Author's note:
Greetings, and thank you for reading thus far! This chapter is rather long, so be prepared if you aren't feeling too awake! Although most of it is dialogue-related, much of the tension remains, on top of laying the groundwork for a side plot that will bring great changes to the story. Feel free to message me if you find this dull, and I'll try to raise it to higher standards given the chance. I hope you'll all enjoy it!
Chapter 20: The Best Drink in China
Date: 12th July, 1967
Location: Classified PLA research facility, Tongguan County (潼关县), Shaanxi Province (陕西省), the People's Republic of China
Time: 7:10 p.m.
Twilight was finally upon them.
The grizzled commander took a half-hearted glance at his watch, his forehead wrinkling in dissatisfaction. His superiors in Beijing were onto him like a pack of mad hounds, desperately scouring for experimental results that might determine if there existed any possible method of defence against the Soviet Union. His time was slowly ticking away, and he knew that perfectly well-Song was in no mood for games.
"Revive the being. It's time." Wujiang snapped his fingers at the shrivelled body slumped over at a corner, its face muffled by a battered burlap sack.
Half a dozen guards angrily emerged from the shadows, their biceps bulging from underneath their uniforms as they hoisted the prisoner onto a bare wooden chair. Bundles of rope were strapped over his torso, holding him against the back of his seat so tightly that even the creature had difficulty inhaling. Ripping the duffel bag from its face, a strong pair of arms toppled over the bucket of water positioned directly above the beings head, its icy contents vibrating like a gunshot as they hit the floorboards of the barren holding cell.
The red fox immediately sprang into life, yelping in horror as he sensed several slimy cubes of ice making their way down the back of his neck. His chest heaved futilely against the constraints, gasping as he struggled to take in lungfuls of oxygen-to the fox's relief, there was just enough to keep him alive. His teeth couldn't help but chatter uncontrollably under the chill, and for the first time in a while, he noticed that he had been thoroughly stripped of his clothing. But for the time being, those were probably the least of his worries.
None of the men and women in the cell cared as much as to flinch while they witnessed the commotion presented to them, standing coldly by as the fox flailed with his confinement. Thoroughly soaked, the fox painfully squinted at the lone spotlight baring into his eyes, making out no more than a few idle silhouettes surveying him in the distance.
"Only the presence of Comrade Cai is required from this moment on," Song hurriedly whispered to his followers, "All of you, exit this room, please."
Bobbing their heads in submission, the party of various scientists and guards annoyedly filed out of the room, secretly urging to grab a quick snack before heading off to the day's political lecture. The gate creaked shut behind them, their heavy footfalls subsiding along the hallway. Before long, only the two Chinese soldiers were left in the cell with the fox, cautiously scrutinizing their subject in nerve-racking silence. Despite having been thoroughly briefed on its appearance, Commander Song still found himself staring at the being in utter disbelief. The way it returned his gaze….it was no different from a human's.
He is intelligent, he thought to himself, I can see that through his eyes-he's not any other fox, that's for sure.
"Sir, sir?" his subordinate carefully waved his hand in front of his eyes, vainly trying to attract his attention, "I hate to interrupt you, but I believe we really should get moving on."
The commander slapped his own cheek in frustration. His age was truly getting the better of him.
"Yes...yes. Start the procedure we agreed on," Wujiang regained his senses, quickly recovering his recomposure, "You're my best English translator on the site. Give him all you've got."
"I thought you could speak English too, sir."
Wujiang waved his hand dismissively, "That's needed for another purpose. You'll see what that is by the end of the day. Just follow the instructions I gave you, and we'll have him talking within the hour."
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"State your name at once,"
For the first time, the order was delivered in a language he understood.
The fox wearily looked up at the two aliens who were now his captors, his gaze barely hovering above their waist level. Even though he could only vaguely make out their facial appearances, it was crystal clear from their voices that one of them was well past his sixties, while the other was probably no more than thirty-five. If military installations still worked the same way they did on his world, he naturally presumed the older to be the more senior, his younger counterpart the subordinate.
"They call me Conrad," he wheezed, whispering his answer as though it was a deadly secret.
