Old Mario retreated step by step under the force of the knife, until he retreated to the corner and then collapsed on the ground, trembling.
After receiving the order, the patrols immediately controlled the guards in the hall and outside, and escorted them all to the courtyard for guarding.
"Tell me why you do this."
Lawrence said, and he kicked old Mario hard on the abdomen without any courtesy. Old Mario suddenly felt a sharp pain and nausea, and opened his mouth and spit out a few mouthfuls of bile.
"Talk to me." Lawrence put the knife on old Mario's neck and stabbed the blade into the skin with a slight force.
"I said...I said...!"
Old Mario's expression was distorted by extreme pain, but after the cold blade was placed on his neck, he still cried out in the desire to survive:
"To make money! Ordinary beggars...kneel on the street and beg for just a few silver coins a day, but...children with missing arms, legs, or injuries like this can be given one gold coin a day. And...
, the people in the parliament will only give us funding if they see children like this!"
Lawrence looked back at the girl next to Little John, and then realized that one of her pants legs was empty.
"Are all the children here like this?"
Lawrence's pupils shrank, and he couldn't help but increase the strength of his hand, letting the blade sink a little under the skin, and asked sharply.
"No no!"
Old Mario closed his eyes and shouted in horror:
"Only those with weak bodies and stupid minds will be processed, and then sold to gangs to make money for them...Those with better qualities will be kept..."
"Keep it? Keep it for what?" Lawrence asked with a frown, feeling that he was about to get the answer he wanted.
However, this time, although old Mario's face was covered with snot and tears, he seemed not to have heard Lawrence's question, his eyes were tightly closed and trembling, and he said nothing.
"I'm reminding you one last time, speak to me." Lawrence put down the knife, made a fist with his left hand and hit old Mario in the stomach with all his strength.
"Woo...wow..."
After being hit hard, old Mario opened his mouth wide and retched. He couldn't even sit up and slowly fell to the ground. At the same time, he kept saying:
"I can't say, I can't say, I can't say!"
Seeing Old Mario's reaction, Lawrence had basically finalized the conclusion, so he asked directly:
"Is it related to Ciro Russell?"
Old Mario raised his head in horror and looked at Lawrence with wide eyes. His cloudy eyes were full of fear and fear, and he kept mumbling as if he had lost his mind:
"I didn't tell you, it wasn't me, it wasn't me, I didn't tell you..."
"It is indeed him."
Lawrence couldn't help but spit on the ground, and looked back at the two poor children. They were looking at old Mario and Lawrence with blank eyes, not knowing what was happening.
"Yan!"
Lawrence put the dagger back into its sheath, took a deep breath to suppress his anger, and then called Ya'an over.
"What's the matter, sir?"
"Now send someone back to the station and bring in thirty more people to search the orphanage inside and out."
"clear!"
Later, Lawrence squatted in front of old Mario, who had barely recovered a little, and said without any emotion:
"Did you hear that? No matter what the secret is, I will find out. If you cooperate enough, I can consider pardoning your crime."
The remaining pain in his abdomen still prevented Old Mario from standing up. He could only huddle on the ground, grinned miserably, and said:
"I can not..."
For this stubborn old man, Lawrence couldn't help but sigh, pinched his chin with his hand, made him look directly into his eyes, and said:
"You should know my relationship with Silla, right?"
Old Mario nodded with difficulty.
"Tomorrow, either I die or he dies. If I die, you won't survive. If he dies, you still have a chance of survival."
When old Mario heard this, he looked at Lawrence in shock with his eyes wide open. He didn't know whether he was shocked that he still had a chance to survive, or that someone was actually going to attack Ciro.
However, despite being shocked, old Mario quickly understood what Lawrence said. If Ciro knew that he had not kept the secret of the orphanage, his old life would have to go to see God.
"I...I know." Old Mario squeezed out these words painfully.
"very good."
Lawrence personally helped old Mario up and sat down, and asked:
“Where did those athletic kids end up?”
Old Mario muttered while holding his stomach:
"Don't you know everything..."
"I want you to say it."
"Yes...they were all taken away by Ciro Russell and put on a ship and taken away."
Even though he had decided to cooperate with Lawrence, old Mario still felt a chill running down his back when he said these words. You know, old Mario couldn't bear to think about the fate of those who betrayed Ciro.
"Okay, take me to see the children."
Lawrence stood up and called two patrolmen to help old Mario.
Old Mario hesitated for a while, then took off a brass key tied around his neck, and with the help of the patrolman, he walked to a hidden corner of the hall, lifted up the carpet above, and revealed a locked loose plate underneath.
Door.
"You beast... let those children live in this dark basement?" Lawrence glanced at old Mario with disgust and said.
Old Mario didn't speak. He lowered his head and slowly opened the trap door. The moment the door was opened, a pungent stench immediately surged up from below. It smelled like sweat, excrement, and rotten food.
There is even a sense of the smell of corpse mixed with it.
It wasn't until old Mario led everyone to climb down the wooden ladder that Lawrence felt as if he had arrived in hell on earth.
There was a bottomless corridor, with rooms on both sides densely packed and sealed with iron bars. Using the dim torch light, Lawrence could barely see the black figures squirming together in the room.
None of them were wearing clothes, but seven or eight people were crammed into a room of less than ten square meters. There were no beds or toilets. If they wanted to sleep at night, they had to wipe away the excrement on the ground with their hands.
Of course, many people no longer care and just lie on the floor full of excrement and spend the day in a daze.
There was a small room at the entrance, which seemed to be guarded. The walls inside were covered with rusty torture instruments. Even now, Lawrence could see a skinny boy tied naked to the bed. His right leg had already
It was gone, but there was a saw still dripping blood next to it.
"Ya'an, untie that boy." Lawrence forced himself to endure both physical and psychological discomfort and said to Ya'an.
"No need, Sir." Old Mario said carefully:
"The child died this morning. He...didn't survive the surgery."
"Operation?"
"Just... amputate his leg and treat him as a disabled person..."
.....
Lawrence only stayed down there for a few minutes before he reached the limit of his psychological and physical endurance, and came up with the equally unbearable patrolmen.
"Sir, don't we release these children immediately?" Ya'an glanced at the trap door sadly and asked.
Lawrence took a deep breath of fresh air and shook his head firmly. Now is not the time for the Holy Mother's Heart to overflow. These children will only have the best effect if they are released tomorrow. Before that, even after seeing the misery of the children, Lawrence still decided to feel wronged again.
their day.
Ya'an then asked in a low voice:
"What about old Mario? Why don't you kill him?"
"I will kill him, but not now, he is still of use to me."
Lawrence said, glancing at old Mario who was slowly climbing up the wooden ladder, a cold light flashed in his eyes.