Chapter 1563: Chapter 1563: Retaliation Upon Retaliation
The FBI has always been exploring what exactly Sofia’s “superpower” entails.
Just when they thought her “I Declare” was an immediate punishment method that could make the target faint and never wake up again—although the term “never” was questionable—they discovered that her ability seemed to malfunction from time to time.
However, very unfortunately, the punishment may be delayed but never missed.
Even more unexpected was their discovery that the punishment result of “I Declare” seemed to have more than one type.
Another explanation for “more than one type” is—perhaps there could be many…
Upon realizing this possibility, the FBI urgently discussed countermeasures.
Everyone leaned towards taking a gentle approach with Sofia—the background of her family had already put significant pressure on them, and now Sofia’s “superpower” had brought about new variations; it was inadvisable to take drastic actions before thoroughly understanding the details.
Everyone has some degree of resilience, but when the pressure is monumental, talking about this becomes meaningless.
Of course, it was unrealistic to say that they would completely let Sofia go, which didn’t align with the FBI’s way of doing things.
While discussions were ongoing, good news came from 450 kilometers away; the two agents who secretly infiltrated Sofia’s home yesterday awoke and suffered no major harm.
However, shortly after came terrible news — Xilai’s examination revealed his brain sulci were flattened, and the hospital estimated that the damage to his brain was irreversible.
Simply put, he was basically going to be a fool for life.
In the afternoon, William’s examination results were confirmed — he was a vegetative state, with no certainty of when he might awaken, perhaps never.
Yet shortly after, more good news followed; the comatose female agent regained partial consciousness, although she didn’t recover as quickly as those two agents who infiltrated Sofia’s home at night, she was gradually recovering, which was still a good sign.
The FBI borrowed a gaming term to describe Sofia’s punishment—hate level.
Indeed, Jason and Xilai offended Sofia the most, so they undoubtedly received the kind of punishment one can’t recover from; the female agent also went too far, but probably did not touch Sofia’s sore spot, thus could recover slowly.
As for those two who were comatose for just one night, they were only trying to infiltrate at night, warranting only a mild punishment.
Yet what puzzled the FBI was: is this hate level derived from Sofia’s subjective intention, or influenced by objective factors?
Due to a series of circumstances, everyone hadn’t yet decided on what kind of standard to use while communicating with Sofia.
For instance, based on lip-reading comparisons, agents had already guessed the disagreement between the female agent and Sofia was primarily about attempting to seize two talismans from her handbag.
Within the FBI, there was no shortage of people who knew about talismans, but the notoriety and credibility of talismans were barely any higher than Africa’s witchcraft—they had heard of them but limited only to hearsay.
Should they take away those two talismans from Sofia? After some discussion, they decided not to provoke her for the time being, even though they were intrigued by such objects.
However, related questions still needed to be asked; Sofia recounted she had been to Huaxia. As for how she obtained these two talismans, her answer was that she encountered a talisman-selling Taoist while at the Bund in the Magic City.
This answer was indeed too hasty, but having an answer was better than none, right?
In the same day, the Jansen Family’s exclusive lawyer officially notified the FBI that the investigation into Sofia should not exceed 24 hours—considering it involves Guojia’s interests, citizens are obliged to cooperate with relevant investigations, but over 24 hours would be excessive.
Especially since when Sofia was taken away for investigation, the FBI could only provide some logical conjectures, without any evidence to prove what crime Sofia had committed.
However, the weather was bad now, and the lawyer needed some time to arrive, so they requested the FBI to provide 24-hour surveillance footage to prove Sofia wasn’t subjected to any inducements, coercion, or even torture.
The FBI would not agree so easily, but refusing would require certain justifications, hence they set a condition, providing the footage was breaking the rules, yet they didn’t wish to make things too strained with the Jansen Family either, so the premise was they investigated for 72 hours.
The lawyer stated this was impossible, but the opposing party said it happened to be snowy with bad road conditions, you could use that as an excuse—in any case, reconsidering would be preferable; if you didn’t understand flexibility, we also wouldn’t understand flexibility.
Lawyers from Mai Nation are most adept at the art of making choices; an excellent lawyer shouldn’t merely know how to win a case, but also how to minimize losses, and how to maximize benefits whenever possible.
Thus, after much negotiation, it was decided that during the investigation period, the lawyer could contact Sofia, but the time could not be too long,
This condition is average, but enough for her to know “the lawyer has arrived” — which is important for those under closed investigation.
