The Secret Code of Monsters.

Chapter 24: Brief Interrogation
"name."

"Roland..."

"age."

"Fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen..."

Bang!
The man opposite slammed the table hard, and the gold-capped pen fell off the stacked paper bags, rolled to the other side of the table, and was caught by a slender hand.

The woman rubbed her temples and spoke soothingly.

"He's just a kid, Sean."

"He's a freak from the East End." The man named Sean had black hair similar to Roland's, which was twisted around his head, leaving the dazzling top of his skull exposed; he had narrow eyes, short and thick eyebrows, and was tall.

"You are a blind man. Your mother must have had sex with a dog to give birth to someone like you. Boy, the Holy Father will never have mercy on you—"

He wanted to say something else dirty but was stopped by the woman next to him.

"Let me ask you, kid." She picked up the pen and took the notebook from the man. "You don't know your actual age, right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Roland shrank his neck, his pretty face and sparkling eyes.

There are traces of tears on her face.

The child was terrified.

The woman thought about it and rolled her eyes at the man next to her.

"Roland Collins, the performance artist of the future."
-
To shut up.

Roland pursed his lips and told everything that happened that night.

What he heard, what he imagined...

Approximately:
He guessed that Mr. Meister should have dueled with that ghost.

His black windbreaker rustled, and his limbs beneath the coat were filled with strength like a tiger or leopard - he and the thing were in close combat, a bloody battle, and both sides were hit by the other, leaving scars on their bodies.

Mr. Meister protected him.

Also killed the enemy.

He is a hero.

Die without regrets.

Under the guidance of the woman's gentle words, Roland outlined what happened that night.

"...You are a brave child." The woman seemed a little sad. "It's a pity that Meister didn't have time to explain the location of his potion. Otherwise...I wouldn't have lost this teammate. It's not your fault, Collins."

The male detective was extremely angry.

"For such a monster—"

There are many monsters in this world, including the blind, lame, and poor people. They were born without the favor of the Father of All Things.

Roland listened to him roaring in the room, and a bottle of unopened ink fell on himself.

Then I heard him slam the door and walk out angrily.

"You are just special, not a monster, Roland."

Thank you, Miss Nina.

Roland gripped his cane tightly.

The woman stood up and closed the door. She sighed, scribbled a few lines in her notebook, and suddenly asked:
"Mestel didn't deserve to die like that, kid."

Suddenly there was silence.

"I know him."

The woman said, "He's not the type to sacrifice his life to protect someone like you."

She knocked on the table and looked at Roland with a somewhat cold look: "We found a porcelain piece in the zombie... the monster you mentioned. Child, can you tell me who it belongs to?"

Roland lowered his head.

"…It's mine, ma'am." His lie was exposed, so Roland had to tell the truth, "I lied, ma'am…I was just worried…"

"It's okay, tell me the real process."

The room got colder.

"He came at me, and I don't know, ma'am, I couldn't see—something jumped on me."

"That sharp porcelain piece?" "It was Rick Rich. He showed it off to me, saying it was a magical fragment, a monster or... something, I can't remember." Roland raised his head with a sincere expression, "I bought it for three pennies..."

Rick Rich…

The woman flipped through the records.

She did hear about the alien information reported yesterday, which was discovered in the East District.

It does fit.

This kid…

What good luck?

"I tried to stab it with the shards... and then - I swear, ma'am, Mr. Meister killed the monster with something. He started panting, panting very fast. Then he said a lot of words I couldn't understand - when I felt him along the wall..."

Roland cried, "He has stopped breathing! Please don't hurt me! Madam... I really don't know anything..."

The woman looked at him, considered for a few times, and then said: "Mestel is a hero."

Roland was stunned, tears welling up in his eyes, and then he quickly nodded: "Yes, ma'am. He protected me, and died together with the monster..."

"very good."

The woman drew another line on the notebook. "As for the fragment..."

The omission at the end becomes a gaze.

In the silent room, an invisible pressure enveloped the person being interrogated.

Roland seemed unaware. He clenched his fist and smashed the cold metal handrail hard: "It brings bad luck! If it weren't for it, I don't think I would have encountered the monster - Madam, please don't let it get close to me again, I beg you... I beg you to throw it away..."

"Very good." The woman was satisfied and crossed out some details in the notebook.

After a while, she put down her pen.

"You're fine, kid." Crossing her hands on the table, the woman said, "No one will make things difficult for you, but you will have to be observed for thirty days in the police station."

Thirty days?
"Yes, you need to observe for at least thirty days - Oh, do you have any relatives?"

"My uncle..."

The woman waved her hands: "I don't care what relatives you have, let them pay the deposit and sign the guarantee. If you conceal the facts, he will also bear a certain responsibility..."

She seemed to have nothing more to say to Roland. She lowered her head and took out a pack of cigarettes from the drawer, took out a cigarette and lit it for herself.

After a few minutes, the male detective came back in.

Slipped in through the crack in the door.

He seemed to have calmed down. He first bowed to the woman and made a request. Then, he approached her and whispered a few words to her. The two of them looked at Roland from time to time.

After hearing this, the woman holding the cigarette looked very strange.

“…I didn’t know you were the survivor.”

Roland was puzzled: "What?"

"The survivor of the Collins family, Roland Collins?" She blew out a puff of white mist, stood up and walked to Roland, opened the lock with the key, and pulled him up from the chair.

Roland moved his ankle: "Madam?"

"If you ask me, I don't know whether your luck is good or bad." She took Roland out of the interrogation room.

At the door, the tall woman was already waiting there.

She stood there like an iceberg that had been frozen for hundreds or thousands of years, forcing everyone passing by to carefully avoid her.

"Lord Enid."

"Thanks, Julie."

"You're too polite," the woman named Julie let go of Roland, holding a cigarette, and teased, "This is the first time the Inquisition has 'taken the initiative' to deal with us..."

Enid raised her eyebrows, pulled Roland over, and turned away.

Julie crossed her arms and said goodbye with a smile, while the man bowed politely to the side.

The woman was dusty.

Roland smelled the scent of earth on her.

She didn't say much on the way. She arranged for a newsboy to tell Puhu Collins the news, and then took Roland into the carriage.

(End of this chapter)