Aside from saluting and greeting Liu Yiwu when he first entered, Wu Xu hadn't said a single word in the entire fifteen minutes, no matter how the others questioned or addressed him.
Aside from having no sense of direction, Wu Xu was naturally not stupid—people who got lost easily weren't stupid. It was just that even during his more than a year in Azure, he had had little contact with outsiders and stayed quiet most of the time within their small clique. As a result, he remained inept at handling all sorts of situations on his own, aside from combat.
While remaining silent, he wore his usual expressionless face.
"His eyes look like he's thinking, though," Liu Yiwu observed for a while, musing to himself.
Yet as for what he was actually thinking, Wu Xu never said a word.
Arthur had grown completely furious. He thought to himself: *I might not dare touch Han Qingyu, but am I going to let you hold me in contempt too?!*
With an enraged expression, he looked up and signaled to the soldiers behind him.
At the far end of the military tent, two elite soldiers stepped out of formation.
"Don't," Liu Yiwu hurriedly waved his right hand, gently advising, "I suggest you'd better not touch him. You should have heard about Lieutenant Wu Xu's strength by now."
This sounded serious. The young female interpreter hurriedly relayed his words at top volume to stop the two soldiers from advancing further.
The soldiers stopped.
Arthur, on the contrary, stood right up and demanded, "General Liu, what do you mean by this?!"
Liu Yiwu glanced sideways at him and said helplessly, "I'm doing this for your own good. Don't look at this kid and assume he's easy to bully. In fact, he's different from Han Qingyu. Han Qingyu would at least exchange a few words with you... this one will just strike directly."
Having arrived in his capacity as a combat commander, Arthur shouted on the spot, "Would he dare?!"
"Yeah, that's just his personality. He doesn't answer to anyone. That's what our Legion Commander Chen said. Why don't you give it a try?"
Though he said this, in reality, Liu Yiwu didn't want a conflict either; otherwise, he wouldn't have brought up Chen Buer... Meeting Arthur's gaze, Liu Yiwu warned, "Still, you'd better think carefully first. If things really come to blows, are you sure you can handle him?"
"..." Arthur's gaze wavered for a moment. He turned back toward Wu Xu. "So, you've always disregarded military regulations and held the lives of high-ranking Azure generals in such contempt, haven't you? That's why you so brazenly murdered Mr. Denis Alphonse and the other two."
The interpreter relayed his words.
Wu Xu looked at her.
...Another ten minutes passed.
The young interpreter was practically on the verge of tears.
Liu Yiwu couldn't hold back his laughter either. Chuckling, he said, "Come on, kid, even if you don't want to answer, you could at least say something."
"Mm." Wu Xu looked at Liu Yiwu and gave an earnest nod.
He hadn't actually intended to keep silent. Wu Xu remembered Shao Xuan's instructions from earlier: when they came, they shouldn't identify anything or directly admit to killing anyone, but simply talk in circles and shoot the breeze with them.
The problem was that "talking in circles" was exceedingly difficult for Wu Xu. Just now, he had been pondering the whole time what on earth he should say to meet Shao Xuan's requirement.
"Back then, there were many people at the airfield..."
The moment Wu Xu officially spoke, his voice was deep, natural, and resonant.
The interpreter was so moved that her eyes instantly reddened.
On the other side, as two men who had always viewed Alphonse as a totem, Arthur and Howard exchanged a swift glance, both somewhat thrilled. They hurriedly turned to remind the transcriber to record everything properly, then sat up straight and waited.
Even Jackson looked up with keen interest, watching Wu Xu.
"Those people, they might have gone to see off those three," Wu Xu said in his second sentence.
Liu Yiwu began to feel a bit worried, afraid Wu Xu might say something wrong and have it put on record.
"Please continue," the interpreter gently reminded him after translating, terrified that if she wasn't careful, Wu Xu would stop talking again.
"I think it's called an enthusiastic send-off," Wu Xu thought for a moment and said. "The plane took off, and everyone drew their blades to see them off."
The interpreter finished relaying his words.