Sofia could even take the opportunity to express to the lawyer the kind of unfair treatment she’s received, making it easy for the lawyer to protest.
After seventy-two hours, she can end her investigative status, but the lawyer can obtain any period of the surveillance footage.
It must be said, both parties were quite sincere in negotiating this condition, though the lawyer couldn’t immediately take Sofia away, they have arrived and informed their client, alleviating her anxiety.
The FBI also compromised significantly; in fact, they promised 72 hours of footage to be freely accessed, which not only represents a concession to the lawyer but implies they have given up using most unconventional tactics on Sofia.
Of course, this abandonment is something they went along with — they never really intended to use any excessive means.
From this point of view, the lawyers seemed rather incompetent, failing to push the FBI’s limits, and negotiating down to such a condition they felt could suffice.
But in fact, the lawyers were truly diligent; the problem was they knew too little about their client’s situation, leading to a misjudgment — poor communication with the client is a major taboo in the legal industry.
Yet in this current situation, miscommunication wasn’t the lawyer’s fault — not even Sofia’s family knew of her abilities, so how could they explain it to the lawyers?
Because of the agreement with the lawyer, Sofia spent her first day feeling somewhat comfortable — unlike the FBI, who were quite busy.
Early on the second day, Sofia met the lawyer, expressing all sorts of complaints, though the listening agents were unconcerned; you’re here for investigation, not to stay in a five-star presidential suite, is subpar conditions even an issue?
But the agents quickly adjusted their attitude — four colleagues encountered incidents last night.
One was hit by a falling object, another slipped and was knocked unconscious on a snowy road, another had a house fire at night.
The last one had just left a bar and was robbed by a young African-American; he thought he was fairly capable, but his opponent unhesitatingly pulled the trigger, firing five shots.
Luckily, the opponent used a low-power handgun, which didn’t cause serious harm, primarily aiming to disable his fighting capability though he was left with more than scars — there would definitely be aftereffects.
Then the young African-American took his cash, which amounted to a little over a hundred Mai dollars; had he known he’d be shot five times, he would’ve certainly given up resisting — truly not worth it.
However, being an FBI agent, with pride and strong physique, not resisting would mean disgrace once word got out.
These four incidents were rather unlucky, yet seemingly without inevitable connection, and horrifyingly, all were involved in capturing, oh no… “inviting” Sofia to the FBI.
Indeed, all four were participants, and Sofia had announced two days prior that she wouldn’t let any of them go.
This was terribly frightening; one or two is plausible, but if four coincidental incidents were unrelated to Sofia — who would believe that?
No agent was speaking further, until a female agent cautiously suggested, “Should we reconsider Lady Patricia’s demands?”
Patricia is the sister of the guard Xilai, married to a party whip; the siblings are two years apart, although cousins, they were close in childhood due to their similar age.
Upon hearing Xilai suffered from an unknown force, Patricia decisively stated: This matter must be thoroughly investigated, even by the FBI, they cannot let the perpetrator go free because it’s an unknown force.
This demand greatly pressured the FBI: We serve the Mai Nation’s government; a party whip’s wife suddenly trying to dictate terms — doesn’t Mai Nation’s government lack bureaucratic behavior…
While everyone was contemplating whether to comply, another news came — a colleague taking children to school suddenly experienced brake failure, instinctively crashing into a tree.
The two children, secured with seatbelts, didn’t sustain severe injuries, but the driving agent suffered internal bleeding, and due to snow causing traffic jams, nearly didn’t make it.
This agent was among those who were relatively hard on Sofia that day, this time leaving the FBI thoroughly unnerved — imagine, at the incident, two children aged eleven and eight were also present!
The children’s injuries weren’t severe, consisting of abrasions and soft tissue bruising, but witnessing their father nearly dying would inflict significant mental trauma that isn’t sure to heal in three or five years.
Given Sofia’s terrifying “cursing ability,” the FBI personnel were entirely frightened, even some considering pleading with her for mercy, regrettably she remained under strict surveillance, every move entirely monitored.
The five people who subdued Sofia even dared not return home after work, opting for floor bedding to stay at the office.
Yet this still proved ineffective, as in the dead of night, a dull sound rang out followed by a scream — a ceiling light in an office fell right onto someone’s head on the floor bedding.