213: Chapter 213 Isn't this needle a bit too thick?

The needle pierced the crook of his left arm.

"Zhang Nan" looked down as the transparent liquid was pushed into his vein, his shoulder stiffening slightly.

"What is this stuff?"

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds stood to the side.

"Standard procedure. A trace amount of sedative to help you relax."

"Zhang Nan" tried to pull his arm back, but was held down by a white-coat.

"I'm not nervous."

He looked at the syringe, then looked at Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds.

"My face is still in the recovery period; what if I have an allergic reaction to the drug? Who's going to pay if my nose gets crooked?"

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds ignored him.

The syringe was pulled out.

A cotton ball was pressed onto the spot.

Another white-coat had already attached polygraph sensors to his fingers, chest, and forehead.

Three wires were connected to the laptop nearby.

The screen lit up.

Heart rate.

Skin conductance.

Respiratory rate.

Three curves began to run simultaneously.

"Zhang Nan" looked at the screen.

"Buddy, this physical exam of yours must be pretty expensive, right?"

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds brought over a chair, sat down opposite him, and opened a folder.

The four white-coats retreated to the wall.

Two military police officers stood outside the door.

The room had no windows.

The overhead light shone straight down.

"Zhang Nan" leaned back against the chair, his hands resting on the armrests, the cotton ball still tucked in the crook of his arm.

The drug began to take effect in his bloodstream.

Li Li counted to thirty in his heart.

It was fine.

His left arm felt a little warm.

That warmth traveled up a few centimeters and then vanished.

With a body modified by the system, his metabolic rate could no longer be compared to that of an ordinary person.

This dosage wasn't even enough to make him drowsy.

But he still blinked twice, shifted his body to the right, and intentionally slowed his tongue by half a beat.

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds turned the first page.

"What is your name?"

"Zhang Nan."

"Place of birth?"

"Chengdu."

"English name?"

"Nansen. Nathan."

On the screen, the three curves were steady.

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds continued to look down.

"What surgery did you have in South Korea?"

"Facial fine-tuning."

"Zhang Nan" sniffed.

"Nasal bridge augmentation, jawline reshaping, hairline advancement. There are three stages in total; I've just finished the first stage, and the next two haven't been scheduled yet."

After saying this, he added another sentence.

"Honestly, the first stage didn't have great results. Look, my nose is still swollen here."

He raised his hand to touch his nose bridge.

The white-coat next to him immediately held his hand down.

"Don't move around."

"Zhang Nan" pulled back.

"Fine, I won't move. You guys are more nervous than my plastic surgeon."

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds didn't respond to that.

"Who is your target?"

"Li Li."

"What are you going to do after you've had surgery to look like him?"

"Get close to the people around him."

"Specifically, who?"

"The first phase didn't tell me."

"Zhang Nan" shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm just a worker. If the higher-ups tell me to get surgery, I get surgery. How they use me later, how would I know?"

The curves didn't move.

It was all the truth.

Because these words were originally confessed by the real Zhang Nan himself.

Li Li had taken Zhang Nan apart for several hours at the Pengcheng military camp.

What he ate.

What he feared.

How he walked.

Which foot landed first when he was nervous.

What kind of ramen Mina liked.

Where the ventilation duct on the second basement level of Park Jung-hoon's clinic was.

Everything that could be used, and everything that couldn't, had all entered his brain.

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds closed the folder and turned to another page.

"How long were you detained in Hong Kong?"

The main topic had arrived.

Li Li went through the timeline in his mind.

"About twelve hours."

"Who detained you?"

"I don't know."

"Zhang Nan"'s shoulders twitched, and his voice lowered a bit.

"My head was covered, and the car drove for a long time. I was taken to a place, and someone asked me a bunch of questions."

"What questions?"

"Asked if I was a spy. Asked why I was flying to the Imperial Capital. Why I had two passports."

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds shifted his body forward a bit.

"How did you answer?"

"I said I was going to the Imperial Capital for fun."

"Zhang Nan" was a bit anxious.

"It wasn't my fault I got on that hijacked flight. And the passport, my first one was washed in the washing machine."

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds stopped writing.

"Washed in the washing machine?"

"Yeah."

"Zhang Nan" looked aggrieved.

"I put my passport in my pants pocket before I left the house and forgot to take it out. Once the pants were washed, the passport was washed too. Do you know what a passport looks like after it's been soaked in water? When I went to get a replacement, the staff member stared at me for a long time without saying a word."

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds turned his head to look at the white-coat.

The white-coat stared at the screen.

Heart rate was normal.

Skin conductance was normal.

Breathing was normal.

Either it was the truth.

Or this person could listen to a polygraph like a radio.

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds put down his pen.

"Did they ask about Kadena Air Base?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure."

"Zhang Nan"'s leg twitched, then stopped.

"They probably didn't know I was coming here. They searched my luggage and looked at my phone. The phone was clean; Mina made me format it before I left."

"Where is your phone now?"

"With Mina."

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds made a note.

"Did they force you to reveal your contact?"

"They did."

"What did you say?"

"I said I didn't know."

The curve on the screen jumped slightly.

