Chapter 3635: Gathering Evidence

When Watanabe Gorō rushed frantically to the room where Kikuchi Kōhei was detained, Kikuchi Kōhei's body was already hanging from the bathroom door frame.

The item he used to hang himself was his own thermal pants, made of material developed for polar exploration—warm, skin-friendly, breathable, and tough; with the two pant legs tied together, they could easily hang a man weighing over 140 jin.

Unlike most people who die by hanging, Kikuchi Kōhei's face showed no trace of pain or ferocity; on the contrary, he wore a smile of facing death as if returning home.

Just as Watanabe Gorō and several other Americans were at a loss, the station's doctor rushed over, immediately lowered Kikuchi Kōhei's body from the makeshift rope of clothing, and while administering CPR, felt his pulse and heartbeat.

Unfortunately, Kikuchi Kōhei was already completely dead.

After all, the research station was neither a prison nor a police station; it had no dedicated detention cell. After interrogating Kikuchi Kōhei, they placed him in an empty room, leaving a few soldiers outside to guard against escape—but no one expected he could actually commit suicide.

The Americans also didn't understand; the military official, furious, snapped: "Damn it, is this guy sick? What's the big deal? Even if they sent him back to Japan for trial, with no serious consequences, he'd get at most five to eight years, right?"

After saying that, he pointed at Watanabe Gorō and demanded: "Come on, tell me—how many years would his unauthorized command of the Antarctic expedition team get him back home?"

Watanabe Gorō looked bewildered: "I don't know either. Nothing like this has happened before. It depends on whether he had the subjective intent to betray his country. If not, just private exploration, he shouldn't get more than five years. But if it involves treason, maybe he'd get the death penalty."

The military official sneered: "Don't try to scare people. Wasn't that gunman from the Shan mountain given life imprisonment? How could Kikuchi Kōhei possibly get the death penalty if he returns for trial?"

Watanabe Gorō said awkwardly: "You're not wrong to say that."

The military official then pointed at Kikuchi Kōhei's corpse and asked: "Since he's unlikely to get the death penalty, why did he kill himself?"

Watanabe Gorō, unable to contain his emotions, snapped angrily: "I don't know either. You never let us talk to him from start to finish, didn't let us participate in the interrogation, and now he's dead—you come questioning me? I want to question you too: Did you pressure him? Or torture him to extract a confession?"

Realizing he couldn't get anything from Watanabe Gorō and not wanting to be blamed in front of everyone, the military official immediately told the nearby soldiers: "Take him and the other members of the Japanese surrender team to Zone Three for surveillance and residence. Without my order, they are not allowed to step outside Zone Three."

McMurdo Station is the largest Antarctic research station—essentially a major scientific institution with multiple semi-independent zones inside.

"Semi-independent" means these zones can connect to the core area; in short, it's like a large prison with multiple wards, all of which can be completely sealed off.

Watanabe Gorō and the other members of the Japanese surrender team were all placed under soft detention by the U. S. military in Zone Three.

Immediately after, the U. S. military sprang into action.

Just as U. S. paratroopers began boarding aircraft to prepare for takeoff, Ye Chen also set out alone from the European research station, heading for Shōwa Station.

Through Meng Mengzi's connections in Japan, he learned that the Japanese research team en route to the U. S. McMurdo Station had been intercepted midway, the elder of the Pòqīng Huì had already escaped while returning to Shōwa Station, meaning the U. S. military would surely take over Shōwa Station, and that elder definitely wouldn't dare return.

Ye Chen's trip to Shōwa Station was to see firsthand how the U. S. military would handle this matter, and if he could still gather even a bit of evidence unfavorable to the U. S. military, the subsequent developments would be even more interesting.

After all, he clearly knew that the U. S. secretly dispatching troops to land in Antarctica itself violated the Antarctic Treaty, though the landing site was unknown to the outside world. Few countries with Antarctic research stations near the landing site exist, and due to weather, they rarely venture far out—so the U. S. plan was to come and go quietly, as unnoticed as possible.

But Ye Chen would not let them get away with it.

He had to obtain evidence of the U. S. sending troops to Antarctica and make it public.

……

The U. S. military acted swiftly—they completed personnel and equipment assembly, as well as transport plane maintenance and takeoff preparations, in just over two hours. In such extreme cold, achieving this efficiency was indeed formidable.

Two hours after takeoff, the transport fleet arrived at Japan's Shōwa Station, where nearly a hundred Navy SEALs and several infantry vehicles parachuted near the station, then proceeded to encircle it.

The Shōwa Station research team was still carrying out the exploration mission formulated by Wu Bolin at that moment, and most team members were not at the station, so the U. S. military simply occupied the station first and then forcibly ordered the few Japanese researchers stationed there to recall all team members via internal radio.

However, the captured Japanese research team members remained loyal to Wu Bolin, believing they were carrying out the mission set by the True Person of Guanghan, and thus would rather die than betray him—so even with guns pointed at them, no one would yield.

The U. S. military official, enraged, immediately ordered soldiers to use physical force on several Japanese research team members.

A few soldiers hesitated, whispering: "Sir, we're attacking Japanese researchers at a Japanese research station for no reason—if this gets out, won't it cause diplomatic trouble? This is Antarctica, not the Middle East..."

The U. S. military official exploded: "For the United States, what's the difference between Antarctica and the Middle East besides climate? Even in Europe, if those people dare to confront us, we'll take them down! Maybe the president will send troops to Greenland soon—people like you will definitely have no chance to earn merit then!"

After being berated from head to toe, the soldiers lost even the last shred of conscience.

If a soldier is deemed a coward by his superior, his chances of advancement afterward are surely very slim.

So they immediately flew into a rage, dragged several Japanese research team members into a room, and began beating them violently.

Several unarmed, untrained research team members were beaten until covered in wounds and near death, yet they remained unyielding, vowing to resist to the death.

Even the U. S. soldiers couldn't bear to watch, running out to report to the commander: "Sir, those Japanese are about to be beaten to death, but still won't open their mouths—tighter than a trained spy!"

The U. S. commander, furious: "Go—strip them naked, drag them out to freeze until hypothermia, then bring them back. I don't believe we can't pry their mouths open!"

Several Japanese research team members were stripped down to only their underwear, then dragged by a few U. S. soldiers out of the station and straight into the sixty-degree-below-zero polar night.

The intense, bone-chilling cold instantly froze their skin into numb rigidity, followed by excruciating pain as if millions of needles were piercing their skin—agony no ordinary person could endure.

After being exposed to the extreme cold for several tens of seconds, their skin began to show visible frostbite; out of instinct, each one screamed in agony.

When the U. S. soldiers thought the time was right, they used their guns to drive the men back into the station.

What they didn't know was that, in the icy wilderness outside the station, a person had silently hidden in the snow, using spiritual energy to isolate himself from the extreme cold, and with his phone recorded the entire process of U. S. soldiers armed with live ammunition abusing half-naked Japanese research team members!