NOVPUBChapter 142 -141 Interrogation (Part 1)
Chapter 142 -141 Interrogation (Part 1)
“…Why do I feel like you’re hiding something in your words?” As they walked on the road to Paradise Base, Zhang Zhiyuan couldn’t help but speak out.
“No, you heard wrong,” Cui Zhen’en reverted to his usual partner’s demeanor, “And I wasn’t trying to ruin your good thing. Anthony and Fiend brought the guy back.”
“That fast?”
“Yeah, it’s just that these guys were too complacent. After doing whatever they wanted at Magnificent Castle for so long, they never thought they’d see the day they’d get hit back.”
Before even entering the base gate, Zhang Zhiyuan could hear the muffled shouts.
“Actually, we’re not suited for this kind of thing,” he vaguely knew what was going to happen next.
“We don’t need to do anything; we just need to watch. This is what Mr. Xue demanded; he said we would eventually come into contact with this sort of thing. As long as we’re still a team, we have to bear it together.”
Zhang Zhiyuan didn’t speak further, just nodded his head and entered the base.
Apart from Zhou Zhi, the other players had also gathered together.
In the center of the hall, tied to a chair, was a man around fifty years old, staring at everyone with a face full of anger, his mouth stuffed with a rag, only able to make muffled noises, but judging from his bulging eyes, those were definitely not words of kindness.
This man was the manager of Lesun Company, Falachi.
He was undoubtedly a dignified person, still looking quite well-preserved even though he was over fifty, with hardly any age spots on his skin, just the shallow wrinkles of natural aging. He was dressed in fine woolen clothes, a dark blue suit with a patterned waistcoat, and a gold-rimmed pocket watch hanging in his pocket – the attire alone was worth around seventy to eighty Serriel.
“Where did you catch him?” Zhang Zhiyuan asked, unable to hold back.
“In the office of Lesun Company,” Anthony replied.
“That worked? How did you manage it?”
“Don’t ask me; it was the newbie’s doing. We just dressed up as cleaners, carried a box and waited in the corridor,” the Russian pointed at the Fiend girl.
“I didn’t do much. There were only four people in the office, two bodyguards and a secretary. After taking them down, we could bring this guy out,” Ailuodi said casually.
“Really? This person looks even younger than Zhou Zhi,” Cui Zhen’en leaned towards her colleague and muttered in the quietest voice.
“Don’t judge a player’s strength by their appearance. Who knows what kind of soul is linked here,” Zhang Zhiyuan whispered back.
At first, he thought he was the strongest, then he realized Qianyuan Meiko and Tyler were also formidable. But now, the one he was most wary of was this ‘Fiend’ newcomer – she had demonstrated maturity far beyond her age during the train hijack, and the fact that she managed to remove the train’s disguise and drive it to the hollow on her own was incredible. Adding her paid skin to it, he was certain she had a deep connection with Paradise.
“Now that we have the person, let’s start,” Xue Quan stepped forward and pulled the gag from the man’s mouth.
Two days ago, the players received notification of a new round of the game. According to Paradise’s amended rules, such summoning constituted a short-term task, with even richer points for successful completion. The content of the first short-term task was essentially a continuation of the last round of the game – dealing with potential crises and identifying the enemies plotting in secret, with a time limit of one week.
And within less than two days, there was a huge explosion in the neighboring block.
Such a blatant attack was obviously the style of a large company, but launching retaliations against all the big companies within Magnificent Castle simultaneously was somewhat unrealistic. Therefore, finding a leading malefactor was indeed necessary.
So Xue Quan proposed a plan.
That involved apprehending the person with the most suspicion and interrogating them—Lesun Company didn’t seem like the ruthless operator capable of such a massive act, but it was unlikely they were completely uninvolved, so Lesun manager Falachi became the ideal target.
After the gag was removed, he coughed twice before immediately cursing, “Do you know who I am!?”
“Of course, we naturally know who you are, since we took you from the Lesun Company building. Now, do you know who we are?” Xue Quan replied in the local language.
“Ha…” Falachi looked around at his surroundings and then stared at Xue Quan and the others for a long time, “How would I know. Money-grubbing bandits who don’t value their lives?”
Xue Quan laughed, “You’ve noticed already, this hall might not be spacious, but there are bookshelves, a round table, and even a coffee table and chairs for guests—bandits wouldn’t care so much about their hideout. You’ve guessed it, but it’s inconvenient for you to acknowledge it, because you don’t want to admit your involvement, so you’re playing dumb on purpose.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” Falachi huffed coldly.
“No problem, we will switch to a language you will understand. But before that, I must ask out of courtesy: who carried out the explosion at the Gate of Destiny pharmaceutical factory?”
“So you’re people hired by that pharmaceutical company?” he finally revealed an understanding expression, “How much are they paying? I can give you three times that amount.”
“All of Lesun.”
“What?” Falachi doubted his own ears.
“Find evidence of Lesun’s involvement, bring you all down, and everything left of Lesun will belong to us,” Xue Quan repeated slowly and deliberately.
“Haha…Hahahahaha… You believe such nonsense?” Falachi burst into laughter, “You really are… ignorant of being deceived! Even if Lesun goes bankrupt, it would be other companies with ties to Lesun that would manage the liquidation, why would it be your turn, a bunch of thugs, to divide the spoils? And with Gate of Destiny wanting Lesun completely gone, I wouldn’t say anything even if I knew… Only a fool would do something with no benefit to themselves!”
“Of course, there is a benefit… such as the chance for you to stay alive,” Xue Quan stated seriously.
“Hey, did you not hear what I said!” Falachi’s beard bristled, “The benefits promised by your employers are fake! They will never materialize! Look, release me, and I’ll give each of you one thousand Serriel, a price Gate of Destiny cannot match!”
But Xue Quan, as if he hadn’t heard his words, nodded to Anthony.
The latter turned and walked into a small room next door, and moments later, wheeled out another person with a hood over their head.
What was this?
Zhang Zhiyuan was also surprised… he only knew that Xue Quan’s plan involved capturing the person responsible from Lesun Company, but there had been no mention of capturing anyone else.
He looked at the other players and noticed that aside from Anthony and Fiend, the rest seemed just as surprised as he was.
The Russian removed the hood from the person’s head and threw them to the ground.
Falachi’s pupils constricted slightly.
“It’s this guy… causing a disturbance at the entrance of the cathedral today, I guess that was also a part of the plan,” Xue Quan looked at the man, “Speaking of which, if it wasn’t for the identification by Dr. Preton, we wouldn’t have found our way to you. To make him confess, we had to apply considerable effort.”
Just as he had said, Preton was almost beaten beyond recognition, lying on the ground, scarcely responding except for occasional convulsions, with his mouth and neck covered in large areas of blood.
“Wow… I kind of feel like Mr. Xue is the bad guy here, threatening people so adeptly…” Cui Zhen’en couldn’t help but step behind Zhang Zhiyuan.
Zhang Zhiyuan felt puzzled himself, when had they captured that troublemaking doctor as well?
