357: Interrogation

"Let's begin."

At Tian Ming's command, the seven immediately plunged into a chaotic battle. They fought individually, using all their might to try and defeat each other.

Tian Ming, meanwhile, floated in the air, arms crossed, watching coldly.

However, this battle did not last long. Soon, two people fell to the ground, losing their lives. Three more were cut into pieces by nano-filaments, blood splattering everywhere.

As time went on, more and more people fell to the ground. In the end, only two remained: the woman who had cursed Tian Ming, and a man who had been stabbed multiple times.

The woman was on the verge of a breakdown. Throughout the entire chaotic fight, she had been dodging or wildly swinging a dagger. Watching the man slowly approach, the woman cried hysterically and said, "Please, let me go. I can tell you anything you want to know."

Tian Ming smiled faintly, and a wave of pressure was instantly released, causing the man to explode into a mist of blood. Tian Ming slowly landed, looked at the woman, and said, "What, are you afraid of death?"

The woman trembled with fear. She knelt on the ground, weeping hysterically: "Please, let me go. I really don't want to die."

Tian Ming crouched down, looked at the woman, and said, "Answer a few questions, and then you can leave."

"Okay... okay..." The woman nodded repeatedly, her psychological defenses completely collapsed.

"Who is the leader of Hope of Light?" Tian Ming slowly asked.

The woman quickly replied, "It's a masked man. He has no name, only a codename. We all call him Hawk."

"He doesn't show his face, so you haven't seen his true appearance, have you?"

The woman nodded repeatedly and said, "No, none of the Hope of Light members have seen Hawk's true appearance."

"Alright, second question: Where do the Superpower Potions come from? You arrange for their delivery into the Underground City, so that means your organization also has people in the Underground City?"

The woman hesitated for a moment, but seeing Tian Ming's grim expression, she immediately replied, "Yes, but they are hidden members. No one knows their true identities."

Tian Ming smiled slightly upon hearing this. As expected, not all the people from this organization had been caught.

"You haven't answered me yet: Where do the Superpower Potions come from?"

"It's Shadow, a person with the codename Shadow, who transports them from the outside. They are delivered to a place about one kilometer inside the city wall, and we send people to retrieve them. Besides these, some medicines and weapons are also transported."

"And how do you contact this person called Shadow?" Tian Ming continued to ask.

The woman hesitated for a moment, then replied, "Through a secret radio frequency. Shadow regularly opens the channel at specific times, and we can send him messages through this channel, and then he replies to us."

Tian Ming nodded. He then asked, "How do you handle the Superpower Potions? Are they distributed randomly, or in some other way?"

The woman shook her head and replied, "Through the free market. Some are disguised as ordinary items and transported through the base's internal logistics system. Then, special personnel retrieve them and mislead the base's smart AI by running errands, making it impossible to trace."

A cold smile appeared on Tian Ming's lips as he said, "You are very cautious, excessively cautious. So, within your organization, you yourselves don't even know who your superiors are?"

"We don't know!"

"Good, then I understand!" Tian Ming snapped his fingers, and the ground beneath the woman's feet suddenly gave way. She fell rapidly, and in an instant, with a jolt, the woman woke up.

At this moment, she realized that she was still in the original interrogation room. Tian Ming's eyes glowed blue, and besides her, the other nine people were still within the illusion.

The woman frowned, a little confused. Because two seconds ago, she still remembered what had happened in the illusion, but after glancing at Tian Ming, the memories from the illusion seemed to have been washed away, disappearing without a trace.

She patted her head, trying hard to recall, but she couldn't remember no matter what, as if she had blacked out.

About ten seconds later, the others also broke free from the illusion. Everyone experienced a similar routine to this woman.

Tian Ming used the illusion to break down their psychological defenses, and then used the illusionary interrogation method to extract the hidden information in their minds.

Tian Ming smiled faintly and turned to leave, leaving the ten people looking at each other. In the eyes of these people, Tian Ming had only appeared, exchanged a glance, and then left. Everyone collectively lost their memory within two seconds of breaking free from the illusion, and the things they had confessed in the illusion were directly erased by Tian Ming.

Although it was just a glance, they only felt a few seconds pass, but in real time, more than half an hour had gone by.

As soon as Tian Ming came out, Meng Xian, who was waiting outside the door, quickly walked over.

"Boss, how did it go?" Meng Xian quickly asked.

Tian Ming didn't speak, but gave him a look. Meng Xian immediately understood and followed behind Tian Ming.

The two walked all the way to Tian Ming's office. Tian Ming sat down and said, "All the people arrested have been released. Besides them, there are other members mixed within our ranks. They are truly too cautious. Important members communicate with each other, but almost never see each other's true faces."

Meng Xian frowned and said, "Release them all? Then the mastermind will definitely realize we're fishing, Boss. Your hook is too obvious, isn't it?"

"Over a thousand people have already been caught, and the waters have been muddied. The mastermind already knows. This is the perfect time to cast the hook. I have my own way to catch the mastermind. Listen to me, release everyone. As for these people, arrange them in residential areas. Publicly, say there's insufficient evidence and they're treated as innocent until proven guilty."

"Boss, this...?"

"What 'this' or 'that'? Just execute it! Have the Comprehensive Management Department issue them phones, and the Enforcement Bureau record their information. I'm going to give them a chance to start anew," Tian Ming said.

Meng Xian truly did not understand Tian Ming's actions. Regarding his boss's decision, he couldn't disobey, so he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll have Bai Yan and the others release them now."

"Mm, go!"

Under Tian Ming's instructions, over a thousand captured Hope of Light members were released and arranged into various residential areas. They were informed that due to insufficient evidence, they were treated as innocent until proven guilty. This news caused a stir within the Underground City, with many expressing confusion and concern.

However, Tian Ming had his own plan. Over a thousand people, and his Fourth Clone had already transformed into particles, tracking them separately.

If these people started anew, there was nothing more to say. But if even one person was unwilling, or if the mastermind wanted to regroup, then Tian Ming could follow the clues.

From the information obtained from the ten people, Tian Ming knew that his high-level management team had already been infiltrated.

Tian Ming did not reveal any information. Now, all he had to do was wait for that person to surface, or for one of the thousand released individuals to foolishly contact them.

In the following days, Tian Ming closely monitored the activities of these released individuals through his clones.