Chapter 2 (1/2)

Translator: Atlas StudiosEditor: Atlas Studios

“Name?”

“Ash… Ash Heath.”

“Age?”

“I don’t know. I lost my memory.”

“Gender?”

“Let me see… Male.”

“Race?”

“Probably not a dog?”

“Experiences?”

“I really don’t know. I lost my memory.

…

The Blood Frenzy Hunter, Amy, was observing the situation in the interrogation room through the two-way mirror. When she heard the leader of the cult make replies so nonchalantly and arrogantly during his interrogation, she was so angry that her eyes turned into vertical slits, and the nails on her hands grew longer.

“Captain, does this scoundrel think that everyone in the Crime Hunting Department is a fool? This won’t do. Let me do it. When I was in school, I learned interrogation skills from priests during extracurricular hours for a period of time, and I also attained a Level One Torture Master Certificate. I’ll bet on the priest’s name that I can guarantee this bastard will spit out everything, even wetting his bed when he was young”

“Burn the Torture Master Certificate,” Gerald said calmly. “The Torture Master System was abolished in the Amendment to Human Rights Act twelve years ago, and the Crime Hunting Department’s authority to interrogate suspects was comprehensively prohibited. Those who violate it would be suspended from the Hunter’s Certificate at best, and sentenced to at least a hundred years of imprisonment at worst. The council has been watching us closely, and we would get into trouble if Ash Heath so much as lost sleep at night. If you want an accusation from the council, I won’t stop you.”

“Hmph.” Amy pursed her lips in anger and fear before changing the topic. “Where’s the Memory Master? It’s been so long since we caught him. Why hasn’t the Memory Master come to retrieve the memories of this scoundrel?”

“The Memory Master won’t be coming.”

“Why not? For such a big case, there must be a Memory Master to retrieve the evidence no matter what, right? I remember it’s stated in the Criminal Code that all criminal offenses must provide memories as direct evidence, no?”

“But it’s different for him.”

“How is it different?”

Gerald glanced at her. “He’s met the Four Pillar Deities.”

Em was slightly taken aback. Then she understood.

“It’s not just him. None of the heretics can have their memories retrieved.”

Gerald said, “Memory contamination is the Four Pillar Deities’ specialty. One hundred and thirty-four years ago, when I participated in the investigation of the Four Pillar Deities Cult, a Memory Master unwittingly became a believer of the Four Pillar Deities precisely due to retrieving memories from the heretics. That is how the Four Pillar Deities Cult keeps reviving endlessly despite being put down.”

“Then what should we do?” Amy was dumbfounded. “We can’t get any evidence from him, we can’t interrogate him, and we can’t retrieve his memories… Are we supposed to allow him to get acquitted? Or should we say that he’s a special case that calls for special methods?”

“There’s no need for special cases or methods,” said Gerald. “There’s a death sentence befitting a criminal like him that has committed extremely heinous crimes and invoked public outrage… The interrogation here is just a formality. The real trial will have to wait until 8PM on the 15th, and it will be done by all the citizens in the city.”

Amy immediately understood, but when she turned her head and saw that the cult leader was still in the interrogation room, saying “I don’t know, I lost my memory” left and right, she still couldn’t take it lying down. She stuck out her tongue and gave him a slightly disdainful look, then left with her drooping gray tail dragging behind her.

Gerald was still watching the meaningless interrogation. Inside, the interrogation had lasted more than fifteen minutes, so it was necessary to pause to give the suspect a break. It was also one of the basic human rights required by the Human Rights Act.

The cult leader was drinking water. Occasionally, he touched his chest, which had been punctured not long ago. There was surprise in his eyes, but it quickly turned to concern.

For some reason, Gerald felt that he wasn’t lying.

His various reactions, from panic, curiosity, fear, to confusion… really resembled that of an ordinary person who had lost his memories.

According to the Human Rights Act, symptoms such as dissociative identity disorder, amnesia, and mental illness can be treated as cases where the person in question lacked autonomy, thus exempting him from criminal punishment.

If memory retrieval revealed that Ash had really lost his memory, he could even be acquitted.

However, these things had nothing to do with him. Because of the Four Pillar Deities, there couldn’t and wouldn’t be Memory Masters to retrieve his memories, so…

“Judging you is the people’s business. All we have to do is reveal you to the public.” Gerald turned and left, continuing his hunt for the next suspect.

…

…

“Looks like there really isn’t any hope for me now…”

As he lay on the clean and soft bed, Ash put down the informative documents in his hands and looked at this bright and spacious prison cell with a single guard. His heart was gloomy.

Although he had vaguely expected it when he saw the ugly appearances of the four “angels” revealed before they died, he did not expect the truth to be even graver than he had imagined—the hunters’ accusation against him was completely correct. He was really a cult leader through and through.