"You you you..."
The skinny tall member's teeth chattered, his entire body trembling:
"When did you get here—no, what did you hear?"
"Starting from 'you understand everything'."
Noah kindly explained, but his hands showed no mercy, swiftly dislocating the limbs of both Artificers.
These two Fractsidus members knew quite a bit; it was better to capture and interrogate them first.
Limbs dislocated, the fat tall member immediately let out a shrill scream, while the skinny tall member remained silent.
Noah holstered his gun, took out his terminal to try contacting Chixia, and while waiting for the call to connect, curiously asked the skinny tall member:
"Hey, why aren't you screaming?"
As soon as the words fell, the skinny tall member suddenly stood up from the ground, drew a short blade from behind, and quickly slit the throat of his companion beside him.
Ignoring the despairing and furious gaze of the fat tall member, the skinny tall member let out a contemptuous laugh at Noah:
"Prosthetics, ever heard of them?"
After dropping that line, the skinny tall member's hands didn't slow down; the highly poisonous short blade moved toward his own neck.
What great hero of Jinzhou—nothing special. He couldn't kill him at all, because before he could act, he would commit suicide himself.
Suddenly, he discovered in horror that his arm could no longer move even an inch.
"You you you—what did you do to me!"
"Time stop, ever heard of it?"
Seeing that the number of interrogatable targets had instantly halved, Noah's expression darkened, his fists cracking as he clenched them.
His left foot stomped the ground fiercely, his right leg straightened like a spring, his hips rotated clockwise like a gyroscope, and his fist carried a gust of wind.
The skinny tall member could only watch helplessly as that sandbag-sized fist grew larger and larger in his eyes.
One punch—the skinny tall member passed out.
It felt as if only an instant had passed, yet also as if a long time had gone by.
===✧✦✧===
A basin of ice water splashed down.
The skinny tall member abruptly opened his eyes, finding himself in a dimly lit room, tied tightly to a fixed steel chair.
Facing the interrogating gazes of the two Patrollers opposite him, the skinny tall one disdainfully turned his head away:
"I won't tell you anything aaaaaaaaaah—"
One Patroller pulled the electric switch to maximum and casually chatted with his colleague beside him:
"Did the higher-ups say what we should ask?"
"Seems not. Best if we can get something, if not, whatever."
The other colleague shrugged: "Got any good ways to deal with this Fractsidus dog?"
"Well... I actually have a few bottles of basic revival spray on hand."
The two Patrollers exchanged smiles; everything was understood without words.
Time passed little by little.
Taoqi, hugging a stack of documents, slowly walked out of the interrogation room, her ample chest gently swaying with her steps.
Avert one's eyes from impropriety—Noah in the corner glanced once, then awkwardly shifted his gaze away. However, Taoqi walked straight to sit across from him and politely extended her hand:
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Noah. I am the person in charge of Jinzhou's border defense, Taoqi."
"I know you—the famous caring big sister of Jinzhou, known far and wide."
After a brief handshake with Taoqi, Noah looked at her serious expression and couldn't help muttering inwardly.
It's already late at night—why is Taoqi still working overtime? This doesn't match the lazy image of her getting off work at lightning speed in the game.
"Mr. Noah, the Fractsidus member you captured has been of great help to Jinzhou's defense efforts."
Taoqi placed a thick stack of reports on the table, her brows furrowed:
"These are the intelligence obtained from interrogating him."
So much?
Noah's eyelid twitched; he picked up one report and flipped through it—dense small text recording the crimes committed by that skinny tall member when he was three years old.
Glancing at the thick pile of reports on the table, Noah put down the paper in his hand and looked at Taoqi across from him:
"Too many words, don't want to read. Is there a TL;DR version?"
Hearing the words "TL;DR version," Taoqi couldn't help but pause slightly.
TL;DR—concise and omitting the superfluous; a refined summary of the text.
Truly succinct. She had heard that this hero of Jinzhou always spoke in novel ways; now seeing it, it lived up to the reputation.
Understanding Noah's meaning, Taoqi briefly summarized:
"The Fractsidus plans to prematurely revive the Threnodian and provoke a Tacet Discord wave to invade Jinzhou."
"They know the Tacet Discord wave will likely be intercepted by Jinzhou's front lines, so they intend to use Retroact Rain to cause internal collapse in Jinzhou."
"They are confident that under the Threnodian's power, the illusions produced by Retroact Rain can become real."
At that time, the front lines outside the city would face endless Tacet Discord assaults, while inside the city would face the once-dead Overseer Scar and a group of Fractsidus members.
Although Jinzhou has a protective barrier that can shield it from Retroact Rain's effects, the Fractsidus will undoubtedly sabotage the barrier as well.
Attacked from both front and rear—no escape.
If it were just facing Scar, it might be manageable, but unfortunately, under Retroact Rain, Scar would hold the Threnodian creation "Whisperin Erosion."
If Whisperin Erosion were to activate again, would they have the still-injured Jinhsi use time stop once more?
For a moment, even Noah couldn't help feeling a headache.
"According to the captured Artificer, they have deployed Court of Savantae technology capable of causing Retroact Rain not only in Pingting Mountain."
Taoqi's face showed a troubled expression as she continued:
"But he only knows a few of the deployment locations, not all of them—meaning it's impossible to dismantle all the Court of Savantae mechanisms in a short time."
A burst of static sounded.
Taoqi showed an apologetic look: "Sorry, I need to take this call."
"No problem, go ahead."
When Taoqi returned, her face was already blooming with joy:
"Good news—Researcher Xiangli Yao promises to create a disruptor that can disable the Court of Savantae technology within today, with a disruption range covering all of Jinzhou."
"Useless."
Noah poured cold water on this good news:
"What if I told you that even without the Court of Savantae technology, Retroact Rain would still descend on Jinzhou City?"
"Ah, this... Mr. Noah, can you confirm the truth of your words?"
"if I'm lying, I'm your son."
"Huh?" Taoqi tilted her head in confusion, not understanding the phrase.
Noah could only translate his hometown slang into plain words: "If I'm lying to you, then I'm your son."
"Cough cough—" The blunt words startled Taoqi into blushing, using a light cough to ease the awkwardness.
She's still an unmarried maiden; she has no plans to become a mom just yet.
"To make such a vicious oath—have to believe it."
"Huh?"
Now it was Noah's turn to be confused:
"Just believe it like that? No further questioning?"
According to conventional plot development, when he made such a statement, shouldn't he be doubted and ridiculed by countless people, only to slap their faces later?
How come he casually swore an oath, and the other side believed it immediately.
Indeed, reality and novels are different.
"You are the hero who saved Jinzhou and an honored guest of Jinzhou. We trust you more than enough—how could we interrogate you?"
Taoqi explained seriously:
"Moreover, following the border defense's style of operation, we inherently need to prepare for the possibility that Researcher Xiangli Yao's invention fails and make backup plans."