Chapter XXIII, Interrogation
Elton looked at Li De coldly, like looking at a livestock. He placed the tin box in his hand on the table in the interrogation room and slowly opened it.
When the box was opened, Li De couldn't help but gasp. He saw that inside the box were all kinds of knives, spikes, and some horror props that he had only seen in the movies. The interrogation tools were neatly placed in black foam, which made people shudder.
"I know you were classified as level 5 serious injury by the field hospital when you first returned," Alan said unhurriedly, his tone cold without a hint of fluctuation, "but fully recovered in just one day." I don't know how you did that, and I don't think you would answer even if I asked. ā
Li De began to get nervous, and he vaguely guessed what the two men in front of him were going to do. He tried to struggle, but his hands and feet were handcuffed to the metal chair. He could only twist his body back and forth, the chains of the handcuffs colliding with the chair with a metallic sound.
"I thought, let's try it out and see what you are?" Alan ignored Li De's struggles and continued, "You must know that there are bugs that can impersonate humans now, and the most common method they use is to kill people and then use their skins as a disguise. ā
"Nope! You can't do that! Li De shouted in a panic, his eyes widened like two ping-pong balls, and he watched in horror as Elton took out a scalpel from the box and slowly approached him.
"You'd better not move, my men may not be heavy!" Elton said coldly, listening to it in Li De's eyes as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
The sharp scalpel cut a cut of more than ten centimeters in Li De's left forearm, and he didn't know the depth. Because of the sharpness, Li De didn't feel pain at first, just watched the red blood seep out of the parted skin. Then, a heart-piercing pain hit.
Although Li De has also been shot and stabbed through his body by insects, this does not mean that he has a good resistance to pain. He bared his teeth and screamed, his face contorted, tears squeezing out of his eyes.
Elton made the same cut in Lid's right hand. Li De sat tremblingly on the metal chair, his teeth clenched and whining.
Elton seemed to lose interest in the scalpel and turned back to the iron box. His fingers sliced over the various knives and instruments of torture as if they were picking out treasures, and finally stopped at a finger-thick drill.
"You guys, why are you doing this?" Li De squeezed a few words out of his teeth and asked.
"Why?" Elton squinted his eyes, glanced at Li De with contempt, and asked rhetorically, "How did Vasily die?" ā
"Who? I don't know! Li De yelled.
"Don't know? I remember you being beaten half to death by him. Will you not recognize? ā
"You... Iā" Li De didn't know what to say. Vasily's death was a secret in his heart, and he would not tell it when he died.
"Don't you say? It doesn't matter, what we have is time. The corners of Elton's mouth rose slightly, and with a metallic silver drill in his hand, he walked towards Li De again.
"Ah!!h Li De let out a burst of screams. The collarbone wound that had healed last night had once again drilled a bloody hole for Elton. Red blood flowed from his shoulder blades, and the earthy yellow military uniform Li De wore was dyed red on both sides.
"Let's get another set of uniforms from outside, don't get this place dirty." Allen, who was sitting on the sidelines and watching coldly, took out a handkerchief to cover his mouth and nose, and said with a frown. With that, he stood up and walked to the door of the interrogation room.
The torture lasted all morning, and it was only at noon that Elton walked out.
Li De was still in the interrogation room, and only one gendarme brought a piece of bread and a glass of water. and took off Li De's blood-covered military uniform, and changed it with the vest inside. The blood on the vest and clothes has clotted.
In the afternoon, Alan did not come to the interrogation room. A middle-aged man with black-rimmed glasses accompanies Elton and continues to torment Lide.
The one-day interrogation made Li De very haggard. A whole day seemed like more than ten years for Li De. It was as if he had gone through eighteen layers of hell, and he was physically tormented layer by layer. At the same time, Elton asked various questions about Vasily's death from time to time, and Li De did not dare to relax mentally.
Many times, Li De gritted his teeth, wondering if he was going to bite off his tongue. But the lack of anger and unwillingness in his heart made him survive again.
It was not until the evening that Li De was carried back to the monitoring room by two military policemen and thrown on a small bed. The wounds all over his body hurt so much that Li De grinned again and gasped.
The food he was given in the evening was still a glass of water and two pieces of white bread. But Li De really can't even lift his hands now, let alone stuff bread into his mouth.
