Chapter 277: Interrogation
“Wuwu… wuwu… wuwu…”
A shrill, piercing alarm that stopped the heart, suddenly sounded from multiple vantage points within Wutai County town!
This was not an intermittent air raid siren, but a continuous, heart-wrenching wail signifying a maximum-level emergency.
It was as if an invisible giant hand had instantly choked the life out of the entire county town!
Inside the county town, the atmosphere, which had been relatively calm moments before, was instantly torn to shreds.
Countless civilians who had just picked up their bowls, ready for a lunch break, were startled by the sudden, terrifying noise and rushed out of their houses. They looked up blankly, exchanging glances, their faces filled with shock and confusion.
“What’s going on? Have the devils attacked?” The noodle bowl in the hand of a noodle shop owner dropped to the ground with a ‘snap’, scattering the scalding noodle soup everywhere.
“That’s not right, I didn’t hear any planes!”
Before they could react, a deafening roar of engines came from the end of the street!
“Look! It’s the troops!”
Military trucks, painted with the emblem of the Blue Sky and White Sun, roared down the street like enraged beasts, kicking up clouds of dust.
The trucks were filled with soldiers with ashen faces and murderous intent. Their rifles had their safeties off, their black muzzles vigilantly pointed at the sides of the street.
Following closely behind, teams of police officers wearing red armbands rushed into the streets.
The soldiers, who were usually amiable, now seemed like different people. They roughly pushed through the crowd, using their rifle butts to smash the doors of shops that hadn’t been closed in time.
“Everyone! Go home immediately! Close your doors and windows! Do not come onto the street! Do not peek! Those who disobey… will be shot without mercy!”
The cold and ruthless command echoed through the streets, carrying an undeniable scent of blood.
Fear spread through the crowd like a plague.
People screamed, cried, and scrambled back to their homes, locking their doors tightly, trembling.
But what truly made their hearts splinter with terror was yet to come!
“Clang… clang… rumble…”
A heavy, rhythmic grinding sound approached, and the ground trembled slightly.
Several Type 24 Light Tanks and M3 Armored Reconnaissance Vehicles, their massive steel bodies crushing the bluestone pavement with a teeth-grinding sound, sped past. Their rotating turrets and menacing machine gun barrels announced to everyone that this city had entered a state of utmost military readiness!
Just then…
“Dada-da… boom… dada-da-da…”
Outside the county town, in the direction where Su Yaoyang had been attacked, came bursts of intense gunfire and artillery! Although the gunfire didn’t last long, the density and the occasional sound of hand grenade explosions clearly told everyone in the city… a fierce battle was raging outside!
In just a few minutes, the entire Wutai County had transformed from a peaceful rear base into a steel cage, completely sealed off and fraught with deadly peril!
The flames of vengeance, less than ten minutes after Su Yaoyang’s attack, swept over the hills outside Wutai County town with unstoppable force.
The agents who had just been absorbed in the frustration of a “failed” mission and the tension of retreat soon discovered that they were not facing pursuit, but a one-sided, no-contest slaughter.
“Rumble—”
The earth’s tremor moved from far to near. Dozens of M24 Chaffee light tanks formed a wide semi-circular encirclement. Their tracks crushed bushes and rocks, like steel behemoths crawling out of hell, completely cutting off the agents’ last escape route.
Following closely behind were soldiers from the Guard Battalion. Using M3 half-track armored vehicles as cover, they set up M2 Browning heavy machine guns one after another. Their dark, horrifyingly large-caliber muzzles were aimed at the area of no more than a few thousand square meters, the agents’ final hiding place.
“Open fire!”
With the order given by a company commander with bloodshot eyes, a disproportionate annihilation began.
“Dong-dong-dong…”
Dozens of vehicle-mounted and deployed heavy machine guns roared simultaneously!
12.7mm caliber bullets, with visible trails of heat, formed a curtain of death that instantly enveloped the area.
Earth slopes, rocks, trees… under the terrifying power of the heavy machine gun bullets, they were easily torn apart as if made of paper. Soil and gravel were thrown high into the air, and wood chips flew.
An agent hiding behind a rock didn’t even have time to scream before his entire body was cut in half by a burst of bullets, his upper and lower halves separating in a spray of blood, his insides and flesh scattered on the ground.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
The 57mm main guns on the Chaffee tanks also joined the feast.
With each falling shell, a massive crater erupted on the ground. Amidst the orange-red firelight, nearby agents hiding were torn to shreds by the shockwave and countless steel balls and shrapnel.
Their proud Bushido spirit and exquisite assassination skills seemed ridiculously futile and powerless in the face of this absolute, overwhelming firepower.
The entire process was less of a battle and more of an industrialized execution.
