Darkstone Code

The scorching slap awakened the unconscious young man, but he did not immediately open his eyes. Instead, he used his ears to perceive everything around him.

This is something trained in special training. Opening your eyes immediately gives interrogators the impression of "this guy is in good shape," leading them to use more violent methods during the interrogation.

However, if you open your eyes more slowly, it makes these interrogators feel that he may be nearing his limit. To obtain crucial confessions, they won't resort to severe punishment, in case they accidentally kill him, which would be a problem.

Besides, listening to everything around him allows him to get a general understanding of the current situation after opening his eyes.

In fact, physical interrogation isn't particularly unbearable; it's just some pain. Spies dispatched abroad to carry out tasks must pass the counter-interrogation course, which includes being beaten to extract confessions.

The psychological breakthrough is the most challenging. Being well-prepared allows for a calm response to what's next.

Another slap landed, and the young man slowly opened his eyes as if there wasn't much strength left in his body.

He glanced aside, where the "senior" playing the role of his father was tied to a chair beside him. The two woke up around the same time, exchanged a glance, and did not shout something stupid like "you caught the wrong person."

The other side was able to capture them, naturally having ample preparation. Even if they were not really spies, these people wouldn't let them go.

Instead of shouting and provoking these people, it's better to be prepared for the challenges ahead.

The person in charge of the interrogation was a young officer in his thirties. The National Security Committee itself is a semi-military organization, so having active-duty military personnel in the management is quite normal.

When this young officer smiled, it gave a very unpleasant feeling, somewhat sinister. His eyes were like a snake hidden in a cave, ready to strike.

"To ease the burden of your confessions, only one of you will live. I'm giving you the authority to choose. You have one minute to decide."

With that, he glanced at the watch on his wrist and turned around.

In the corners of the room stood soldiers with guns. Besides the chairs where the two were sitting, there was nothing else.

The officer turned his back to them, with his hands behind his back, his right toe tapping up and down as if keeping time to a beat.

The elder and the young guy exchanged opinions through their eyes; they wouldn't make a choice and didn't speak up.

They didn't expect the Federation's interrogation would be so direct and efficient, targeting psychological breakthroughs from the start, but under Gafura's advanced training system, these are just petty tricks.

Both believed that the people would take one of them away, to another room, with a gunshot heard from outside the room.

They would say their companion was dead and use the partner's death to try breaking their psychological defenses, but they saw through it; this plan wouldn't succeed.

Time ticked away slowly. A minute, normally so quick it's hardly a noticeable unit, passed. But today, right now, it felt incredibly long.

The officer raised his wrist and checked the watch again, then turned around to look at the two, with a faint smile on his face, "Alright, time's up. You should choose now, who lives and who dies?"

The two Gafura spies remained silent. Next, they would be separated; this was probably their last meeting before being deported back.

Perhaps knowing they wouldn't die, they acted calmly and composedly. On the young man's face, there was even a fleeting smirk that quickly disappeared.

"It seems you're not willing to cooperate, but that's okay, I will help you choose!" The officer wasn't angered by their silence. His gaze shifted between the two before finally landing on the young man's face.

"We always say, the young are the future, the young are the hope of the nation, so..." He turned his head, his eyes becoming scary and sharp, "I will leave the chance to the young!"

With that, he pulled out the gun from his waist and pulled the trigger at the elder spy's head. In the two seconds, when they didn't react, roughly?

With a bang, the young man's expression froze completely, with some hot wet stuff on his face slowly sliding down.

His eyes turned fearful and hollow, slowly turning his neck. There was no longer the senior who always encouraged him, the one who taught him a lot, only a shattered head.

When the bullet passed through the forehead, there was only a small hole, but it blew off a fist-sized opening at the back of the elder's skull, with blood and debris on the wall and floor.

This... wasn't like the training or common sense he received at all!

"Clean it up!" The officer ordered, and two soldiers with expressionless faces untied the corpse from the chair. Without the help of the rope, the body quickly toppled, still leaning on the young man.

In the young man's growth, he considered sacrificing himself and witnessing a companion's sacrifice, thinking it was a great moment. He even moved himself!

But at this moment, there was no honor, no emotion. He truly wanted to cry, but not because someone sacrificed everything for the motherland, but because of fear.

He no longer wanted to look at the head with the hole that fell on him; his whole body trembled.

The body was dragged out, leaving a distinct trace on the floor. Before long, a soldier cleaned the bloodstain and sprayed disinfectant, filling the room with its smell.

"xxx (a random name, think of one yourself), a student from the 194th class of the Gafura Royal Army Academy..." The officer took a document from a soldier, opened it, and read its contents aloud.

This was the young man's information, in Gafura's records, which he thought should be top secret. But now, these materials were in the hands of the Federation people.

With more and more detailed information being exposed, the young man's body was no longer under his control; his psychological defenses had collapsed.

"You have a cute brother and sister, oh... and a fiancée named Julia. Everyone is proud of you, and they are all waiting for your return..."

The officer handed the document to a soldier beside him with a smile, "Actually, we can have them come over to reunite with you; they should be very willing."

"Next, you have only one chance, because you are not the most important person. Besides you, we have many other potential partners to choose from. If you don't satisfy me, don't worry too much."

"Because your family's ashes, including your fiancée's, will be buried with you all together!"

He paused here, casually pulling a chair that had just been sprayed with disinfectant, and sat opposite the young man, "Alright, let's talk about some things I'm interested in..."

Many people are working hard to strengthen this country, but there are also those hindering its progress for money.

​

At the same time, in a different room, a Member of Parliament on television was shaking his head repeatedly, the loose skin on his cheeks swinging with his movements, like the withered sagging skin of an old woman...

"What we need to do now is not to incite hostility or confrontation with other countries by showcasing our military might. Restoring production and economic vitality is the most important work ahead of us."

This Member of Parliament was eloquently discussing his theory on television. Some people would always support him, "I understand that promoting international relations is necessary for the next stage of the Federation's development, but we should selectively engage with these countries rather than someone 'buying' diplomatic achievements for their prestige and self-image."

"This is a disgrace to all Diplomats and a disgrace to the Federation!"

The young host pressed on with the question, "Did you just say 'buy'?"

The Member of Parliament nodded, "Yes, 'buy,' our establishment of diplomatic relations with Nagariel is essentially a purchased relationship. Such relationships won't last long, and it won't benefit us. It's not a normal, healthy diplomatic relationship; we should terminate it."

"I've seen the proposal. Every year, we supply Nagariel with some resources and build factories for them. If we kept the money domestically, I believe it could provide at least fifty to one hundred thousand jobs for our people."

"But our interim President is thinking of stabilizing his election chances by bought diplomatic relations. I must say, this practice is shameful."

"He's hurting the interests of all Federation citizens just to continue his tenure!"

The host's expression was as pained as if he had lost a close relative. "And this relationship won't last long?"

The Member of Parliament nodded again; these questions and answers were actually prepared in advance. They had already memorized them several times; this is also a necessary work skill for both the Member of Parliament and the host to grasp.

"Once we stop aiding Nagariel, these ignorant, backward, and greedy countries will abandon their diplomatic relationship with us, turning to embrace new countries."

"This will become the most ridiculous joke in the history of Federation diplomacy and the most shameful page in the Federation's history!"

The Member of Parliament's statement garnered significant agreement from some people, especially those unemployed. They were more eager than anyone to have a job to support themselves and their families.