Chapter 228 A Monumental Lie

Ying Yun, or rather Wen Jingchen, slowly placed the cotton swabs and water cup on the bedside table.

"Am I really that bad at acting?"

He leaned over the hospital bed railing, looking down at the dying criminal on the bed, his voice soft but ruthless, "Or... do you have some kind of tool that can see through the identity of a consciousness?"

Xin Que smiled wryly, "Does it matter whether it exists or not?"

"But since you reacted this way... it seems I guessed right; you've also been taken down by Huo Fenglin after he'd served his purpose."

Wen Jingchen stared into Xin Que's eyes for a long time before finally speaking, "Aren't you worried that our conversation will be leaked?"

"Just how many methods do you have to resist prison interrogation?"

Xin Que's smile remained unchanged. "You really overestimate me... I'm just someone who's not afraid to die."

"Wen Jingchen, what's your situation right now?"

Wen Jingchen got up and sat on the side chair, casually taking out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "I've really seen something new... In all my years of interrogating death row inmates, this is the first time I've seen a prisoner who's so familiar with the warden."

"Should I say you're shameless, or are you crazy?"

“Crazy is too high a compliment,” Xin Que said in a hoarse voice. “Wen Jingchen, even if you don’t say it, I know why you came here.”

Wen Jingchen paused in his act of lighting a cigarette.

"Hmm? You know more than I do?" He held a cigarette in his left hand, twirling the lighter between his right fingers. "I'd like to hear more."

Xin Que's next words were like a bolt from the blue, "Isn't it all for the remaining 50% of my memories that haven't been unlocked yet?"

Wen Jingchen suddenly snapped the cigarette in his hand.

Xin Que remained fully aware that she was under interrogation, and even knew the specific details of how well the Huo family had deciphered her memories.

Absolutely no error.

This shows that...

She fooled everyone.

Wen Jingchen's lips twitched, forming what looked like a smile, before he let out a cryptic sneer.

A moment later, the laughter seemed to have flipped a switch, and Wen Jingchen burst into laughter.

By the end, Wen Jingchen was almost in tears.

He casually tossed the cigarette and lighter onto the bedside table, stood up, and paced back and forth, his features contorted in a frenzy. "My God...you've all fooled us!!!"

"Everyone!!!"

"You knew all along that this was a new interrogation plan, you knew all along that we and the Huo family were wrapping things up!!!"

"No, no, no... You couldn't have told such a huge lie on your own. You have a mole in prison... I know, I've found out, it's Lin Ying!"

"It was Lin Ying who secretly leaked information to you, and you colluded with him to betray me!"

Xin Que watched Wen Jingchen lose control of his emotions, but she did not intend to correct his understanding. Instead, she deliberately guided his thinking in a more wrong direction.

"Do you really think I can control the overall situation with just Lin Ying?"

Wen Jingchen suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He glanced suspiciously at the woman on the hospital bed.

really.

The new interrogation plan was only carried out until Xin Que returned to the Xu family before the Huo family forcibly took over, and the mental prison was also swiftly and thoroughly cleaned up by Huo Fenglin with thunderous methods.

How did Xin Que obtain the data after that?

Even if Lin Ying wanted to, it would be difficult to gain Huo Fenglin's trust in a short period of time.

unless……

Huo Fenglin arranged for someone among his subordinates who took over the mental prison to meet Xin Que.

Wen Jingchen's distorted expression shifted between several emotions: surprise and anger at being fooled by the prisoner, and terror at being outmaneuvered by the prisoner...

These emotions, mixed together, produced a strange chemical reaction that human reason could not control, ultimately resulting in a rare look of bewilderment on Wen Jingchen's face.

If she really schemed against the prison and the Huo family to this extent...

Does the Huo family, which seems to have absolute dominance, truly control the situation until the very last moment?

Given her absolute disadvantage, will Xin Que really be disposed of and executed after being squeezed dry of her last bit of value, as arranged by the Huo family?

Wen Jingchen sat back down in the companion chair.

"Smack."

The lighter's flame shot into the air and lit a new cigarette.

"You want to win me over." Wen Jingchen's voice reached Xin Que's ears through the smoke floating in the air.

Xin Que remained noncommittal.

"Are we really on opposite sides of the same interest?" Xin Que retorted. "The Huo family hired you to interrogate me. My resistance is nothing more than an attempt to find a chance to survive from the Huo family."

“Wen Jingchen, you and I are not enemies... we and the Huo family are.”

“However, what I said is somewhat biased,” Xin Que’s voice softened considerably. “You know my past, and I also know a little about the operation of the mental prison… When I was working for Mr. Huo Tinghua, I often dealt with you.”

Wen Jingchen did not refute Xin Que.

What she said was indeed true.

As the largest shareholder of the mental prison, the Huo family frequently sent trusted confidants to transfer prisoners to the mental prison.

Xin Que was one of them.

“When Mr. Huo Tinghua was around, the mental prison project was going very smoothly,” Xin Que said with a smile. “The Huo family has always been a qualified investor in the mental prison project.”

"Rather than saying the entire Huo family is the enemy... it's more accurate to say that Huo Fenglin, who has turned the mental prison into a mess, is the enemy we need to join forces to deal with."

Wen Jingchen tapped his knee with his fingertip, "Xin Que, you really have a silver tongue that can twist the truth."

While she spoke of how much she missed Huo Tinghua, it was actually Xin Que herself who, without hesitation, wiped out the entire family in that bombing incident.

Xin Que did not show any embarrassment because of Wen Jingchen's sabotage.

"But I think I'm right."

Xin Que said, "The Huo family is very good to Warden Wen and the mental prison, isn't it?"

"The only bad thing is Huo Fenglin, who can't distinguish between loyalty and treachery, and can't see the situation clearly."

Wen Jingchen's sharp gaze fell on Xin Que. "After rambling on for so long, what exactly are you trying to say?"

Xin Que smiled.

"Wen Jingchen, how about we make a deal?"

"What the Huo family has in abundance now is members of the Huo family who want to squeeze out Huo Fenglin and take his place."

"I'll show you the way, and help you bring Huo Fenglin down once and for all, and put a new family head in the position... Wouldn't that be the merit of supporting a new leader?"

Wen Jingchen fell silent.

"You will still be the warden of the mental prison, and may even rise to a higher position. The Huo family will lose a useless person who occupies a position without doing anything, and gain a wise new head of the family... Everyone will be happy."

Xin Que patiently and skillfully guided him.

"And what about you?" Wen Jingchen countered, "What do you want to gain?"

Xin Que's smile remained unchanged.

She lay on her back on the pillow, staring at the stark white ceiling of the hospital room above her.

"What I need you to do is very simple."

"Lure Huo Fenglin in."