Spark

Chengdu, an interrogation room at a state security location.

The interrogation expert who came from the imperial capital stood opposite Li Xiang, nodding repeatedly while listening to his speculation.

".So I judge that what they really care about is not the matter of 'death' itself, but the subsequent impact of death."

"Whether it's Paul or Jess, the psychological damage caused by the death of an immediate family member is huge, but the problem is, we don't know what the specific form of psychological damage is."

"However, we have reason to believe that it is impossible for them to be completely desensitized to it."

"Otherwise, their lives would not be going like this."

"So, we might as well be simple and straightforward, directly screen out the iconic symbols in this incident, and conduct a comprehensive test on them."

"As long as we observe a response, we can conduct further in-depth exploration."

"Understand, your theory is from the psychodynamic school - we did use the theory from the behavioral school before, and there should be some deviations in this regard."

The expert nodded slightly and then continued:

"So if we need to start from a psychodynamic perspective, the first thing to do is to create enough 'elements' to trigger subconscious reactions."

"At this point, the intelligence agencies need to be deeply involved."

"We needed a lot of symbolic images and sounds to test him in a semi-conscious state."

"These images and sounds include"

"We're ready."

Li Xiang interrupted the expert and then asked:

"What are the requirements for a semi-conscious state? A trance state? What drugs are needed?"

The expert hesitated for a moment and finally said:

"Psychedelic drugs are okay, but the problem is that if they use hallucinogenic drugs, his continuity of thinking will be interrupted."

"Or to put it bluntly, he doesn't think that the self in the hallucination and the self in the waking state are the same person. If the principle of 'not speaking' is not broken, it will be impossible for you to continue the in-depth interrogation. "

"So, my suggestion is, it's best not to do anything, just continue to wear down his energy and keep him in a state of exhaustion."

"Can."

Li Xiang answered decisively.

"Shall we start now?"

"no problem."

After a brief exchange of follow-up precautions, this special interrogation continued.

Paul and Jess were sent into two new interrogation rooms respectively. In front of them was a large screen, and on the big screen, there was a multi-functional camera that locked their faces at all times, even the slight changes in their pupils. , could not escape the eyes of the interrogators.

On his head, he also wears a hood with complex sensors that monitor changes in his brain's electrical signals in real time.

"Start playing the screen."

Li Xiang took a deep breath and gave the order.

In fact, after entering the core of the intelligence department, he had not experienced interrogation and counter-interrogation training, and had even personally participated in more than ten interrogations. But facing such a tough guy and such an extreme situation, it was really difficult for him to do so. first.

He didn't have 100% confidence. The reason why he wanted to try was because Chen Nian did give him inspiration.

"Breaking bones and spreading ashes"?

This trick may not necessarily be useful, but the core revealed behind it may indeed be useful.

“Destroying what a person truly values.”

To do this, the first thing to do is to find what he values.

The pictures kept flashing by, and through the surveillance camera, Li Xiang carefully observed Paul's reaction.

"Is the facial recognition system connected?"

He took the time to ask the technician on the side.

"It's connected, and the AI ​​analysis library has been started. However, our database of white people is relatively small, and the analysis accuracy may not be sufficient."

"It's okay, just lower the sensitivity and then perform manual re-screening."

While speaking, the system issued the first warning.

"Pupillary changes, lip micro-expression changes. What is the content of the photo?"

Li Xiang asked immediately.

"The photos of the scene of the jump are consistent with our judgment. He was not completely desensitized to the incident itself, and the direction was correct."

"That's too broad. Theoretically he would react to all these kinds of photos."

Li Xiang is not in a hurry. At this time, the progress of scrolling the material library is only 10%. Subsequent materials will be more directional and the excitement will gradually increase.

"The second warning, funeral - experts have given feedback, and the fluctuation this time is relatively obvious."

"Obviously normal."

Li Xiang nodded slightly.

In fact, humans do not have a strong experience of death itself, because in the face of huge emotional fluctuations, the human brain will automatically activate a shielding mechanism to prevent physiological damage caused by overload.

On the contrary, after death itself becomes the past, its consequences will gradually be strengthened and solidified into the subconscious through comparison again and again, forming indelible traces.

So it's not surprising that the response to a funeral is stronger than the response to the death itself.

The following pictures continue this logic.

His father's relics range from family portraits to photos of him and his mother, to his lonely PhD graduation photos, to his mother's newly formed family portrait.

Paul's response rate peaked but then began to decrease rapidly again.

It does seem like his memory is fading.

"Select the material groups with strong responses and use AI to expand them."

Li Xiang gave the order without hesitation.

Subsequently, a new set of pictures was inserted into the material group.

The funeral scene has been expanded into a picture record of the entire burial process, and these pictures even include detailed scenes of the body saying goodbye and closing the coffin.

Paul's response frequency reached its highest level since the test.

"Keep expanding!"

The level of detail of the material was once again enhanced, but to Li Xiang's expectation, this time, the frequency of Paul's responses did not increase.

There was no problem with the general direction, but the weakness buried deep in his subconscious seemed not to be found.

How about really trying to break the bones and spread the ashes?

Li Xiang scratched his head and instructed the technical team to quickly generate a new picture.

The buried graves were dug up again, the bodies were dragged out, and the ashes were scattered into the air.

This time, everyone could clearly see Paul's changes without even using technical means.

His breathing became visibly rapid, and his brows furrowed tightly.

According to the data, his body temperature suddenly increased, and the frequency of pupil contraction also increased rapidly.

This is not something that can be faked.

"That's it - wait a minute, he is indeed concerned about the corpse, but it doesn't seem to be the matter of the corpse being desecrated. The AI ​​expands again and continues to make fuss about the corpse."

