Canned Souls 16

A few of them came up in twos and threes, taking away the little trinkets Victor had on him—gifts everyone had given for his birthday at the start of the year.

"That's that," Lu Mingqiu said. "The ban is lifted. Stay hidden on your way back."

They filed out one by one, until only the two of them remained.

"I don't regret it, I don't regret it..." Victor murmured under his breath, as if giving himself a final hypnotic suggestion.

"You're already regretting it," Lu Mingqiu said softly.

Victor's voice hitched, his expression going blank. He looked up and met Oriole's pitying gaze, and then he knew nothing more.

Lu Mingqiu walked out without looking back. Behind her came the thud of a heavy body hitting the floor.

"Take care of it," she told the guard.

By the time dawn broke, Lu Mingqiu had returned to her residence. During the interrogation, she'd kept an eye on the apartment's thermal sensors and monitored the network; the person in the spare bedroom hadn't made any unusual moves.

She'd never let her guard down around this arranged spouse. In fact, she'd long since arranged for Hei Ge to run another background check.

And what he found was something else entirely.

To Hei Ge, data rewritten by an ordinary hacker was as conspicuous as a plastic mannequin strolling down the street, pretending to be a real person.

He restored the external surveillance footage and saw Yan Xianchuan and another man, Tan Yiyuan, breaking into the mall and being picked up by a medical team.

The small gang that had been based there vanished after that day.

Lu Mingqiu certainly didn't think she'd gone shopping.

This was a hidden bomb. Lu Mingqiu didn't know what had caused the change in her, whether it would work for or against her, or what consequences it might bring.

Or perhaps Yan Xianchuan had been replaced entirely—a mole planted by another organization.

But that possibility was too slim. No one knew her covert identity, and no one would send a mole with such terrible acting skills.

Yan Xianchuan hadn't even bothered to hide her abnormal shift. Was she emboldened by confidence, or just incredibly stupid?

No professional mole would be this sloppy.

After weighing it carefully, Lu Mingqiu decided to play it by ear and adapt as things came. She'd keep Yan Xianchuan close and use herself as bait. Whatever her background, if she had ulterior motives, she'd eventually slip up.

Her esper power and combat skills gave her confidence, and many of the inconspicuous items she carried were lethal weapons.

After a few hours of sleep, aided by a slow-release sedative and a mild painkiller, Lu Mingqiu got up for a late breakfast. As she waited in the living room for the food to be delivered, Yan Xianchuan happened to come out of her bedroom and head to the fridge for a drink.

Lu Mingqiu let out a small yawn.

"Didn't sleep well last night?" Yan Xianchuan said, holding a sparkling water. "You look like you didn't get enough."

"Had some weird dream. I'm exhausted," Lu Mingqiu said, blinking. "What about you? Did you rest well? Getting used to the place?"

I didn't go out for a night on the town.

Yan Xianchuan nodded. "Pretty good. The view at night is great—makes you feel like you're on top of the world."

—And she didn't jump off the ninety-ninth floor either.

"That's good."

The doorbell rang. Lu Mingqiu got up from the sofa. "My breakfast is here. Have you eaten yet?"

"Already did," Yan Xianchuan said, turning to head upstairs. She was afraid that if she lingered, the other woman would warmly invite her to join the meal.

The two of them weren't that close yet.

Yan Xianchuan thought Lu Mingqiu was a decent person, but she had zero intention of becoming best friends with her. And she'd have to retract her earlier assessment—Lu Mingqiu was no fragile crystal doll.

The projection ads outside the window ran day and night, cars flowed like a river. This morning looked no different from any other, everyone repeating what they'd done the day before—going to work, living life.

But the lingering fear in Stinger's heart meant he had no interest in spending the morning at the bar as usual.

He went back to the safe house, but still couldn't sit still, so he proactively contacted the Church's liaison.

"You didn't tell me you had other people stationed there!" he demanded, instinctively lowering his voice.

"We don't have to report everything to you," the person on the other end said. He wore a white smiling mask, and his voice was like thick, silky chocolate sauce—sweet and smooth. "Besides, without him as cannon fodder, do you think you'd have gotten away so easily?"

Stinger's expression shifted. He hadn't expected Victor to betray the organization either, since the man was more sentimental. Stinger himself was a desperate outlaw who'd only joined Spark because he was wanted by the conglomerates and needed a refuge.

He'd only been with Spark for a few months and felt no deep attachment to it. The intimacy among members actually made him uncomfortable. Betraying his comrades to become stronger didn't weigh on his conscience at all.

"One more thing—you have to give me the serum and help me find a way out of Spark," Stinger said viciously.

"That's not what we agreed," White Mask said softly. "Helping you leave Spark is a separate fee."

"What did you say?!" Stinger slammed the table. "You're going back on your word!"

"That term was never in our agreement, was it?" White Mask tilted his head. "Think back carefully."

"This is the rule of the streets!" Stinger shouted.

White Mask raised a finger and wagged it. "We're not like those rabble, and we don't have such rules. If you work for the Church, you play by the Church's rules."

He waited a moment before continuing. "Have you decided?"

"Fine," Stinger said through gritted teeth, slumping back into his chair. "Two times."

Without the Church's help, he couldn't escape Spark on his own. The mental brand in his head was a latent poison—it would kill him sooner or later.

"A wise choice." White Mask clapped twice. "Here's the second task: we need you to provide Hei Ge's location data."

Stinger's head snapped up, his expression shocked. "You're going after Hei Ge?!"

"Don't ask questions that aren't your concern, Mr. Stinger." With that, White Mask ended the call.

The projection vanished. Stinger kicked an empty beer bottle on the floor. The blue label with its crisp design hit the wall with a bang, bounced, and settled.

"Damn, I've been played."

Stinger spat. He had no choice but to go down this road now—there was no turning back.

Hei Ge, Hei Ge... where the hell was he supposed to find that out!

The organization's only data-manipulation esper. On the network, he was like a top-tier AI, nearly omnipotent.

Hei Ge never appeared in public. Stinger had only heard his voice over the earpiece. Even in this full-scale review, Hei Ge hadn't shown up.

The only reason he knew what Hei Ge looked like was because Bai Ge was often out and about—they were twins, identical.

Espers typically ended up working for the Federation, or else, like him, carved out a place in various terror organizations.

Espers were rare on the outside, but in Spark, they weren't anything special. Plenty were stronger and more capable than him; he was just an ordinary member.

Someone like Hei Ge would be under layers of protection. Stinger never got near the core circle, so how could he possibly know about the man!

But if he failed the Church's task, they'd likely expose him to Spark—they had plenty of spy assets like him.

Victor was sacrificed just like that. He probably didn't even realize the Church had set him up as the scapegoat.

He could easily be next!

Working with the Church was like dancing with a tiger. He had to move fast—get the esper-enhancement serum and then get the hell out of Dodge.