Chapter 69: What Are Your Thoughts
Shanghai, Special Higher Police Affairs, Interrogation Room.
The Interrogation Room was cold, damp, and musty, with mottled bloodstains long dried on the walls, and the air filled with the smell of rust and mold.
A dim yellow light bulb hung overhead, swaying slightly with the cold wind from the ventilation pipe, casting flickering shadows on the cement floor.
In the center of the room was an iron chair, where Hu Xinmin’s hands were tightly bound with thumb-thick iron chains, his suit, inner lining, and even leather shoes taken away by the Special Higher Police Affairs interrogation personnel, leaving only a shirt on him that had long been whipped to shreds, revealing streaks of blood marks.
Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, but his gaze remained stern.
Ando Shinichi looked at the bloodstained Hu Xinmin, with a faint smile hanging on the corner of his mouth.
To his right stood a Special Higher Police Affairs doctor wearing white gloves and a white coat, while to his left was a Japanese devil whose military uniform was stripped down to just a shirt; that man looked at Hu Xinmin with the corner of his mouth slightly raised, toying with a slender steel needle in his hand.
“Mr. Hu, there’s an old saying in China: ‘He who understands the times is a great man.'”
“There are so many torture instruments here; I believe one of them will surely pry open Your Excellency’s mouth.”
“I advise you to be sensible and not struggle in vain, wasting everyone’s time.”
“Tell me, who were you meeting at Cotton Mill Road, and what intelligence were you passing?”
“Pah, damn little Japanese devil, if you’ve got the guts, give me a quick death.” Hu Xinmin spat a mouthful of bloodied spit forcefully at Ando Shinichi, but unfortunately, they were too far apart, and it didn’t reach him.
“Still stubborn, Mr. Hu. You don’t really think our Special Higher Police Affairs people are so useless that we don’t even know what thing you’ve hidden on you, do you?”
Ando Shinichi slowly took out several developed photographs and placed them in front of Hu Xinmin.
“Hiding the microfilm in the heel of the leather shoe—such a method couldn’t stump our investigation personnel.”
“I’m just curious where you got these things from.”
“Also, are you planning to target the gold shipped from Nanjing?”
Hu Xinmin saw the several photographs in front of him, and his expression immediately became somewhat unnatural.
However, he had no intention of telling the truth, instead stubbornly turning his head to the side.
“Even now, Mr. Hu still refuses to tell everything he knows.”
Ando Shinichi shook his head and said, “Then I’m sorry.”
As soon as the words fell, the Japanese devil toying with the slender steel needle in his hand slowly approached Hu Xinmin, lifted his hand whose nails had been brutally pulled out, and inserted the steel needles one by one.
“Mr. Hu, the steel needle insertion isn’t the most painful part; the real pain comes after twenty-four hours.”
“Your hands will start to swell, then fester.”
“At that point, you won’t even be able to hold chopsticks steady.”
“The ten fingers are connected to the heart.”
“Ah, ah, ah…” Each steel needle piercing into a finger elicited a piercing wail.
The ten steel needles were quickly nailed into the fingers, and Hu Xinmin immediately fainted from the pain.
But the next second, a chilling sensation instantly jolted him awake.
“Mr. Hu, this doesn’t feel good, does it?” Ando Shinichi’s voice slowly rose.
“Pah, damn…” Hu Xinmin still did not yield…
“Obstinate.” Ando Shinichi shook his head lightly: “Yamamoto, try something fresh. Mr. Hu, we have one more day; I can play with you slowly.”
“Hai.” Yamamoto grinned ferociously, took out a towel, and said slowly: “You Chinese have a punishment called ‘pasting officials’.”
“One sheet of paper, one mouthful of wine; a normal person can’t handle seven or eight sheets.”
“I think that’s too troublesome; this will do.”
With that, Yamamoto covered the wet towel over Hu Xinmin’s face, then lifted the water bucket and poured it down fiercely.
Splash, Hu Xinmin only felt a massive flow of water pouring down on him, the wet towel instantly clinging tightly to his mouth and nose.
He instinctively struggled, but his body was already tightly bound by the iron chains, unable to break free.
Water kept pouring down, his lungs began to burn, as if thousands of needles were stabbing.
“Will you talk?” Ando Shinichi’s voice came through the sound of water, distant and muffled.
Hu Xinmin couldn’t make a sound, but his body instinctively shook his head desperately in suffocation.
Soon, the water stopped, the wet towel was yanked off, and he gasped for air, coughing up water that had choked into his trachea.
“Mr. Hu, this doesn’t feel good, does it?” Ando Shinichi said slowly: “You’ve been very tough; no one has ever lasted five hours in my hands, but you’ve already held out for eight hours. I think time’s about up.”
Hu Xinmin panted heavily, still insisting through his mouth: “I… don’t know… anything.”
“Baka.” Ando Shinichi’s expression darkened, and he slightly raised his right hand, making a gesture.
Seeing the gesture, Yamamoto lifted the water bucket again, this time directly pressing Hu Xinmin’s head into the water.
In an instant, the entire world was only ice-cold and darkness; the head in the water bucket shook continuously, limbs convulsing violently, but his consciousness remained exceptionally clear.
This was the terror of water torture—it made you slowly feel death approaching while fully conscious.
One minute, two minutes; Hu Xinmin’s consciousness gradually blurred, and a glowing door seemed to appear before his eyes, just waiting for him to walk through.
“Gasp, gasp.” At that moment, a large hand suddenly pulled his head out of the water, long-missed air surging into his nasal cavity, making him breathe deeply uncontrollably.
“Major Ando, let me handle this.” The Japanese devil dressed as a military doctor who had been standing by Ando Shinichi’s side finally spoke.
“This is a good test subject; I want to know his reaction.”
As soon as the words fell, before Hu Xinmin could react, something stabbed into his neck.
In a daze, the whole world seemed to spin, to split, like a mirror constantly shattering.
In a daze, he seemed to see the contact target: “Commissioner Yu”
Shanghai, Joint Special Higher Police Affairs Commander’s Office.
Fujita Go looked at the interrogation report sent by Ando Shinichi, his brows unconsciously furrowing.
“Ando, do you think what Hu Xinmin confessed is true?”
Ando Shinichi respectfully said: “Your Excellency Fujita, I believe it’s impossible for him to give false intelligence in that state.”
“This dosage of hallucinogen is something an untrained person simply can’t resist.”
“And drug interrogation has only been used in interrogations in recent years; this Hu Xinmin shouldn’t have received such training.”
“Therefore, I believe the intelligence is absolutely reliable: the Loyal Salvation Army’s target in Shanghai is that one ton of gold shipped from Nanjing.”
“Hu Xinmin’s confession makes it very clear: it was Xiong Jiandong, the Action Team Captain of the Military Statistics Bureau in Nanjing, who obtained the transportation route map from the Economic Department Special Commissioner, photographed it, and sent it to the Shanghai Military Statistics Bureau Station.”
“Hu Xinmin was responsible for delivering the film to Yu Zuobai’s hands. Although we didn’t catch Yu Zuobai this time, I still have an idea to catch them all in one fell swoop.”
Fujita Go frowned and said: “What idea?”
Ando Shinichi said word by word: “Lure the enemy into a trap.”
