CHAPTER 223: CHAPTER 130: THE STRANGE CRIMINAL

The impact was forceful, shaking the nearby walls. It was powerful, yet when it landed on the walls, the sound was very low-pitched. The prison walls must have been equipped with sound-absorbing or shock-proof devices.

Xia You could never have imagined that the source of the impact sound was a human head colliding. In cell number 3, a woman who could only be identified as female by her figure held her head and repeatedly slammed it against the door.

That "door" was different from the ones before it, made of tempered glass with double-sided paint. This glass is commonly found on the windows of cars belonging to national leaders and celebrities, and the interrogation rooms of the Rand Military District had also adopted this type of glass. The prisoner inside could not see the outside, but the interrogators on the outside could see every move of the prisoner crystal clear.

Through the glass, Xia You could clearly see everything inside the cell room. From the sanitary facilities to the toilet, to the bed, everything was in plain sight. There was no personal privacy to speak of.

Despite not knowing who this female prisoner was, Xia You felt an unstoppable surge of indignation.

The people of the military region, those interrogators, didn’t treat this woman as a human being at all; they treated her like livestock, confined her here, and monitored everything from her eating and drinking to her physiological cleanliness.

Xia You approached the glass; the woman’s head hit the inflated wall. She let out a sharp cry, her knees seemingly kneeling and climbing against the wall, her fingernails uneven in length, the nails on her index and middle fingers broken off by herself. The woman’s hair was very long, almost reaching her heels. Perhaps due to the lack of sunlight, there were some grayish-white strands among her hair, which had not been tended to for several years, and there were bald patches on the top of her head where the hair had been torn out with force.

The prison floor was a mess, with moldy food and shredded bed sheets visible everywhere.

"Don’t hit it anymore, you’ll hurt yourself," Xia You squatted down and advised from behind the glass partition. She had no idea what sort of serious crime the woman inside had committed to warrant such confinement.

Xia You spoke softly, and the woman who had been locked in prison for years and had never properly heard the interrogators’ questions suddenly stopped moving.

"Gurgle..." The woman rushed to the small window with astonishing speed, her hands and body slamming against the glass.

"!!" Xia You saw the woman’s front and her figure. The woman’s face was completely destroyed—compared to her, Ziyu’s cross-shaped scars on her face were minor. The prisoner’s facial wounds were caused by strong acid, corroding the flesh, skin, and even the bones; her nose and mouth were no longer visible. If not for those still intact eyes, her face could hardly be called a face anymore.

However, what was more terrifying was her body; the multiple instances of refusing food had turned the woman’s body into a dried-up living mummy, yet her chest was abnormally large, hanging down to her waist. Her fingers resembled several stiff, moving bones, desperately reaching out of the window, attempting to grasp Xia You who had just spoken.

(She probably hasn’t spoken in a long time; it will take her a while to be able to speak,) Little Eight was only shocked upon seeing this female prisoner; the familiar feeling he had earlier did not originate from her.

"Gurgle..." The woman bent down, her hands struggling to reach through the partition.

"I’m not here to interrogate you," Xia You said, having a basic understanding of interrogations though it was her first exposure, she knew to maintain a distance from prisoners with unclear levels of aggression.

Considering the military region’s constant surveillance of the woman and her surroundings, she must be a highly dangerous offender that even proper interrogators would avoid.

"Gurgle," the woman’s fingers curled, retracting the several broken nails back into her palm, leaving only three fingers extended.

"Three?" Xia You looked at the number on the prison door.

(She’s not the one we’re looking for; number 0, we don’t have much time, we have to get out of here,) Little Eight had little interest in this seemingly pitiful female prisoner.

"She seems to have something to say to me," Despite the female prisoner’s bizarre appearance and behavior, Xia You didn’t dislike her, and even more, upon seeing her, she felt a sense of empathy she had never experienced before.

"Gurgle," Seeing Xia You crouch down, the woman cautiously used her intact eyes to look at Xia You, her face twitching strangely, forming the ugliest smile Xia You had ever seen.

She held her own hand, surprisingly gently, without any aggression. She extended only one hand and wrote a few words in Xia You’s hand: "Leave quickly." After writing those two words, she used all her strength to push Xia You outwards, sending Xia You tumbling to the ground.

What’s up with this woman?

