The lieutenant who came in with Xia You was accustomed to the peculiar setup; most people found it hard to comprehend that the prison and the workplaces of the department heads were located together.
"To be exact, the Military District Prison is at the base of the Administrative Center." After swiping his card, the lieutenant explained Xia You’s function to the guards, and they were then able to enter the Administrative Center smoothly.
The Military District Prison is an underground facility located about ten meters beneath the Administrative Center, with a ring-shaped structure. In the middle, there are two elevators separated from the rest of the Administrative Center’s elevator network: one for passengers and one for cargo.
The first level holds newly arrived inmates pending investigation. After interrogation results are in, it is decided whether to detain them on the second level or transfer them to different government prisons. The second level is for imprisoning criminals with severe sentences and dangerous inmates, including those guilty of treason who are inappropriate for regional prisons.
"What about the third level?" Xia You stepped into the elevator and immediately felt a wave of damp and chilly air rise up around her as the elevator descended. The elevator panel indicated that the Military District Prison had three levels. Yet the lieutenant accompanying her had only mentioned the second.
"I’ve been handling prison documents for so long, I’ve never heard of anyone being detained on the third level; it’s probably empty," said the leading lieutenant, looking at the elevator’s indicator light turn to black. In fact, every soldier in the military region adheres to a set work pattern, and the button for the unused third sublevel had never been pressed by anyone.
"I have heard Xixi praise your text processing skills. Your responsibility is to input text, and you have no right to ask questions during the interrogation. If you have any doubts, report to me after the interrogation," said the lieutenant before leading Xia You out of the elevator.
Members of the investigation team, jointly formed by the National Security Department and the Armed Department, were already seated in the interrogation room.
The interrogation room of the Military District Prison was much more spacious than those at police stations, making it akin to a small conference room.
Sixteen work chairs were arranged in an oval, with a chair in the center where Li Zhen sat.
When the door opened, Li Zhen did not look up. Just a few days had passed, and her spirit seemed to have utterly collapsed; she showed no reaction when the interrogation personnel entered.
Xia You deliberately chose a conspicuous seat to sit down, opening her laptop, though her fingers did not start working as they usually would.
"Tang Lizhen, regarding your collusion with arms dealers and arms trafficking, do you have any further explanation?" asked an officer from the Armed Department. After several repeats of the question, Li Zhen heavily nodded her head.
"Asking the same thing every day, same result. Such a waste of time," muttered the lieutenant who had brought Xia You, audibly dissatisfied.
The rest of the team shared his impatience. Everyone knew that relying on a single Li Zhen was impossible to successfully transfer such a large cache of arms. Their goal was to recover the lost weaponry, not to repeat the same few words to a bewildered female prisoner.
"How should I record this?" Xia You raised her voice a bit, hoping to catch Li Zhen’s attention. But Li Jie, disheveled and in an unprecedentedly terrible state, did not look up.
"The higher-ups said they would bring in a hypnotist today for a deep session to see if it can yield results. Besides, the Armed Department is in charge of the interrogation. If they can’t get any information, they’re more anxious than we are," said the lieutenant from the National Security Department, his tone tinged with schadenfreude. The two departments were working together this time out of necessity. The Armed Department, insisting on the prisoner they had captured, forcibly seized the right to interrogate. The National Security Department was relegated to a supporting role in document collection.
After waiting for over ten minutes, a hypnotist dressed in a white doctor’s coat did indeed arrive, but the person who came with the hypnotist made Xia You regret choosing such a visible seat.
"Mouse, let me do the questioning," Lu Xun had heard from his subordinates that there had been no progress in the interrogation and decided to take over personally.
As he entered, he scanned the room, spotting a glaring face not far from his eyelids, about a meter away.
"When did non-commissioned officers start freely accessing the Administrative Center?" Lu Xun, seeing Xia You, was slightly irritated, but he refrained from sending her out in front of everyone.
"Reporting to the officer, she is our best text processor at the National Security Department. The last document was incomprehensible to you, and we had to find someone else," explained the lieutenant who had brought Xia You, albeit rather stiffly.
The previous text processor—an old hand in the job—went on leave after multiple unwarranted rejections from the Armed Department, leaving the mess to the National Security Department. Mo Xixi had strongly vouched for Xia You’s text processing abilities, saying she was a "super typist" who had passed Major Lin’s assessment and been kept on.
The lieutenant thought that by swapping in a woman, things might improve, but it turned out that Lu Xun, man or woman, barraged as usual. Moreover, judging by Lu Xun’s tone, he seemed quite irate.
"Keep quiet; I’m starting the hypnosis," warned the hypnotist. At last, Li Zhen raised her head, her gaze briefly stopping in Xia You’s direction before shifting to the hypnotist. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)