In the vast, dark interrogation room, a single long table and two chairs sat in the center.

A cold beam of light shone directly onto the Beta man’s face.

Had the light been aimed at a wall, it would have seemed perfectly adequate. But shining on a person’s face, it was anything but comfortable.

Even after being subjected to the cold light for nearly an hour, the Beta man still couldn’t adjust. He felt like his eyes were about to go blind.

His hands were cuffed securely to the table in front of him, rendering them completely immobile.

Forced to maintain an awkward posture while facing the intense glare, he was covered in sweat.

He couldn’t help but cry out again, "I already told you, I’ll answer whatever you ask! Just let me change positions and turn off the light!"

His voice was nearly hoarse from shouting when an Alpha finally sauntered in.

He sat down across from the Beta man. If Zoe Pierce or any of her companions had seen this, they would have recognized him as one of Colonel Hanson’s subordinates.

"Have you thought it through?" the Alpha Officer asked unhurriedly.

The Beta man was one step short of bowing and scraping. He had clearly suffered a great deal, and sweat soaked his brow. "I’ve thought it through, I’ve thought it through."

The Alpha Officer raised his hand, and only then was the light shining in the Beta man’s face turned off.

The Beta man raised his cuffed hands again. "And these... if you would be so kind."

The Alpha Officer narrowed his eyes. "That will depend on whether your answers are truthful."

The Beta man cursed internally. ’These Alphas have so many ways to torture someone.’ On the surface, however, he forced a fawning smile. "Yes, yes, of course. I’ll talk, I’ll talk."

The Alpha Officer looked at the man’s ingratiating expression and said sternly, "Introduce yourself."

"My name is..."

Nearly two hours later, the Alpha officer had a confession, and the Beta man was drenched in a cold sweat, feeling as if he were about to pass out.

He had been held in that position for nearly three hours. His back ached, and his clothes were damp with sweat.

"Sir, can you release me now? I can’t take it anymore." A bead of sweat trickled down from his forehead and landed at the corner of his lips.

His lips, parched from a long time without water, had begun to crack and peel.

His throat felt like it was about to emit smoke after talking for over two hours. Licking the salty sweat from his lips, the Beta man’s voice was practically a plea.

The Alpha Officer walked over and personally unfastened the shackles, which were locked to the leg of the table.

The Beta man let out a long, visible sigh of relief.

He licked his parched lips. "Sir, could I have some water?"

Just then, the Alpha Officer’s demeanor turned stern again. He held up the confession from the past two hours. "After we’ve confirmed everything you said is true, someone will be by to provide you with those things." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

With that, he walked straight out of the room.

The Beta man stared blankly for a moment, then cursed furiously in his mind. Even the release from his restraints now felt somehow unsatisfying.

’This is just awful.’

He leaned back in his seat. No one told him to leave, and his hands were still cuffed.

He grit his teeth in anger.

At least the cold light was no longer aimed directly at his eyes, but was fully cast onto the wall instead, which made things much more bearable.

「...」

The Alpha Officer walked briskly, heading for the deeper sections of the Starship.

Colonel Hanson, who had not yet made an appearance, was sitting in the monitoring room, gazing at the various Xenobeast Tide breach points.

The Alpha Officer knocked and entered. Seeing him, Colonel Hanson looked up. "Did you get it out of him?"

"It’s more or less confirmed. Most of the known information matches up, and we also found a large sum of money in his account."

"What’s the situation on C15 and C16?"

These crude flyers weren’t just circulating on C14, the planet where Zoe Pierce and the others were; they were now spreading on C15 and C16 as well.

But compared to the timely discovery on C14, the flyers on C15 and C16 were found a full half-day later.

"We have the individuals in custody. Based on their testimony, nearly all of those responsible for distribution are locals from those planets."

"The paper and materials were also sourced locally, using the cheapest stuff available."

"According to the confession from the Beta we just interrogated, they all joined a local tech company three or four years ago as peripheral staff."

"They all knew the company’s experiments were focused on Betas."

"They don’t know how the company sold its products or where the experiments were located. They just handled clerical work. They said they almost never saw locals being hired for core business operations."

"The tech company’s public excuse was that the planet’s scientific research level was too low, so all their researchers were headhunted with high salaries from more advanced planets."

This explanation was widely accepted. After all, if someone was truly brilliant, they would have long since paid the hefty planetary immigration fee to move somewhere with a higher standard of living and better pay.

As a direct result, almost none of the local staff knew much about the tech company.

They only knew it had a lab on the planet, but its specific location, who worked there, and what research they were conducting were all complete unknowns.

"This time, they said they received a huge sum from the tech company to print these flyers and distribute them everywhere."

Even though they knew the tech company was behind it, they were still shocked when they saw the contents of the flyer.

But faced with such a huge reward, the message—whether true or not—was enough to make them take the risk.

"Some of them asked if the content of the flyer was real, and the company gave them a definitive ’yes’."

After finishing his report, the Alpha Officer stood at attention before Colonel Hanson.

Colonel Hanson tapped his fingers on the desk. "Has the content of this flyer been sent to the research department?"

"It was sent over immediately. On the Capital Star, The Military interrogated the Betas who were previously arrested. Judging by their level of shock, the information is highly likely to be authentic."

After all, the arrested Betas didn’t know the information was being deliberately spread by someone else; they assumed The Military had uncovered it themselves.

This change in perspective placed a completely different kind of pressure on the Betas.

"Call the research department again and ask them to confirm the authenticity of this matter," Colonel Hanson said.

Their deductions were still just that—deductions. They needed professionals to provide a diagnosis and confirmation.

"If this is true, I’m afraid there will be chaos among the Betas on these three planets," Colonel Hanson said, his brow furrowed.

Even with so many deaths during the Xenobeast Tide, the population of the three planets was still at least over two billion.

And of those two billion-plus people, over ninety percent are Betas.

If even one person finds out that Betas can use spiritual power, it could lead to widespread imitation.

And the flyer conceals the death rate.

Unless there’s a sudden wave of deaths from this, it will be difficult to suppress this dangerous trend.

"Sir, there probably aren’t many people who can even meet the first requirement."