First Interstellar Guide Chapter 81: Investigation Division’s Interrogation Room

Chapter 81: Investigation Division’s Interrogation Room

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The Investigation Division, formally known as the “Federal Sentinel and Guide Special Cases Investigation Division,” was an independent organization directly governed by successive presidents. Zhu Tianyi had been serving as the head of the Investigation Division for 7 years, promoted by President Harrison as one of his trusted aides. He was ruthless and iron-handed, instilling fear in many criminals. With the web of the Black Spider under his control, once he locks onto a target, they have no chance of escape.

He had previously been keeping an eye on Yu Ran, suspecting Yu Ran’s involvement in the deaths of several officials at Base B73. However, after the case on Planet B73 was closed, they only met once at a banquet at the Twin Palaces.

Due to Yu Ran’s impeccable disguise, Zhu Tianyi did not connect the theft of data from the Sentinel Academy with Yu Ran. Furthermore, with the voluntary departure of Xiong Kai, the younger brother of the Deputy Chief of Investigation Division, from the Eagle Special Forces, the investigation into Yu Ran by the Investigation Division had long since ceased. His sudden visit today made Yu Ran feel that something was amiss.

Lu Zexuan asked, “Is Chief Zhu already downstairs?”

The guard replied, “Yes, he’s waiting for you in the lobby on the first floor. He’s accompanied by two deputy chiefs.”

“Both A+ guides are here too?” Yu Ran’s suspicion grew deeper.

“Since they’ve come, please let the three of them in,” Lu Zexuan said decisively.

After a moment, Zhu Tianyi, accompanied by his two trusted subordinates, Deputy Chief Qi An and Senior Interrogator Kroger, arrived at the office.

Lu Zexuan greeted him with a handshake, “Long time no see, Chief Zhu.”

Zhu Tianyi’s demeanor was cold as he glanced around the office before fixing his gaze on Yu Ran. His Black Widow spider unknowingly crawled along the ceiling, causing Yu Ran to pretend to be frightened and move behind Lu Zexuan. Lu Zexuan immediately shielded him.

Zhu Tianyi said indifferently, “General Lu brings Guide Yu Ran with him to the office every day. How touching. Is this a daily ritual?”

Lu Zexuan’s tone was stern, “This is my private matter. Why, Chief Zhu, do you even investigate such things?”

Zhu Tianyi shrugged and changed the subject, “Yingying, do you two know each other?”

Yu Ran trembled, “O-of course, she’s my cousin… What happened to her?”

“She’s missing,” Zhu Tianyi replied.

Both Lu Zexuan and Yu Ran looked surprised.

Zhu Tianyi took out a summons from the Investigation Division, “This is a summons from the Investigation Division. Please come with me to assist in the investigation.”

Lu Zexuan’s expression darkened, “Chief Zhu, are you here to arrest someone today?”

Zhu Tianyi replied, “Since Yingying only met two people before she went missing, I’m taking you two back to make a statement. This is in accordance with regulations.”

Lu Zexuan and Yu Ran exchanged glances. Yu Ran nodded and said, “Let’s go. I also want to know what happened to my cousin.”

Zhu Tianyi gestured for them to follow him, and they left together.

As this was the office building of the Eagle Legion in the capital, when the Legion Commander was taken away, the major generals immediately gathered around. The angry sentiments of the Sentinels were palpable, and Zhu Tianyi’s Black Widow spider didn’t back down, creating a tense atmosphere.

Lu Zexuan waved his hand and said, “Everyone, disperse. Ranran and I are going to the Investigation Division to make a statement and will be back soon.”

After exchanging glances, the crowd reluctantly made way for them.

The car from the Investigation Division was waiting downstairs. Lu Zexuan and Yu Ran sat in the backseat with Zhu Tianyi. Yu Ran looked pale, with red eyes, pretending to be upset. Lu Zexuan gently held his hand to comfort him, “Don’t worry. When we saw your cousin that day, she was fine. Chief Zhu will definitely find out the truth.”

The Investigation Division’s office was located in the core area of the capital planet. It had hundreds of staff members, including experts in information gathering, medical examination, mental interrogation, on-site investigation, and trace analysis. Most of the clerks here were graduates of military or police academies with expertise in criminal investigation, adept at finding clues.

Although Zhu Tianyi hadn’t specifically investigated Yu Ran further, he had never let his guard down. Once Yu Ran returned to the capital planet, his spies would immediately report his whereabouts. Thus, the appearance of Yingying, who often visited Yu Ran, had naturally caught Zhu Tianyi’s attention.

Yu Ran wasn’t surprised that Chief Zhu knew about Yingying. However, why did Yingying suddenly disappear? This was indeed intriguing.

***

A few minutes later, the car arrived at the Investigation Division. Zhu Tianyi led the two individuals to the interrogation room to take statements.

