Canned Souls 19

Steaming dishes lined the table, their aromas like tiny hooks, tugging straight at Xie Chuxiao's throat.

If it were just Lu Mingqiu and Yan Xianchuan, he'd shamelessly sidle over for a free meal, but with A Qi and the others present, he couldn't bring himself to ask.

Xie Chuxiao wasn't much of a cook either and had nothing to trade with Yan Xianchuan, so he gritted his teeth and focused on his work, determined to bag at least one bird.

By the time the five next door were halfway through their meal, he finally had something to show for it.

A chicken, previously kicked by the sheep and slowed down, gave Xie Chuxiao the opening he needed, and he downed it.

Lu Mingqiu treated her movie queen status like a rather laid-back job.

Director Berg was right—this place was truly comfortable. With the gentle breeze and birdsong, Lu Mingqiu savored the delicious food, almost as if on vacation.

Yet her mind didn't relax; she mulled over the organization's next moves.

Night City.

The Dongye family, masters of medicine, were headquartered there, along with their tech subsidiary, Arc Light Technology. Earlier, they'd interrogated Xu Qiao, the head's personal bodyguard, and pulled from his mind the location of the doctor's apartment.

Lu Mingqiu had arranged for Mirror to go undercover and track the doctor's movements, but the doctor was always surrounded by bodyguards—almost certainly espers, more than one. Uncovering their secrets without alerting Dongye Zhengqi proved to be a real headache.

She'd mulled it over for ages without a viable plan.

What Lu Mingqiu didn't know was that the Nanjin City branch was under attack at that very moment.

More precisely, the safe house where Hei Ge was staying had been breached.

Faced with death, people summon unexpected wit. Stinger had always been all brawn and no brains, but under the threat of his life hanging by a thread, he managed to devise a plan.

The key was Bai Ge.

Wherever his twin brother was, the younger one would surely know. He didn't need to rack his brains to find Hei Ge's hiding spot; he just had to tail Bai Ge, and he'd naturally reach his target.

Of course, Bai Ge had foreseen this and had a contingency.

The twins shared telepathy and could even converse in their minds. Unless they were in different cities, they never used electronic communication.

With Hei Ge around, there was no worry about someone hijacking signal coordinates or planting trackers on him. And the mental imprint in his mind prevented others from brainwashing him.

Even if someone did succeed, Hei Ge would immediately sense something wrong through their telepathy.

Bai Ge's counter-surveillance was top-notch within the organization—no one could follow him for more than five minutes without being detected.

And every time he visited Hei Ge, he deliberately took a long, winding route.

This nearly eliminated any chance of finding Hei Ge by tracking him.

But Stinger came up with a clever trick.

Because of his last mission failure, Bai Ge had stayed at the base to recover, with the doctor treating him. Stinger also went to see the doctor, claiming he wanted to re-test his esper level to see if it had risen, and asked if there was any medicine to curb his drinking.

The doctor pushed up his glasses. "No. Trying to quit?"

"Yeah," Stinger scratched his head. "Yesterday, Oriole told me to cut back so I don't mess things up. I figured, why not quit altogether? If I can stop, think of the credits I'd save."

"Excessive drinking isn't good for you either. Even as an esper with a strong body, you need to take care of yourself."

The doctor tapped the floating screen a few times. "Results are in—no change in your level. Don't be discouraged; regular training will definitely raise it."

"Ah, I wasn't holding out hope anyway. Say, how are Bai Ge and the others?" Stinger asked, feigning concern.

"They're still in the medical wing. No real danger now, but I recommended they rest a few more days," the doctor said.

"I'll go check on them," Stinger said.

The medical wing was on the fifth basement level, where the injured from last time were all staying. When Stinger walked in, they were huddled around a card game.

"What, you hurt too?" Bai Ge was the first to speak.

He looked like a young boy, fine, soft silver-gray hair hanging loosely around his ears, a hint of baby fat still on his face, as he looked over with concern.

"Nah, just came to see how you were," Stinger said, walking over and resting a hand on his shoulder.

"The old man won't let us leave even though we're fine," Bai Ge said, half exasperated, half complaining. "Since you're here, we've got four for mahjong now. You in?"

"No, no, I've got a date later," Stinger said with a lecherous grin, giving a knowing wink. "Met her at a bar a few days ago—hot as hell!"

"Alright, alright, off you go then." Bai Ge twisted away, shrugging off Stinger's hand. "Bring back a bottle of cola on your way."

"Easy!" Stinger waved a hand and turned to leave, his heart settling.

He'd rubbed a layer of chemical fluorescent agent onto his palm—a substance only specially bred bees could track. It was a backup he'd specifically requested from the Holy Healing Church.

The agent would dissipate after twenty-four hours, leaving no trace for anyone to follow.

It was a very old-fashioned trick, but in this age of highly advanced technology, it worked especially well.

Everyone relied too heavily on tech and overlooked the potential of primitive methods.

