Empire of Shadows

Chapter 520: Actor, Acting, Playing a Role [666+3]

As the door closed, Nate noticed Hunter pick up the phone again, clearly swamped with work.

Nate's heart rate, which had been racing, gradually returned to normal as he entered the interrogation room assigned to his office.

The two officers in charge of the interrogation immediately stood up. "Sir…"

Nate waved his hand. "Did you get anything out of him?"

The guy sitting in the chair looked extremely tired. Although he had a brief respite during the officers' break, it wasn't nearly enough.

The two officers looked somewhat embarrassed. They had used all the interrogation techniques they had learned from others on this guy, but without any desired results.

This made them very awkward, as it was clearly a reflection of their abilities.

If anyone else had asked, they might not have cared so much, but it was Nate, their direct superior, asking, and they didn't know what to say.

Nate waved his hand, signaling that they didn't need to rack their brains for an answer.

He glanced at the case file. "I'll talk to him alone."

The two officers quickly left and closed the door behind them.

The young man glanced at him sideways, rolling his eyes and looking elsewhere.

Nate looked at the young man and took out a cigarette.

He could have just left after saying a few words, but now he suddenly wanted to interact with this young man more, wanting to see why that guy Bruce admired and trusted Lance so much, extending a blind trust to his people as well.

"Want one?" he asked.

The young man hesitated for a moment. "If you insist, but don't think that giving me a cigarette will get you anything from me."

Nate put the lit cigarette from his own mouth into the young man's mouth. He took a drag, and his whole body seemed to relax a lot.

At this moment, the effect of the nicotine was not just to promote dopamine secretion, but also to relieve pain and affect his psychology.

He squinted slightly, the smoke rising from the cigarette butt blurring his vision, as if his eyes had lost focus.

"Aren't you afraid?" Nate asked. "It's such a big case. They say two ordinary drunks died. If someone is pushing things from behind, you guys might end up in the electric chair."

"Smuggling and selling contraband are serious crimes, not to mention the shootout and causing death."

The young man explained somewhat unconvinced, "We didn't beat those two drunks to death!"

Nate shook his head. "Who cares?"

"Do you think the judge will really listen to the defense of a gang member?"

"They'll only listen to the prosecutor. The Hunter family, the Bay Area, including the police department, we'll have the prosecutor tell the judge that you beat those two innocent drunks to death, and the judge will accept that evidence."

"You, you'll most likely be sent to the electric chair."

Hearing this outcome, the young man's smoking action paused noticeably, but quickly resumed. "Whatever."

Looking at his nonchalant appearance, Nate became even more curious. "But if you're willing to testify against Lance, then you'll very likely avoid all of this."

"I just came from the chief's office. He told me that as long as you testify against Lance, your sentence won't exceed three years."

The young man paused again, then smiled. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Nate suddenly felt an itch in his nose. He rubbed back and forth under his nose with his index finger. "Can you tell me why you're unwilling to do this?"

"Did he threaten you, or use some other means?"

The young man didn't speak, remaining silent. Although he didn't speak, he was also thinking.

Until the cigarette was finished.

"Thank you for the cigarette," he said.

Nate asked again, "You still have time to change this."

The young man pursed his lips. "Fuck you!"

Nate was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then couldn't help but burst into laughter. He laughed so hard that tears came out!

He laughed so much that the young man looked at him like he was a madman. The young man didn't understand why Nate was so happy after being cursed at.

"Lance… asked me to pass on a message to you."

The young man's expression changed. His face turned a little red, and then he said, "Fuck you again!"

Nate raised his hand and waved it. "Hunter is willing to pay for a protection program for you. You'll receive our protection, as long as you confess and testify against Lance, but he certainly won't be satisfied with just your testimony."

"You need to tell him that you have some evidence that can solidify Lance's crime."

"But you have a condition, only tell Hunter, and demand that it must be obtained by Hunter himself."

The young man's eyes lit up. "Are you saying, to lure Hunter out of the police station?"

Nate nodded, which made the young man initially believe him, because he didn't have any evidence and didn't know where to send Hunter.

Confessing wouldn't hurt him at all, and if he found out it was a scam, he could completely say he was forced when he appeared in court.

