Chapter 124 The Hunchbacked Shadow (11)
When Xiao Jiang was shaken awake from her dream, the frosty scent emanating from her body had already reached her.
The woman yawned, half-covering her mouth, scratched her messy hair, and smelled the bloody scent mixed with rain and mud. Her remaining sleepiness finally vanished completely.
The girl knelt beside her bed, her familiar face, so close to hers, stained with blood.
Xiao Jiang regained his usual insight, looked at her in surprise, and raised his hand to wipe her face: "How did this happen?"
Shu Ningmiao held her shoulders and quickly said, "We should go."
Xiao Jiang is used to being outdoors and can sleep anywhere. Here, she just took off her coat and lay down for a while. She didn't expect to fall asleep so soundly.
Just by looking at Shu Ningmiao's expression, she knew something was wrong. She didn't press further to avoid wasting time, and quickly put on her coat, following the girl's hand as she walked out.
Shu Changyan stood at the doorway, his long legs resting on the steps, holding the sword that Shu Ningmiao had just used. He was already tall, and his everyday clothes, especially his all-black outfit, made him even more conspicuous.
His brows were usually indifferent, but the blood on the sword had congealed into a line and fell from the tip.
Several of the undercover agents who had assisted the nun lay scattered on the ground, their bodies decapitated, cleanly and neatly separated, much like the corpse of Quincey.
Shu Changyan still left him a way out; these corpses were enough to cover things up with Pigne.
Zhao, resting his chin on his hand, squatted on the steps and said sarcastically, "Your sister committed murder and you still help dispose of the body. What a good brother you are."
He slapped his thigh: "We've lost both our wife and our army. Now all of the Church of Awe have no eyes and ears on the surface. The Holy Son must be overjoyed!"
Shu Ningmiao looked at the corpse: "You can do whatever you want with it. Since the facts have already been fabricated, it doesn't matter if one less person dies in the story, does it?"
Xiao Jiang drew his sword and used the tip to flip the corpse in the center over. He saw the nun's familiar face, and his gaze swept over the girl kneeling in the pool of blood with a blank look in her eyes. There was nothing he didn't understand: "You're using killing innocent people as a cover?"
Zhao protested, "She's not some innocent little girl. She's a member of Prometheus, a terrorist, okay? After what happened with Achini, if someone in the council hadn't protected her as a victim, she would have been interrogated countless times."
When Eric heard the familiar words, his stiff body finally reacted, but there was no light in his eyes.
The truth she thought she had hidden well had long been exposed to these people.
A bottomless despair enveloped her.
She felt cold all over, struggled to sit up, and her expression was as blank as a puppet's.
“Weston wants to protect her, and you want to protect her too.” He then turned to Shu Ningmiao: “You two are just classmates, why are you so close?”
...Weston?
Erice vaguely repeated the name in her mind. She could count the number of times she had spoken to this arrogant tutor on one hand. The last time they met at school, Weston didn't even remember her name.
She looked at Shu Ningmiao's nonchalant expression, and her thoughts suddenly froze.
Of all those unfounded rumors, only Shu Ningmiao was frequently associated with the malicious slander against her mentor. It was said that in Weston's Old Pinhian language course, all the assignments and lesson plans were corrected by Shu Ningmiao.
This delicate relationship and the veiled rumors, because of the formidable protagonist, never had the chance to reach the ears of the parties involved.
Weston couldn't help her. The only person who had helped her all along, the only person who had pulled her out of the abyss, was Shu Ningmiao.
Eric wrinkled his nose slightly, his cheeks tightened, and tears streamed down his face.
Shu Ningmiao couldn't explain to anyone why she did this. She harbored a subtle anger and resentment in her heart and didn't intend to let that person have his way. Besides, since this revenge was caused by her, she should be the one to end it.
Xiao Jiang casually concluded, "Since she wants to save her, let her save her."
"You say that too," Zhao said, glancing sideways.
Xiao Jiang didn't reply. Suddenly, she remembered the girl's response in the wind that evening. She felt it was a mistake to drag the girl, who should have been in school, into this. But the emotions in Shu Ningmiao's eyes made her dizzy. The girl said, "I know who the murderer is."
"Even if not now..."
She stood in the wind, her dark red pupils hidden by her long, drooping eyelashes: "I will definitely kill him too."
Xiao Jiang suddenly came to her senses. The girl's hair swayed and brushed past, overlapping with her straight back, revealing her sharp edge in the cold night wind.
“Everyone has to do something according to their own whims at least once.” Xiao Jiang put his arm around Shu Ningmiao’s shoulder and grinned frankly, “Or let others do what they want once, right?”
It doesn't matter. When you can't find your way, following your friends is a good option.
