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Chapter 411: Chapter 412: You Are Her, Aren’t You?

"She’s dead."

Abigail said.

Chen Xuan could also see that there was a bullet hole in her chest, right through the heart and lungs. Her breathing had long stopped, her body temperature had cooled, and more crucially, he couldn’t sense her in his Heart Method—she was a corpse, devoid of any Spiritual Qi glow.

"How could this be..." Honglian murmured incredulously, "We clearly rushed over here so quickly..."

"Sometimes things just happen like this, not everything goes as you wish, no matter how much effort you put in, the outcome won’t change." Reid put away his gun and patted Honglian on the shoulder.

This was the first time he showed kindness towards a traitor to the Mechanism.

Neither Abigail nor Reid seemed to care much about Rodiya’s death. The toppling of the Evangelical Association’s assassination squad in New City and the outing of the spy within the Mechanism branch were undoubtedly a great victory. Just losing a few defecting Evangelicals was a minimal price to pay.

"Help... help me..."

A faint moan came from the other side of the shelf.

"There’s a survivor over there!" Reid dashed over immediately, "Are you okay? Where are you hurt?"

"My, my leg... it might be broken..."

Chen Xuan glanced in that direction; there were four light spots, the same as his previous scan result.

He walked over and saw four warehouse employees lying on the ground, two of them unconscious and the other two groaning in pain.

"Don’t be afraid, you’re safe now." Reid comforted, "I’m an investigator from the headquarters, what happened here before?"

"There was an Ability User killing people... I heard it was the Evangelicals..." The employee with a leg crushed under the shelf said painfully, "We were forced by the guards to escape deeper underground, but we didn’t expect a traitor among them, who actually shot at us!"

Another conscious employee nodded along, "I was cleaning the shelves in the outer warehouse when suddenly the power went out. I was about to go up and ask what was going on when I ran into James, Quinn, and Shelly..." he pointed to the people beside him, "We just kept running inward, gunshots were everywhere, it was utter chaos, it seemed like everyone was killing each other... Thank God, you finally came."

"Is the deceased outside someone who came in with you?"

"Deceased?" He shuddered in fear, "Was there someone else who died?"

"A female, considered an officer of the Mechanism." Reid didn’t mention her status as a defector from the Evangelical Association.

"I don’t know... the warehouse was pitch-black, I only heard gunshots and screams, and someone shouting to close the door quickly." The employee shook his head, eyes full of terror, "If I had known this... I absolutely wouldn’t have come to work this night shift."

Just then, all the fluorescent lights in the warehouse lit up, and the ventilation fans started whirring.

"Power’s back! Abigail, where are you? The Action Team will be there soon!" The voice of team leader Landa came through the intercom.

"I’m in the basement warehouse. The enemy has been eliminated, the Execution Team doesn’t need to come, just send the Logistics Team to transport the wounded." Abigail replied disdainfully.

"It’s over just like that?" Landa was clearly taken aback, "Alright, understood."

After turning off the intercom, Abigail nodded toward Chen Xuan and Honglian.

The two understood and followed her to a corner of the warehouse.

"You need to go now." Abigail said succinctly, "Shixin’s okay, but someone at the New City branch might recognize Honglian. If they see you here, I’ll be in trouble."

Honglian instinctively looked at Chen Xuan.

After a moment of contemplation, he said, "This is the only way."

"I’ll have Reid give you a lift, he can cover for you two. Just pick an employee uniform to wear, and leave through the back door on the first floor. Although this area is surrounded by the Mechanism, with your abilities, you should be able to slip out unnoticed."

"No need for a ride, I don’t want any more explosives on me before I leave." Chen Xuan politely declined her offer.

As they reached the warehouse’s isolation door, Abigail called out to them again.

"Anything else?" Chen Xuan turned back.

"...Thank you." she said sincerely.

"You already thanked us over the phone," Honglian sneered.

"I’m not referring to you helping me deal with the Evangelical Association trouble, but thank you for giving me more to think about. Once this is all settled, let’s meet up somewhere." Abigail smiled, "After all, I have an ability to return to you."

After leaving the innermost storeroom, Chen Xuan found a quiet corner and activated his recall ability directly.

The next second, he and Honglian were back in the main store.

"What do we do?" As soon as they landed, Honglian said, frowning, "Rodiya is dead, our only lead is cut off, does this mean we can never find the past Lin Qing again?"

"Theoretically, yes." Chen Xuan nodded first, but then changed his tone, "But that’s assuming she’s really dead."

Honglian was slightly taken aback, "You think she’s not dead?"

The corpse wasn’t fake, the deceased looked exactly like Rodiya in the photo...

It hardly seemed like a disguise.

When Chen Xuan first saw Rodiya lying motionless in a pool of blood, his heart sank, but he quickly realized something: If Rodiya died here, history would change, and Lin would no longer appear in the future.

"Maybe the future has already changed." Honglian mumbled softly after hearing his doubt, "Why not go check out Binjiang Garden Subway Station now?"

"No need, because Rodiya’s death wasn’t caused by us. In other words, whether we intervene or not, the Evangelical Association would send people to assassinate her, being trapped in the transit warehouse was an inevitable outcome." Chen Xuan explained, "Plus, we still remember Lin, which is proof enough."

Honglian thought for a moment and understood his point, "You mean... our memories haven’t been rewritten by history, so it hasn’t changed yet?"

"Exactly." He affirmed.

"Then where did she go?" Honglian looked at him expectantly, "Do you have any leads?"

"We’ll visit a place tomorrow." Chen Xuan didn’t answer directly, "Maybe we can find the answer there."

...

This place was New City’s Sinai Hospital.

As one of the best hospitals in New City, it was also a long-term partner of the Dimensional Limit Mechanism. If a Mechanism officer or a company under them was injured, they would be brought here for treatment, not only skipping the queue but also enjoying full reimbursement under the employee insurance.

Of course... this information was obtained after Honglian inquired about Abigail.

"2562... 2562..." Chen Xuan walked through the long, clean corridor, searching for the target room, until the nameplate of ward 2562 came into his view, "Ah... this is it."

He glanced left and right, ensuring no nurses were nearby, then pushed open the door.

The two slipped into the ward quietly, Honglian even thoughtfully supported the door panel so that it closed without a sound.

A patient lay in the room.

She was wrapped head to toe in bandages, with a bunch of multicolored cables and infusion tubes attached to her arm. The life-sign monitor by the bed emitted a steady beep. Judging by the data, she was out of life-threatening danger, a successful rescue.

A patient card was posted at the head of the bed, clearly recording her name: Shelly.

She was one of the survivors of the warehouse attack.

Chen Xuan walked to the head of the bed, gazing down at her closed-eyed face, "What did her personal data say again?"

Honglian took out her phone, reading from the screen, "Shelly, 36, an employee of Miller Storage Company in New City. Five years on the job, residing in the Brooklyn District..."

After she finished reading, the room remained silent.

Then Chen Xuan spoke, his voice low and gentle, "But this person is not who you are now. Perhaps I should call you... Rodiya?"

The other remained unresponsive.

He shrugged and leaned in close to her ear, "I know what you’re afraid of, don’t worry, we’re neither from the Mechanism nor Evangelical assassins, otherwise, you’d have died in the warehouse already. By the way, your ability is the Mind Reading Technique, right?"

The woman’s eyes suddenly opened wide.