The rain poured down as if it meant to drench the whole world.
The Wu family’s island in the middle of the lake lay wrapped in damp mist. The Wu family’s Atavists loved weather like this. Some of the younger ones had already transformed into little serpent-tortoises and were swimming around the lake, splashing through the water.
The adults, however, wore grave expressions. With no thought of enjoying the pleasant weather, they stood beneath the eaves and talked.
Jiang Qing stood by his bedroom window, watching the rain outside and the Wu family sedans driving away from the island.
Twenty minutes earlier, the Wu Family Head had received a sudden phone call. Jiang Qing had barely heard a woman’s voice from the receiver. The Wu Family Head had then risen and left with Wu Ying, several members of the family, and a number of retainers.
“What happened? Could it have something to do with Mei Yanlan?” Jiang Qing murmured.
It was only a guess based on the context of their earlier conversation with the Wu Family Head. Behind his glasses, his sharp black eyes moved with thought as he ran through the possibilities. After a long while, he took out his phone.
“The Wu family just set out, but we don’t know where they’re going… Of course, several of our plants inside the Wu family were taken along. We should learn what’s happening soon…”
After ending the call, he took out another phone and dialed a different number.
“The Atavist families are making unusual moves tonight. It seems to involve the young heir of the Long family again…”
When they received the intelligence from their spies, they did not connect the Atavist families’ unusual movements with the actions of the Atavist Genetics Research Organization under their control.
With the growing number of foreign Atavists and the crimes triggered by the earthquake in Mingbo City, incidents were breaking out everywhere. It was perfectly normal for the Tribunal Division to send members of the Atavist families to assist.
More important, several of their plants within those families had been taken along. If anything unusual happened, they would be notified at once.
After the incident involving Wen Yuxian and Zhang Simiao, the Atavist families had purged the Atavist Serum Organization’s plants. However, the agents placed by its sister organization were still there, and they were both safer and better hidden.
These great Atavist families had hundreds of members and could barely recognize all their own people. Their ranks had long since been riddled with infiltrators, yet they continued on without realizing it.
That sense of security was why Miss Hong’s emergency call caught them completely off guard.
“What happened?!”
Inside the conference room, several beams of light converged on the chairs. Masked figures appeared one after another.
They wore all kinds of clothing. Some were dressed in suits and leather shoes. One wore a military uniform with two bars and three stars on the shoulder insignia. Others wore white coats, while some were dressed in ordinary hoodies and jeans.
Their ages also varied, ranging from seventeen or eighteen to eighty or ninety.
Their masks concealed their faces, but their tightly pressed lips revealed the same displeasure and unease.
A man wearing a swallow mask said, “One of our insiders reported that they were blindfolded as soon as they got into the vehicles. There was a signal jammer inside. They only learned that the target was our headquarters after they arrived. By then, it was too late to send a warning.”
“So they already know we still have people hidden inside the families?”
“It appears so, but they probably don’t know who they are. Apart from the family heads and young family heads, everyone was blindfolded.”
“That no longer matters. What matters is how they found out!”
“How they found out doesn’t matter either. What matters is how much we lost!”
At those words, everyone turned toward the man in the swallow mask with grim expressions.
He sighed.
“Orders surged because of Mei Yanlan. Our revenue increased by 24.6 billion this month, all of it paid as deposits. Now that the plan has failed, we’ll have to refund every customer… With that money gone, several scheduled experiments will have to be delayed, and construction on a number of expensive spatial nexus devices will also have to stop…”
“Our great cause has to be put on hold again?”
The room erupted.
“We created those two subsidiary organizations to make money and serve as shields, allowing us to pursue a far greater plan. Now one of them is almost destroyed, while the other has had its headquarters raided! Who comes next? Us?!”
“How was the information leaked?!”
“Long Jin of the Long family told the other families to do this.”
“Her again! We let her go last time because of that information broker, and now she’s interfering again?!”
