"Huh?"
Yan Xing's mouth hung slightly open, his eyebrows askew, showing obvious confusion.
"Send the awakened ones out to die? No... no, no..."
He saw Ning Yu pick up another blade, seemingly ready to give him a third cut.
At this moment, he deeply regretted bringing the blades with him.
While repeatedly saying "no," he weakly retreated backward. Though he only managed to move a tiny distance, he continued his futile struggle.
"I really don't know what you're talking about! The awakened ones are the base's fighting force. We have no reason to send them to their deaths!"
Only then did Ning Yu stop her advance, furrowing her brows in contemplation.
Indeed, even she and Lin Hao were puzzled about why the awakened ones were being sent into the hands of these mutant zombies. Judging by Yan Xing's reaction, he too seemed to be kept in the dark.
This supposed right-hand man of Zhuang Wugou apparently didn't know much either.
"Do you know about Wan Heng?"
Ning Yu mentioned the name of a recently deceased awakened one.
Yan Xing fell into deep thought, then suddenly seemed to have an epiphany, finally recalling something he knew:
"I know... didn't he die during a mission?"
He hurriedly answered, afraid that a slow response would earn him another blade.
"His mission records were deleted. Was that your doing?"
Ning Yu played with the blade between her fingers like a pen, the dangerous object somehow never cutting her fingers despite its lethal edge.
Though appearing casual, she was meticulously observing Yan Xing's micro-expressions, looking for any signs of deception.
"Mission... records? I've never seen those... besides, isn't dying on missions quite normal? There are zombies and monsters everywhere outside."
The confusion on Yan Xing's face was genuine.
Ning Yu completely lost her patience at this point. Questioning this guy was pointless - he knew nothing, completely kept in the dark.
What a piece of work, still dreaming about power plays.
However, this revealed that Zhuang Wugou had managed to keep everyone well-deceived, toying with the awakened ones' lives as he pleased.
But why?
From Lin Hao and Yan Xing's earlier conversation, he seemed to maintain a completely positive image.
Why would he do such things? Could it be that while preaching about justice and partnership, he was actually a cold-blooded monster with psychopathic tendencies?
That could only be answered by asking him directly.
Ning Yu's eyes narrowed, killing intent surfacing. The Yan Xing before her had outlived his usefulness.
She turned back and asked into the dim corridor:
"Lin Hao, do you have anything else to ask?"
Lin Hao's weak voice came from the corridor:
"No."
Yan Xing heard Lin Hao's response and felt a chill run from his head to his toes. He understood the meaning behind this exchange.
Ignoring his wounds, he suddenly prostrated himself, crying and kowtowing:
"I'm sorry, Lin Hao!! I was forced into it. Old Zhuang made me try to kill you. I was wrong, I was really wrong!!"
"Could you ask your friend to show mercy..."
However, even as he begged, all the metal blades in the room suddenly levitated. Though they were all dulled, he had to make one last attempt.
In his kneeling position, a look of madness crossed his face as he tried to distract Ning Yu with his pleading.
Unfortunately, in the next second, he found himself looking at the room's wall, despite having just been kneeling face-down.
The sound of clinking filled the room as countless blades fell powerlessly to the ground with a crisp sound.
His head rolled to one side.
Ning Yu shook her head regretfully, though not lamenting his death.
Rather, she regretted being unable to copy his origin awakening ability, as it required a certain level of friendliness to copy.
Otherwise, such an ability might have had unexpected uses.
To not waste this final resource, she raised her hand and inserted the Blood Kite into his still-spurting neck.
Instantly, all the blood changed course, flowing into the Blood Kite, converting into experience points.
In less than a few seconds, Yan Xing's corpse was completely desiccated.
Ning Yu turned back to tend to Lin Hao's wounds, taking out a medical kit from her system space to provide basic treatment.
"How did you... find me?"
Lin Hao asked confusedly, not even knowing where he was. The last thing he remembered was working at his computer in the research group before passing out.
Ning Yu reached out and removed one of his buttons, waving it in front of him:
"I planted a little device on you."
This tracker was something Ning Yu had purchased with points from the system. Within a certain range, it could display the target's location on her controller.
She had secretly installed them on Shen Yiyue, Shen Qianqian, and Lin Hao.
Just in case any of them got into trouble one day.
Naturally, Lin Hao was in the most danger. Though he always told her that Zhuang Wugou trusted him, Ning Yu wasn't so naive.
So she kept this insurance measure, which proved useful today.
Lin Hao's expression froze for a moment, showing a "that's so like you" look, and said:
"Thanks to you..."
"We're in the base's underground level now. I didn't expect there to be such strange rooms down here."
Ning Yu opened the room's door, and Lin Hao struggled to his feet, following closely behind.
"Didn't you have something important to tell me today?"
Her voice drifted back, suddenly reminding the still-dazed Lin Hao:
"Oh right! It's about the serum... no, wait, there's something even more urgent!"
Lin Hao seemed to recall several things at once.
He hurriedly told Ning Yu:
"There are more disappeared mission records! Newly deleted ones!"
Ning Yu whirled around to face Lin Hao:
"When were the records deleted? By whom?"
Before Ning Yu could finish her questions, Lin Hao had already started recalling.
......
When Shen Yiyue woke up, Ning Yu was already gone early in the morning, though she wasn't particularly worried about Ning Yu's whereabouts.
Little Yu always had her reasons for doing things.
She saw breakfast already prepared on the table, with her sister already sitting there eating, and a portion set aside for her.
The fried egg was specially made sunny-side up, slightly pierced so warm, half-cooked yolk flowed onto the bread beneath.
She broke into a sweet smile, thinking how even such a small preference had been noticed by Ning Yu - she was truly attentive.
She walked over to sit at the table, but before she could start eating, an urgent doorbell rang.
"Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong!"
The pressing was extremely urgent, causing Shen Yiyue to furrow her brows.
She picked up the alloy knife Ning Yu had recently given her from the corner and activated her [Future Reading] as she walked to the door.
Just as she opened it, she saw a familiar face.
"Mengyao? Why are you in such a hurry..."
Before Shen Yiyue could finish, Ji Mengyao grabbed her shoulders, interrupting her words and asking rapidly:
"Where did Wu Di go?! What are you hiding from me?!"