Chapter 51: Interrogation

Soul Suppression Division, Fifth Shen Prefecture, Third Interrogation Room.

Tang Xin sat in the interrogation chair, her hands tightly clutching the hem of her clothes, her eyes filled with tension and unease.

"Miss Tang Xin," Chu Chan asked in a deep voice, his tone cold and stern. "Around 1:30 AM, what on earth happened?"

"I... I don't know," Tang Xin replied, her voice trembling as she avoided Chu Chan's piercing gaze. "I was drunk at the time, I don't know anything."

[Beep—]

A projection popped up from the void, displaying a blurry image from inside the car.

Chu Chan's gaze landed on Tang Xin. "From the marks in the vehicle, you put up a fierce struggle."

"The illegal ride-hailing gang attempted to assault you, and you fought back, didn't you?"

"You were sober at that moment..."

Before he could finish, Tang Xin suddenly let out a shrill roar: "Then what were you people doing!"

"How dare an illegal cab gang try to intercept us!"

Her voice was sharp and piercing, venting all the grievance stored in her heart.

As the frontline fighting squad acting as external envoys, the Fortress Team had close ties with the Soul Suppression Division. Ordinary pirate cab syndicates would never dare to block them; even the top bosses would have to think twice before doing so.

Chu Chan was just about to explain—mentioning things like a sudden signal disruption, lack of precise coordinates, and severe manpower shortages.

Le Tong, the recorder standing beside him, quickly stepped in to comfort her. "It's our fault. Calm down a bit first."

"As a woman myself, I completely understand how you felt back..."

"You don't understand at all!" Tang Xin snapped her head up, her eyes brimming with tears, her body trembling slightly with agitation. "Our captain and the others almost died!"

"If it weren't for—"

Her words abruptly cut off. Seeming to realize something, she hurriedly clamped her mouth shut.

The straight-laced Chu Chan wore a cold and stern expression, his gaze burning like a torch as he stared intently at Tang Xin. "If it weren't for what?"

"Who saved you?"

"Was it 0748?"

"Where did you hide the Spirit Cards?"

A rapid-fire series of questions rained down on Tang Xin like a volley, leaving her feeling suffocated.

Watching from the side, Le Tong couldn't help but gently shake her head.

Chu Chan was fine when it came to dueling, but he was utterly clueless about romance and had zero understanding of girls.

"I don't know!" Tang Xin shouted, her hands gripping the edge of the desk tightly.

"Stop asking me..."

Le Tong sighed softly and said, "Illegal cab gangs are pretty hateful, aren't they?"

Tang Xin's emotions calmed down slightly, and she gave a slight nod.

"If those eighteen Spirit Cards aren't destroyed in time," Le Tong lowered her voice, "tomorrow there might be eighteen innocent citizens degenerating into rogue cab drivers."

"Can you understand the gravity of the situation?"

To use an improper analogy, corrupted symbiotic cards—known as Spirit Cards—were equivalent to narcotics.

"I..." Tang Xin hesitated. "I don't know."

"I was drunk at the time, I didn't know anything."

The interrogation stalled once again, and Le Tong shook her head in helplessness.

[Hum—]

A message interrupted the session; the team leader was calling for a meeting.

Investigation Team 2 of the Fifth Shen Prefecture. Under the dim, yellowish lighting, the conference room felt exceptionally oppressive.

Team Leader Langley, a tough elder sister in her thirties with heavy dark circles under her deadened eyes, was flipping through documents. Weariness was written all over her.

All twelve team members arrived one after another.

"Everyone's here..." Langley said listlessly.

Mickey was just about to take a seat.

Langley roared, "Mi—ckey!"

Mickey stood straight up as if struck by lightning.

"How many points are deducted for lending out a work card set?" Langley sighed.

"Thre... three points," Mickey stammered.

Langley nodded and said softly, "Good to know. Sit down."

"Chan," she turned her head toward Chu Chan. "You racked up two more complaints today: destruction of public property and violent law enforcement."

"Nanyang Ming just left."

"When handling cases, keep your movements restrained, okay?"

Chu Chan nodded in shame. "Yeah, my bad."