Pinheis's original plan was that after this night, they would find the girl beheaded by the nun right under their noses, then successfully capture the prepared murderer, and return with the reinforcements.
Everything is in complete chaos now.
Under no circumstances should we go back with the rescue team. Leaving now would at most mean abandoning the mission. The longer we stay, the more complicated and troublesome things will become.
"Let's go." Shu Changyan grabbed Shu Ningmiao's arm, subtly pulling her to his side, stuffing the sword back into her backpack, and zipping it up: "Before dawn."
“Good idea.” Zhao shrugged. “Don’t forget, you need a pass to leave. Xiao Jiang, yours has expired. The National Security Bureau is in charge of sealing it. Getting caught by them for something is more annoying than failing the mission.”
"Let's go straight." Shu Ningmiao took a deep breath: "Remove all the identification information from your car, and leave the rest to me."
She had indeed thought everything through before she even took action. Zhao stroked his chin and suddenly found it quite amusing.
Xiao Jiang believed her and acted with exceptional speed, already starting to disassemble parts of his car.
"Fine." Zhao let out a breath and gave a wry smile again: "What else can I do? It's normal to go crazy a little after working for so long."
He pulled Xiao Jiang aside and used his supernatural ability to add a layer of properties to the car's exterior, transforming the original specially supplied military vehicle into a dilapidated appearance commonly seen in the new area.
The security at the exit was on a completely different level than when we came in. The external passage was completely sealed off, and the 20-ton superalloy gate was tightly shut. Even if you fired bullets all over it, you might not be able to scratch the outer layer.
The car drove into the already cleared restricted area, standing out conspicuously. The dilapidated car, which had brazenly barged in without a pass, became the sole focus of the entire restricted area. The sirens blared in unison, making it impossible to discern their origin.
"Are you really alright?" Zhao gripped the front handrail on the roof, staggering from the jolts of the vehicle. "We've got a huge swarm following us."
Shu Changyan raised his hand to protect Shu Ningmiao behind her, then casually drew his sidearm from the car and fired a few shots. All the monitoring drones were accurately hit in the core, and the destroyed drones burst into sparks in the sky before falling like raindrops: "Trust her."
There was a tightly closed alloy gate in front of us; crashing into it would be tantamount to suicide, resulting only in a catastrophic accident and death.
The chilling warning behind them grew louder and louder, and countless bullets, trailing bright tails, pierced the night sky. They were blown off course by the strong wind brought by Xiao Jiang's outstretched hand, leaving a trail of bullet holes beside the tire tracks.
With less than a kilometer to go before reaching the gate, at this speed, the car was about to crash into the heavy gate.
"Drive forward," Shu Ningmiao suddenly said. "Accelerate."
Xiao Jiang stepped on the accelerator pedal.
A madwoman and another madwoman, Zhao groaned and closed her eyes.
The car's maximum speed caused it to sway from side to side, and the sound of the wind around it was as terrifying as the panting of a storm.
Amidst the flying sparks, Shu Ningmiao raised her arm, palm up, her slender yet strong fingers slowly closing together.
The ground began to tremble, and the heavy door in front of them shook violently, gradually opening a crack. The crack grew larger and larger, accompanied by a sharp, piercing noise that made one's head ache. Clearly, it was not opened intentionally.
As the door opened higher, Shu Ningmiao raised her hand, her long hair being blown by the airflow. A few stray strands of hair danced in the wind, brushing past her shoulders like a cluster of black flames.
All the drones were dragged down by some invisible force, tumbling and crashing to the ground, bursting into huge flames in the darkness. The air currents surged and rushed in all directions, instantly turning the world upside down. The relentless pursuit from behind vanished in an instant, and nothing could be heard except for the sound of the air currents.
At that moment, the world seemed insignificant to her.
Zhao turned to look at her, his pupils reflecting the girl's figure in the firelight. Based on his experience, he instantly realized that she was not using any superpowers or tools, but simply Pandora.
Every superhuman can use Pandora; even the most useless superhuman can manipulate Pandora to perform basic attacks and control maneuvers.
But this is the simplest concept of superpowers, and most superpowered individuals only use it to be lazy when it comes to pouring water or tea.
He had never seen anyone cause such widespread destruction with a simple Pandora.
Zhao stared at the girl's figure for a long time, his pupils gradually contracting in the firelight behind her, his heart pounding—this was a door weighing a full twenty tons.
The speeding car smoothly drifted into the passage. Xiao Jiang whistled loudly to celebrate. Shu Ningmiao then spread her five fingers slightly, and accompanied by the rock music that the silver-haired man had turned up inside the car, the door suddenly slammed down with a loud bang, so powerful that it almost shook the entire ground.
