Chapter 128: Interrogation

On a street in Huadu, nine Branch Three agents got out of their cars. Three held guns in the outer perimeter to prevent the criminal from resisting with gunfire, while two men wearing thick bomb suits stepped forward, opened the car door, and seeing the black man already dazed from the anesthetic shot, pulled him out.

One person drove away in the black man's car, while the others quickly returned to their four cars and efficiently sped away.

......

Around 5 AM.

In the underground interrogation room of Huadu Security Branch, Branch Three.

The black man sat in an iron chair wearing only shorts, now conscious.

In the monitoring room, Yu Jinhang, Yu Mingyuan, Su Tianyu, Bai Hongbo and others were watching the scene in the interrogation room through one-way glass.

Under normal procedures, Su Tianyu and the others definitely wouldn't have been qualified to enter the security department to watch an interrogation, but Yu Jinhang had considerable influence in Branch Three, and with one word several people were brought in.

In the interrogation room, the black man stared in disbelief at three blue-eyed, blonde interrogators.

The lead interrogator didn't waste words, directly showing the suspect the chain of evidence and exhibits for his capture via projector.

This man was actually a gang leader from the Old Mo district, himself an ex-convict with a long record who had been arrested and imprisoned multiple times for selling "gold bricks," armed robbery, and assault.

Branch Three's investigation efficiency was completely different from the police units. Through the suspect's vehicle and the identities of the dead bandits at the scene, they quickly narrowed down the rough scope of criminal suspects. Then through external operatives in the Old Mo district asking around about which black clinics had unusual activity today, they immediately found the leader who had carried out the kidnapping plan.

For special district-level institutions like the District Security Bureau, Military Intelligence Bureau, and Military-Political Special Action Department, investigating some underworld organizations was like using cannons to shoot mosquitoes. Especially places like the Old Mo district were inherently sensitive - even without incidents they were under "special attention" from special departments, so investigating them was easy. After all, the first outbreak of Zone One's independence war had started in the Old Mo district.

This captured gang leader was also an old hand, after all with two prison terms of experience, he knew how to resist interrogation.

But such "techniques" were useless before Branch Three. After the interrogator questioned several times and the suspect kept rambling off topic, avoiding the main subject, Yu Jinhang grew impatient and directly called on the radio: "Give him the drug."

At these words, a man carrying a medical box entered from outside and elegantly took out medication and syringes from the box, giving the suspect an injection amid his screams and protests.

In the monitoring room, Bai Hongbo watched in shock, asking Su Tianyu softly: "What happened to freedom? What happened to human rights? They dare to drug him before he's even convicted?"

"You dare question the freedom and human rights here?!" Su Tianyu replied sideways.

Bai Hongbo turned to look at the department they were in and immediately chose to shut up.

About a minute after the drug was injected, it began taking effect. The man who had given the injection checked the criminal's pupils and attached some equipment to monitor his heartbeat and bodily functions before nodding to the lead interrogators.

The team coordinated to begin questioning.

After being injected with the drug, the black man was somewhat fuzzy but could still respond. This drug was only available to special departments and strictly controlled in dosage. The Security Bureau internally called it "truth serum" and generally used it with auxiliary equipment.

But its effectiveness also depended on the psychological and physical qualities of the person injected. Generally people with strong will had high drug resistance, and it wasn't perfect on those with special training either.

When the interrogation began, the lead interrogator first asked where the hostages were taken, but the black man claimed that after getting them, he had handed them off and they should have already been transported out of Huadu. He didn't know exactly where they were taken or who took them.

The observer gave the lead interrogator an OK sign based on the electronic equipment feedback, meaning the suspect probably wasn't lying.

Next, the interrogator asked who had ordered them to do this.

The criminal broke out in sweat but replied almost without hesitation that this incident was arranged by Nick from the War Hammer organization, who was their gold brick supplier and had always supplied goods to the criminal's small gang. His motive for agreeing to the kidnapping was also simple - Nick had promised to waive some of his payments for goods and increase his supply volume afterward.

Guns and gold bricks were very prevalent in the Old Mo district. Increased supply volume meant more money to be made and ability to recruit more underlings, so this criminal had agreed without thinking.

The rest of the interrogation revolved around the kidnapping's planning, escape, and how the hostages were transported, but the more Su Tianyu listened, the more he felt the direction was wrong.

In the monitoring room, Su Tianyu found Yu Mingyuan and said softly: "They can't interrogate like this!"

Yu Mingyuan turned to look at him: "What's wrong?"

"The Branch Three people don't understand our conflicts with the dock gang and Old Mo, their interrogation is mainly focused on finding the hostages. But the one they caught is clearly just a gun - the people have already been moved, we definitely can't track them down now," Su Tianyu said softly. "The mastermind of this is that War Hammer organization or whatever, we should learn more about them, understand these people."

Hearing this, Yu Mingyuan nodded unconsciously: "Then how do you want to question him? I'll have Second Uncle talk to the interrogators."

"Can I go in to ask?" Su Tianyu made a very outrageous request.

......

Half an hour later.

All interrogation personnel had left, the criminal was still under the influence of the drug, and the monitoring room cameras were turned off. Then Yu Mingyuan, Su Tianyu and others walked into the interrogation room.

Su Tianyu lifted the black man's chin and asked with furrowed brows: "What level is Nick?"

"He... he's a core member of War Hammer, in charge of gold brick business in Huadu and Dragon City," the man replied.

Su Tianyu frowned at him and asked in English: "Why did Nick do this? Do you know his motive?"

The black man paused, his eyeballs moving rapidly, as if recalling before saying: "He... he seemed to say that some problems happened in Dragon City, he wanted the gangs there to resume work quickly and return to normal operation, so he found us."

"What problems happened with the Dragon City gangs? Was it because the sea business stopped? Did he say whether the Dragon City gangs asked him to do this?" Su Tianyu asked urgently, intending to find out if Xu Hu and his people were involved.

The criminal shook his head, white foam at the corners of his mouth as he replied: "Oh, he didn't mention the people there... I'm not clear. He only said Dragon City's market had been infiltrated by organizations, people were mixing in goods through his channels to sell, so he was urgent to resume work and stabilize channels. Oh, right, the gangs there... some people had contacted other suppliers."

Hearing this, Su Tianyu unconsciously frowned: "There are other suppliers trying to compete with War Hammer for business?"

......

In Dragon City, at the entrance of an abandoned air raid shelter, a car stopped and a man got out, saying softly: "Don't move, I'll go in and look."