw Stone Mines that he harbored evil intentions..."
"That’s also because you weren’t cautious," Sui Yi bluntly pointed out his mistake.
Yang Gaodan looked upset, "Yes... I trusted others too easily back then..." After a pause, he looked at Sui Yi: "Miss, you an to say..."
"I saved you with a purpose in mind."
As soon as she said these words, Zhang Wei couldn’t help but look at Sui Yi. He had been helping her investigate so matters in recent days and could roughly guess her purpose. But Miss, is it really good to be so direct? In normal circumstances, shouldn’t you let the obligation of gratitude take its natural course rather than be so straightforward...
Yang Gaodan didn’t have a chance to react. Though his intelligence and experience had not greatly diminished after five years of confinent—his reactions were simply slower—he was baffled by Sui Yi’s straightforwardness. But after a closer thought, he let out a bitter smile.
"Miss, you’ve rescued from a life of agony, killed my enemy, and restored my senses. I’m no longer like a pig or a dog. Honestly, even if you asked to die now, I’d willingly oblige. The true purpose of why you saved really doesn’t matter..."
Before his troubles, Yang Gaodan was a successful middle-aged man with substantial life experience, not so naïve young man. Therefore, having been imprisoned and tortured for five years, his recovery hadn’t twisted his mind, and his sanity remained intact. Upon reflection, Sui Yi’s candidness made it easier for him to accept what had happened.
After all, his downfall had co from being too trusting.
But...
"But I’ve been imprisoned for five years. Either that man has squandered all my assets and business, or they are close to it, I’m not sure how I can be of help to you..."
He assud Sui Yi was after his assets.
Sui Yi, however, said, "Your assets are of no concern to . What I need is you..."
After a pause, she added, "I need soone to help manage a mine."
Zhang Wei was taken aback, as was Yang Gaodan.
"Miss, you have a mine?"
"No, not yet."
"Oh, so you’ve found a vein?"
"I’m planning to search for one."
"..."
Yang Gaodan felt he had lost the ability to speak, and Zhang Wei stifled a laugh.
"Laugh if you want, but I’m not joking... Finding a vein and securing funding are undoubtedly the most important aspects of opening a mine. I can find the veins on my own, and I don’t lack funds, the rest of the affairs and connections in Xinjiang, I’ll need you for that..." Sui Yi’s tone indeed did not sound like a joke, and she wasn’t the kind of person to make jokes. (. Mobile users please go to m.qidian to read.)
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