Retribution

Three sides of the dark, damp, chilly cell were windowless concrete walls; the fourth was an iron-barred partition fitted with an inspection hatch and a heavy steel door. A man in a prison jumpsuit sat on an iron chair in the dead center of the cell, beneath the glare of an incandescent bulb hanging overhead. The air was thick with the scent of metal and rubber, making the dull gray concrete walls feel all the more oppressive, grim, and cold. This was an interrogation room in Avent City Prison No. 11, where Southern Legion war criminals and Tyr's retainers had been questioned just a week prior. At this moment, the prisoner sitting under interrogation was a disciple of the Enlightenment Society. Two Wilante prison guards sat on either side of a desk outside the interrogation room. Unaware of the true situation, they had assumed the man was just an ordinary petty crook. The burly guard playing bad cop glared with eyes wide as bronze bells and roared, "Spill it! Name! Age! Organization! And where did you hide that... Academy research vessel!" He had to flip through the dossier to figure out what the man had actually done, though what a research vessel even was completely stumped him. A research vessel? Avent City didn't even have an ocean—how the hell did they lose a ship here?! The stark reality was that not every Wilante was familiar with the Academy. In fact, the vast majority of Wilante only knew the Academy as the "slugs in the swamp," their meager knowledge scraped together from snippets in the Southern Legion Victory Gazette. And how much truth could be found in that rag was anyone's guess. Faced with the aggressive interrogation, Flynn kept his eyes shut and said nothing, wearing an expression of someone who had completely checked out, determined not to utter a single word. From the moment he was captured, he was as good as dead. His only regret was that he hadn't managed to die in the struggle. Still, it didn't really matter. He had prepared to sacrifice himself for the cause long ago, anticipating that this day might eventually come. So no matter what filthy methods these guards resorted to, they wouldn't pry a single word from his lips! The prisoners who had sat here before were always ashen-faced and utterly dejected; this was the first time the big guard outside the iron bars had run into such an uncooperative, stubborn mule. Seeing that the man refused to answer, the guard's temper flared. He slammed the desk and shot up from his seat. "Not talking? Sounds like you're itching for a beating!" Seeing him whip out his keys to go inside and give the prisoner a thrashing, the older guard beside him hurriedly grabbed his arm to hold him back. Seeing his veteran colleague restrain him, the big guard glared. "Don't stop me! I don't care who tells me otherwise—I'm teaching this bastard a lesson today!" The older guard urged him patiently, "Calm down! Don't be rash! The Alliance told us just to keep an eye on him. If we get him to talk, great; if not, don't rush into roughing him up. They'll handle it themselves." "Dammit! I can't stand it!" "Listen to me. Let it go..." "..." Listening to their back-and-forth routine, Flynn didn't feel the slightest bit of fear; he almost wanted to laugh. That was it? It seemed the Alliance was nothing special after all. These people still couldn't shed their civilized pretenses. And so, Flynn weathered the first round of interrogation without breaking a sweat, finding it so effortless that he couldn't help looking down on the Alliance's methods. After an indeterminate time, just as he was about to doze off from sheer boredom, a rustle and a set of footsteps came from outside the iron-barred door. It seemed that earlier had merely been the appetizer. The Alliance's interrogators clearly weren't going to let him off so easily; he'd probably have to deal with another two or three rounds today. Conserving his strength, Flynn's eyelids twitched faintly, but his face quickly settled back into its usual nonchalance, and he remained seated with his eyes shut, composed and at ease. Just as he was bracing himself for whatever they threw at him, Fang Chang, standing on the other side of the iron bars, looked the stubborn man up and down. "Has he confessed?" Confronted with Fang Chang's question, the guard standing nearby looked somewhat embarrassed and held out an empty notepad. "No... You told us to watch him without roughing him up, so we didn't touch him. We just asked a few basic questions, but this guy wouldn't bite. He hasn't said a