si-mexico Chapter 1142 What is your relationship?
Chapter 1142 What is your relationship?
She looked up at Xu Tian, her eyes brimming with tears. Her lips moved a few times, and finally, in an almost inaudible voice, she uttered that name: "Cousin... he... his name is Itai Yuta... he's the head of the intelligence section at the Military Police Headquarters."
The name has been said.
It felt as if a tremendous burden had been lifted, or as if Pandora's box had been opened.
After Shen Suqiu finished speaking, she immediately fell into a huge panic and fear. She covered her mouth tightly, as if she wanted to swallow the name back.
Xu Tian's eyes flickered almost imperceptibly the moment he heard the words "Itai Yudai" and "Chief of the Intelligence Section of the Military Police Headquarters," like a tiny pebble thrown into a calm lake, the ripples flashing and disappearing too quickly to be caught.
Yudai Itai... This name, this identity, is even more unusual and sensitive than his worst suspicions.
Why would the head of the core intelligence department of the Japanese military police headquarters rescue two Chinese civilians who were complete strangers and suspected of being anti-Japanese elements?
Is it merely a matter of "clearing the name of the innocent"? That reason wouldn't fool even a three-year-old.
“Itai Yuta…” Xu Tian slowly repeated the name, word by word, his tone calm and even, as if he were simply confirming an ordinary name.
"Head of the Intelligence Section, Military Police Headquarters," he added, as if pondering its meaning.
He raised his eyes, his gaze seemingly casually sweeping over Shen Suqiu's pale face, over her shoulders trembling slightly with nervousness, and then, seemingly unintentionally, lingering for an extremely brief moment on the half-closed wooden door where someone might be standing outside.
Through the gap under the door, there was an extremely blurry shadow, elongated by the outside light.
"Why would he help you?" Xu Tian asked, the question returning to the starting point, but now carrying a completely different weight. "What is your relationship?"
The moment Shen Suqiu clearly stated his name and position, the face of the man standing outside the door turned so dark it seemed to drip water.
His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles cracked slightly from the force, turning a bluish-white. A nameless fire, mixed with icy disappointment and murderous intent, surged up in his chest.
What an idiot! A complete and utter idiot! Ye Runqing was an idiot; in the end, he foolishly saved himself, a Japanese man, only to die himself!
This Shen Suqiu is utterly hopeless!
So easily, the most crucial information was betrayed! Xu Tian didn't even use torture or threats; he simply employed seemingly caring but actually devastating words!
He suppressed the urge to immediately draw his gun and rush in, the veins on his forehead throbbing.
He wanted to see just how stupid Shen Suqiu could be! Would she implicate Ye Runqing as well?
Will he reveal what he told her in Tianjin?
Inside the cell, after uttering her name, Shen Suqiu seemed to have exhausted all her strength. Faced with Xu Tian's further questions, all she could do was frantically deny and evade: "I...I don't know either."
She avoided Xu Tian's gaze, which seemed to see right through her, her fingers nervously twisting the hem of her clothes, almost tearing the fabric: "Maybe...maybe they've found out we're innocent?"
That Section Chief Itagaki... well, although fierce, seems... quite disciplined." She spoke the last few words with extreme guilt, her voice barely audible.
"Follow the rules?" Xu Tian repeated the three words softly, the corners of his mouth seemingly curving upwards in an extremely subtle way, the curve so small it was almost imperceptible, like a smile, yet also like expressing an extreme sarcasm, fleeting in an instant.
"The Japanese are particular about rules and regulations," he said slowly, as if stating an objective fact. "But they are even more concerned with... interests and... positions."
He paused, seemingly searching for a more fitting word, his gaze once again seemingly unintentionally sweeping over the shadows beneath the door.
“Kagesa arrested us; that’s their stance. They think we’re suspects and are interfering with their ‘work,’” he said, using a neutral term.
"Is it necessarily out of 'justice' that the Military Police Headquarters rescued us?"
Or is it due to another... "stance," or some kind of... "interest" we don't know? Cousin, what do you think?
"Then...then..." Shen Suqiu's voice became even softer, filled with confusion and deeper fear.
Her cousin's words were like a pair of cold tweezers, gently crushing her attempts to use perfunctory excuses and the other party's adherence to rules.
Xu Tian did not answer directly.
He tilted his head slightly, his ear twitching almost imperceptibly, as if listening to a faint sound coming from a great distance outside the door, a sound that only he could detect.
Perhaps it's the changing of the guard in the distance, perhaps it's the engine of a car downstairs, perhaps... it's the person at the door...
Or perhaps he was simply concentrating on an extremely complex problem.
"When I was brought here just now," Xu Tian turned back, his gaze falling on Shen Suqiu's face. His tone remained calm, but each word was like a pebble thrown into water after precise calculation, accurately stirring up ripples of unease deep within Shen Suqiu's heart.
“I took a closer look and found that Kagesa Yoshiaki is a lieutenant colonel, while Itai Yudai is only a lieutenant. However, when he appeared, Kagesa and his men immediately stood at attention, saluted, and lowered their heads.”
The way Yingzuo looked at him... Xu Tian narrowed his eyes slightly, as if recalling the details of that moment: "There was surprise, there was fear, but more than that, there was... terror."
The absence of hatred suggests that Section Chief Itai holds considerable authority; at the very least, Kagesa only dares to fear him and dares not harbor any other thoughts.
Xu Tian continued in that calm, fact-analyzing tone, "When he led us away, Yingzuo Zhenzhao's face looked as ugly as if it had been smeared with soot."
But from beginning to end, apart from his initial defense, he didn't dare utter another word.
"A military police intelligence chief, for the sake of two ordinary Chinese people who had just been arrested and whose suspicions were far from cleared, didn't hesitate to refute them to their faces, even going so far as to..." Xu Tian carefully chose his words: "It could be said that he publicly slapped the head of a secret service agency in the face..." Su Qiu.
Xu Tian leaned forward slightly, his voice lower but carrying a powerful, penetrating force: "Do you think this makes sense? How much... 'face' or how important... 'reason' does this require?"
What would it take to make a Japanese officer go after a lieutenant colonel for the sake of two Chinese people?
Just because... "rules"?