Chapter 333: Chapter 333: A Person Worth Entrusting (Part 1)
In the afternoon, Sophie returned to her cell and sat on the bed to rest.
After the recreational period had passed, inmates who worked in the workshop were taken directly to the workshops, while she was brought to her cell to wait for the guards to assign her work.
With just a casual lift of her hand, the shackles on her wrist clinked noisily.
The shackles were indeed quite inconvenient; even changing clothes had to be done under the surveillance of the guards. The key to the shackles was kept by a female guard who was very wary of her; any removal of the shackles needed to be done under her watch.
Perhaps the warden had specifically instructed that person, unless the password or some other form of authentication was provided, no one (including the warden himself) would hand over the keys to the shackles.
It was a helpless situation to be under such vigilance. Although she was indeed interested in Aiden Galahad, in reality, seeking refuge in the prison, making contact with Aiden Galahad, and attempting to dig up information about him were all directives from her organization; she had no choice in the matter.
Although on the surface she was a glamorous, popular actress, all of that fame was, after all, cultivated by organizational capital and then lifted into limelight through power and wealth, in order to give her a channel to collect information from high society.
"Smiling Balance" was a spider’s nest woven with money; this massive spiderweb sustained all its members while trapping them at the same time. Keeping information secret was an ironclad rule. Even the informants who dealt with clients only shared a small portion of information. It’s likely that even the senior decision-makers were also tied down by the threads of interest and couldn’t extricate themselves, let alone her and Susan, who acted as a body double.
The organization was already putting a bounty through their network on the person who wanted to kill her, which Sophie didn’t doubt. However, the organization was more concerned about eliminating the opponent than protecting Susan.
It was not easy to get rid of that person, and the organization would probably prefer to use Susan, who was playing "Sophie Carter," as bait to lure the assailant, thinking that even if they failed to eliminate the person, they might escape this madman’s fixation—at the comparatively "cheap" price of a doppelgänger and a bit of divine essence.
That madman was bent on killing "Sophie Carter"... rather than to silence her, it seemed more likely he was angry because his secret had been probed. He must have been aware that his secrets had most likely already been shared with the upstream intelligence organizations, but as long as "Sophie Carter" was dead, he might cease his pursuit.
Gathering intelligence always came with risks like this; sometimes the organization didn’t mind paying a small price, and Susan’s life was probably just a "cost" in their ledger.
Measuring everything with interests was the organization’s consistent style; anything could be placed on the two ends of the balance, including dignity and human life. Compared to Susan, she, with the qualifications to play a star, held more value. Losing the identity of "Sophie Carter," just with a change of face and location, the organization could make her a new it-girl at any time.
Having Susan play her and admitting her into prison were safety measures to minimize potential losses.
But following this trend, poor Susan... might really end up as the sacrificial lamb.
Thinking of this, Sophie felt her heart sink continuously.
Although they were not particularly close, after so much time spent together, it was not possible to have no feelings at all.
Aiden Galahad also had information he wanted to probe, and it seemed he wasn’t planning to use it; if she used the information he wanted to know as a bargaining chip, perhaps he would be willing to try to take action himself to save Susan’s life...
Just like Aiden hadn’t completely trusted Sophie, she hadn’t completely trusted Aiden either. To date, they still hadn’t fully uncovered the details of this "big shot" who had swiftly seized the sole power after stepping into the world of authority.
But now... it seemed there wasn’t much time left for her to hesitate.
At that moment, she heard footsteps approaching along the corridor, stopping in front of her door.
She looked toward the sound, and at the door stood the female prison guard who had been watching her these past few days and was in charge of the keys to her shackles. She remembered the name seemed to be... Veronica.
Sophie obediently rose from the bed, walked to the door, and prepared to work under the other’s surveillance.
However, Veronica kept staring at her, not opening the cell door immediately.
"What’s the matter?" she asked, puzzled.
"Prisoner 1562, I’m going to ask you some questions next, and I hope you will answer truthfully," Veronica said, pulling a piece of paper out of the pocket of her uniform.
Sophie eyed the other’s strange behavior with suspicion, a bad feeling washing over her.
Then, Veronica looked at the paper and began to ask, "Question, the matter of Mr. Bloody Clothes buying information from you, is that true?"
Sophie was taken aback and then she heard a command in her mind, "When questioned within the domain, you must answer immediately and truthfully."
In the moment she realized what was happening, Sophie felt an irresistible force take over her mouth and throat, compelling them to produce a sound: "It’s true."
It was the rule of the "Wordless Code" — Sophie inwardly gasped in horror.
Two quarters of an hour earlier, in the warden’s office.
Aiden handed the "Wordless Code" to Veronica, "Take it, this is the Divine Artifact previously seized from that pirate, I’m lending it to you."
"This... Why give it to me?" Veronica was a bit puzzled.
"I’m hoping you can use it to interrogate prisoner 1562 in the jail. I want to find out some information she’s tightly guarding, and this artifact can force her to speak. But, she also wants to pry secrets out of me, so I cannot interrogate her myself; I have to entrust this task to you," Aiden said calmly, "In the next few minutes, I will teach you how to use this thing and the precautions that need to be taken."
"But you don’t need to give it to me, sir. You could just hold the artifact at a distance, and then I could carry out the interrogation," Veronica said, waving her hands, "Such an important item... I, myself, don’t feel secure holding it."
"No worries, I also want to run a test. A person can write only three rules in this book in a single day, so if two people use it, that makes six rules," Aiden replied unhurriedly, "Although only three rules can be accommodated at a time, with two people using it, the scope for maneuver also becomes much larger. After you use it, I can immediately switch the rules back."
"I see..." Veronica began to understand a little and then murmured, "But you’re placing a little too much trust in me."
"If you really don’t trust anyone at all, it’s no longer being cautious; that’s paranoia," Aiden shrugged, "I just feel that you are someone I can trust... Hm? What are you smiling secretly about?"
"No, nothing!" Veronica quickly shook her head upon hearing the latter half of Aiden’s statement, unable to suppress a smile.
How she wished he would say it again...