"My name is Regimental Commander Song Wujiang, and I work for a branch of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. I have received orders to detain you under charges of suspected espionage against the People's Republic of China, and for the possession of potentially lethal chemicals unauthorized by the People's Government. You are expected to answer every question I ask of you truthfully, and your suggestibility with us may one day earn you your freedom. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, I understand you." Conrad sat up a little straighter, willing to do all it took to get all that done and over with. Words that made no sense to him spun around in his mind-espionage? People's Republic? And of all things, what did an army have to do with all this?
"Throughout this interrogation, you are expected not to speak unless spoken to, and to keep your attention focused on me at all times. I repeat, you are advised to every one of my questions perfectly truthfully without any hint of fraud or deceivation. Any failure to comply with my demands will result in immediate retaliation through any means deemed necessary. Are we ready to proceed?"
A shiver travelled down the fox's spine at the mention of the word retaliation. Fear nibbled away at his heart, but still he found the strength to nod in response. He had nothing much to hide anyways.
"What was your profession before you arrived?"
"I am a scientist….one who specialized in chemical engineering, to be more exact."
"Who sent you? Who do you work for? The CIA? THE KGB?"
"Those things don't exist where I came from." to Conrad, the names of the most feared spy agencies in the world sounded nothing more than pure gibberish, " For two long years, I used to work at the First Institute for the Chemical Advancement of Zootopia….before they kicked me out for being a fox, that was. "
Tired as he was, Conrad couldn't help but notice both of his captors sharing a long yet puzzled look.
"Let me rephrase that question, fox. What is your nationality? Where do you come from?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyways."
"SubjectA031, this is your last chance to reply. Fail to answer and face the consequences."
"Sector P, District 13A, Zootopia." He rolled his eyes at his captors, "Would you like to know my address as well?"
The older of the two leisurely strolled over to his seat, what seemed to be his paws scratching furiously at the top of his head, where the only bit of fur on his entire body seemed to protrude. Despite his age, it was plain to see that the commander was a heavyset man, his shoulders almost as broad as he was tall. With arms the size of tree stumps, Song effortlessly circled his long fingers around the fox's neck, casually leaning towards until he was no more than two inches away from Conrad's snout.
"I am on a very tight schedule, fox, and I expect no more nonsense from you than any of my troops," Song's voice was surprisingly calm, his lips relaxedly curling into a demeaning grin, " This may very well be your last chance for any leniency we offer you. With that in mind, I now ask you for the third and final time-where are you from?"
"There was never a ploy," Conrad gazed defiantly into the soldier's eyes, "I come from the suburbs of Zootopia, and that's all you need to know. It won't matter much to your country anyway."
"Oh, it doesn't?" dragging a slanted table before him, Wujiang slammed what reminded Conrad as a spherical version of a map onto its surface, and its legs creaked unstably under the force of the impact. "Now, would you care to pinpoint where this country of yours is on the globe? Zootopia, is it? I don't believe I've ever heard of it-please, enlighten me."
Serious as he seemed, the fox knew he was only fooling around with him, waiting for his prisoner to give in to his demands. Even as he spoke, Conrad could instinctively sense a hum of mockingness hanging by every syllable Song pronounced.
"Zootopia is a city-state, and I can tell you it's nowhere on this map you're showing me." he corrected, regardless of the consequences it might wrought upon him, "And I don't care what you think, Wujiang, but the situation isn't what you think it is. You are dealing with matters way beyond your comprehen…."
"鸭子死了嘴还硬..." Conrad hadn't even finished his sentence when Song's hand cracked across his face, snapping the fox's head back with the force of his blow. Black dots flew across his vision, and for a moment Conrad thought he could catch the distinct scent of bloodshed. "Bullshit! So you're expecting me to believe you come from another dimension. Who do you think you are talking to, fox? A five-year old child?"
The man was practically hyperventilating by this point, his face having blossomed into a shade of beetroot with fury. Pausing briefly to regain his breath, the soldier annoyedly wagged a finger at the prisoner, his forehead contorting into a pattern of wrinkles and creases.
