radicalducati Chapter 47 His mouth is harder than a rock!
Chapter 47 His mouth is harder than a rock!
Feng Manna watched him panting quietly, then suddenly smiled, a chilling smile spreading across her face: "It seems you won't give a straight answer unless you get serious."
"Guards—take him back to Special Operations Headquarters for retrial!"
"yes!"
Two agents stepped forward, twisted his arms behind his back, and dragged him out, staggering.
As Zhou Xiao and Feng Manna stepped out of the hospital gate side by side, the sky suddenly changed color.
Thick clouds surged like dark waves, pressing down on the buildings and making them hunch over. The wind whipped up withered leaves, and the air was so stuffy that it made one's eardrums throb.
"Shanghai is about to change." Feng Manna looked up at the leaden-gray sky, her voice low and deep.
"Hmm." Zhou Xiao took a deep breath of the stagnant air, his gaze fixed on the gray, misty streets in the distance. "The weather is about to change."
— Zheng Yaoxian is coming soon.
The telegram arrived early: Bi Zhongliang has been executed, and Sixth Brother is on his way to Shanghai. The time is not yet determined, but the sword is already drawn.
Zhou Xiao's operation was clean and decisive. With Bi Zhongliang dead, all suspicion fell on Su Sansheng—he became a sitting duck, a scapegoat, and the most conspicuous figure in the eye of the storm.
Shanghai is indeed undergoing a transformation.
A storm is brewing deep within the clouds.
Special Operations Headquarters Dungeon.
Su Sansheng was tightly bound to the iron cross, his shoulder wound still unhealed, blood scabs mixed with sweat sticking to his collar. The sizzling sound of the branding iron burning flesh, the sharp whistling of the whip cutting through the air, the choking cough of chili water being poured into his nose, the dull sound of bamboo skewers wedging into his fingernails... each sound muffled against the stone wall, merging into intermittent sobs, like a dying beast licking its wounds in the dark.
Feng Manna and Zhou Xiao sat three steps away, expressionless, observing the situation.
Zhou Xiao stood up, his boot heels crunching over the debris on the ground, and stopped in front of him.
"Su Sansheng, can you speak now?"
"I'm not Sparrow..." His voice was hoarse like sandpaper, his breath weak, "Bi Zhongliang... I didn't kill him... Don't frame me..."
"Not going to confess?" Zhou Xiao lowered his eyes, his tone eerily calm. "Then continue."
The torture instruments were used again, and within ten minutes, Su Sansheng's body convulsed violently. Finally, his head lolled to the side, and he completely lost consciousness.
wow-
A bucket of ice-cold water was poured over his head.
He coughed as he opened his eyes, water droplets still clinging to his eyelashes, his vision blurry and swaying.
Feng Manna leaned down, her fingertips almost touching his forehead: "Confess, and I'll give you a quick death. Why force yourself to endure it?"
"I'm not a sparrow at all!" Su Sansheng roared, veins bulging in his neck like a trapped beast with its throat choked. "You're the sparrows—working in tandem, setting a trap for me, just waiting for me to fall into it!"
Zhou Xiao chuckled, leaning against the iron gate, and slowly tapped his gun holster with his fingertips: "Ha, a cornered dog will bite, it won't even choose its master when it bites? Calling Manna and me sparrows? That's utterly ridiculous."
"First, we hadn't even heard a whisper about the underground party member you captured; second, he was locked in a top-secret interrogation room, where even our men weren't assigned to guard him; third, we didn't even touch a single page of the interrogation records or the details of his confession."
"Everyone says that underground party members are tough, they'll grit their teeth even if it means going through fire and water. But you're different—back then you defected from the Military Intelligence Bureau and didn't even see the whip before crawling on your knees into Mr. Wang's house; now that you're actually on torture, you're stubbornly refusing to let go? This abnormal behavior is more like a sparrow than a sparrow."
Feng Manna raised her eyelids, already eighty percent convinced—she had personally witnessed Zhou Xiao stay up all night in the listening room, without closing his eyes. "Stubborn? Then tear his mouth open!" Her voice deepened, and she raised her hand towards the cell boss.
