Chapter 137
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Chapter 137: Interrogation
In the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Interrogation Room, Shi Jin was being interrogated with the same questions repeatedly.
The questions covered various aspects, including the cases previously handled by "Master Hand," the details of her escape after theft, her methods, and the reconnaissance process.
Behind the Single Mirror, two clerks were diligently recording Shi Jin’s statements on white paper, while a recording device continuously captured every word.
This is a standard interrogation technique.
By randomizing the order of questions and asking them multiple times, it effectively prevents the suspect from lying.
Most people struggle to repeat their lies consistently, so any inconsistencies during random questioning suggest that one of the answers contains a lie.
Bright lights were directed at Shi Jin.
She had heard tales of torture before.
Many from the outer city who had been in trouble described the Interrogation Room as:
“When the bright lights are off, the electric baton is still active.”
Shi Jin, not wanting to experience the electric baton, confessed everything as if pouring beans from a bamboo tube.
At that moment, her wrists were still cuffed with handcuffs featuring a Kitten’s Paw design.
Shi Jin had noticed this detail while deep in thought but dared not ask or dwell on it, assuming it was some twisted humor of the interrogators.
Fulan showed no expression, but if she were in her cat form, she would surely furrow her nonexistent eyebrows.
This person is so weak!
Fulan didn’t reflect on her past and present subservience to Lin Qingliu; she felt that as a testable "believer," Shi Jin’s performance was indeed disappointing.
Shi Jin recounted everything she could remember, and Zhuang Mian was very satisfied with her account.
She had not yet used her Great Memory Restoration Technique, but she was not violent either; she would only physically anesthetize those who were fierce or uncooperative.
Looking at Shi Jin, who appeared quite decent but was now crying like a rain-soaked pear blossom, Zhuang Mian was not swayed by her looks, but a slight softness in her heart was touched.
She read through the interrogation records handed over by her clerks from start to finish and nodded in satisfaction.
She then looked up at Shi Jin:
“Have you confessed everything?”
“I have confessed everything.”
Shi Jin, feeling hopeless, slammed her hand on the table,
“I’ve said all that needs to be said, just give me a break.”
“Don’t be in a hurry. There’s one last question: Why did you do all this?”
Observing the somewhat dazed girl, Zhuang Mian added:
“The total amount you have embezzled has reached nearly two million information coins. As long as you didn’t commit that crime in the inner city, this amount would be enough for you to live the best life in the outer city.
“The personnel investigating your family just reported back to me that all your stolen money has been piled under your bed since you began committing crimes, and the missing amount doesn’t even exceed twenty thousand. That’s barely one percent of the total amount, and your spending over the past six months hasn’t shown any significant changes.
“That is what I don’t understand: what exactly is your reason for committing these crimes?”
Shi Jin lowered her head, her gaze drifting along the edge of the Kitten’s Paw design; it was meaningless, and she herself didn’t know how to explain it.
When did this morbid life begin?
The answer is unquestionable: it began when her mother passed away.
That was a year ago, when Shi Jin was still an ordinary repair worker, living in a family that, though incomplete, was relatively happy.
Of course, at that time, there was no such thing as "Master Hand" in Hope City.
Her mother suffered from a severe illness, so severe that after an assessment, the hospitals in Hope City decided to abandon treatment.
Shi Jin tried every possible method, but every hospital seemed to have rehearsed their responses in advance; no matter where she went, the outcome was always the same.
But Shi Jin refused to accept this.
She knew there was one place that might save her mother.
The Wager Chemical Factory, the largest black market in Hope City.
For her first trip to the black market, Shi Jin prepared as thoroughly as she could, bringing with her the majority of her family’s information coins, hoping to try her luck.
It was common to find potions in the black market, but the real challenge was determining whether they were genuine products from the research institutes or concoctions brewed by unscrupulous individuals from the outer city.
This was not uncommon. Many black market merchants who sold potions as a side business often engaged in another trade: collecting empty potion bottles bearing the logos of research institutes.
They would restore these bottles to a near-new condition, fill them with unknown substances, and sell them as new products.
Naturally, these life-and-death gamble potions came with no after-sales service.
Using the knowledge she had acquired, Shi Jin inspected numerous potions at various stalls under the glimmers of her flashlight.
Eventually, she arrived at a corner on the third floor of the black market.
The red-haired merchant’s hair spilled out from her hood; at that time, her hair was not very long, just reaching her neck.
Shi Jin used all her skills but found no repackaged potions at the merchant’s stall.
While this might also be due to her own ability to identify such things, it somehow felt more reassuring here.
“Feel free to buy; everything here is genuine from the research institutes,” the red-haired merchant said with a smile.
Shi Jin was not easily fooled; she scoffed and retorted,
“The last guy claimed his potion was taken right from the director’s desk. If I believed that, I’d be dead by now.”
“Believe it or not, I always set up my stall around here. If there’s a problem, you can come find me.”
Admittedly, though this claim was hardly credible, the red-haired woman was still the first black-hearted merchant Shi Jin had encountered who offered after-sales service.
After comparing the goods, she eventually purchased a potion from the one who offered such assurances.
The potion did have an effect; it quickly halted the worsening of Shi Jin’s mother’s condition.
But there was almost no improvement.
Thus, her mother’s condition remained stagnant, while the family’s savings slowly dwindled.
Even more distressing was that after prolonged use, her mother developed a resistance to the potion.
Shi Jin’s mother’s health was inevitably sliding into the abyss.
Shi Jin sought out the red-haired woman again, asking if she had any better potions.
The woman remained silent for a long time before finally speaking lightly:
“Yes, but even residents of the inner city cannot access such medication.”
