All of a sudden, Ren Xiaosu recalled that every time the palace reset the nanomachines, it would always say “removing remote access protocol” while doing so. Could the problem lie with the remote access program?
The soldiers who were hell bent on becoming nanosoldiers could never have expected they would end up like this, right?
It was no wonder Hu Shuo said the Li Consortium were out of their minds. They were so cruel to treat their own soldiers this way!
Hu Shuo looked at Ren Xiaosu and said, “Your brother, Yan Liuyuan, and the others are living on Baoyuan Alley. It’s about 10 kilometers away from here. Go and look for them, then get out of this place.”
“You haven’t answered my question yet.” Ren Xiaosu said, “When will Li Qingzheng be escorted back to Stronghold 108, and where will he be held?”
Hu Shuo seemed a little surprised. “You want to save him? You’re that type of person?”
Ren Xiaosu said in a serious tone, “It’s true that I’m not a good person, so I’ll have to think about it a little more. But I don’t deny the possibility exists.”
“You won’t get a chance to save him while they’re on their way back here.” Hu Shuo said while looking at Ren Xiaosu, “But I know where he’ll be detained to be interrogated. However, you better think it over carefully. That place is heavily guarded, so I don’t think you’ll stand much of a chance.”
“You don’t have to worry about me.” Ren Xiaosu said, “If I’m not confident, I won’t sacrifice myself for nothing since I’m not that kind of person. Just tell me when he’ll be escorted back and where he’ll be held.”
“The basement of the garment factory.”
Hu Shuo did not take back Ren Xiaosu’s Office of Special Investigations ID. Although Ren Xiaosu had caused him quite a bit of trouble, he was still willing to continue helping out this kid a little.
Before leaving, Hu Shuo even had someone send over a drawing of the Li Consortium’s secret hideout below the garment factory.
“Master, are we going to save the Lord of Wolves?” Chen Wudi asked curiously.
Ren Xiaosu did not say anything and sat there in silence. After a while, he sighed and said, “Let’s go and locate Yan Liuyuan and the others first.”
Ren Xiaosu started the truck after paying the bill. Chen Wudi followed and said, “Master…”
“Don’t try to persuade me. I have to think about it more.” Ren Xiaosu frowned as he clearly knew it would not be easy to save Li Qingzheng, and he might even end up dying. Was Ren Xiaosu someone who would do something like that?
Chen Wudi said, “It’s not that, Master. I just want to say that I’m not full yet…”
Ren Xiaosu said, “…It’s alright, we’ll have Big Sister Xiaoyu make you some food when we get to Baoyuan Alley.”
Chen Wudi got into the truck happily. He sat in the passenger’s seat and hesitated for a moment before saying, “Master, you actually wish to be a good person too, right?”
“Don’t talk about that anymore. I’m not suited to be a good person,” Ren Xiaosu said, peeved. When he stepped on the gas, Chen Wudi nearly threw up the lunch he just had!
While driving, Ren Xiaosu suddenly said, “I doubt Li Qingzheng has spilled the beans on us yet, dontcha think? Otherwise, everyone in the stronghold would’ve already come after us by now.”
Chen Wudi was not sure what point his master was trying to make. “Mhm.”
Ren Xiaosu muttered to himself, “Li Qingzheng is also quite pitiful. He could’ve run away, but he still chose to help us lure those fucking mysterious troops away when they suddenly appeared.”
Chen Wudi nodded. “Mhm.”
Ren Xiaosu got more frustrated the more he thought about it. With a sudden spin of the steering wheel, the large truck completed a beautiful drift on the streets of the stronghold. Wang Yuchi and the others were nearly thrown out of the truck.
The truck made a U-turn and headed back from where they came. Everyone in the truck was wondering where they were speeding to.
Five trucks were zooming back down from Position 313 in the north like a violent storm. Along the way, not one single checkpoint dared to stop them from passing.
Li Qingzheng was sitting in the back of the truck that was traveling in the middle of the convoy. These mysterious troops had not even cuffed him. It was like they were not afraid that he’d try to escape.
Li Qingzheng looked at the officer sitting opposite him and said with a smile, “Sir, where are we heading?”
“The stronghold.” The officer said with an impassive expression, “I suggest you quickly tell us about Ren Xiaosu’s whereabouts and everything strange that’s going on around him. Otherwise, you’ll regret not cooperating with us when we get back to the stronghold.”