"我吃的盐比你吃的饭还多-I was already fighting for my life when you were still in your diapers, you little shit. I've fought the Japanese, the Nationalists, and then the Americans for longer than you've even lived on this world-and now you expect me to believe this shit?"
The ghost of a smirk grew on the fox's face, "For such an experienced man, you sure don't seem to look like one, Wujiang."
"Call me that again and I'll make sure that's the last name you'll ever pronounce," Song's hand rose to strike him once more, and Conrad instinctively squeezed his eyelids shut in vain. The fox fearfully burrowed his face into his chest, tightening the muscles on his bloodstained cheek to brace for the inevitable impact.
But the expected blow never arrived.
"That's quite enough, Comrade Song! Please, calm down for the sake of our reputation!" The younger man in the room spoke up for the first time, casually placing a calming hand on his superior's shoulder, "长官，您这样做未免弄得有点过火了吧。" (That's quite a bit over the top, isn't it?")
The fox half-expected the older man to brush him off dismissively, but miraculously Song took a deep sigh and did as he was told, stepping back passively to where his lanky subordinate sat. The two soldiers now seemed to be quarrelling among themselves in their native tongue, and even though Conrad couldn't make sense of a single word they were saying, it soon became apparent from their gestures now and then that they were arguing over what to do with him. He puzzledly emerged from the castle of his own fur amongst all the confusion, and raised a curious eyebrow at this new "ally" who had just taken his side.
Why was he, of all mammals, now standing up for him?
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After what seemed like an eternity, the younger of the two marched over to Conrad with a stool in hand, and without uttering a single word, folded it down and sat right next to him. Instantly, he felt a wave of relief wash over him: at the very least nobody was going to slap him now. The fox warily risked a glance at the commander-Song defeatedly stood by a far-flung corner of the cell, contemptuously glaring at the duo with his fists clenched. If looks could kill, Conrad reckoned that he'd be long dead by now.
"Hey, Conrad," the soldier tapped his shoulder in greeting. The fox startledly looked up from his trance-it was the first time anyone from this world had ever addressed him by his name. "Is your cheek okay? I hope that son-of-a-gun didn't hurt you badly."
Ruffling around in his shirt pocket, the young man produced a crumpled handkerchief and offered it to his prisoner. The fabric didn't exactly look hygienic, but the fox guessed it would have to do for now. Almost grimacing, Conrad haplessly beckoned at his constraints and shrugged.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" extending a rusted penknife, the man slowly began to saw apart the ropes that confined the fox's every move, "I never realized they were so strong," he admitted.
"And just what the hell do you think you are doing?" hollered Song from his corner, "I can have you court-martialed for this!"
"He's not going to run away in this state, is he?" his subordinate rolled his eyes as he discarded the remnants of the rope. "Court-martial me if you want, but you're not beating him for nothing."
"Take it easy," he leaned next to the fox's ears and whispered, "He's only a newbie."
Conrad greedily sucked in lungful after lungful of air, his chest heaving in exhilaration all the while. He swore to himself he would never, ever, take breathing for granted again. Snatching the handkerchief from the man's outstretched palm, the fox cautiously dabbed at the streaks of crimson that now dotted his once handsome fur, wincing in pain as the cotton came into contact with his recent wounds.
"I'm sorry we started on the wrong foot," the soldier nodded sympathetically at him, "Can I offer you anything to make you feel more comfortable?"
"Chicken," a ravenous flash darted across Conrad's eyes, and the words just tumbled out of his lips, "Something to wash it down with."
"Sure thing-I bet a poor creature like you could use a good dinner." the answer fell like music to the fox's ears, yet he dared not believe what he had just heard, "Well you're in luck, Conrad. There's more than enough food for you in our cafeteria."
"Thank….thank you" he stammered, remembering his long-lost manners, "I don't...I don't even know your name yet."
"My superiors call me Cai Shilun, but you can call me Francis." the soldier winked friendlily and offered him another tissue, "You've sure got yourself fixed up in a pickle, kid."
"Who are you calling a kid? We're about the same age...I may even be older than you."
"Right, right….Da-ge," Francis struggled to hold back a grin, "That means older brother in my language." he explained.
