Chapter 224: Reality

"Immediate apprehension of Heretic 0006 Bai Liu!!!"

Su Yang took out his walkie-talkie and gave a stern order, "HQ is bringing in a large number of gas masks and extractors, the rest of the team will go to the perimeter and get the extractors to surround the whole factory."

"Make sure you keep the aroma of the spill from the explosion under control!"

The team members saluted on command and turned to leave.

The only people left in the clearing in front of the factory were a few members of the team with their guns pointed at Bai Liu, Su Yang, and Lu Yizhan, who hadn't recovered at all and was staring incredulously at Bai Liu, his clothes flapping in the night wind.

Bai Liu had the presence of mind to wave at him, without the self-consciousness that he had committed a mortal sin and needed to run away immediately, and looked at Lu Yizhan with a smile: "Remember to buy me thirty years of hotpot, Lu Yizhan."

Lu Yizhan's mind was subconsciously taken away by Bai Liu's comment, and he was tempted to ask, "Isn't it ten years of hotpot?

How come the price has suddenly gone up to thirty years?

But before Lu Yizhan could ask, Bai Liu raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, as if he could see the team members coming around behind him to arrest him, and was fully prepared to give in.

The team was stunned for less than a second, and quickly went up and cut Bai Liu's hands behind his back, cuffing his wrists with the strongest and tightest handcuffs they could find.

At this point, Su Yang's stern warning came out of a communicator slung over the shoulder of one of the team members: "Be careful not to talk to him! Team Tang said he has a strong verbal compulsion for strangers! He's very good at leading people to do things for him!"

"Is that so, Captain Su ?" The handcuffed Bai Liu approached the team member's communicator slowly and methodically, tapping the answer button with his chin before the team member could react, smiling into the communicator, "If I say I have the solution to the rose perfume on you, am I not allowed to speak either?"

The eyes of all the team members went straight to Bai Liu for a moment, and one team member couldn't resist, even stepping forward and grabbing Bai Liu by the neck to ask him what the solution was!

This is the way to save Captain Su and the 1,000 ordinary people of the Heretic's Bureau!

Su Yang's breath stopped for a second, then he gave the order in a cold voice: "Put him in mouth shackles and forbid anyone to have any personal contact with him until HQ comes to take over!"

"Of course, if you're willing to give me the location of your explosion, I can get you to talk." Su Yang eases her tone, a common psychological pressure in their questioning sessions.

Bai Liu sighed and replied honestly: "I really tried to stop it, but it was the explosion that solved everything."

Su Yang paused for less than a second: "Withhold his mouth, forbid him to communicate with anyone, and don't be guided by anything he says."

The team attached a huge ring shackle to both molars in Bai Liu's mouth, holding his upper and lower jaws open - this is normally used on heretics to prevent them from attacking or biting during transport, a bit like a dentist's forced mouthpiece.

But it looks a lot creepier than the forced openers.

Bai Liu was escorted down from the roof of the building with his mouth half open and unable to speak, and as he passed Lu Yizhan, Bai Liu gave him a sidelong glance, handcuffed behind his back, and made a figure of thirty.

And Lu Yizhan watched dumbfounded as Bai Liu crossed him and was escorted to the car.

Lu Yizhan's knees got a little weak for a moment, he took two deep breaths to steady himself and looked up at Su Yang who had followed the car up: "What are you ...... taking Bai Liu for?"

"Interrogation." Su Yang put one foot on the car and turned to look at Lu Yizhan behind him, "Leave it to the professionals, interrogate with the same means as a real interrogation of a heretic."

When he finished, he pulled the door shut.

The last time Lu Yizhan saw Bai Liu was when the man looked up at him, his eyes as still as water.

--It was as if they had expected all this.

--------

The car, which was almost at the factory, swerved at great speed under Muke's driving and headed for another road, leaving blackened tyre marks on the road.

"Bai Liu's phone is out of order, isn't it?" Muke kept his eyes above the road but leaned his whole body towards the back seat, his tone dripping with water, " Bai Liu didn't hang up when he just made that declaration, Captain Tang, you know what that means Bai Liu did for you right?"

"He should have been taken by your Heretic Authority, you'd better throw in the towel and get him out." Muke's eyes were grim to the core, "Or if anything happens to Bai Liu, I won't spare any of you in the Heresy Authority."

"That includes you, Captain Tang." Muke glanced sorrowfully into the rearview mirror.

Sitting in the back row, Tang Erda's mind is no clearer than mush now that Bai Liu's comment just now has stirred him into a tizzy - clearly the same thing as in the other timelines, but for a completely different purpose.

This makes Tang Erda wonder if the Bai six in the other timeline were also there to save the day?

But Tang Erda is quick to dismiss such thoughts - Bai six is not there to save anyone at all, the reason he is at the factory is to spectate, or rather, enjoy the explosion that is making the world fall apart.

