"Hahh..."

Li Ang slowly opened his eyes to a narrow, enclosed room.

The four walls were covered with beige, strip-shaped fiber sound-absorbing panels, pieced together to minimize noise transmission between the interior and exterior.

Embedded in one wall was a horizontally placed, single-sided opaque glass.

A square, surface-mounted LED light hung in the middle of the ceiling, while a surveillance camera with a blinking red light was installed in a corner.

In the center of the room stood a heavy wooden long table. Li Ang sat in a chair behind it, facing the single-sided opaque glass on the wall, his eyes enveloped by the light from a desk lamp on the table.

At the other end of the long table sat two figures. One was a middle-aged man in a Japan Islands police uniform. He had a stern face, was not given to smiles, and had a thick pile of files before him; his chest badge indicated he was a police superintendent. The other was a balding elderly man in a white lab coat, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, holding a pen and paper, and exuding the gentle demeanor of a doctor.

To his left, a black portable tape recorder was placed; through its semi-transparent cover, it was visibly running.

"Lord Hirata? Fushen Jun? Can you hear me speaking?"

The doctor frowned, calling out the names.

Li Ang shook his head to clear the dizziness. Only then did he notice he was wearing a yellow prison uniform, his hands and feet cuffed to the metal chair.

Li Ang exhaled slowly and calmly asked the two across the table, "Where am I?"

The superintendent and the doctor exchanged glances, and the latter spoke, "You are currently inside the interrogation room of the Wakayama County Police Headquarters."

Li Ang nodded, looking around from his seat. "What is the exact date and time?"

The doctor furrowed his brow but checked his watch and replied, "Reiwa Gannen Year, May twelfth, Sunday, three o'clock in the afternoon."

"Oh?"

Li Ang raised an eyebrow. The first time he and his companions had entered Wakayama City was around six o'clock in the afternoon on May eleventh, which meant almost a day had passed.

The doctor tapped his pen on the paper, hesitated for a moment, but still asked, "Can you recall your name?"

"A name is merely a code used to refer to an individual life. It can neither ensure that a person follows a life trajectory implied by their name, nor can it accurately and clearly describe a person's character, morality, or way of thinking. In itself, it is meaningless."

Li Ang leaned back in his chair, speaking with intrigue, "However, my answer seems to be very important to you, right?"

The doctor's expression shifted slightly. "You are not Fushen Pingyuan."

"That statement isn't quite rigorous, Doctor," Li Ang said with a smile. "Personality is related to a person's biological hereditary factors and reflects their past life experiences. It is an integration of abilities, temperament, character, needs, ideals, values, and so on. It is a self that possesses motivational consistency and continuity. I possess some of Fushen Pingyuan's memories. At this moment, as the one in command, I am controlling his body. Therefore, I am Fushen Pingyuan, yet I am not Fushen Pingyuan."

The doctor asked piercingly, "Then, how should I address you?"

"Hmm..." Li Ang thought for a moment and said, "Since this is the Japan Islands, I should take a Japan Islands name, shouldn't I? Let me think... Matsushima Nanako? No, that's too feminine. Then it's Lu Hua peanut oil, Wang Zai Mini Crisp, or Mickey's Wondrous House, Happy Element Elimination..."

Li Ang's naming skills were truly not up to par. In the end, he let the other party call him "Umekawa Kupur," or "Chuan Sang" for short.

"So, Chuan Sang," the doctor said, resting his arms on the table and asking seriously, "do you know what has happened to you?"

Li Ang spread his hands. "Considering my current situation, I—or rather, the former Fushen Pingyuan—must have committed a crime and been arrested."

"Committed a crime?" The middle-aged police superintendent, who had been quiet until now, finally scoffed. "You are suspected of murdering four members of your own family, including your wife, son, daughter, and mother. The evidence is conclusive; there is no denying it. Do you think you can escape the gallows by feigning insanity?"

Li Ang knew in his heart. Indeed, the scene he had witnessed in Fushen Pingyuan's bedroom compartment had truly occurred; all four family members had been strangled and hidden there.

Though this was what he thought, Li Ang burst out laughing. "The gallows? Hahaha, Superintendent, don't try to scare me. I'm not some inexperienced, impulsive rookie criminal who acts in a moment of folly. It's not so easy to be sentenced to hanging. Even if I were, I have countless ways to delay the execution and live out my days peacefully in prison."

"You!" The middle-aged superintendent rose angrily from his chair, his fists creaking with tension, his leather gun holster peeking out from under the hem of his uniform.

However, Li Ang unperturbedly pointed to the surveillance camera in the corner of the ceiling, signaling the officer to lower his raised fist.

As a penalty with a long history, capital punishment was once employed in most regions worldwide. With the evolution of the times, some countries abolished the death penalty due to controversies such as "permanent deprivation of life" and "irreversibility in case of wrongful conviction." The European Union even made "abolition of the death penalty" one of its accession principles for member states. Unusually for a developed nation, the Japan Islands have retained the death penalty. Unlike other regions that use lethal injection or shooting, the Japan Islands employs only one method of execution: hanging.

Of course, the number of people sentenced to death in the Japan Islands is small, and the number actually executed is even smaller. Due to the "retrial system" in the Japan Islands' penal code, as long as a convict does not wish to be executed, they can file appeals or requests for pardon on various grounds, thereby delaying the execution time. In other words, even if they commit heinous, inhumane, and appalling crimes, criminals in the Japan Islands still have a high probability of living out their lives and dying of old age in prison.

In recent years, there has been controversy in the Japan Islands regarding the abolition of the death penalty. Considering that polls in the Japan Islands show civilian support for the death penalty is stable at over eighty percent, while those who staunchly support abolition are often from the nation's elite class... The profound implications here are truly thought-provoking.

"You can't do anything to me, Superintendent," Li Ang said with a smile. "Why not sit down calmly and let's cooperate properly."

The middle-aged superintendent clenched his jaw, staring intently at Li Ang, his eyes seeming to spit fire. But in the end, he slowly sat back down and sneered, "You think you're so clever, don't you? Don't get it wrong. Fushen Pingyuan has already confessed to his crimes without reservation, and his confession has been recorded. Even if he is not sentenced to hanging, he cannot escape life imprisonment."

"If that's really the case," Li Ang said, raising his arms slightly to indicate the handcuffs and shackles binding him, as he lazily leaned back against the chair, "then why are we still here wasting our efforts? The police have no reason to continue wasting resources on a criminal who has already confessed, going to such lengths."

"It's not for you." The middle-aged superintendent leaned forward, his gaze as sharp as an eagle's on Li Ang. "It's for Weimen Ziyuan, the one kidnapped and hidden by Fushen Pingyuan."

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