Chapter 2: I Only Need 72 Hours To Fall In Love With You (II)

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Chapter 2: I Only Need 72 Hours To Fall In Love With You (II)

In a spacious, brightly lit room, a man around thirty stood silently with his back to the window.

He stood around 192 centimeters tall, his posture perfectly straight. His ice-blue eyes concealed a keen edge, while his long brown hair fell all the way to his waist. His well-tailored clothes perfectly outlined his impressive physique. Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling window and spilled over him, as though draping him in a veil of gold.

Gabriel gazed at the man with both reverence and admiration in his eyes. With a trace of urgency, he said, “General Ravel, please evacuate as soon as possible. Otherwise, it’ll be too late.”

Ravel turned his gaze toward him. “Why did Cage suddenly come to Draconis?”

Gabriel’s gaze wavered as he answered haltingly, “I’m not entirely sure either. I only know that Cage was always complaining about Tayma’s outdated technology and terrible environment. He really wanted to return to Draconis.”

“So he simply came back?” Ravel stared at Gabriel, missing none of the subtle changes in his expression.

Gabriel grew uneasy beneath his stare and couldn’t help lowering his head.

Ravel asked again, “What kind of person is he?”

Gabriel looked even more hesitant, as though debating whether he should answer honestly.

Seeing his reaction, Ravel said noncommittally, “Although you’re only General Utrecht’s adopted son, in terms of status, you’re no different from Cage. There’s no need to hold anything back.”

Gabriel gritted his teeth. “Cage is rather willful and unruly. He usually does nothing but idle around, bullying the weak while fearing the strong. His reputation on Tayma isn’t very good.”

Ravel lowered his eyes in thought and asked no more questions.

Gabriel glanced at him and couldn’t resist reminding him again, “General Ravel, I hope you can have everything ready to evacuate tonight. Cage… Cage probably won’t even last a single day.”

Ravel waved a hand. “I know what I’m doing. You may leave.”

Gabriel still wanted to say something, but one sweep of those icy eyes silenced him. Left with no other choice, he reluctantly withdrew from the room.

Just then, Ravel’s adjutant, Kahn, walked in and handed him a file. With a grave expression, he asked, “General, what should we do next? Should we send someone to deal with Cage…?”

Kahn made a throat-cutting gesture.

“Central Military Command may look lightly guarded from the outside, but security inside is extremely tight. There’s no opportunity to make a move,” Ravel replied as he flipped through the file.

“Then what are we supposed to do?” House Kruse had been able to hold power for so many years because they controlled the planet’s most advanced planetary AI and vast robotic legions. The resistance had spent more than a decade infiltrating the core technical divisions. Now, all they needed was another sixty hours to seize control of the planetary AI and the robotic legions. Even though they would only have that control for two hours, it would be enough to change the course of the battle.

Success had been within reach, only for Cage to throw everything into chaos. Worse still, he was General Utrecht’s son. If their plan were destroyed at his hands, the General would surely be devastated if he knew of it in the afterlife.

“Should we prepare to evacuate?”

“No,” Ravel said in a deep voice. “The slightest unusual movement on our part will immediately arouse their suspicion. Rather than expose ourselves in a panic, we’re better off remaining steady and facing the coming battle in the best condition possible. We may still have a chance of survival.”

Although he was already almost certain that this uprising would end in failure, not a trace of anxiety showed on his face.

His composure helped settle Kahn’s nerves as well.

Kahn sighed. “We can only hope that young master can hold out a little longer.”

Ravel said calmly, “You know perfectly well what Military Command’s interrogators are capable of. Even if it were me, I’m afraid I would eventually have no choice but to kill myself.”

Kahn looked helpless.

Ravel continued, “Keep an eye on Gabriel. Make sure he stays in the residence and doesn’t go out. Since he and Cage have already waded into these muddy waters, neither of them should expect to walk away unscathed.”

There were still sixty hours to go before the resistance could seize control. Meanwhile, in Central Military Command’s underground detention chamber, several slowly moving virtual screens suddenly appeared before Shang Ke, displaying profiles and images of various people one after another.

“Cage, take a good look. Do you recognize anyone here?” Charlton, who was in charge of the interrogation, asked. “For every person you identify, we’ll grant you one request. A good meal, perhaps, or a cup of fragrant tea.”

More than ten hours had passed since Shang Ke was captured, and not a single drop of water had touched his lips. Both his body and mind were utterly exhausted. However, adhering firmly to the belief that the sooner he died, the sooner he could move on, Shang Ke treated their temptations with disdain.

But he really was starving…

Charlton wasn’t in any hurry. These profiles weren’t being shown merely to make it easier for Cage to identify people. Another purpose was to monitor his brain waves and heart rate. Most people would experience some emotional fluctuation upon seeing someone familiar, and the instruments would detect it immediately. With the sensory amplifier greatly heightening Cage’s senses, those fluctuations should have been even more obvious.

Yet more than ten minutes passed, and the images had already cycled through several times without the slightest abnormal change in Shang Ke’s expression or emotional state. It was as though he genuinely didn’t recognize any of them.

Shang Ke would like to point out that he genuinely didn’t recognize a single one of them.