Conrad's snout sniffed at the air for the distinct scent of roasted chicken, long strands of saliva irresistibly drooling down his chin. Before long, the steel gate clanked open once more with a rustling of keys, and the fox immediately stood on his tiptoes, craning his neck to get a better glance at his dinner. The commander reluctantly set the steaming plate on his table, his mouth twisted into a disapproving snarl-his stomach was growling even louder than Conrad's.
"Don't even imagine we're giving you this out of kindness," Song scowled as he spun around on his heels, "For all I know, this could be your last meal."
It was all the fox could do not to roll his eyes-by now, he had grown to ignore every insult his captor threw at him. Neglecting the utensils he had been offered with, Conrad's fangs tore into the meat like a hot knife through butter, and subconsciously smeared layers of grease onto his lips in the process. Within a minute, all that remained of the chicken were several grimy bones, every morsel of meat having been greedily consumed by the scientist. As he licked his paws in satisfaction, Conrad was well aware of the sight he was presenting-but compelled by his hunger, the fox truly couldn't have cared any less.
"What's wrong with him?" He garbled to Cai once his superior was out of earshot, "He just leapt on me the moment I showed up."
"That's why we need to work together," the soldier folded his arms tightly, "Look, I don't know why, but my partner hates you: if he takes control of your case, then quite frankly, you're nothing but dead meat."
"I'm not talking to that bastard," Conrad lowered his gaze, wiping his lips with the back of his furry paw.
"There's nothing I can do to help you if you remain silent," his tone was firmer now, the soldier's gaze locking onto his, "Do us both a favor, Conrad. Tell me why you came here, and we'll start on getting you through this case."
Yet there came no reply from the fox. As he watched on in silent protest, Shilun produced two glasses from under the desk, filling them both to the brim with a bottle of yellow, bubbly liquid that had come with the chicken. A tempting whiff of butterscotch soon dominated his senses.
"I'll let you on something as a friend. This may sound ridiculous to you, but Song thinks you're a spy-an American one, to make things worse. And you know what? Our country doesn't take kindly to espionage within its borders."
"Spy?" Conrad snorted, eyeing the drink Cai was preparing,"I'm a chemical engineer."
"We've got enough evidence. Here in China, you are guilty until proven innocent. If you don't open up about yourself, then I'm afraid I will be forced to leave you with Song, and I'm telling you-he's not going to leave any room for explanations."
"We're looking at the death penalty here." his gaze was virtually pleading with the fox to believe in him, "And Conrad, I don't want that to happen to you. So if you tell me why you came right now before Song returns, I promise, we'll get you through this unscathed."
"No guarantees if you don't." the soldier finished and slid one of the glasses across the desk. A tingle ran down the fox's spine as he grasped the icy surface, droplets of condensation mixing in with the pool of sweat on his paws. "Nothing like a good ol' beer in the summer."
"What's this?" Conrad stuck his snout into the concoction, and curiously lapped at the frothy layer of foam on top with his tongue. It was nothing like he had ever tasted before-sweet on the tongue, yet bitter in the throat.
"The best drink in all of China," Cai took a sip from his own glass, "Tsingtao Beer. So, Da-ge, are you with me, or are you with Song? Take your pick."
"I don't want that son of a gun to have any access to what I said tonight. In fact, I want him out of this room." Conrad ceded reluctantly. The less it had to do with Song, the better, "I'll tell you everything you need to no, but that's my only condition."
"Not a single word," the young man reassured.
"And as for my story….it's really long, and I doubt you'd be interested."
"Well, we've got a long night," the soldier drained whatever remained in his glass, "Whatever you've got, let's hear it-I'm waiting."
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"My parents got a divorce three years after I was born." Conrad wrapped himself into a towel Shilun had given him, "My mother wanted nothing to do with my custody, so my dad was stuck with me for another five years."
"Go on," the soldier urged, scribbling feverishly into a notepad, "Let it all out."
"It's been so long," he shrugged, "I was born in a period when the economic reforms just started up. Thousands of mammals were needed to construct the metropolis-back in the suburbs where I was born, almost everyone left for a chance to strike rich in the city, even my own father. He left me behind with my teenage brother, and we struggled to live on whatever he sent back every month."
