The Third Interrogation

In the detention center, time seemed to be mired in thick glue, flowing slowly and oppressively. Lin Feng kept to his routine: exercise, meals, sleep, and the occasional session listening to Scar spout cellblock gossip with flying spit, as though hearing stories from another world.

But the peace was soon broken.

That morning, before the work detail had begun, the iron door of Cell 107 clanged open. Officer Wang stood in the doorway, his face a few degrees more serious than usual, his gaze fixed directly on Lin Feng.

"Lin Feng, interrogation."

His voice was dry and devoid of emotion.

The cell fell silent at once. Every inmate instinctively drew in his neck, looking toward the head bunk with either sympathy or awe. Scar sprang to his feet with a start and forced a smile. "Officer Wang, he's... being interrogated again? Didn't he just..."

Officer Wang ignored him entirely, merely tilting his head at Lin Feng. "Move it."

Lin Feng put down the dog-eared magazine in his hand and calmly slipped on his sandals. What was bound to come would come. Zhou Wenyuan's actions outside had clearly struck a nerve with certain people.

The familiar route to interrogation, the familiar chill. Once again pressed into that hard chair in the interrogation room, his handcuffs locked to the cold ring on the tabletop, Lin Feng even had a strange sense of "coming home."

The door opened. The first to enter was the young male officer who had taken notes last time. Head lowered, he avoided meeting Lin Feng's eyes as much as possible and quickly set out his notebook. Then came the crisp sound of high heels striking the concrete floor, approaching from a distance with an aggressive rhythm.

Zhang Qian walked in.

She seemed to have made a special effort with her appearance today. Her uniform was immaculately pressed, her hair tightly pinned up, and she had even applied light makeup in an attempt to conceal the exhaustion of staying up late. But the restless irritation and hostility she could not suppress in her eyes jutted out like needles. She carried a thick folder, which she slammed onto the interrogation table with a dull bang, as though asserting her sovereignty.

She did not sit down immediately. Instead, she folded her arms and scrutinized Lin Feng from above, her gaze sweeping back and forth over him like a searchlight.

She soon noticed a difference.

This Lin Feng seemed... not quite the same as the pale young man who had tried to act calm, but could not hide his pallor, when she had interrogated him last time.

His face seemed less deathly pale, with even the faintest hint of a healthy glow? Though he wore the same detention uniform, its collar and cuffs had clearly been washed with care, and his hair was clean and neat, unlike the greasy, matted locks of the other inmates. Most important of all were his eyes!

Last time, his eyes had held undisguisable anger and a trace of barely perceptible fear. Now, they were as calm as a deep pool, without a single ripple. He simply looked back at her with that indifferent gaze, even... even scrutinizing her in a way that made her intensely uncomfortable! As though he were the one sitting in the interrogator's seat!

The discovery was like a venomous thorn driven deep into Zhang Qian's heart. She had expected him to be more haggard, more fearful, even broken! What gave him the right to be so calm? What gave him the right to look better off? Was he living quite comfortably in here? Who was taking care of him? Had that Zhou Wenyuan's reach already grown so long?!

Her anger flared up, burning her throat dry. She yanked out a chair and sat down, leaning forward until she was almost in Lin Feng's face across the table. Her voice seemed to squeeze out between her teeth. "Lin Feng, looks like you've been living pretty well in here, huh?"

Lin Feng raised his eyes to her but said nothing.

"What? You think finding a lawyer with a bit of a reputation means you can do whatever you want? That you can turn black into white?" Zhang Qian spoke rapidly, her voice dripping with mockery. "I'm telling you, dream on! The law is about evidence! There it is in black and white, the confession you wrote with your own hand. The hard evidence is piled up like a mountain!"

She flipped open the folder, pulled out a copy of the confession, and slapped it forcefully onto the table in front of Lin Feng.

"Take a good look! What's this?! This is hard evidence you can't deny!"

Lin Feng swept his gaze over the pages, his expression unchanged.

His silence and composure further enraged Zhang Qian. What she hated most was this kind of refusal to cooperate, this attitude that yielded neither to force nor to persuasion!