He thought for a while, but then shook his head. "What if he doesn't want to go out?"

As a young man, he probably understood Lance's plan: to trick Hunter out and kill him.

Regardless of the subsequent impact of this matter, as long as the police's attitude changed, Lance's pressure would be greatly reduced.

He didn't know too many grand principles or family secrets, he only knew that this could help Lance, help the family, and that was enough!

So his brain quickly worked, thinking of one of the existing problems.

That was, if he did what this police officer said, but Hunter himself didn't go out and arranged for someone else to go out, what would he do?

Nate sighed, not because there was a problem with this method, nor because of the young man's thinking ability, but because Chief Bruce had already told him the answer when they were talking: Lance had already thought of it.

"You just need to tell him that there are also some of Lance's people here. If they get the evidence or know what the evidence is, Lance will immediately destroy anything that can incriminate him!"

Hearing this, the young man completely believed Nate.

Indeed, everyone was racing against time, desperately trying to kill the other side.

So now that crucial evidence had appeared, but it required him to take a little risk, would he take it?

The young man didn't know, but he believed that if this was Lance's request, then they would definitely win in the end.

"I know, tell me the location."

After Nate finished speaking, he instructed again, "Don't confess now, you know what I mean?"

The young man nodded and said, "I have to act more realistically. I've seen Geral act."

Looking at Nate's somewhat clueless appearance, he laughed and said, "Geral, the future big star, you'll know."

"Oh right, give me another cigarette. I don't know when I'll be able to smoke again next time."

Nate took out the cigarette case, took out one, lit it, and handed it over. His curiosity flared up again at this time. "Why?"

The young man asked, squinting from the smoke, "Why what?"

"Why aren't you afraid?"

The young man smiled and replied, "Would you betray your family?"

"I don't know if you would, but I wouldn't!"

Nate felt somewhat justified, somewhat shocked, and somewhat emotional. "Family… huh?"

Soon the young man finished smoking, and Nate left the room. Then he walked around in other interrogation rooms.

He wrote some words on a card – "Hang in there, this will be over soon!"

Whenever he entered those interrogation rooms, he would show those being interrogated these cards, letting them know that Lance wasn't doing nothing, he was taking action!

These displays were very secret, no one could find out except those being interrogated.

All morning, "nothing was accomplished." No one confessed, and some officers even discovered some abnormalities.

Those being interrogated suddenly became tougher. Before, they might have been somewhat negative, but now, they weren't negative at all. Some even cursed while being beaten. How could this situation not be strange?

But they didn't know what was wrong, they could only feel that it was… some kind of explosion?

Near noon, many reporters suddenly came outside the police station. They said they had received reports that the police station was conducting large-scale torture of suspects, forcing them to confess and demanding that they testify against more people.

This news was like a dog seeing a fresh pile of shit to the reporters. They could even fight and tear each other apart to grab this pile of shit!

For a time, the entrance of the police station became extremely lively, and Hunter was also very angry.

What did this mean?

This fucking meant that there was an "insider" in the police station!

If there wasn't an insider, who would know that they were torturing these suspects?

Now this was very difficult to handle. If he didn't say anything and let these reporters write whatever they wanted, then the city hall, the state government, and the prosecutor's office might intervene to investigate.

Guaranteeing the judicial justice system was one of the basic conditions to appease the bottom of society from rioting. Although everyone didn't really take this matter seriously, not taking it seriously and openly not taking it seriously were not the same thing!

He had to accept the interview, but he couldn't let things develop off track. Those sons of bitches reporters would definitely interview those suspects.

The only thing he could do now was to think of a way to muddle through for now.

He believed that in a few days at most, he would be able to completely sort out this case!

Soon, he had the reporters ushered into the conference room and began the interview. At the same time, he presented some other cases, even having some officers take off their uniforms and act as criminals, displaying it all for the reporters to see!

While discussing the severity of these cases, he asserted that the police department could not possibly engage in torture, which would violate the law and judicial requirements. He claimed it was all a fabrication by the criminals.

Their aim was to disrupt the interrogation and prevent them from uncovering the truth!