“Kill her!”
“Kill her!”
Roars filled with rage and murderous intent rang through the room. Flames of bloodlust seemed to surge toward the young woman.
“Move! Follow me! We’re evacuating this place right now! The rest of you stay behind and destroy every file on our customers and associates!”
Miss Hong strode through the building, shouting orders at the organization’s key researchers. A long line of people soon followed behind her.
Miss Hong had already retreated into the research facility, but its doors and walls could not stop the warriors of the Atavist families. Fortunately, the organization’s combat personnel outside, along with its agents inside the Atavist families, could buy them enough time through both open and hidden means.
On the surface, the bubble had only one entrance and exit. In truth, there was another secret passage leading to the exit, known only to the administrators.
Their plants had not warned them, which meant the passage had not been discovered.
Miss Hong’s heels struck the floor with crisp clicks as she led the group toward the passage. Listening to the fighting outside, she wore a dark expression and kept wondering how everything had gone so wrong.
It was all the Ling family’s fault.
And also…
Miss Hong stopped and turned toward a window beside her.
Through it, she could see the chaos in the plaza below, as well as three people who remained almost still amid the disorder.
Long Jin!
She must have called in all these Atavist families. That hateful brat had barged in from nowhere and ruined everything!
But how had she found out?
Mei Yanlan could not have told her. Mei Yanlan’s reaction had seemed genuine.
Could it have been that damned information broker? But they had already bought exclusive rights to the information!
Consumed by rage, Miss Hong continued toward the secret passage while sending an email to the information broker, demanding an explanation. Her fingers shook as she typed.
Mei Yanlan’s injuries were severe, almost fatal.
Most of the flesh around her waist and abdomen, which had protected her internal organs, was gone. Her ribs and lumbar vertebrae were shattered. Her damaged organs were visible to the naked eye, along with the thick blood filling her body cavity and spreading across the ground behind her.
Because Atavists possessed powerful bodies and strong healing abilities, killing them through physical damage alone was difficult. Poison, which could destroy the body from within, had therefore become an essential component of Atavist weapons.
“I’ll give her a dose of blood-producing serum first to replace the blood she’s lost, then an antidote to hold the toxins in check for a while. I formulated both of them myself. They’re potent and place a heavy strain on the body. Whether she can endure them or not, she’ll have to.”
Tang Woxue crouched on the ground and opened his medical kit. His expression was stern, but his movements remained steady and organized. He spoke as he administered the injections, leaving no room for argument.
“That’s fine. Do whatever you think is best,” Jing Pei said.
Her voice carried complete trust, as if it did not matter that all his knowledge of Atavist medicine was self-taught or that he had only become an Atavist doctor a few months ago.
Tang Woxue paused for a fraction of a second, then returned to treating Mei Yanlan.
In all his years of studying medicine, this was the first time he had encountered a patient in such a condition. An ordinary human with injuries like these would not even be sent to a hospital. They would be taken straight to the funeral home.
Once injected, the red blood-producing serum stimulated the blood-forming cells in an Atavist’s body, forcing them to produce blood at high speed. This allowed an Atavist who could not receive a transfusion in time to replenish their own blood and avoid dying from blood loss.
The serum caused serious harm and could even shorten the patient’s lifespan. Still, compared with dying on the spot, it was a worthwhile trade.
After the two potent serums entered her body, even more blood flowed beneath Mei Yanlan. Her body had begun producing fresh blood, but her ruptured vessels could not contain it.
Fortunately, the antidote soon took effect. Working alongside Mei Yanlan’s healing ability, it fought against the toxins eating away at her body. At the very least, her battered body would not deteriorate any further.
Tang Woxue took out more instruments and began stopping the bleeding, sterilizing the wounds, and stitching them closed.
Only an Atavist’s body could withstand treatment in such a filthy, smoke-filled environment.
This was Tang Woxue’s first time performing emergency surgery under conditions like these. But the situation was urgent, and there was no other choice.