The whip lashed through the air, screams erupted, and the entire prison trembled.
Special Higher Police Section, Section Chief's Office.
Zhou Xiao and Feng Manna laid out a stack of evidence in front of Aoki Takeshige: ballistic comparison diagrams, bloodstain distribution diagrams at the scene, timelines of the suspect's actions, and shorthand notes of Su Sansheng's pupils contracting sharply when faced with key evidence... Each piece of evidence was meticulously matched and pointed directly to one person.
"I never imagined that Su Sansheng was a sparrow that had been lying low for so many years!" Aoki Takeshige slammed his fingers heavily on the edge of the table, his face so dark it could wring water out of it. "Has he confessed yet?"
Feng Manna replied, "My mouth is harder than a rock."
"Drag him out and execute him in secret." Aoki Takeshige's voice was as cold as ice. "Those who betray the Empire deserve to rot in the mud. Director Zhou, you are in charge of this matter."
"Yes, sir." Zhou Xiao bowed his head in response, but a barely perceptible smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
"Director Zhou's work in uncovering the mole is truly commendable." Aoki Takeshige's eyes shone brightly, his tone revealing undisguised praise. "The Empire desperately needs someone as meticulous and decisive as you. I will personally report this to General Oshima and the Ministry of Home Affairs."
"Thank you for your guidance, Section Chief." Zhou Xiao bowed, his posture humble, but his back was ramrod straight.
On the surface, this move seemed to kill three birds with one stone—eliminating hidden dangers, stabilizing morale, and cutting off leads; but more importantly, it allowed Zhou Xiao to step on Su Sansheng's shoulders and truly enter Aoki Takeshige's circle of trust. From then on, the classified files he could access, the confidential information he could deal with, and the decisions he could participate in would all rise significantly.
Of course, he never voiced this personal motive. Even he himself knew that whether Aoki Takeshige would truly impart the skill was still uncertain.
Feng Manna hesitated for a moment before tentatively asking, "Section Chief, with Director Bi's martyrdom and Su Sansheng confirmed as a traitor and executed... who should take over as head of the Action Division?"
Aoki Takeshige's gaze was sharp as a knife, lingering on her face for two seconds before turning to the drifting clouds outside the window. He slowly said, "Isn't there Chen Shen in the Action Department? He was the person Bi Zhongliang trusted most when he was alive. How can a brother remain indifferent when his elder brother died in retaliation for resisting Japan? Letting him temporarily serve as the department head is perfectly justified."
"Yes!" Feng Manna answered readily, but her heart sank slightly—she had planned to promote one of her own people to the position, and had even secretly drafted a proxy plan. But Aoki Takeshige's move was clearly to prevent the Special Forces Headquarters from becoming Feng Manna's family's backyard.
Chen Shen was thus thrust into the position of acting director by a single order, leaving even himself stunned for a long time. Zhou Xiao hadn't expected this move either—what he thought was just a casual move had unexpectedly become the one that jumped the highest in the game.
From the outset, Zhou Xiao only sought to achieve three objectives with precision and ruthlessness: to silence witnesses, to clear his name, and to establish his authority. As for adding a few lines to the merit list or others rising to prominence, those were merely echoes passing by.
Half an hour later, Feng Manna and Zhou Xiao walked out of the section chief's office side by side and embarked on their journey back to the Special Operations Headquarters.
Halfway through the journey, Feng Manna suddenly turned her head and said, "Third Brother, I don't understand—Su Sansheng hasn't even uttered a single word, so why is Section Chief Aoki in such a hurry to send him on his way?"
"It's just a matter of cutting through the Gordian knot." Zhou Xiao looked at the fleeting shadows of the sycamore branches outside the window, his tone calm. "All the chains of evidence are now closed. If he confesses, it's just a formality; if he doesn't, it won't change the outcome."
He is Sparrow, the real culprit behind Bi Zhongliang's death—evidence doesn't lie, whether you admit it or not is only a matter of face, not the truth.
