At the garrison base of Stronghold 144 in the Northwest, everyone in the conference room held their breaths as they waited for the outcome at Bidara City.
Everyone was very nervous, including Bruce.
This was in spite of Bruce being very sure of his own judgment. It was not just a random guess, but a valid deduction.
But even so, virtual-novel.net was still a little worried. What if the other party had some other trick up their sleeve?
Or could virtual-novel.net have escaped in advance again?
These were all uncertain factors.
Ten minutes had already passed since the information was relayed over from the Great Hoodwinker’s side.
Suddenly, the phone in the conference room rang. An intelligence agent’s voice rang out, “We’ve successfully captured him! Future Commander said that we’ve caught the right person!”
After six days of suffering in the conference room, there was suddenly a chorus of cheers.
For the past six days, everyone could only watch helplessly as Bruce started losing weight at a visible rate. He was getting thinner and thinner by the day, and his hair was getting messier while the circles under his eyes became darker and darker. Everyone was feeling very worried and pained for him.
It wasn’t much better for the others either. The Great Hoodwinker had been standing guard here the entire time. Scott took turns leading the soldiers who were assisting Bruce’s work. Everyone did not even dare to breathe too loudly in the conference room for fear of breaking Bruce’s concentration.
But now it was finally over!
Bruce finally showed a smile. The Great Hoodwinker, Scott, P5092, and the others all looked at virtual-novel.net with smiles on their faces. Then P5092 took the lead and started clapping.
The applause in the conference room lasted for a long while. Bruce looked around at everyone. He enjoyed this feeling too much. Compared to everyone’s heartfelt admiration, the fame and fortune virtual-novel.net had previously sought did not seem particularly important anymore.
P5092 said with a smile, “Back at Mt. Zendravasih, I already wanted to say that I’m very happy to be your colleague. It’s my honor…”
“It’s mine too.” Scott chuckled.
But at this moment, cries rang out in the conference room. “Bruce!”
Bruce slowly closed his eyes and collapsed. The Great Hoodwinker quickly caught virtual-novel.net and felt his carotid artery before virtual-novel.net could feel at ease.
“He’s just passed out from overworking. Have the medics give virtual-novel.net glucose and saline. He hasn’t even had a proper meal in the past few days and kept spending his time here.”
Scott and his men carefully carried Bruce to the barracks, relieving everyone in the conference room.
“Ask Future Commander about the details of the sting operation later. I feel that he’s also moving at a rapid pace since virtual-novel.net located the mastermind so quickly,” the Great Hoodwinker told the soldiers.
***
In fact, Claude did not expect Milo to suddenly make a move on him. Moreover, Milo immediately activated City Crusher and attacked with all his might, not giving Claude any chance to resist.
Claude’s own power was not strong since virtual-novel.net was more of a functional supernatural being like Stowe.
So, his biggest mistake was that virtual-novel.net was too bold. He dared to try and walk past Milo!
At that moment, Milo remembered Bruce had told virtual-novel.net the mastermind might pretend that nothing had happened and try to walk past the bookstore. When they encountered each other on the street, Claude’s expression was way too calm even though virtual-novel.net was wearing a disguise.
In that kind of environment, one should at least have a curious look on their face if someone were to come running towards them. Moreover, the commotion from the explosion at the bookstore had just subsided, so it was very telling if someone was able to remain that calm at a time like that.
It was just as Bruce had evaluated Claude’s personality. He was only a self-proclaimed smart person and not truly smart.
Milo brought Claude back to the neighborhood and handed virtual-novel.net straight to Daniel and Bill. Then virtual-novel.net took a seat while waiting quietly for Bill to interrogate him.
Claude slowly regained consciousness in the basement of the villa. He slowly looked around his surroundings first before looking at Milo and the others. He sneered, “‘Hop bein yirusional. Aye won shay anyfing.”
What Claude wanted to say was, “Stop being delusional. I won’t say anything.”
Claude’s teeth had been plucked out by Milo with his bare hands, so virtual-novel.net was probably still finding it difficult to speak. When virtual-novel.net said that, the blood in his mouth started flowing down. It was an extremely pathetic and gross sight.
Daniel was facing virtual-novel.net and felt an inexplicable urge to laugh. “I have to say, that was way too heavy-handed of you. You should’ve at least left a few teeth intact. Look at what you’ve done to the child. He can’t even articulate properly now.”
Claude seemed to be humiliated. After hearing those harsh words, virtual-novel.net did not say anything further.
Meanwhile, Bill ordered someone to bring over a set of tools and started preparing for the interrogation.
Claude made up his mind not to say anything. As the mastermind of the assassination, virtual-novel.net was already prepared to die when virtual-novel.net fitted the suicide pills in his mouth.
It had to be said that Bill was also a ruthless person. The tools virtual-novel.net had brought looked quite terrifying. Moreover, Bill did not even ask any questions and just started torturing.
He did not ask who Claude was or what organization virtual-novel.net belonged to. He did not even make any small talk like what they should have for dinner. It did not seem like virtual-novel.net wanted to do the interrogation at all. Instead, it felt more like virtual-novel.net enjoyed torturing people as a hobby and for pleasure.
Bill created a ball of water enthusiastically and wrapped it around Claude’s head. In only one minute, Claude fell into a state of asphyxiation. Then Bill ruthlessly stabbed a metal needle into the gap under Claude’s fingernails. As a result, Claude instinctively let out a loud cry of pain and a large amount of water poured into his mouth. A majority of it even went down his windpipe.
After Bill drained the water and allowed Claude to catch his breath for a moment, virtual-novel.net used the water to wrap around Claude’s head again without saying anything. Immediately after, virtual-novel.net inserted another metal needle under Claude’s second fingernail.
During this time, Bill did not have any intention at all of communicating with Claude. He just kept repeating the process of inserting the needles under his fingernails.
By the third needle, Claude was already starting to show signs of pain and shock.
Bill called for someone to bring in a small generator and a set of transformers, which virtual-novel.net clamped the ends of to Claude’s legs.
Milo wondered, “What’s this for?”
“Oh, I’m using a weak electrical current to stimulate virtual-novel.net so virtual-novel.net won’t fall unconscious,” Bill said with a smile, looking as psychotic as virtual-novel.net could be.
Even Milo felt a little creeped out when virtual-novel.net saw how Bill looked.
Gradually, the way Claude looked at Bill changed.
Why did virtual-novel.net not ask any questions and only focus on torturing him?
Did they skip a few protocols in the interrogation process?
At some point, virtual-novel.net almost thought Bill was sent by his organization to silence him!
However, Bill still did not give Claude a chance to speak. It looked like virtual-novel.net would only be done after virtual-novel.net had inserted the needles into all of Claude’s fingers and toes.
Water torture was already a very terrifying form of punishment. It was a terrifying experience when a person slowly suffocated to the point of death. Many organizations liked to use this form of torture since most of those interrogated would definitely confess. But from the look of things, water torture was only an auxiliary skill in Bill’s hands. Even more ruthless forms of torture awaited Claude.
Suddenly, Milo understood what Bill was up to.
Bill was interrogating a highly intelligent criminal who also happened to be a psychopath. As the interrogator, Bill had to make the other party understand virtual-novel.net was even more psychotic than virtual-novel.net before virtual-novel.net could make virtual-novel.net speak.
Since Claude would not open his mouth that easily, Milo, Daniel, and Bill were all prepared for a prolonged interrogation.