The surrounding walls cracked and fell off piece by piece from the impact, and the top of the alloy door collapsed along with the roof.
Zhao subconsciously sensed something was amiss; how could a simple impact cause such extensive damage?
Shu Ningmiao did not completely lower her hand.
To prevent anyone from catching up, she even planned to destroy the entire passage.
The wall collapsed in one fell swoop, carrying with it all sorts of scanning instruments, drones, and radars as it followed the car's rear end into the abyss. It crumbled like dry leaves and decayed wood, dust billowed, as if the heavens and earth were about to collapse as well.
The moment they drove out of the tunnel, the tunnel behind them collapsed completely. Smoke billowed into the sky from the flames, and a fierce hot wind blew forward, pressing the people rushing up from all sides to the ground, unable to move.
As the car gradually slowed down, the scenery outside the window became clearer, and a hand emerged from inside the window, as if feeling the temperature of the wind.
We've driven quite a distance, but we can still almost hear the distant roar of engines.
After leaving the Yingjian area, Zhao removed the disguise from the car, restoring it to its original appearance.
The car smoothly drove onto the main road and discreetly headed towards the center.
Shu Ningmiao leaned back in the back seat, her head resting against the car window, her profile reflecting the bright lights outside.
She silently lowered her eyelashes.
Shu Changyan raised his slender fingers and gently touched the back of her cold hand, holding her fingers and warming them with his warm palm.
A car headlight flashed by in the distance, illuminating her profile through the window and making her face appear snow-white. He suddenly reached out and turned her face towards him, his usually indifferent expression gradually turning cold.
He raised his hand and wiped away a trickle of blood from under her nose with his fingertips.
Shu Changyan silently wiped the blood from her face. Shu Ningmiao had never seen him so cold towards her before. Just as he himself had said, she was fine no matter what.
There was something suppressed in that silence that she couldn't feel.
Shu Changyan's aura was so oppressive that the air felt suffocating. His composed face revealed no emotion, yet everyone present felt as if they couldn't breathe.
She poked half of his cheek, and Shu Changyan's expression relaxed, managing to put on a somewhat amiable look.
Once back at the Union Building, Zhao ignored his beloved car and jumped into the elevator without looking back.
Xiao Jiang felt she should say something, so she said, "I'm going back to sleep now."
Left with only the two of them, Shu Changyan's shamelessness resurfaced, insisting on carrying her back. What a joke, she's not a seven or eight-year-old child. The two pushed each other and turned her around, with Shu Ningmiao straddling his back, grabbing the end of his hair and tugging: "Let me down."
Shu Changyan held her legs up, his shoulders trembling slightly: "Dream on."
After all that fuss, she was exhausted. Although her Pandora was plentiful, she still felt unwell. A heavy fog pressed down on her eyelids, making it hard for her to open her eyes.
If it weren't for the flesh and blood that Shu Changyan gave her, her body probably wouldn't have been able to withstand the Pandora's box of two Crimson Palace Stones, and the mutation might have been even more severe than Su Ni's.
Her brother is an unchangeable stone in the flow of the strings.
Shu Ningmiao rested her head on his shoulder and buried her face in the warm crook of his neck. Through her half-open eyes, she could see his straight brow bone and nose, and his swaying hair. She looked at him and soon became sleepy.
Half-asleep, she felt Shu Changyan carefully place her on the bed and wipe her face with a hot towel. Shu Ningmiao was drowsy and couldn't open her eyes. She was very tired and sleepy, and it was so quiet around her. After doing all this, Shu Changyan probably went to sleep too. She yawned slightly, waved away Shu Changyan's hand, turned over, and closed her eyes completely.
In a daze, she didn't know how much time had passed when she regained her sense of touch. She heard faint noises, but her body was still not fully awake and she was not very clear-headed.
The sky outside was already bright, and Shu Changyan's shadow enveloped her. He sat on the edge of her bed, listening to her steady breathing as if in a trance.
Shu Ningmiao suddenly woke up.
Shu Changyan was unaware that she was gradually waking up from her dream. He leaned down and gently held her hand that was hanging by the bedside.
He treated her as if she were something sacred, his lips pressed against her fingertips, kissing her knuckles, her palms, and lingering on the inside of her wrists, repeatedly kissing the faint pulse on her wrists, the heat from his lips remaining on her skin, still warm.
I could feel his breathing was heavier than usual in my palm.
Her mind was filled with a vast, silent white expanse, and she couldn't help but picture the clear, blue sea. She vaguely recalled the kiss he had once placed on her lips, the waves crashing and lapping against her, leaving only a single thought behind.
Do you really like her that much?
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Author's Note: My feelings for you are about to explode inside, but I need your permission to explode!
Miao has been aware of the sound ever since she woke up; it's too obvious.
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