The men gave a cold shudder at the appearance of Lin Mengya.

To them, she was a strange woman who made them bristle with anger.

They were still troubled over the scene of what happened to the man just now and were unable to calm themselves down yet.

Now she had appeared once again all smiles, she looked like a butcher who was sizing up her prey whomever her eyes fell on.

No, perhaps it would be appropriate to liken her to an executioner who was careful and precise.

“Fear not. Each of you is holding on to something of interest to me. I’ll not simply hurt you. You may think of it as your capital you use to deal with me. You may even negotiate with me.”

Little did they expect that the first thing Lin Mengya said was to instigate them to put up a desperate struggle against her, rather than using a carrot and stick approach.

Perplexed, these men could not figure out her intention.

“Unfortunately…”

Lin Mengya turned the thread of discourse and all of a sudden, a look of embarrassment appeared in her eyes.

“Unfortunately only one person would have this chance. As for the others, you will become my guinea pig to test out new medications.”

She turned her left palm upwards and presented six colorful pills on her fair palm.

Instantly, the hearts of the seven men, who were bound securely, almost skipped a beat.

Earlier on, their companion had become crazy after ingesting a similar pill.

They had heard that some physicians who specialized in studying poison would keep people as guinea pigs to test out their drugs.

These guinea pigs most certainly met with tragic ends.

“I’m not in a hurry, so you need not panic, but at sunrise, it would be time for you to pick the one who will remain. Take your time because I can wait.”

Yu An had instructed men to carry a table and a chair here for Lin Mengya. At this moment, she had sat herself down casually on the chair and laid the six colorful pills on a square plate.

It was a jade-color white plate and under the light of the lamp, the six colorful pills reflected bizarre lights.

Only one chance was given to seven people, therefore, the atmosphere became eerily quiet right from the beginning.

The slim chance of survival was placed before their eyes and it was impossible for any of them not to be stirred in their hearts.

Moreover, she already announced that the remaining six men would remain behind to be her guinea pig.

With the passing of every minute, each was increasingly gripped with a kind of fear that far exceeded death itself.

“Don’t you think we are frightened! Brothers, I’m going to go first!”

A stiff voice sounded and Lin Mengya looked in the direction of the voice. It was coming from a man with a dark and muscular face.

Was he seeking death? This must be a joke. The man was about to kill himself by biting his tongue suddenly fell to the ground, paralyzed and unable to exert any strength.

“If dying is your wish, you would have died earlier. There’s no need for you to put up an act of loyalty. I’ve checked your background and know that none of you are each other’s trusted aide. All of you are but bandits hired using money. Of course, I won’t stop you if you want to show your loyalty towards your master. Men, cut off his tongue, and feed him with the pill.”

Lin Mengya did not sound like she was rushing them. These seven men, as well as those who tried to block her leeway and died from her poison, seemed to want to seize her alive, rather than really hurting her.

Moreover, her bodyguards did not only consist of only the servants arranged by Li Yuan.

No matter which powerful organization sent its trusted men to infiltrate the mansion, it would be highly likely for Zuo Qiuyu to discover them.

Even with the secret help from Li Yuan, they could not afford to be careless in their investigations.

Therefore, the best course of action would be to spend money to hire strangers from outside. On one hand, they would not be able to provide any clues even if they were being caught.

Secondly, getting rid of them after they had accomplished their mission would mean that there would be no one coming to look for them.

Any intelligent person would employ such a safe tactic of killing two birds with one stone.

However, there had to one or two among them who were the employer’s subordinate, who was put here to oversee and direct this mission.

This person would most likely be still in ambush among the guards.

Those four who died and the one who went crazy were certainly not working for the employer.

This was because this person would have to relay the information to his master. How would it be possible for him to be carrying out the real work?

Moreover, Lin Mengya had put them in the storeroom for logs earlier. By this time, the medicine she gave them to weaken their muscles would have taken effect.

The man would likely not have the strength to bite down on his tongue.

The effect of the medication gradually spread to the other parts of their bodies, and within a short while, the seven men had lost all strength and fell to the floor, defenseless.

The man who was crying out that he would kill himself by biting his tongue had curled up into a ball at the innermost corner with fear written all over his face by now.

While he fixed his gaze on the pills on the plate with fear in his eyes, he was struggling to break free from the two guards with his might.

Lin Mengya’s intention was merely to scare him. After seeing his reaction, she smiled gently and waved her hand, saying, “I won’t make things difficult for you because I’m too soft-hearted. I’ll let you off this time.”

At Lin Mengya’s words, the two guards loosen their grip on the man and the cat-and-mouse game came to a stop temporarily.

