NOVPUBDeep within the inner sanctum of the Zhen Clan island estate, beneath several feet of earth and behind several guarded seals, the Gate Elder, Zhen Bao, was discussing the interrogation case of a very peculiar prisoner with the Torture Chamber Elder, Zhen Ru.
To be more specific, it was a prisoner that he managed to secure the night prior with the aide of the cat aether puppet with built-in dragon claws.
Zhen Bao wasn’t entirely sure how it happened, but the cat puppet had manage to defeat several of these mysterious warriors, before finally capturing one of the weird skeletal looking ones, that looked a bit...different from the others.
To put it bluntly, the captured skeletal warrior looked like they be a bit more at home working the red light district than an infiltration mission.
That being said, things weren’t not going smoothly for the two elders.
<<Well as I was saying Gate Eld-wait a minute...when did you start drinking coffee, Gate Elder?,>> Zhen Ru.
<<Remember last month when those so-called pirates tried to raid us?>>
<<Yeah...they were calling themselves the...Something Marauders?>>
<<Soot-Born Marauders. Anyways, I looted their ship after wiping them out. They had the usual stuff like rum, some aether medicines, gold and a lot of coffee beans. I have been steadily drinking it everyday since,>> Zhen Bao explained while indeed drinking a cup of coffee that smelled suspiciously of booze.
The Torture Chamber elder proceeded to give his counterpart a weird glare.
<<Huh...is that even healthy?>>
<<No idea, but I have no intention on stopping especially after learning how well it mixes with rum. Now back to the business at hand, mind explaining why one of our anima wielders is twitching on the cot we normally put the prisoners on?>>
<<I CAN STILL HEAR THE SLAPPING!,>> the aforementioned anima wielder yelled while still twitching on the aforementioned cot.
<<Well...,>> Zhen Ru sighed before answering, <<I was going to write up a report for you to look over at your leisure, but since you’re here, I might as well show you what happened that led to this moment.>>
Zhen Ru gestured for Zhen Bao to follow him before proceeding to walk off deeper into the prison complex. Reluctantly, Zhen Bao followed after Zhen Ru.
The two of them didn’t have to walk or wait too long though when Zhen Ru stopped in front of a table that was outside of an occupied prison cell. Inside the cell was none other than the skeletal warrior woman the cat puppet managed to apprehend.
Judging from the scratch marks across the skeleton’s skull though, it wasn’t an easy or friendly process.
<<Wait, you have her locked in a chair with aether suppression cuffs while in a cell? Isn’t that excessive?,>> Zhen Bao asked.
<<Not even in the slightest based on what we had to deal with,>> Zhen Ru stated while gesturing to the table by the cell door.
Upon the table was a variety of torture tool implements that were severely damaged or straight up broken. Zhen Bao wasn’t impressed by the sight.
<<So what? That guy started twitching and screaming because he broke your tools? I thought you guys had a decently sized budget for this kind of thing,>> Zhen Bao quipped.
<<Oh ha ha, but no. The tools you see before you are what we used this morning prior to that babbling mess over there. I don’t know what the fuck this bitch is made of, but its tough enough to break steel thumbscrews and break my trust plier in half!>>
To emphasize this point, Zhen Ru gestured to some screws that were bent in angels they shouldn’t be in and a pair of pliers that seemed to just snap right down the middle and through the bolt.
Zhen Bao was a little shocked at the sight, but he still managed to keep his cool.
That or the rum-infused coffee was finally kicking in, but who could say for certain.
<<Alright, so I’m starting to get the picture here...you guys tried to use the traditional methods of information extraction but came up short due to the tools breaking before she did, and then switched over to the anima wielder to try and read her mind?>>
<<That is correct,>> Zhen Ru agreed.
