In a daze, Honglian was brought onto an ambulance.
But Wang Baihu didn’t follow her over.
Staring at the dical staff bustling back and forth in front of her, she suddenly felt a burst of inexplicable panic. "Where’s the other one... Where did you take him?"
No one paid her any attention. They just kept sticking all kinds of electrode patches on her. One of the nurses even brought over an IV, like she was about to give her a shot.
The panic in Honglian’s heart grew stronger. She suddenly shoved the nurse in front of her and shouted, "Get away! I don’t need this! Don’t co near !"
The shove had quite so force; the young nurse slamd hard into the wall of the compartnt and let out a cry of pain.
The others couldn’t help freezing, as if they didn’t understand why she would do that.
Honglian was also a bit surprised. She never acted like this normally.
"Sister Honglian?"
Just as both sides fell into an awkward silence, a slightly immature voice broke the stalemate.
Little Pigeon poked her head out from behind the door. "Oh my god, it really is you! Wow, you and Brother Niao took leave together—so you were lying to us!"
"Little Pigeon!" A sudden warmth rose in Honglian’s chest. Even if the entire chanism had gone weird, Little Pigeon could never be standing against her. "What on earth is going on?"
"What do you an, what’s going on..." Little Pigeon looked baffled. "Isn’t this the secret operation you and Captain Xiao were carrying out? I was about to get off work when I suddenly got an ergency deploynt notice. I was worried then—without you and Brother Niao, could our team even manage."
"Of course we can, I’m here after all!"
"It’d be enough if you just don’t make trouble."
Han Yuhao and Li Xing also appeared at the rear of the ambulance. The two of them looked full of energy; the serious injuries they’d suffered at the Five Rings Factory seed completely healed.
"Hello, Team Leader. I’m the fifth team mber, do you still rember ?" Next ca a short guy, pointing at himself with a bit of expectation.
"Uh..." Honglian subconsciously nodded.
"Brat, get lost. I don’t think the Team Leader rembers you at all!" The guy with the earring, Han Yuhao, sneered. "Didn’t you see she can’t even call your na?"
"Lin... Jia?" She finally rembered him—the "high school student" officer who hadn’t shown up at the chanism again after reporting in.
"Yeah, that’s !" Lin Jia said happily. "Now you’re the team leader I respect the most!"
"All of you move, stop bothering the Team Leader here." Jiang Siqi cut in at this mont. "And you folks—" she pointed at the dical staff, "sorry, could you go look after other wounded... Our Team Leader is perfectly fine, I can tell."
She hadn’t expected her words to actually work. The nurses exchanged glances, then all got off the ambulance.
"Did you see Wang Baihu?" Honglian asked anxiously.
"Brother Niao’s in another ambulance." Little Pigeon answered quickly. "Don’t tell he’s badly hurt?"
"No... not really." Hearing that answer, her mind cald a little, and she felt she’d overreacted. Right... If Xiao Canong didn’t plan on pursuing their lie, there was no reason to take Wang Baihu away alone. He just wasn’t in the sa ambulance as her, that was all.
But why?
She couldn’t figure out how things had turned out like this. In the worst-case scenario, once the Chief found their leave suspicious, he should have separated them and locked them up for interrogation. But as long as Lin Qing wasn’t caught on the scene, the interrogation couldn’t get any useful information. After that she might lose her position as team leader, be benched long-term, or even be directly expelled from the Dinsional Limit chanism...
She thought of many possibilities—just not this situation.
"What did the ergency operation briefing you received say?"
"It said a high-risk ability cri suspect appeared at Hongda Daily Chemical Factory, and we were ordered to head to the plant at once for arrest." Han Yuhao curled his lips. "I was excited we’d get to do sothing big again, but when we got here, we were told the mission had changed to assisting the police in sealing off the scene. I wondered which operations team was so impressive—turns out it was you, Team Leader."
"Don’t use that snide tone with Sister Honglian!" Jiang Siqi raised her hand and smacked the back of his head, the sound crisp and pleasant.
