"James Scott, do you know them?"
The black-clad Interrogator's voice was low and suppressed.
"Uh—" Lorne leaned forward, pretending to examine the trembling girls, then gently shook his head.
"No, I don't."
"But they know you," the Interrogator sneered. He pointed at Lorne, turned to the girls, and asked coldly, "Tell me—is it him?"
"—" The girls buried their heads even lower. Huddled together, they remained silent, only subtle sobs and uncontrollable trembling of their bodies could be heard.
"Speak!"
The girls were clearly startled by the angry shout, their eyes revealing extreme fear.
"It—it's him." One of the youngest-looking girls couldn't hold back and stammered.
"Yes, yes, it's him."
"It was him—who released us from the dungeon."
With the first one speaking, the other girls also spoke one after another, "identifying" Lorne. They kept their heads down the entire time, not daring to look at Lorne, whether out of shame or fear.
He was clearly their savior, yet their posture made it seem like they were identifying a heinous murderer.
I'm sorry—they said if we told them, they would let us go home—
"Tsk." Looking at the girls' expressions, Lorne pursed his lips.
The Punishers' traditions are as consistent as ever.
"Officer, there must be some misunderstanding. I swear I really don't know them."
He spread his hands, trying to appear relaxed: "They must have mistaken me for someone else! There are many people in the world who look alike, aren't there? Perhaps it's just a coincidence."
"Hmph!" The Punishers' Captain, who was observing, scoffed, his tone full of sarcasm, "You mean that on the night of the incident, there happened to be someone who looked exactly like you, who happened to pass by the crime scene at the time of the incident, and also happened to be so kind as to rescue all these girls?"
"That—perhaps."
"Didn't Emperor Rosell say? Anything is possible."
Lorne didn't know if Rosell had "borrowed" this saying, but any words attributed to him were fine, as long as the meaning was conveyed.
"What is this attitude!" The Punishers' Captain's temper flared up, and he suddenly stood up, his burly figure exerting a powerful pressure, about to erupt.
"Calm down." The Interrogator raised a hand to stop him, then turned and looked at Lorne with piercing eyes: "Now, tell me, what exactly happened that night."
Before he finished speaking, Lorne felt a peculiar spiritual pressure. He felt as if countless faint electric currents coursed through his spiritual world, intertwining into a thorny whip, lashing his soul, making him feel a tingling numbness.
This sensation, both painful and numb, seemed to originate from the depths of his brain.
This is a Beyonder ability! Ordinary people might think this was just mental pressure caused by their own nervousness and the Interrogator's authority, but Lorne could discern that this was a Beyonder ability that directly attacked the spirit!
It's very similar to my Mental Storm, just much weaker in intensity, but stronger in its 'specialization' for interrogation. However, the opponent's spirituality is also far inferior to mine when I was Sequence 6.
He quickly recalled the Beyonder data he had read before and roughly determined the opponent's possible Sequence.
Sequence 7 of the Arbiter Pathway, the Interrogator!
So, this case has been handed over to the military's special department—
If I hadn't advanced, facing this kind of mental attack specialized for interrogation might indeed be a bit troublesome; at least, it would require concentrating most of my mental energy to resist. But now, this level of influence is almost negligible for him.
Lorne's eyes shifted slightly, and his body suddenly leaned forward, almost falling.
He quickly reached out to support himself on the small table, then sat back down, his temples twitching intermittently, cold sweat streaming down his face.
"Why were you in Cherwood Borough that night? What was your purpose?" Seeing that his ability seemed to have taken effect, a barely perceptible hint of joy flashed in the Interrogator's eyes, and he immediately seized the opportunity to press on.
"To—to save people—" Lorne stammered, his words not very coherent.
In an instant, Lorne had figured it out. Since the other party had already brought in witnesses, saying "I don't know anything" would definitely be useless. It would be better to take advantage of this 'Interrogator' thinking his ability was working, and find a way to extricate himself.
"Save people—" The Interrogator glanced at the Punisher beside him.
The other party understood, and immediately had his subordinates take the girls out. Only the three of them remained in the room.
"Tell me all the details."
"Mhm." Lorne nodded, trembling.
He began to recount how he and Sherlock had encountered the families of missing girls seeking help that night, and specifically emphasized that children of workers in his own factory had also gone missing.
"That detective named Sherlock Moriarty can testify for me on this matter."
"Then why did you choose to investigate privately?" the Interrogator asked again, this was a crucial point.
"I—I do business in the East Borough and have dealt with some gangs there, so I have some channels," Lorne showed a somewhat shrewd and slightly opportunistic smile, "I thought this might be an opportunity.
My factory's efficiency has not been very good. I thought—if I could rescue those poor people myself, I could make a name for myself, which would have a great PR effect and help my business."
The Interrogator was silent for a moment, then nodded, signaling him to continue.
"Tell me everything about how you snuck into the villa, and everything you saw and did inside."
"That day—that day I was lurking near the villa, and suddenly heard strange movements coming from inside. The guards who were patrolling around the villa also ran away in a panic, so—"
Lorne briefly recounted the rescue process. His words were a mix of truth and falsehood, but most were true; he merely deliberately omitted all parts related to Beyonder abilities and his visit to the study.
He only said that when he reached the basement, the burly man with the steam rifle was already lying on the ground, almost dead. But when the man saw him, he still struggled to attack him, and he was forced to retaliate with the shotgun he carried.
At the same time, he subtly mentioned that at the dungeon entrance, he seemed to have seen something entirely black, like a ghost.
In fact, he was indirectly shifting all Beyonder-related factors to that "ghostly colleague" wearing a crown and armor.
He was certain that this "Interrogator" couldn't distinguish the truth from falsehood in his words. The Winner itself possessed powerful anti-divination and anti-prediction abilities, and even Queen Mystic Bernadette couldn't do it, so he didn't believe a mere Sequence 7 could.
"Then why didn't you admit it at first?" The Interrogator's tone intensified, and the invisible mental pressure struck again.
"Because—" Lorne hesitated, lowered his head, his voice filled with lingering fear, "Because I heard that Capin has powerful backing and connections with many important figures."
"Honestly, when I found out this might be related to Capin, I even regretted it."
"That day, I just wanted to go and see the vicinity. If those guards hadn't suddenly run away, I would never have dared to go in—"
"Otherwise, even for my own safety, I wouldn't have gone alone."
"Alas, why didn't I admit it—"
"I was afraid that admitting it would bring me trouble, or even retaliation from Capin's gang."
"I just thought I'd be an anonymous good person this once."
After a brief silence, the Interrogator stood up and looked at the Punisher. Lorne immediately felt the mental pressure the other party had exerted on him, and the "whip" lashing in his mind, disappear together.
"He's telling the truth."
"Alas—why am I still being held?"
After the interrogation, Lorne was taken back to the detention room.
"They should have believed my words, but they neither let me go nor said anything."
"Tsk, if I were a noble or a councilor or something, maybe I wouldn't have been arrested at all." Lorne complained a few times, but all he could do now was wait.
"They said that after advancement, problems would be solved in unexpected ways, but how exactly will they be solved—
Eh?
His spiritual intuition was suddenly triggered. Someone was coming, and—it was an acquaintance.
So this detention room is like a public restroom, anyone can just come and go—he muttered in his heart, helplessly turning his gaze to the empty space above the detention room.
The next moment, the light there subtly distorted, and a beautiful figure wearing a black classical court gown and a soft hat of the same color quietly appeared.
"Long time no see, Teacher Sharon~"