The Obedient Squad Leader

She had deliberately hidden the fact that she had superpowers.

What was she planning?

The people she wanted to kill were certainly not limited to him.

Ordinary people stood no chance against her.

Tu Ran asked, "What's your goal?"

She answered for him, "Kill me and blow up the Songwu Experimental Base."

Just as she had thought.

"At the entrance to the Sankar Arsenal, was that Medical Department doctor who tried to inject me with some unknown liquid one of your people?" Tu Ran continued her interrogation.

"Yes."

Tu Ran could see it in his mind.

The squad leader was speechless.

"Ha, I knew it was you!" Tu Ran's grip unconsciously tightened. Good thing she had been cautious back then—otherwise, she might have ended up dead without knowing how.

The squad leader's face turned another shade redder from her chokehold.

Tu Ran loosened her grip slightly, careful not to strangle him to death on the spot. She still had more questions to ask.

"The inner cores dug out from the Pioneers' bodies—who do they end up with in the end?"

The squad leader stiffened. He tried desperately to steer his thoughts away from the direction Tu Ran was guiding, reminding himself that she could read his mind, but he couldn't control his own thinking. The answer she wanted was already surfacing in his brain.

"Good boy. It's still Nick Wells."

The squad leader nearly had a heart attack. He closed his eyes, refusing to look at Tu Ran, thinking that would block her from reading his mind.

He underestimated her.

"Did he eat them himself?"

"Some he ate himself; others he gave to members of the Wells Family."

The squad leader was speechless again. Closing his eyes didn't work?! How could this be?!

Tu Ran deliberately asked and answered her own questions, wanting him to feel the helplessness and despair of knowing he couldn't escape no matter how hard he tried.

"Do you know Xi Chunzhi?" Tu Ran asked.

"Yes, you do," she answered for him.

Again, the squad leader stayed silent.

"Who ate the inner core dug out from her body?"

Tu Ran said, "Oh... Nick Wells ate it."

The squad leader thought, Why hasn't she strangled me yet?! I want to die! Please, just give me a quick death!

Tu Ran asked her final question. "Where is Nick Wells?"

The squad leader opened his eyes. "Xixin Nange... Hospital."

This time he spoke himself.

Whether he spoke or not, Tu Ran would have found out anyway.

He had given up, stopped fighting.

Tu Ran gave him a satisfied look. "You want to die? Fine, I'll grant you that."

She twisted her wrist, and with a crisp crack, the squad leader's head drooped lifelessly.

Tu Ran stood up, dusted off her palms, cast one last glance at his corpse, and pushed open the door to the research room.

Outside, Shen Yunhe and Min Tao were walking over.

During the interrogation, Tu Ran had turned off the comm link with them. Xie Xu couldn't reach her, and nor could the other two.

They had come looking for her.

"All done?"

Through the still-open crack in the door, Min Tao caught a glimpse of what was inside.

"Mm, all done." Tu Ran closed the door. "What about you two?"

"All dead." Shen Yunhe's eyes still held the remnants of excitement, and there was even a hint of deference in the way he looked at Tu Ran.

He had once thought Tu Ran was easygoing, agreeable, content with whatever came her way, unambitious, and easily pushed around. Now that seemed like the biggest joke in the world.

She was the one who could deal the harshest blows, exact the most satisfying revenge, do whatever she wanted, kill whoever she pleased—carefree and unrestrained.

At this moment, he had already begun to worry whether Tu Ran still remembered how he had scorned her goodwill, humiliated her without regard for her dignity, and held a grudge against her for it.

Tu Ran had no idea that her image in Shen Yunhe's mind had done a complete one-eighty. She lowered her head to check the time—8:21 PM Federal time.

Her interrogation had taken one minute longer.

But she would have to waste one more minute.

"When we came down to the underground lab, we only encountered..." Tu Ran looked at the two of them, drawing out her words meaningfully.

"Only encountered mutants," Min Tao finished the sentence.

Shen Yunhe chimed in, "Those mutants were already knocked out by the poison gas. They didn't pose much of a threat. We escaped pretty easily."

Tu Ran nodded. Their lives were now tied to hers. If this ever came to light, none of the three of them would get away.

Shen Yunhe and Min Tao were both smart enough to understand her meaning instantly.

"Let's go. In eight minutes, the bombs buried here are going to go off."

"What? Bombs?" Shen Yunhe and Min Tao's eyes went wide.

As they spoke, the timer on their communicators jumped to 8:23.

"Seven minutes left. If you don't want to be blown to bits, move it." Tu Ran brushed past them, reactivated her helmet, reconnected with Xie Xu, and the visor displayed an escape route.

"Why did you cut me off just now? You don't trust me?" Xie Xu's voice came through the earpiece.

Tu Ran quickened her pace. "The interrogation got too bloody. I was afraid it'd scare you."

"Tu Ran." Xie Xu said her name heavily, clearly displeased with her dismissive attitude. "We're partners now. I think we shouldn't keep anything from each other."

"I'm not keeping anything. The interrogation footage really isn't suitable for you to see." Tu Ran replied in a tone that sounded perfectly clear of conscience.

She had slightly twisted the truth, which was why she could be so brazenly confident.

Whether Xie Xu didn't notice or simply had no intention of pressing the issue, he let it slide.

"What did you ask him?"

"Some questions about Xi Chunzhi." Tu Ran was frank.

"Found the person behind it?"

"Mm. A man named Nick Wells. You should know him."

Tu Ran turned left and right through the corridors and finally spotted the elevator exit.

"I do. He's the director of Xixin Nange Hospital," Xie Xu said from his end.

Tu Ran and the other two stepped into the elevator one after another.

Tu Ran pressed the button, and the elevator began to ascend slowly.

It was now 8:27 Federal time.

Three minutes left before the bombs buried here went off.

Tu Ran stepped out of the elevator without a hint of haste, still in the mood to chat with Xie Xu. "He has his own hospital, so why does he hide the Pioneers in the Medical Department?"

Xie Xu was silent for two or three seconds before speaking in a serious tone. "I want to solidify our partnership."

Tu Ran furrowed her brow and muttered, "That's odd."

Before Xie Xu could explain, the elevator arrived.

The elevator exit was right next to the base entrance.

By now, the massive plaza in front of the base had already been cleared, and the young ladies and gentlemen had been sent back to their homes.

A ring of guards surrounded the perimeter of the plaza. Having received word of mutant escapees from the Songwu Experimental Base, they had rushed here immediately to guard against any mutants getting out.

Not long ago, they had also received orders from higher-ups that explosives had been planted beneath Songwu Base by unknown persons, set to detonate at an unspecified time. The guards had to make sure no one got too close.