word." Fang Chang nodded without saying much. He gestured for the guard to keep the pad and pen, then walked to the inspection hatch, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "I'm a resident of Shelter 404. My name is Lai Ri Fang Chang. I hear you're from a shelter too?" Hearing the word shelter, Flynn stirred slightly, cracking open half an eye to glance at the man on the other side of the bars. It was only a glance, however. Fang Chang raised an eyebrow. "So you're not from a shelter?" Flynn sneered coldly and said flatly, "Shelter 68, Flynn... It's meaningless even if I tell you. Our shelter has long ceased to exist." "Shelter 68, Flynn." Fang Chang nodded, glancing at the dazed guard beside him to signal that he should write it down. Then, looking back at the man behind the bars, he continued gently, "...Our database indeed has no record of it, but it's not too late to start a file now. The Alliance has many shelter residents like you. They live good lives and get along well with the other wastelanders." Flynn curled his lip in utter disinterest. "If you think you can persuade me like this, save your breath." "I have no intention of persuading you, because there's no need. We will know what we want to know soon enough." Looking at Flynn's disdainful face, Fang Chang smiled faintly and continued nonchalantly, "By the way, do you know where this is?" Flynn didn't answer. Or rather, he couldn't be bothered to. Fang Chang paid him no mind and answered his own question. "This is Avent City Prison No. 11. War criminals of the Southern Legion were interrogated here. You aren't any smarter than they were, and neither is the organization behind you. Since we could defeat the Southern Legion and defeat Tyr, we can defeat you... And I can assure you, it will be as easy as crushing an ant." Flynn let out a cold laugh. "You talk too much." "My comrade told me you had plenty to say yourself. How come you've lost your voice now that you're sitting here?" Fang Chang smiled at Flynn, checked his watch, and continued in a conversational tone, "Time's almost up. I'm just making small talk, so don't take it to heart." Not letting his guard down at those words, Flynn's lips curled faintly. "Give up. I won't tell you a single word." His voice was soft. Like the flick of a viper's tongue. Looking at the stubborn man who still refused to yield even at death's door, Fang Chang suddenly smiled. "Fine. Understood." With that, he glanced at the time once more, stood up, and looked at the guard who had barely jotted down a couple of lines, giving a concise order. "Transfer him to Room 101." This man was someone the Academy wanted anyway. In that case, let the Academy's people interrogate him. That Jiang Xuezhou should be ready by now. The guard snapped to attention, placing his right fist firmly against his chest with a solemn expression. "Yes, sir!" Fang Chang waved his hand and strolled out the door at a leisurely pace. With the order given, three burly guards opened the iron door and stepped inside. The guard leading them sneered at Flynn's face, cracking his knuckles—the very same man who had threatened to teach him a lesson earlier. Flynn felt no panic in his heart. Yet as he watched the figure disappear beyond the doorway, an ominous premonition crept over him unbidden. What was that man planning? Why was he so certain he could pry his mind open? The three guards entering the cell gave Flynn no time to ponder. Two of them flanked him on alert, while the leader used a key to unlock his shackles and handcuffs. The moment the restraints were off, the two flanking guards seized his arms, pinning them behind his back as they marched him out the door. In truth, such precautions were entirely unnecessary. To prevent him from biting off his tongue to commit suicide, they had already injected him with muscle relaxants; his strength was barely greater than an infant's right now. Flynn sneered inwardly, allowing the three guards to drag him along from the holding cell to the so-called Room 101. To his surprise, Room 101 was not laid out like an interrogation room; instead, it resembled a server room. Rows of pale-green computer towers lined the corners of the room, with cables and conduits of varying thickness tangled together like a messy ball of yarn. The only seat in the room was a "dentist's chair" set right in the center. Instinct told him that this chair, radiating an ominous aura, was meant for him. What did these people want to do? A faint ripple of panic stirred within Flynn's chest. The calm in