<<Huh...,>> Zhen Bao trailed off as he tried to make a guess as to how a simple mind reading led to a guy screaming with a mad look in their eyes. <<Was this lady a high tier anima wielder? Does she have a mindlock in place?>>
<<Oh no, that’s the part that is freaking us out,>> Zhen Ru admitted, <<it was actually incredibly easy for our guy to get into her head, but the sheer amount of knowledge, the utter insanity of her character, or whatever is going on inside of her was so intense that our guy started to panic due to this connection. I have never seen an anima wielder actually get a nosebleed from doing this sort of thing.>>
<<What the fuck...>>
*SLAM*
<<What the fuck?!>>
<<And that’s why we doubled up the security measures!>>
The skeletal warrior had somehow broke out of both chair and cuff and proceeded to slam themselves against the cell door, causing an echoing sound to occur.
The skeletal warrior proceeded to stare daggers at Zhen Bao, as if blaming him for being the sole reason why she was here in the first place...which wasn’t wrong.
’Why...do I feel threatened?,’ Zhen Bao thought to himself as he stared into the skeletal woman’s oddly expressive eye sockets.
Despite this thing being weaker than him, a measurement he actually checked, there was something about her that just seemed...off. It was the sort of "off" that caused one to want to bail, ASAP.
<<Well then...I see you guys have this under control...,>> Zhen Bao said as he tried his best nonchalantly finish his coffee.
<<Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go man my post so that I can greet some very...special guests we are receiving today. Someone you’d never believe.>>
<<Really? Who?,>> Zhen Ru asked.
<<Remember that guy who ran off with Princess Bai Hua?>>
<<No fucking way!>>
<<That was my reaction.>>
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"So...this is the estate of the main branch?," Zhen Hai asked as he stared up at the estate’s gate.
"Yup," Zhen Tai answered.
"It’s a lot...bigger than our home back in Stone Claw...," Zhen Feng added.
"To be fair, kind of hard to have a private island in the middle of a desert," Zhen Xing added.
"Fair enough."
"Hey...not to sound like downer...but y’all don’t think we’ll run into that girl and her cronies from last night while we’re here to make grandfather look good, right?," Zhen Guo pointed out.
"Because I don’t think we ever told the elders that we may have taken a slave girl in..."
"Oh shit, right...welp! I sincerely hope we don’t run into her again then."
"Oi! Can you guys stop gawking and squawking and help out back here?!," Zhen Yue shouted at her cousins.
"We still haven’t fed the beasts their breakfast yet and the Ravager Otters keep trying to eat the buckets!"
"Yeah, yeah, we’re coming..."
After several long weeks of travel, almost getting eaten by various monsters and dealing with the bullshit that is finding lodging in a crowded ass city, the Zhen Clan from Stampeding Bison was finally about to meet their main clan counterparts!
Hopefully, it wouldn’t end in bloodshed.
In order to get ready for such a momentous occasion though, the entirety of the Zhen branch clan from Stampeding Bison had woken up incredibly early in order to eat a hearty breakfast and look their best.
Baths were used, make-ups applied and the finest silken suits were prepared for this meeting, after all, It wasn’t everyday one’s family attempts to bury a multigenerational hatchet with distant relatives
Granted, there were still some members of the family that felt a bit nervous about going through with such proceedings, or making this trip at all, but it was now at the point of no return so they might as well and try to make the most of it.
Regardless, the Zhen branch clan had managed to finish breakfast and get ready with ample time to spare, thanks to their generous host at the Cozy Maple hotel preparing all of the food for them in a timely manner.
Fed, clothed and ready to go, the Zhen branch clan was ready to meet with their main clan counterparts...unfortunately, they didn’t anticipate that the guy in charge of the gate to not be present.
As such, the Zhen branch clan were stuck outside the front gate until the elder in charge of it returned from whatever business he was attending to.
Thankfully though, the branch clan members did have some last minute things to occupy their time with until the gate opens.
Well...most of them.
"Hold up...did anyone see where Xiao Liu fucked off to again?"
"I...don’t know..."
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Meanwhile...
"What the fuck do you mean one of Paralust’s zakos is in there?"
