South District, City X, Nightingale Headquarters.
In the dimly lit office, several people sat behind a long table, looking at Leizhe standing next to the projection.
“This is the current situation. The news about the agreement spread quickly and has already caught the attention of the authorities,” Leizhe leaned on the edge of the table, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Do any of you have anything to add?”
A young man who still had a hint of youthfulness spoke up, “Is there still no news about my brother?”
“Knock, I’ve already asked my captain to find Avis for me.”
“I know,” Knock said with a worried frown, “But being a negotiator is also dangerous, isn’t it?”
Leizhe let out a heavy sigh and turned to someone who had remained silent all along, “Klet, are you alright?”
Klet, who hadn’t paid attention the whole time, seemed to have just heard Leizhe speaking and absentmindedly raised his gaze, “I’m fine.”
“Let’s continue to push forward,” Malken interjected, “The negotiator is no longer under the control of the chip, so he should be fine.”
“Alright,” Leizhe stood up straight, casually crossing his hands on his waist. “Next, we will officially release the details of the agreement and hopefully the media cooperates fully.”
It would take some time to set up the scene, but it should take no more than ten minutes at most.
Adding the return journey, which would probably take about twenty minutes, the time left for Shen Siwei would be around half an hour.
Back at Moran’s place,,,,
He weakly leaned against the wall, taking three steps and pausing, then five steps and resting, although he was getting more accustomed to the feeling of being unable to catch his breath, his speed still couldn’t improve.
After turning a corner, he saw a staircase leading to the upper level not far away. Shen Siwei had roughly figured out the layout of the basement, but finding Amor proved to be difficult.
However, he noticed a room below the staircase that looked like a storage room. The door was unlocked, and a serene blue light shone through the crack.
It looked like a workspace, and there might be some clues to be found.
Gasping for breath, Shen Siwei reached the door. He glanced at the time; it had taken him about six or seven minutes to walk from the bedroom to the staircase.
He pushed open the partially open door, and a small space appeared before his eyes.
The wall facing the door was covered with surveillance screens, and Shen Siwei saw the bedroom he had just left.
Moran’s “collection” was indeed extensive.
One room was filled with proportionally scaled silicone dolls dressed in various beautiful clothes. Apart from that, the other rooms were filled with real people who looked exactly like Shen Siwei.
He counted them; there were about six or seven young men with beautiful faces, and among them were Amor and Avis, whom he had been searching for.
“Pervert,” Shen Siwei couldn’t help but curse.
He turned around and left the monitoring room, following the trail of the surveillance footage, he found the room where Amor and Avis were.
—It’s not that he didn’t want to save the others, but he was currently overwhelmed and could only focus his strength on the task at hand.
After using all his strength to break a password lock, Shen Siwei collapsed by the open door, finally seeing Amor.
Amor was sitting on the sofa, hugging his legs, wearing a crown made of straw, and dressed in Roman-style clothing. He looked like a piece of art displayed in a temple.
“Amor,” Shen Siwei gasped, calling out to him.
He had many things he wanted to say to Amor, but Amor seemed as if he hadn’t heard his voice. He continued to stare lifelessly, as if blocking out all signals from the outside world.
“Amor,” Shen Siwei called again, “It’s dangerous here. We must leave quickly.”
Amor still didn’t react, and if it weren’t for the rising and falling of his chest, Shen Siwei would almost have mistaken him for a statue.
“I saw Li,” Shen Siwei had to bring out his trump card.
Amor’s eyes flickered at this, finally looking at Shen Siwei and moving his lips, “He’s already dead.”
His voice was dry and parched, as if he hadn’t spoken for a long time. Shen Siwei couldn’t help but empathize with him, imagining Klet being shot right in front of his eyes. He immediately felt suffocated and dizzy, quickly dispelling the thought.
“I know you’re grieving, but we can only avenge Li by leaving this place,” Shen Siwei said, checking the time. Fifteen minutes had already passed, and Moran must be on his way back.
“It doesn’t matter,” Amor withdrew his gaze, his eyes becoming empty and numb, “This world is beyond salvation.”
