Chapter 53: Su-style Interrogation

The effect of the sensory-restriction talisman had just faded.

The Weasel felt a blinding light hit his face. It was from a high-powered daylight lamp—so intense that he could barely make out anything in front of him.

“Type: Youkai. Name: Weasel. No residence permit. Estimated lifespan: two hundred and thirty-one years.”

A cold, indifferent voice drifted from his left. The Weasel would never forget it, even if he turned to dust. It was the exorcist, Qiao Qiao.

A wave of exhaustion washed over him. How long had it been since he last rested? He had no idea.

Ever since his capture, the Weasel had been subjected to the sensory-restriction talisman. This talisman not only stripped away his ordinary senses—sight, touch, and the like—but also severed his perception of spiritual energy. He had been plunged into utter darkness.

Whether human or youkai, when trapped in absolute darkness, one’s sense of time dulls. It felt like an hour had dragged by, but in reality, only five minutes had passed.

At first, the Weasel tried to force himself into sleep to endure the passage of time. But the priests, every time he was about to succumb to slumber, would lift part of the talisman’s effect to wake him, then seal him back up again. Over and over.

It happened six times.

Then, Qiao Qiao appeared.

“Qiao-san, let him have some water at least. It’s been days now,” came a voice from the right—Jingyi Shoji. He pushed over a cup filled with water, thoughtfully adding a straw since the Weasel could not move.

Just as the Weasel leaned toward the straw, Qiao Qiao snatched the cup away and drank it in one gulp.

“…”

The Weasel squinted at Qiao Qiao.

“In the end, you’re going to destroy me. You think I don’t know? I won’t tell you anything. If you have the guts, try your spirit communication tricks. Isn’t your shrine good at that?”

“That’s not necessarily so,” Jingyi Shoji replied, drawing the Weasel’s attention.

“In fact, the Shrine can accommodate youkai. You see, whether spirit or youkai, as long as you sign a contract, you can become a subordinate deity. If that doesn’t work, the Onmyō Bureau needs shikigami.”

He spoke leisurely. “Signing a contract isn’t convenient, but it’s better than dying, isn’t it?”

“…”

The Weasel hesitated.

He never truly desired to reclaim the world for youkai. If only he could preserve himself.

At that moment, Qiao Qiao’s phone buzzed on the table, catching the Weasel’s eye. Qiao glanced at the screen, then spoke abruptly.

“Just now, your accomplices confessed everything.”

?

The Weasel’s mind raced. Had those fools been caught? No, this was surely a human trick, meant to lure him!

While the Weasel remained silent, Qiao Qiao said, “Your hometown is Niigata Prefecture. You came to Tokyo thirty years ago. In your hometown, you have a childhood friend—a female Weasel named Shiori. She took sixty years longer than you to take human form; she’s a well-behaved youkai.”

“If she learned you were harming humans in Tokyo, what expression would she wear?”

“By the way, President Jingyi, if a youkai commits a crime, does that implicate their family and friends?”

“Usually, for safety’s sake, we eradicate them all at the Shrine. But perhaps that’s too harsh, Qiao-san,” Jingyi Shoji replied, his eyes closing in a troubled expression, as if he still wanted to persuade the Weasel.

“All this information was supplied by your companions—including your plans over these past days,” Qiao Qiao said, leaning back in his chair, hands open.

“Whether you speak or not doesn’t matter much. For insurance, we believe you may know things other youkai don’t.”

The Weasel’s expression darkened.

“Don’t hurt Shiori…” he pleaded.

Within, he had already surrendered.

“I’ll talk, I’ll tell everything…”

Just then, Qiao Qiao leaned forward.

He began spirit communication.

Scenes flashed through his mind—Weasel’s long life, like an epic film playing out in Qiao Qiao’s head.

At first, only faint spiritual energy gathered, carried by the wind. Then, consciousness formed. Bewildered childhood, wandering by instinct after becoming a youkai, meeting others, awakening true awareness, moving to Tokyo, living in the city’s shadows, encountering that great figure, becoming active again, forming a youkai group, creating vengeful spirits, gathering spiritual power.

Every detail was clear: the address of his apartment, the unlock code for the entrance downstairs.

Buzz—

As this was not his first spirit communication, Qiao Qiao managed well, seeing the fragments he desired.

For youkai—especially those with consciousness—spirit communication was no easy feat. Some youkai instinctively communicate or probe memories. If the opponent’s resistance is strong, the results may be ineffective, and powerful youkai can even cause backlash for the communicator.

It was Qiao Qiao’s first attempt communicating with a youkai. After learning the risks, he decided to use interrogation techniques learned from the intelligence services of Suguo to break down the Weasel’s defenses before attempting spirit communication.

The result was excellent.

He and Jingyi Shoji—one played the “bad cop,” one the “good cop.” Combined with the exhaustion brought by the sealing talisman, and the information extracted from the poison-master youkai found through spirit communication with a bread wrapper, they pretended that the Weasel’s companions had betrayed him.

Combining threats and persuasion, they easily forced the Weasel to submit. Qiao Qiao extracted most of the information he wanted: the location, intelligence, and crimes of his accomplices.

Yet, as in the previous case with Iguchi Tetsu, key information had been wiped away.

In the results of the Weasel’s spirit communication, the contact he met remained a blank—an invisible presence.

“That was an impressive spirit communication. Perhaps even I couldn’t manage it to that degree,” Jingyi Shoji remarked as he exited the interrogation room, lightly shaking his folding fan.

He had performed his own spirit communication afterwards, to confirm everything.

In fact, less than ten hours had passed since the Weasel’s capture that morning.

As for the Weasel, Qiao Qiao’s intensity had apparently been too much—he was now unconscious.

Qiao Qiao did not mind, but recalled the scenes witnessed during the spirit communication.

“I never expected these youkai to be so despicable, even resorting to poison. Thank goodness for Sakamoto-kun.”

The baguette had indeed been poisoned. Thinking back, it was likely President Jingyi had warned Sakamoto-kun to protect him in the shadows, prompting the bread exchange. Qiao Qiao ate the poisoned bread, suppressing its effects with his own strength.

Some people protect you from the shadows, without your knowledge. Truly admirable.

“Sakamoto-kun?”

Jingyi Shoji’s face took on a strange expression.

“President Jingyi, since we’ve obtained the youkai’s base information, let’s move quickly—before they realize the Weasel is missing and flee,” Qiao Qiao suggested.

He could not fathom how vicious the youkai had become, repeatedly trying to murder an innocent exorcist. Even if he could evade disaster with experience, those around him could fall into peril.

To ease his mind, Qiao Qiao believed they should wipe out the Weasel’s companions overnight, before trouble brewed.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already mobilized the forces of Meiji Shrine. We’re closing in on the youkai stronghold,” Jingyi Shoji nodded. “I’ll be there shortly.”

“In that case, President Jingyi, may I observe?” Qiao Qiao asked suddenly.

“?”

Jingyi Shoji glanced at him.

“It’s not impossible.”

“That’s wonderful.”

A smile spread across Qiao Qiao’s face.

If he could not witness justice, he feared he’d have sleepless nights.

“By the way, President Jingyi,” Qiao Qiao remembered a question and asked, “earlier you said the Shrine would take in criminal youkai as subordinate deities. Was that true?”

Jingyi Shoji smiled softly.

“Of course, I was lying.”