Chapter 578.1: Plan 03

"Quest..."

Staring blankly at the man before her, fear and confusion were written all over Yang Xiaoyang’s eyes as she instinctively shuffled backward.

Seeing her reaction, Night Ten put away his blood-stained blade and scratched his helmet. "Don’t be scared by how I look. Actually, I’m a good guy...

Uh

, okay, I know saying that doesn’t sound very convincing."

If it were him, and some lunatic suddenly barged into his apartment complex going on a killing spree, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him along, he would probably piss himself in fear.

The fact that the little girl hadn’t cried yet showed that her psychological resilience was pretty strong.

The problem was, he truly didn’t know how to explain the current situation. He himself was utterly confused.

According to the original plan, he should have taken a carriage to the nearby slaves’ dormitory, sneaked into the side hall after getting off, and quietly taken the target away without anyone noticing.

It was a shame things had gone off track from the very beginning.

Halfway through, the carriage suddenly stopped. The coachman rushed inside and lunged at him like a madman.

At first, Night Ten had thought to subdue the man, but he quickly realized it was useless. The guy couldn’t be reasoned with at all. He even tried to snatch Night Ten’s weapon.

Unable to communicate, Night Ten had no choice but to snap his neck, then jump out of the carriage and run straight for the side hall at the corner of the estate.

However, once he reached the side hall, he realized it was nothing like he had imagined. Everyone inside had turned into the same crazed state as the coachman.

The instant he set foot inside, those people sensed him and swarmed toward him like zombies.

If not for Old White sending the exoskeleton to the settlement beforehand, and that rebellious commander helping deliver it over, breaking out from that horde of zombies would not have been easy.

To be honest, he was still completely in the dark, unable to figure out what had happened.

The only thing he could be sure of was that something catastrophic had taken place in this estate, and likely across the entire settlement.

Perhaps they should have carried out a more cautious investigation before entering.

Clearly, someone had set their sights on them, exploited their plan, and sprung a trap.

While Night Ten was racking his brain over how to explain, the girl lying drowsily in Yang Xiaoyang’s arms suddenly fluttered her eyelashes. As if stirred awake by the noises around, she let out a sluggish murmur. "I’m hungry..."

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

That eerie voice drifting out of nowhere chilled the two of them to the bone, as if they had fallen into an ice pit at negative 50 degrees.

Yinyin opened her mouth with exaggeration, gums turning outwards, like a starving beast that hadn’t eaten in a week, and lunged at Yang Xiaoyang’s neck.

Yang Xiaoyang froze completely as she was too stunned to move.

Just as that gaping maw was about to bite down, a gun barrel rammed violently into her mouth, shoving Yinyin back.

"Ah!" A furious roar burst out of Yinyin’s throat. Her veiny hands clawed forward, and her blood-thirsty eyes looked ready to tear Yang Xiaoyang apart.

"You, are you insane?! Get away from her now!" Night Ten shouted, cold sweat dripping down his back at the sight of the terrified little girl.

Good grief.

The thing was already about to bite and she didn’t even flinch. She actually closed her eyes.

If he had been two minutes late, the body lying there would already be a mangled corpse.

As Yinyin thrashed with a contorted face and the gun barrel jammed between her teeth, Yang Xiaoyang suddenly snapped back to her senses. She lunged forward, hugged his leg, and pleaded with a sob in her voice.

"Don’t... Don’t shoot!"

Looking at her desperate pleas, Night Ten gritted his teeth. In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. He disengaged the safety, grabbed the half-zombified girl, dragged her aside, and tied her limbs with plastic rope.

Bound and writhing on the ground, Yinyin’s lashes were dusted with dirt, her once beautiful face twisted grotesquely. She bared her teeth, hissing like a rabid beast.

"She’s already zombified... just like the others outside, they’re basically Crunchers. Damn it, did those bastards plant something other than Na Fruit?"

Standing at the side, Night Ten glanced at the struggling girl, then turned toward Yang Xiaoyang kneeling on the floor. "There’s no time to explain. I’ll keep it short, believe me or not. Your father paid us to get you out of here. All you need to do now is stick with me and I’ll get you out. But if you don’t behave, I’ll have to tie you up and drag you along like her. Understand?"

If he could, he would rather not. Dealing with those creatures outside was already trouble enough. He didn’t have infinite ammunition either.

He suspected not just the people in this estate had turned into those things, the entire settlement might be overrun. Who knew what they would run into next?

Fortunately, though she didn’t seem very bright, the girl was calm enough. Even terrified, she hadn’t lost the ability to communicate.

Looking at the blood-soaked man, Yang Xiaoyang paled and nodded. "Understood... I’ll follow you. Please, please save Yinyin..."

