Chapter 21
Ian led Ango along the second-floor corridor of the church, slowly moving through the bustling crowd. He turned back from time to time, offering Ango a gentle smile, ensuring she followed closely. However, beneath his smile was a subtle hint of nervousness and excitement.
Because Ian had just secretly informed Dai Li and asked her to come later.
The corridor was narrow and crowded, and the priests pushing carts loaded with cardboard boxes made the passage even tighter. Ango had to stick close to the right handrail as she walked. Her eyes passed over the hollow handrail and saw the steep space below.
On their left, doors were tightly closed. Ango scanned the surroundings, using her ability of perspective to discern the secrets within, but Ian knew she wouldn't notice anything unusual.
With his "Eye of True Vision", he could also clearly see Ango's movements.
The two came to a seemingly ordinary door. Ango continued to use his ability, and Ian was not worried - because the place had been cleared out, with only a few strangely shaped chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
Ian stopped.
His heart was beating wildly in his chest due to excitement. He believed that the "shadow" was hiding next to Ango, and this windowless room was the trap he had carefully designed for the two of them.
He waited for the priest's cart in front to pass, then gently pushed open the door and gestured to Ango to go forward.
"Doctor An, please come in," Ian said with a barely perceptible tremor in his voice. "There's a shortcut here that bypasses the clock tower and saves time."
Upon hearing this, Ango followed closely.
Ian's heart was completely at ease as he watched Ango's steps closely - it seemed that the other party really had no suspicions.
Just like that, step by step... Ango walked into the room! Ian's mouth was about to curl up into a smile of victory...
Ango stood still in the room, and the door behind her closed with a "click". Ango was about to turn around to look, when suddenly, an invisible force enveloped her.
That's it - Ian smiled, a little proud - watching her reaction, about to say something...
At this moment, Ango's shadow began to twist, and then his entire body turned into smoke, floating up in wisps, sweeping up a thin mask and dissipating into the air.
"Ango!" Ian shouted in panic, his voice echoing in the empty room, but it was only met with dead silence.
He tried to grab the mask with his hands, but it was obviously futile.
What happened? Originally, in Ian's plan, as long as Ango and Xisen entered the room, he could seal their extraordinary abilities, and then he and Dai Li could take them down in one fell swoop.
But Ango disappeared like smoke, as if by magic?
The plan that was originally thought to be perfect seemed to have unexpected variables.
She must have discovered something! This was Ian's second reaction - horror.
He quickly locked the door with trembling hands.
The room was silent. Ian leaned against the door, took a deep breath, and tried to calm himself. He had no idea what was happening. The fear of the unknown made his mind a mess.
The only instinctive reaction was - he had to protect himself and stay here!
His mind knew that this windowless room was the safest place for him, because it was a trap he had created, a trap unique to "Shadow" and Sangria, but this fear still made him feel uneasy.
At this moment, Ian noticed something unusual in the corner of the room. The shadow there seemed to be shaking slightly, and disappeared quickly with the same thin mask. His heartbeat accelerated, and a new fear rose in his heart.
Should he really stay here or leave quickly?
In the confined space, the passage of time became unusually slow. Ian tried to remain calm, waiting for Dai Li's arrival with his pounding heart.
Watching Ango and Ian leave the room, Tang Yu slightly raised the corners of his mouth and winked at Lin Yaoxin and Ace.
They all understood what Tang Yu meant, because the purpose of the trio coming here was to explore the location of the spare purification reagents.
Pushing open the door, Tang Yu looked around cautiously, but Ace did not shy away and walked out directly. He stopped a priest in the corridor and asked loudly: "Hey, do you know where Ms. Dai Li is?"
His idea seemed quite simple. If he could purify the place where the priest Dai Li was, he would find what Tang Yu wanted.
Tang Yu stared at Ace with her round eyes - she didn't expect this man to be so reckless and expose their target so easily.
After a conversation between the two, Ace soon got the answer.