"Was there really an Ability User killing people in the plant? I heard they carried out so kind of big thing?" Li Xing asked curiously.
"Who started the fire?"
"What did you run into in Building No. 2? Tell us!" The others also chid in, all talking at once.
"This..." Honglian couldn’t help a headache. She definitely couldn’t reveal sensitive intel like the World Ability Center or Lin Qing to them, but playing along with Xiao Canong in this staged act? Just thinking about it made her feel disgusted.
"Quiet for a sec, the Chief is speaking!" Jiang Siqi suddenly interrupted. She raised her phone so everyone could see the live broadcast.
On cara, Xiao Canong stood in front of the plant where the blaze had already been put out. Behind him, large numbers of firefighters were going in and out, but that didn’t stop him from being the focus of everyone’s gaze. Standing beside him was a man in a police uniform; Honglian recognized him as the deputy director of Jiang City’s police bureau, surnad Fu.
Xiao Canong, unusually, wasn’t smiling. His expression even carried a trace of sorrow. "...I don’t know if everyone still rembers the Ability User assault case at Jiang City TV a few months ago, the later tragedy at the Five Rings chanical Garden, and a man-made plague incident that few people know about... These major cases are in fact all intricately connected behind the scenes."
At these words, an uproar broke out on the scene.
"Huh? Wasn’t the chanical Garden disaster caused by Wanderer’s intrusion?" Little Pigeon said in surprise.
Xiao Canong continued, "Through our joint investigation with the police, we’ve finally confird that the mastermind is an illegal organization called the Evangelical Association. All its mbers are Ability Users. They refuse to accept the Dinsional Limit chanism’s jurisdiction and don’t care much for the laws of any country. Their doctrine is ability supremacy and Ability User superiority, and they’ve now beco one of the main culprits undermining world stability."
"The Evangelical Association conducted an experint in Jiang City—using special drugs to artificially create Ability Users. These Ability Users were precisely the main culprits behind the above cases. Hongda Daily Chemical Factory was their testing base. Beneath the plant, hidden away, is a vast secret space. Many unemployed people or those dissatisfied with society were gathered and tricked there, becoming their pawns to overturn the current order!"
Just then, a chanical Officer ran up beside him and whispered a few words in his ear.
Xiao Canong nodded, the gravity between his brows deepening even further. "The preliminary count is in. We found twenty-five bodies beneath Building No. 2. I deeply regret what happened to them."
"Another twenty-sothing dead?" Li Xing clicked his tongue. "That’s... a major case every month now..."
Little Pigeon reached out and placed her hand over Honglian’s.
Seeing the worried look on her face, Honglian mouthed, "I’m fine."
Once the cara flashes finished crackling, Xiao Canong raised his hand to quiet everyone. "Just think—if these twenty-five people had all beco Ability Users, and in their confusion were grateful to the Evangelical Association and bought into that ability-supremacy nonsense, how many horrifying disasters would erupt in our city?"
"So I mourn their fate, but at the sa ti, I’m sowhat relieved. The reason the Evangelical Association panicked and resorted to killing, arson, and silencing witnesses is that we’ve already caught their tail! For these past few months, the Dinsional Limit chanism and the police have been tracking clues day and night, searching for every trace the enemy left behind. Fortunately... we finally caught up!"
Xiao Canong opened his palm toward Director Fu beside him. "Without the cooperation and support of the Jiang City police, the chanism could never have succeeded. I believe this case will open a new Chapter in our collaboration with the Jiang City Police!"
A wave of enthusiastic applause broke out at the scene.
Director Fu also nodded to the cara. "Citizens, please rest assured. We will do everything we can for the safety and stability of Jiang City!"
"As for the second greatest credit, it belongs to two of my officers." Xiao Canong finally revealed a faint smile. "Their nas are Honglian and Wang Baihu—the very ones who just fought their way out of the fire! It’s no exaggeration to say, without them fighting and bleeding on the front line, this matter couldn’t have ended so smoothly. In a sense, the two of them are heroes who saved this city!"
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