Shi Lang smiled and said, “Woke up, Captain Louis Lampard? How was your sleep?”
Then he stood up from his chair and fished out the fruit knife from his pocket. The lady shivered and said, “No, please do not do this anymore. It is not my fault. I did nothing, Brigadier Jun and the other people are all being framed.”
Shi Lang stopped and looked at her with an indifferent face. He was sure that this was a subconscious reaction of her, which was triggered by his stabbing action. She seemed to have developed a strong psychological impression of him. The boy asked, “Why did you not say all this earlier?”
The lady said, “I could not, I do not know how can I speak the truth now, but believe me please, this is all true.”
Shi Lang gazed at Gamma, who nodded at him to keep going. The boy asked, “Then do tell me the in and outs of this matter from the very beginning, also, please be concise in details do not miss out on anything.”
Louis nodded and said, “Two months ago, the federal command ordered us to reckon Carta-shyn. the brigade set off and soon we arrived at the stellar coordinates. The rest of the procedure was followed by the federal war action code. We asked the natives to surrender and they did. Upon landing, we found out that the place was a premedieval civilization.
The inhabitants had characteristics crossing between humans and animals. Upon research it was discovered that they were just like us terrans, they awakened abilities and these abilities gave them powers like animals, however, they acquired them at birth only.
The peace talks were concluded very peacefully and the people of the planet were all very calm about it. However, one day there was a storm near our location. Brigadier Jun and the rest of the high commanding officers were embroiled in it.
When we got out of the storm we found something weird, the whole base was covered with corpses. Brigadier and the rest of the people were sure that all this was done by the natives, and thus we were commanded to erase the village nearby. The higher officers were seven-star officers and with brigadier, they rummaged the whole place.
In the end, the senior of the natives killed three higher commands before he was killed by Brigadier Jun. The battle lasted two days, and after exhausting their whole strength we passed out. When we woke up the Military police had already taken us in.”
Shi Lang did not know what to make of it. He asked, “Any proof to justify your statement?”
Louis said, “Sir, you can check the memories inside the brain, I do not have anything else to prove myself.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “We have indeed watched your memories, however, nothing that you orally convey does match with the clips in the memory.”
Louis Lampard was shocked. Shi Lang said, “I will play the clip we found inside your memories.”
…
As the scene progressed, Louis became even more restless. Her account had no problem till the point they came out of the storm. After the storm, there was no such bloody scene as she told the people. The actions on the screen were heinous. It was as if the higher command will not leave a single corpse intact.
Shi Lang gazed at the girl and said, “You want to tell me that all this happened because the inhabitants acted first? Also, you all did not take care of the medical guidelines, issued by the federation.
Do you have no idea that you need to wear the oxygen extractor on your face when you are out in a new uncharted territory? You people are too careless for your own good. Do you think that you all will get away from this? Tch, shame.”
Gamma said, “Miss Louis Lampard, I would like to ask for a few questions. Do you mind?”
Louis nodded her head and said, “I do not mind, you can ask.”
The lady nodded and Stephan took Shi Lang outside.
…
Shi Lang asked Stephan, “Why did we come out?”
The man said, “Boss, wanted to interact with her for the last time. Do not worry, she will double-check her statement. If it is a lie then her statement will change. Being alone with a Terran whose star level is higher than you is intimidating. Plus boss had a special ability. You, on the other hand, rookie, did quite a work on her.
Tell me, how did you think this simulation realm will work in our favor?”
They were still standing inside the simulation realm and the whole space was projecting the scene of the holding cells in the real world. Shi Lang smiled and shook his head. He did not want to answer this guy too much.
…
After ten minutes, Gamma came out of the place and said, “What she said is the truth in her mind. I cross-checked multiple times. Now the rest depends upon the medical reports, if we did not find anything, Commander will have us on a platter.”
Shi Lang said, “Let us check the medical records. I have a strong hunch something is up with her body.”
The people nodded and Gamma asked the operator outside to turn off the simulation realm.
…
Three of them opened their eyes slowly and stood up. They walked out of the simulation room and came to the infirmary where Louis was being treated. Gamma glanced at the few people gathered at the side and asked, “Doctor Kyle, anything useful?”
Doctor Kyle was in charge of Louis’s check-up. He seemed to be in his late twenties and had a good bearing. His roughly combed hair made him look aloof. The man said, “Madam, there is something odd that we never expected.”
He walked over to her side and passed her a tablet. He said, “This is a scan of her spine and central nervous system. Her entire nervous system is cluttered with some sort of living organism. We have extracted some of it and found that this thing is a parasitic bug. The size is microscopic but the ability is terrifying.”
Gamma was surprised and asked, “Go on.”
The doctor pushed his glasses back up on his nose and said, “This little guy is capable of causing people to hallucinate, and do things that they never had imagined. Not only that, it can even take over their consciousness to the point where the people will become a different self of theirs. It slows down the rest of the functions of the body. Like self-healing ability is slowed down by a lot.
If not for the fact that the body is a four-star Terran, then you can forget about her being of any use. She is a victim. Also, these little bugs work like bees, inside the billions of bugs, there is a supreme bug that is controlling them all.”
Shi Lang was not much surprised but Gamma and Stephan were. The former asked, “Doctor is there a chance that those who come in contact with her can get infected?”
Kyle replied with furrowed brows, “I do not know, but it is better to have you and all those who came in contact with her to get tested.”
Shi Lang said, “Then do test us, we have to submit a report afterward. Also, is there a way to cure this situation?”
His hint was at Louis Lampard. Kyle replied, “We are trying to determine where the queen bug is so that we can do a laser procedure, and we are also trying to develop a drug that can be used in this situation.”
The three nodded and then they all followed to get tested. Kyle personally presided over the scans. he watched the three of them being cleared. Shi Lang and Gamma did not delay and moved back to the town hall to report to the commander.
Shi Lang took the lead to knock on the door. Archie spoke, “Come in.”
The boy pushed open the door and waited for Gamma to enter before him. She was his senior officer, this was his etiquette. The boy got inside and saluted Archie.
The lady asked, “Progress?”
Gamma gestured for Shi Lang to speak. The boy nodded and said, “Reporting to the commander, the suspect has confessed a few facts in the simulation realm. The memory tapping also revealed that half of her statement was correct, however, the incident is done under the influence of the parasitic people inside her and the other officer’s bodies. The fact has been confirmed by the medical team. However, the source of these parasites inside the body of these people is unknown.”
Then he walked forward and handed him a tablet to him, this contained all the details about the interrogation and the case. The lady took a thorough look at it and said, “Good, LC Gamma, you are to take a team and investigate the source of these parasites. The base of operation is Carta-shyn. At the same time, you will try to re-establish the peace talks. Captain Shi-Lang is your first assistant. Understood?”
“Yes, Ma’am.” replied the two.