No one would notice a bee.

And so, without ever knowing it, Bai Ge led Stinger straight to Hei Ge.

Stinger reported the coordinates to his contact, waiting with a mix of anticipation and dread for news of the attack. Once this was done, he only had one last task before he could fly far away.

The Holy Healing Church's people were cautious, yet they employed the boldest, most violent method—they launched three C425 bombs directly at the safe house coordinates.

All buildings within a twenty-meter radius were leveled, including innocent civilians inside, all blown to bits.

It was utterly appalling, absolutely incomprehensible—no gang or organization would dare such audacity.

But the Holy Healing Church could. It was a church propped up by the conglomerates, and as the true rulers of the world, with their backing, the Church feared no Investigation Bureau.

In the mere seconds before the bombs landed, Hei Ge's surveillance equipment had already raised the alarm, but he wasn't a physical-type esper, so he couldn't outrun the blast.

Amidst the piercing sirens, he made a decision: consciousness upload.

It was a forbidden experiment, fraught with ethical issues. A scientist had once built a consciousness upload machine, but officially, it had been destroyed.

The Mechanical Pure Land had always wanted to get their hands on the blueprints. They believed in 'flesh is weak, ascend through machinery,' holding that the physical body was fragile and that transforming it into machinery was the ultimate path of evolution.

The Mechanical Pure Land was also the organization with the most cyber-psychos.

It was a highly risky move—just a hypothesis. Hei Ge himself wasn't sure it would even work.

Even if it did, would his esper power still be intact? After the upload, would it still be the same Hei Ge, or a new AI carrying his personality and consciousness?

Everything was unknown, but he had no time and no other choice.

Half a second before the explosion struck, he successfully uploaded his consciousness to the network. His body crumpled to the ground, devoid of life signs.

For most people, death is a long journey. For Hei Ge, it was like a firework—suddenly bursting, then vanishing in an instant.

"Doctor! I've been attacked—go save Bai Ge first!"

The telepathic twins remained connected even in the moment of death.

Countless network cables became his limbs, his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Hei Ge traveled through the network to the room where Bai Ge was.

Bai Ge's pupils dilated erratically, and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

After the afternoon filming wrapped, Su Hong shot Lu Mingqiu a look from outside the frame. Lu Mingqiu stepped out of the shot and turned off her recording equipment.

The two moved to a corner, and Lu Mingqiu asked, "What's wrong?"

Su Hong said, "Hei Ge was attacked. The consciousness upload succeeded."

"The organization sent Grey Wolf to investigate the cause. In the near future, there will be a large-scale consolidation of personnel and a base relocation. They told me not to worry—the situation is still under control."

Lu Mingqiu's gaze froze for a moment before she spoke slowly, "I understand. Report to me immediately if you find even the slightest clue."

Su Hong nodded. "Understood."

Lu Mingqiu took a soft breath, let it out slowly, and adjusted her expression, a faint smile returning to her face as she walked back into frame.

They had already found the mole—but Hei Ge's location was extremely secret. Apart from herself and Bai Ge, no one in the branch knew where he was.

There was no way Bai Ge was a traitor. What on earth had happened...

Grey Wolf's ability was scene reconstruction, limited by time and range, and the content was incomplete, shown in fragmented flashbacks.

But because of this ability, he had studied psychology, forensics, and every related discipline of investigation. With him on the case, he was bound to find something.

Besides, Hei Ge wasn't dead.

Lu Mingqiu was consumed with self-reproach. She must have missed something—there had to be another mole still undiscovered. How else could the organization be hit time and time again?

How could the enemy locate them so precisely?

Lu Mingqiu kept a smile on her face as her gaze drifted to Yan Xianchuan, who sat idly by.

The variety show recording soon wrapped up. Lu Mingqiu played her usual considerate role, seeing Dordona and the other two off to the airport for their airship, with Yan Xianchuan leaving along the way as well.

With the filming done, there was no reason for her to stay in Nanjin City any longer.

But just after they'd cleared security, her phone rang. It was Lu Mingqiu.

She answered, and the gentle voice, tinged with apology, came through. "I'm afraid I need to trouble you a bit more."

"A rumor just exploded online saying that the two of us are just putting on a show and deceiving our fans' feelings. I don't know how, but it's spreading fast. I suspect some other company is muddying the waters."

"This could seriously hurt my career. Could I ask you to hold off on leaving? Please?"

Her tone was full of pleading, her posture deferential. "Just a few more days. Once we clear it up and the storm passes, I won't trouble you again. I'm truly sorry. Please."

Yan Xianchuan pulled up a floating screen. The top trending topic read: 'Movie Queen Suspected of Sham Marriage—Rumors of Discord Between the Couple.'

"Alright. How do we clear it up?" she said.

—She didn't have anything pressing to do anyway.

"Let's go home first, then film a video to prove it. The rest we'll leave to the company's PR department—they're more experienced," Lu Mingqiu said. "I'm really very sorry."

