Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 262 "Returning Home with Courtesies"

Flora watched the screen for a while, then yawned—like all movies, there are highs and lows, and the two CIA agents were now in a relatively short period of calm.

They continued their "disciplined exploration," which seemed terrifying to outsiders, occasionally engaging in crazy actions to maintain their senses.

However, he still maintains basic human logic and has not completely lost his mind.

Although it may seem terrifying to outsiders, in the minds of the two CIA agents, they are still in a "rational" state, and everything they are doing is a "strategy" that can effectively counter Milton's sensory deprivation.

Therefore, no one went into a hysterical state from beginning to end.

But it will take some time before they truly go completely insane—until they are overwhelmed by anxiety, begin to doubt their own ability to escape, and realize, through various facts, that all their so-called coping strategies are ineffective.

At that point, they will abandon all strategies and take every measure in a frantic attempt to find some form of external perception of the outside world.

"It seems like they're out of ideas for the time being." Flora shifted her posture and tossed the empty bag of potato chips into the trash can. "We'll have to wait a bit... By the way, I heard from Winnie that Arsu is also procuring a batch of self-propelled artillery. What are you planning to do about that?"

Milton didn't mention that once they captured another city, they could unlock more powerful aircraft and try to suppress self-propelled artillery with air superiority. Instead, he said, "Remember those PDAs we captured? Individual digital assistants."

"You remember? What's wrong? I remember it was badly damaged, wasn't it?" Flora asked疑惑地, "Can you fix it?"

“It is highly likely that it can be repaired.” Milton gave an affirmative answer. “You know, as long as we can use this individual digital assistant skillfully, we can save at least 30 seconds, or even a minute, in the cycle of locking onto the enemy artillery position and firing back.”

Don't underestimate this short period of time; for frontline artillery like self-propelled artillery that moves rapidly, this time can be enough to determine life or death!
Generally speaking, self-propelled artillery can only fire for a little over a minute before it must begin to move.

Counter-fire will cover the area within 3 minutes.

But what a powerful weapon Milton would be if he could use "external force" to shorten the duration of this counterattack to 2 and a half minutes, or even 2 minutes?

This is also why Milton never mentioned airplanes... As the scale of the war grew larger, it was no longer possible to rely on a single plan to achieve victory; backup plans were essential.

Even if the Air Force fails to achieve its objectives, Milton will not sit idly by!

Flora understood immediately. She tapped the table: "You mean... while the enemy doesn't know we've upgraded our equipment, while they're still following the old information to execute the artillery bombardment and withdrawal plan, we'll give them a big one!"

Milton glanced at the screen next to him, then turned back to continue, "That's right, and the individual PDA has another advantage over replacing a batch of more automated artillery pieces: it's more concealed."

Replacing the artillery with self-propelled guns could also achieve a faster counterattack, but as long as the enemy isn't stupid, they'll know that Milton has switched to self-propelled guns.

“Based on the results of the battle against Badr, our artillery counterattack speed is about 3 minutes, and the enemy must know this information.” Flora made a rough estimate. “If we can really shorten the counterattack time to 2 minutes, the enemy’s self-propelled artillery probably won’t have completely left the position by then… Generally speaking, artillery positions will leave more than 30 seconds of redundancy time. Considering the execution capabilities of the Alsu government’s army, this redundancy time may be even greater.”

"40 seconds? 50 seconds? Or even a minute."

“Your method is theoretically feasible, but the firing window for the artillery is very short. If we take the worst-case scenario and the enemy withdraws two minutes after firing, strictly speaking, then the window for us will only be a few seconds.” Flora pointed this out seriously. “Moreover, we need to send the self-propelled artillery deeper into the battlefield to allow the shells to land faster.”

"The plan is feasible, but it will be a great test for our artillery."

Milton replied slowly, "Yes... So after Christmas, we need to organize more rigorous and advanced training, and we also need a reward and punishment system. Whoever is more capable will be able to operate the self-propelled artillery, and whoever will be promoted will have more opportunities to earn military merits."

"Our soldiers can't always treat guided shells like ordinary shells, and they can't always become paralyzed without my information, my intelligence, and my equipment, can they?"

"First of all, our so-called 'informatization' is very one-sided. The logistics can't keep up, and we can't fight the whole battle... Secondly, the battlefield environment is complex and varied. What if they temporarily lose all external assistance? We must have the ability to hold out until we recover."