Neither the trembling ground nor the battle raging ahead made his hands waver. Every movement was precise and decisive, and not a single drop of sweat appeared on his brow.
The worse the situation became, the slower his heart beat and the calmer he grew.
Perhaps this was the opportunity the information broker had mentioned.
Through this incident, Tang Woxue might be hired by the Long family as their private doctor.
Yet that possibility only deepened his doubts about the information broker. Getting close to Long Jin through a position as the family doctor was no longer practical. Chu Xusheng had become her retainer, giving the Long family a second Atavist besides Jing Pei.
How was he supposed to carry out his plan now?
Jing Pei stood nearby as if she could not read his thoughts. She kept watch over the area, kicking aside any ally or enemy who came flying toward them.
One of the allies she sent flying cried out in grievance, “Long Jin!”
“All right, go catch them. Someone’s trying to escape.”
“Damn it! Stop right there!”
The person immediately forgot the humiliation of being kicked and rushed off in pursuit.
Jing Pei picked up the diary from the ground. It was most likely the object that had been inside the brown-paper package, the one that had caused Mei Yanlan to be shot.
She flipped through it.
It was Wen Can’s diary.
The diary had never appeared in the original novel. The plot had indeed kept one final trick in reserve. It knew exactly what could make Mei Yanlan lower her guard.
This diary contained the three years they had spent together. Every word and every sentence carried Wen Can’s tenderness and love for her.
Throwing it away would be like throwing away Wen Can, the person who had loved her so much.
How could Mei Yanlan bear to do that?
Love had become a dagger.
Jing Pei had not expected that.
Her watch vibrated. She took out her phone, opened her inbox, and saw Miss Hong’s message. The rage behind the questions was clear in every word.
The corner of Jing Pei’s mouth rose as she replied.
[My dear Miss Hong, you did buy exclusive rights to your own information, and I have always followed the professional ethics expected of an information broker, right up until you broke our agreement first. Consider this your punishment.]
Miss Hong was already leading the group through the secret passage when the reply arrived. Her mind, clouded by rage, could not process the accusation.
[What are you talking about? I broke the agreement?! Explain yourself!]
By the time she sent her reply, the group had reached the end of the passage.
Miss Hong opened the door with care and found herself looking straight at a member of the Wu family outside.
Their eyes met for a brief moment.
The Wu family member looked away first and walked off. His body expanded as a massive Black Tortoise shell bulged from his back, blocking the view between Miss Hong’s group and the exit at just the right moment.
Miss Hong and the others left at once.
Several members of the Atavist families were still guarding the cliff outside. But the moment Miss Hong’s group came out, they jumped straight over the edge.
By the time their pursuers descended the cliff, the fugitives had vanished without a trace.
For the moment, the relief of escaping alive outweighed Miss Hong’s anger toward the information broker.
They entered a hidden chamber beneath the cliff and rode a vertical lift down. Before long, they reached the foot of the mountain, where vehicles sent by the head boss were waiting.
Miss Hong led the group into the vehicles, and they sped away from the dangerous area.
“What happened in there? I heard all the major shareholders are furious. You’d better prepare yourself,” the driver said.
Miss Hong shuddered. A chill crept up her spine, only for rage to flare in her chest once more.
That information broker had no professional ethics at all. The organization had suffered devastating losses because of him. The entire organization would investigate him and hunt him down. He would have to face the fury of every major shareholder!
A hidden sense of relief rose within her.
After all, this was the information broker’s fault.
She opened her inbox.
[You worked with the new recruit I had my eye on and tried to uncover my true identity so you could move against me. Did you really think you could hide that from me? This is only a small return gift.]
Miss Hong’s expression froze.
[See? I still kept some information to myself instead of selling it, such as the location of your secret escape passage.]
The final message left Miss Hong even more rigid, her face as white as paper.
You call this showing mercy?
You’ve left me with no way to live and no way to die!
