After searching cautiously for a long time, he discovered scattered, mangled corpses—the several people who had gone missing from their street. None of them had died peacefully, each perishing in a unique, horrific manner.
An eerie, ghostly atmosphere pervaded the icy manor, sending an involuntary chill straight from the bottom of his heart.
Continuing his search, he spotted several nano-cameras. It seemed an organization had deliberately gathered these people here, observing them from the shadows until every last one was dead.
Lin Mo was not among the deceased, nor did he find Chen Xijian’s younger brother. However, since her brother had disappeared the earliest, it was uncertain whether the same organization was responsible.
Not finding Lin Mo was actually a good thing; it meant she might still be alive.
Yet even with this news, his mood remained gloomy. His heart sank uncontrollably, consumed by an inexplicable sense of anxiety.
What... had happened here?
Why were some of them ripped to pieces... If he couldn't find Lin Mo, was it possible she had been torn apart as well?
Impossible. Ordinary people couldn't possibly beat her, and judging by the bodies of the deceased, there were no signs of wounds from firearms or heavy weapons.
Lin Nan walked over to Chen Xijian. He decided to inspect her cause of death first on the barely accessible ground floor. Hunched over, Chen Xijian’s body was long cold and stiff, slumping silently against the rubble.
Fatal wounds inflicted by someone with specialized training were different from those caused by ordinary people. Moreover, Chen Xijian was the most intact among the four bodies on the ground floor, which was why he decided to start with her.
Before he could gather any clues from the corpse, the manor swayed dangerously. Sensing imminent peril, he instantly leapt to his feet and bolted at full speed. Only after ensuring there were no structures left above him did he turn back, arriving just in time to witness the ancient building collapse with a thunderous crash.
What should he do now?
Lin Mo couldn't be found...
He was completely on his own.
Lin Nan still couldn't believe Lin Mo could die in a place like this—a place that resembled a gu-refining pit. Shouldn't she be right in her element in such an environment? She herself was the ultimate poison.
It might have rained last night; the mud underfoot was damp, and the air was cold, with a biting sea breeze whistling past him over and over again.
Should he go back? Back to the base?
Only by returning could he mobilize personnel to search for her. Otherwise, relying on himself alone, he couldn't possibly turn this place upside down.
If she was alive, he needed to see her in person; if dead, he needed to see her corpse.
Besides, the infiltrators had yet to be rooted out. Returning would put him in even greater danger, and he might not even be able to save anyone.
Returning empty-handed, a massive, nameless panic enveloped him. When Lin Mo was by his side, he didn't feel safe either—after all, having a ticking time bomb with erratic numbers right next to him meant constantly worrying that he would be eliminated the moment he lost his usefulness.
Yet when she wasn't around, that panic grew even stronger, as though he had botched something immensely important.
Lin Nan felt a surge of irritability. Had he developed Stockholm syndrome? Was he addicted to being terrified?
If... if she really was gone, he would wait another month until those infiltrators were dealt with before returning to the base.
With those thoughts in mind, he opened the door to their apartment.
“Lin Nan.”
In the living room, Lin Mo was sitting intact on a chair, her body turned sideways toward the front entrance. She tilted her head slightly and asked him as casually as ever:
“Have you had any luck searching for a new place lately?”
Lin Nan stood frozen on the spot, silent for a long time.
The curtains were heavy, but a sliver of light leaked through, where dust motes swirled slowly in the beam. The light fell obliquely onto her pale fingertips. Sitting on a battered plastic chair, she exuded a quaint, aged aura.
Her spine slumped limply as she tilted her face up slightly. Her pitch-black eyes swayed in their sockets like glass marbles. Her overall condition was terrible. Lin Nan was certain that her current slack posture was by no means a sign of trust; rather, it was because she could no longer physically hold herself up. She was extremely weak right now.
He took a deep breath, feeling as though he had endured a long bout of drowning and only just resurfaced.
His response was entirely off-topic: “...What did you go do?”
Lin Mo tilted her head, letting it rest back against the chair. She looked soft and limp, like a BJD doll without string tension. She said, “I ran into a minor accident, but it's resolved now. Don't worry.”
She repeated her question: “Any luck with the new place?”
Lin Nan closed his eyes. He hadn't forgotten what she had said on their first day moving in, and he had been looking for a new house all along—but was this really the time to talk about that?!
He stammered, “I found one.”
“That's great. Very impressive...” Lin Mo turned her head away.
Lin Nan asked, “Are... are you okay? You look a bit...”
Feeling as if he had stepped into the final boss arena of an infinite flow story, Lin Nan spent a long time preparing himself mentally before walking over. To him, this was even scarier than performing an autopsy.
“Mm, I feel great.” Silence blanketed the air. Lin Mo felt she still needed to rest a bit before speaking again after a pause: “Do you know our neighbors next door?”
“Mm... I know. Both of them went missing.” The interior furnishings were painfully sparse; although there were stools in the room, he remained standing next to Lin Mo to listen to her.
Lin Mo stared at him. “Someone wanted to kill you because you lived too close.”
Lin Nan said, “I know which neighbor you mean. I felt it... Actually, I was paying attention, but isn't she dead now?”
Lin Mo said, “You knew?”
“...Mm, I went looking for you.” Lin Nan had no intention of hiding it from her; revealing this action might even build a bit of trust.
Besides, it was best not to lie in front of Lin Mo.
...
A9 couldn't quite understand. Last time, because grades were swapped, Lin Mo killed the Chief; this time, even though Lin Nan's life had been threatened, she didn't seem particularly angry.
It quickly figured it out: Lin Mo's protection of Lin Nan was built on her own obsessions. For instance, she would only act if an event triggered her resentment or rage.
Someone wanting to kill Lin Nan didn't affect her emotions at all. In her heart, aside from carrying the somewhat important title of “younger brother,” he couldn't actually cause much of a ripple in her mind...
Then why protect Chen Xijian? Was it truly out of a sudden stroke of conscience, or was it because Chen Xijian was actually a bit like her, both having lost family members?
Lin Mo had indeed felt sympathy for Chen Xijian over her younger brother's disappearance, even if that sympathy was somewhat wasted—since Chen Xijian herself was the killer.
Sigh... failing to read the room and stick with the winning side—look how that turned out.
Rate on N.U.