"Oh, thank you." Ace scratched his head and turned to Tang Yu and said, "He said Dai Li is in the underground treasure house. Although we can't go in, we can ask the old man who is guarding the door when Dai Li will come out."
Is it that simple? Tang Yu was shocked.
Just as they were about to pack up and move on, Lin Yaoxin suddenly said, "I have something to do. You guys go first."
"Ah? What else do you want?" Tang Yu was a little dissatisfied. "Why do you fail at the critical moment?"
Lin Yaoxin scratched his head with a smile, then covered his stomach with a look of pain: "People have three urgent needs. You guys go first, I'll come when I'm done."
"When you're done..." Tang Yu waved his hand dismissively, "Go and come back quickly."
Lin Yaoxin left while apologizing with a smile.
But the moment he turned around, Lin Yaoxin's expression froze. He calmly took the phone that the shadow on the ground quietly handed to him, and put one hand on the earphone hidden in his right ear. "Got it. I'll go find Ian."
He quickly followed the route that Ian and his shadow clone had taken, walked through the busy crowd, and came to the windowless house.
"Your Excellency, are you in there?"
Lin Yaoxin knocked on the door several times, but no one responded. A smile gradually appeared on the corner of his mouth.
"Your Excellency, I know you are in there. What happened to you? Someone come and take a look. Bishop Ian seems to be locked up in there!"
Lin Yaoxin spoke louder and louder, and some of the priests passing by began to look inside.
"What's wrong?" Someone came running towards the sound.
"It looks like someone's been locked out!"
Lin Yaoxin looked young, with an earnest and anxious expression, which attracted many people's attention.
Ian heard the noise and became even more nervous and frightened. His intuition told him that this was a trick by "Shadow" and Sangria to trick him out of the safe house. However, the voices outside the door were getting louder and louder, and it seemed that more people were gathering at the door...
"The bishop is trapped inside. Why don't we break in and rescue him!" Lin Yaoxin shouted deliberately in an exaggerated manner.
Hearing this, Ian took a deep breath and became even more nervous.
The next second, the door panel shook violently - Ian thought, someone really wanted to break the door, it was only a matter of time before he left here!
With a squeak, Ian opened the door with a gloomy face and scolded in a low voice: "What are you doing?"
His expression was visibly angry, but because Ian was usually gentle and kind, the priests were not overly afraid of the archdeacon. They simply said a few words of concern to him and then went back to their own business.
After everyone dispersed, Ian looked at the boy in front of him with caution and fear.
Lin Yaoxin stood still calmly, leaned over slightly, and whispered in Ian's ear, "The person you're meeting is on the rooftop, Bishop, go talk to him."
Ian's body froze. It was obvious that his identity had been exposed. Ango and Shadow had seen through his plan, but he had not yet figured out what to do next.
Lin Yaoxin continued, "Can you hide here forever?"
Ian held the laptop tightly in his hand. Dai Li had not come yet. He did not want to go to the rooftop and die rashly. Even if he died, he wanted his death to be meaningful.
Ian paused for a long time, he didn't want to move.
Lin Yaoxin was not in a hurry and just looked at him steadily.
At that moment, the ground inside the church shook violently, and Ian's right side uncontrollably slammed into the doorframe, gritting his teeth in pain. The priests walking in the corridor cried out in panic, some of them falling from the inertia of the carts, and could only quickly grab the hollow handrails. Screams echoed one after another, and people asked each other—"Is it an earthquake?"
Lin Yaoxin seemed to have anticipated this. He braced his hands against the wall and continued, "If you don't keep your appointment, Shadow will continue the earthquake. The sun is setting brightly, and the church's shadow is quite beautiful... and strong. I'm afraid it might even destroy the original body."
This is threatening him! Threatening him with the lives of people in the church!
Ian clenched his right fist and punched the door in anger, and blood immediately flowed out.
His expression was ferocious. "He's such a lunatic! He's using the lives of so many people to threaten me? I agree. I'm going to the rooftop!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the earthquake suddenly stopped. People were still in shock.
