After living in the factory for a week, I had a basic understanding of the organization's internal structure. They primarily relied on mercenaries, with the black-clothed operatives as secondary. There were also many experts from various fields, including hackers, chemists, biologists, and demolitions specialists. Compared to the criminal groups I had encountered before, the scale of this organization was far more terrifying.
I had been an undercover agent before, but that was nothing compared to this. This was my true test.
I lived harmoniously with those scoundrels, though it was all deliberate on my part.
They all thought I had ichthyosis, but in reality, I had nothing.
I had long since changed my phone, and my face was covered by a new disguise. This time, I didn't use the art of disguise because it was unnecessary; Kelly knew everything.
I had their people help me make a new handgun and modified my bracelet so it could now fire throwing knives. When I had free time, I practiced throwing knives or shooting, and sometimes I did push-ups and running to improve my physical fitness.
One day, Kelly suddenly had an idea and asked me to take a truckload of medicine boxes to Qiaojing Bridge in Guangming City. She told me to drop the boxes into the water and leave as quickly as possible.
I knew they were about to make their move. Did they want to spread this drug?
I accepted the mission, drove a truck, and at 1 AM, disguised as a delivery worker, I threw the medicine boxes into the sea. In reality, I had swapped out all the medicine boxes, so there would be no problems. I got out of the truck and went onto the Qiaojing Bridge. I marked it with chalk, hoping Hexin would understand.
It was a series of numbers, along with a face of Joaquin Garcia. Hexin, you must find this and decipher it, then we can cooperate from the inside and outside!
After leaving some clues, I drove back to the factory.
It seemed that my actions during the mission went completely unnoticed. I returned to the organization's factory as if I had perfectly resolved the situation. Even Kelly herself couldn't detect anything suspicious. When I approached her, I knelt on one knee (it was the organization's rule to salute leaders this way): "Lord, I have returned."
"Tiandao, I want to ask, what were you doing when you got out of the car for a while?" Kelly asked curiously, her mask still on, only her emerald-like discerning eyes fixed on me.
"Just needed to pee. I was holding it in the car," I replied as naturally as possible. At times like this, one absolutely could not show any nervousness, as it would only arouse more suspicion.
Kelly stared at me sternly. The tattooed men beside her glared at me with fierce intensity. Sensing the shift in the atmosphere, a sudden tension grew within me. Had I been discovered? But I had been so careful just moments ago.
If I were exposed so quickly, it would be disastrous. I still had so much to do.
Kelly squeezed my shoulder forcefully: "You weren't secretly communicating with your people, were you?"
"No! Blood Eye Lord (Kelly's title in the organization), why would you say such a thing? You personally brought me in. Don't you trust your own judgment?"
This rhetorical question seemed innocuous but left Kelly somewhat at a loss for an answer. After all, if she said she didn't trust me, she would be contradicting herself. If she trusted me too easily, she worried about being deceived.
However, Kelly was not an unreasonable person. She quickly calmed down: "Good! You are indeed loyal. I was just testing you earlier. A normal person would become nervous from this, but you showed no such reaction. I believe you are truly subservient to us."
Speaking of subservience, the term was actually fitting. Kelly also understood that I, a former leader of the Punishment Squad, could hardly change my mind so easily. But for various reasons, driven by my own self-interest, I wanted to live, and for now, I had to compromise.
It was possible that Kelly understood this point all along. While I was using her, she was also using me. She believed she could eventually sway me, and she certainly had that confidence.
The mission concluded, and she had someone escort me back to my room. It was a hidden room in the underground level of the factory. I saw many members of the organization staying here. I couldn't contact the police with my phone now, and Kelly's people undoubtedly had a listening device on me. If I made any move, I would likely be killed before even leaving this room. If I was going to infiltrate, I had to be patient. I decided to sleep.