Things became a bit tricky, which Shen Siwei hadn’t expected. Amor refused to leave with him. Without Amor’s cooperation, given Shen Siwei’s current condition, he couldn’t take Amor away at all.
Time seemed to be running faster with every passing second, and with each tick of the second hand, Shen Siwei grew more anxious.
He didn’t expect to convince Amor in a matter of minute, So he crawled up from the door, turned around, and went to look for Avis.
collapsing in the same position for the third time, Shen Siwei’s face had turned pale.
He gasped for breath as if starved and thirsty, but whether it was due to physical exhaustion or not, the sense of suffocation this time was particularly strong. It made his vision darken, and he almost passed out.
But just then, Avis rushed over and helped him up. “Negotiator?!”
After sitting up from the collapsed position, his breathing became much more stable. Shen Siwei tightly grasped Avis’ arm with his five fingers and took a while to recover. “Let’s go.”
It was only at this moment that Shen Siwei noticed Avis wearing a cheongsam, with arms and thighs covered in scars.
“Why are you here?” Avis wrapped Shen Siwei’s arm around his shoulder, then circled his waist, supporting him. Although Avis was not strong and had also been injured, he was at least a grown man and had no problem supporting Shen Siwei as they walked.
The snail-like pace finally picked up, and Shen Siwei temporarily breathed a sigh of relief, saying, “I came to find you and Amor.”
“Amor?”
“No time for small talk. Moran will be back soon.” Shen Siwei pointed to the open room ahead. “He refuses to leave. Help me drag him out.”
“Okay.” Avis supported Shen Siwei and walked towards Amor’s room, asking, “Is he also one of Moran’s collectibles?”
“Yes,” Shen Siwei replied.
Amor had the typical appearance of a Marg. Thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a high nose bridge. Although Shen Siwei didn’t know when Moran decided to kidnap him and use him for his collection, one thing was certain: Moran liked beautiful people, and Amor naturally fit his aesthetic.
And from another perspective, perhaps the ancient Roman costumes prepared by Moran could only be worn with a classical sculptural beauty by Amor.
“That perverted son of a bitch, he only knows how to torment others when he can’t get it up,” Avis cursed.
“He can’t get it up?” Shen Siwei was somewhat surprised.
“Yeah, he can’t get an erection.” Avis said, “I couldn’t find the legendary agreement online, so I thought of coming to the upper level to look for it. Leizhe knows where Moran likes to go for vacation, so I disguised myself as a service staff to get close to Moran. As a result, that pervert locked me up.”
Suddenly, Shen Siwei remembered that before, Nightingale wanted to get rid of the Marg negotiator and Avis went undercover next to Klet. One had to admit that Shen Siwei admired Avis for having such courage.
“You’re looking for the ‘Life Tree Development Agreement,’ right?” Shen Siwei said, “Nightingale has already got it.”
“Really? That’s great.” Avis grumbled, “I really want to kill that bastard Moran.”
As they talked, the two arrived at the door of Amor’s room. However, Amor just glanced at them indifferently and began to gaze blankly again.
“Your father sent me to find you. I won’t leave you here alone,” Shen Siwei raised his chin towards Amor, signaling Avis to pull him away.
“Father?” Amor moved his lips and a touch of sadness flashed in his eyes, as if mocking himself. “In the end, I can’t escape that family.”
“let’s go quickly.” Avis took three or four steps and stood in front of Amor, pulling his arm, but Amor pushed him away.
“Don’t touch me,” Amor frowned.
“Moran will be back soon. Do you want to be trapped here for the rest of your life?” Avis asked impatiently.
“It doesn’t matter.”
Avis looked helplessly at Shen Siwei, using his eyes to ask: Should we leave him here?
Shen Siwei frowned and walked slowly towards Amor. “Moran is the one who killed Li. How would Li feel if he knew you were trapped by Moran here?”
“No,” Amor said sadly, shaking his head. “I killed Li. If he hadn’t known me, he wouldn’t have…”
“Slap!”
Amor’s second half of the sentence was drowned out by the sound of a slap.
Shen Siwei didn’t have much strength, and the slap wasn’t particularly heavy, but it was enough to shock Amor.
