Spiritual Recovery: Gamification of Reality

Chapter 11

“Is this an interrogation or an inquiry?”

“… What?”

Zheng Sen, who looked like he was in his early thirties, frowned when he heard Xu Bai interrupt him again.

“Detective Xu, we are here on behalf…”

“I know,” Xu Bai interrupted him again, “That’s why I’m asking you. Are you here to interrogate me or to ask me questions?”

Homeland Security…

This was not a secret department, so he had of course heard of this department before.

Actually, in the beginning, the Federation did not have such a department.

It was said that this department was established because of a major disaster that happened in the Federation 50 years ago. The following year, the Federal Parliament passed a bill and established the Department of Homeland Security, which was tasked with investigating anything they felt was a potential threat.

That in itself made them a rather scary organization.

When Xu Bai was young, he felt the same way. After all, he was not sensible at that time. His parents would always say that if he was disobedient, they would ask the Department of Homeland Security to come and take him away.

Later…

When Xu Bai grew up and joined the Feng City police department, he suddenly realized that the Department of Homeland Security only had one role.

Due to the special nature of their role, this law enforcement agency that directly took orders from the Federation did not get along well with the local law enforcement agencies and departments.

For the local law enforcement agencies and departments, cases were everything, and determined their promotions, bonuses, and other such perks.

However, the Department of Homeland Security would appear from time to time and steal cases from them without any explanation, which earned them the ire of these local law enforcement agencies and departments.

Xu Bai did not like them either.

Last year, he had already tangled with the Department of Homeland Security. Eight months ago, there was an arson case. Xu Bai had already found clues to the case, but the Department of Homeland Security had descended out of nowhere and snatched the case away.

They even took away the clues that Xu Bai had spent days searching for. After that, he did not even get a thank-you letter, let alone a bonus.

The woman, who had been silent all this while, frowned and looked at Xu Bai.

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“Is there a difference between the two?”

“Of course. It’s to decide if it’s worth my time.”

“We are here on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security, and we… ”

“Summons!”

“What?”

Xu Bai’s lips curled up as he extended his right hand to the two of them.

“Let me see the summons, and I’ll follow you to the station with you immediately. I’ll tell you everything and not hide anything. But if you don’t have the summons, then I’m sorry.”

This time, Xu Bai did not mind that the Department of Homeland Security had snatched away Liu San’s case, because the case was very clear cut. He would write a case report later, and he would get a share of the case’s bonus.

The Department of Homeland Security had also raised his injury allowance to the federal standard in exchange for Liu San’s case.

However, that was another matter.

The Homeland Security Department was only offering Xu Bai enough to ignore them for stealing Liu San’s case, but if they wanted information from him, they would have to provide him with more benefits.

However, neither Zheng Sen nor Gu Hongyu seemed to be prepared to do that. Although they spoke politely, they still had the condescending attitude that seemed to demand that he obeyed their every word.

What were they thinking? If he cooperated now and my colleagues found out, they would probably laugh at him.

Xu Bai could be misunderstood as being uncooperative, but cowardly?

That was something he could not accept.

Men could be fickle, but they could never be cowardly!

Xu Bai looked at the two of them after he finished speaking. He smiled and withdrew his right hand. He then gave them a very reasonable suggestion.

“It seems that the two of you didn’t bring a summons today. I’m sorry. Perhaps you should visit the court to apply for a summons before coming here again?”

Of course, no court would issue such a summons to a police detective without any evidence or justifiable reason, even if the person who requested it was an agent from the Department of Homeland Security.

Zheng Sen frowned.

“Agent Xu, we just want to understand…”

“Summons.”

“About that…”

“I’m sleepy.”

Since these two did not have a summons, and had no intention of offering him any benefits, it was obvious that they wanted him to cough up information for free, which he absolutely would not do.

He yawned and said, “Is there anything else? If there’s nothing else, I want to rest. You should know that I have yet to recover from my injuries.”

Zheng Sen felt a little helpless. He had thought that this interrogation would be very easy. He did not expect that the other party was the kind of person they were most unwilling to meet; a local officer who had some prejudice against the Department of Homeland Security.

This type of person was their biggest headache. It would be fine if it was related to the case, but they were afraid of people who had nothing to do with the case and were just here to take advantage of the situation.

The information could be clearly conveyed in one or two sentences, and then it would be good for everyone. Why did he have to make everyone unhappy because of his own prejudice?

Zheng Sen nodded to Gu Hongyu, and then looked at Xu Bai.

“Alright then, Detective Xu. Sorry for disturbing you.”

Xu Bai closed his eyes and pretended to rest.

“Take care, I won’t send you off.”

Zheng Sen did not say anything else. He gave Gu Hongyu a look and walked towards the door of the ward.

Zheng Sen opened the door and Gu Hongyu followed closely behind.

However…

Just as Gu Hongyu was about to leave with Zheng Sen, she stopped at the door, turned around, and looked at Xu Bai who was lying on the bed. She asked pointedly, “Did you kill Xiao Jingtian?”

Xiao Jingtian?

Xu Bai slowly opened his eyes and looked at Gu Hongyu, frowning as he asked, “Who is Xiao Jingtian?”

“Xiao Jingtian is Liu San, but Liu San is not Xiao Jingtian.”

Gu Hongyu smiled.

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s best if you don’t understand.”

Gu Hongyu smiled again, and then turned around. Then, she stopped in her tracks as if she had thought of something. She turned around and looked at Xu Bai again.

“Right, Xiao Jingtian has an elder brother who came here a year earlier than him.”

Xu Bai raised his eyebrows.

After Gu Hongyu finished speaking, she stopped talking and walked out of the ward.

Zheng Sen and Gu Hongyu walked out toward a black SUV parked not far away.

“Where are we going now?”

“Su Meng. She’s a new detective. She shouldn’t have any prejudice toward us. Besides, her uncle is also a member of our department.”

“Alright.”

Zheng Sen opened the car door and started the engine. Then, he looked at Gu Hongyu and frowned.

“Why did you tell him that Xiao Jingtian was dead and that his brother would take revenge?”

Gu Hongyu thought about it seriously. She looked at Zheng Sen, shrugged, and pursed her lips.

“Perhaps it’s because I want to see his expression when he seeks our protection?”

“…”