"Everything else can be a little less devilish, but artillery is one of the most crucial factors in determining victory or defeat, and it absolutely cannot be taken lightly."

Flora nodded: "At that time, it will definitely give the Alsu army a huge shock."

"..."

While there were no new developments in the interrogation room, Milton and Flora discussed the future of military training.

Having said their piece, the two returned to their respective rooms and began their work, leaving only the doctor to monitor the two agents' vital signs while continuing to drug their food, causing them to lose their sense of direction and confuse their sense of time.

"..."

Over the next 48 hours, Milton officially saw the official U.S. statement on television.

As expected, they did not, and could not, admit the identities of the captured agents. They simply went through the motions, hoping that the Guatemalan authorities would enforce the extradition treaty and hand the two Americans over to the United States for trial.

Yes, there was no strong condemnation, no warning, it was all just routine.

After all, they were caught directly by the DEA, and there was video evidence of their arrest, with the stimulants found on them serving as irrefutable proof. In Spanish and English, there is no word for "drugs," so in other words, it was a crime of smuggling controlled substances. But in any case, this crime is extremely serious no matter where it is committed.

It is also a serious crime in the United States.

Therefore, the US authorities only want to ensure the suspect's safety while requesting extradition.

But the pressure was definitely there, which meant that Milton had less and less time left.

We must extract the intelligence we need as soon as possible, drive those two agents insane, and send them back to the United States unharmed.

In Milton's hands, death was never the cruelest punishment; if someone didn't want to die, he had plenty of ways to make living more painful than death.

Therefore, Milton decided to upgrade his interrogation methods.

Within just 24 hours, Madison's mental state began to visibly collapse—anxiety, irritability, panic, and doubt began to assault his already fragile mind.

Milton had a large "restaurant" built by a large number of criminals in the middle of nowhere, but the CIA agents were trained and had already made several trips. Madison was about to approach the border.

However, he still maintained what he considered to be "rational" and focused on managing his physical strength, ultimately choosing to give up.

But after 24 hours, this "rationality" had almost completely disappeared.

A doctor has figured out that Madison self-harmed to leave marks on his body to record time according to his biological clock... but this record has been completely distorted.

Even more frightening is that Madison has gradually stopped self-harming to record time, and has begun to engage in voluntary, unconscious self-harm without even realizing it.

This was already terrifying, visibly enough to break the enemy, but Milton still added other, even more potent drugs to their subsequent meals.

For example, phenytoin sodium, an anti-epileptic drug, can affect nerve conduction, leading to decreased vision and touch.

For example, muscle relaxants like chlorzoxazone can further lead to tactile desensitization.

Flora exclaimed, "That's ruthless!"

Milton chuckled: "Adding drugs isn't the worst part... Now there's one more thing, which is to break down their last line of defense, to let them know that everything they've done has been in vain, that their resistance has failed, and that all their so-called plans are useless."

"for example?"

Milton began, “Both of these agents chose a sensory anchor—Madison chose smell, his own excrement. But he didn’t know that we can place ‘props’; we can use smell to guide his direction.”

“He relied on smell to locate his way forward, which was the only ‘certain’ thing in all his actions, and all his self-rescue logic was based on this.”

“We can create this smell in different places so that he can gradually discover his mistakes and realize that the smell is not so reliable. We can give him psychological suggestions little by little and tell him that all his previous efforts have gone in the wrong direction.”

"..."

"The second agent seemed calmer than Madison, and he kept himself eating and sleeping normally. He even sang occasionally to entertain himself."

"But as you may have noticed, his sleep schedule is extremely irregular. Sometimes he wakes up after only half an hour of sleep and then starts looking for breakfast and doing what he's supposed to do for the day. He thinks he's slept until the next day, and the breakfast we put next to him reinforces this belief."

"Based on his daily routine, less than two days have passed, but he probably thinks at least a week has passed in the outside world..."

"He acted normally, but his breakdowns were faster than Madison's... Since he loves to sing so much, the way to deal with him is with your voice. Find a local song that Americans are unlikely to have heard of, play it to him very quietly, keeping the volume very low, and make it sound like a hallucination."

Flora took a deep breath: "How cruel."

Soon, a soft, flowing melody, aided by a specially designed resonance device, slightly penetrated the soundproofing of interrogation room number two and reached the CIA agent's ears.

