Chapter 207 – Interrogation
“Why is it you again?”
“…Heh, so it’s an old acquaintance. Hello, Iron-Blooded Inspector, we meet again.” Tu Ran sat in the center of the interrogation room on a chair, her legs crossed, and greeted him with a smile.
If one were to ignore the four-finger-thick black bracelet on her right hand, she looked as relaxed as if she were sitting on her own sofa at home.
This bracelet was placed on her by the people from the Inspection Department.
The bracelet could be remotely controlled, delivering a high-intensity electric shock that would leave the person completely paralyzed, stripping them of any ability to resist.
Not everyone who entered the interrogation room of the Inspection Department was made to wear such a bracelet. For instance, the previous two times Tu Ran had come to the Inspection Department for questioning, it hadn’t been used.
This time, however, the charges against her were too severe. She was suspected of murdering a high-ranking general, who was also the head of the Executive Department. The general was equipped with ultra-high-strength combat gear and armed with a laser gun, and it was said that he possessed some kind of special ability.
An ordinary person wouldn’t be capable of killing such an individual. As a result, Tu Ran was now considered highly dangerous, and the Inspection Department couldn’t afford to take any chances.
In response to her enthusiastic greeting, Li Fuyang hurriedly distanced himself.
“Don’t get familiar with me! I’ve only interrogated you twice; how can that make us old acquaintances?! I don’t know you at all! Not in the slightest! I’m an inspector, and you’re a suspect. The only reason I’m involved with someone like you is because of my duty! We have no relationship, none at all! No blood ties! No personal connection! No relationship at work!”
He said all this in one breath, his face turning bright red, terrified that if he spoke even a second too late, his superiors might think he was her accomplice.
From Tu Ran’s perspective, she could see his spittle flying everywhere.
Oh well, the old man was clearly terrified of her. She decided not to tease him any further.
“Oh, right, right, we’re not familiar at all. How could a mere suspect like me be familiar with an Iron-Blooded Inspector like you?”
Li Fuyang sneakily glanced at the surveillance camera in the corner of the room.
Did they hear that? He had nothing to do with her, so they shouldn’t drag him into this because of her.
Of course, Tu Ran noticed where his gaze landed. She knew very well that outside this interrogation room, where only she and Li Fuyang were present, countless eyes were watching.
“Iron-Blooded Inspector, aren’t you here to interrogate me? Let’s get started,” Tu Ran said.
“Oh, right…” Li Fuyang lowered his head to look at the files on the electronic screen. After a brief pause, he looked up fiercely. “Stop calling me Iron-Blooded Inspector!”
With so many colleagues listening outside, it was too embarrassing.
“Got it, got it. Hurry up and ask your questions,” Tu Ran urged, trying to suppress her laughter.
“Please adjust your attitude!”
“Alright.” Tu Ran wiped the smile off her face, sat up straight, and adopted a serious demeanor.
What followed was a detailed interrogation, with Li Fuyang following the pre-prepared documents. Tu Ran answered each question unhurriedly.
She firmly maintained that she had been acting under General Xie Hong’s orders to take Major Xie Wei away from the eastern zone of the Sankar Arsenal and that General Xie Hong had personally told her he was heading to support the western zone.
As for whether she had seen him actually heading to the western zone, Tu Ran shook her head, stating plainly that after receiving her orders from General Xie Hong, she immediately carried Major Xie Wei away and didn’t pay much attention to where General Xie was headed.
Regarding the simultaneous loss of signal from both her and General Xie Hong’s communicators and the internal tracking and communication devices in their helmets, Tu Ran attributed it all to the genetic monsters.
Anyway, without any surveillance footage from the time, she could make up whatever she wanted—they had no way of verifying the truth.
She also knew she wouldn’t have to face a memory reader, as another suspect would soon appear and divert the attention of the Inspection Department.
Sure enough, after Li Fuyang had been interrogating Tu Ran for an hour, a new message popped up on the electronic screen in front of him, halting his questioning.
He clicked on it and quickly skimmed through the latest update on the case, his expression shifting multiple times.
Tu Ran observed his expression closely. She knew that Xie Xu’s side had succeeded.
Her suspicions had been cleared, and the real culprit had been found.
It was another pioneer from the Pioneer Team, Zhao Yan.
The inner core removed from Xie Hong would be replaced by the [Perfect Figure] inner core Tu Ran had previously handed over to Xie Xu, which would be presented as evidence to the Inspection Department.
The outer appearance of the inner cores was identical, both shiny and pearl-like. No one could tell what special abilities they held just by looking at them.
Even Xie Xu didn’t know that Xie Hong possessed an inner core, which showed how deeply Xie Hong had hidden it. Few people knew about the core, and even fewer knew about the specific abilities it contained.
With no witnesses to refute the evidence, no one would know whether the inner core Xie Xu handed over was genuine or fake.
As for Zhao Yan, the real culprit, his body had been blown to pieces, but DNA analysis from the scene made it easy to confirm that the deceased was indeed Zhao Yan.
Xie Xu would admit to killing Zhao Yan.
Xie Xu was part of the Xie family, as was Xie Hong. Xie Xu’s act of killing Zhao Yan in a fit of rage to avenge Xie Hong made perfect sense.
Because they were both members of the Xie family, this action, though it violated some of the Federation’s laws, would likely be overlooked by the Inspection Department.
…
The real culprit was found, dealt with by the victim’s family, and the item Zhao Yan sought was returned to the family of the deceased.
A major case that had been inexplicably and smoothly resolved.
Tu Ran was released without charges.
The bracelet on her wrist was removed.
Tu Ran rubbed her wrist and smiled as she bid farewell to Li Fuyang, “I hope we never meet again.”
“Heh, you troublesome little girl, there’s no telling—we might meet again soon. But next time, I’ll definitely take sick leave and let someone else handle it. I don’t want to see you ever again,” Li Fuyang shook his head. His heart couldn’t take the constant shocks anymore.
After so many years as an inspector, Li Fuyang could tell that Tu Ran was no easy person to deal with.
He had handled many cases involving the three major conglomerates, including quite a few homicides, but this case today had been too smooth, too out of the ordinary.
One had to remember that the victim was the head of the Executive Department, a department responsible for maintaining the Federation’s law and order. It had branches in all forty-two states of the Federation and employed millions of members. As the head, Xie Hong wielded enormous power.
A man like him would surely have been a central figure in the Xie family, one of the major families.
And yet, the case had concluded so quietly? Li Fuyang’s sharp instincts sensed something unusual.
The cheeky young girl in front of him hadn’t shown a hint of panic from the moment she walked in, as if everything was under control. She must know something, or perhaps she had even played a significant role in the events.
As for the real truth, Li Fuyang didn’t want to waste brainpower figuring it out, nor did he have much interest in doing so. It was better to let things pass in a haze of confusion.
The higher-ups had chosen to turn a blind eye, so why should he worry?
He was about to retire soon, having worked diligently for half his life. He didn’t want to get caught up in anything troublesome in his old age.