Glancing at the girl trussed up against the wall, Night Ten’s face twisted awkwardly. "Save... How the hell am I supposed to save her."

Truth was, he didn’t even know what had happened to them.

Was he supposed to seal her mouth with tape and haul her back?

Well, it wasn't impossible.

But he was only one man. One burden was trouble enough, dragging along another deadweight? Even he wasn’t confident he could get them both out.

Yang Xiaoyang swallowed hard, trying to keep calm, and said shakily. "I... I might know why everyone turned out like this."

"

Hmm

?" Night Ten looked at her.

Seeing that he was willing to listen, Yang Xiaoyang patiently went on. "This side hall... It’s a very important place in the estate. A long, long time ago it was the main building, but after the new manor was built, the lord used this place to confine important guests."

Surprise flickered in Night Ten’s eyes. That didn’t sound like something a six year old would say.

Did she even understand what a hostage was?

"And?"

Yang Xiaoyang continued, "Because this place was so important... Many people guarded it. Some servants here aren’t really servants, they are the lord’s trusted men. Honestly, it’s even safer than the main manor here. That’s why the lord felt this place is secure. If I went elsewhere, lots of people would come looking for me. But here, if I disappeared for a while, no one would care..."

"In other words, if there was any secret that needed hiding, your lord would most likely put it here?" Night Ten rubbed his chin in thought.

Whether for protection or surveillance, that was indeed the safest choice. The hostages in the side hall could also serve as decoys.

Sending guards to other sectors would only attract more attention.

Yang Xiaoyang nervously nodded. "

Mm...

don’t you think it’s strange? Such an important place, yet they built a huge basement only to store junk. And really, no one ever put actual daily things here. Just look, the dust on those boxes is so thick."

Night Ten raised his flashlight and swept it around, trying to glean some clue. But no matter how he looked, it seemed like nothing more than an ordinary basement.

Still, as she said, leaving such a meaningless space in such a critical place was indeed suspicious.

Even if it had been dug out earlier and was no longer used, shouldn’t they have buried or sealed it?

But the owner of the settlement hadn’t.

"Then... Yinyin told me there’s an iron door in the basement. She said if we hid behind it, no one would ever find us. So she brought me in secretly."

"Honestly... I felt it wasn’t right. If we saw something we weren’t supposed to, something terrible could happen. But I couldn’t dissuade her, so I followed."

"After we came down, she said she heard something, then dragged me forward... and we actually found that door."

Night Ten gulped. "That door... What was behind it?"

Yang Xiaoyang shook her head, regret etched on her face. "I don’t know... Yinyin tried to open it, but not long after she touched the handle, she fainted. She slept for so long, and when she woke up, she was like this. I think it has to do with the sound behind that door... but I couldn’t hear what she said she heard."

Night Ten frowned. "I didn’t hear anything either."

That shouldn’t have been possible.

His perception points were through the roof, he could magnify even the tiniest sound with his sixth sense and instinctively analyze it.

If there had been something, it wouldn’t have escaped him.

Strangely enough, he sensed nothing.

"... I believe Yinyin wasn’t joking. She really heard something, followed it, and found that door. If we can go in and shut off whatever is making the noise, maybe she will return to normal." With that, Yang Xiaoyang clutched Night Ten’s arm, gazing up at him with pleading eyes. "Please... save her."

Honestly, Night Ten didn’t want to stir up more trouble.

The plan had already gone off course, and who knew what was happening over at Ample Time’s side.

There were so many unexpected twists already, maybe their primary mission to control Pinecone Ranch’s lord had failed. In that case, pulling out with the secondary target might be the safest move.

Lingering in the basement was dangerous. The only exit could be easily blocked by reinforcements.

And... What if there was nothing behind that door?

Moreover, if the place really mattered that much, why wasn’t there a single guard? There wasn’t even a lock on the door! Two kids found it effortlessly and nearly opened it.

However, seeing the kid’s desperate eyes, Night Ten finally gritted his teeth and made up his mind, knocking his fist against his helmet.

"... Ample Time, what’s your status?"

Shame. His communication channel was dead, and all he heard was static.

From his instincts alone, he knew that something was interfering with the signal.

Night Ten cursed under his breath, tapped his helmet to cut off his connection before turning back to the girl with pleading eyes. "Think it through. You only have one life. This isn’t a joke. I don’t want to hear ‘how could this happen’ or ‘maybe I was mistaken’ later."

His death didn’t matter. He had a life every three days.

Failing to bring the target back safely would let down Brother Falling Feather, but given the circumstances, the man wouldn’t blame him too much.