More pictures were presented, and Paul started to want to close his eyes, but the restrainer did not allow him to do so.

When the scene progressed to a man dragging the corpse out of the grave and placing it with other corpses, Paul suffered a mental breakdown.

At this moment, Li Xiang finally saw through the essence of the "live photo" that made him have a slight reaction.

The focus is not on the body itself, but on “the body next to it.”

He confidently turned on the microphone and said one sentence to Paul in the interrogation room:

"It's not necessarily your father's body you bury."

A few hours later, in Chen Nian's office.

Li Xiang sat on the sofa with a tired look on his face, drinking water with a frown on his face and quickly flipping through the latest incoming information.

"So what was the final result? Wait, tell me first, how did you get him to speak?"

Chen Nian asked curiously.

"Actually, it's very simple. It's just like what you said, crushing the bones and spreading the ashes."

"He saw his father's corpse with his own eyes, but what impacted him most was not the corpse itself, but the scene where 'the corpse and the corpse merged into one'."

"If you think about it carefully, this kind of complete destruction. To be honest, I used to watch the news and think that Mrs. Kennedy went to pick up skulls or something, and I thought it was an exaggeration. But now it seems that when she was emotionally broken, she did something extraordinary. Rational actions are also normal.”

"--Let's not talk about this. In short, it is not as difficult as we thought to get him to speak, especially with the blessing of new technology."

"First of all, through a powerful click to penetrate his psychological defense and let him take the initiative to speak, everything is basically over."

"The next thing to talk about is the exchange of interests at various levels."

"We promised to provide him with asylum, promised not to hold him accountable for past incidents, and promised not to disclose his whereabouts to other powerful American agencies in exchange for which he would provide us with the information he had about that organization."

“Isn’t it great that the deal is done?”

Looking at Li Xiang's expression, Chen Nian couldn't help but feel a little confused.

He looked like he had just accomplished something big, but more like he had encountered a problem that was difficult to solve.

"You didn't get what you wanted?"

he continued to ask.

"No, on the contrary, we got a lot of usable intelligence."

Li Xiang shook his head and continued:

"But here's the problem - if all this information is true, then things will be a bit troublesome."

"Involving a third country?"

Chen Nian asked immediately.

"It's not involved. If it involves a third country, it won't be a big problem."

Li Xiang sighed and explained:

"Let's start directly from the intelligence - first of all, according to the information we have, this Paul was responsible for the previous Musk assassination incident, and Jess was responsible for the Falcon-9 rocket recycling explosion incident."

"The two of them should not have exchanged any information, because although the two missions appear to be continuous, they are two completely independent missions."

"But their superiors, after taking into account the special nature of the task, packaged the two tasks into one and gave them directly to the two of them."

"The two of them started from scratch and made all the plans."

"Including how to purchase guns and ammunition that cannot be tracked, how to set up underwater floating beacons, how to determine the final landing point of Falcon 9, and how to destroy the locking system of offshore platforms."

"We can confirm that during the implementation of this series of plans, they did not receive help from any third party. They did everything themselves."

"This is scary. Do you know what this means?"

"It means they have a completely cut off relationship with their superior organizations."

Chen Nian replied subconsciously.

"It's not just that."

Li Xiang's expression was extremely solemn. He looked at Chen Nian steadily and said:

"That means they started working without getting paid."

"This means that the various members of this organization are not bound together by interests."

“Their superiors only provide resources and information support, and even very few resources.”

"For example, in the Musk incident, superiors provided a way to purchase guns, but according to Paul's description, the process of purchasing guns was still extremely difficult for him, and he was even almost exposed because he had never had contact with this type of arms smuggler before. "

"He had to prepare for this for half a year. During this six months, he tried to ask for help from the organization's contact person, but the contact person directly rejected him."

"So do you see it? The overall structure and operation of this organization"

"It's a lot like us."

Chen Nian said in a deep voice.

"Yes, it's very similar to us in the early days, even more secretive."

"And under such a structure, they can actually maintain a fairly close connection and launch three successful operations. This is terrifying."

"I don't understand how they keep this organization going."

"You wait first."

Chen Nian interrupted Li Xiang and asked after thinking for a moment:

"If this organization is not sustained by profits, what happened to the resources they enjoyed when they were arrested in Qatar?"

"That's another question."

Li Xiang continued to explain:

"Their settlement method is one-time."

"After the mission is over, people who have successfully completed the mission can make a request, and the organization will do its best to ensure that their request is met."

"The conditions they both proposed were to live in Qatar for a long time, with the purpose of witnessing the development of mankind up close - especially those developments that the United States wanted to do but failed to achieve."

"That's part of the platform of their organization - but let's not discuss that yet."

“Back to the original question: They asked for it, they got it met, but they didn’t know how it was done organizationally.”

"Someone completed the requirements for them, but it was another 'task executor' who was not a core member of the organization."

"In other words, the connection between the core layer and the execution layer is completely severed. Even if we catch the lower-level personnel, it will be even more difficult to follow the clues."

"Awesome."

Chen Nian couldn't help but sigh.

"Is this our upgraded version? It's also an upgraded version of the blockchain."

"However, such a decentralized operation must have a lowest-level credit base, right? What is their credit base?"

Having said this, Chen Nian suddenly shuddered.

He somewhat understood the origin of the expression on Li Xiang's face.

Yes, this organization may not have any credibility foundation for the time being. The reason why the current three incidents can be carried out can basically be said to be accidental.

But soon, the foundation will take shape.

It’s not just because of the successful cashing of three mission rewards – cashing in requires costs, and the cost issue will return to the underlying foundation again.

What they are bound to is the main line of "development".

Or

"Damn! Are they bound to us?"

"That's right."

Li Xiang nodded and answered.

“They are a radical version of us.”