“How strange…” The man turned his head with a vacant stare and looked toward Yun Yao again. “What are you talking about now?”

Seeing this man’s methods, Yun Yao couldn’t help but swallow nervously. “I… I didn’t say anything…”

“You said that person is called Chen Junnan?” The man muttered to himself. “How strange… I really don’t understand… You clearly know, yet you refuse to tell me? Are you all planning to deceive me?”

The several young women already felt a chill running down their backs. None of them dared to say another word.

This man seemed capable of hearing what people were thinking in their hearts.

The man widened his eyes and looked at them one by one. “Do you all know that person called Chen Junnan?”

Qin Dingdong knew the situation had already spiraled beyond control and could only shout loudly, “Run quickly! It’s ‘Heavenly-Snake’!!”

Before the group could even react, vines sprouted from all their feet, binding them firmly to the ground.

“Good… good…” Heavenly-Snake nodded angrily. “So you’re all deceiving me, is that it? I treated you all with courtesy, and you deceive me? I… I…”

He seemed to want to say something harsh, but kept stuttering and couldn’t get the words out.

“Wait… wait a moment…” Lin Qin endured the severe pain in her right leg and spoke up. “You… you’re looking for Chen Junnan, right? I’ll tell you where he is… Binding us is useless…”

“What?” Heavenly-Snake stared at Lin Qin for a few seconds.

Lin Qin only felt that her very soul was about to be devoured by that gaze.

Heavenly-Snake slowly raised his eyebrows. “What does ‘Cat’ mean? And where is this ‘prison’?”

“I…” After hearing this, Lin Qin could only quickly close her eyes, trying not to let him see them. “You let all these people go… Once they leave, I’ll tell you…”

She felt that this powerful mind-reading ability must require activation conditions, and the activation condition was most likely seeing her own eyes.

“Does it need to be so troublesome…?” Heavenly-Snake turned his head to look at Qin Dingdong lying on the ground. “I’ll interrogate you one by one… Someone will eventually tell me…”

He slowly walked toward Qin Dingdong, then crouched down and asked, “Please listen to the question…”

“Listen to the question…?” Qin Dingdong was stunned. “Wait… hold on… I have an idea… Listen to me first…”

“Please answer: what does the ‘Peak-End Rule’ mean?”

“Wait, wait…” Qin Dingdong immediately panicked. “Even if you really want to ask… shouldn’t you pick something simpler…”

“Five second countdown,” Heavenly-Snake said.

“You… you fucking…” After hearing this, Qin Dingdong immediately closed her eyes. In her panic, even the giant bell behind her began to sway. She hastily muttered, “These vines are such a pity… they’re actually fake… So where are the real vines…”

A thin bead of sweat appeared on her forehead.

What an absurd belief! Emerald green vines that grew from the ground, carrying the scent of earth… could they be fake?

These were Heavenly-Snake’s methods—how could they possibly be fake?

Heavenly-Snake sighed and reached out to grasp Qin Dingdong’s neck. “Without knowledge, you are destined to die.”

His pale, slender hand slowly tightened. Qin Dingdong felt as if her tongue was about to bite through.

“I… I know!” Zhang Chenze suddenly spoke up, but her voice trembled somewhat. “She and I are together… Can I answer for her?”

Heavenly-Snake didn’t speak, but turned to look at her.

“The… the Peak-End Rule means… humans typically only remember the peak emotions and the ending emotions of a particular period…” Zhang Chenze tried hard to calm herself down. “If both of these emotions are positive, then overall that period is considered pleasant… and vice versa.”

The man-snake remained silent, but the force in his hand gradually increased.

Zhang Chenze didn’t understand what he meant and could only hurriedly add, “For example, in certain restaurants… one of the dishes tastes very good and leaves a deep impression on you, and when settling the bill you see there’s free candy at the counter… When you eat this candy, it triggers a typical ‘Peak-End Rule.’ Since both the peak state and ending state felt ‘good,’ that restaurant will have a ‘good’ impression in your mind. People will also ignore the negative factors like slow service, noisy environment, having to queue, and so on. Many shops widely apply this principle… This is called…”

Crack!

Heavenly-Snake exerted force and snapped Qin Dingdong’s neck in his hand.

Zhang Chenze hadn’t even finished speaking when her words caught in her throat.

Qin Dingdong’s entire facial features had all bulged out, and her mouth protruded with something bloody and mangled.

Qin Dingdong had known Heavenly-Snake before, but before she could say how to deal with this ruthless man, she had already perished.

Crimson blood splattered onto Heavenly-Snake’s white shirt. With a vacant expression, he shook his hand and stood up to look at Zhang Chenze.

Zhang Chenze swallowed hard, feeling that she too was about to die.

“You… are very knowledgeable,” Heavenly-Snake nodded. “I like you. Will you come be my assistant?”

“Assistant…?” Zhang Chenze slowly frowned. “You’re someone who kills people for ‘lacking knowledge.’ Who would be willing to be your assistant?”

“Don’t ignorant people deserve to die?” Heavenly-Snake looked into Zhang Chenze’s eyes. “Heaven gives each of us the same amount of time… I was able to learn so much knowledge, yet they remain so ignorant… How pitiful is that? Rather than letting them continue wasting their time, I might as well send them on their way.”

“But is that fair…?” Zhang Chenze knew she had no way out and could only muster her courage to continue. “Just because you know one more ‘Peak-End Rule’ than her, she deserves to die? You yourself know that heaven gives each of us the same amount of time. Since we didn’t use it to learn your so-called knowledge, naturally we had time to do things you haven’t done. By what right do you decide our life and death?”

Both Lin Qin and Yun Yao were frightened by Zhang Chenze’s aggressive momentum. Although what she said was true, should she be provoking Heavenly-Snake at this critical moment?

“I don’t believe it,” Heavenly-Snake sneered. “There cannot be any knowledge in this world that I don’t know.”

“Fine.” Zhang Chenze also nodded. “Please listen to the question.”

“What…?”

The surrounding people all widened their eyes looking at her.

“Counterfeiting currency—how should it be punished?” Zhang Chenze asked.

After hearing this, Heavenly-Snake pondered briefly. “This should be Article 170 of the Criminal Law. For all participants, it’s imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years. If one is a gang leader or the counterfeit amount is huge, or there are other serious circumstances, it’s imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment.”

After hearing this, Zhang Chenze swallowed nervously and could only search her mind for more obscure questions. “What if someone helps manage another person’s property… but suddenly wants to take it for themselves—how should that be judged?”

“Article 270. Imprisonment of not more than two years. If the amount is huge, imprisonment of not less than two years but not more than five years, plus a fine.” Heavenly-Snake answered again, and this time his response speed was clearly faster than the previous time. It seemed he had already figured out Zhang Chenze’s questioning strategy.

“I told you…” Heavenly-Snake slowly walked toward Zhang Chenze. “There cannot be any knowledge in this world that I don’t know. You cannot compare to me, so you’re all fools. Fools all must die.”