34: A top agent named "Shadow"? You have nowhere to hide in my eyes!

Dragon Shield Bureau, Tenth Underground Floor, Top Secret, S-Class Interrogation Room.

This place was the most terrifying and infamous location in the entire Xia Nation.

Legend had it that no criminal could keep a secret here for more than... ten minutes.

And today, this place welcomed an unprecedented "big shot."

"Shadow," or rather, his real name, Ethan Hunt, was firmly bound to a cold interrogation chair made of special alloys.

There was no trace of fear or panic on his face.

Only a pool of stagnant calmness remained.

As the CIA's ace, he had undergone the most brutal anti-interrogation training in the world.

Whether it was physical torture or psychological torment.

To him, it was merely... routine.

He was absolutely confident that he could keep all the secrets in his mind safe here.

Until... the heavy alloy door of the interrogation room slowly opened.

The person who walked in was not the fierce, intimidating interrogation expert he had imagined.

Instead, it was a middle-aged man who looked gentle, cultivated, and even somewhat... benevolent.

Long Weiguo.

"Ethan Hunt."

Long Weiguo pulled up a chair and sat opposite him, even wearing a kind smile on his face.

"The sole survivor of the CIA's 'Ghost' Project."

"Ten years in the field, executing 117 S-Class missions—assassination, defection, intelligence theft... never failing."

"Your resume is quite impressive."

"Shadow's" pupils suddenly contracted!

For the first time, a look of shock appeared on his face, which had remained calm until now!

The Ghost Project!

This was the CIA's highest level of secrecy!

Fewer than five people knew about this project!

How... how could he possibly know?!

"Surprised?"

Long Weiguo seemed to read his mind, smiled, and pointed to the inconspicuous surveillance camera on the ceiling.

"Allow me to introduce myself."

"Our boss developed an artificial intelligence that is... passable."

"Its hobby is casually browsing the global internet every day."

"And, incidentally, checking out the internal... jokes of certain intelligence agencies that think they're the best in the world."

Boom!

This sentence was like a cruise missile!

It accurately struck "Shadow's" proud psychological defense line!

His proud CIA!

That intelligence empire, which claimed to possess the world's most stringent network firewalls!

In their eyes, it was merely a "backyard" that could be casually browsed?!

This... what the hell is there left to interrogate?!

They know exactly what color underwear you wore last night!

"Shadow's" rock-solid psychological defense line cracked for the first time at this moment!

"Of course."

Long Weiguo seemed unsatisfied with just that.

What he wanted was to completely crush this so-called "ace."

He pressed a button beside him.

A soft, pale blue light projected down from the ceiling, enveloping "Shadow's" entire head.

"This is..."

"Shadow" felt a warm, comfortable energy slowly scanning his brain.

"Don't be nervous."

A devilish smile appeared on Long Weiguo's face.

"This is another little toy our boss developed."

"The 'Brain Quantum Wave' Resonator."

"Its function is very simple."

"It takes those little secrets in your mind—the ones you don't want to tell, or dare not to tell..."

"And turns them into a..."

"High-definition, 3D, surround-sound documentary that everyone can watch."

"You..."

All the color instantly drained from "Shadow's" face!

Replacing it was an unprecedented, bone-deep... terror!

He wasn't afraid of death!

He wasn't even afraid of severe torture!

But he was afraid!

He was afraid that his darkest, filthiest, and most hidden secrets, buried deep within his soul, would be exposed nakedly to the light!

That would cause him ten thousand times more pain than killing him!

"No... don't..."

His voice trembled for the first time!

He began to struggle violently!

But the restraint chair, made of special alloy, was like an immovable mountain, pinning him firmly in place!

"Look."

Long Weiguo pointed to the massive holographic screen on the interrogation room wall.

Clear images slowly appeared on the screen.

It was a scene of "Shadow" at age seven, being severely beaten with a belt by his drunken father for stealing a neighbor's cookie.

It was a scene of him at age fifteen, personally killing his best friend in a secret CIA training camp.

It was a scene of him at age twenty-five, placing a bomb under the car of an innocent pregnant woman to complete a mission... Scene after scene.

Incident after incident.

All the sins and... nightmares sealed away in the deepest parts of his memory!

Were now presented before him in vivid detail!

"Aaaahhhhh—!!!"

"Shadow's" impregnable psychological defense finally and completely collapsed at this moment!

Clutching his head, he let out a desperate, beast-like roar!

He had completely gone mad!

Long Weiguo watched this "cruel" scene unfolding before him, yet there was no sympathy on his face.

He simply pressed the communicator calmly.

"That's enough."

"Take him away."

He knew.

Starting today.

There was no longer any ace agent "Shadow" in this world.

Only a wretch whose soul had been completely hollowed out.

He slowly stood up and walked out of the interrogation room.

He dialed the highest-level encrypted phone number.

"Lu Chen."

"Hmm?" Lu Chen's calm voice came from the other end of the line.

"He confessed everything."

Long Weiguo's voice was somewhat complicated.

"Including the deepest mole the Western Alliance planted in Xia Nation for twenty years, Zhong Kui 'Zhong Kui.'"

"Oh?" Lu Chen's tone sounded unsurprised.

"Well done."

"However..." Long Weiguo hesitated before asking the question that made him feel a little chill.

"Your 'Heaven's Net' and the 'Brain Quantum Wave' Resonator..."

"Do they really have no side effects?"

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

It was so long that Long Weiguo thought Lu Chen wouldn't answer.

Then, Lu Chen's voice, carrying a faint trace of a smile, slowly sounded.

"Side effects?"

"Of course, there are."

"It's just that..."

"Who are they for?"