It was Yu Ran’s first time in the interrogation room at the Investigation Division. It was similar to the dark room where Kroger had violently interrogated him in his memories. The walls were adorned with peculiar instruments, and the dark room only had a single beam of light shining on Yu Ran, creating intense psychological pressure. For the interrogation, they were naturally separated.

Lu Zexuan and Yu Ran were locked in different rooms, and Zhu Tianyi looked at his two guides beside him. “You each take one for interrogation.”

Kroger volunteered, “I interrogated Yu Ran before, and it was too brutal. He almost had a mental breakdown. I’m worried he might have psychological shadows towards my butterflies… Sister Qi An, I’ll leave Yu Ran to you. I’ll go interrogate Lu Zexuan.”

Qi An straightforwardly agreed, “Alright, I’ll go interrogate Yu Ran.”

Kroger headed towards the room where Lu Zexuan was being held, while Qi An went with Zhu Tianyi to question Yu Ran.

Zhu Tianyi asked, “On June 7th, at noon, Yingying came to see you. Where did you go?”

Yu Ran, his face pale, clenched his fingers tightly and said, “We just went out for lunch. My parents are deceased, and on the capital planet, Yingying is the only family I have. She often comes to see me and Zexuan. That day, we agreed to have lunch together.”

Zhu Tianyi inquired, “Which restaurant did you go to?”

Of course, they hadn’t gone to a restaurant that day but had been taken to see the President by Yingying.

Yu Ran replied without changing his expression, “We went to the Garden Restaurant in the suburbs.”

Zhu Tianyi stared at Yu Ran and said coldly, “That day, I personally followed Yingying. She noticed me and shook me off. She’s just an ordinary girl from a remote planet. How could she have such strong anti-surveillance awareness?”

Yu Ran suddenly realized. So, that day, Zhu Tianyi had personally followed Yingying’s car — perhaps, this was also the key to Yingying’s “disappearance.” After all, Yingying had already been controlled, and the organization feared that if Zhu Tianyi captured her for interrogation, it might expose their plot. So, they might have decided to silence Yingying to eliminate future risks.

Yu Ran said, “Actually, it was Zexuan who noticed someone following us and asked my cousin to find a way to shake off the tail. By the way, Chief Zhu, why were you tracking her?”

Zhu Tianyi replied lightly, “You just need to answer my questions, don’t ask back.”

“Okay.” Yu Ran shrank his neck in fear, nervously lowered his head, and clenched his fingers under the table. “O-okay, you can ask.”

Zhu Tianyi looked at Azalea beside him. “Qi An, see if he’s lying.”

Qi An extended her mental tendrils and connected with Yu Ran’s forehead. Unlike Kroger’s violent interrogation, Qi An’s method was relatively gentle. With a large number of bees led by the queen bee invading Yu Ran’s mental world, the search ability of the bee colony was quite formidable, reaching every corner of his mental landscape in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, she could only see one corner of it, as Yu Ran had already prepared a mental illusion.

His mental world consisted only of a lake and a small grove by the lake. Scenes of having a meal together with Lu Zexuan and Yingying at the Garden Restaurant appeared in the mental landscape, but Yu Ran had altered the time to make it appear as if it were noon on June 7th.

After searching in the mental world for a moment, Qi An withdrew and said, “He’s not lying. That day, they did have lunch at the Garden Restaurant. After lunch, Yingying sent them back home.”

Zhu Tianyi, thoughtful, stroked his chin. “Yingying hasn’t contacted you these past few days?”

Yu Ran shook his head. “No, she hasn’t. How could she suddenly disappear? Maybe she went back home. Have you asked my aunt?”

Zhu Tianyi said, “We’ve searched everywhere, but your aunt doesn’t know where she is.”

The capital planet was so big, finding a person wasn’t easy. However, the Investigation Division had a simple way of finding people. The identity information of all citizens in the federation was tied to their bank cards. As long as Yingying came out to consume or travel, she would leave traces.

However, that girl seemed to have vanished into thin air. After losing track of her that day, Zhu Tianyi had wanted to bring her back for questioning, but they couldn’t find her anywhere.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Kroger and his colleague Kane were interrogating Lu Zexuan. He extended his mental tendrils and connected to Lu Zexuan’s brain. In Lu Zexuan’s mental landscape, there was only desolation, with cracked scorched earth everywhere, and the spirit body White Eagle stood on the barren land like a statue, lost in thought. Seeing this scene in Lu Zexuan’s mental world, Kroger’s expression remained unchanged. He continued questioning while pretending to make a record.

Lu Zexuan kept staring at him expressionlessly, pretending to be a “puppet.” In his mental world, Kroger saw a hint bubble left by Yu Ran, containing information about Yingying. In fact, this was the information Yu Ran had just transmitted through a mental connection to Lu Zexuan. They had to coordinate their testimonies.

After a while, Zhu Tianyi came to the interrogation room and asked Kroger, “What did General Lu say?”

