Upon reaching the surface, Sun Quanxiao informed Zeng Jingchu and Tian Jing, "Zeng Jingchu's memory was likely erased during hypnosis, which is why he suddenly lost consciousness."
Zeng Jingchu and Tian Jing exchanged glances, a suspicion dawning on them.
After seeing Sun Quanxiao off, Zeng Jingrong asked Tian Jing for her thoughts.
Tian Jing mused, "It must have been a psychic ability user who hypnotized Zeng Jingchu."
Zeng Jingrong nodded, "Let's go check on Tong Xinhua."
Having been held in the dungeon for over half a month, Tong Xinhua ate, drank, and remained unhurried and unperturbed.
Upon seeing a head peek through the small window in the ceiling, she smiled, "Captain Tian finally arrived."
Tian Jing raised an eyebrow, "You did this on purpose?"
Tong Xinhua's smile was bright, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten in."
Zeng Jingrong opened the ceiling hatch, and he and Tian Jing descended into the cell.
Tian Jing got straight to the point, "Speak."
Without hesitation, Tong Xinhua recounted her ordeal.
Tong Xinhua had always been an excellent student. In her sophomore year, she was selected by the university to be an exchange student in the United States.
During her exchange program, she met a handsome American man, fell in love quickly, and became intimate with him.
When her year abroad ended, Tong Xinhua returned to China. Her heart was no longer in her studies, and she couldn't bear to be apart from her lover.
She resorted to tantrums, tears, and threats of self-harm. Finally, her father pulled strings to arrange for her to study abroad in the U.S.
When she returned to the U.S. again, the American man had a new girlfriend.
How could this be? Tong Xinhua had returned to the U.S. precisely because she couldn't forget her boyfriend.
Through her persistent pursuit, her boyfriend finally returned to her side:
"Captain Tian, guess what? Did the story end with the prince and princess finally getting together?"
Tong Xinhua's smile remained unchanged.
Yet, Tian Jing saw sadness in that smile, "No, otherwise you wouldn't be here."
"Hahaha." Tong Xinhua's laughter was filled with amusement, "Yes, princes and princesses only exist in fairy tales."
Less than a month after reconciling with the American man, she was sold.
Literally sold.
A black underground auction house that sold everything, including people.
She was imprisoned in a cage and demanded to know why the two people passionately kissing outside the cage were doing this to her.
The American man's new girlfriend haughtily informed Tong Xinhua that selling her was her idea.
Not only was Tong Xinhua's pestering annoying, but the fact that she was her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend was reason enough to be sold.
Tong Xinhua was shocked by the woman's malicious logic. The woman proudly told Tong Xinhua that her uncle was the owner of the auction house, and Tong Xinhua should feel honored to be sold at her uncle's establishment.
As the two left, the American man told her in a gentle voice that being with her was just for fun and that a woman like her, with no money or power, didn't deserve his love.
She, along with two other young people, was bought by a middle-aged man. During transit, they were all drugged unconscious.
When she woke up, she found herself lying naked on a bed, her limbs restrained, surrounded by people in white coats.
It was a laboratory, and she was an experimental subject, injected with drugs daily.
Every time she was injected, she was in so much pain that she felt she was going mad.
The people in white coats watched her agony intently, recording their observations in notebooks.
This life, worse than death, continued. Just when she thought it would last until her death, one day, after another injection, amidst her painful struggles, her mind suddenly throbbed with pain. Afterward, the pain vanished, and she felt completely at ease. The people in white coats surrounding her were overjoyed.
The middle-aged man who bought her came to pick her up. He threatened her with her family's safety, telling her to obey him.
She was arranged to live in a courtyard, where several other young people with numb and dazed expressions already resided.
Their daily tasks were to eat, sleep, and learn from the instructors.
Learn what? To become spies, to use their unique abilities to return to their home countries as spies.
Although Tong Xinhua had let her studies slide due to infatuation, after all that had happened, her intelligence had returned. While studying, she carefully observed the instructors' words and actions and surveyed her surroundings.
