Thrive in Catastrophe - Chap 79
“Even shutting down his brain.” Heine concisely finishes Ervel’s sentence.
“Yes, though, strictly speaking…his brain isn’t completely shut down, he is just not displaying any readings of significance.”
“So remove this suffix.”
“Heine! You were a student of the Academy! You understand what we are dealing with! Once it enters his body…it becomes a part of him. No matter the reason for the virus, the one who made it surely has a an antiviral on hand. Only this will wake Xiao Yan up. Right now the situation is not critical but that could change rapidly. We have no idea what kind of damage is accumulating due to this. You must find the person who created this virus as soon as possible.”
“Jane Wallace.”
Ervel’s forehead fell to his hands. “I heart the report from Admiral Sharif and Xia. Wallace left the Surge with Casey. They are now on the run from the organization. It seems that Jane Wallace was the replacement body for the Surge’s leader Valentin. It will not be easy to locate Jane Wallace.”
Heine suddenly turned around and left the room.
“Where are you going? Heine!”
“Torture Forces.”
Since Xiao Yan had lost consciousness, Xia had been continuously going over that day. He desperately tries to figure out what went wrong that could have caused such an outcome.
He still remembers Xiao’s memories. He remembers him touching the ocean for the first time, teasing his tiny hermit crab and even how he looked and stored his memory of wildflowers. His thoughts have a unique charm to them; no one looks at the world quite like Xiao Yan. Everything that most neglect as background is magnified in his eyes, it all becomes a wonderful and interesting thing.
He sincerely hopes that the young ensign will wake up.
Suddenly, several of the soldiers outside of his office were ruthless slammed to the floor by his feet.
He looked at their crumpled bodies, he didn’t need to glance up to figure out who the culprit is.
“Colonel Burton.”
The soldiers climb to their feet and attempt to guard the General.
“I need Jane Wallace’s location.” Xia sighs, understanding instantly what Heine is demanding.
“You want to interrogate the witch, Claire. The problem is, after the last time you tortured her, her brain sustained heavy damage. I don’t think she has the ability to withstand another go.”
“I am not interrogating her, you are.”
Xia continues to run his finger along the lip of his coffee cup.
“If you get the answer from her, will you be able to wake up Xiao Yan?”
“Yes.”
Xia couldn’t refuse. They headed down to Claire’s cell.
“Increase the lighting, it’s too dark. This is not good for her mental integrity.”
Xia gracefully sat down in front of Claire.
This is not the first time he has interrogated Claire. Each time he approaches her mind, the woman immediately and violently kills him and he is forced to withdraw. Xia can only hope that the few neurons that have not been damaged in Claire contain the information they need.
Claire raises her gaze, her eyes are filled with disgust and impatience. Although Xia did not tear through her mind like Heine Burton, he had still been able to extract some useful information from her.
The difference between torture and inquiry is the approach. Torture creates a series of hallucinations in the mind of the subject to draw the information out. An inquiry is just a simple question and answer procedure. The inquirer makes a judgement based on the memory presented to the question, inquiry requires full cooperation from the subject.
“I know that you hate me. I don’t like you very much either. Your brain is not a lovely place to be. The more you cooperate, the faster I can leave your brain.”
A stabilizer is injected into Claire and her vitals are monitored.
