Infinite Stream Metaverse

Chapter 795 The Traitor
The interrogation room on the fourth floor of the Imperial military base.

Fu Qinghai sat quietly in the chair, his wrists handcuffed. In front of him was a wall of one-way glass windows; people behind the windows could see him, but he couldn't see them—but he knew there was no one behind the windows; he had already used his Force perception to investigate.

From the moment he was locked in the interrogation room.

Five hours have passed.

During this time, only one agent from the Imperial Security Service came once, bringing some food and water. After that, the door was never opened again, and no one came to interrogate him. Neither Uller nor Colonel Edmund Walpole came.

This is certainly not a psychological tactic.

Fu Qinghai was certain of this.

In the TV series "Ando", the Imperial Security Bureau showcased some unique and innovative high-tech interrogation methods. These methods are convenient and efficient, surpassing traditional physical torture, and do not leave bodily fluids and blood everywhere.

For example, the Imperial Security Bureau has a special audio recording. This recording is a chorus of pleas made by children of a foreign race who were slaughtered by the Empire before they died. After being manipulated, the audio can create extremely negative emotions and mental torture for the listener, thereby forcing the interrogated person to confess the truth. It is said that no one can withstand this torture, and there is a high probability that the person will suffer from aftereffects such as nightmares and hallucinations after being interrogated.

In addition to these specialized interrogation methods, the Imperial Security Bureau also employs traditional methods, such as the renowned IT-O interrogation robot, designed and manufactured by the Bureau. This robot integrates powered shears, meat tongs, acid spray nozzles, electric shock devices, sonic torture instruments, injection needles, and arc emitters, enabling it to perform almost all types of interrogations. The IT-O interrogation robot was once used to interrogate Princess Leia.

In other words, if the Di'an Bureau wanted to interrogate a prisoner, they had plenty of methods. They didn't need to use any psychological tactics to torture Fu Qinghai. There must be another reason why Wule left Fu Qinghai alone in the interrogation room without asking him anything.

Fu Qinghai pondered silently.

The interrogation room remained quiet.

Of course he wasn't in a hurry; he had plenty of patience.

But he had a vague feeling:
The mole that Uller was looking for was not himself.

……

The sixth floor of the Imperial Military Base, the Commander-in-Chief's Office.

Colonel Walpole sat behind his desk, his brow furrowed as he looked at Soma Uller, who stood at attention in front of him.

"Is Qingshan the mole?"

Colonel Walpole's expression was very strange:
"You already have solid evidence?"

“We have already interrogated them.”

Uller stepped forward and handed over a document:
"His confession is here."

The colonel took the document but didn't open it immediately. Instead, he set it aside, placed his hands on the table with his fingers interlaced, and stared at Uller with a serious expression, saying:

"First, let me remind you, Lieutenant Uller, I don't know how much pressure your headquarters has put on you to solve this case. You were recently carbonized, and you're furious and eager to find the mole within the base. I understand your feelings, but..."

Colonel Walpole spread his arms wide and said:
"You shouldn't have chosen Qingshan as the solution... you know? Besides, it was you who wanted to go there."

Colonel Walpole's words were almost a direct message to Uller: Don't resort to those dirty tricks of torture and forced confessions.

"Qingshan is indeed the mole, Colonel."

Uller nodded very firmly.

Are you sure? Are you sure you're not mistaken?

Colonel Walpole frowned, opened the file, glanced at the confession casually, and muttered to himself:

"The New Vygotsky was even planning to mold him into an Imperial hero. Director Anulf came to see me a while ago; they'd already written the reports, prepared the promotional materials, and even contacted Coruscant journalists for interviews. The Imperial Holographic Vision was even preparing a special report... And now you're telling me he's a spy? This is fucking..."

Colonel Walpole himself found it absurd to say.

However, Uller remained unmoved, standing with his hands behind his back.

"Go to the New Vision Association office now."

As the colonel perused the confession in his hand, he instructed his adjutant, Eli Nelli, who was sitting beside him:
“Go and tell Director Anulf to press the press release first and not send it to Coruscant for now.”

"Yes, sir."

Lieutenant Eli Nellie quickly got up and left.

Soma Uller glanced at his retreating figure, then looked back at the colonel quietly without offering any comment.

At this moment, Ule was holding a small communication device in the palms of his two crossed hands behind his back.

Colonel Walpole was still reviewing the confessions.

The confession was extremely lengthy.

The colonel wondered why Qingshan's confession was so long, given that he hadn't been at the Imperial military base on Sereno for very long. Just how much had he revealed?
About two minutes later.

Colonel Walpole finally finished reading all the testimonies.

"Cough cough... Lieutenant Ule."

Colonel Walpole coughed lightly, just about to speak.

"Buzz."

Uller's communication device suddenly vibrated.