"They called us left-over kits," the fox continued with a hint of bitterness in his voice, "Apparently our family wasn't the only case."
"I thought you were a scientist. What happened?"
"I was getting to that," he paused to down another mouthful of Tsingtao, "Free education held out for another eight years before they scrapped it. Unfortunate, but at least it was enough for me to finish my schooling. I got scholarship after scholarship for biology, but it was chemistry where I truly excelled. Even my professors said I had a great chance of entering Zootopian University itself. But fate hates foxes, doesn't it?"
"I'm not sure I'm following you. What does that have to do with foxes?" Cai nibbled at the point of his pencil.
Conrad pressed his lips together into a thin line, "Zootopia is a city where animals of all shapes and sizes gather together," he spitted in contempt, "Nobody ever said they lived in harmony though. Who did they think they were fooling when they came up with that slogan?"
"Prey animals take up 90% of the population. I swear….no matter what the propaganda claims, bad blood continues to run between our species." the fox brought down his glass hard on the desk, "Predators are already discriminated against in every aspect of society. And to make matters worse-we foxes stand on the lowest rungs of the ladder among that remaining 10%."
"No surprise there, is there? Shifty and untrustable, foxes already hold something of a bad rep in the community. On top of all that, we also lack the size and weapons other predators possess at their disposal. I've been pushed around all my life, from the suburbs to the metropolis itself. What can the impoverished even do for themselves?"
"Okay...okay...I get the idea," Cai held up his arms in a protective gesture, "Foxes are the proletariat of your society. Can we please continue where we left off?"
"When the time came to recommend a student with potential for University Scholarship, it came as no surprise to me that I was passed over for selection. Before you complain, I was the valedictorian for every class I took at the academy. I maintained a top-notch grade-point average….my conduct was superb. There was nowhere I stumbled…" he spluttered, tears finally brimming his eyes, "Months of lighting the midnight oil….all gone in vain."
"My father took a week-long break just to stand up for me. He even put on a suit for the occasion," Conrad chuckled slightly at the thought, "My family was promptly turned away without any explanation whatsoever. With my father's income, there was no way I could further my education-He was bringing home five hundred bucks a month. How was that enough to pay for university?"
"But the worst was yet to come. My father was so furious with the authorities for rejecting me that he contracted a serious disease, one that very nearly bankrupted my family just to keep him alive. Within a week, he was fired-to his city-dwelling employer, Dad was just another of his thousands of expendable workers. With nobody in the family employed, our monetary reserves soon ran dry, and after that, what remained of our food."
His paws clutched at the towel, the onslaught of tears mixing in with the beer he had spilt. Conrad's watery eyes turned away from the soldier's, and a tightening lump formed in his throat.
"One of my old professors finally took pity on us, took us in." he massaged his temples, "He sent me off to a university on the urban fringe for my Master's-not even he had the funds for Zootopia. I barely survived in the all-prey environment, the lone predator for miles around. Well, beggars can't be choosers, can they?"
"I owe my job to the mammal. After I had graduated, he wrote one recommendation letter after the other to his friends working for the government, sparing nothing to describe the extraordinary capabilities I had demonstrated. It took two years of hard work, but finally one of his friends, a hardcore prey-supremist of all mammals, relented and offered me a job as an assistant."
"From that day on, I was a member of the First Institute for the Chemical Advancement of Zootopia, one of the most prestigious research departments there was in the city." his gaze drifted far away, as though reminiscing of the pride he had acquired, be it how miniscule.
"Well, congratulations!" Shilun slapped the fox's back playfully, "You've accomplished what you'd always dreamed for. It's not easy being a scientist. Why the long face?"
"I thought so too," Conrad muttered with a furrowed brow, "What I'd never expected was that I'd be an assistant for five whole years. No matter in what manner I completed my assignments, I was just passed over for promotion after promotion without a single question asked. The rich just get richer, while the poor stay where they are." There was no hiding the contempt in his voice, "The government functioned no differently from my high school."
