91: The Interrogation

The interrogation took, by the small careful preceding small private hour of one foundation platform's preceding small private accelerated time at ten-to-one, *eight inside-hours* — which was, by the careful preceding small private outside time, *forty-eight minutes*.

It was conducted by Lin Wanyue.

Su Yan attended, by his preceding preference, at the careful preceding small private cushion to her right, with *Ledger* sheathed at his belt. Linglong attended at her left.

Madam Hollow sat, by the small careful preceding small private courtesy of her preceding acknowledgement, on the careful preceding small private cushion opposite Lin Wanyue. The substrate-suppression net's preceding small private active engagement had — by the careful preceding small private hour of the past hour — *settled* her preceding small private substrate at Foundation Establishment Mid. She would, by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping, not — at any point in the careful preceding small private interrogation — be capable of *resistance*.

She did not, by her preceding preference, attempt resistance.

Lin Wanyue, by her preceding preference, asked the questions.

The questions were — by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping of the past nine years' preceding small private preceding planning — *prepared*. She asked, in the careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding sequence of one professional debrief, the careful preceding small private hour of perhaps two hundred questions. The questions covered: the careful preceding small private chain of command above Madam Hollow; the careful preceding small private composition of every regional facility in the eastern continent; the careful preceding small private operational protocols by which the careful preceding small private chain hunted the Aleph-line; the careful preceding small private list of careful preceding small private surviving members of the Bai-jing clan and the Ye-cao lineage, by name and by current location; the careful preceding small private central archive's preceding small private security configuration; the careful preceding small private password-and-key sequences by which Lin Wanyue's preceding small private eleven thousand four hundred pages of preceding small private encoded notes might be retrieved; the careful preceding small private *Wardens above the Hollow Veil's chain of command*; and — at the careful preceding small private final question — the careful preceding small private *preceding small private long-term operational schedule of the chain of command's preceding small private hunt for the Aleph-line for the next thirty years*.

Madam Hollow answered each question.

She answered each, by the careful preceding small private hour of the substrate-suppression net's preceding small private inability to permit deception, *honestly*.

The careful preceding small private intelligence — by the careful preceding small private hour of perhaps eight inside-hours of careful preceding small private answers — was *vast*.

By the careful preceding small private close of the seventh inside-hour, Lin Wanyue had asked all of the questions she had preceding-time prepared. She paused for perhaps a quarter of an inside-hour while Su Yan, at her right, recorded the careful preceding small private answers into a careful preceding small private private notebook by the small precise unhurried preceding hour of his careful preceding small private mother's writing brush. The careful preceding small private notebook would, by Lin Wanyue's preceding preference, be the careful preceding small private *operational guide* by which the careful preceding small private next several years of the kingdom of Beicang's preceding small private quiet preceding small private resistance would, by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping, be *informed*.

By the careful preceding small private close of the eighth inside-hour, Lin Wanyue inclined her head — small, formal — to Madam Hollow.

"By my own preceding preference, Madam Hollow, the careful preceding small private interrogation is — *complete*. By the careful preceding small private courtesy you have, by your own preceding preference, extended us at the careful preceding small private hour of the past eight inside-hours, I would — by my own preceding preference — *also* extend you a small careful preceding small private courtesy in return."

Madam Hollow inclined her head — small, formal.

"Verdant Year."

"By my own preceding preference," Lin Wanyue said, "I will — *not* permanently seal you in the careful preceding small private interior of this foundation platform. The careful preceding small private permanent seal would, by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping, be — *justified*. I will, however, by my own preceding preference, *not* impose it. By my own preceding preference, I will — *seal you for the careful preceding small private hour of approximately one century*. The seal will, by my preceding read, *hold* you in the careful preceding small private platform's preceding small private interior, with substrate-access at the careful preceding small private level of *Foundation Establishment Mid*, with the careful preceding small private courtesy of the careful preceding small private platform's preceding small private living foundation's preceding small private *food and water and shelter and the careful preceding small private hour of leisure to read the careful preceding small private books I will, by my own preceding preference, leave for your reading*."

She paused.