When everyone stopped where they were, not daring to make any rash moves, Ian suddenly began to run down the corridor. While running at full speed, he turned on his light brain and said, "Dai Li, the situation has changed. We need to change the location."
Ian walked through the crowd and scattered items, took two steps at a time, and climbed the stairs one by one, rushing straight to the top floor of the church.
At that moment, the blood-red sunset bathed the terrace. He saw a tall man in black sportswear standing beneath the setting sun, casting a long shadow across the ground. The man's grin was wide, revealing his sharp white teeth. His smile was terrifying, like the Grim Reaper from Hell.
Ian never imagined that the moment Ango read the letter, he had already hatched a plan to uncover the person behind the scenes. He thought he was a mantis catching a cicada, but Ango stood higher and flew farther.
It all started in the health room on Friday.
Ango studied the letter, his fingertips tapping rhythmically on the table as he formed his own judgment. "This person chose Purification Day... when the entire town was gathered in the central square... to meet with us. He probably doesn't want to cause any trouble or draw attention. Otherwise, he would have reported us long ago, sending the Security Bureau or bounty hunters after us."
This was a reasonable guess, and Shadow Xisen agreed with her: "I thought so too. But meeting us alone... He's quite brave. I don't know what he wants to talk about. Well, I'll just chat with him."
Xi Sen chuckled, revealing his white teeth.
Ango knew that Xisen would never let anyone know he was with Sangria, as that would prove his betrayal of the Interhead Group. In this situation, they were in the same boat. Regardless of their past conflicts, they now had to deal with a common enemy—a foundation for cooperation.
"We're in the open, they're in the dark." Ango frowned and continued to analyze rationally. "If we go directly, there might be a trap. Besides, we don't know how many people they have."
"He's acting stealthily, so there must be only a few of him. If he were to act in a high-profile manner and come in groups, it would attract attention. And I'm also very interested in what he wants to do..." Xi Sen's tone was firm, with a hint of excitement and curiosity.
"So what do you mean?" Ango asked.
"What I mean is, I'm going to go to the church tonight to look for this person and take the initiative." Xi Sen showed a teasing devilish expression, as if he didn't take the matter to heart at all.
"That's a good idea. Instead of passively walking into a trap, it's better to take the initiative." Ango took a step back and said affirmatively, "Catch him off guard."
"It seems we think the same thing." Xisen seemed quite satisfied that Ango agreed with him.
"But your plan isn't sound enough," Ango said calmly. "I have another idea."
"What?"
Ango asked Xisen to bend down and whispered a few words in his ear.
"I disagree." Xi Sen's tone was firm, but there was room for negotiation. "For your safety, you must stay here."
"I can protect myself," Ango said again. "Besides, if I don't show up, they might not take the bait."
"You're using yourself as a hook?" Xi Sen asked sarcastically, "Miss Manyue, you're not good at close combat. I'm afraid it's too risky."
"Then... I have another interesting idea." Ango's voice softened. She knew Xisen's personality; quirky and novel ideas would most appeal to him. "Not only can I set a trap, but I'll also be very safe."
Xi Sen was indeed interested, his eyes revealing excitement: "What trap?"
"Use your shadow to create a fake body like mine."
Xi Sen nodded thoughtfully, and with a slight wave of his big hand, a shadow on the ground surged up and condensed into shape in a twisted and weird way. This shadow was exactly the same shape as Ango, imitating Ango's movements like a mirror image.
But it has black skin and looks like a monster no matter how you look at it.
"Then what?"
"Dress it in my clothes, cover its skin, and then give it my extraordinary abilities." Ango took out two transparent tubes and gently shook them in front of Xisen. Just as Xisen was about to take them, Ango took them back. "I'm not finished yet. Finally... put the medicated gear on it, so it's completely safe."
"What are you going to do? You're willing to give up your treasure."
"Me? I'll sit in a place with a good view and watch a good show."
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