He was startled the moment he heard the voice.

Then, in an incredibly strange way, I became excited, but it wasn't excitement; it was a deep-seated fear.

He seemed unable to believe that he had begun to experience such severe auditory hallucinations. He immediately got up and followed the direction from which the sound came, trying to find the source of the music and attempting to prove something.

Of course, Milton wouldn't let the music appear from only one direction. Under his control, several resonant sounds worked together, and the location of the sound source kept changing gently, making it impossible for the CIA to find the real direction.

Finally, he raised his hands, covered his ears, and lay face down on the ground.

However, the resonant sound system that had been prepared upstairs immediately started playing music as planned... The carefully selected low-frequency sound waves penetrated his palm and entered his eardrum!

Even with his ears covered, the CIA agent could still hear the music.

Already on the verge of losing his mind, he was now even more certain that he was hallucinating.

He let out a desperate scream, collapsed to the ground, covered his ears and rolled around frantically, hoping to dispel the so-called auditory hallucinations in this way.

The once seemingly normal agent suddenly transformed into a complete madman, beginning to perform meaningless acts: dancing, gagging, backflipping, performance art...

He was convinced that he was hallucinating, that all his efforts over the past few days had failed, and his will collapsed instantly. He began to try to drive the hallucination out of his ears at all costs.

Just as he was about to completely break down, Milton looked at the screen, raised his hand, and used the walkie-talkie to tell the staff to stop playing the music.

Milton wasn't acting out of kindness; he wanted to play music intermittently, different kinds of music at that, even before the CIA went to sleep...

Ultimately, Milton witnessed the moment on screen when the CIA completely collapsed.

He screamed in despair and ran around in terror, trying to escape the sound. In the process, he even managed to find the boundary of the interrogation room!
However, at this moment, the CIA agent refused to believe any of the information he received. Instead of feeling happy after hitting a wall, he became even more desperate, believing that he was not only having auditory hallucinations but also visual hallucinations.

"what!!!"

"Get away!!!"

After his self-awareness completely collapsed, this CIA agent, who had lost all anchors, suddenly opened his mouth and put his hand into his mouth—no, not in his mouth, but in his throat!
He felt as if he wanted to shove his entire arm directly into his stomach to get the most real and authentic tactile sensation.

Even more terrifying is that, under the influence of drugs and mental torment, his perception has become distorted. It took him quite a while to find the exact location of his mouth!
Meanwhile, Madison, on the other side, also completely collapsed because he doubted the credibility of the olfactory anchor... and his appearance became even more bizarre, his whole body twisting in a strange posture, becoming excited.

If he isn't stopped soon, Madison might just break his own body!

A living person was twisted in half!

When he falls asleep, his heart rate is less than 30, his breathing rate is only a few times per minute, he often sleepwalks, and after waking up, he becomes extremely excited and manic, with various indicators suddenly rising...

After waking up once again, Madison finally went completely insane.

CIA agents had already started "eating themselves," and Milton knew the critical point the doctor had mentioned had arrived. He immediately ordered, "That's enough! Stop immediately, pull them out quickly, and control them!"

The guards, already terrified, quickly opened the gate to let in the sunlight, and apprehended the CIA agents as fast as they could, taking them out.

They no longer believe the sunlight they see with their own eyes, thinking it's their own illusion and that the guards are figments of their imagination!
Even Milton couldn't help but shudder when he saw the scene.

In just over twenty seconds, Milton could no longer see the CIA's forearm that had been pulled out first—because he had stuffed his entire forearm into his mouth, deep into his stomach, without even a hint of vomiting, and was still diligently and earnestly continuing to stuff it in.

Milton took a deep breath and tentatively asked, "Can you hear me?"

The agent ignored him and continued to make all sorts of horrific attempts at self-harm, even after his entire arm had been pulled out... If he hadn't been held back, he would have eaten himself up piece by piece!
Milton thought for a moment, then said, "Are you there? Answer me a few questions, and you'll be sent back to America immediately."

The agent opened his mouth, then muttered to himself with a serious expression, "%(*)——(@()*#)"

Milton: "..."

Good news: the interrogation went very well, and the CIA is finally willing to talk. Bad news: they've suffered a mental breakdown and are no longer able to speak coherently…

(End of this chapter)