“You’re the victim. Stop always blaming yourself. How can you pretend that nothing has happened by staying in this place? Avenge Li. Since you don’t care about anything anymore, why don’t you let your hatred out and get justice for Li?” Shen Siwei said calmly.
“I…” Amor stammered, unable to speak. Shen Siwei glanced at the time. It had been more than twenty minutes already. They couldn’t stay any longer.
I…,” Amor stammered, “I don’t hold any hatred…”
“Nonsense,” Shen Siwei said calmly, glancing at Amor. “I’ve read your diary. you have a lot of complaints in there ?”
Amor was at a loss for words, and Shen Siwei checked the time. Over twenty minutes had already passed, and they couldn’t delay any longer.
He turned to Avis and said, “Take him away.”
Although Amor resisted slightly, he didn’t struggle. He let Avis pull him up from the couch.
For Avis, who was covered in bruises, it was a bit challenging to handle two people alone.
Amor was fine, able to walk on his own, but Shen Siwei could only lean on Avis with half of his body. And the faster they walked, the more difficult it became for him to breathe.
As they exited the room, Shen Siwei stumbled and fell accidentally, unable to keep up. With his arm wrapped over Avis’ shoulder, Avis also fell to the ground.
“Are you both okay?” Amor finally snapped out of his daze and helped Avis and Shen Siwei back up.
The ticking of the seconds felt like a countdown to a bomb, making everyone tense. Shen Siwei glanced at the time and had to make a decision. “You two go ahead.”
Avis hesitated, “And you?”
“Moran should be here soon. You won’t get far with me. ,” Shen Siwei said, lifting Amor’s wrist to activate the communicator and sending the coordinates to Miller.
Unlike Shen Siwei, Amor’s external communication couldn’t be cut off by the control panel. He was merely confined to the room and couldn’t receive signals.
After leaving the room, although data refresh was slow and the network connection icon kept spinning, they were fortunate enough to receive a weak signal. However, the question remained as to when the coordinates would be successfully sent.
“And I can’t leave this building,” Shen Siwei continued, “I can’t breathe once I’m outside.”
Although there should have been multiple aircraft in Moran’s garage, and there was still a chance of escape, it had already been over thirty minutes, and Moran was most likely nearby.
“There should be vehicles in the garage,” Amor suddenly said, “I can carry you there.”
Whether it was Shen Siwei’s slap that woke him up or not, Amor finally showed some cooperation. He was the tallest among the three, being a Marg, and he didn’t have as many injuries as Avis. If he agreed to carry Shen Siwei, it would indeed be the best option for all three to escape.
Shen Siwei nodded, “Okay.”
Amor bent down willingly and lifted Shen Siwei on his back. The pace of the three instantly increased, and within a few seconds, Amor and Avis reached the staircase while jogging.
But just as Amor’s right foot stepped on the first step, a voice suddenly sounded from above the corridor, saying, “Recognition successful.”
In the next second, the sound of the elevator door opening followed, and light poured into the corridor, casting a tall figure wearing military boots on the wall.
The elevator door quickly closed, and the corridor returned to darkness.
In that instant, Shen Siwei thought about having Amor and Avis go back into the room and hide, but the electronic lock had already been tampered with, and hiding would be useless. He jumped off Amor’s back, blocking the path in front of the two.
Click, click, click…
The sound of the military boots grew closer, as if treading on Shen Siwei’s heart. Every step increased his heartbeat.
Tiny beads of sweat appeared on Shen Siwei’s forehead without him realizing it. He could almost hear the sound of sweat dripping from the corners of his eyes. Although he wasn’t moving at the moment, the feeling of suffocation covered his entire body.
Click, click, click…
Time seemed incredibly slow, yet incredibly fast. Shen Siwei could sense that Amor and Avis behind him were holding their breath, and the air surrounding the three of them seemed to become thick.
Click, click, click…
Finally, the footsteps reached the platform between the floors, and Moran abruptly stopped, lowering his gaze to the three figures below in the corridor. His expression remained hidden in the shadows and was difficult to discern.
“Huh.” After understanding the situation, he moved his lips slightly, and a faint laugh escaped, “Shen Siwei, you’re even more disobedient than I imagined.”
