Interrogation Room 1 was located three floors underground in the command building. It was cold and damp, the air thick with a mix of rust and disinfectant. Zhao Yuwei was roughly shoved into a narrow room, and with a heavy "bang," the thick metal door locked shut behind her.
The room was empty except for a single metal chair bolted to the floor. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all made of seamless gray alloy, cold and hard, creating a suffocating sense of inescapability. One wall was a massive one-way bulletproof glass panel. She could see her own pale, disheveled face reflected in it, but not what lay beyond.
The oppressive environment made it hard for Zhao Yuwei to breathe. She leaned back against the cold wall and slowly slid down to sit on the floor, burying her head between her knees, her body trembling uncontrollably. Fear, humiliation, confusion... a whirlwind of emotions churned inside her, leaving her mind in chaos.
She didn't know how much time had passed when the lights in the interrogation room suddenly flicked on, forcing her to instinctively close her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw a figure slowly taking a seat on the other side of the one-way glass.
It was a young man who looked about her age. His features were delicate, but his eyes were as deep and unreadable as an ancient well, devoid of any youthful naivety. He wore a well-tailored black combat uniform with no military rank on his shoulders. Behind him stood two soldiers in white combat gear, radiating an aura of terror. (Two Black Watch Commanders)
Zhao Yuwei's heart sank like a stone. She didn't know this young man's identity, but the commanding aura he exuded without even trying, coupled with the deference of those around him, left no doubt he was a high-ranking figure in this military base.
Lin Xuan observed this so-called "reborn individual" through the thick bulletproof glass with keen interest. She looked even more disheveled than she had on the surveillance footage. Gone was her former coldness and cruelty, replaced by the fear of a startled bird.
Lin Xuan had no interest in playing cat-and-mouse mind games.
He pressed a button on the table in front of him, and his cold, flat voice sounded through the speakers in the interrogation room, reaching Zhao Yuwei's ears with perfect clarity.
"We already know you are a reborn individual. Don't waste our time with useless lies. It will only make your situation worse."
The words struck Zhao Yuwei like a thunderbolt, exploding in her mind!
Her head snapped up, her pupils constricting sharply, all color draining from her face. Her deepest secret, her greatest trump card, had been revealed so casually, so matter-of-factly!
How? How could they possibly know?!
In an instant, a thousand thoughts raced through her mind. Had she slipped up somewhere? Or did they possess some unimaginable intelligence-gathering capability?
No! She couldn't admit it! Absolutely not! Once she admitted it, she would lose all her bargaining chips and be completely at their mercy!
The instinct to survive forced her to suppress the storm of panic in her heart. She tried to force a smile that was uglier than crying, attempting to play dumb.
"S-sir... forgive me, I... I really don't know what a 'reborn individual' is... Isn't that just stuff from novels? I was just... just lucky, I stocked up on some supplies in advance..."
As she spoke, she cautiously observed Lin Xuan's expression, hoping to find a flicker of doubt.
However, Lin Xuan's expression didn't change at all. It remained as placid as still water. He didn't speak.
One of the Commanders behind him—the captain of the White Blood Cell Squad, "Ghost"—moved. He walked around the table and pressed a button on the side.
*Click—*
The metal door behind Zhao Yuwei opened in response.
"Ghost" walked in with an expressionless face. With each step, his military boots made a heavy thud that seemed to pound directly on Zhao Yuwei's heart. He said nothing, simply walking straight towards her, his eyes holding the cold indifference of one looking at a dead thing.
An unprecedented sense of mortal danger enveloped Zhao Yuwei! She instantly understood that her excuses had angered them. They weren't going to waste any more words on her! This man wasn't coming in to offer her tea!
The terrifying image of being dissected flashed through her mind again. The desire to survive, in that moment, crushed all her remaining hope and pretense.
"Wait! Sir! Wait!" she screamed almost hysterically, her voice shrill and piercing with fear. "I'll talk! I'll tell you everything! I'll tell you everything I know!"
Only then did Lin Xuan slowly raise his hand, signaling for "Ghost" to stop.
"Ghost" halted just one step away from Zhao Yuwei. He then turned and stood behind her like a silent statue. The cold, murderous aura emanating from him hung over Zhao Yuwei's head like the Sword of Damocles, ensuring she wouldn't dare harbor any more tricks.
"Speak," Lin Xuan's voice sounded again, still flat but carrying an indisputable authority.
Zhao Yuwei shuddered, not daring to hide anything further. She poured out her entire experience like beans from a bamboo tube.
"I used every method I could over the last six months—loans, online loans... I scraped together a large sum of money. I turned my apartment into a fortress and stockpiled a huge amount of food and supplies..."
"In my previous life... in my previous life, I was betrayed by my best friend Wang Xixi and her boyfriend Zhang Hao. To curry favor with a survivor leader, they pushed me out of my hiding spot and fed me to the zombies..."
...
Lin Xuan listened patiently, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the table. The interrogation lasted nearly an hour. Zhao Yuwei recounted every detail of her short, miserable "previous life" and her preparations after being reborn.
However, after listening, Lin Xuan's brow furrowed slightly.
He had originally thought this reborn individual could provide at least some key intelligence about the next few months or even years—like the appearance locations of special mutants, the positions of large survivor bases, or even some secrets about the virus.
But what was the result? This Zhao Yuwei was a complete bottom-tier cannon fodder in her previous life! She never even left her own residential complex. She hid inside her apartment, trembling every day, then scurried from one hiding spot to another, barely surviving on meager food stores, and finally starved to death after just three months.
The "future" she knew was limited to the trivial, petty affairs within the Lan Bi Garden complex—like which household still had some food, who was having an affair with whom, which survivor group was more brutal... This information might have been somewhat useful to ordinary survivors, but to Lin Xuan, who already possessed a military base, it was practically worthless.
"Ghost," standing behind Zhao Yuwei, clearly realized this as well.
Ghost thought the woman was still holding back, refusing to disclose the crucial information. A surge of anger at being toyed with welled up in him.
He abruptly raised his knee and drove it into Zhao Yuwei's lower back!
"Ugh!"
Zhao Yuwei let out a pained groan, her whole body pitching forward. But with her hands tied behind her back, her face slammed directly into the cold floor.
Before she could catch her breath, "Ghost" took another step forward and delivered a sharp elbow strike to the center of her back!
"Pfft—"
Zhao Yuwei felt a sweet taste in her throat and spat out a mouthful of blood. Her vision swam with black spots, and she nearly passed out on the spot. She felt like her bones were about to break from the impact.
"Tell the truth! What else do you know?!" "Ghost's" voice was like ice from the deepest abyss.
"I... I really... told you everything..." Zhao Yuwei lay sprawled on the floor, her breath faint, mingled with blood and tears. "My previous life... I only lived that long... I really... don't know anything else..."
Looking at her wretched state and confirming through his system that her emotional fluctuations were intense, filled with fear and pain with no signs of lying, Lin Xuan finally concluded that this reborn individual... truly had little value.
He shook his head, somewhat disappointed. He thought he had drawn an SSR card, but it turned out to be a flashy but worthless N card.
"Enough, Ghost," Lin Xuan waved his hand, stopping the captain who was about to strike again. "It seems she really doesn't know any more."
He stood up, taking one last look at Zhao Yuwei lying on the floor like a dead dog, and lost all interest.
"Throw her into the Survivor Camp in the West District. Assign two people to keep a covert watch on her. Don't let her die, and don't let her escape. Perhaps... she might still have some other use later."
With that, Lin Xuan turned and left the interrogation room, not looking back once. To him, this reborn individual who had lost her intelligence value was no different from a pebble on the side of the road.