I have to get lucky right away.

Chapter 210 Interrogation

Sarutobi felt incredibly unlucky. While others were on missions where they bullied men and women and plundered their belongings, he was assigned to a place full of foreigners and aliens, and the shop owners all had powerful connections.

Others just go through the motions when carrying out missions; but when I carry out a mission, I always seem to run into the real deal.

But all of that is alright, at least he's still alive. But now, the problem seems to be much bigger...

After all, for a naturalized squad leader like himself to be personally received by a Hexing person who had undergone two transformations, it must be a significant matter.

The status of Hexing people is related to the number of times they have transformed. Those who have not transformed are at the bottom. In order to facilitate transformation, they have to do and learn almost every possible job. In human terms, they are newcomers who have just entered society, have no work experience, cannot rely on their parents, and have to do everything themselves.

Having undergone a transformation indicates the differentiation of talents. In human terms, it means having work experience in a certain industry and possessing considerable talent.

Those who have undergone two transformations are the experts among experts, top talents who have perfected a single skill to the highest level. Such people are pillars of their professional fields.

Even disregarding the rule that Hexing people are two levels higher than those in the concession, a second-stage Hexing person is still a captain-level talent. Add to that their alien status, and even their own old man wouldn't be qualified to ask for an audience.

Just as Sarutobi was deeply conflicted, Gara, sitting in the main seat, finally spoke:

“We already know that you successfully seized the ‘Oujinjin graffiti’ before. Now we need to confirm a few things with you about this matter.”

Hearing the other person speak fluent Japanese, Sarutobi held his breath, afraid that he might not be able to hold back and would find it hard to understand why an alien could say such things so seriously. But he knew that if he laughed, the consequences would not be something that could be resolved with a laugh.

He exhaled a long breath, the gas he had held for six seconds, and then, as seriously as possible, uttered the short but convoluted words in He Xing language:

"Please tell me."

“I understand the language of the concession. If you’re not good at Hexing dialect, you can just say this. That way, you can avoid a lot of misunderstandings caused by language habits.” Gara calmly replied in Japanese, but Sarutobi repeatedly said he dared not.

Just kidding. Although most people over twenty in Japan still use spoken Japanese due to the difficulty of learning the language, from an official perspective, Japanese is an abolished language. Even if the other party calls it the language of the concession, one absolutely cannot speak it.

So he simply tried to speak in a less fearful tone:
“My Hexing language is alright. If there’s anything you don’t understand, I can explain it to you later.”

“…” Galo shook his head, but knowing that the other party probably wouldn’t change their mind, he simply got to the point:

"First of all, do you remember what time you entered Nishi-Shinjuku Hachichome?"

"It should be 10:07 PM. I had just communicated with the captain at that time." Sarutobi recalled for a moment before answering. In fact, he remembered it very clearly, but to avoid the other party thinking that he was just making up a number, he remained silent for a moment before speaking.

"So when will we return to base?" Galo asked, ignoring the other party's ulterior motives.

"12 o'clock, yeah, that's when I called for backup. The actual withdrawal should be in 20 minutes, when the specialized forces begin to recover the target."

"But according to the information records, the weapons and ammunition you consumed were not enough to support such a long period of combat. However, judging from the wear and tear, the intensity of the battlefield far exceeded the wear and tear of your exoskeleton armor. Can you explain this?"

Gara suddenly got to the point, and Sarutobi's face paled. He thought, "Could this alien also suspect me of selling weapons, just like the captain?" But he wasn't sure.

Ultimately, arms trafficking has been happening since the Naturalized Army was established, and these lowly soldiers simply... wait...

"Do you expect me to balance the accounts? But no one told me that!"

Sarutobi felt the hairs on his body stand on end, and he even felt like crying. But this time he really didn't sell weapons, and this Hekkai didn't look like someone from the military system, so he wasn't a beneficiary of the arms deal.

Thinking to himself, "Since there's no arrangement, I don't need to take the blame for you," Sarutobi immediately said:
"I don't know. We were hallucinating at the time. We got lost for a long time, then the AI ​​judged that my consciousness was having problems and reconnected my neural signals. Then came the battle. I didn't check the time, so I don't know exactly how long we were lost or the exact time of the battle. I only know that we didn't die because the friend or foe identification system jammed the vibration effects of the guns and particle daggers."

Galo asked a few more questions, but in reality, he didn't care about the questions at all.

The notebook, filled with constant scribbling and drawing, was filled with records of Sarutobi's mental state while he was speaking.

He had questioned more than a dozen soldiers today, and their mental states were basically the same. But it was this consistency that made Gara realize that something was wrong.

Ultimately, even soldiers of the same rank should have different views on the same matter and different emotions. However, these soldiers, whether officers or privates, all had a surprisingly consistent attitude, which cannot be explained by drug side effects or illusions.

Even if they had colluded beforehand, their mental states wouldn't be so similar. Based on his experience, Galo could even tell that when they were being questioned, they were thinking exactly the same thing!

If we had to give a conclusion, it would be more plausible to say that everyone has been implanted with specific reflexes.

The problem is that there are no traces of faith left on them, nor are they mentally abnormal. Their abilities are different from the hypnosis and brainwashing abilities they collected on the battlefield, so the influence of divine power can be basically ruled out.

But the more this was the case, the more curious he became, finding it difficult to understand what had turned all these soldiers into similar "response machines."

"Do you have a template for this answer?" Galo squinted, his reptilian-like face appearing somewhat sinister.

Sarutobi shuddered and quickly shook his head, saying:
"No! I've been under surveillance since the last mission ended, and all operations were recorded in their entirety. There's no way we could have colluded!"

“I didn’t say you colluded with others, I was just asking if you’ve received any education on ‘how to think when asked something,’ hmm, something like anti-interrogation training?” Gara’s scales rose slightly, and her keen senses were fully activated.

Upon hearing this, Sarutobi shook his head vigorously and said:
“There are similar programs in military academies, but those were years ago. I’ve long forgotten what they taught. After all, we naturalized troops don’t have any secrets to be questioned. If we were captured by those rebels, we’d basically be killed on the spot. There would be no chance to use our skills…”

As Sarutobi spoke, he even trembled with excitement, but Gara's expression grew increasingly somber, because even now, his reaction was exactly the same as the others before him—although the wording was slightly different, their mental state was almost identical.

"This is really troublesome..." Gara was also a bit of a headache, but he immediately thought that he should ask a question that would not be expected under normal circumstances. However, he couldn't quickly find a suitable one for a human. Just then, he suddenly noticed the pattern on Sarutobi's collar, and his eyes lit up.

"Your shirt..."

"?" Sarutobi even thought for a moment that he had misread Japanese and mistakenly thought it was "shirt," but then he heard Gara continue:

"Is it a limited edition with the little bell as a fan support item?"

"Eh?"

(End of this chapter)