Chapter 19: Tzi Cheng interrogates Jared Pond. 8th May 2021.
664 Words
Jared was sitting in a gloomy interrogation room in a Chinese Ministry of State Security facility in Beijing. He had been in trouble before but this was it. Being locked up in the Chinese dictatorship’s facilities was a death sentence. Jared knew that the only reason he was alive, was so they could find out where he had posted the virus testing video. Jared damned Greg for betraying him and the world to Jing’s tyranny.
The door opened and Tzi Cheng entered the room. He was a muscular and stout man with a dangerous appearance. A large scar ran along the left side of his face. Without a word, he walked up to Jared and punched him in the face. Jared dropped to the ground and two soldiers ran in to tilt the chair that bound Jared, to an upright position.
Tzi Cheng:
- Welcome to China, foreign scum!
Jared:
- Thank you. Can you tickle my chin again? I think I got a mosquito bite there.
Tzi Cheng:
- There are better ways for me to inflict pain on you, than punching you. As a matter of fact, I have developed a whole array of torture methods under Jing’s glorious leadership.
Jared:
- Well, I must be pretty important if Jing’s top security advisor, Tzi Cheng, comes down to torture me.
Tzi Cheng:
- You have done your research, Mr Pond.
- You are only a speck of dust to the Chinese government. But the fake video that you have posted online is dangerous and we must take it down before it spreads.
Jared:
- How can a fake video threaten your authority? The real threat for you is that the video is real and you don’t want evidence against you when you release the virus.
Tzi Cheng:
- Very well. The video is real. But you are not getting out of here alive in any case.
Jared:
- Good to have cleared that out. So, why would I help you then?
Tzi Cheng:
- Because I have a vast array of torture methods that I would like to test on you. Let’s start with electricity.
Having said this, Tzi Cheng electrocuted Jared with a cattle rod, multiple times, while he laughed in delight.
***
A few hours later, Tzi Cheng reported his progress at Jing’s office.
Jing:
- So, what have you found out?
Tzi Cheng:
- Our torture of Jared hasn’t worked so far. But we found all the sites that he posted the video on through studying the Wi-Fi usage on his flight.
Jing:
- So, did you take them down?
Tzi Cheng:
- We got most of the major sites to take them down. The threat of economic sanctions from China was enough to make most of the major video sites bending over backwards. Jared set the videos to release on the 19th of May.
Jing:
- This is excellent. That gives us ample time to exert pressure on all the sites to have the video removed. It also explains why our AI hasn’t detected and warned us about the video.
- Why do you reckon Jared set the videos to release on the 19th?
Tzi Cheng:
- I reckon that he trusted Greg enough to wait for his input, but he still made copies of the video as an insurance policy.
Jing:
- You might be right. Don’t worry about Jared for now. Leave him in a cell and don’t kill him.
Tzi Cheng:
- Why do you want to keep him alive?
Jing:
- Because I will blame him, Eileen Lu, and the civil rights movement for the outbreak that will take place in Xuwan next week. I can’t use him as a scapegoat if I kill him now, can I?
Tzi Cheng:
- So, do you want me to release him?
Jing shook his head:
- No. Wait until the 15th of May. Then release him in Xuwan and entice him to find Eileen Lu. It’s time to crush the civil liberties movement, once and for all.
After saying this Jing feasted on a jar of expensive honey and laughed maliciously for an extended period of time.
- Writer
