Who

Leaving the Medical Department, Tu Ran made a beeline for the Administrative Building.

Midway there, she came to a halt.

She had the ability to read memories—why bother with surveillance footage?

It was cumbersome and would easily raise suspicion.

She could simply pick an Executive Department guard and read his memories directly.

The area around the Threshold was ringed with Executive Department guards. They kept constant watch, their scopes trained on the pioneers emerging from the Threshold. They were bound to remember Xi Chunzhi.

With that in mind, Tu Ran hurried to the Administrative Building.

Thirty minutes later, she arrived.

Walking through the lobby, Tu Ran casually surveyed her surroundings, searching for someone she could touch without seeming out of place or arousing Zero's suspicion.

As far as she knew, every time the Threshold opened, the Executive Department dispatched half its guards to stand watch outside the gate. At ordinary times, with the Threshold closed and no danger present, only two or three squads patrolled the area.

So even if she picked a guard at random and read his memory, she had a fifty percent chance of seeing Xi Chunzhi.

Guards crisscrossed the lobby in droves, most moving in tight-knit squads of six or seven.

None of them were suitable for her to just walk up and touch.

Her gaze swept the room and landed on a lone guard waiting for the elevator.

She walked over immediately.

With the familiarity of an old friend, she clapped him on the shoulder.

"Xiao Lai, you're back from the field?"

She had made up the name on the spot.

"Memory Reading" required physical contact.

The guard turned around, looking confused. "I think you've got the wrong person."

"Sorry, your back looks just like his. My mistake—sorry." Tu Ran lowered her head in apology, her tone sincere, and withdrew her hand at the same time.

The guard shook his head to show it was no trouble.

Just then, the elevator doors opened, and he stepped inside. Seeing Tu Ran still standing there, he asked, "Aren't you getting on?"

"No, I thought you were Xiao Lai. I only came over to say hi." Tu Ran smiled.

The guard said no more. The doors slid shut, and the elevator began its slow ascent.

Standing in place, the smile on Tu Ran's lips vanished in an instant, replaced by a chill in her eyes that cut to the bone.

She had gotten lucky—this man's memories contained Xi Chunzhi.

But the place Xi Chunzhi appeared in his memories was not the Threshold. It was the Medical Department.

Snow-white walls, a nutrient pod filled with rose-red liquid, and Xu Bingli in his Medical Department uniform.

Every detail marked the place as the recovery room in the Medical Department.

Xi Chunzhi floated in the liquid inside the nutrient pod.

Her eyes were shut tight, mid-repair.

Two nurses from the Medical Department worked together to haul her out.

One of them was the head nurse, Xu Bingli's right hand, the same one who had led Tu Ran to the nutrient pod before.

Throughout the entire process of being lifted out, Xi Chunzhi remained unconscious.

Tu Ran reasonably suspected that the nutrient pod had been laced with a sedative.

Afterward, they carried Xi Chunzhi into the changing room, and three to five minutes later, they brought her out—washed clean, dressed in simple clothes.

Still unconscious.

The guard whose memories she had read, along with another guard, supported her as they left.

All the while, Xu Bingli stood nearby.

He made no move and said not a word.

The two of them carried Xi Chunzhi into the elevator, which descended straight to the third basement level.

They met no one along the way.

At any hour, day or night, the Executive Department was usually a steady stream of people.

Zero was also part of that flow.

But the third basement level of the Medical Department was off-limits to anyone without clearance.

Xi Chunzhi was laid flat on a transfer bed.

Then two people in lab coats and masks came out, took the bed from them, and pushed it through a door.

The memory ended there.

The guard couldn't see what happened next, and neither could Tu Ran.

But she could already guess.

The hand at her side had clenched into a fist without her noticing, the knuckles going pale.

"Pioneer Tu Ran, your blood pressure has risen to 180 mmHg, critically above normal range. You are at risk of sudden illness. Please stay alert and calm yourself down. If you cannot control it on your own, I can call for help on your behalf."

"No need." Tu Ran took a deep breath, suppressed the fury rising in her chest, and kept her mind clear.

Zero, Xu Bingli, and the Executive Department guards—none of the three answered to just anyone. Whoever could command all three to help abduct someone was unquestionably among the highest echelons of the Federal Government.

Almost instantly, Tu Ran thought of the three great conglomerates.

The Xie Family, the Pang Family, the Wells Family.

They were the true power behind the Federation.

Which one could it be?

Tu Ran couldn't guess.

Whichever conglomerate it was, it was beyond someone at her level to touch.

She would go see Xu Bingli.

Others were hard to reach, but Xu Bingli she could easily meet.

In the elevator of the Medical Department, Tu Ran ran into Meng Fanchen and his companions.

"Sister Tu Ran! What are you doing here?" Meng Fanchen was delighted.

"Looking for someone." Tu Ran stared straight ahead, waiting for the elevator doors to open.

Her aura was heavy, her face broadcasting loud and clear: I'm in a bad mood, don't talk to me.

The others shrank back, not daring to make a sound. Only Meng Fanchen seemed oblivious. "Who are you looking for, Sister Tu Ran? I can show you the way."

Tu Ran glanced at him. "Xu Bingli."

Xu Bingli?!

Calling Dr. Xu by his full name?!

The companions in the elevator exchanged glances, communicating with their eyes.

'Did Dr. Xu get himself in trouble?'

'Feels like she's about to shoot him.'

'I get that feeling too.'

"Where is he now?" Tu Ran fixed her gaze on Meng Fanchen.

Meng Fanchen bit his lip, hesitating whether to say.

Dr. Xu was his idol, and Sister Tu Ran was his goddess.

Judging by how fierce the goddess looked, it seemed like she was going to pick a fight. If he pointed the way, that wouldn't be good, would it?

"Come here." Tu Ran spoke suddenly.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Meng Fanchen was baffled.

Tu Ran grabbed his arm and forcibly pulled him a step closer.

Meng Fanchen's companions tensed, fearing she had lost control and was about to hit someone.

But Tu Ran suddenly released his arm. Expressionless, staring straight ahead, she said, "There was a bug on the ground just now."

"Huh? Really?" Meng Fanchen looked down.

There was no bug, of course—just an excuse Tu Ran had made up.

Through that brief contact, she had already seen where Xu Bingli was.

Floor 21.

In a meeting.

The elevator doors chose that moment to open, stopping on the 22nd floor.

"It's under your foot. You stepped on it."

Tu Ran left those words without warning, walked out of the elevator, and headed down one flight of stairs, making straight for Xu Bingli's meeting room.

Leaving behind a group of bewildered people in the elevator.

Wait, why had they come to the 22nd floor again?

Oh right, they'd come to eat.