Lying on the bed, Li De thought of the dream-like scene last night. Looking out of the small skylight, the little starlight on the black night, Li De tried to feel it again, and entered that wonderful state again.
Although his body was still full of scars, although his brain was still buzzing, like countless flies flying in his brain, he still tried to empty himself and get back to the feeling of last night.
In a small, dark room at the Gendarmerie headquarters, Allen and Elton sat alongside the middle-aged man with black-rimmed glasses who had interrogated Li De in the afternoon. They gathered around a small square table and discussed.
"I think that Li De is very suspicious!" Elton said.
"How?" Alan asked, squinting at Elton.
"No matter how much I ask today, that kid just won't say anything about Vasily. As soon as Vasily was asked, he flickered. Even if you use torture, it won't work. ā
"Doesn't that mean he really doesn't know?" Alan asked, confused.
"Nope! This is exactly what shows that there is something wrong with him. The middle-aged man with glasses spoke, "If he doesn't do anything, under our pressure, he will say something casually, even if he follows our statement and admits this crime, it is reasonable." But he didn't, he just blindly avoided the problem, which shows that he has a ghost in his heart. ā
"However, he was a miner before, and now he is a senior soldier. Do you think he has the ability to keep his mouth shut in the face of our threats? Alan asked again.
"There are a lot of suspicious things about him. In the last breakout, he was the only mine soldier who came back alive, which is very abnormal. Moreover, he also suffered a gunshot wound during the breakout, indicating that it is highly likely that he fought not only with bugs, but also with people. The middle-aged man explained.
"Is it possible? He was a miner, and Vasily was a trained Marine on the front lines. And wasn't he beaten up by Vasily in the bar before? ā
"But, he just had an injury the day before yesterday and is fully recovered this morning?" Elton added, "I think there's a good chance he's that kind of guy. ā
"That kind of person!?" When the middle-aged man and Allen heard this, they showed some shocked expressions.
"If that's the case, it's more troublesome." The middle-aged man said with a gloomy face, "But since he has been made like that by us, and it is already certain that he has something to do with Vasily's death, I think I can do him directly." ā
"It can't be like that! The little female soldier who came back with him was not simple, and yesterday the general called directly to ask for release! Alan said. He was clearly jealous of Leona.
"Humph! Then no one cares about my nephew's death? He died a strange death, as you all know. None of the surviving soldiers have that record, how the hell do you say Vasily died? I don't believe that a bug can do anything to them! The middle-aged man shouted angrily, the green tendons on his forehead were furious, and he slapped the small table.
There was a thud, and the table shattered and dismembered. Alan and Elton looked at the middle-aged man and both swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
"I'm not afraid you know, I'm also a Skywalker. I also have a backstage! I don't believe I can't deal with this injured boy! Leaving a cruel word, the middle-aged man stood up and immediately left the small room.
Allen and Elton's foreheads were already soaked with sweat, and the palm of the middle-aged man just now was full of strength, if it hit them, it was estimated that it would be over.
On the third day back at the forward base, it was a special breakfast brought by Leona. This little girl seems to only make one thing, that is, to reprocess Li De's previous barbecue and bring it over. Although Li De didn't know what she had done to make the barbecue so unpalatable.
When Leona stood at the door of the surveillance room where Li De was being held, she stared at Li De lying on the bed with wide eyes.
Li De looked extremely miserable now, he basically hadn't eaten or drunk anything yesterday, and he had bled profusely. Now his face was pale, without a trace of blood. His lips were chapped, his eyes were sunken, and his short hair was messy, as if he had aged dozens of years all at once.
Alan came to the monitoring room with a burst of alarms. He looked at Leona in amazement, holding two knives in both hands. At this time, Liona was holding a war knife against the neck of a gendarme. Cold eyes looked at Allen, who was trotting all the way, and the sharp blade left a shallow blood mark on the gendarme's skin.
The gendarme was a head taller than Leona, but now he was bent his legs, his legs trembling like chaff, and his face turned white with fright. But he never dared to move his neck. Beside them, two other gendarmes were holding submachine guns in their hands, and the muzzles of the black holes were aimed at Leona.
"Stop! What are you doing!? Alan shouted. He didn't want a dead man to happen in his gendarmerie headquarters. You must know that he tortured Li De like that yesterday, and he didn't dare to kill anyone.
Finally, at Liona's insistence, Li De was sent back to the field hospital again.