The black Agent strode out of the room with his files, while Bruce stayed, standing still at the table for a few seconds before slowly sitting down again.
He propped his elbow on the table, his fingers crossed in a fist under his nose, his eyes squinted.
As a glimmer shone in his deep blue eyes, time in the room began to rewind.
Jimmy walked in, moving in reverse, placed the files next to his hand, and sat down, facing Bruce once more.
"He's a pretty seasoned Federal Bureau of Investigation agent," Bruce began, looking up to see another version of himself standing behind Jimmy.
The sitting Bruce's blue pupils gradually disappeared, his eyes turning completely white, which looked somewhat terrifying. However, the Bruce standing behind Jimmy gradually gained a pair of blue eyes, calm, rational, and full of wisdom.
The blue-eyed Bruce standing behind Jimmy took a step to his left and pointed to Jimmy's hand on the table, saying, "The hand shows clear signs of extensive training; his gun skills should be quite good."
"How old is he?" asked the Bruce with pupil-less white eyes.
"Based on the black man's skeletal and hair conditions, likely 35 to 40. More stringent physical training makes him appear younger and more robust than the average person."
The blue-eyed Bruce looked at Jimmy's expressionless face and said, "His training marks tell us he was once an active field Agent. Age 35 to 40 is a peak period for field agents, so why is he sitting here doing civilian intelligence collection?"
The white-eyed Bruce blinked, and the room's time began to fast forward. Jimmy stood up, gathered his files, pulled his chair back, and turned to walk towards the door.
The white-eyed Bruce blinked again, and time began to flow slowly. Jimmy opened his mouth, intending to check in with the security staff outside. This action revealed his teeth.
Time froze again as the blue-eyed Bruce lowered his gaze towards Jimmy's mouth. After observing from different angles, he maintained a calm tone and said,
"His dental condition is not good. There is an impacted tooth on the right side of his mouth, and there has been decay on the molars. The dentist's skill was not good, the filling material was ordinary, there's a large color difference. His lower front teeth are crooked, and have never been straightened."
"This indicates that his economic condition is modest," replied the white-eyed Bruce. "Although field work is more dangerous, the income is also higher, almost 3-4 times that of a desk job. If he needed money, there's no reason to give up a field agent's job voluntarily."
"So, we can rule out the possibility that he requested the transfer."
In an instant, time froze again, and the blue-eyed Bruce walked to Jimmy's side, examining his body from his neck, shoulders, chest, waist, and down to his legs like a pat-down search.
"He has sturdy bones, evenly distributed muscles, normal stride and gait, limbs used for action have not been seriously injured, respiratory rate is slightly fast, chest rises and falls evenly, heart and lung function appear normal,"
After quickly finishing his report, the blue-eyed Bruce came back to the front of Jimmy, looked into his eyes and said, "Pupils are normally dilated, eyeballs are a bit bloodshot, but there're no evident eye injuries, and vision appears normal."
"That also rules out the possibility that he was unable to continue field work due to injury." the white-eyed Bruce nodded in agreement.
The next second, the lights in the room suddenly went out. Only a faint light filtered through the curtains. The room was cast into dim gloom.
The pupil-less Bruce with only white in his eyes abruptly turned his head and saw a pair of gray eyes in the dark shadow in the corner of the room.
A figure with the contour of another Bruce slowly stepped out from the darkness, but his eyes were gray.
"This agent named Jimmy doesn't like the job he is doing now," said the Bruce with gray eyes. He slowly walked up to the table, and as the white-eyed Bruce blinked, Jimmy backed into his seat again.
The gray-eyed Bruce reached out, taking the file from Jimmy's hand. The content was blurred, and since Bruce hadn't seen it, naturally he didn't know what was written on it.
However, the gray-eyed Bruce lightly flicked the lower right corner of the paper with his index finger. There was a roll, very well done and regular in shape, clearly it was not accidental.
Gray-eyed Bruce dropped his gaze, then raised it to look at the white-eyed Bruce, who snapped his fingers.
Before him, Jimmy's actions began to play at an incredibly high speed, like a movie having many frames snatched away, turning into a string of pictures spliced together.
"Stop," commanded the gray-eyed Bruce.
Instantly, Jimmy's movement stopped. At that moment, his right index finger and thumb were slowly rolling up the corner of the document blocked by the paper held in his left hand.