Feng Manna paused, then asked, "So... is he actually a sparrow?"
Zhou Xiao's gaze swept across the car window, just in time to see a flock of gray sparrows fluttering into the twilight, their wings flapping wildly and in a panic. He said softly, "Whether he's a sparrow or not is no longer important. What's important is—Section Chief Aoki, someone has to take the fall for him."
Whether Su Sansheng was a sparrow or not has long been forgotten.
The crucial issue is that the assassination attempt on Li Moqun remains unresolved, and Bi Zhongliang has also died a violent death on the spot. If a clean and conclusive answer cannot be delivered soon, Aoki Takeshige's head will likely fall as well.
The Special Higher Police is now like a bowstring stretched to its limit, ready to snap at the slightest mishap. So, regardless of whether Su Sansheng confesses or not, someone has to step forward and extinguish that ever-growing fire.
Feng Manna's eyes flashed, and she instantly understood—the so-called "execution" was not for the truth, but to stop the damage.
"Yes, that's right." She smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.
That night.
Special Operations Headquarters Prison.
Cell No. 208.
An Liusan, a traitor to the underground Communist Party, was imprisoned there.
Because he had confessed, he was spared physical punishment. He was currently slumped on a straw mat, panting heavily. Hearing footsteps, he immediately propped himself up: "Director Zhou! Team Leader Feng! Can... you let me go? I've told you everything I needed to say!"
Zhou Xiao didn't answer, but slowly drew his sidearm from his waist, clicked to chamber a round, and then clicked to release the safety.
The movements were extremely slow, like defusing a bomb with its fuse almost gone.
An Liusan's Adam's apple throbbed, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back.
"You provided false information, colluded with Su Sansheng in a charade to murder Bi Zhongliang—and you still want to live?" Zhou Xiao slightly raised the muzzle of his gun, pointing it at his forehead. "Don't expect him to come to your rescue. He's right next door, waiting to receive his final 'welcome'."
An Liusan froze, his face instantly draining of all color.
He was telling the truth! How did it become false information?
This doesn't make sense...
Seriously, this doesn't make sense...
"Sir, I'm not lying!" An Liusan's face was deathly pale, veins throbbing on his forehead, and his voice trembled. "I've confessed everything—the person behind the sparrow is called the Prime Minister, a young woman. I don't know her name, but I could draw her face with my eyes closed!"
"If you bring her here, I'll identify her immediately! Every word is true, not a single lie!"
"It's too late." Zhou Xiao said coldly, the muzzle of his gun already pressed against An Liusan's left chest. With a heavy press of the barrel, he leaned closer, his breath almost brushing against the other's ear, each word like a nail: "Traitor, this is what you get."
Before he finished speaking, he snapped his index finger together—
boom!
The bullet pierced his heart; a burst of blood erupted in an instant, and he collapsed.
There were no convulsions, no groans, and not even a struggle.
An Liusan, a traitor to the underground party, was executed by Zhou Xiao in public, swiftly and decisively, leaving no room for leniency.
In the next cell, Feng Manna was interrogating Su Sansheng.
Although Aoki Takeshige had given a secret order to handle the matter discreetly, she refused to believe it and insisted on prying open this tight mouth to uncover the truth.
But Su Sansheng clenched his teeth tighter than iron clamps, refusing to utter a single word.
When Zhou Xiao pushed the door open and came in, Su Sansheng was barely hanging on, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, and his eyelids were drooping.
Zhou Xiao glanced at it, his tone as calm as if he were talking about the weather: "Su Sansheng, stop pretending. An Liusan has confessed everything—the whole game was your scheme."
"Whether you supply them or not, the result is the same. The Special Higher Police and the Special Operations Headquarters have already held you accountable."
"Want to die with some dignity? Speak now, and I'll give you a quick death. Otherwise..." He paused, his gaze sweeping over the other man's neck, "you'll slowly taste the full bitterness of pain."
Death is instantaneous, but the wait for death is the most agonizing, the most agonizing, and the time that slowly drains the courage from the very marrow of one's bones.