"Speak!" She slammed her hand on the table, the tremendous noise echoing through the cramped room. "Don't play dumb with me! You think I can't do anything to you if you keep your mouth shut? I'm telling you, the evidence in your case is conclusive. We can prosecute without a confession! And you can still be convicted!"

She took a deep breath, trying to suppress her anger, and put on an "I'm doing this for your own good" expression, though her tone remained cold and forceful:

"Lin Feng, this is the last chance I'm giving you. You're young, still a college student, with a limitless future ahead of you. As long as you honestly admit your wrongdoing now and give a full account of what happened, I can still tell the procuratorate that you've shown a good attitude in admitting guilt and help you get a suspended sentence!

"Do you really want to spend six months or a year in the detention center, then do a few years in prison? By the time you get out, your life will be ruined! What about your parents? Was it easy for them to raise you to this age?"

She was trying to use his parents and his future to break down his psychological defenses, a trick she often used.

Lin Feng, however, merely listened in silence. Even when she mentioned his parents, there was not the slightest change in his eyes, as though she were talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

His impervious attitude completely ignited Zhang Qian's anger. Her mask of kindness tore apart in an instant. She sprang to her feet, her finger almost jabbing Lin Feng in the nose, her voice piercingly shrill:

"Fine! Fine! You won't talk, is that it? You're going to tough it out? Let's see how long you can last!"

"Let me make this clear! I've already applied for a supplementary investigation into your case! If one isn't enough, there'll be two! I've got plenty of time to take you through the legal process nice and slow!"

"You want to drag this out with me? We'll see who can outlast whom! You just stay put in here! For six months! A year! Let's see how capable that lawyer of yours really is! Let's see how long your parents can hold out!"

"When you've been worn down to a mental breakdown, when everyone has forgotten you, let's see if you can still keep up that defiant act!"

She was breathing heavily, her chest heaving, her face flushed with agitation. The young male officer beside her kept his head lowered, his writing hand frozen, not daring to breathe loudly.

Only Zhang Qian's heavy breathing remained in the interrogation room.

Lin Feng finally moved. He shifted in his chair ever so slightly and rested his handcuffed hands on the table, his fingers lightly overlapping. Then he raised his head, his gaze focusing for the first time on Zhang Qian's face, somewhat twisted with anger.

He spoke, his voice so steady it held not a ripple, carrying even a faint trace of puzzlement:

"Officer Zhang," he asked, "why are you so angry?"

"..."

For an instant, Zhang Qian seemed to have been frozen by a pause button, every expression stiffening on her face.

Why was she so angry?

Yes... why am I so angry? There are flaws in the evidence, but there's been no major mistake in the procedure. It's his right to hire a lawyer. His bad attitude is nothing unusual. Why am I...

Was it because she felt her authority had been challenged? Because she thought this brat was looking down on her? Because the pressure from Zhou Wenyuan had left her at her wits' end? Because deep down, perhaps... she was not so utterly convinced either?

Lin Feng's lightly spoken question was like a mirror, suddenly reflecting her loss of composure and her obsession at that moment.

After a brief moment of astonishment came an even more overwhelming surge of shame and anger at being seen through!

"How dare you!" Zhang Qian lost control completely. She kicked the leg of the interrogation table hard, though the table did not budge, and pointed at the door as she roared at the young officer, "Take him back! This instant! Right now! Take him back!"

The young officer shuddered in fright and hurriedly got up to unlock Lin Feng's handcuffs.

Lin Feng calmly stood and flexed his somewhat stiff wrists. He gave one last look at Zhang Qian, who was trembling all over with anger, her face livid. His gaze remained calm and untroubled, even carrying the faintest hint of... pity?

Then he turned and calmly left the interrogation room, following Officer Wang, who had come over at almost a jog.

Behind him came Zhang Qian's uncontrollable low roar, almost forced out from her throat, followed by the clatter of the folder being swept violently to the floor.

The third interrogation ended on a sour note.

Within the high walls, Lin Feng walked down the corridor back to his cell. Sunlight streamed through a high window, casting a short strip of light in front of him. He knew that the line holding Zhang Qian was close to snapping. And once it snapped, the reckoning would begin.