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Chapter 412: Chapter 413: A Daring Plan

"Eh? Is it mind reading?" Honglian tilted her head, "Shouldn’t her ability be something like personality shaping or memory transfer?"

"Hmm, I find it quite strange. Maybe she’s the only one who can tell us that." Chen Xuan pulled a chair over and sat down by the bedside, "Perhaps we can have a talk."

"Who... exactly are you people?" Xie Li shrank back immediately.

"We’re ability users here to find you to help save our friend," Chen Xuan smiled, "Can’t you read minds? Just take a look, you’ll see I am not lying to you."

The surprise and fear slowly faded from her face, and she seemed to sense no hostility from the two.

This made Chen Xuan secretly breathe a sigh of relief. Gaining the complete trust of a stranger is extremely difficult, but if the other person can directly listen to your inner voice, it would undoubtedly save a lot of mutual probing efforts.

"Listen, we can protect you, and we have the capability to protect you." He decided to cut to the chase, "But before that, you have to tell me, how did you manage to transfer memories to this person?"

This point is quite critical.

He must understand the entire transfer process before he can confidently allow her to approach Lin Qing.

"I... I... don’t have that ability..."

"No, you do." Chen Xuan interrupted directly, "And we both know that; otherwise, I wouldn’t be here."

With that, he grabbed her hand.

"Ah!" Xie Li cried out in pain, "What are you doing!"

"Chen Xuan?" Honglian also expressed concern, "You’re scaring her."

"Why would that be? This is what she hopes would happen. Because physical contact can greatly enhance your mind-reading efficiency, isn’t that right?" Chen Xuan asserted, "If that’s the case, then deeply feel the experiences I went through to find you!"

Xie Li’s struggle stopped instantly, her pupils contracted sharply, and her entire being seemed to plunge into a state of temporal suspension.

This state lasted for about a minute.

When her eyes regained focus, her whole body was trembling, bent over and gasping for breath.

"You... have been to... the future?" Xie Li whispered incredulously.

"That’s right, I got your information from a century later, which means cooperating with me can at least ensure you survive until 2108." Chen Xuan released her hand.

She lowered her head and was silent for a long time, seemingly digesting the incredible information.

Chen Xuan did not urge her further.

He knew he had to give her some time to accept it.

"I see." When Xie Li spoke again, her tone was entirely different from before — if earlier she was full of confusion and panic, now her words carried a touch of calmness and meticulousness, "I thought that when I opened my eyes again, I could completely escape the whirlpool, but I didn’t expect to attract someone as significant as you. Well, it can only be said that man’s plans cannot keep up with divine change..."

"Uh... are you admitting it?" Honglian was somewhat surprised by how quickly her tone had changed.

"What else can I do? I can’t lie to myself." She pouted, "Yes, I am Rodiya. Joining the Mechanical Officer was out of necessity, but I didn’t expect them to not even consider those who sided with the Evangelical Association. That safe house was basically just an unguarded civilian apartment, let alone the fact that the intelligence team leader, Fermi, was essentially a spy for the Evangelical Association!"

"If I continued to stay within the Mechanical Officer, sooner or later, I would be killed by the Evangelical Association. But where else could I escape on my own? Even if I changed my identity, they would still find me."

"Unless... I was truly dead."

Xie Li... or rather, Rodiya, slowly revealed her plan.

She had to die in front of everyone, ensuring both the Mechanical Officer and the Evangelical Association confirmed her death, to truly end this pursuit.

But this plan wasn’t conjured out of thin air.

It started from a piece of information Rodiya discovered — as a new employee, she was sent to New City Port to receive goods transported from other divisions. It was an unremarkable chore, but with her mind-reading technique, she easily collected some secrets inadvertently. For instance, she learned from the escort officer that the FC2609 batch was transported from the Jiang City division, containing a peculiar item.

Its name was the Soul Forge.

Chen Xuan suddenly recalled a strange metallic art piece placed in the No.3 warehouse on the 2nd Layer. It was roughly the size of a car, shaped like an ancient forge, with a coarse metallic surface, and rust visible at the corners, contrasting starkly with other exquisite gemstone necklaces, human stone carvings, and antique bronze wares.

"That thing that looks like a giant anvil?"

"Yes." Rodiya nodded, "The Mechanical Officer thought it was useless and left it in the transfer warehouse at New City Port. But the moment I touched it, I felt its consciousness — it yearned to work, desired to burn, and anticipated the infusion of souls."

Back then, she was surprised to find that this item was incredibly compatible with her abilities.

Memories were no longer just illusions confined to her mind.

The peculiar item could turn them into tangible entities!

Moreover, this entity could produce different effects depending on the type of forging, at least that’s what the forge "told" her.

"You should understand what I’m saying, right?" Rodiya sighed, "Because I saw... that you have also interacted with peculiar items, and even used it to create a factory."

She referred to the N959. Chen Xuan was slightly surprised; was the mind reading technique so effective that it even glimpsed the parts he didn’t mentally showcase?

"Of course," he replied calmly on the surface, "go on."

Later, Rodiya visited the warehouse several times as a Mechanical Officer officer and, without anyone knowing, forged the first product — a crystalline spike.

When she inserted the spike into the body of a stray dog, the dog briefly exhibited understanding far beyond its peers.

"Does it only work for a short time?" Honglian asked.

"No, I killed it." Rodiya replied, "If I had let it go, the consequences would have been dire."

She took a sharp breath, "Killed... then its memories..."

"Came from a childhood playmate of mine." She frowned, "You don’t think I killed my friend, do you? He’s alive and well."

Chen Xuan was not keen on debating such ethical issues, "And then you chose Xie Li?"

"I didn’t have a choice." Rodiya gritted her teeth, "The day I joined the Mechanical Officer, I knew there was something wrong with the intelligence team leader, but I held onto a glimmer of hope since I wasn’t the only defector in the division. Until later, when the safe house was cleared, I realized even the Mechanical Officer couldn’t protect me. To survive, I had to disappear from the world."

Thanks to her mind-reading technique, she could easily gain others’ trust.

Or perhaps threaten them with secrets they didn’t want others to find out.

Being an officer of the Mechanical Officer herself, it was not too difficult to temporarily enter the warehouse for refuge without reporting to her superiors. In there, Rodiya crafted a brand-new creation — her own soul, and from that moment, a bold plan emerged in her mind.

She had to transfer her memories to another unrelated person and then kill herself.

She didn’t specifically choose Xie Li.

It just so happened that the cleaning duty a day before fell to Xie Li.

Upon hearing this, Honglian shivered.

She finally realized that the woman in front of her wasn’t as petite and weak as she appeared — her plan was both bold and meticulous. More importantly, she actually dared to shoot herself! No one else at the company realized there were two Rodiyas in the underground warehouse that evening.

She disguised herself as an ignorant "rookie," who accidentally leaked her hiding place during an online chat. By the time the Evangelical Association’s pursuers arrived as scheduled amidst the chaos, Rodiya emerged from the shadows, leaning against the wall, allowing the other Rodiya to shoot through her chest.