Everyone present, including the interpreter herself, was at a loss: *What is he talking about?*
"And then?" Now even the little interpreter was curious about what the next plot development would be.
"Then, perhaps because they were too excited, the blades in their hands were thr... flew out," Wu Xu said expressionlessly.
"Are you saying they drew blades to see them off, got too excited, and their blades flew out?!"
"Mm. Over a dozen flew out, and just happened to bring down the helicopter, then coincidentally stabbed them to death."
Still with that same expressionless face and tonal flatness, Wu Xu finally finished speaking. He felt as though he had just fought an exhausting battle, one more arduous and tiring than facing dozens of Great Spikes on his own.
He had lied, and he had woven the lie into a complete story.
Even if this story might lack any shred of logic.
If Han Qingyu, Wen Jifei, and the others were here to hear this, they would definitely be so astonished they couldn't contain themselves. Because even they had never witnessed Wu Xu telling a lie before.
In reality, Wu Xu had misunderstood something.
In Shao Xuan's view, the act of killing itself didn't need to be fabricated at all, nor could it be denied. It was merely because he feared the young kids might be deliberately misled by others that he instructed the four of them not to give an affirmative answer or statement on record for now.
As it turned out, Wu Xu had interpreted it as needing to deny the whole affair.
And so, he had wracked his brains with immense effort just to invent this passage. He had tried his absolute best.
On the spot, the young interpreter was left utterly stunned after listening.
This was way too absurd!
Yet why did she suddenly want to laugh so badly?
"What did he say?!" Howard urged anxiously from the side.
The interpreter had no choice but to compose herself and faithfully translate Wu Xu's words.
Afterward, the entire room fell dead silent: "..."
Those who were furious were utterly enraged, but there was nothing they could do.
Those stifling their laughter were also struggling mightily.
"So, you mean to say that Mr. Denis Alphonse and the other two weren't killed by you?" the interpreter confirmed once more.
Wu Xu looked at her blankly. "Mm."
The interpreter took a deep breath and turned back.
"Reporting: Lieutenant Wu Xu confirms that Mr. Denis Alphonse and the other two met their deaths because the crowd drawing blades to see them off became overly excited, causing several individuals to accidentally lose their grip, which resulted in the helicopter being shot down and led to their accidental deaths."
"He..." Arthur unleashed a furious torrent of curses.
"He says you're talking complete nonsense," the little interpreter relayed.
Wu Xu: "..."
Naturally, he also knew he was talking complete nonsense.
But he couldn't admit to it!
After another five minutes of silence and exchanged glances, the interrogation came to an end once more.
Wu Xu got up, preparing to leave the military tent.
Arthur and Howard followed him with resentful glares, murmuring under their breath:
"Don't think you can escape the crime of murdering members of and slandering the sacred Alphonse family like this. We will definitely make you pay the price..."
Wu Xu couldn't understand and simply treated it as if he hadn't heard, just like before, ignoring their gazes.
He had intended to ignore them, but feeling those stares boring into his back... Because it was from behind, Wu Xu suddenly felt very uneasy. A plot against Han Qingyu had already occurred once, and the consequences it brought upon Squad 1777 were so severe that they could never be undone. Wu Xu was afraid it might happen a second, third, or fourth time...
His steps halted at the tent flap. After thinking for a moment, Wu Xu turned around and said, "By the way, I don't know whether you're from the Alphonse family or what you want to do, but whoever touches Qingzi, I kill."
By this point, stars were already floating in the young interpreter's eyes. Wu Xu was exactly her type. Sadly, someone like him was usually only meant to be admired from afar.
When she finished translating his words, Howard slammed his hand onto the table, jumped to his feet, pointed at the Alliance Council insignia on his chest, and barked angrily, "Insolent! Do you have any idea who you're speaking to?!"
The interpreter relayed his words again.
Hearing this, Wu Xu said earnestly, "No. I don't know you." Before stepping through the tent entrance, he cast one last look at Howard and Arthur. "Just stay away from Qingzi."
With that, he walked straight out the door.
The tent flap fell shut behind him, swaying gently.
Chapter 362