Soon after, she was arranged to return to China. Her first mission upon returning was to gather as much information as possible about Captain Tian of Kushan.
To conceal herself, she married a man arranged by her parents for a blind date.
However, her husband was not only chauvinistic but also suspicious. She had no choice but to find a third party for her husband and then take the opportunity to divorce him.
Coincidentally, there was a personnel change in the leadership of Ling County. She had her father find a way to get her transferred back.
When she reunited with Chen Fu, she was overjoyed, as she was at a loss for how to proceed. Chen Fu rarely came into the county town, and the Hot Spring Valley scenic area had been closed.
As she reached this point, Tong Xinhua's eyes turned to Tian Jing, her smile still unwavering:
"Captain Tian, if you have any questions, please ask directly. As repayment for using you, I will tell you everything."
If Tong Xinhua's account was true, Tian Jing had to admire the woman. To survive such hellish torture and, while being forced to become a spy, to arrange her own and her family's safety was remarkable.
"Do you know what your special ability is?"
Tong Xinhua nodded, "It should be called an ability, a psychic type. I observed and deduced this in the study courtyard."
"The abilities of the few of us studying together were all different. We were taught by different people, and those who taught and were taught shared the same abilities."
It seemed the spies Tong Xinhua mentioned were targeting ability users from various countries.
Tian Jing asked again, "Were there any other Chinese people among those few?"
Tong Xinhua shook her head, "I was the only one. But from the vague conversations between the instructors, I guessed that there should be more than one courtyard like the one we lived in."
"After I returned to China, I don't know who contacted me. I only received messages unilaterally."
"I knew that if I truly became a spy, I would have no good end in the future."
"Because one of the young people who lived in the same courtyard as me once went berserk. Several instructors together subdued him, tied him up, and sent him out of the courtyard. He never returned, and no one knows if he's alive or dead."
"My condition has always been stable. There have been no changes after returning to China. However, when I was controlled by my ex-husband and had no freedom, I would become manic, and I would have an impulse to collapse and destroy everything in my mind."
"I was very scared. After experiencing so much, I am still afraid of death. I am also afraid that my parents, who have always loved me, will die."
"So, I designed this plan to use you. My parents have been imprisoned or placed under surveillance, and I feel at ease."
Tian Jing raised an eyebrow, "They asked you to collect information, and you came straight to me. Weren't you warned? Also, how could you be sure I could save you?"
Tong Xinhua's smile widened, "When I received the mission to collect information about you, my intuition told me that you must be an ability user, an ability user that the United States feared."
"I appeared directly in front of you, and not only was I not warned, but I also received a congratulatory message, praising me for setting myself up as a third party, which was excellent."
"Heh, those people are very arrogant. They don't take ordinary people seriously, believing that ability users can easily control a normal person."
"They see themselves as divine emissaries, believing that abilities are gifts from God, allowing them to exercise God's will in this corrupt world."
"And we, ability users created through drugs, are called counterfeit products by them. 'Fail' means failure, which is what they call us."
Tian Jing shook her head, "I might have to disappoint you, I can't save you."
"I believe you have also investigated my information. Zeng Jingchu, the former big boss, also has health problems, and I am helpless. He is in the cell next to yours."
Tong Xinhua froze entirely, then calmly said, "It's fine. Since this cell can halt the deterioration, I'll wait here. I believe you and Captain Zeng won't abandon him. I am willing to be an experimental subject for the antidote."
"You feel the difference in the cell?"
"Mmm, a very strong magnetic field. That throbbing pain in my head is gone. The urge to release my mental energy at all times is gone."
Tian Jing and Zeng Jingrong had no further questions. Tong Xinhua's account was rather fragmented.
The two prepared to leave. Tong Xinhua requested Zeng Jingrong to also detain her mother, as she feared the other party might use her mother to warn her against speaking out.
Zeng Jingrong looked at Tong Xinhua, "When I apprehended you, your mother was already arrested for harboring a fugitive."
"Thank you!"
Tong Xinhua's tone was sincere. Zeng Jingrong's expression was indescribable; it was the first time he had been thanked for arresting someone.