"Li—ttle Wei!" Langley looked toward a young girl wearing a black Gothic Lolita dress and sighed. "During working hours, wearing your uniform would be nice, honey."

The Lolita girl, named Victoria, remained silent. She pulled out a small placard from somewhere, on which four characters were written:

"I'll do it next time."

Looking at this bunch of subordinates, Langley felt like crying without tears. She turned her gaze to Le Tong.

Le Tong blinked in confusion and asked, "I didn't cause any trouble today, did I?"

"No trouble, but your score is second from the bottom," Langley spread her arms and cried out, "Come here, hug!"

"Yay—hug~" Le Tong set about comforting their poor, unmarried thirty-something team leader.

After a good while, Langley released the hug and let out a long sigh. "That's all for the pre-meeting criticism. Let's hear your thoughts on the case."

"Tang Xin's testimony is problematic," Chu Chan said with a serious expression. "She is clearly hiding something."

Le Tong gave a self-deprecating chuckle. "Under those circumstances... even if the killer is a demon and their methods are utterly cruel—"

"If they saved her, they're a hero."

"At least more so than latecomers like us."

"We cannot let emotions cloud our judgment," Langley reminded them, then looked at Victoria. "Have the murder weapons been found?"

Victoria held up her small placard, which read: "No."

"What did the coroner say?" Langley took a deep breath and looked at Mickey.

Mickey uploaded a report and stammered, "Team Leader, don't be scared, don't panic..."

Langley took the report and nearly suffered a heart attack on the spot.

"What is meant by—"

"Two times of death!"

"Translate that for me!"

"What does it mean—"

"Two times of death!"

Being a team leader like this was genuinely driving her insane.

When the coroner had first laid eyes on those eighteen corpses, they had gone crazy too, having never witnessed such bizarre wounds.

Layers of suspicion hung thick over the conference table. At that moment, a calm, flat voice broke the silence.

"Let me go interrogate him."

Everyone was startled and cast their gazes over.

The speaker was a young girl dressed in a white uniform with gold trim. She sat in her seat with her knees pulled up, her legs pressed slightly together, leaning forward just a fraction as if trying to shrink herself into a ball to hide from the chaos of the world.

Her head was tilted slightly upward, wandering in unknown thoughts.

She had a very cute name—Qiqi.

A textbook apathetic girl who always avoided disputes, yet here she was, actively volunteering for an interrogation?

"Well, I suppose you can," Langley started.

Qiqi turned and left her seat, heading toward the interrogation room alone. Seeing this, Mickey quickly scrambled to catch up. "I'll go take notes!"

Soul Suppression Division, Fifth Shen Prefecture, First Interrogation Room.

Li Guanqi was halfway through reading [The God-Confronting Duel] and was completely immersed in the story.

The plot told of various martial heroes across the world being tempted by the "God Cards" and rushing to vie for them, only to find themselves trapped within the ruins of the deities. To escape, they had to defeat an enemy named the Divine Pharaoh.

After enduring countless hardships, they managed to win once in the first half.

Never in their wildest dreams did they expect the boss to have a second phase!

This second phase was utterly absurd: the Divine Pharaoh would always start the second turn by gathering Exodia, guaranteeing defeat for any human going first.

Humans could only win if they went second!

But what happened if the Divine Pharaoh went first? The bastard would activate [Pot of Greed], and immediately gather Exodia upon resolution.

If you hit it with [Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring], the Divine Pharaoh would just activate a second [Pot of Greed], and then gather Exodia.

If you hit it with [Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring] and followed up with [Solemn Strike], the Divine Pharaoh would activate a third [Pot of Greed], and then chain consecutive heads on [Second Coin Toss] to gather Exodia, and so on.

"How the hell are you supposed to win this?"

He had a sliver of confidence and a tiny chance of winning against full-power Tearlaments.

This kind of nonsense? How could anyone win with their bare hands?

Li Guanqi's curiosity was ignited to the max, and he was just about to turn the page.

"Hey, stop reading," Mickey snatched the book away. "The interrogation is about to start."

"Nooooo—" Li Guanqi wailed. "I have to finish reading this duel!"