She is a natural disaster.

Chapter 25 Torture and Forced Confessions

The boy lying in the alley behind the restaurant was wearing a waiter's uniform, and Le Bon Dupont happened to be walking out of the restaurant. It was now clear who had injured the boy.

The only person who could have seriously injured the boy was Senior Inspector Le Bon Dupont. Even if he didn't do it himself, it was most likely at his behest.

If Anastasia hadn't happened to witness this scene while waiting for the pig to run into the tree stump, it's likely that no one would have stood up for the boy.

Of course, Anastasia wasn't exactly a saint either; upholding justice was just a side effect.

"What exactly do you want?" Le Bon Dupont asked. He couldn't back down any further; if he did, the river would be waist-deep.

"That's a question I should be asking you, Inspector Dupont," Anastasia said slowly. "What are you trying to do? Are you trying to kill Montagu by diverting police resources?"

From the day he devised the plan against Montague, Le Bon Dupont anticipated the possibility of retaliation.

But Dupont was not afraid of retaliation from Montague. He had others above him who would hold up the sky if it collapsed.

Le Bon Dupont's only concern was private retaliation, but he also felt that Montague wouldn't dare send someone to assassinate him. His identity was obvious, and if a senior detective died an unnatural death, the higher-ups in the police system would not let it go.

As Dupont had predicted, Montague's pressure on the authorities was thwarted, and the Upper East Side Police Department was not punished in any way.

No private retaliation occurred, as Dupont believed that Montague, having been attacked, was too preoccupied to carry out any private revenge.

That's why Le Bon Dupont dared to go out so openly, instead of living and working at the police station like the head of the operations department.

Du Pang had privately mocked the section chief as a coward who feared death.

Arrogance brings rain, and arrogance brings disaster. Le Bon Dupont paid the price for his arrogance, and now disaster is upon him; his retribution has come.

"Draining police resources is such a hassle!"

Anastasia continued to close in, saying, "You should have just kicked open the apartment door and shot Mike Montagu dead."

"So you're here because of Montague!" Le Bon Dupont feigned surprise. "I've heard about him. The police department deeply regrets what happened to him; we failed to protect the safety of our citizens."

Dupont was feigning ignorance, trying to deceive her. He didn't know if Anastasia would fall for it, but he couldn't think of a better way for the time being.

Even if we don't fall for it, at least it can buy us time, in case reinforcements arrive!

"Is Inspector Dupont trying to tell me that the police department wasn't involved in the attack on Montague?" Anastasia asked, stopping on the shore.

"Of course! How could the police attack law-abiding citizens!" Dupont said, feigning surprise. "Mr. Bill Montague is an outstanding entrepreneur, and Mr. Mike Montague is also a promising young man—"

"But you just severely injured a waiter at the restaurant; he might be dead by now," Anastasia interrupted Dupont. "Does Inspector Dupont not consider that young waiter a citizen of Gloria?"

Anastasia snapped her fingers, as if she had suddenly thought of something.

She continued, "Ah! I see, that young waiter must have been breaking the law, wasn't he?"

Le Bon Dupont was momentarily speechless, his face turning quite grim. He had indeed tried to bluff his way through, but he didn't need Anastasia to cooperate with his performance.

"Ecclesiastes says: What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."

Anastasia recited the contents of Ecclesiastes from the Book of Ecclesiastes, and looked at Le Bon Dupont, whose face was becoming increasingly ugly; his greasy face was disgusting.

"Detective Dupont, how can I trust you? How can I believe you're protecting the citizens of Gloria and not harming them? Or are you saying that only those you approve of are citizens of Gloria?"

Now that things have come to this, trying to get away with it is definitely not going to work.

Le Bon Dupont was extremely anxious; he had delayed for so long, yet no one had passed by on the riverbank.

Du Pang, in danger, could only pin his hopes on his section chief, whom he had called before leaving the restaurant, hoping that his section chief would realize that he had been attacked.

"Are you waiting for reinforcements, Inspector Dupont?" Anastasia dashed Dupont's hopes. "This is the Old City. How long do you think it will take for someone to find us after they realize you're missing?"

Anastasia's words shattered Le Bon Dupont's last hope, as easily as popping a soap bubble.

"Okay, the Upper City Police Department did participate in the attack on Montague, but that has nothing to do with me!" Du Pang changed the subject, no longer pretending to be stupid, and began to distance himself from the matter.

Anastasia did not directly expose Le Bon Dupont's lie; she had only ever seen monkey performances in circuses, and this was the first time she had ever seen a pig performance.

"I'm telling the truth!" Du Pang deliberately put on a wronged look. "I'm just a detective, not even a section chief! To put it bluntly, I'm just a nobody who follows orders. I don't know anything."

Anastasia remained silent, constantly wondering about the identity of the person who planned the attack, why they had such power, and why the Upper City Police Department was willing to risk everything to oppose Montague.

"I was just following orders, nothing else really concerned me!" Dupont continued. "I swear to God, I really know nothing."

"Detective Du Pang, you've seen my face and know my name. Do you think you can just make up a few things and I'll let you go?"

The fat pig wasn't a monkey in a circus; his performance was anything but exciting, and Anastasia was tired of it.