(Go, this woman is out of her mind,) Little Eight urged Xia You once more.

Unable to ask any questions and encountering bizarre behavior, Xia You was taken aback by this push, severing the feeling that had just begun to surface in the depths of her heart. Compounded with Little Eight’s prompting, she could only stand up and enter the fire escape stairwell before the monitor resumed normal operation.

After Xia You left, the female convict leaned against the glass, that one push having exhausted all her Physical Strength. Tears welled up in her eyes, once capable of stunning onlookers, as she sobbed and cried.

Suddenly, she threw herself onto the floor, grabbing the stale food, and began stuffing it into her mouth. Eating in haste, she began to cough, and blue veins bulged on her emaciated arms.

A bottle of water was thrown in, and a tall, skinny woman in a Military Uniform was already squatting on the ground. The monitor’s indicator light had regained its color, blinking on and off.

The female convict stopped coughing and glared at the newcomer in anger.

"Not feeling like dying anymore? You’ve been contemplating suicide for four whole years, and now after seeing Ling, you’ve changed your mind. If the interrogators in charge of you could see you now, they’d be shocked," the woman in military attire uttered wistfully, gazing at the convict’s eyes.

"Glug... glug..." The female convict’s facial expression was terrifying, but she didn’t feel the usual surge of desire to tear the soldier apart. Twisting open the water bottle, she took a few sips.

"I’ve been part of your interrogation for four years now, and it’s been a long time since you last spoke. It seems the Biological Medicine used to force confessions hasn’t broken your will, just destroyed your body. Tell me, what do you think Ling would do if she knew the woman she just saw through the glass – someone neither human nor ghost – was once one of her good sisters? I really regret not stopping her just now to let her have a good look at what a ghost you’ve become," the military woman said, contentedly watching the convict glare at her again as she stood and paced in the corridor.

"When I first saw her, I was shocked myself. She didn’t die. What a pity, she’s forgotten everything – all the things she did and the comrades who fought and died alongside her. I bet she’s even forgotten about me, the traitor. Shanshan, you must be full of hatred, wishing you could kill me. It’s just too bad. I’m now a Lieutenant Colonel while you, you’re nothing but a prisoner," the military woman said, turning around.

The female convict had eaten her fill of the spoiled, soured food, which entered her stomach numbingly through her mouth. For the first time in four years, she had willingly eaten.

"Glug... Wuyue... don’t... tell..," the female convict clutched the water bottle, her eyes peering through the window, devoid of resentment. She repeated those words over and over, sounding like a child learning to speak clearly.

"Shut up," the military woman punched the glass and cursed at the convict: "Ji Shanshan, why are all of you like this? From your former guardians to the Holy Father to every member of the organization, everyone has treasured Ding Ling like a gem. Even now, with her pathetic state, you still want to coddle her."

"Wuyue... she’s... good... now," the female convict smiled again. That version of Ding Ling was happy. The abyss of sin that had been destroyed, all the hatred, and everyone who had died were all far removed from her now.

After four years, Ji Shanshan heard Ding Ling’s voice again. Even though it was faint and fearful, she recognized it. Their fates had been intertwined since they were eight years old.

"Fine, since you think it’s good, then you can stay locked up in here forever, playing the mute. And she can remain a lowly officer at the National Security Department for the rest of her life without regaining her memory. I still have Little Eight, and it’s the same for everyone in G8. Nobody can go back. It’s all over," Wuyue, the military woman, stormed out in a rage.

The female convict still smiled, her eyes sparkling with joy. Everything was just beginning.

Xia You expended as much effort going back upstairs as she had coming down, and when she stepped out of the fire escape, a janitor noticed her.

"It’s strange, the fire escape is usually locked. How could someone come out of it?" the janitor wondered.

Xia You approached the main entrance of the Administrative Center. The fresh air from the outside made the past hour’s events seem blurry. The female convict at the lowest level, who might never have the chance to enter the fire escape again, also became a blur.

A throbbing pain resurfaced at her temples. Xia You glanced at her phone and remembered that she had planned to call Lin Yi. She was about to dial the number.

"You! Come here. I’m talking to you, the slovenly soldier." The elevator doors opened, and Lu Xun addressed Xia You with a tone of disdain. (To be continued. If you like this story, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)