Upon hearing Leng Xianye’s answer, it wasn’t just Xin Ye who was stunned—Xun Yin was as well.
*Is this another one going off the rails?*
*Fine.*
“Yeah, I know you guys will stay with me.” Although he knew the gesture was somewhat inappropriate between the two of them, Xin Ye couldn’t help but reach out and ruffle Leng Xianye’s hair. “Go get some rest.”
Leng Xianye’s "lucid" state didn't seem to last long. As he walked away, he looked dazed, nearly walking into a wall. Fortunately, his room was right next door, so it wasn't a long walk.
The moment Xin Ye stepped inside his room, Xun Yin couldn't help but ask: 【So, you’ve really decided to leave?】
“I’m leaving, but as for whether I’m really taking the other four with me...”
He wasn't entirely sure.
How to deal with the Core was one thing, but there was no need for his teammates to shoulder the risks of that decision with him. If it was just for encouragement and comfort, Leng Xianye’s words were enough.
【Your attitude makes it seem like you’re treating them like children.】
“I am. I admit that, and I don't plan on changing it for now.”
It was a bit conceited.
Xun Yin didn't know exactly how this desire to shoulder everything alone had been born once Xin Ye began to learn the truth, but it was normal for humans to be unable to remain completely calm and objective. All he could do was make Xin Ye’s path forward as easy as possible.
【Escaping from Headquarters is no small matter. Don’t go looking for Yi Ting tomorrow; wait until the day after. I’ll go with you to witness the bloodbath among the technical staff.】
【By the way, before you talk to Yi Ting, there’s something I need to make clear to you.】
***
“Crude oil can burn, but if you pour it directly into an airplane, do you think it’ll fly?”
Yi Ting thought she was explaining a very simple and easy-to-understand principle, but the General Head of the Research Department was still playing dumb, spouting nonsense like “it’s fine” and “I believe the researchers will work hard,” which made her laugh out of sheer anger.
“With your IQ, you can’t even understand plain speech. No amount of hard work will help.”
She left the General Head’s office and headed straight for the Materials Storage Area.
The guards had received notice long ago and were determined not to let Yi Ting in.
She held her employee card up to their faces. “Do you see whose card this is? Where do you get the authority to stop me?”
The guards were just ordinary people; ability users were prohibited from entering the core areas. They held black assault rifles, looking troubled.
The employee card Yi Ting was using was indeed sufficient to open the door, but...
“Make way, make way.” The supervisor struggled to squeeze through the crowd of lab coats who had specifically come to watch the excitement. He swiped his card to enter the core area, and his head began to ache the moment he saw Yi Ting’s silhouette in the distance.
“Researcher Yi, your research direction has nothing to do with these new materials, right? Why are you being so persistent?”
“Persistent? It’s clearly you lot who are being persistent with my teacher.” Yi Ting crossed her arms. By rank, the supervisor was her superior, but her tone was not polite in the slightest. “We both know exactly what Headquarters promised me. Now you’re using the excuse of holding a final to have children lay hands on my teacher. Isn’t that a bit dirty?”
The supervisor knew he didn't have a leg to stand on, so he could only lower his head and rub his brow to avoid Yi Ting’s gaze. “...At this stage, we absolutely need blood samples from successful conversion cases. It can’t be helped.”
“Which stage? The stage where I casually saved someone a few years ago?”
...
Xin Ye stood outside the circle of onlookers, holding a black insulated bag. “Saving someone a few years ago?” he asked.
【That would be Fu Shu,】 Xun Yin replied. He had instructed Xin Ye to stake out this spot, and every time they shouted a line inside, he repeated it, so Xin Ye knew the contents of the argument perfectly. 【From an energy perspective, turning an ordinary person into an ability user is like processing crude oil. Currently, Headquarters only has two successful cases.】
【One is Fu Shu, and the other is Yi Ting’s teacher, that frilled shark... Jiang Kelan.】
“Turning oneself into a mutant...”
【If someone doesn't want to be human anymore, it’s quite reasonable to become a mutant instead, right?】
Xin Ye sighed and asked Xun Yin when it would be appropriate to call Yi Ting out.
If it hadn't been for Xun Yin’s detailed explanation yesterday, Xin Ye would never have connected the "research dog" from the preliminary story with the condescending frilled shark in the finals' waters.
【That’s about enough. Go on.】
The argument inside continued.
“Actually, if you’re willing to send Fu Shu to other labs, that would also work...”
“Don’t even think about it! He only signed a treatment agreement and a standard work contract. He’s a patient I cured; why should I give him to you for free to practice your knives on?”
“...Um, Sister Ting.” A rookie researcher, who usually had very little presence, swiped her card and ran in. She looked back twice as she spoke. “Sorry to interrupt your conversation with the supervisor. Someone is outside looking for you.”
She looked back twice more after finishing.
Yi Ting was already tired of talking. She took the opportunity to shut up and followed the young girl’s gaze. She guessed it was Fu Shu looking for her because of some trouble, but instead, her eyes met Xin Ye’s.
Xin Ye first nodded to Yi Ting, then gave the young girl an encouraging smile.
The girl clearly blushed and suddenly found the courage to look Yi Ting in the eye.
Yi Ting: “...”
