CHAPTER 259: CHAPTER 259: YOU MAKE IT SO EASY

What she saw was completely different from what they were facing here and even more life threatening.

Qingran took a deep breath, she couldn’t let them find out until she had confirmed it herself.

"Eh..sorry for causing trouble, but I’m fine now.."

Meng Nian pursed his lips, it didn’t look like she was fine, but he didnt say anything. From the looks of it, she didn’t want to talk about it.

"Alright then, she said she’s fine so let’s be on our way. We have to make sure, the people in sector E are all settled in.."

Yuxi turned to Qingran and gave her a light squeeze, she has given them quite the scare there.

"I’ll be back soon to keep you company.."

Qingran smiled as she watched all of them leave, she had so many questions she wanted to ask and she needed to be alone to do that.

"Lingquan, what the hell was that?"

[Mhm..the vision you just saw? No idea, maybe this is something that would happen in the future..]

-_-

Qingran pursed her lips tightly, so in the end, death was inescapable.

Qingran sighed, feeling a sense of helplessness when she heard a knock on the door. It sounded hesitant, like the person on the other side didn’t really want to come in. She rose, walked over, and opened it.

It was Rong. His face was drawn, lips pressed into a flat line.

"One of my men is missing," he said without any greeting. "I know I took account of him during our journey here, but now I can’t find him."

Qingran leaned against the doorframe, arms folded. Her voice was cool. "Mr. Rong, what should we do about it? Call a search party for one man? If he’s not here, then he’s dead."

Rong hissed through his teeth, disappointment etched deep across his features.

"I didn’t think you’d be the one to say this."

Qingran looked away and exhaled slowly. She felt the weight of every choice. Every risk.

"Everyone is tired," she said again, quieter this time. "But fine. I’ll send out a small group to check. If anyone goes missing in that search party, it’s on your head."

She closed the door gently but firmly and stood there for a moment, the silence on the other side like a second knock. Then she turned, grabbed her jacket, and left.

By the time she reached the central room, most of the others had started unpacking or sleeping. The air was still heavy with dust and bleach, but at least it didn’t reek of rot anymore.

Meng Nian was crouched over a cracked map sprawled on the floor, using Lingquan’s projection to mark areas already cleared. Yuxi was beside him, scraping mud from the soles of her boots with a screwdriver. Xu Tianming sat nearby, sipping from a steaming tin mug.

"We’ve got a situation," Qingran said, and all three looked up. "One of Rong’s men is missing. We’re organizing a search."

Yuxi made a face. "You’re kidding."

"Unfortunately not."

Meng Nian stood, dusting off his hands. "You think he wandered off?"

"I think he either wandered off or found something he wasn’t supposed to," Qingran said. "Either way, I need eyes."

"Where do we start?" Xu Tianming asked.

"Lingquan?"

[The bunker’s west corridor hasn’t been checked since Meng Nian sprayed through it. There’s a secondary access path that leads into the outer storage—Sector F—but the schematic ends there. It’s either unfinished or cut off.]

"Perfect," Yuxi muttered. "A dead zone."

Qingran nodded. "We’ll check Sector F. I want Meng Nian and Ruihuang with me. Xu Tianming, stay here and coordinate. If we’re not back in an hour, send someone."

She turned as Ruihuang approached, sliding a thick coat over his shoulders. "Another problem?"

"Seems like it." Qingran passed him a flashlight. "Bring your knife."

"I always do."

*************

The room was dark, save for a single low-burning bulb swaying from a wire above. The light cast long, twitching shadows across the stained concrete floor.

Beneath it sat a man bound to a rusted metal chair, his head slumped forward, mouth slack, a faint trickle of drool on his chin.

His eyes were open. But they didn’t see.

Boran stood in front of him, sleeves rolled to the elbows, hands stained with oil and something darker.

He tilted his head, studying the man as though he were a puzzle box finally yielding to its master.

"Well.." Boran murmured, voice a velvet purr. "That wasn’t so hard, was it?"

He crouched to meet the man’s eyes.

"Name?"

"...Wei Sheng..." The words came slowly, as if spoken from underwater.

"Who do you follow?"

"...You..."

"Very good." Boran smiled, cold and delighted. "Now tell me, Wei Sheng, where does Qingran keep the cure?"

Wei Sheng twitched. His eyes shuddered, like somewhere deep inside, the remnants of his will were clawing at the walls.

But the hypnosis was deep and the drugs were stronger.

"...On her. Always. Right pocket of her coat. Red label vial..."

Boran laughed.

It was not the laughter of someone amused but of someone who knew he had already won.

A dark, triumphant sound that echoed through the room like the tolling of a victory bell.

"Tsk, tsk, Qingran... You make it so easy."

He stood and turned away, walking to a table littered with syringes, scalpels, and glass vials.

A delicate collection of nightmares.

"You know..." he said, lifting a small vial and holding it up to the light. "I expected more. A little chase. Some back-and-forth. But you? You handed me the key before I even knocked."

He poured the contents into a thin glass injector, primed it, then walked back over and held it an inch from Wei Sheng’s neck.

"Still, this is only the beginning.." Boran whispered, his smile widening as he pushed the plunger down.

The fluid hissed into the puppet’s bloodstream.

Wei Sheng didn’t flinch.

Boran leaned in close.

"You’re going to walk right into her camp, you’re going to pretend you have the disease and when she gives you the cure, you don’t swallow it, bring it to me immediately.."