"Let's just tell the truth, Inspector Du Pang, that way you'll suffer less."

Anastasia's bluntness completely extinguished all of Le Bon Dupont's hopes.

Enraged, Le Bon Dupont disregarded whether Anastasia was a Transcendent or not and charged forward with a roar.

Du Pang, yelling and shouting, threw a punch. His punch was quite powerful, but it was completely haphazard.

Anastasia kicked out from the side, sending Dupont's massive body flying into the air before he plunged into the river with a splash, getting soaked once again.

When dealing with ordinary people, Anastasia usually doesn't use her mutant power. She is very skilled, and even without the "Gift" buff, it is difficult for ordinary people to get close to her.

Even if someone gets close, it's fine; the carbon-based bio-corrector is enough to deter most people.

Le Bon Dupont, choking on water, struggled to his feet from the knee-deep river and charged forward again, yelling and shouting.

Anastasia stepped forward, grabbed Dupont's collar with her right hand, hooked her right leg around Dupont's right leg, and then with a sudden burst of strength, Le Bon Dupont was launched into the air again, falling headfirst into the river.

Throwing Dupont into the river wasn't enough; Anastasia grabbed Dupont's throat with her right hand and pressed him firmly into the water. Dupont struggled incessantly with his hands and feet, but no matter how much he thrashed about, he couldn't break free from Anastasia's control.

Gradually, Le Bon Dupont stopped flailing his arms and legs, looking as if he had drowned.

Knowing that Dupont was not dead, Anastasia dragged the mountain of flesh from the water and back to the shore.

Next, of course, was to wake up the unconscious Le Bon Dupont.

A fine black needle pierced the gap between Dupont's fingernails, slowly rotating within the space between the nail and the nail bed, tearing Dupont's nail bed.

The intense pain, far exceeding that of external injuries, forcibly roused the unconscious senior detective.

"You're insane! You're a lunatic!"

Du Pang writhed in agony, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.

"I'm going to kill you! Kill you!" The unbearable pain brought out Du Pang's ferocity.

"A name, Inspector Dupont, all I want is a name," Anastasia said calmly. "You just need to say that name, and you won't have to suffer anymore."

"I don't know, I really don't know! You madman!" Du Pang rolled around, shouting and cursing. "I'm going to kill you! I'll definitely kill you, you madman! You're all a bunch of madmen, damn madmen!"

Anastasia raised an eyebrow.

"Detective Du Pang, the way you roll around is so disgusting, you look like a wriggling worm, it's nauseating."

As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of black light appeared, blood splattered, and Du Pang's tendons in his hands and feet were severed.

Le Bon Dupont's scream pierced the night; the agonizing scream should have carried far, but the rumbling of the machines drowned it out.

"A name, Inspector Dupont, is just a name." Anastasia's voice remained calm. "Tell me the name of the person who ordered you."

"Madman! Bitch!" Le Bon Dupon cursed almost maniacally, as if only in this way could he slightly alleviate the physical pain.

However, cursing solves nothing and only exacerbates the pain.

Soon, Du Pang experienced excruciating pain in all ten of his fingers; his nail beds were completely torn apart, and all his nails broke off.

Le Bon Dupont no longer had the strength to curse; he couldn't utter a sound. The excruciating pain made him wish he could die immediately and end it all.

"Name, Inspector Dupont," Anastasia continued, "or just say something."

The private detective was not affected in the slightest by the cruel torture of her fellow human beings; she showed no remorse whatsoever, as if she had no empathy whatsoever.

"I don't know, I really don't know anything..." Du Pang said weakly, lying on the ground. The torture he had suffered on his fingers had left him physically and mentally exhausted. He knew he was destined not to live past tonight.

Anastasia did not continue, realizing that Dupont might really know nothing.

Detective Fat Pig is a greedy man, greedy for money, food, and women. It is difficult for someone like him to have an iron will.

"I don't know, I really don't know anything..." Du Pang kept repeating his useless answer, "Go ask the section chief... I'm just a nobody..."

Anastasia was somewhat unhappy that she had wasted her time on someone like Le Bon Dupont.

"Since you say you know nothing, I'll believe you this once," she said. "Let's ask a different question. Don't disappoint me this time, Inspector Dupont."

What could Le Bon Dupont say to refuse Anastasia's question?

Dupont had no right to decide anything; he was at the mercy of others, and the only thing he should do was tell the truth.

"When you were cursing me just now, you used the word 'you all,'" Anastasia said. "Did that refer to the Beyonders, or to me and the rest of the group?"

Le Bon Dupont was breathing heavily and his body convulsed from time to time due to unbearable pain.

"I don't know who she is. Tonight is the first time I've seen her." Du Pang had no choice but to tell the truth. "She's here to warn us... to warn us that the new city can't be thrown into chaos..."

"You don't know this either, and you don't know that either, Inspector Du Pang, if you know nothing, I'm really in a difficult position!"

Anastasia lit a cigarette, and, who had never had a problem making decisions before, she was a little stumped.

How should she deal with Le Bon Dupont?

Should we throw it into the river to feed the fish, or send it back to the Upper East Side Police Station?