*You couldn't get in yourself, so you used your face to trick a young girl into delivering a message. You’ve got nerve.*
The other researchers nearby stayed far away from Xin Ye, leaving an empty circle around him. They recognized the man before them as the captain of the team that had entered Headquarters in first place. Although his rank was D, he was likely a formidable ability user.
In any case, he wasn't someone an ordinary person could stand against.
After hesitating, Yi Ting finally left the core area.
The moment she left, the supervisor visibly relaxed, his hand wiping sweat with no strength left in it.
Before she could speak, Xin Ye lifted the bag and shook it. “I brought you lunch. Why don't we go back to your office to talk?”
Yi Ting was annoyed by the stares of the other lab coats and nodded in agreement. Neither of them spoke on the way back. It wasn't until the office door closed and the black insulated bag was placed on the coffee table that Yi Ting asked Xin Ye what urgent matter had brought him there.
Xin Ye spoke again.
And his words were shocking.
“Sister Ting, I’ve understood the story you wrote.”
“Furthermore, I know where Gu Shaolou is.”
Yi Ting was about to sit in her swivel chair, but her movements froze for a second before she stood straight again.
“Fu Shu must have told you,” she said. “What kind of lunch did you bring? I can’t eat a single bite now.”
Xun Yin: 【I told you, a negotiation that starts with a bang works great. Look, the other side can’t even eat; she just wants to talk to you to fish for information.】
Xin Ye ignored him and continued on his own. “If you won't talk, then it’s fine to listen to me.”
“During the finals, I discovered that my Mirror Image could be harmed even when others were using Ability Restrictors. Taking that opportunity, Jian Weiwei told me... that you people in the Research Department view ability users as mutants.”
The words that followed didn't need to be said; two smart people understood perfectly.
Yi Ting raised an eyebrow. “That is indeed the case. In fact, even if you hadn't come to me, I would have reminded you in a few days. After all, there are surveillance cameras at the competition site.”
“Headquarters will find a way to keep you working while making sure you keep your mouth shut. Jian Weiwei will likely face additional punishment as well.”
“I’ll also find a way to make sure they can’t control me.” Xin Ye smiled at Yi Ting, but she responded with a look of disgust.
“Stop using those tricks you use to fool young girls to nauseate me. This 'way' must involve me, otherwise you wouldn't have brought up that story.” Yi Ting straightened the hem of her clothes and gestured for Xin Ye to sit on the sofa. The two of them talked face-to-face. “Speak. What do you plan to do?”
“I’m going to escape. I’m leaving Headquarters,” Xin Ye said.
Yi Ting felt like she couldn't stay seated again.
“Say that again?”
“I’m leaving Headquarters.”
...
The greatest source of Xin Ye’s confidence lay in the fact that he knew where the Core was submerged.
Xun Yin had told him yesterday that the Core was Gu Shaolou.
【If the human-brain butterflies were the start of the species invasion, then Gu Shaolou was the start of the entire apocalypse.】
At that time, Xin Ye had just finished dinner. He walked a few steps, found a restroom, and started vomiting.
Xun Yin was terrified: 【What’s wrong with you?】
“Knowing too much,” Xin Ye said. “My temples are throbbing. My head hurts so much.”
But when he used this information to maneuver with Yi Ting, he appeared extremely confident.
He informed Yi Ting of half his plan while blurring certain specific details to prevent being backstabbed. Xun Yin kept promising that Yi Ting would be a good helper—that her desire to reclaim the frilled shark’s blood and her previous refusal to treat more patients were all to delay Headquarters’ plan to manufacture "energy." Yi Ting’s reaction was exactly as he had predicted. After hearing the plan, she only asked one question.
“Those Core coordinates—do you really know where they are?”
“I do.” Xin Ye was certain; in the original timeline, he had seen Leng Xianye jump into the sea with his own eyes. “I believe my decision is the solution that will result in the least loss.”
A method that would only harm himself.
Yi Ting was silent for a long time, then suddenly laughed.
“I thought the one who would suddenly come to me one day would be Leng Xianye, Xing Yue, or Lian Muyun, because they are special. They shine among the other children, like... protagonists? But I didn't expect it to be you.”
She stood up, went behind her desk, and took something out of a drawer.
“I can answer your previous question now.”
A metal ball lay in her palm.
Xin Ye had once tried to take a metal ball apart, but it was empty. The metal ball Yi Ting took apart before him was no exception; it was also hollow. However, she used her long fingernails to peel a thin film from the interior.
Yi Ting: “This isn't plastic. It’s made of a special liquid metal that has solidified, and inside is another type of extremely fine metal wire.”
She tossed the dismantled ball aside and reached out toward Xin Ye. “Now, take off your multi-function watch and give it to me.”
Xin Ye closed his eyes for a moment, cursed under his breath, and did as he was told, handing the watch to Yi Ting.
The multi-function watch was much harder to dismantle than the metal ball. Yi Ting took a small tool kit from her drawer. As she worked, she chatted with Xin Ye. “You can’t go on a mission without this thing, and you use it a lot in your daily life. You’re as dependent on it as people used to be on smartphones. That’s why I said coming to me was an absolutely correct choice.”
She used tweezers to peel a layer of film off the component protection shell.
A film identical to the one inside the metal ball.
“In the plan you just told me, simply disconnecting from the network won't be enough to completely shake off Headquarters’ tracking, you know?”
Seeing Xin Ye with his head lowered, Yi Ting tapped the team captain on the head.
“They are monitoring you as if you were mutants.”
***