The System was crafty as hell. Although it had provided him with basic information about this world, every piece of information concerning the relevant people had been censored beyond recognition. He couldn’t even identify the protagonist’s name or appearance.

Still, Shang Ke was quite good at finding entertainment amid suffering. As the images passed before him, he silently rated everyone’s looks.

When Charlton noticed him staring at one person a little longer than the others, he immediately asked, “You’ve seen him before?”

Shang Ke replied, “He’s pretty good-looking.”

Charlton: “…”

The same thing happened several more times. At one point, Charlton’s own profile appeared. Shang Ke stared at it for several seconds, until Charlton’s expression stiffened.

This guy isn’t planning to drag me down with him, is he?

The other interrogators gave Charlton meaningful looks before one of them asked, “Cage, is there something wrong with this man?”

“There’s a very serious problem,” Shang Ke replied solemnly.

Fuck, he really is planning to drag me down with him? Charlton glared viciously at Shang Ke inside the cell. If Cage dared say a single word to frame him, he would immediately let the brat experience what it felt like to have electrified needles driven into his acupoints.

Shang Ke continued, “Of all the people I’ve seen just now, this one has the most… distinctive face.”

“Pfft!” Several people in the interrogation room couldn’t hold back their laughter. Everyone except Charlton, of course. With a cold expression, he said, “Cage, you still have the leisure to crack jokes at a time like this?”

There was nothing Shang Ke could do about it. Time was simply passing far too slowly, so he could only use them to entertain himself. Maybe if he annoyed them enough, they would unleash some ultimate move and send him straight to his death.

The people in the interrogation room were beginning to feel a certain amount of admiration for the young man. To remain this composed under such circumstances, he seemed to have already prepared himself for death. They had seen far too many people subjected to interrogation and torture; whether someone was genuinely calm or merely pretending, they could usually tell at a glance. When they first captured this boy, every one of them had assumed he was nothing more than a useless pretty face. Now it seemed they had all misjudged him.

But that didn’t matter. The real show was only just beginning.

Charlton decided to abandon the drawn-out psychological warfare and move directly to torture. He wanted to see just how tough this guy really was.

As for how tough Shang Ke really was, even he had no idea. All he knew was that the moment an electric current tore through his body, he wanted to die immediately.

Because his sensitivity had been heightened, the interrogators reduced the strength of the electric current to keep him from literally dying of pain. But for Shang Ke, who had never experienced agony like this before, it was still horrific torture.

【Perfect Expression Pack automatically unlocked. Binding confirmed.】

The System’s voice sounded in Shang Ke’s mind.

He was strapped to the chair, his body trembling slightly. He should have looked utterly wretched, yet his eyes were half-lowered, his lashes quivering as he lightly bit his lip. His short platinum-blond hair danced amid flickering arcs of electricity, while the pale blue light made his skin appear almost translucent. Somehow, there was even something bewitchingly beautiful about the sight.

Fuck! Shang Ke couldn’t help swearing. Could you give me something actually useful for once? He wouldn’t give a damn even if his face twisted into something apocalyptic, okay?!

When the people in the interrogation room saw this, the same thought flashed through all their minds at once:

This guy is seriously beautiful!

It was almost as though the electricity had drawn out all the beauty hidden within him…

Dozens of seconds later, the electric shock finally ended. Shang Ke stopped trembling, only to feel completely drained of strength. His face was as pale as snow, burn marks marred the skin across his body, and his contracted blood vessels formed web-like patterns that resembled tattoos. Strangely enough, however, his face had suffered very little damage.

“Cage, how does that feel?” Charlton asked with a cold sneer.

How did it feel? Positively ecstatic —enough to make him want to die.

Shang Ke cast a sidelong glance toward the wall directly in front of him. That single look was hazy and seductive, virtually electrifying everyone in the interrogation room and sending their heartbeats racing.

What a little seducer! If he weren’t Utrecht’s son, keeping someone like him at home would certainly provide endless entertainment.

How could Shang Ke possibly know what filthy thoughts were running through their heads? He was even less aware that he had already aroused their sadistic urges.

Before Shang Ke even had a chance to catch his breath, several more mechanical arms extended from behind the chair and roughly tore open his clothes, exposing a large expanse of his chest.

What the hell are they planning to do now?

Shang Ke’s startled and furious expression once again delighted the people in the interrogation room.

Charlton said, “I suggest we have all mid- and high-ranking officers observe the interrogation live. During the process, have the planetary AI closely monitor their microexpressions.”

Most of those present agreed with his proposal. After it was submitted to their superiors, approval came through within minutes.

Soon afterward, more than a hundred mid- and high-ranking officers connected to the interrogation room’s video feed one after another to watch the proceedings.

Ravel had never expected to see General Utrecht’s son under circumstances like these. The young man was only in his early twenties, with delicate, handsome features and a slender build. Weariness lingered between his brows, yet his eyes remained bright and spirited.

Recalling Gabriel’s assessment of Cage and comparing it to the young man now appearing before him, Ravel found Gabriel’s words increasingly difficult to believe.

He sat upright in his chair with his hands clasped together, silently watching the young man on the screen. Not the slightest ripple of emotion disturbed his eyes.

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