Bloody Chariot jumped through some hoops and finally stood face to face with Dean Wharton.

He passed over a document and explained his reason for him being there.

"I have all the detailed information regarding Sam's possible links to the managers and the Hub.

All the information was submitted to the city guard and the judicial system. I requested their permission to interrogate him. Since this is s perilous time, they agreed with certain conditions.

And of course, the prerequsite is that you also agree as the person in charge of the Gambler academy.

So, I am here to discuss the conditions with you.

"

Dean Wharton looked at the document and then passed it over to Ling Tian.

Bloody Chariot looked at him with a blank expression.

"I will be taking over this.

" Ling Tian said to Bloody Chariot who looked at Dean Wharton.

"You heard him. I don't want to deal with you or other elders. I handed everything related to Sam to this guy. You can take it up with him. I will just be present that's all.

"

"If you say so.

" Bloody Chariot replied and turned to Ling Tian.

Ling Tian didnt beat around the bush and just started stating his conditions.

"Alright, he is not going to stand trial. Not without his right for the trial by combat. Unless it is present, I am not going to allow him to sit for a trial.

"

"Alright, kind of expected.

" Bloody Chariot replied.

Sam has a sure-fire way to deal with the trials. That is by combat. He is stronger than all the first graders and it guarantees a hundred percent success rate of escaped any form of conviction.

It would be stupid if he didn't take it.

Ling Tian didnt reply and just went through the document.

"The truth identifying formation that you mentioned…. What kind are we talking about…

"

Just like that, the discussion went on and on for a while. Until that night.

That is stil just the second day ever since Sam's final plan got executed.

The next day, will be the third day. The day the first graders come back to the region with the wrist bands and bird puppets still with them. Bloody Chariot doesn't know what exactly the hub is going to do if such access is provided, but he needs to make sure that he handles at least a part of this, before that.

At the moment, the hub is at the lowest point in terms of surveillance. Of course, even that is better than any network that was established by the academies, he just wants to get as much work done as posible, while also testing the limits of hub at this point.

After negotiating all the terms and conditions, a little past midnight, Bloody Chariot wanted to hold the interrogation immediately.

"I am sure, Sam won't mind. But as per our conditions, you need to bring some of the other academy officials. Preferrably deans. Four of them in particular.

"

"Alright, I will bring them. I am sure they will not reject my request. You can go to the Court room with Sam and wait for us there.

I am sure, you want to give him some pep talk before we actually keep him in the hot seat.

"

Bloody Chariot left.

Ling Tian brought Sam and both of them walked to the courtroom. There was no judge and no officials, except for the captain of the city guard, who is pretty much useless for some time.

He is only there to be a direct witness of the upcoming interrogation and of course to make preparations for it.

He arranged one seat for Sam as the person who is going to be interrogated. The chair is in the middle of a special formation. The place where the judge usually sat is now filled with six chairs.

A total of six people have authority to question Sam. One of them is Dean Wharton, the other is Bloody Chariot, the people who are actually involved in the deal. Of course, Dean Wharton used Ling Tian as proxy.

Then the remaining are the Deans of the other academies. Poseidon, Apollo, HeHephaestus, Ares

These Deans came forward, or maybe those deans were the ones approved by Bloody Chariot.

Wharton is planning on staying quite the whole time, so the other five will have a go at Sam.

They can only ask questions. They cannot attack him, force him to answer questions and they cannot make him admit to something forcefully.

Apart from answering questions and hoping Sam would answer truthfully, they only have one more ally in this whole scenario.

And that is the special chair Sam is sitting on.

The chair is surrounded by a formation. A truth detection formation.

Sam wondered how it actually works as this is different from the ones he came across before. He tried to probe the formation a bit to understand it, but Ling Tian interruped him.

"I know I should have asked you if you wanted to do this. But I figured, you wouldn't want to back out of this at the moment. Also, I don't want the situation to escalate too much. This can be used to reduce the impact.

"

"I am completely fine with this. In fact, thank you. After all, I believe you thought this could be the only way for me to project some innocence on my part.

"

"Of course. But I doubt you will play along. Anyway, just don't go overboard.

The chair has a special formation. It actually connects with the soul world. Some souls or spirits whatever you want to call them, they are formed of pure energy and they can see the vibrations of a person's soul.

They are now going to act as the detectors. Whenever you lie, the soul can detect it. As long as you completely believe it is a whole-hearted truth, they won't find anything wrong with it. Of course, that is not the only function of the formation and the detectors.

Once they find out that you lied, then the formation will activate the pubishment. Your soul will hurt. And the hurt can only be relieved by either exitng the formation or by telling more and more truths.

The hurt of one lie needs at least ten truths that you say afterward to return to normal.

"

Sam was intrigued.

"What if I don't tell the truth or lie. What if I just said some neutral answer like I don't want to say it. Then what will happen?

"

"I was about to explain that as well. From what I understand and from the emperical data collected from all the experiments conducted from this formation, if you say such bull** answers to appear neutral, you will be still be effected if you are feeling guilty for it.

For example, if I asked you about your native place, which could be considered as Desolate, but you didn't want to say it and expressed it as such, the spirits will check the vibrations of your soul.

If you are feeling guilty for being from the Desolate, then you will face some punishment.

The same soul pain. The only difference is the level of hurt depends on the level of guilt.

"

"So, I am guessing the goal of this formation is to bring out the truth of the matter eventually instead of with just a couple of straight forward questions?

"

"It is. So, be careful.

Bloody Chariot in particular. He is not stranger to this game. He must have had a couple of tricks up his sleeves.

"

"Okay, I will try and be careful.

"

The pep talk was over. The deans arrived and they took their seats.

"I hope the rules have been explained to you.

"

"Yes, you can just start with the questioning.

"

"Alright, I will start with a simple one.

Where are you from? I mean, where are you born?

" Bloody Chariot asked.

"I would rather not say.

" Sam replied with a smile. The formation gave a very faint and minute glint. Sam did feel some probing to his soul. It is hard to describe, but he did feel like someone is examining him.

Bloody Chariot also looked at him keenly while the Dean-Poseidon asked.

"What is your purpose of visiting the Academy region?

"

"I came here according to the instructions of a certain person.

"

As soon as he said those words, everyone froze and looked at him. Ling Tian face-palmed. He should have guessed something like this would happen.

Bloody Chariot frowned and said.

"Who is that certain person?

"

"I am sorry, I am not in a position to say. You can ask Dean Wharton, he can answer your question. He might be the person of highest authority in the academy realm regarding that information.

"

Dean Wharton opened his mouth wide and looked at Sam.

He couldnt understand why he was dragged into this.

He noticed the other Deans looking at him, scrutinizing him as if they are asking him to spill the beans.