Ule quickly picked up the communication device and looked at it. When he saw the short message displayed on the screen, his eyes widened instantly, and his face immediately showed an expression of excitement, just as expected.

"Colonel!"

Before the colonel could speak, Uller snatched the confession from his hand, tore it into several pieces, threw them into the nearby trash can, and turned to walk quickly toward the door.

Uller left without looking back, uttering a single sentence:

"I've found the real mole."

After saying that, she disappeared outside the door.

"You found the real mole?"

Colonel Walpole stared blankly at her departing figure, then glanced down at the pile of shredded paper in the trash can. Finally, his mind cleared, and he angrily waved his hand, saying:
"You fucking kidding me?"

……

The interrogation room on the fourth floor of the Imperial military base.

"Click".

The interrogation room door unlocked and slid open to the right.

Fu Qinghai turned his head to look in the direction of the door.

"You are innocent."

With a smug smile on his face, Uller strolled leisurely into the interrogation room, propped his elbow against the wall, and said...

"who is it?"

Fu Qinghai raised his eyes and glanced at her, asking a question.

"You don't seem surprised by this?"

Lieutenant Ule raised an eyebrow and asked curiously.

"Because I know I'm not the mole."

Fu Qinghai looked at Wule calmly and said.

On the Self-Cultivation of an Insider.

You're right about one thing.

Ule slowly walked up to Fu Qinghai and said:

"Ultra-wave transceivers are very small. Some special models used by spies are even small enough to be hidden inside the sole of a shoe. It would be almost impossible to find the mole using this."

Then, a smile appeared on her lips:
"But don't forget, long-distance hypersonic communication requires relay stations. Although Sereno and Port Borgo are both on the outer ring, they are far apart. According to my estimate, sending a hypersonic message from Sereno to Port Borgo would require at least three relay stations for signal relay."

"You arranged for listening at the relay station in advance?"

Fu Qinghai looked up at Wule and asked.

"Yes, just a few minutes ago, my people intercepted an encrypted hypersonic message sent to Coruscant. After compiling and transcoding, we deciphered the message."

Intercept, compile, transcode...

Fu Qinghai carefully savored these words.

When did you arrange for someone to go to the relay station?

Fu Qinghai looked up at Wule once again.

Ule was slightly surprised; she hadn't expected Fu Qinghai to ask this question instead of asking what the message contained.

Ule stared at Fu Qinghai for two seconds.

"That's right, you guessed correctly."

Uller finally nodded in agreement and said:
“I had already sent people to the hyperwave relay station before we even set off for Port Borgo. When you went into the Rust Tongue Restaurant to trade ore with them, I received a message from my men that they had intercepted an encrypted hyperwave communication from Sereno to Port Borgo, but at that time, we hadn’t deciphered the message. I wanted to go into the restaurant to warn you, but it was too late.”

It turns out that Uller already knew that the "ore transaction negotiations" in the restaurant were going to go wrong, but after I came out, she still pretended to ask me what had happened in the restaurant.

Fu Qinghai smiled inwardly but said nothing.

"So that day, in the officers' mess, you found me, and while we were eating, you told me your suspicions about the downstream buyers of the ore smuggling being connected to the rebels, and invited me to join your investigation team... It was all part of your plan."

Fu Qinghai looked at Wule and said softly:

"I was wondering before, how come a lieutenant from the Imperial Security Bureau has no sense of secrecy? Why would he discuss such classified matters in the mess hall? Now it seems that you already suspected there was a mole in the base back then. There weren't many people eating in the officers' mess hall at the time, so you took the opportunity to narrow down the suspects and deliberately spread the news to the mole in the mess hall by chatting with me."

Ule crossed his arms and slowly straightened up.

From a psychological perspective

This is a defensive stance.

Fu Qinghai continued his analysis:
"Then, the accident happened. Three patrolling army soldiers died in the city. At this point, you realize that the mole has started to take action, trying to hinder your continued investigation into the downstream of the ore smuggling. Moreover, the mole cleverly chose his assassination targets. The three dead men happened to have some grudges against me. He tried to link the murder to me, to implicate me, and muddy the waters."

“You’re very clever. You mentioned in the mess hall that you pried open the mouth of the Abyss smuggler I captured and obtained some clues, but you didn’t reveal what the specific clues were, so the mole didn’t know the extent of your knowledge. When he later found out that we hadn’t investigated the murder of three army soldiers but had left Sereno by spaceship, he panicked and hurriedly tipped us off.”

"At that time, we had already arrived at Port Borgo. I was in the Rusty Tongue Restaurant negotiating the price of ore with that Krik owner when they received a warning from the mole and immediately turned against me. Meanwhile, the people you had arranged in the hyperwave relay station intercepted the message, but they needed time to decipher it."