"I was thirty in the blink of an eye, and my father finally left us. Along with his funeral went more than half of my savings. No longer the aspiring young researcher I had once been, I then concentrated my efforts on several projects outside the Institution. For the sake of my old professor, I didn't dare quit my career-you see, it was still a useful path to get my paws on chemicals and tools I desperately needed."
"Every night, when everyone else had packed up, I would turn on the nightlight at my tiny station and work on fantastic things that my colleagues had neglected, ones that I was sure would reverse how the city functioned. My only wish was to prove to the world that foxes were no worse than the rest of them. I can't count how many times I've passed out at my workbench out of exhaustion, only to run the long run again day after day, but I persevered just in the hopes that I would one day see that dream come true."
"Did you?" the soldier raised an eyebrow at him, trying to suppress a smile, "And what did you find?"
"There was a flower that used to grow near my village." Conrad explained, "They called it the Nighthowler. It is a well-known fact that a sufficiently large dose of it could potentially lead to insanity if consumed, but those city-dwellers never bothered to deal with another crucial part of the equation."
"If delicately condensed and combined with a multitude of other chemicals, an extract from the flower could technically be refined to form a consumable source of energy. I'll skip through the scientific mumbo jumbo here, but just so you understand-the new stimulant could exponentially enhance the endurance, reaction time, and strength of an average mammal. To an economic boom that relied heavily on manual labour, the success of my theory would be invaluable."
"Our country could use that chemical, too," Cai nodded in agreement, "Good job, you! Did you manage to prove the theory to your superiors?"
"Yet I knew clearly nobody at my office would pay me any heed, and my final hope lay with the professor who had taken me in all those years ago. The boar was already a sickly old mammal by that time, but still I pleaded with him to put in a good word for me in front of my superiors. And faithfully he did. Just not in the way I had expected."
Conrad painstakingly flailed at the desk with his fists while a mystified Cai watched on, totally unsure of how to comfort the scarred being. Burying his face in the crook of his elbow, the fox gasped for air until he found the strength to carry on, albeit in a muffled voice.
"He published my thesis alright." He sniffled, "The old thing just attributed every accomplishment to his grandson! The combination of chemicals, the calculations I had so frustratedly perfected...nothing was spared. There was not a single mention of me in his report, not even in a footnote. When I apprehended him for answers, all the boar would say was that it was about time to pay back what I had owed him all along."
"Barnett became a celebrity overnight at the Institution. He was granted immediate access to all the facility had to offer, equipment and substances I could only dream of as an assistant. The cheater accomplished more in a week than what I had in five years, and all that he relied on was MY toil and sweat. Was there any reason for me not to be enraged? Huh?"
"Tell me, so what happened next? Did you offer to work with him?" calmly, Shilun refilled his glass with another helping, "He definitely can't go on by piggybacking on your work alone."
"It was a difficult choice, but in the end I forced myself to. There was a lot more I could provide for the project, and for the moment that was still useful to him. I had come up with methods of mass-producing the stimulant, even compiling a theory of how to control the duration of its effects. It was the only way I could still redeem any face in the endeavour."
"That makes sense. Grab the opportunity and take back what was once yours."
"But guess what? The monstrosity of a boar turned down every proposal I presented him with, and gradually even I could sense my time cooperating with him was coming to an end. Barnett might have been a brilliant student, but he was a terrible leader. As his failures mounted, he lashed out against his team and me in particular, whom he saw as a thorn by his side. To his eyes, I was not an eager helper in his project, but a potential rival who threatened to claim all his work for my own."
"One midnight after work, I was summoned to his office without any former warning, and my worst fears finally came true. Not bothering to utter a single word, the boar ushered a thick envelope into my paw, beckoning with his hoof that I was to scram out of his room. There was no question as to what was inside the envelope."
"And at that moment," he huddled himself further into the towel, "I lost it."
"Don't tell me you did anything illegal."
"You can't blame me, can you?" Conrad threw up his arms in exasperation, "I may be small even for a fox, but a decade of hard labour to raise money for school had hardened me into what I am. Look, something just got hold of me back there, something I couldn't control. Punch after punch just plummeted into his snout. Barnett was tackled to the ground before the boar even knew what had hit him, and the next thing I knew, a growing pool of blood was dissipating into the carpet from the back of his head."
