"A pledge of allegiance? What does that mean?" Leng Nan's voice trembled slightly.
"What I mean is, he didn't come here to see me." Mei Xinya carefully cut open Qin Xiao's blood-soaked shirt with her dagger, revealing the gruesome wound. "I'm the bait, and so are you. What he really wants to catch is that big fish hidden inside your military, a fish of such high rank that it has access to 'Dragon Tooth Bullets'."
Mei Xinya stuffed a piece of fabric torn from her trench coat into Qin Xiao's mouth.
"Bite down. What follows will be worse than death."
She didn't explain further. She placed her hands on either side of Qin Xiao's wound, and the pale golden blood seemed to be propelled by some force, turning into extremely fine blood threads that began to penetrate Qin Xiao's flesh.
"Well--!"
Even while unconscious, Qin Xiao's body suddenly arched, letting out a muffled groan that was suppressed to the extreme. Veins bulged from his neck and forehead, and all the muscles in his body were spasming violently.
Leng Nan felt as if her heart was being gripped tightly by a hand. She rushed over and embraced Qin Xiao's trembling body without hesitation, pressing his head tightly against her chest.
"Hold on...please, hold on..." Her tears flowed uncontrollably once again.
Just then, a hurried voice came through the tactical headset of a Snow Wolf team member. He rushed to Leng Nan's side, his face extremely grim.
"Captain...we've run into a wall with the technical department."
"What did you say?" Leng Nan suddenly looked up.
"Our access to information about the source of the ammunition has been locked." The team member's voice was low and filled with unease. "Just three minutes ago, we received a direct order from the theater headquarters, signed by... Lieutenant General Zhao Zhenhua. The order stated that this operation had caused a major failure, all relevant documents were to be sealed, and the military's disciplinary committee would take over the investigation directly. We... we've been excluded."
Lieutenant General Zhao Zhenhua!
The name struck Leng Nan like a bolt from the blue.
That was the number two figure in the entire war zone! A person of such high rank and power that she didn't even have the right to look up to him!
The mole... it was him?!
No, impossible! General Zhao is a role model in the army and an idol to everyone!
But if it wasn't him, why would he block out the only clue at this critical juncture?!
despair.
The despair was deeper and more powerless than when he saw Qin Xiao get shot earlier.
The clue is broken.
The three-hour time limit felt like a deadly hourglass, its sands flying by.
"puff."
Mei Xinya coughed up a mouthful of blood. Her face was as pale as paper, clearly indicating that activating her bloodline had taken a heavy toll on her.
“It seems your general doesn’t want us to live.” She stopped the treatment, leaning against the wall, panting. “It’s no use. Without finding the traitor and getting the antidote, he’s doomed.”
Leng Nan held Qin Xiao, whose body had stopped convulsing but whose breath was so weak that it was almost imperceptible, and felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.
It's over.
Everything is over.
In the midst of this deathly silence, a sudden tremor arose.
"Buzz—Buzz—"
It was the cell phone in Qin Xiao's pocket.
Inside the suit pocket, which was mostly soaked with blood, the screen lit up.
Everyone's attention was drawn to it.
With trembling hands, Leng Nan pulled the phone out of Qin Xiao's pocket.
On the screen is a new message from the encryption software.
The sender's ID is just a simple icon.
A black rose.
Leng Nan didn't recognize the pattern.
But Mei Xinya, who was next to her, seemed to freeze the moment she saw the pattern.
“It’s her…” Mei Xinya’s voice, for the first time, carried something that a human being should have, called “emotion.”
That was her sister's code name, Ink Rose.
Why would she... contact me at this time? Shouldn't she be living a normal life in the safe house Qin Xiao arranged? Has something happened to her?!
Mei Xinya snatched the phone, her fingers turning slightly white from the force, and opened the message.
The message content is neither text nor an image.
It was a short video that was only fifteen seconds long.
The video was clicked on.
The image shows a kitchen with soft lighting and a warm, inviting atmosphere.
A young girl wearing a pink apron and with her hair casually tied up is facing away from the camera, frantically spreading cream on a cake base with a spatula.
Her movements were clumsy, the cream was smeared crookedly, and her face and nose were covered in white cream, making her look somewhat comical.
But she seemed very happy, humming an off-key song as she wiped herself.
It was the same Mo Rose that Qin Xiao had mentioned, the one who couldn't even tell the difference between an oven and a microwave.
At the end of the video, the girl seemed to have finished her work. She proudly held up the ugly cake and turned it towards the camera.
Her face wore a clean and radiant smile that she had never seen before.
"Brother, look! I got it! It's still a bit ugly... but I tasted it, and it's sweet!"
Her gaze seemed to pierce through the screen, fixed on a certain place, filled with dependence and joy.
"I'll wait for you to come back and teach me. I've also saved your share for you!"
The video has ended.
The phone screen went dark.
The rooftop was deathly silent.
“Pah.”
A tear fell from Mei Xinya's eye, shattering on the phone screen.
Then came the second drop, the third drop...
This top assassin, who had walked in the shadows for over twenty years, his hands stained with blood, his heart already a scorched wasteland, could no longer restrain himself.
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