59 Bad Feeling

"Are these the ones?" the old man slowly asked.

Little Joseph lifted his swollen face, displaying a bloody nose, cast a glance at them, and grounded his teeth. "No, not them."

"It seems you won't be honest unless I teach you a lesson!" This said, the old man took a whip from a mercenary beside him and switched his wrist. "Crack!" A crisp sound of a lash echoed in midair, and frightened the boy into a shiver.

"Last chance, are these the ones?"

"No!"

The old man raised the whip and heavily lashed down on Little Joseph's back without saying anything more.

"Agghhhh..." Little Joseph screamed harshly due to extreme pain. Tears and snot were running down on his face. A boy at his age should be living under the protection of his parents. Even if he had fights with other boys, that was just children's games. This kind of flogging was far beyond the tolerance of any boy, and only a single whip brought him to the edge of collapse.

Keeley couldn't stand this anymore and shouted, "Why are you hitting the boy?!"

The old man turned his head and took a glance at her, revealing a grim smile on his lips. He grabbed Little Joseph's hair and changed his interrogation tactic. "Tell me, what did you do yesterday? Tell me every detail!"

"He was with us the whole day yesterday!" Keeley shouted angrily. "If you have anything to say, tell us. Why would a man from the Mercenary Association bully a little boy? How laughable!"

"Ha! That makes sense," the old man turned around and sneered. "Someone bust into Morgan Commercial Corp and killed all of their members yesterday! Our magician reported that the killers murdered them in an especially cruel way. They first turned the members of the corp into undead creatures, and then killed them using some magic similar to the Holy Light! If this case had happened outside the city, we would not have interfered, but it happened inside this city, so we have to find the killers. It is our duty."

The old man moved his sight and continued. "Do you have anything else to explain?"

"We did go to Morgan Commercial Corp yesterday, but when we got there, they had already become zombies," Cessacioun slowly said.

"You don't have to explain to me; my job is to simply bring all of you to the judges. You can try to convince them." The old man waved his hand, and the mercenaries around him rounded them up.

They were squeezed into a semicircle. This was the most painful situation. If the enemies were in front of them, they would fight back without hesitation. But now, they didn't know what to do. After all, their opponents were the representatives of the whole Mercenary Association!

"Wait, I want to appeal to the Elders of Isolated Cliff City!" Keeley shouted in a loud voice.

"Appeal to the Elders?"The old man laughed, and then his laughter turned into a cold expression. "Who do you think you are?!"

"The heir to Morgan Commercial Corp! I have the right to appeal to the Elders when I'm treated unfairly!" Keeley said in a mighty tone. "And, pay attention to your words. Who do you think you are!"

The old man seemed a little awe-stricken, but he immediately yelled, "What a funny joke! You said you are the heir to Morgan Commercial Corp, but do you have any proof? I might as well claim that I'm the founder of the corp! Arrest them all!"

"Listen, you've already violated the first and second articles of the Law of the Elders. I will file a lawsuit against you!" Keeley raised her voice and took out a jade seal. "This is the seal of Morgan Commercial Corp. As the heir to the corp, I have legal immunity! You have no right to arrest me!"

The mercenaries' expressions instantly changed. Obviously, they were very cautious about the law Keeley had mentioned.

The city developed itself around the law originally created by the Elders. Anyone who intended to violate it will suffer heavy punishments, and those who broke the law despite knowing them would be punished even more severely.

"Whatever crime I have committed, I have the right to see all the members of the Elders! Now, please inform them!"

The old man hesitated for a while and put on a fake smile. "All right, let me check your seal first."

"What made you think you can do that?" Keeley sneered.

"You..." The old man flushed with anger. However, most of the mercenaries around him had put away their weapons. It was impossible to arrest them by force at this point. No one wanted to bring trouble upon themselves.

"You are making this quite difficult for me," the old man said in a softened tone. "Shouldn't you at least let us check your seal?"

"Why don't you inform the Elders?" Han Jin said coldly. "It's their duty to check the authenticity of the seal, not yours."

The old man cast a glance at Han Jin and returned his sight to Keeley. "No need to bother the Elders. How about this: you stamp your seal on something, and we take it to the Elders for verification?"

Keeley hesitated. "Let me have a look," Han Jin said to her and stretched out his hand.

She took off her jade seal and put it into his hand. It was carefully crafted from silvery white jade. Both sides were engraved with countless flowing patterns. Han Jin fetched a piece of paper from his space ring, and gave it to Keeley along with the seal.

The moment she took it, a faint magic fluctuation appeared, and the jade seal became translucent. Just as it was going to touch the paper, Han Jin stuck a knife between the seal and the paper. No one could see his little trick, since Moxinke and the others were standing in front of them.

The knife found a very good place to stay. Keeley could easily identify the missing part of the seal, but for those unfamiliar with the seal, it looked perfectly complete. Was he mad? Was he trying to hide her identity? She thought to herself anxiously and doubtfully. But she still chose to believe Han Jin in the end and passed him the paper.

"Give it to them, Steelberg," Han Jin ordered with a smile.

The old man took the sealed paper from Steelberg and looked at it closely. "Hand it to the Elders for verification, Will. Be quick."

"No matter what happens next, don't act surprised, Keeley. You'd better hide behind Moxinke. Don't let them see your expression," Han Jin whispered.

"Yes," Keeley replied in a low voice.

Moxinke pulled Cessacioun deliberately as if he was going to say something to him. During those slight movements, he naturally blocked Keeyley from the front.

Han Jin let out a slight sigh. The deep hatred that had flashed in the old man's eyes when he had been interrupted had given him a deep impression. Things were not as simple as he had thought...

Not long after, the man by the name of Will came back breathlessly and whispered something to the old man, who cracked a smile. "The seal is authentic. It seems today was just a mistake, I apologize. So you are Miss Keeley? Haha... This is an affair within your corp then. I will leave it to you."

Keeley clenched her fists. A bad feeling was arising in her heart.