"After that, you were knocked unconscious and taken prisoner, while I began my escape, hiding and going through all sorts of hardships to rescue you from Port Borgo. When we returned to Sereno, you immediately listed me as a suspect and locked me in the interrogation room, just to lull the mole into a false sense of security, to make him think that his identity had not been exposed, and then you arranged for your men to secretly begin planning the capture operation."

“From the beginning, you narrowed down the suspects to those who could eat in the officers’ canteen. As the series of events unfolded, you gradually narrowed down the suspects and placed agents to follow and monitor each suspect. Coincidentally, during my imprisonment, the mole couldn’t help but send a message out again. It could have been to report that he was safe and sound to his superiors or to seek further instructions. As a result, you easily caught him.”

"That concludes my reasoning."

Fu Qinghai spread his hands and looked at Wule:
"Excuse me, am I right?"

Being able to eat in the officers' canteen, knowing the working style and procedures of the Imperial Security Bureau, and knowing the take-off and landing status of all the aircraft at the base... all these conditions combined have narrowed down the target range to a very, very small extent. Fu Qinghai has even vaguely guessed who the mole is.

"You have to thank him for his impatience."

Uller took a deep breath and said irritably:

"I originally planned to lock you up for a month."

Instead of participating in the arrest operation, Wule came to the interrogation room, intending to reveal the mystery to Fu Qinghai and show off a bit. However, he didn't expect that after sitting there for five hours, Fu Qinghai would directly deduce the entire process of catching the mole in his mind. The smug feeling of keeping him in suspense vanished instantly.

"Is this how you treat your savior?"

Fu Qinghai smiled and said nonchalantly.

Will I really stay here for a month?
Fu Qinghai thought to himself, "Then I'll have to openly rebel."

"Would you like to see what we've deciphered?"

Ule gave a light snort and asked indifferently.

"Can I see my security clearance level?"

Fu Qinghai deliberately pointed to his nose and asked:

"Could this be another trap or bait?"

"Watch it or not, take it or leave it!"

Ule rolled his eyes and said with a sneer.

He then took out a data board and handed it to Fu Qinghai.

Fu Qinghai took the data panel and looked down at it.

"The core is currently in a safe state."

The first sentence made Fu Qinghai's heart stir slightly.

Wei Ran said that "Axis" was the code name of Luxem Rael, which means that this mole was in direct contact with Luxem Rael himself.

Fu Qinghai knew that the rebel alliance also had a common code name called "Pivot," which had been used by Cassian Ando, ​​Ahsoka Tano, and Alexander Calles.

“They have become aware of my presence. There is an uncontrollable variable in the factory that is causing the original supply plan to be disrupted. However, I have successfully linked this variable to the supply plan. The supply plan cannot be restored in the short term, but the variable may be eliminated.”

"Factory" refers to an imperial military base.

"Supply plan" refers to ore smuggling.

The "variable" probably refers to me.

Fu Qinghai thought to himself silently.

Normally, the fighter squadron in the Imperial military base would not have been able to intercept a CR90 frigate, but because of Fu Qinghai's bug-like existence, he boarded the ship and captured it, and even took a prisoner, which led to the exposure of the ore smuggling channel. Ule followed the clues and began to investigate the downstream.

In other words, the subsequent chain reaction was initially triggered by Fu Qinghai, this "variable".

Ule brought Fu Qinghai into the interrogation room, causing the mole to misjudge and believe that his plan to smear Fu Qinghai had succeeded. This not only eliminated his own suspicion to some extent, but also nipped Fu Qinghai, a rising star among the young soldiers of the empire, in the bud. It was a double win.

"What a pity..." Fu Qinghai thought to himself.

This mole clearly didn't know Fu Qinghai's true identity; that's just how Lu Sen operates. Fu Qinghai's attempt to find out the mole's identity was also refused. However, this is standard practice in underground intelligence work; it's best for two undercover agents not to know each other's identities to prevent being caught in a coordinated attack.

Has this 'axis' responded to him?

Fu Qinghai returned the data board to Wule.

No. Not at the moment.

Lieutenant Uller shook his head and said.

Fu Qinghai raised his eyes and glanced at Wule.

To be honest, it wasn't even for a moment.

Fu Qinghai truly harbored murderous intent towards this woman.

Soma Uller, as the intelligence chief of a remote outer sector, possessed strategic planning, decisiveness, and execution capabilities surpassing any Imperial Security officer Fu Qinghai had encountered in the Star Wars series. She was not bound by rules and regulations, daring to think and act decisively. The existence of such a person was not a good thing for the Rebel Alliance.

However, after what happened before, Uller now clearly trusts Fu Qinghai a great deal, which is a good thing. As long as the promotion system of the Imperial Security Bureau hasn't completely corrupted and collapsed, someone like Soma Uller will definitely rise steadily in rank, and she will surely wield greater power in the future, rather than being confined to a remote outer star region.