Bai six knew when the Generation factory manager would detonate the factory, and he deliberately directed an entire third detachment to the Rose Factory at that point in time, then stood on the top floor with the best view, just to have a front row seat to see the disaster that was torturing everyone up close.

But Bai Liu was a different story - this guy actually found inspiration in this kind of thing and did what he hadn't been able to do before, using this completely unreturnable approach.

Tang Erda never imagined that there was such a direct pre-determination of her own position to threaten others to follow her lead, but this is indeed Bai Liu's style of doing things.

The process was harrowing, the means outrageous, the hustle and bustle costly - it was simply not something that a normal person could come up with.

But Bai Liu did achieve his goal.

The sirens echoed harshly in the sky over and over again, and now the lights began to come on in the houses on both sides of the street, and Tang Erda saw people running out of their homes in panic, coming down in their pyjamas and driving hurriedly towards the outskirts of the city to the sound of the sirens.

At the same time, a considerable number of heavily armed police officers arrived at the sound of the siren, and Tang Erda saw some members of the team follow.

Wearing face masks and gloves and wrapped tightly from head to toe, each holding a shield-sized electric fan-like extractor fan in a trained yard, they formed a reverse exhaust defence line around the factory five kilometres away.

The streets, which had been quiet, were much livelier in an instant.

Tang Erda maintained her basic composure, trying desperately to make sense out of this bizarre state of affairs.

"Bai Liu's mobile phone is switched off, he should be under the control of the team, Mu Sicheng's mobile phone is not in the service area, it is not clear what the situation is yet, if Bai Liu and Mu Sicheng are under the control of the Heresy Processing Bureau together, two high risk heretics, then they are likely to be transferred to the Directorate for interrogation. "

Tang Erda exhaled a long breath: "If Bai Liu covered for Mu Sicheng and was arrested alone - I know that the Bureau of Heresy has a stronghold three kilometres from here."

"- specifically to pre-process heretics about to enter the Directorate, now that the explosion hasn't happened, in order to get specific information about the explosion, Bai Liu will most likely be transferred there for interrogation by the Heresy Processing Bureau."

"What would have happened if Bai Liu had said nothing during the interrogation and continued to pretend to be the initiator of the bombing in order to ensure that the citywide retreat went ahead?" Muke asks calmly and rhetorically.

Tang Erda's voice was a bit of a panache: "...... We could use some of that on him, specifically for interrogation of heretics ......"

Muke's grip on the steering wheel tightened: "Like the Murphy Mirror, right?"

Tang Erda closed her eyes and answered arduously, "...... Yes."

Muke gritted his teeth and put his foot on the accelerator.

--------

Bai Liu was led into an interrogation room covered with a black cloth, which was removed from his face only after he was seated.

Looking across the table, Bai Liu raises an eyebrow in slight surprise.

Su Yang's eyes were heavy as she gazed into his mouth and reached for the ring that was stuck on both of Bai Liu's molars, and with a slight hook of Su Yang's fingertips, the shackle, which prevented Bai Liu from speaking, was removed from Bai Liu's face with a click.

The pressure on the gums caused blood to ooze from the corner of Bai Liu's mouth the moment the yoke was removed.

He absently licked the cold metallic blood from his mouth and looked straight at Su Yang with a smirk, "I didn't think Captain Su would be interested in questioning me a second time."

"Isn't that what you wanted to see?" Su Yang didn't dodge either, looking straight into Bai Liu's eyes, "You named me as the poisoner of the rose perfume, and used that to lure my team, if they were the ones to interrogate you, in fear of me, they could easily be led away by you catching them in the act."

Bai Liu leaned back in his seat with his hands cuffed behind his back, but the smile on his face was growing, "So you chose to come yourself to protect the team from me, Captain Su, you're a good captain."

"- reminds me of another not-so-popular captain."

"Compared to you." Bai Liu lifted his eyes and looked over at Su Yang with a smile, "He's been treated so poorly by the players, no one cares where he's been after such a big event."

Su Yang's heart sank at the thought of Tang Erda, who had been so determined to capture Bai Liu but had been questioned, and he clenched his hands in his lap, but he soon forced himself to calm down, not to be distracted by Bai Liu, and continued to confront him calmly.

The captain was right, Bai Liu was so good at manipulating people's emotions, it was like a heresy.

"You wanted me to interrogate you, and now you've achieved that." Su Yang looked straight at Bai Liu, "Now are you willing to tell me where the blast site is?"

"No, I don't want to." Bai Liu said softly.

Su Yang stared at Bai Liu with a good eye: "Why are you doing this? If you have an agenda, you can tell us, and we at the Heresy Bureau can help you achieve it in a more reasonable way."

"There's no reason for that." Bai Liu looked across at Su Yang with amusement, "If I must say, I'm just trying to show the rest of the world that there's a third spellbinding pastime besides cigarettes and alcohol."

"They should try the rose." Bai Liu leans forward and whispers with a soft smile close to Su Yang's ear. "Because it's really wonderful."

"I'm sure your captain, too, would agree with me."

Su Yang's pupils contracted slightly.