A War Between Spies Chapter 67

Those who had never experienced solitary confinement wouldn't know the horror of it. It was also an experience which couldn't be easily described even by those who had experienced it. It was one of those things which one needed to personally experience before they could understand.

The effects of solitary confinement were difficult to gauge because there were many variables. The condition of the confinement cell and the tolerance levels of the inmate would produce a multitude of different results.

Yang Yi's cell was pretty much empty. Due to the size of the cell, he wasn't able to lie down straight. Although he didn't have much of an issue sitting up straight, Yang Yi had to bend slightly when he stood up. The cell could still be considered pretty decent though since there was a tiny window and a toilet.

A man could go crazy if he was kept in a dark room for seven days. Yang Yi had decided to focus on comprehending the feeling of being in solitary confinement. Thus, he immersed himself in the experience of loneliness.

Yang Yi's whole body relaxed as the confinement cell was not only quiet but also safe. He started to use his heartbeat to measure the time.

There was no clock inside the cell. Because the window was tiny, Yang Yi wasn't able to see the sun. There wasn't a ray of sunlight that reached the window. Thus, it was impossible for him to determine what the time of day was. It was already good that there was still a semblance of light in the cell.

As a matter of fact, inmates would quickly lose all sense of time in solitary confinement. The inmates would feel that a long time had passed when in fact only a few minutes had passed.

Yang Yi didn't last more than twenty minutes counting his heartbeat. It was just too boring and repetitive to keep track of time that way. It was a  method that would only make him breakdown even faster.

He started to feel annoyed. That annoyed feeling turned into anger before it moved on to worry. The anger then became depression.

A whole range of emotions kept surging in him. Yang Yi hadn't become hysterical but his emotions had started to become unstable. He started to feel angry at the current situation he was in, concerned about what kind of treatment he would receive in the future, worry about how Kate was doing in England and depressed at his current misfortune.

There was only complete silence.

He had not screamed up till now because Yang Yi was still able to control his emotions. After some time, Yang Yi finally had an idea of the time when the light coming from window started to dim. It was now evening.

He had been sent into solitary confinement around ten o'clock in the morning. The sun was supposed to set around seven o'clock in the evening' which  meant nine hours had passed.

It was only nine hours yet Yang Yi felt like he had already spent two days in the cell. Although he still had full control over his reasoning and hadn't broken down, his concept of time had been fully disrupted.

He had regained some semblance of time now that the window had started to dim but it was quickly lost when all the light disappeared.

The confinement cell was ten thousand times more difficult to endure at night than during the day. Yang Yi quickly lost control of the cool he was still able to maintain during the day.

He couldn't see his finger or hear anything since there was no light or sound. There was only a small space for Yang Yi to move around in, as well. Yang Yi couldn't help screaming since he felt he was about to go crazy.

After screaming, Yang Yi said to himself, "It seems like I can only hold on for twelve hours. The test is now over. I can't hold on for more than twelve hours."

After he had spoken, Yang Yi leaned against the wall and instantly calmed down. It was like a madman had suddenly became normal.

In solitary confinement, you couldn't talk to anyone and there wasn't anyone to talk to you. So, it was important to learn to soliloquize. Some of the inmates even kept the habit after being released from confinement because they were still unable to extract themselves from the mindset.

"What should I do? Should I watch a movie or a concert? Maybe I should read a book or imagine sitting down having a meal with my family?" Yang Yi thought out loud.

For a genius with eidetic memory the most painful thing was that some matters couldn't be forgotten no matter how much one wanted to forget.

Of course, if it was something useless, Yang Yi would forget it quickly. But first his brain would divide matters into categories, either useful or useless and then make a conscious decision whether to remember or forget it. If Yang Yi could remember every insignificant thing in life, it would be better to just call his ability a sickness instead.

Since young, Yang Yi would obtain a full score so long as the exam didn't have a written component or questions which were too creative or diverted from common norms. That's because Yang Yi had all the answers from the textbook stored in his brain.

An ordinary person would only be able to recall fragments of the movies they watched but Yang Yi could recall the whole movie especially if it was one of his favorites.

From the beginning until the end, the director, producer and the full details of the movie credits, all of it, was remembered by Yang Yi. He would be able to recall any part of it at will. This was what it meant to be a genius who had an eidetic memory.

Thus, his memory was no different from a video player. Although he couldn't make his own movie, Yang Yi could replay all his favorite movies over and over again. The background music might be missing at times from the movies but it would still be there if the background music was especially nice.

"It's better to watch a movie. So, which movie should I watch? What about Dances with Wolves? Ok, let's watch that."

Yang Yi moved closer to the window and closed his eyes. After a long time had passed, he opened his eyes. Actually it didn't matter whether he kept his eyes open or not in the first place since he couldn't see anything anyway.

Yang Yi started to applaud and candidly laughed, "I like this movie. Awesome! What a great work!"

After the applause ended, Yang Yi gave it some serious thought before declaring, "What should I watch next? Since I'm in jail, let's watch Shawshank Redemption next."

Yang Yi closed his eyes again and begun playing the second movie in his head.

He was exhausted after he reached the midpoint of Shawshank Redemption. Using the brain was, in fact, a very energy consuming activity. Since he felt tired and sleepy, he laid down on the ground and quickly fell asleep.

There was no bed and blanket, so he ended up sleeping on the cold hard floor. When he woke up, Yang Yi could see from the window that it was still dark outside.

He stood up to do some exercises. Yang Yi had also started to feel hungry.

Yang Yi had easily overcome the mental torture component, but the physical torture component was unavoidable since he wouldn't be given three meals a day. Therefore, he could only endure the hunger.

Yang Yi resumed watching the movie from where he had previously stopped. Although it was just a memory, his memory was unlike ordinary people's memory.

Solitary confinement didn't cause much harm physically. The main component was mental torture. However, what significance did seven days have for a person who had a question bank, library and video player stored in his head?

Ha!

Chapter end