"A typical sign of anxiety." The gray-eyed Bruce leaned in close to Jimmy's fingers, observing his twitching muscles as he said, "He's very impatient and agitated. The rolled-up corner of the paper signifies that his inner self is shrinking. He's experiencing an internal conflict."
The next second, the gray-eyed Bruce squatted down to look at Jimmy's feet under the table. The white-eyed Bruce also left his chair and squatted down. The gray-eyed Bruce pointed in the direction of Jimmy's shoes and said,
"What does it mean when both of his feet aren't pointing towards the person he's talking to, but shifted entirely to the right?"
Both Bruces stood up simultaneously, looking towards Jimmy's right side, where the room's door was.
"He urgently wants to leave, totally unwilling to face you. In this kind of conversation, this is completely abnormal."
"He is an interrogator, and you are the one being interrogated. He shouldn't want to leave before you desire to. Since he has expressed such sentiment, it implies that there must be a reason for it."
As the Bruce with the white eyes got up, Jimmy, like a puppet, was pulled by an invisible force to stand rigidly in front of the conference table.
The Bruce with white eyes moved to the head of the table; the one with blue eyes sat on his right while the one with grey eyes sat on his left. Simultaneously, a Bruce with red eyes appeared in the second position on the right.
The Bruce with out pupils, hands on the table, first turned to the right and said to the Bruce with blue eyes, "Factual Analysis—Empathy."
Then he turned his head left and said to the Bruce with grey eyes, "Emotional Judgement—Compassion."
Finally, he turned his gaze to the Bruce with red eyes, and uttered one word: "...Intuition."
"Next, let's aggregate all the clues we have gathered."
"Jimmy Andres, a former field agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. His age is fitting, physically robust, financially struggling hence in need of a high salary, unaffected by severe injuries that could impede his work abilities. Yet he transformed from a field agent into an interrogating civil servant."
"It wasn't of his own volition to quit, nor was it due to injury-induced reassignment. This leaves one possibility—he was forcefully reassigned."
The Bruce with grey eyes added, "Despite his constant agitation, he doesn't slack off in his work, and he's not careless. He is a rather dedicated man."
"When you mentioned that the Constitution grants him the right to travel anywhere within the Federation, his mood visibly dropped. This means he respects the law and possesses a sense of national honor."
"His emotions became passionate when he mentioned justice, which suggests he has a strong sense of righteousness."
"Can an agent not adept in psychology and behaviorism who had been reassigned from the field, make a professional judgement on this case?"
The Bruce with the white eyes raised a question, to which all the Bruces shook their heads.
"Is Jimmy aware of this?"
All the Bruces nodded.
"So, why does he want to leave?"
The Bruce with white eyes who just posed the question, answered it himself, "Because he knows he can't make the decision, he knows he's merely a puppet. The verdict for this case was predetermined. His sense of justice made him feel disgusted with this unfair trial, making him eager to escape."
The Bruce with grey eyes sighed lightly, then said, "His last sentence implies... no, it's not implying anymore, he's clearly stating, that someone is manipulating everything with the sole purpose of jailing Shiller. He hopes that you'll do something to uphold justice."
However, at this point, the Bruce with blue eyes interjected, "If someone was manipulating all of this, why would they choose a righteous, justice-seeking veteran detective instead of a fool who is completely under their thumb and who wouldn't make any unnecessary moves?"
Instantly, the Bruce with red eyes stood up. He looked at the figure before the long table and said in a low voice,
"They were confident that Jimmy wouldn't significantly influence the case... they don't intend to let him live."
With a "pop," the controlled atmosphere shattered, and the Bruce sitting at the conference table jolted awake. He stood up abruptly and turned quickly to look outside the door.
Only a few minutes had passed, but Jimmy's shadow had disappeared into the corridor. Bruce also started towards the direction where Jimmy had fled.
Unexpectedly, as he turned the corner, he spotted two silhouettes walking his way. Bruce immediately lightened his step and noticed that it was a man and woman approaching.
"My God, Mr. Bruce Wayne!" The man first stepped forward with an astonished tone, "I heard from Jimmy earlier that you'd be coming today for questioning. It's fantastic you are willing to cooperate with our work!"
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm William Denchette, a lecturer in psychology and behavior at the Federal Bureau of Investigation Training Center."
William adjusted his glasses, looked at the black-haired lady at his side, and said,
"This is Talya Ogu, a lecturer in equipment use and maintenance at the Federal Bureau of Investigation Training Center."