As I lay down, I couldn't stop dreaming. I dreamt that Hexin saw the clue I provided and was discussing it with the police. However, she couldn't understand the meaning of the numbers or the face of Joaquin Garcia. I was speechless. How could Hexin, usually so sharp-witted, falter at such a crucial moment? Could it be deliberate?
I saw her repeatedly saying that this was left by me. Liu Yuning also excitedly exclaimed, "He Sheng isn't dead! He must still be alive!"
"I think so too! This is the clue he left for us!"
However, others shook their heads as if they were just talking in their sleep.
At that moment, I was startled awake. Outside the door, I heard the sound of someone dragging another person. I peeked through the crack in the door and saw a woman, who had been knocked unconscious, being dragged downstairs by several tattooed men and then thrown into another room.
It seemed they had brought back new captives. I took the opportunity to find an excuse to look into the rooms. So I walked out. Seeing me, several tattooed men of lower rank than me also knelt on one knee.
Although I was not very high-ranking in the organization now, due to Kelly's promotion, I had risen quickly. During this time, I had also assisted the organization with several missions, but I had been very cautious throughout, and no one had discovered anything.
I waved them away and then approached the doors of those rooms. Looking through a rectangular opening above, I saw at least several women hidden inside. If there were so many in one room, then the entire floor would likely hold quite a number. Why would the organization capture these women? Was it for that kind of purpose?
Women victims were taken away either for lust or for money, with the former being more common. One could imagine the fate of these women. I had noticed an increasing number of such women recently. Besides the ichthyosis, the organization was likely planning this scheme.
I observed other rooms and found that other rooms also held several women piled together. However, in some rooms, some women already showed large patches of scales, indicating that there were also ichthyosis patients among them.
If these people were placed together haphazardly, they would surely erode each other. The organization intended to witness this deliberately.
As I was thinking, suddenly, I heard screams from one of the rooms, and my gaze immediately shifted there.
In the adjacent room, several women were biting and clawing at each other, pulling each other's hair, and kicking and punching. It looked like none of them intended to let the other go. Among these women, one had ichthyosis that had spread throughout her entire body. Seeing the bluish-purple scales in clumps was particularly shocking. During the struggle, one woman accidentally tore off a scale from the ichthyosis patient. The woman screamed, and the wound where the scale was torn off bled blue blood. She rolled on the ground in pain, writhing as if a piercing pain was ravaging her body.
Seeing her like this, the other women backed away several steps, not daring to get close. However, more blood sprayed from the woman's body, staining them. Soon, the women's skin began to burn intensely, and they rolled on the ground.
Gradually, I saw similar scales appearing on their bodies. These scales spread at a visible rate, gradually covering their entire bodies.
I witnessed the entire process of this transformation firsthand, and only then did I realize how terrifying ichthyosis was. The organization was spreading this terrible disease. If I hadn't swapped the boxes they told me to throw into the water, Guangming City would probably be suffering by now.
I knew they would not limit themselves to these experimental subjects. These poor women.
I dared not linger any longer. These people were clearly beyond saving, and given the current environment and my identity, I couldn't save them either, unless I wanted to die.
Back in my room, I felt a wave of despair. As the leader of the Punishment Squad, I could only watch those people fall ill and die without being able to do anything. What was I even doing!
I lay on the bed in regret, conflicted, but reason told me that this was futile. The next day, my door was quickly knocked on. Two tattooed men came into my room. Seeing their nervous expressions, I wondered if my previous mission had finally been discovered and had failed. I had been thinking of excuses to fend them off last night.
I was then brought to Kelly. She didn't ask immediately but instead showed the tattooed men gathered in the conference room, who were staring at slides projected on a screen: "Everyone, the boxes we dropped yesterday have had an effect. Look, chaos has already begun outside. The police have seen bodies washed up on the beach!"
Kelly kept playing the slides. I felt a sense of bewilderment but had to maintain my composure. Internally, however, it was like surging ocean waves, crashing against me and almost shattering my internal organs. How was this possible?