More than ten minutes later, when the gunfire and shelling finally ceased, that small area had completely transformed into a living hell.
The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder, scorched earth, and a thick, nauseating stench of blood. No intact bodies could be found on the ground; there were only scattered limbs and mangled flesh everywhere.
The bodies of a few Guard Battalion soldiers who had rushed forward too quickly and were killed by gunfire were mixed with the shattered remains of the invaders, composing this tragic scene.
…
Meanwhile, at the same time, while the flames of vengeance burned most intensely outside the city, inside the “Lao Wang Ji” breakfast shop within the city.
Dozens of action members from the Counter-Intelligence Department descended like ghosts from several trucks that had quietly parked at the street corner. Their movements were swift and silent, encircling all exits of the breakfast shop within seconds.
The leading captain kicked open the thin wooden door without hesitation!
“Don’t move!”
Accompanied by two crisp gunshots and the sound of tables, chairs, bowls, and chopsticks being smashed inside the shop, a brief and intense arrest concluded.
A few minutes later, a bruised and swollen breakfast shop owner, with bloodstains still at the corner of his mouth, was dragged out of the shop like a dead dog by several soldiers. His eyes were filled with fear and disbelief. He clearly hadn’t expected revenge to come so quickly and so brutally.
He was roughly thrown into a truck, which then started and drove away, leaving behind only a messy shop and the terrified gazes of the surrounding neighbors peering through their door cracks.
Underground at the Militia Headquarters, the Counter-Intelligence Department’s interrogation room was the most sunless place in all of Wutai County.
There were no windows, and the air was perpetually filled with a nauseating moldy smell, a mixture of rust, blood, and despair.
The walls were covered with all sorts of dense interrogation tools, from barbed leather whips and rusty pliers to branding irons of various sizes and rubber hoses used for force-feeding chili water. Each item gleamed with a cold, evil luster, silently recounting the tragedies that had occurred here.
At this moment, tied to a thick wooden pillar in the center of the interrogation room was a “thing” that was bloody and bruised, almost unrecognizable as human.
If not for the tattered upper-rank captain’s uniform of the logistics department, which was completely dyed dark red with blood, no one would have recognized this “thing” as Liang Shaobin, who had recently returned in glory with the air squadron to handle intelligence handover.
His hands were tied behind the pillar, his entire weight suspended by the ropes, his feet barely touching the ground.
His back was a mess of torn flesh, with whip marks crisscrossing deep into the bone. Fresh blood was slowly flowing from the wounds, gathering on the floor into a small pool of viscous blood.
And the one personally administering the torture to him was none other than the head of the Counter-Intelligence Department… Wei Jin.
At this moment, Wei Jin had lost the composure and confidence he usually hid beneath his gloomy demeanor.
He had taken off his officer’s jacket, wearing only a sweat-soaked white shirt with his sleeves rolled up high, revealing his muscular, vein-bulging forearms.
His hair was disheveled, his eyes bloodshot, and his gaze burned with a fire mixed with fear, madness, and cruelty.
The moment the news reached him that Su Yaoyang had been attacked on his own territory and his fate was unknown, Wei Jin felt his entire world collapse.
He knew better than anyone what this meant.
If Su Yaoyang died, he, as the director responsible for intelligence and counter-espionage work for the entire base, would be the primary culprit.
The Japanese wouldn’t even have to act; Pi Ruoyu, Li Gaoyuan, and those proud, loyal generals would drag him out first and blast him into a pulp with heavy machine guns to vent their hatred.
And if Su Yaoyang was unharmed… this outcome was even more terrifying to him.
He knew his boss too well. He wouldn’t roar or curse; he would only look at you with those calm, cold eyes. That disappointment and indifference were more chilling than any torture.
Then, waiting for him would be a punishment more painful than death.
Now, the only way to save his own life, and even preserve his position, was to pry open the traitor’s mouth in the shortest possible time, to dig out the mastermind behind it all, all the contact points, all the hidden spies… everyone on this damn chain! To give the furious boss and the officers outside who were on the verge of madness an explanation!
“Hoo… hoo…”
Wei Jin threw down the blood-soaked whip in his hand, his chest heaving violently. He walked to the corner, poured a ladle of cold water over his head, and the icy shock slightly cleared his confused mind.
He turned around and stared intently at Liang Shaobin, who was on the verge of passing out. He picked up a branding iron from the nearby glowing red charcoal brazier with his tongs.
The swastika-shaped pattern on the branding iron emitted an ominous, orange-red glow in the dim light.
He walked over step by step, his voice hoarse as if two pieces of sandpaper were rubbing together:
“Liang Shaobin… I’ll ask you one last time. Who… had you leak the Commander’s itinerary?”