"It's fine. The food downstairs is pretty good."

With that, Yan Xianchuan turned and came back through the security checkpoint. The movie queen hadn't left yet; she waved at her, and the two got into Su Hong's car together, heading straight back to the building.

Yan Xianchuan asked, "How should we record the video?"

Lu Mingqiu hesitated for a moment, studying her expression before carefully broaching the subject. "We'll need to do something... slightly affectionate. Is that okay?"

Yan Xianchuan was silent.

Lu Mingqiu quickly added, "Just holding hands or linking arms. Nothing more."

Only then did Yan Xianchuan nod. "Fine."

"Thank you."

Lu Mingqiu summoned a screen, linked her arm intimately through Yan Xianchuan's, and began recording.

She said all the usual platitudes: that the two of them were deeply in love, that everything was slander and baseless speculation, that Yan Xianchuan was at home right now and they'd been watching a movie together when they'd learned the news, and how shocked they were, et cetera, et cetera.

Once the video was posted, the buzz died down quickly.

In truth, all of this was orchestrated by Lu Mingqiu herself—she simply wanted an excuse to keep Yan Xianchuan around.

At first, she'd only planned to plant a mental imprint discreetly. But this morning, Grey Wolf had sent word that they'd found the traitor: Stinger.

And tracing his movements, Hei Ge had learned that Stinger had also been to Changqing City and had placed a private commission on Yan Xianchuan.

The middleman had claimed it was declined, but Hei Ge didn't know the real story.

Stinger frequently turned off his location tracking, and he had no modified organs, so no one knew if the two had been in private contact.

Yan Xianchuan's suspicion instantly grew. In her mind, Lu Mingqiu had already defined her as a mole embedded by her side.

She had to take control of her.

Take control of this bomb that could go off at any moment.

Better to kill the wrong person than let the enemy escape.

That evening, Lu Mingqiu ordered a table full of dishes, most of them Yan Xianchuan's favorites, tailored to her tastes, under the guise of thanks and apology.

She also ordered a few desserts.

On pure white cream lay cherries coated in syrup, like a red sun floating on soft clouds, or perhaps a poisoned red apple, impossible to look away from.

Layers of jam blanketed a quilt of glutinous rice, sleeping in a honeyed cradle, exuding a sweetness as rich and fragrant as a dream.

Yan Xianchuan's gaze glued itself to them the moment they were set on the table.

"I didn't know what flavors you like, so I just picked a few. This is cherry custard, this is strawberry mille-feuille, this is matcha daifuku, and this one, mango with crushed ice."

Lu Mingqiu placed the desserts in front of her.

"Thanks," Yan Xianchuan said.

Then she ate every last bite without hesitation.

During the filming, she hadn't had a single sweet thing, like a calamus dragged onto the shore and left to scorch in the sun, unable to absorb a drop of moisture, its leaves shriveling up.

As she'd said, the restaurant in Lu Mingqiu's building was of exceptional quality.

After she left in a few days, she'd probably find herself missing this place from time to time.

The two enjoyed a pleasant dinner together, each retiring to their own rooms afterward.

Yan Xianchuan browsed the internet for a while before feeling drowsy. She didn't want to stay up late, so she turned off the screen and went to wash up and sleep.

She rarely slept this soundly. Even in deep sleep, her subconscious usually remained alert to her surroundings, waking her at the slightest disturbance.

Like a spider perched at the center of its web, even the faintest vibration would reach her.

But tonight was different. Her door was pushed open, and Lu Mingqiu stepped inside—and still, she didn't wake.

Lu Mingqiu moved silently across the floor. The person in bed lay with eyes tightly shut, breathing slow and steady, chest rising and falling in a regular rhythm.

She was curled on her side, stray strands of hair spread messily around her, her straight, thick, dark lashes like a pair of black fans resting on her face.

When asleep, Yan Xianchuan had a strange peacefulness, a harmlessness. Perhaps it was because her lips were so pale and her skin so fair; the combination often gave the illusion of fragility.

Lu Mingqiu had long since passed the stage of judging someone's nature by their appearance. She watched the other intently, her mind reaching out.

For an S-class esper to manipulate an ordinary person was like child's play—effortless, a done deal.

And that was how it should have gone. But Yan Xianchuan had a safeguard.

The barrier set by the Lord of the System deflected all probing mental energy back. Lu Mingqiu had never encountered anything like this—it was as if a giant hand had grabbed her moving car, spun it around several times, and hurled it away with force.

Lu Mingqiu's mind buzzed.

Yan Xianchuan was in discomfort too, as if pricked by needles, stung by bees. Her consciousness was dragged, surging up from murky water at breakneck speed.

Yan Xianchuan raised a hand to her forehead, opened her eyes, and met the gaze of the uninvited guest standing by her bed.

"...Good evening?"

The next instant, Lu Mingqiu drew the gun tucked at the small of her back, aimed it at her head, and pulled the trigger.