his eyes vanished completely, and he instinctively thrashed a few times. However, the guards holding him didn't indulge his resistance. They shoved him directly into the chair and locked the restraints around his wrists and ankles. "Thought you were tough, didn't you? Let's hope you don't piss your pants in a minute," the burly guard sneered at Flynn, reaching out to pat his cheek. In truth, the guard didn't know what methods the Academy intended to use either, only that the one administering them was a C-rank researcher from the Academy. A rank like that had to be pretty damn impressive, right? Presumably. Flynn glared fixedly at the burly guard's retreating back. Only when all the guards had left the room did he begin observing his surroundings. The man named Lai Ri Fang Chang was not here. In his place stood a man and a woman who looked somewhat familiar— Flynn's pupils constricted slightly. He quickly recognized the two standing there as the damned pair who had ambushed him in the sewers! Seeing the man glaring daggers at him, Ye Shi waved with a grin. "Flynn, right? We meet again." Flynn stared with a grim expression, then glanced at the woman beside him who was tinkering with bottles, vials, and syringes. A raspy voice squeezed from his throat. "What kind of dirty trick are you playing..." Truth serum? Hallucinogens? Ha. Psychoactive drugs were completely useless against him. "You mean this?" Ye Shi followed his gaze, noticing that he was staring straight at the computer chassis, and said with a chuckle, "This, in your terms, should probably be called a memory extraction device." The expression on Flynn's face froze for an instant, but only for an instant. "A memory extraction device? Stop lying... How could you possibly have something like that?" Looking at Flynn forcing himself to appear calm, Ye Shi smiled. "No need to panic. Dawn City actually has one, there just isn't one here." Flynn sneered, feeling a slight sigh of relief inside. Though he didn't know where the Alliance had acquired such a thing, fortunately, that city was separated from here by the Great Desert. Transporting it across wouldn't be easy. Yet just as the thought crossed his mind, a cold voice drifted into his ears, sending his newly relaxed heart leaping right back into his throat. "There indeed isn't such an evil machine here, but if we must use one, throwing one together on the spot isn't difficult for me." Having finished her preparations, Jiang Xuezhou turned around and looked expressionlessly at the man lying on the dental chair, handing the syringe filled with prepared fluid to Ye Shi. Understanding immediately, Ye Shi held the syringe between two fingers and strode over to the operating chair. Terror surfaced on Flynn's face. He instinctively shrank back, but bound tight, he had nowhere to run! Though his gut told him that "throwing one together on the spot" was utter nonsense, the confident expression on the man walking toward him gave away no flaws whatsoever. Watching the approaching man and the expressionless woman not far away, Flynn shouted at the top of his lungs as if trying to convince himself, "Stop your damn bluffing! You think memory extraction technology is some common junk you can pick up on the street? That's the culmination and crystallization of over a decade of our sociological research—" "Over a decade of research?" Jiang Xuezhou looked at him with chilling eyes, as though observing a writhing worm. "It's nothing more than fully immersive virtual reality technology, using continuous neural signal inputs to stimulate the subconscious and dig up deep memories stored in the brain. You spent decades just to do this? That's it?" If one asked why she was so familiar with it, it was naturally because she had experienced it herself. Flynn stared at Jiang Xuezhou in sheer terror, his Adam's apple bobbing as he watched the syringe draw near his arm, unable to utter a single word. He didn't know the origins of memory extraction technology, only that it could squeeze every secret from a brain like a sugarcane press. Because most people subjected to the system ended up braindead, it was also used within the organization as a method of punishment and deterrence. He had never broken the organization's discipline, nor had he ever betrayed them, so naturally, he had never been subjected to it... And precisely because of that, he had no idea how to resist such a thing! Jiang Xuezhou watched him impassively, her voice remaining icy. "...Did you think that was some sophisticated technology? The only