Interrogation

"Why is it you again?"

"...Well, well, if it isn't an old friend. Hello there, Iron-Blooded Inspector. Fancy meeting you here." Tu Ran sat in the chair at the center of the interrogation room, legs crossed, greeting him with a smile.

If you ignored the black cuff locked around her right wrist—about the thickness of four fingers—she looked as relaxed as if she were lounging on her own sofa.

The Inspection Department had put it on her.

That cuff could be remotely triggered to deliver a high-voltage shock, instantly leaving its wearer limp and unable to resist.

Not everyone who entered the Inspection Department's interrogation room was fitted with such a cuff. When Tu Ran had come twice before for statements, they hadn't used one.

This time, her crime was too severe: suspected of killing a general-level senior officer who was also the Director of the Executive Department. He'd been equipped with high-grade combat armor and a laser gun, and reportedly possessed some kind of special ability. An ordinary person couldn't possibly kill someone like that, so Tu Ran's danger rating had shot up. The Inspection Department didn't dare take any chances.

To her enthusiastic greeting, Li Fuyang hastily distanced himself.

"Don't act familiar with me! I've only interrogated you twice—how does that make us old acquaintances? I don't know you at all! Not one bit! I'm an inspector, you're a suspect, and I only got involved with a criminal like you because of my duty! We have no relationship, no relationship whatsoever! No blood ties! No personal connection! No professional connection either!"

He spat all that out in one breath, his face flushed red, afraid that if he hesitated a moment longer, his superiors would lump him in as her accomplice.

From her angle, Tu Ran could see spit flying everywhere.

Fine, the old man was scared to death of her. She wouldn't torment him further.

"Oh, right, of course we're not close, not close at all. How could a suspect like me possibly be close with you, Iron-Blooded Inspector?"

Li Fuyang covertly glanced at the camera in the corner.

You heard that, right? He had nothing whatsoever to do with her—please, don't drag him into this because of her.

Tu Ran naturally noticed where his gaze went. She knew perfectly well that outside this room, where only she and Li Fuyang sat, countless eyes were watching.

"Iron-Blooded Inspector, aren't you going to interrogate me? Go ahead," Tu Ran said.

"Oh, right..." Li Fuyang lowered his head to look at the documents on the electronic screen. He paused, then raised his head with a fierce glare. "Don't call me Iron-Blooded Inspector!"

With all his colleagues listening outside, it was too embarrassing.

"Fine, fine. Hurry up and ask, then," Tu Ran said, stifling a laugh.

"Please take this seriously!"

"Okay." Tu Ran straightened her smile, sat up properly, and put on a cooperative demeanor.

What followed was a detailed interrogation based on pre-prepared documents. Li Fuyang asked, and Tu Ran answered calmly and unhurriedly, one by one.

She insisted that she had been under General Xie Hong's orders to escort Major Xie Wei out of the eastern sector of Sankar Arsenal, and that General Xie Hong himself had said he was going to support the western sector.

As for whether she'd seen him head west, Tu Ran shook her head and said directly that no sooner had General Xie Hong assigned her the task than she had carried Major Xie Wei away, without paying much attention to which direction the general went.

As for why the communication devices and tracking units installed in her and General Xie Hong's communicators and helmets had all lost signal at the same time, Tu Ran blamed everything on the gene monsters.

After all, they had no surveillance footage from that moment, so she could spin it however she liked—they had no way to judge truth from falsehood.

She also didn't have to wait for the Memory Reader to be used on her. Another suspect would soon appear and draw the Inspection Department's attention.

Sure enough, after Li Fuyang had been interrogating her for a full hour, a new message popped up on the electronic screen in front of him. He stopped mid-question.

He tapped on it, reading the latest progress on the case.

Li Fuyang skimmed through it quickly, his expression shifting again and again.

Watching his face, Tu Ran knew Xie Xu had come through.

Her suspicion was cleared. The real killer had been found.

It was Zhao Yan, a fellow pioneer from the Pioneer Team.

The inner core dug out of Xie Hong would be replaced by the "Perfect Body" inner core she had given Xie Xu earlier, submitted to the Inspection Department as physical evidence.

Inner cores looked identical from the outside—all shiny, pearl-like. What ability was inside, no one could tell by looking.

Even Xie Xu hadn't known Xie Hong possessed an inner core, which said just how deeply he'd hidden it. Few people knew he had one, and fewer still would know the specific ability it contained.

Dead men tell no tales. No one could tell whether or not the core Xie Xu had submitted was real or fake.

As for the killer himself, Zhao Yan's body had been blown to pieces, but DNA analysis of samples taken from the scene easily confirmed the remains were his.

Xie Xu would admit that he was the one who killed Zhao Yan.

Xie Xu was a member of the Xie family, and so was Xie Hong. Xie Xu had killed Zhao Yan in a fit of rage to avenge his family member—it was perfectly reasonable.

And because they were both Xies, even though the act violated certain federal laws, the Inspection Department would simply turn a blind eye.

...

The killer had been found, the killer had been dealt with by the victim's family, and the item the killer had sought had been returned to the victim's kin.

A major case, resolved so inexplicably and so smoothly.

Tu Ran was released without charge.

The cuff was removed from her wrist.

Tu Ran rubbed her wrist and smiled at Li Fuyang as she said goodbye. "Hope we never see each other again."

"Ha, you little troublemaker, who knows—we might meet again soon. But if you ever do come back, I'll call in sick and have someone else handle the interrogation. I never want to see you again." Li Fuyang shook his head. His poor heart couldn't take these surprises.

In all his years as an inspector, he could tell that Tu Ran was no pushover.

He'd also handled many cases involving the three great conglomerates, including more than a few homicides. But a case like today's—it was too smooth, too unusual.

Remember, the dead man was the Director of the Executive Department, the main force maintaining federal order. Its branches were spread across all forty-two states of the Federation, with a membership in the millions. As its director, Xie Hong's power went without saying.

A man like that must have been a central figure in the Xie family conglomerate as well.

And it had all ended so quietly? Li Fuyang's sharp instincts caught the unusual whiff.

The grinning young woman before him hadn't shown a trace of panic since she walked in, as if everything was under her control. She had to know something—or maybe she had a hand in it herself, even playing a significant role.

As for what the truth really was, Li Fuyang didn't want to waste brain cells on it, nor was he all that interested. Better to let it muddle on as it had.

If the higher-ups chose to look the other way, why should he agonize over it?

He was about to retire soon. He'd worked diligently for half his life; he didn't want trouble catching up with him in his old age.