92: Chapter 92 The Traitor! The Ghost Codenamed 'Pendulum'!

5:00 AM.

The "Kaitian" base, fifth underground level, the highest security clearance interrogation room.

The air was filled only with the monotonous "whooshing" sound of the ventilation system.

The Eagle agent codenamed "Shadow" was strapped to a metal chair, his expression indifferent, like a lifeless statue.

There were no obvious wounds on his body, but the alloy restraints on his wrists and ankles had already dug deep into his flesh from his struggles.

Deputy Director Qin of the Ministry of State Security stood behind the one-way glass, his expression grave.

Behind him were Lieutenant General Peng and Su Che, who had just been dragged out of bed.

"How is it?" Lieutenant General Peng asked.

"A tough nut to crack." Deputy Director Qin shook his head. "We've interrogated him for three hours, and conventional methods are all useless.

He's already been put on two bags of saline, and he hasn't even blinked an extra time."

He pointed into the interrogation room. "This is a top-tier agent trained by the Eagle 'Alpha' program. His brain has undergone special modifications, allowing him to resist most mental conditioning and drugs."

Su Che yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Uncle Qin, your efficiency is not up to par."

"How about you let me try?"

Deputy Director Qin looked back at him, frowning.

"Nonsense! This is an interrogation room, not your laboratory!"

"Engineer Su, this is no joking matter." An operative from the Ministry of State Security responsible for the interrogation couldn't help but speak up. "We have our own rules and procedures."

Su Che ignored them and walked straight up to Lieutenant General Peng.

"General, the enemy's blade is about to pierce our heart, and you're still talking about rules?"

"Give me ten minutes."

"I will make him confess everything, even the time he wet the bed when he was three."

Lieutenant General Peng looked at Su Che's sleepy yet incredibly confident face, then looked at "Shadow" in the interrogation room, who was completely unfazed.

He hesitated for only a second.

"Let him try."

Deputy Director Qin wanted to say something more, but was stopped by a look from Lieutenant General Peng.

"Open the door."

The door to the interrogation room opened.

Su Che walked in, carrying a silver briefcase.

"Shadow" rolled his eyes, cast a contemptuous glance at him, and returned to his statue-like state.

Su Che placed the case on the table and opened it.

Inside, there were no torture devices as one might imagine, only a strangely shaped headband and a palm-sized portable server.

"New guy? What kind of game do you want to play?" "Shadow" finally spoke in fluent Dragon Country Mandarin, his tone full of mockery.

"If you want to pry my mouth open, you Dragon Country people are still a bit too green."

Su Che didn't speak, just busied himself connecting the equipment.

He picked up the headband and walked over to "Shadow".

"Don't touch me!" "Shadow" struggled violently, and for the first time, fear appeared in his eyes.

He recognized this thing!

This was the "Consciousness Reading" device from the "Pan-Pacific Technology Alliance" laboratory, which was still in the theoretical stage!

How could the Dragon Country possibly have it?!

"Too late."

Su Che placed the headband directly onto his head.

Then, he returned to the table and pressed the start button on the server.

"Hum—" A faint electrical sound rang out.

"Shadow"'s body convulsed violently, then immediately went still, his eyes becoming hollow and unfocused.

Deputy Director Qin and the others outside the interrogation room watched, dumbfounded, through the monitor.

"What... what is this?"

Su Che didn't turn around, just stared at the server screen.

"A simplified version of a Brain-Computer Interface based on quantum entanglement."

"I bypassed his conscious defenses and am reading information directly from his subconscious data layer."

He typed on the keyboard.

On the screen, countless data streams began to scroll like a waterfall.

Text, images, coordinates, passwords...

"Shadow"'s brain was like a hard drive with its password cracked; all the files inside were forced open and presented before Su Che without reservation.

Su Che's gaze swept rapidly across the screen.

"Operation Shadow... so there's more than just you."

"One responsible for infiltration, one for intelligence, and another... responsible for executing 'clearance' missions at critical moments."

He looked up at the one-way glass.

"General, Uncle Qin, we have big trouble."

Lieutenant General Peng and Deputy Director Qin immediately pushed the door open and entered.

"What happened?"

Su Che pointed to a piece of information on the screen.

"Operation Shadow has a three-person team lurking in the Dragon Country. The one we caught is just the 'Worker Bee' responsible for physical infiltration."

"Inside the base, or rather, within the core team of the 'Kaitian' project, there is also a mole codenamed 'Pendulum' lurking."

"Pendulum?" Deputy Director Qin's heart skipped a beat.

"Yes." Su Che pulled up an operation order.

"Pendulum's mission is to sabotage the base's backup power system within twenty-four hours, causing irreversible physical damage during the critical assembly phase of the Quantum Lithography Machine."

"The operation time is tonight at ten o'clock."

Lieutenant General Peng's fists clenched, making a "clacking" sound.

A mole!

In the Dragon Country's most core, highest-security project, there was actually a mole hiding!

"Can you find out who 'Pendulum' is?" Lieutenant General Peng's voice carried suppressed anger.

Su Che shook his head.

"No."

"'Shadow''s clearance is too low; he only knows that 'Pendulum' exists, but doesn't know their specific identity."

"They have single-line contact, and they use a quantum encrypted channel that we cannot track."

Deputy Director Qin walked up to "Shadow", looking at his devastated face, and felt a wave of lingering fear.

If it weren't for Su Che, they probably wouldn't have known until the day they died that a ticking time bomb was hidden right beside them.

"What do we do now?" Deputy Director Qin looked at Lieutenant General Peng.

There were less than seventeen hours left until ten o'clock tonight.

If they couldn't ferret out "Pendulum" before then, the entire "Kaitian" project could be destroyed in one fell swoop!

Lieutenant General Peng turned his gaze to Su Che.

"Kid, you have plenty of tricks up your sleeve, what do you suggest?"

Su Che rubbed his chin, a flash of craftiness in his eyes.

"Since we can't find him."

"Then we'll make him jump out on his own."

He walked to the interrogation room's tactical board and picked up a pen.

"General, Uncle Qin."

"Let's... perform an Empty Fort Strategy."