Looking at Ji Yongyan's face, Ning Zhiheng thought to himself, no wonder Liu Datong and the others searched all the tea shops in Yuzhong but couldn't find this guy. Who could have imagined that this person would disfigure himself in order to hide his identity and continue to carry out his undercover mission? This is not something an ordinary person could do. Even a trained spy could be so ruthless, which shows how strong his willpower is.

Moreover, judging from today's arrest, this guy immediately tried to commit suicide by poison as soon as he sensed something was wrong, without the slightest hesitation. He is decisive and fearless, definitely a tough nut to crack. It seems that today's interrogation will not go too smoothly.

Ning Zhiheng said calmly, "Ji Yongyan, it wasn't easy finding you this time! I almost turned the whole Yuzhong District upside down. Well, the radio and the codebook are in my hands now, so let's talk about something!"

Despite knowing that his evidence was irrefutable and his identity was undeniable, Ji Yongyan still arrogantly raised his head and remained silent.

Ning Zhiheng was just going through the motions. He knew the other party was a difficult character, so he didn't expect to solve the problem with a few words. He had seen many people like this before, and in the end, they all had to suffer before they could back down.

Ning Zhiheng turned his head and ordered, "Gag him and tie his hands up too. Don't hurt him!"

The interrogators were taken aback, but quickly understood Ning Zhiheng's meaning. They stepped forward and tightly gagged Ji Yongyan again, preventing his teeth from closing. They also wrapped his hands with cloth strips and firmly fixed them to the wooden stake.

"Alright, let's go all out. I want to see how long this guy can last!"

Ning Zhiheng's order was carried out immediately, without any transitional measures. Just like before, it was a direct application of iron skewers and branding irons. Long iron skewers were inserted into Ji Yongyan's ten toenails, and the excruciating pain was almost unbearable for Yoshida Ryusuke. Then, the red-hot branding iron was imprinted on his body, and the acrid smell of burning permeated the air. However, his mouth was tightly gagged, and he could only make muffled struggle sounds.

Ning Zhiheng did not call for a halt, so the interrogators dared not stop. They tried every available torture on Ji Yongyan again and again, pulling out iron skewers and inserting them again, heating hot irons until the prisoner fainted once more.

After a long while, Ning Zhiheng signaled the interrogators to remove the gag from Ji Yongyan's mouth. A basin of ice-cold salt water was poured over Ji Yongyan's body. The salt in the water caused his nerves to contract violently, and a sharp pain jolted Ji Yongyan awake from his unconsciousness.

Ning Zhiheng stepped forward and removed the gag from his mouth, then asked again, "Alright, I don't want to say anything more. I just want you to open your mouth and identify who your mole is. Who gave you the Ganbei defense plan? If you answer truthfully, everything can end early, how about it?"

Ji Yongyan's breathing was weak. He gritted his teeth, enduring the intense pain throughout his body to keep himself from crying out. He barely opened his eyes and looked at Ning Zhiheng. He didn't understand why the other party would ask such a question. Wasn't the reason the other party was able to find him and know his concealed identity because of the exposure of the mole? Why was he being asked to identify the mole now? Had he guessed wrong, and the mole hadn't been exposed?

At this moment, a glimmer of hope rose in Ji Yongyan's heart. The mole's identity was too important. He was an intelligence agent who had access to the highest military secrets of the Chinese military. If he could keep him alive, even if there was only a sliver of hope, he would give it a try!

Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated. He suddenly opened his mouth and bit his tongue, intending to bite it off. As long as the other party could not get his confession, they would not be able to identify the mole, and the mole would have a chance to escape.

But Ning Zhiheng was faster. Just as Ji Yongyan opened his mouth, a large hand gripped his jawbone. Ji Yongyan felt an unbearable pain in his cheek, and his teeth were forced open again.

"It's both smelly and hard!"

Ning Zhiheng cursed, grabbed the wad of cloth, and stuffed it back into Ji Yongyan's mouth. He then commanded, "Keep going. Don't stop as long as he has a breath left!"

What followed was another round of torture and torment. Ji Yongyan soon couldn't hold on any longer and fainted again. So they poured water to wake him up and continued the interrogation until the military doctor who examined him reported that the prisoner's body could no longer bear the strain. Even then, Ji Yongyan gritted his teeth and refused to speak.

This was truly beyond Ning Zhiheng's expectations. Ji Yongyan was the second most hardened Japanese spy he had ever met, after Fu Cheng and Ikeda Kosuke. Even under such severe torture, he still refused to confess.

But then things got a bit tricky. Ning Zhiheng didn't dare to treat Fu Cheng and Ikeda Kosuke the same way he did, putting him directly into the electric chair. The electric chair interrogation was too intense. Because the suspects' physical conditions were different, their tolerance to electric current was also different. The intensity of the interrogation could not be precisely controlled. If he accidentally pushed the level too high, he might electrocute the person to death or turn them into an idiot. Then the lead would be cut off, and the important witness would be gone.

Unlike previous cases, the Ganbei leak case needs to be reported to the military high command. Without the most crucial witness and without Ji Yongyan's identification, it is impossible to prove the crimes of Xia Bin and his wife. Although Ning Zhiheng's methods are ruthless, he still knows the importance of things. Ji Yongyan must not die!

Ning Zhiheng looked at Ji Yongyan, who had fainted again, and turned to the military doctor, asking, "Can he continue the interrogation?"

The military doctor carefully examined Ji Yongyan's condition. "Chief, his body has reached the limit of interrogation. Even if he is tortured, he will soon faint. It seems that he has the ability to force himself into a state of unconsciousness, subconsciously avoiding interrogation."

Ning Zhiheng was taken aback. He knew that many intelligence departments in international intelligence organizations had anti-torture training programs. One very effective technique was self-hypnosis, which involved controlling one's senses to isolate oneself from the boundless pain and physical torment of interrogation, forcing one's consciousness into a closed space, ignoring the outside world, like a living dead.

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