Zhou Yuan probably knew what the Strategic Department was thinking.
Telepathic abilities had emerged decades ago, and with a global population of several billion, there were at least eight figures of awakened individuals. It wasn't uncommon to have a few "Carl-level" ultimate talents among so many people.
Therefore, abilities like psychic explosions should have been recorded by the Federation.
But now.
Bugs that can use psychic explosions?
For the Federation, this is an extremely bad development, indicating that the level of evolution of the bugs has far surpassed human imagination.
... ...
Meeting Room No. 3 in the bridge area.
The Strategic Department dispatched a team of nine intelligence gathering investigators.
The main personnel included a major general and two brigadier generals, each accompanied by their respective assistants.
The Hunter Squad of eighty-three people was queuing up outside.
The inspection by the Ultrasonic Unit had already ended, and it was now the turn of the Magic Cube Unit. The Hunter Squad was the last batch.
That's right, the number had dropped from eighty-seven to eighty-three.
The five squads from the sixth to tenth had lost four members when they went to support the Ultrasonic Unit in the morning.
The casualties in the Ultrasonic Unit were even more severe, dropping from one hundred to around forty, and they wouldn't have made it back without support from multiple units.
"Hunter Squad, it's your turn."
After waiting outside for about twenty minutes, the door to the meeting room finally opened.
Members of the Magic Cube Unit walked out one after another, and then a colonel from the Strategic Department waved and called the entire Hunter Squad inside.
"So formal?"
As soon as he entered the meeting room, Zhou Yuan furrowed his brow.
There were a large number of instruments in the meeting room, all of which he recognized as being used to assist in the development of telepathic abilities.
At the same time, these instruments also served a common purpose.
Lie detection!
Obviously, this time they were not undergoing ordinary questioning, but rather a formal interrogation.
But this wasn't a serious matter either.
He was very familiar with these instruments and knew how to avoid crossing the line, not to mention his brain function was as high as 10.5, far beyond what these instruments could measure in terms of truthfulness.
Even if you go back a step.
He didn't kill the brain bug, so telling the truth would be enough.
He did see the brain bug, but the following team didn't catch up, and he had always been with the team without acting alone.
"Captain Buck, please take a seat."
The major general at the head of the conference table gestured for Buck to sit down.
The others could only stand, as large as the conference room was, it wasn't big enough to accommodate nearly a hundred chairs.
"Captain Buck, I know that special operations forces don't like to beat around the bush."
"I'm going to ask you some questions next, and I hope you can be as straightforward as I am. I think you are all as hungry as I am."
"Yes, sir!"
"First question, did you personally witness the target of the mission?"
"No, sir. It was my squad members who discovered the target. I only saw a group of bug soldiers and sand armor bugs."
For the next few moments, the Lieutenant General continued to ask questions and the Lieutenant Bak answered them all. The questions revolved around the details of the mission, such as the approximate time and location, sudden headaches, and so on. And it wasn't just one round of questioning, by the second round, they were ready to use lie-detecting devices.
But after questioning Bak, the Lieutenant General's pace noticeably quickened. He didn't interrogate the regular members of the Hunter Force, he only questioned each team leader, asking them the exact same questions.
Twenty minutes later, the questioning of the team leaders concluded. The process went smoothly, with the lie-detecting device showing green lights the whole time, no mishaps occurred.
Just when everyone thought it was about to end, the Lieutenant General looked at Lieutenant Zhou Yuan and gestured for him to come over. "Lieutenant Zhou, please sit beside me."
"Yes, sir!"
Zhou Yuan was a bit surprised but went and sat down.
"It says in your record that you possess psychic abilities, is that correct?"
"Yes, sir!"
"In that case, we'll have to use a different method of questioning." The Lieutenant General nodded and signaled his two subordinates.
"Lieutenant Zhou, please relax."
Two colonels approached Zhou Yuan from both sides and placed their index fingers just above his eyes.
Then, the Lieutenant General asked, "Did you personally witness the mission target?"
"I did, sir!"
"After it left your line of sight, did your captain immediately order pursuit?"
"The order was to pursue immediately, sir!"
"During the pursuit, did you encounter resistance from the bug soldiers?"
"Yes, sir!"
After each question Zhou Yuan answered, the Lieutenant General would glance at his subordinates. Only after his subordinates nodded to indicate no issues, would the Lieutenant General move on to the next question.
After asking more than a dozen questions in a row, the Lieutenant General finally nodded with satisfaction. He was satisfied not with the truthfulness of the answers, but with the importance of the intelligence behind them. The creatures they were searching for should still be in that bug nest; they just hadn't found them yet.
"This interrogation is now over. Thank you for your cooperation." The Lieutenant General seemed a bit anxious and didn't say much before standing up, saluting, and signaling that the Hunter Force could leave.
"For the Federation!"
The team returned the salute in unison and then filed out of the conference room.
Once outside the room, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Even though they hadn't made any mistakes, they still felt nervous when personally interrogated by the Lieutenant General. There was always a sense of pressure.
"Is that it?"
Only Zhou Yuan felt a bit rushed. He had prepared many explanations but ended up only using less than a tenth of them. He had answered all those questions truthfully. And the questions he couldn't truthfully answer, the Lieutenant General didn't ask any of them. It was fortunate that he was a little anxious, fearing that the two psychic individuals behind him would sense his emotions if they had "Carl-level" talent.
But thinking about it, it made sense. The Lieutenant General would definitely ask practical questions, not speculative ones based on unfounded guesses.
... ...
"Guys, our vacation has begun."
"But I have to remind you that I haven't received the order to return to Mars yet, which means we might still have work to do in the future, like finding that fat bug again."
"So, don't stray too far from the boarding area. If possible, I hope we can maintain yesterday's state and sleep directly on the transport ship."
"I know this request might be a bit much, but I hope you can support me."
On the way to the dining hall, Bak said somewhat apologetically.
"Boss, that's what we're here for!"
"Captain, we're used to it a long time ago."
"No problem, as long as I don't have to sleep on Pluto."
The team members waved their hands one after another.
The vacation on the starship was not really a vacation at all. There was nothing to do, so they might as well endure until they returned to Mars and have a real blast then.
Seeing that the team members had no complaints, Bak raised his hand and swung it down heavily, laughing, "Now, the first mission begins!"
"Full speed to the dining hall, feast and drink without limits!"
"Go!"
"Yes!"
Cheers erupted instantly as over eighty people playfully shoved each other, making their way to the dining hall.