However, Lin Mengya’s casual attitude allowed these few men to see even more clearly, that she could not care less about their lives.

Her so-called interrogation was merely a game that made them kill each other.

Their life and death were simply hanging on her mood.

As their strength drained from their bodies and they became weak, their willpower diminished and hopelessness set in.

In reality, Lin Mengya had done nothing other than giving them a small psychological hint.

Finally, the silence was broken by the intense pressure.

Their confused minds brought about a drama of betrayal and making false accusations.

“Your Highness! I’ll confess… I’ll confess everything. Please give me a chance!”

The first to bend began begging for mercy, and that triggered off a chain reaction. This was what Lin Mengya expected.

“Traitor… I’m going to kill you!”

Some of them were die-hard loyal who continued to protect their employer’s interest despite their struggle to speak.

There were certainly some who hid at one corner and watched things unfold with indifference and waiting to discover any of their burst seams.

“Brother… I’ve always treated you well, let’s, let’s stay united. Perhaps the princess will have mercy on us and release us!”

The attempt at a temporary alliance added to the confusion on the scene.

Although there were only seven of them, their verbal battle was almost similar to that between the girls in the imperial harem.

“Alright, I’ll give you a little chance. I want to know who sent you in here.”

Those who wanted to live began fighting to be the first to cry out the answer, fearing that Lin Mengya would be dissatisfied if they took too long to respond.

“We have no idea. What we know is that after seizing Your Highness, we have to escort you to the town god’s temple in the west city!”

One of the two men who called each other brothers had become furious with the other just because he had blurted out the answer faster.

While their hands and feet were bound, he garnered all his strength and charged towards the other.

“Town god’s temple?”

Lin Mengya gave Yu An an indicative look and he quietly left immediately.

Although the scene before her eyes was chaotic, Lin Mengya found it somewhat childish and funny.

The seven men were bound together like rice dumplings as they moved their bodies against each other.

While their faces were flushed with agitation, they needed a lot of strength just to speak.

In reality, jealousy and hatred had been planted in the hearts of these men.

Lin Mengya knew that once their strength returned, a bloody battle would ensue.

“I’m tired. We’re not far from daybreak. Let me ask you one last question. Apart from the two of them, who else would like to leave the reactionary side and cross over to the side of progress?”

Lin Mengya, who was looking excited just a moment ago, had her expression turned cold as she stood up and spoke with an impatient tone of voice.

The farce had stopped for the moment and everyone started considering each of their own circumstances.

“Alright, since there’s nothing else, let’s just do as the plan. Men, bring them away. For the rest of the men, feed them a pill each.”

At Lin Mengya’s instruction, the remaining five men were so frightened that they almost peed in their pants.

Immediately, another three men began kowtowing at Lin Mengya and begging for her mercy.

“Alright, I shall give you a chance. Now, you will write everything you know on a piece of paper. Of course, if what you write is different, I’ll punish all five of you. If any of you write the same things, while the other write something different, I’ll punish them. Bring them away and don’t let them collude with each other.”

The look of anticipation earlier on the five men turned into one of awkwardness in this instant.

They began to be suspicious of each other, while they did not wish anyone else to write what they wrote.

However, before they left, those two men who ate the pills experienced the tragic situation once again under the influence of the advanced projection technology employed by Lin Mengya.

The wailings which sounded like he was in living hell as well as the horrible sight were deeply imprinted in their minds.

“Your Highness, I’ve sent men over to check out at the town god’s temple, but there is nothing amiss.”

Yu An had quietly walked up to Lin Mengya to report to her just when she exited from the storeroom for logs.

“That’s my guess too. Given that they’re very cautious in what they do, they would have to relay a secret signal after they succeeded in their mission. Please station men at both the Crown Prince’s Mansion and the town god’s temple to gather information. Find out everything about all the families who had moved here in the past three months.”

“Yes.”

While she could not do anything to Li Yuan, for the time being, she could only start working on the people around him.

Yu An hurried off to make arrangements of manpower.

However, before Lin Mengya could make it back into her room, a familiar dark figure appeared before her.

“Night! Why? Why are you hurt? What happened?”

Standing right before her was Ling Ye, Long Tianyu’s personal bodyguard, who followed him everywhere he went. At this moment, however, his black cloak was soaked through.

Lin Mengya could smell a strong scent of blood and when she took a step closer, she realized that was covered in blood.

“Prince Yu had been ambushed and abducted. Please help to save him, Your Highness!”

As Lin Mengya instinctively helped Ling Ye up, she was shaken to receive the shocking news he brought.

“What did you say? Prince Yu has been abducted? What happened?”