Chapter 723 - 664: Poison in the Ring

Song Heping's hand stopped when it touched the inner lining at the back of the backpack.

That area is usually a combination of a support board and sponge, meant to enhance support and comfort during use.

But at this moment, his fingers encountered something hard hidden within the sponge.

Song Heping carefully inspected it and felt it again, confirming it wasn't a part of the backpack's support board. Upon further inspection, he discovered a data cable at the bottom of the backpack, running along the edge, seemingly leading somewhere.

He checked again but couldn't find where it led.

Song Heping simply pulled out a butterfly knife and sliced open the back panel position.

The sharp blade easily cut through the lining.

A black box appeared before Song Heping.

"Damn, what is this?"

Jiang Feng came over at that time, also looking perplexed at the small object.

Song Heping took out the black box, tugged the data cable attached to it, and continued to cut down along the cable, eventually pulling out a hidden black elliptical head.

This was definitely spy equipment.

Jiang Feng exclaimed, "What is this? A bug?"

Song Heping, holding the small elliptical head, inspected it carefully before saying, "It's not just for eavesdropping, look here, it seems like a pinhole camera, apparently with recording capabilities."

"This is fun! High tech!" Jiang Feng touched the small box, which was only the size of a matchbox but much thinner than one.

"Wonder what's inside?"

Song Heping held the black box and inspected it, finding it wouldn't be easy to open, likely requiring professional tools and expertise.

"If I'm not mistaken, there should be some storage device inside, and maybe there could be some findings."

Jiang Feng said, "Isn't this too easy? Why not just make those two guys confess?"

Song Heping put away the small box, planning to ask Collins to figure out how to open it and access its contents, as Collins has quite a bit of expertise with computers and precision instruments.

Just then, a scream suddenly came from not far away.

"Something happened?!"

Song Heping quickly picked up his gun and ran towards the noise.

The screams had come from where Klein was interrogating the two agents.

Upon arrival, Song Heping saw that Jordy was already lying on the ground, blood oozing from his mouth, his eyes starting to roll back.

Song Heping frowned: "Poison?!"

"Damn it!"

Jiang Feng said, "We clearly searched them earlier, no poisons on them, even took all their papers!"

"It's the ring."

Klein pointed to a silver ring on Jordy's finger and said, "There's a small device inside, you can open it with a finger, it hides a pin that when it pierces the skin, causes death, don't know what kind of special poison it is, so fierce!"

He picked up another one and handed it to Song Heping.

"Fortunately, this guy's hands were held down, otherwise he'd be dead too."

Song Heping took the ring and inspected it closely.

Indeed, the top of the ring had a turquoise-like gem protruding, but with a gentle twist and push, snap, the gem flipped over.

"Be careful!"

Klein nervously warned Song Heping.

"Deadly poison! Don't break the skin!"

Song Heping nodded, remaining silent, his gaze intently focused on the flipped gem.

Underneath the gem was a protruding sharp pin, looking extremely sharp.

Such an intricate design was made for suicide.

Song Heping was indeed impressed.

In the past, he had seen poisons hidden in buttons, in false teeth, but he never imagined rings could be made so intricately.

CIA, being an old intelligence agency, really does have significant technical expertise.

"I mean, if you were planning to commit suicide anyway, why the hell would you surrender…"

Song Heping looked disdainfully at the restrained Hawkins, "Why didn't you just do it sooner? Couldn't you have just shot yourself or let us kill you when you were caught?"

Hawkins, under control, was gasping for breath and remained silent.

Jiang Feng said, "Maybe he thought it wouldn't be so hard at first, but after seeing Klein's interrogation, he feared he couldn't bear it and decided suicide was easier."

Song Heping looked at that ring again, then threw it far away.

Looking at this damn thing makes my skin crawl.

Then he took out that small black box, squatted down, and said to Hawkins, "Does this eavesdropping and recording tool have a hard drive inside?"

Hawkins glared at Song Heping, remaining silent.

Klein cleared his throat twice beside them, playing with a strange tool resembling a scalpel.

Hawkins shivered and said with a trembling voice, "It's a spying tool... it has storage..."

Song Heping asked, "What's the password?"

Storage hard drives usually have password protection, which is very common, especially those used by the CIA in surveillance devices, surely secured by a password.

Hawkins replied, "I don't know..."

He glanced at Klein while saying this, his eyes filled with fear of this interrogation expert.

Song Heping asked again, "You don't know the password? Are you saying I don't know it either, and I should have my brother ask?"

As he said this, his gaze unintentionally glanced at Klein, suggesting something.

Hawkins said, "I really don't know, the device belongs to Jody; he handles the technology, I handle the actual tasks — we have our divide! I really don't know!"

He glanced at Klein again at the end.

"Please stop tormenting me, I've told you everything…"

Song Heping said, "If you don't provide the password and how to unlock it, sorry, I can't let you be at ease."

Having said that, he stood up and threw a look towards Klein.

Klein nodded, smilingly squatted down in front of Hawkins with that strange little tool.

"It's better to be honest if you know anything; otherwise, enduring so much pain yet having to speak in the end would really be meaningless."

"I really don't know, please, I am really begging you, just shoot me, okay? For God's sake, let me die…"

Hawkins' body was shaking like a sieve.

Song Heping couldn't help but think, with someone obsessed with torture methods like Klein, even professionally trained agents couldn't withstand the interrogation.

If I were Hawkins, how long could I hold out?

Klein began operating on Hawkins' face again.

He targeted the sensitive triangular area.

Song Heping glanced at it and felt it was cruel, instinctively turning his head away.

Hawkins' miserable screams echoed once again through the desolate wilderness, the kind that would scare away wolves.

After ten minutes, Hawkins passed out entirely.

Klein stood up, walked over to Song Heping and said, "He's passed out, but I can wake him up by injecting him with drugs, although I think it's pointless now."

"Why? Do you have the results?" Song Heping asked.

"Yes," Klein said, "he really does not know the password of the storage device. Moreover, he revealed Baghdadi's hiding place, which is very valuable information. Considering all his previous testimonies, I believe he's telling the truth. Even if he was killed, he couldn't reveal what he doesn't know, unless he lied."

"Hmm…"

Song Heping nodded thoughtfully.

Klein added, "He also mentioned that Baghdadi wouldn't stay in one place for more than three days and they have already stayed at their current location for two days, which means if we want to act against I5I5 and Baghdadi, we need to start within the next 24 hours. Otherwise, we would have to wait until their next contact with Baghdadi to know the location, but now with Jody dead and likely breaches in security; there won't be a next time."

"Then let's do it."

Song Heping made a swift decision.

Some things can't be delayed.

A swift action to cut through the chaos is the best strategy.

He had decided to strike a hard blow at these bastards as soon as possible before Kelly and her people could react, not to let them think he had no ability to resist.

This matter, is not over yet!