Kroger handed the record to Zhu Tianyi. “At half past twelve noon, they went to the Garden Restaurant for lunch. The three of them ordered six dishes and a soup, and they finished all of it. At one-thirty, they left the restaurant. Yingying dropped them off near the White Tower and then left. There has been no contact since.”

Lu Zexuan’s testimony matched Yu Ran’s, and the details were consistent.

Zhu Tianyi looked at Kroger thoughtfully. “Have you personally checked General Lu’s mental landscape?”

Kroger replied, “I have, and there’s nothing suspicious.”

Zhu Tianyi suddenly looked at Qi An, his deputy chief. “Qi An, check it again.”

Kroger’s expression stiffened slightly, and Qi An was about to extend her mental tendrils when Lu Zexuan coldly interjected, “Chief Zhu, I’m not a suspect. Having two A+ guides interrogate me consecutively doesn’t seem appropriate, does it?”

Kroger added, “Chief, he’s the Legion Commander after all. Maybe we should…”

“…Forget it.” Zhu Tianyi waved his hand. “General Lu, I apologize for the abruptness. “

Lu Zexuan said, “It’s okay. If there’s any news about Yingying, please inform me as soon as possible. My Ranran is very worried about her.”

Zhu Tianyi replied, “Of course.”

Yu Ran came out of the adjacent interrogation room and hurried over to Lu Zexuan’s side. His face was pale, and his red eyes seemed to still be filled with tears. Lu Zexuan gently embraced his shoulder and softly comforted him, “It’s okay. Your cousin will definitely be found. Don’t worry.”

Yu Ran nodded, “Okay… Can we go back now?”

Zhu Tianyi said, “I’ll have someone send you two back.”

***

General Lu and Yu Ran were taken away by the Investigation Division, causing anxiety within the Eagle Legion. Fortunately, they returned in less than an hour, putting everyone at ease – it seemed the issue wasn’t significant, just cooperating for questioning.

Once inside the office, Lu Zexuan locked the door and, in the mental world, said, “You guessed right. Kroger is the undercover agent planted by the Dark Night Organization within the Investigation Division. He volunteered to interrogate me because you’ve destroyed my mental landscape. This can’t be known to outsiders.”

Yu Ran pondered carefully and suddenly said, “I have a strange feeling. Zhu Tianyi suddenly took us to the Investigation Division for interrogation. Perhaps… the interrogation was fake, and he’s using us to uncover the undercover agents in the Investigation Division?”

After a thorough consideration, Lu Zexuan admitted there was some truth to Yu Ran’s words.

Yu Ran continued, “Zhu Tianyi has been eyeing Rong Yingying for quite some time. His previous attempts to track her were unsuccessful, even when he personally followed her, she managed to evade him. Her counter-surveillance capability even stumped him, the department head. There must be someone significant assisting her. And shortly after he started tailing her, Rong Yingying disappeared without a trace, clearly silenced. Zhu Tianyi probably noticed something suspicious about the two of us and deliberately separated us for interrogation – actually, he’s observing how colleagues within the Investigation Division react.”

Kroger’s reaction exposed his stance. Zhu Tianyi’s true objective wasn’t to extract information from Lu Yu and the others, nor was it to find Rong Yingying’s whereabouts. It was to root out the mole among his ranks.

After organizing his thoughts, Lu Zexuan said, “Zhu Tianyi is from the Presidential Palace. If he were allied with the Dark Night Organization, there would be no need for such elaborate theatrics. He has never stopped investigating; it’s just that there are always obstacles hindering his progress.”

Yu Ran added, “So, the Presidential Palace hasn’t been infiltrated by the Dark Night Organization yet? They haven’t even managed to deal with Zhu Tianyi?”

Lu Zexuan nodded, “Zhu Tianyi has been the head of the Investigation Division for seven years, and he’s exceptionally cautious. I’ve heard he even brings his own water from home. The undercover agent hasn’t found an opportunity to strike.”

Yu Ran rubbed his chin, “Captain Zhu suddenly summoning us today, while it might uncover the mole nearby, could alert the higher-ups behind the scenes. It’s very dangerous for him next. Kroger might go after him… I hope he can hold on for a while longer.”

When he was young, Yu Ran detested spiders the most. But later, after receiving favor from the Spider Queen on the Red Spider Star, and now encountering an ally whose spirit body was a black spider, despite the previous misunderstanding where he nearly exposed Yu Ran at the Twin Palace Banquet, Yu Ran’s perception of spiders had changed significantly.

The perverse caution of Zhu Tianyi, even down to bringing his own water, ironically slowed down the plans of the Dark Night Organization. They hadn’t managed to deal with Zhu Tianyi yet, indicating that the Presidential Palace behind Captain Zhu wasn’t in cahoots with the Dark Night Organization. In desperation, they either had to force President Harrison to step down, control the rival sentinel to become the new president, or the Orca and Mimic Octopus had to join forces to assassinate the real president, then mimic a fake Harrison to continue in office.

Currently, President Harrison has already started his campaign tour. Time was running out for the Dark Night Organization.