Break His Silence
He felt no particular hatred or sympathy for the tortured spy; his only concern was the information in the spy's mind that was crucial to Carnford's life or death.
In order to obtain this information, the methods can and must be sufficiently effective.
The interrogation continued in the cold, dark dungeon, the air thick with the stench of blood and burning.
In addition to clamping the fingers, the executioner switched to a leather whip with small barbs, lashing the man's back repeatedly, leaving crisscrossing bloody welts.
He was then forcibly pressed onto a specially made bench, his knees were tightly bound, and bricks were continuously placed under his ankles, causing his knee and hip joints to be stretched in the opposite direction to extreme, resulting in excruciating, tearing pain.
Torture, brief rest, water, more torture... This process is coldly repeated, with the aim of keeping the victim in a state of extreme pain and physiological stress, struggling on the verge of mental collapse, neither allowing him to become numb from the continuous pain nor giving him a chance to fully relax and recover.
However, to the surprise of both Richter and Karl, the short, stocky man, despite screaming and sweating profusely under torture that would break an ordinary person's spirit, remained tight-lipped and did not reveal any substantial information. He simply stared intently at the executioner with his bloodshot eyes.
"He's a tough nut to crack..." Richter wiped the sweat from his brow and whispered to Karl, "It seems we might have really caught him. Ordinary torture probably won't be enough to get him to talk."
Karl, who had been calmly observing, stepped forward and whispered to Richter a form of torture he remembered from his past life, one that was more targeted at breaking down psychological defenses. "Try waterboarding. Find some absorbent paper or thin cloth, soak it in water, and cover his mouth and nose with them one by one."
Although Richter had never heard of this method before, he immediately grasped its cruelty and signaled to the executioner to do so.
Soon, a piece of mulberry paper, which had become translucent after being wet and was tough, was carefully placed over the man's mouth and nose.
The paper clung tightly to his skin, instantly obstructing his previously smooth breathing. The man instinctively began to struggle, emitting muffled "hoarse" sounds from his throat.
Immediately afterwards, a second wet sheet of paper was applied, and the resistance to breathing increased twice as much.
The third one, the fourth one...
With each additional wet sheet of paper, the feeling of suffocation intensifies exponentially.
The man began to twist his body violently, his bound hands and feet pulling frantically at the chains, making a piercing clanging sound.
His face turned from red to bluish-purple due to extreme oxygen deprivation, and his eyes bulged outwards, filled with a primal fear of death.
This slow, gradual approach to death, this vivid feeling of life being slowly stripped away, is far more destructive to a person's will than direct physical pain.
Just as the man's eyes began to glaze over, his body convulsed to its peak, and he was on the verge of losing consciousness, Richter suddenly waved his hand!
The executioner swiftly and precisely ripped off all the wet paper covering his face!
"Cough! Hoo--hoo--!" The man opened his mouth wide as if he had been rescued from drowning, greedily and frantically inhaling the precious air, his chest heaving violently, tears and snot streaming down his face.
Taking advantage of his still-unconscious state, Richter demanded sharply, "Say it! Your name! Your mission!"
The man lay slumped on the rack, panting heavily, his eyes filled with the terror of surviving a near-death experience, but his lips moved a few times without uttering a sound.
"Continue!" Richter commanded expressionlessly.
Wet sheets of paper were applied one by one, suffocating, struggling, near death, tearing off the paper, interrogation... This process was repeated three times.
When the wet paper was ripped off for the fourth time, the man's mental defenses finally collapsed completely.
He collapsed like a lump of mud, his voice trembling with sobs and extreme fear as he cried out, "I'll talk... I'll talk... Please... don't... don't..."
Richter gestured to pause the torture and asked in a deep voice, "Name? Where are you from?"
"Thomson ... my name is Thomson, I am... I am from the Northern Territory ..." the man said, his breath coming in gasps. "A few years ago, the castle was breached... my family and I were captured by the Sauron ..."
"What is your mission? What is your position among the Sauron?" Richter pressed on.
"I...I'm the captain of the ' Action Team '..." Thomson seemed resigned, his words becoming more fluent, "Two months ago...I was ordered by General Leon to lead six men...disguised as refugees to infiltrate..."
"Where are the other five people? What are their names?" This is the most crucial question.
Thomson swallowed hard and replied, "Besides... besides the one you killed... there were five more: Jack, David, Harrison, Fred, Lawrence..."
"They are scattered... on construction sites, deep in Shantytown Area, and near the granaries and blacksmith shops in the Tunbao. I... I don't know their exact hiding places; we only have one line of communication..."
Richter carefully noted down the names and approximate locations, then gestured to the executioner. "Let him rest for a while, give him some water and food."
He turned and walked with Karl out of the blood-soaked torture chamber and into the slightly fresher passageway outside the dungeon.
"Sir, what do you think?" Richter asked.
Karl decisively ordered, "Immediately send men to secretly investigate based on the names and general areas of activity he provided! But remember, the interrogation must not stop!"
He paused, his tone cold. "What he said could be fabricated information to give us a breather, or even deliberate misleading to alert us. We must verify it while continuing to apply pressure, repeatedly checking the details until the intelligence is confirmed."
"Understood! I will immediately arrange for people to conduct a covert investigation, and at the same time continue the interrogation, digging deeper into the details to verify the truth!" Richter nodded emphatically and left to carry out the order.