reason we didn't build it was because we didn't want some clever fool, thinking he was extraordinary, to pry open our brains with it one day and turn it against us." "You lot, however, are the exception, because you are that clever fool. Using this technology on you doesn't make me feel the slightest shred of guilt." "I won't forget what you did to me. Now, I'm returning the favor..." "Experience it for yourself." With that, she turned to Ye Shi—the man who had pulled her out of her own nightmare. Seeing that the dialogue cutscene was over, Ye Shi didn't waste words. Without hesitation, he jabbed the needle into Flynn's arm, then smiled and patted the terrified man's shoulder. "Good luck. Just think of it as a nightmare." He recalled that Jiang Xuezhou's dream seemed to have involved heavy snow, right? And some hyena-like mutants. While he didn't see what was so scary about snow and a few hyenas, since she had sworn this apparatus would squeeze every thought out of a person's head, he might as well take her word for it. Ye Shi had full confidence in Jiang Xuezhou's abilities. Flynn opened his mouth to say something, but before he could form a single syllable, an immense gravitational pull enveloped his entire body, wrenching his increasingly heavy consciousness violently from his flesh. It felt just like an out-of-body experience! Yet as his soul left his body, it wasn't just his five senses that were sealed—his memories were locked away too! He even forgot his own name! The consciousness wrenched from his body drifted in the air for a brief moment before being sucked into a bottomless black hole, only to plunge into a boundless sea of crimson! He felt as if he were living inside his own heart, or standing at the core of the earth! Then, after an unknown amount of time, a needle-like prickling itch spread across his entire body, and before long, the itching turned into the agonizing pain of roasting over open flames! "Aaaah—" Unable to endure the searing torment, Flynn tried to scream, but not the slightest sound escaped him. He could only wail silently in a void stripped of time and space. Boundless terror filled his soul! Under infinite cycles of overclocked iteration, the things he feared and the fear itself began to materialize, becoming sharper and more vivid by the second! Every cell in his body seemed to burn... As if he had fallen into magma! Soon, the boiling magma shifted into something else. He tried to see what was surrounding him, and that scorching presence quickly became what he feared most... Fire? Why fire? No one was asking him. He was asking himself. The moment that inscrutable confusion surfaced in his mind, the burning gate of Shelter 68 appeared before his eyes. It wasn't just the gate of Shelter 68. Through the raging flames, his gaze fell upon countless familiar yet alien faces! Among them was his all-powerful father, his gentle and kind mother, his lively and adorable little sister... along with the friendly neighbors, the genial Administrator, his best friend, and the girl he had once loved. Those familiar faces had long been sealed in the deepest recesses of his memory, yet the boiling flames dug every last one of them back up. And not just them— There were also the marauders who had slaughtered them. "No—!" Flynn's eyes turned blood-red. He screamed with all his might, desperate to charge in and save them from the marauders' clutches, but the bridge, barely ten meters long, seemed to stretch for ten light-years. No matter how hard he ran, he could never reach the end, until he collapsed into the fire, utterly exhausted. Sparks scattered across the sky! He watched helplessly as this memory played out in slow motion to the very end. Then, he slowly remembered his own name, their names, and the hatred etched into this unforgettable trauma. Those ungrateful ingrates— The shelter had given them food, clothing... and technology they hadn't even dreamed of seeing in their lifetimes! It gave them a life they had never dared imagine before! Yet the moment their bellies were full, they turned around and bit the hand that fed them! He would kill them all— He would slaughter every single wastelander on this planet! Right then, blue-clad figures suddenly appeared within his bloodshot pupils, and the fiery downpour melted away with their arrival like spring snow. Human perception of pain has its limits. Prolonged agony only breeds numbness, rendering one unresponsive to external stimuli—and that was clearly not what the "god" governing this world desired. Looking at