The white-coat immediately leaned in.

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds paused for two seconds.

"You really don't know?"

"Zhang Nan" got anxious.

"I know Mina! I already mentioned Mina! But whether that's her real name, how would I know? I don't even know who pays her salary."

The curve fell back down.

The white-coat wrote two words on the paper.

Emotional fluctuation.

Reasonable.

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds continued.

"Did they torture you?"

"Zhang Nan" paused.

He rolled up his sleeve.

Two bruises were revealed on his left forearm.

He had pinched them himself in the coffee shop restroom.

It really hurt.

But the effect was also really usable.

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds looked for two seconds.

"Did they hit you?"

"Doesn't count as hitting."

"Zhang Nan" pulled his sleeve down and shrank back a little.

"Just pushing back and forth. Someone was holding my arm while questioning me, and they were very strong."

He paused.

"After questioning me for a few hours and realizing I was just a tourist, they shoved me into a car and threw me back to Hong Kong."

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds made a mark on the file.

"You didn't reveal any information to them?"

"What would I reveal?"

"Zhang Nan" raised his voice.

"I don't even know what the next step of the mission is. What do you want me to reveal? I'm not a high-level spy. I'm just a guy who got plastic surgery. After the surgery, wherever the higher-ups tell me to go, I go."

The curve jumped again.

Not a big amplitude.

The white-coat looked for three seconds and wrote in the notebook.

Normal range.

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds changed the question.

"Do you know where Li Li is now?"

"I don't know."

"Do you know what he did in Hong Kong?"

"I know a little. Saw it on the news. Terrorist attack, building collapse, jumping into the sea."

"Zhang Nan" rubbed his hands.

"Honestly, my first reaction when I saw the news was, damn, now that I've had surgery to look like this face, am I going to be hunted by terrorists all over the world?"

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds didn't react.

A white-coat by the wall lowered his head and coughed.

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds turned to the last page.

"One last question."

"Zhang Nan" sat up straight immediately.

"There's more?"

"Are you willing to continue the mission?"

"Zhang Nan" looked at him for two seconds.

"I'm already sitting here, and you're asking me if I'm willing?"

He leaned back against the chair.

"If I wasn't willing, why would I fly to Okinawa? Isn't South Korea comfortable? There's a fried chicken shop downstairs from the plastic surgery clinic and an internet cafe next door."

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds closed the folder, stood up, and walked to the side of the white-coat.

The two communicated in low voices.

The white-coat pulled up the overview of the curves from the past twenty minutes and pointed at a few spots with a pen.

Everything was within the normal threshold.

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds turned back.

"Mr. Zhang Nan, the examination is over."

"Zhang Nan" immediately ripped off the sensors on his fingers, and then tore off the one on his forehead.

"Done? No more injections, right?"

"Not needed."

"Then I'm leaving. The air conditioning in this place is too cold, and my nose is still in the recovery period; if it gets frozen, you won't be able to afford the consequences."

He stood up, and the hem of his floral shirt slid out.

He casually tucked it back into his belt.

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds opened the door.

The fluorescent lights in the corridor were buzzing.

"Zhang Nan" followed Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds out.

Passing the first intersection, they turned right.

Twenty meters ahead, another steel door opened.

Four fully armed military police officers walked out.

A person was sandwiched in the middle.

Male.

Twenty-five or twenty-six years old.

Blonde hair.

Very pale skin.

He was handcuffed and wearing a gray jumpsuit.

Two military police officers were holding his arms, and the other two were in front and behind.

Five people came from the opposite side.

Fifteen meters.

Ten meters.

The blonde man raised his head.

He saw "Zhang Nan".

His footsteps stopped.

The military police officer tugged at him, but he didn't move.

He opened his mouth.

Before the first sound could come out, the military police officer next to him covered his mouth and pushed him forward.

But his neck was still twisting backward.

Even until he was pushed around the corner, he was still struggling.

"Zhang Nan" stood in place, his face full of confusion.

He turned his head to look at Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds.

"Lieutenant Colonel."

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds didn't stop.

"Who is that?"

"None of your business."

"Zhang Nan" walked quickly to keep up.

"His reaction just now, that wasn't quite right, was it?"

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds pushed open the exit door.

The sunlight of Okinawa pressed into the corridor.

"Zhang Nan" squinted, took his sunglasses off his collar, and put them on.

He looked back into the depths of the corridor.

The person was already gone.

But he had remembered that face from just now.

Snowden.

Alive.

Right here in Kadena.

At least the target existed.

"Zhang Nan" pushed his sunglasses up and followed Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds into the sunlight.

In the distance, an F-15 took off.

The roar of the engine made the runway vibrate and go numb.

He looked up and took a glance.

His floral shirt was blown up by the wind.

Where it pressed against his skin, the biological-grade fingerprint film and pupil film were still firmly pressed in place.

"Zhang Nan" rubbed the crook of his arm where he had been pricked by the needle and muttered a sentence.

"Can you use a thinner one next time you give an injection? It hurt like hell."

Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds didn't look back.

Outside the door, Mina was leaning against a Jeep.

The coffee in her hand had already gone cold.