CHAPTER 43: CHAPTER 43 ANOTHER USE OF THE CONTRADICTORY CARD

"What are you going to do?" The male Protector eyed him warily.

"Nothing much. I’m going to hypnotize you."

Xia Liang quietly activated the Contradictory Card while raising a finger in front of the male Protector’s eyes.

"After a snap of my fingers, you will be hypnotized. From then on, you will only speak the truth."

SNAP.

Xia Liang snapped his fingers.

The male Protector furrowed his brow, noticing nothing unusual.

I’ve been tricked again! The male Protector gritted his teeth in annoyance. To think I’d be fooled twice by this damn guy. Just wait until I get him to the Protectors’ interrogation room. I’ll make sure he gets what’s coming to him!

As he was stewing, Xia Liang suddenly spoke up.

"What’s your name?"

The male Protector furrowed his brow, about to blurt out, "None of your damn business."

But as the words reached his lips, they transformed.

"My name is Zhang Hao."

Zhang Hao was completely baffled. What’s going on? That’s not what I meant to say at all.

"Have you ever fantasized about the female Protector beside you at night?"

Is that even a question? Since the day Yun Bing joined the Protectors’ Hall, she’s been the talk of the place. This was acknowledged by everyone in the hall. It’s no exaggeration to say that almost every young man there has fantasized about her.

But of course, such a thing couldn’t be said out loud. Zhang Hao subconsciously tried to evade the question, but his mouth spoke of its own accord.

"Of course. I even secretly took a picture of her. Every night, I take it out and..."

As Zhang Hao continued his description, Yun Bing became visibly disgusted. Her gaze toward him grew even more loathsome.

The onlooking crowd, however, listened with relish.

"Wow! What a man, he’s got the guts to say that?"

"No way, could hypnotism be real?"

"GULP... It can’t be, right?"

"Then how do you explain it? No matter the circumstances, nobody would talk about something so private, right?"

...

Amidst the crowd’s chatter, Zhang Hao finally finished speaking. He was aware of what he had just said and no longer cared about Xia Liang. He quickly spun around to face Yun Bing and hurried toward her.

"Yun Bing, listen to me, I can explain..."

"Stop right there!"

Yun Bing immediately took two steps back, her eyes filled with undisguised revulsion.

"Don’t come near me! Get away! You go back to the hall now."

Hearing Yun Bing’s words, Zhang Hao turned to glare angrily at Xia Liang.

"What did you do to me?"

Xia Liang feigned innocence with a shrug while deactivating the Contradictory Card. "Nothing, really. Like I said, I’m a Hypnotist. You didn’t believe me, so I had to prove it, right?"

As he spoke, Xia Liang checked the Contradictory Card’s status. I only used it for fifteen seconds. I still have fifty-nine minutes and forty-five seconds of use left.

"I...!"

Hearing this, Zhang Hao was momentarily at a loss for words. He had no idea Xia Liang actually possessed such an ability and had made him confess something so humiliating.

In that moment, Zhang Hao was filled with both rage and, more pressingly, worry.

Yun Bing’s father is the Head of the City’s Protectors’ Hall. By offending her, I’ll probably lose my position as a Protector. To think this guy cost me my job... The thought of killing Xia Liang flashed through his mind.

But with so many people watching, he didn’t dare do anything. He could only shoot Xia Liang a fierce glare before leaving in disgrace.

Watching Zhang Hao depart, Xia Liang stretched. His eyes then fell upon the old woman, Da Hu, and Er Pang on the ground.

He smiled playfully. "Alright, now it’s your turn. Let’s find out the truth of the matter."

With that, he walked over.

The old woman scrambled backward, shaking her head. "I don’t want to! You’re bullying the elderly!"

There was nothing to be done; Xia Liang was simply too bizarre. This time, no one tried to stop him. In fact, many people began to murmur.

"Could it be that we really did wrong the young man?"

"Auntie, what are you so afraid of? All he’s going to do is make you tell the truth."

"Yeah, if you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear."

...

Clearly, the old woman’s reaction had aroused the crowd’s suspicion.

Yun Bing, having regained her composure, even stepped forward to block the old woman’s path. "Ma’am, just let him hypnotize you. That way, he won’t be able to weasel his way out of this."

"I don’t want to! I don’t want to! Who knows what kind of harm this evil sorcery could do to my body!"

Seeing that she was cornered, the old woman covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, vainly hoping this would block Xia Liang’s hypnosis.

But as he reached her, Xia Liang just smirked. "You think you can resist my hypnosis like this?"

As he spoke, Xia Liang quietly activated the Contradictory Card again. "After I snap my fingers, you will be hypnotized by me. After that, everything you say will be the truth."

SNAP.

Xia Liang snapped his fingers. Everyone, including Yun Bing, watched him nervously.

Xia Liang spoke calmly, "Do you know those two men?"

The old woman was about to deny it without a second thought. I don’t know them. They’re just a couple of kind-hearted men.

But as the words reached her lips, they became something else entirely. "Of course I know them. They’re my sons, Da Hu and Er Pang."

WHOA!

Hearing the old woman’s admission, the crowd erupted into an uproar.

"So they did know each other!"

"I knew it! How could there be so many kind-hearted people in the world?"

"I could tell they were a group from the start."

"Pah! You were the one yelling the loudest before."

...

The onlookers quickly changed their tune.

The old woman stared in disbelief, unable to process that the confession had come from her own mouth.

"What have you done to me?" she shrieked, her eyes wide.

Xia Liang didn’t even bother answering such a pointless question. He asked lazily, "Why did you block my way just now?"

Hearing this, the old woman instinctively prepared her retort. Block your way? You’re the one who crashed into me! You damnable young man, hitting an old woman and refusing to take responsibility!

But just like before, the words that came out were what she was truly thinking. "Of course, I was trying to extort money from you! Seeing you drive such a luxury car, I figured I could get a lot. I just had to lie on the ground, and that crowd of idiots watching would believe me!"

The old woman’s words ignited the crowd’s fury.

"You old hag! What did you just say?"

"Doing something like this at your age! Aren’t you afraid of divine retribution, of dying without descendants?"

"To hell with you! So old yet so shameless, exploiting our sympathy like that!"

"I hope the Protectors punish them without mercy!"

Hearing the torrent of condemnation, the old woman and her two sons instinctively shrank back. There’s no getting out of a fifteen-day detention now.

Seeing that he had successfully cleared his name, Xia Liang was about to deactivate the precious Contradictory Card.

But then the old woman blurted out another sentence, seemingly out of nowhere. "The other things I’ve done won’t be brought up, will they?"

She had resolved to stay silent no matter what Xia Liang asked, afraid that her other deeds would be exposed. But because of that very fear, the Contradictory Card had made her speak her inner thoughts aloud.