those blue figures, a spark of hope suddenly flickered on Flynn's face, like a traveler crawling through the desert who had spotted an oasis— Even if it was merely a mirage! Those people walked toward him, and just as he had hoped, they wore smiles as warm as a spring breeze, extending a helping hand. Flynn mustered all his strength and finally managed to reach that hand. Yet the moment their fingertips touched, an immense gravitational force enveloped him once more, plunging him back into boundless darkness. "From this day forth, you are a disciple of the Enlightenment Society." A familiar voice poured into his mind. The world pieced together from memory fragments collapsed in an instant, and the iterations began anew. "No—!!!" Enough! I'll tell you everything! Make this damned thing stop! Terror filled Flynn's eyes as he let out a second cry— Or rather, a wail of despair. Yet no one paid him any mind. Nor could anyone hear him. Meanwhile, in a cell of Avent City Prison No. 11, the second hand of the wall clock had only just ticked past a single second... ... 5:00 PM. Three hours had passed since the interrogation began. Fang Chang glanced at the time on his VM and knocked on the door of Room 101. On the third knock, the door opened inward, and the stench of urine hit him squarely in the face. Wrinkling his nose at the pungent odor, Fang Chang leaned in to take a look, only to see a yellowish stain spreading beneath the man lying on the operating chair. "Did you fry his brain?" "Of course not," Ye Shi chuckled. "He's still alive, though his mental state is pretty wrecked." What that guy had seen in his dream, Ye Shi had watched on the holographic display. To be honest, he almost felt a bit sorry for him. Still, sympathy aside, you had to use hard methods when they were called for. Besides, compared to the Enlightenment Society, their methods were downright merciful. The Enlightenment Society's memory extractor actually fried a person's brain, whereas the program Jiang Xuezhou had cobbled together on the fly merely left a person feeling like a mule had kicked them in the head a few times. Someone with a weak will might very well lose their mind, but a mature mind could still crawl their way out of the nightmare. "What a wicked piece of tech..." Fang Chang clicked his tongue, thoroughly impressed in his heart. Behind him, the Wilante guards who caught sight of the scene inside now looked at the young woman in the lab coat with sheer awe and dread. As expected of the Academy! Their methods were ruthless! Not a scratch on the body, yet they had reduced the man to wetting himself! Damn impressive! At that moment, Jiang Xuezhou had no idea she and the Academy had earned the Wilante's respect for such a bizarre reason. Beckoning Fang Chang inside and signaling him to close the door, she handed him a thumb-sized hard drive. "The lead has been extracted... Our research vessel is likely no longer on Earth." Fang Chang furrowed his brows. "Not on Earth? Then where is it?" Jiang Xuezhou took a deep breath and said, "The Orion... missile cruiser." Ye Shi and Fang Chang exchanged a glance, their expressions shifting between bewilderment and complete shock. Before long, however, that shock gave way to excitement. "Holy crap! Are we unlocking the space map?!" Ye Shi couldn't help whispering in astonishment. Fang Chang ignored him. Clearing his throat, he looked at Jiang Xuezhou with a serious expression and asked, "Let me confirm one thing first... This missile cruiser, is it a starship?" "Yes," Jiang Xuezhou nodded, speaking slowly. "During the Human Alliance era, all military vessels were starships. This starship was constructed at a starport in the Lagrange point, completed near the end of the Three-Year War, and was lost in an accident shortly after entering service... The exact cause of the accident remains unknown." "Hell yeah!!" Ye Shi clenched his fists in excitement, wishing he could log off right now to share the good news with the brothers on the forum. However, that excitement hadn't lasted two seconds in his heart before it plummeted straight to rock bottom at Jiang Xuezhou's next words. "Furthermore... according to our records, this starship is stocked with a hundred thousand neutron torpedoes." Pausing, Jiang Xuezhou continued in a trembling voice, "Although I couldn't find the exact blast yield data, there is a saying..." "Near the end of the Three-Year War, the Human Alliance Aerospace Forces' bombing mission against the surface broodmother was carried out by this very starship."