To be honest, if Lieutenant Ule hadn't been so plain-looking, Fu Qinghai wouldn't have minded sacrificing his looks to seduce this woman into joining the rebel alliance. Surrounded by so many beautiful women, Fu Qinghai's tastes had become quite discerning; he simply couldn't bring himself to pursue women of average appearance.

Fu Qinghai was pondering this in his mind.

Just then, the door suddenly opened.

"Lieutenant Ule! Lieutenant Ule!"

A stormtrooper rushed in.

"The arrest operation... the arrest operation failed."

The assault team member stood at the door, his voice strained.

"What? He got away!?"

Upon hearing this, Ule was immediately filled with shock and anger.

"No, he committed suicide..."

The assault team members lowered their heads, looking ashamed.

"Hold!"

Ule immediately turned around and ran quickly toward the door.

Fu Qinghai also got up and followed.

……

The sixth floor of the Imperial military base houses officers' quarters.

The corridor was filled with assault team members holding guns. They had completely surrounded a single dormitory room. Wule ran over quickly, pushed through the assault team members, and rushed into the dormitory room. Fu Qinghai, whose wrists were still handcuffed, followed closely behind her.

Ule stopped at the dormitory entrance.

Fu Qinghai stood behind her and looked inside.

Lieutenant Eli Nellie was curled up on the floor.

Two medical personnel in white coats were crouching beside him, frantically trying to provide first aid. Lieutenant Eli's face was ashen, his eyes rolled back, and his body was curled up like a shrimp, accompanied by violent convulsions and tremors.

"Long live the Independent Galaxy Confederation!"

A hoarse growl escaped his lips.

Then his head slumped down heavily.

"Adrenaline! Adrenaline!"

The two medical staff were sweating profusely and tried various first aid methods. However, apart from a brief twitch when he was shocked, Lieutenant Eli did not respond at all, and his pupils had lost their light.

Eli Nellie is dead.

Fu Qinghai was very certain.

He glanced around the rest of the dormitory and saw a tiny, smashed ultrasonic transceiver in the corner, its casing riddled with bullet holes from the explosive charge. Eli Nelli destroyed it.

A few minutes later, Eli Nelli was confirmed dead, and the two paramedics finally gave up trying. One of them wiped his sweat, stood up, and went to Lieutenant Uller.

"Neurotoxins."

The medical staff member spoke in a low voice:
"It's the same as what's left in the Kamino sword darts."

"Humph……"

Ule squinted and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

Fu Qinghai stared at the corpse on the floor.

The look in his eyes was somewhat complicated.

Lieutenant Eli Nellie was the first friend he made at the Sereno military base. Although he admitted that Nellie was very purposeful and utilitarian, it was undeniable that in their daily interactions, Lieutenant Elie was a decent person. As Colonel Edmund Walpole's adjutant, he never put on airs of a superior, warmly welcomed new recruits, and treated people kindly and seriously. The members of the Blade Team all had a good impression of him.

Such a slender and frail man, who claimed to be a terrible shot and mocked himself as more of a scholar than a soldier, was still able to endure the excruciating pain and shout "Long live the Independent Galaxy Confederation!" when he was dying from the torment of poison.

Eli Nelli was certainly not a remnant of the separatist forces; Fu Qinghai knew he was an undercover agent for the rebel alliance.

But his last words before his death were still an attempt to change the enemy's suspicions and the direction of their investigation.

This is a true righteous soldier.

Fu Qinghai didn't have any particular feelings for either the Galactic Empire or the Rebel Alliance. He was an egoist himself, and he only fought for the Rebel Alliance because his faction was aligned with it. However, it's undeniable that people can be influenced by other noble individuals. If the Rebel Alliance were full of people like Eli Nellie, and the Empire were full of people like Danny Masterson, it would indeed give people the feeling that they were fighting for justice.

In a flash, Fu Qinghai recalled what Lieutenant Eli had once told him: he could memorize every single document issued by the New Vision Office, and he could remember the daily intelligence reports submitted to the base commander by the Security Bureau and the Intelligence Bureau after just one reading... The colonel relied on this adjutant so much that he entrusted him with all the paperwork, and in the eyes of the rebels, this imperial military base was practically transparent.

"Tsk tsk..."

Fu Qinghai shook his head at this thought.

"what happened?"

Ule raised his head and looked at Fu Qinghai, asking a question.

“Ellie was the colonel’s trusted adjutant; he handled all the documents submitted to the colonel from within the base.”

Fu Qinghai said what he had just thought of:

"For those die-hard separatists, this military base probably has no secrets left."

"Ugh……"

Uller sighed upon hearing this:

"It's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep are lost."

…………