"Turned out Barnett had knocked his brains out against a table edge when he took the fall." his shoulders sagged in exhaustion, "For a minute I just stood there in my bloodstained suit, watching idly as the boar writhed haplessly beneath me. It was only after his face had bled pale that what I had done hit home, but by then there was nothing I could do to save him."
Conrad shakily turned his paws over, as if inspecting them for any remaining stains of blood.
"Barnett was an evil mammal, but I had never wanted him to transform me into a murderer," his voice stammered, "They had no classification of murder for us predators in the law, no heat-of-passion, no mammal-slaughter. The way I saw it, there was no running away from the death penalty."
"I hijacked Barnett's van and drove back to where I had come from, the second-rate cottage which I had shared with my brother for over a decade. By the time I got back, the windows were drawn tight, the lamps long since extinguished. Which was just as well-I had no intention for him to see me in this state. Despite being a tailor, it was plain to see he had made more of a name for himself than I ever did."
"Ditching the boar's van by the side of a highway, I hiked my way up to the dunes that surrounded our community, ones that I had often explored as a child. There were huge chain-link fences with bold signs that warned us not to approach, but fortunately it was evident they had seen better days. Digging beneath them with my paws, I was barely able to wiggle my way through the gap. The area hadn't been trespassed in decades."
"You were going into hiding?" spluttered Cai, "Gosh, there had to be better places than the countryside, hadn't there?"
"No-I'd had enough of running and hiding for a lifetime. Frankly speaking, I went there with the expectation that I would never again emerge alive. A small dose of Nighthowler would already be lethal for a fox my size-you should understand why I chose to go down that path."
"I chose a cosy cave that dotted the countryside, and with my torch guiding the way, I stumbled inside in search for a good spot to spend my final moments. The corridor was narrower than I had thought, windily stretching down for hundreds of feet. By the time I had made it down the chute, my filthy suit was splattered with sweat, and of all things I was struggling to inhale. There was something wrong with the air, but I knew it wouldn't affect me for long. Soon the discomfort would be over."
"I wouldn't be sitting here and talking with you if you really had gone ahead with that."
"My battery died just as I was measuring the lethal dosage. At first I fumbled around futilely for my syringe, but from then on it didn't take long for me to lose conscious. From what, I guess I will never find out. There was definitely something wrong down there, but I can't put my paw on it."
"I woke up in a lush green wood a few miles away from here, my only remaining possession being a specimen of the Nighthowler. It took me three days to convince myself I wasn't in purgatory, mainly because of the gnawing hunger that threatened to destroy me from the inside. For the first week I was forced to scavenge for weeds in the fields, but towards the end I got smarter and chased for chickens instead. Just in case you were wondering, that was how I was caught, and the rest is history."
"So don't try to threaten me with death." he muttered, emptying the contents of his glass, 'I wouldn't care less."
Tidying up his notes, Cai stood up and cast a pitiful glance at his prisoner. The soldier had a long night ahead of him, and on top of all that he still had a week's worth of explaining to conduct with Song. Shilun normally hated lying to those who trusted him, but he understood his actions were only for the fox's good. There had to be a way the wretch could prove useful to the People's Republic.
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"Any luck?"
Back in his office, the commander turned his expectant gaze at Cai, handing him a steaming mug of Puli to cope with the effects of the beer. Utterly exhausted, Shilun dejectedly lay on the sofa in Song's office, the folder he had recently compiled having been tossed onto his superior's desk.
"That was some good acting you showed back there," Cai admitted, "You got him fooled all right-Conrad hated your guts."
"The experienced interrogator never loses his temper before his suspect." Wujiang joined his subordinate on the couch, "If you rough him up a bit and then shower him with kindness, most people are willing to talk after that. So, did he speak within the hour, or did he not?"
"It's all included in the datafile. Whether you believe it or not is another matter. The story can be read anytime you want-I came here to tell you something else."
"The fox," he continued despite Song's icy stare, "Cannot possibly be an agent."
The commander clasped his hands together in disappointment, "Young people like you always jump to conclusions too rashly. How did you even survive Chosin Reservoir seventeen years ago?"
