"...Oh. That's... Well, seems I missed a lot. Shame," Liu lamented half-jokingly before taking a moment to interpret Torako's behavior. Her usual happy-go-lucky demeanor had since disappeared into thin air, only to be replaced by... Well, a lily of few words and covered in lots of blood, which, while slightly unnerving, made sense given all the rumors being shot around at the restaurant earlier. Xin was covered in cuts and bruises, which probably meant that he must've certainly missed one heck of a brawl. And Kyang...

Well, she looked fine.

Nodding at the summary's completion, Liu took his jian with his left hand and turned to the bandit, who was now sweating bullets as he tried to escape. Great. A scared target. Those were always the most annoying to deal with. With Xin and Torako standing to the side threateningly, Liu took a deep breath and steeled himself. He wouldn't let Kyang handle this; that poleaxe of hers would probably do little more than bash his brains in. Xin was too roughed up, which meant he probably wasn't a good pick for this. And Torako? Well... She didn't look the type to be deliberate right now. Damn, was it on him to do this? Interrogation wasn't really his thing, but if everyone else wasn't fit for the job...

Liu sighed, a look of resignation on his face as he let his right arm relax at his side. Calmly strolling up to the bandit's struggling body, the young swordsman took aim and stabbed his jian a few millimeters away from the bandit's throat.

"Tell us where your boss is. Your hideout. Right now." Liu said, glaring at him with contempt. The bandit stopped squirming for a moment and stared at Liu's face before rapidly shaking his head 'no.' Of course. What would work to get the information out of him the quickest... Fear, maybe?

"Fine. Well, here's a quick question, then," Liu asked, a smile on his face as he squatted down in front of the bandit. "You know how animals go from the wild to your plate?"

The bandit stared at him for a good few second before struggling even further. Liu sighed again; this was definitely going to be annoying.

"Okay, then. Guess you don't know. Usually, we just kill them outright, but sometimes traps are pretty useful. Like ones that bind the feet, for example."

And, very slowly, Liu sent his blade through the man's right Achilles tendon-

"But those are kinda slow."

Then went the one on his left.

"Want me to continue?"

The bandit, biting back screams and tears, glared at him in defiance. God dammit, he had to keep going? This was making him sick, but playing with the mind was much faster than indiscriminately stabbing the guy; he could pass out from blood loss that way! And, to be fair, it was getting late, so they had to get him to talk [i]fast.[/i]

"Alright, seems like we keep going. After the animal's caught and killed, we usually skin it."

And with a swift motion, Liu cut the right pants leg off of the bandit and, with it, a thin layer of skin and fat. For a moment, Liu could see the muscle. Gross. But he was pretty much the only person with the means to do something deliberate like this. Geez, why him?

"Usually the hide of an animal is durable enough so that we keep as much of it intact as possible. Usually sells for a bit. But in most cases, we start from the stomach, in the case of, say a rabbit, and work our way up to the ne-"

"OKAY! I'LL TALK! I'LL TALK! JUST STOP!"

[i]Thank the gods. This was making me sick; that was just about my limit without making me throw up. Urgh.[/i]

"So we've come to an agreement? Okay. Get talking, you piece of scum."

"O-okay! The bandit lair's to the northeast, in a large cave on Suilong Mountain! It's guarded by the boss' two most powerful henchmen, and the boss gives all his orders from there! Please, just stop!"

...
Well.
He spilled the beans fast. Convenient.

"That true?"
"Yes! I swear!"
"Alright, then we're done here."

With a scowl, Liu cleaned his blade with the bandit's shirt before sheathing it and turning to the others.

"My job's done. Please, for my sake, never let me do an interrogation again. Xin can handle this in the future, right? That was the creepiest and most disturbing thing I've had to do in my life," Liu complained before glancing back at the bandit and taking a deep breath to calm his slowly-fraying nerves.

[i]People like him deserve no mercy. They rob. They kill. They rape. This was for the best. Surely, this was for the best.[/i]

"His legs are completely worthless now, and it's getting to be late. Soon, the tigers will be upon him--and us. We can go out and search tomorrow, but, again, that's tomorrow. Should we get going?"