Li Qingzheng faked a smile and said, “I really don’t know anything. That Ren Xiaosu is such a jerk. He didn’t even tell me, the platoon commander, about anything when he got into trouble. Let me go. I’ll definitely give him a good scolding for you all when I see him!”
The officer still looked at Li Qingzheng expressionlessly but did not waste any more time talking to him.
While sitting in the back of the truck, Li Qingzheng saw the view of the outside slowly recede from his sight. The snow-capped mountains were beautiful and magnificent. A giant hawk was hovering near the distant mountains. However, he was not in the mood to enjoy it.
“A fortune teller said I would get into the stronghold after meeting my benefactor this year, and I was told I would become a successful and well-known person in the future too.” Li Qingzheng said with a wry smile, “At the time, my father was extremely delighted and specially went out to the market to buy me some meat to eat. I even remember that he drank a little that night. He was really proud that his son was going to become a brave person with a bright future.”
Li Qingzheng lamented, “But I didn’t expect to be coming into the stronghold under such circumstances.”
All of a sudden, a young officer who was sitting diagonally across him laughed. “Where is this fortune teller now? Can I look for him to have my fortune told?”
Li Qingzheng was stunned by his question. “The fortune teller left town long ago. No one knows where he went.”
“Oh.” The young officer did not seem to be particularly disappointed. “I thought of finding out my fate after my revenge is done. Let’s get to know each other. I’m Li Shentan, a friend of Ren Xiaosu’s. Pleased to meet you.”
“You…” Li Qingzheng was at a loss. He still could not understand what was happening, nor did he know who the hell Li Shentan was. But he realized the officers around him did not seem to have heard Li Shentan’s words as all of them sat there unmoving.
Li Shentan laughed happily and said, “I was just kidding with you. I really envy Ren Xiaosu for having a friend like you. You must also be very envious of Ren Xiaosu for having a friend like me, right?”
Li Qingzheng was confused by Li Shentan’s words. Was this young man named Li Shentan acting confident or being narcissistic? What sort of crap was that?
Li Shentan said, “Right now, Ren Xiaosu believes you’re going to be sent to the garment factory in Stronghold 108. To be clearer, it’s the Li Consortium’s secret hideout located under the garment factory. He’s still hesitating about going there to rescue you.”
“What do you mean by that?” Li Qingzheng was even more confused now. “Don’t try anything stupid! Aren’t you his friend? Why would you want to lure him to the secret hideout?”
“Because… it’s fun.” Li Shentan said with a smile, “I want to find out how that friend of mine treats his friends.”
Behind that smile seemed to be a crazy and restless soul that had no place to call home. It was chaotic and temperamental.
But when all of those complexities came together, they suddenly became calm.
If Ren Xiaosu were here, he would have realized it was actually Li Shentan’s idea for Hu Shuo to deliberately reveal all that information to him.
The troops who captured Li Qingzheng were not the Li Consortium’s mysterious nanosoldiers but the troops Li Shentan controlled. However, no one knew where the remainder of the forces were hiding as there were only 500 of them here.
This was a game. Li Shentan had decided to let Ren Xiaosu lift the curtain in what would be the destruction of the Li Consortium.
But at this moment, a shocking explosion erupted at the head of the convoy. It was as though an extremely powerful bomb had been detonated!
Immediately after, Li Shentan’s expression changed. “How careless of me. He’s actually come to intercept the convoy!”
He grabbed Li Qingzheng and jumped out of the truck, but a shout echoed in the wilderness, “Old Li, your old bro is here to save you!”
When Hu Shuo relayed the information to Ren Xiaosu, he mentioned the armed forces escorting Li Qingzheng were extremely powerful, so it would be unrealistic to intercept the convoy along the way.
He had said that because he wanted to lure Ren Xiaosu to the underground hideout and make him believe it would be impossible to intercept the convoy.
But Ren Xiaosu felt that something was wrong the more he thought about it. There was a logical problem somewhere. If he could not intercept them along the way, how could he possibly save Li Qingzheng after he was brought to a place with even tighter security?
Furthermore, Hu Shuo had even prepared a drawing of that hideout for him. This caused Ren Xiaosu to suspect that the old man didn’t have good intentions!
That was why Ren Xiaosu suddenly drove out of the stronghold after having lunch and ended up rushing all the way here into the wilderness!
After Li Shentan jumped out of the truck, he rolled twice on the ground. When he looked up with his face covered in dirt, he saw Ren Xiaosu dashing towards him while covered fully in his armor.
Li Shentan was in a pathetic state. But for some reason, he was laughing very happily. “Interesting! Hahaha, how interesting!”
