"When it rained these past couple of days, I thought of you. You're the kind of kid who just loves going out on rainy days. I told you not to, but you wouldn't listen," the old woman said, looking at her with cloudy eyes. "The moment I thought of you, you showed up. Strange, so strange."
After speaking such a long sentence, she had to rest for a moment. "Are you still going out on rainy days lately? When you get old later... just like me, whenever it rains, your body won't feel good."
She recognized her.
How strange. She couldn't see clearly, yet she could recognize people?
Lin Mo stared at the old woman without blinking, unsure of what she actually knew. If the woman, in her cloudy state of mind, blurted out her anomalies back in Licheng...
She had thought they would never meet again after leaving Licheng. Still, the old woman probably couldn't pose any threat to her anyway.
"I don't anymore."
"Good that you don't, good that you don't..." The old woman's voice drifted back into confusion.
...
"Why are you shaking? Is it because you're cold?"
Lin Mo's gaze wandered around the room before quickly coming to a stop.
The girl who had been silently peeling an apple had pared the first half extremely smooth, showing great knife skills, but the second half after Lin Mo walked in was peeled in a crooked, jagged mess, as though it had been viciously gnawed on.
Upon hearing her words, the girl's shoulders jerked, and the small knife in her hand slipped upward. Her gaze paused on the old woman's face before shifting to Lin Mo. After sweeping her eyes over her once, she lowered her head and said in a muffled voice, "I'm sorry, I have some mental health issues. I get nervous whenever a stranger is around, and my hands shake uncontrollably. That's why I can't do many precise tasks, so I came to take care of Grandma."
Seeing the two girls interacting, the old woman reached out and patted the shoulder of the girl beside the bed. "This is my grand... Ziyan. She's the most filial."
When patted, Tang Ziyan's body jolted, and the paring knife accidentally cut her index finger. She hurriedly put down the apple and the knife, clutching her finger to stop the bleeding, and said embarrassedly to the two of them,
"I'm sorry, I'm just a bit clumsy. Excuse me for a moment, I'll go get the first-aid kit."
The old woman propped herself up worriedly. "Oh dear, it's bleeding... Let me see..."
"No need, Grandma, don't blame yourself. It's just a small wound, I'll be fine with a quick bandage." After speaking softly, Tang Ziyan trotted into the adjoining room.
Inside the sealed small compartment, she didn't look for a first-aid kit at all as she had claimed, not even caring about the injury on her hand.
Tang Ziyan scrambled to pull out a special internal communication device. Complex codes flowed across the black screen. Due to the pressure, her fingers left bloody marks on the communicator, but she seemed completely unaware, tapping faster and faster. Her facial features were hideously contorted, as though her expressions were entirely out of place.
Night Heron: 【DANGER! DANGER! DO NOT COME OVER, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT COME OVER!!】
...
Lin Mo watched Tang Ziyan leave in a hurry, then turned back to the old woman. "I'm working here now, and I still have some matters to attend to."
"Then go ahead and get busy," the old woman said understandingly.
...
The message alert from inside the organization was exceptionally discreet. Upon catching sight of the message from Night Heron, her pupils contracted. She decisively pulled back her foot that was stepping into the corridor and pressed her entire body into the dead angle against the wall at maximum speed.
In the next moment, a set of slow footsteps echoed down the corridor. The owner of the footsteps seemed injured, dragging one leg with a heavy sound.
Trusting Night Heron had long become an instinct through numerous past collaborations. Fearing that this person was the source of danger, Wudong froze in place, not daring to make a single move.
Seeing the back of the approaching figure passing by, a familiar sense of death instantly surged up. Her body grew even stiffer, her entire back aching dully as if the original burning sensation were still present, her throat choked so tightly she couldn't breathe.
Why is she here? Why would she come here!
Don't notice her!
Yet fate was not on her side this time. The person's forward steps paused. Seemingly sensing something, she slowly turned her head and looked toward the emergency exit route on her right.
I'm dead, I'm dead! Why did I come so fast? Why did I pretend to be so kind-hearted and come check on Night Heron's family!
Lin Mo caught sight of the dark shadow in the corner and froze for a moment.
"Hey!! It's me, how can you not even recognize me!" A coarse, raspy voice was raised extremely high, sounding terribly harsh. "What? Refusing to pay back the money? If you don't pay back the money, believe it or not, I'll have someone break your legs! Let's see if you dare not pay back!"
The tall woman standing in the emergency nook with her back turned, yelling loudly, shook her leg while speaking in a fierce tone. "You bastard, just you wait! If you're short by ten thousand, I'll chop off one of your fingers! Let's see how many fingers you have for me to chop! Ah!"
"What! I'm telling you, interest is exactly what I'm demanding!"
Lin Mo turned her head back and walked even faster.
After she left, Tang Ziyan, who had arrived late following the tracking location, supported herself against the wall in concern. "Wudong, are you okay! I almost exposed myself just now. Luckily she hasn't seen me before!"
Lingering fear evident in her voice, she added, "She's seen your face, so you must never bump into her."
Trembling, Wudong lowered the phone from her ear and stuffed the communication device into her pocket, her hands so weak that she missed several times in a row. With her back against the wall, she clung tightly to it like a reversed gecko, unable to catch her breath just yet.
At this moment, she didn't even bother correcting Night Heron about calling her by her code name outside. She muttered absentmindedly, "...She scared a couple drops of pee out of me."
Tang Ziyan...
"Eww—you talk so vulgarly."
She waved her hand in a carefree manner, completely dropping the timid, nervous demeanor she had in the room where she hadn't even dared to lift her head.
"Pfft, is it really that serious? Didn't you just lose once? Look, you're still alive, our heads are still attached to our necks. Is the psychological shadow really that huge?"
She continued, "Besides, didn't we review the fight afterward? That person only blew up the explosives in the car while taking you off guard back then. When it comes to skill and power, you're still superior. How could a single defeat completely shatter your confidence?"
Wudong bent over with her hands resting on her knees. Even if that was true, physiological reactions couldn't be controlled. She touched the hideous scar on her neck and closed her eyes. "You're right. If there's a chance—"
"Should we notify the organization to surround and eliminate her?" Tang Ziyan interrupted her, her mouth running non-stop once opened. "The two of us are definitely not enough—I'm just a helpless logistics member, and you're a defeated contender."
"But... but my grandma actually really likes her," Tang Ziyan said, her face turning extremely unsightly at the thought of visiting her relative with such difficulty. "A dangerous person is working here. If... if Grandma asks about her after she vanishes, what do we do? The nursing home is full of elderly people, making accidental collateral damage very easy, which ties our hands during operations.
If she plants another bomb, everyone will be launched into the sky together. I will absolutely not allow her to hurt my grandma! That weird freak approaching my grandma must definitely have ulterior motives!"
Without waiting for Wudong's answer, she made up her mind on her own. "I have to transfer my grandma out of the nursing home first before dealing with her. The moment my mom agrees, I'll go process the paperwork immediately!"
Rate on N.U.