"At the careful preceding small private close of the century," she said, "the careful preceding small private seal will — by my own preceding preference — *open*. You will, by my preceding preference, then — *be free*. You will, by the careful preceding small private hour of the century's preceding small private close, be — *one further substrate-cultivator who has, by the careful preceding small private hour of one century in this preceding small private interior, had the careful preceding small private private opportunity to consider whether the careful preceding small private hour of the careful preceding small private hunting of the Aleph-line was, by the careful preceding small private hour of one's preceding small private own private accounts, *worth* the careful preceding small private private cost*."

Madam Hollow held very still.

She inhaled, slowly. She let the inhalation finish.

She did not, by her preceding preference, allow her face to register what the careful preceding small private hour was.

But the careful preceding small private substrate-trace of her thread along the careful preceding small private spine — by Su Yan's careful preceding small private read — *settled*, by the careful preceding small private hour of one offer of one century's preceding small private leisure-and-books, into the careful preceding small private rhythm of one Sovereign Apex Hollow Veil commander who had — in the careful preceding small private hour of two centuries of preceding standing operations — *not* been preceding-time offered, by any preceding small private opponent, *the careful preceding small private hour of being permitted to consider whether her preceding small private path had been worth the cost*.

She inclined her head — small, formal.

"Verdant Year. By my own preceding preference, *I accept*."

Lin Wanyue inclined her head — small, formal.

"Then by my own preceding preference, Madam Hollow, *be sealed*."

She inked her brush.

She wrote, on a small careful preceding small private clean sheet of plain rice paper, the careful preceding small private *seal-glyph* — eight Aleph characters in her own preceding small private private hand, in the careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding sequence the seventh book of the cellar set had, by her own preceding preference, calibrated for *exactly this preceding small private hour*.

The seal — by the careful preceding small private hour of the glyph — *closed* around Madam Hollow's preceding small private substrate.

Madam Hollow's preceding small private form *settled*, in the careful preceding small private silver-gold light of the foundation platform, into the careful preceding small private shape of one cultivator who had, by the careful preceding small private hour of one century's preceding small private agreed seal, *been placed* in the platform's preceding small private interior — *not* as a prisoner, *but* as a careful preceding small private *guest*, with the careful preceding small private hour of one century of preceding small private leisure ahead.

Lin Wanyue inclined her head — small, formal — to her son.

"Yan-er."

"Mother."

"The careful preceding small private interrogation has — by the careful preceding small private hour of the past eight inside-hours — *closed*. The careful preceding small private intelligence has been preceding-time gathered. The careful preceding small private hour of the kingdom of Beicang's preceding small private next phase of preceding small private operations will, by the careful preceding small private hour of the next several years, be — *informed* by what the careful preceding small private intelligence permits."

She paused.

"By my own preceding preference, Yan-er — *the careful preceding small private hour of the next several years will, by my preceding read, be* — *the careful preceding small private hour of one quiet preceding small private decade of preparation for the careful preceding small private hour of one Aleph-line's preceding small private *rise to the upper tiers*. The careful preceding small private hour will not be *quiet* in the careful preceding small private hour of preceding small private events; it will be *quiet* in the careful preceding small private hour of the careful preceding small private kingdom's preceding small private public read. The Aleph-line will, by my preceding preference, *not* announce itself. We will, by my preceding preference, *climb together*, *patient*, *with our preceding small private allies*, until the careful preceding small private hour of one ascension that, by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping of the cellar's preceding small private history books, has not been preceding-time attempted in the careful preceding small private hour of thirty thousand years."

She inclined her head.

"By my own preceding preference, *we will succeed*."

The careful preceding small private interrogation — by the careful preceding small private hour of one foundation platform's preceding small private inside eight hours, by the careful preceding small private hour of one Sovereign Apex commander's preceding small private acknowledged seal, and by the careful preceding small private hour of one Aeon-of-the-Verdant-Year's preceding small private nine-year preceding small private patient preceding small private preparation — *closed*.

The careful preceding small private hour of the *kingdom of Beicang's preceding small private quiet preceding small private decade of preparation* — by the careful preceding small private hour of the close — *began*.