Chapter 981: I Want to Find Him Back

Hidden at the end of the thirty-six thousand experiment records was Tan Xin's most affectionate confession.

It was like a fiery rose hidden beneath a thick iceberg. Only if Hongxiu patiently peeled away the ice bit by bit could she see the final surprise... or rather, his final sincerity.

The moment this voice sounded, Hongxiu's eyelashes trembled gently, and her eyes opened hazily in the darkness...

She had a dream.

She dreamed that she was wearing a trench coat, standing in the ice and snow, a violent explosion appearing like a sun attacking this place, while she pressed a man against the wall...

Then...

Hongxiu turned her head slightly to look beside her. The tongue was no longer making any sound. In the dead-silent room, only two lines of clear tears slowly blurred on the pillow.

"Is it a dream..." In Hongxiu's mind, only the voice that had just echoed in her ears remained.

"No, that's not right..."

Hongxiu suddenly picked up the tongue and rotated it back to the very beginning. A moment later, the emotionless voice sounded again:

"I am Tan Xin, Deputy Chief of the Aurora Domain Law Enforcement."

"To prevent the destruction of paper experimental data, I hereby synchronize the use of the [Rotten Tongue] to preserve the Aurora Lord's experimental data..."

"Experiment number 00001, we will..."

“……”

Tan Xin.

The moment this name sounded, Hongxiu's heart trembled slightly.

In her current memory, "Tan Xin" was just a neighbor's brother from her childhood. Although they had some feelings for each other as children, he died of illness when he was fifteen... And now, his name had become the Deputy Chief of the Aurora Domain Law Enforcement.

And, she and Tan Xin also...

Hongxiu couldn't be sure if the voice she had just heard was a dream or reality.

Hongxiu's fists were tightly clenched. She tried to speed up the tongue to listen directly to the last sentence, but this sacrificial vessel didn't seem to have an acceleration function; it could only start from the beginning.

"Damn it..."

Hongxiu took a deep breath, sat upright on the bed, cast aside all sleepiness, and carefully listened backward bit by bit.

Time passed second by second.

When the tongue repeated the one-thousandth experiment, the sound of an old-fashioned alarm clock rang from the bedside.

Hongxiu's eyes were bloodshot. She looked at the time and knew it was time to encircle the Rat Party... She didn't turn it off, but covered it directly with the lid of the pendant to block the sound, then hung it back on her neck.

She got out of bed and stopped in front of the wardrobe.

Under the dim kerosene lamp, an old set of knight armor hung neatly on the wall, while a black law enforcer trench coat sat quietly beside it.

Hongxiu's gaze swept over the two outfits. After a brief hesitation, as if she had made some kind of decision...

She grabbed the black law enforcer trench coat and walked out the door with long strides.

……

Chen Ling walked down the steps step by step and stood still at the church entrance.

It was dawn, about two hours before sunrise, which was also the time when everyone's vigilance was at its lowest... This was the best time to launch the encirclement of the Rat Party.

At the church entrance, many figures were already waiting. Seeing Chen Ling walking toward them, everyone turned to look.

Among them were two figures Chen Ling was very familiar with.

One was a dark-skinned old man wearing a dirt-colored straw hat, and the other was a woman wearing a trendy blue beret. Chen Ling had seen them at the banquet last time.

Fire-Tamper Thief Saint, Huang He, and Lan Yu... they were also the leaders of this encirclement of the Rat Party.

It was clear that Chi Tong attached great importance to this encirclement, deploying two Seventh-Order Thief Saints at once, with Hongxiu sitting in command; they were almost determined to root them out.

Huang He didn't greet Chen Ling, just looked at him coldly before looking away. Lan Yu, on the other hand, looked Chen Ling up and down carefully, seemingly curious about him.

"Why hasn't Hongxiu come yet?" Huang He was somewhat displeased.

"We can't order that one around~" Lan Yu, wearing the beret, rolled her eyes. "That's an Eighth-Order [Asura]... She's got a lot of airs."

“……”

"Pity, so what if she's an Eighth-Order [Asura]? She's still held firmly in the palm of the King's hand..."

Before Lan Yu could finish, Huang He glared at her. The latter caught a glimpse of Chen Ling still being there, snorted coldly, and stopped talking.

Just then, a red-haired figure walked straight over.

"Yo, finally here."

Hongxiu came before the crowd with an expressionless face, her gaze sweeping over Chen Ling inadvertently before looking at Lan Yu and the other.

"Let's go." She said faintly.

The others didn't feel anything unusual about Hongxiu, only Chen Ling, seeing her bloodshot eyes, felt his heart stir slightly.

With everyone present, Huang He led the group to the cars.

Chen Ling casually found a car to sit in. Since there were many people going out this time, he naturally didn't need to be the driver himself. The other ordinary Fire-Tampers, seeing him in this car, went straight to the cars behind; no one dared to sit with him.

Regardless, Chen Ling's identity was a "World-Ending" calamity; no one wanted to be in close contact with this guy.

Lan Yu, wearing the beret, looked out the car window and saw Chen Ling inside, her eyebrows raised slightly... Just as she opened the door to get in, a palm pressed down on her shoulder.

Lan Yu frowned, looked back, and saw Hongxiu's expressionless face.

"What are you doing?" Lan Yu asked irritably.

"He is the person Chi Tong specifically named for me to protect. No one else is allowed in this car except me."

"What do you mean? Do you think he'll be in danger if I sit with him?"

"My mission is to protect him. I don't trust anyone but myself."

"You..."

Lan Yu wanted to retort, but seeing the faint killing intent in Hongxiu's eyes, she swallowed her words... After glaring at her fiercely, she turned and walked toward the cars behind.

Hongxiu waited until she was far away before opening Chen Ling's car door.

"Why are you opening my door?" Chen Ling, sitting in the back, was stunned.

"Go drive."

“……”

Chen Ling remembered that no one else could sit in this car except the two of them... The task of driving naturally fell on him.

He returned to the driver's seat reluctantly and started the car. Hongxiu sat in the passenger seat very naturally. When Huang He and the others' cars moved forward, they slowly followed.

The car was very quiet. Chen Ling had been observing Hongxiu out of the corner of his eye. Thinking of the things he had said to her today, he decided to test her one more time.

"Miss Hongxiu..."

"What do you need me to do?" Hongxiu asked calmly.

"...Hmm?"

"You said today that what I carry is more important than I currently think, which means you must know me... I mean, the former me."

"Do you... believe me now?"

Hongxiu didn't answer. She just silently clutched the pendant on her neck. After a long while, she looked at Chen Ling with red eyes.

"I think I lost a very important person." Hongxiu's voice was somewhat hoarse.

"Now, I want to find him back."