"I've confirmed Conrad doesn't know Russian-I made use of the Stroop Effect. The fox was asked to name colored Cyrillic words that stood for colors, and the process was much faster than when he was asked to name colored English ones. I naturally presumed he could not be working for the KGB."
"You know very well our enemies extend far beyond the Soviet Union."
"A professional agent would not starve in the wild. He would have been briefed on where to go, what to do. Conrad here survived on weeds for an entire week, and the forensics team double-checked that for me when they examined his faeces. Do I even need to mention the fact that he was helplessly stumbling around in the countryside before we found him? An experienced spy would have made his way to our compound under our noses long ago."
"The fox was hovering on the brink of dehydration when we found him. Conrad was carrying nothing more than a flower that grew near his hometown, not even a single weapon or tool. You have decades of experience in anti-espionage, Song, you tell me. Would a professional agent turn up like this?"
"What point are you trying to prove here?"
"How long do you think will take us to perfect the chemical we found on him?" Cai demanded, "Total War with the Soviet Revisionists and the American Imperialists has never been so imminent. Any delay in weaponry development could cost us the existence of our country!"
"I'll admit, it's taking longer than we expected." Wujiang held up his hands in surrender, "I've talked with the team-the flower isn't like anything that grows in China, and it took us weeks just to identify its chemical components. They still haven't come up with a way to extract its useful properties, let alone condense it."
"I'm not surprised," his subordinate blurted, "It took Conrad five whole years just to recognize the potential this chemical holds, even more to finalize the combinations that would enhance it. Do you think we could really afford time like that?"
"I...I, I mean..." for once, even the grizzled veteran was lost for words, "There's still a lot we haven't yet made sure."
"You said it for yourself a million times: China has no time for games. If war really breaks out, do you think we could bear this responsibility?" Cai had never dared to speak out against his boss like this ever before-a new sense of exhilaration filled his veins, "Wake up."
"So what do you suggest I do, huh?" Song slapped his hand against the leather of the sofa, "The team is doing everything they can to decode the chemical. I have all the funding we need from the National Council-it won't take long for us to reproduce it."
"There's no need for all this blatant time-wasting," the soldier stood to his full height and towered over his superior, "All the groundbreaking work has already been done for us. We just need to start off from there."
"The fox over there has never been valued all his life. His hard work lies idly there, urging for us to take a look at it." with a shaky finger, Cai pointed in the direction of the fox's cell, "Conrad has the right amount of bitterness within him, the kind that can transform into limitless energy once given the correct opportunity. If we give him a chance to prove his worth, that may be just what he needs to excel in our cause. We need every talent we have to defend the revolution!"
"You know perfectly what that sort of power could potentially behold." he finished.
Bursts of rapid knocking emanated from the office door, and Song's aide rushed in with a stack of papers tucked beneath his arm, snapping off a smart salute at the commander seated on the couch.
"Sir, the Shaanxi People's Office for Air Defence just sent a urgent telegram to the facility: Commissioner Huang reports no indications of enemy aircraft intruding Shaanxi Airspace for the past six months. All known intrusions occurred near the coast in Fujian Province, and no parachute deployment was detected."
"Were there any anomalies recorded by the Type 408 Radar located at Xi'an? That's the most advanced model we've got!"
"Negative, sir. According to the Commissioner, the Type 408 has the ability to track down every single type of American or Soviet spy plane. There has been nothing for the past six months."
Not bothering to answer his guard, Song turned his back on the door and took a deep breath. Beside him, he thought he could hear Shilun snigger bemusedly. Wujiang subconsciously clenched his hands into fists, but for the sake of his reputation he chose to ignore the provokation. The commander knew when he had been defeated.
"Cai," he began, beckoning at his subordinate to come closer, "Carry out what I tell you immediately."
"Sir?" as if reading his mind, Cai's lips formed a tiny smile. "I'm always ready."
"Prepare a linen bed and blanket for the creature. Make sure he gets a good night of sleep in an air-conditioned room. I will meet with him first thing tomorrow."
The soldier didn't need to be told twice.