Hearing this, a smile appeared on Li Sang’s face. She reached her hand out toward Xu Jiao, about to say something, but Jiang Taian beat her to it. He also extended his hand toward Xu Jiao. “Welcome to the team.”
Looking at the two hands stretched out toward her, Xu Jiao froze for a moment. She quickly reached out both of her own hands, shaking Li Sang’s and Jiang Taian’s hands respectively. “So now… can I leave?”
Leave?
Leave to where?
Li Sang’s gaze instantly shifted away.
She avoided answering the question. To think about leaving now was nothing more than a pipe dream. After all, Xu Jiao already knew far too much.
“No.”
Jiang Taian’s voice was blunt, answering her immediately after she spoke.
The moment this answer came out, Xu Jiao grew indignant. Her eyes widened, and a look of disbelief surfaced in them. “What do you mean? I already promised to help you.”
She blurted the words out instinctively.
However, she was quickly corrected by Jiang Taian.
“You aren’t helping us; you are helping this country.”
Xu Jiao was just an ordinary citizen who had lived a quiet, unremarkable life in her previous existence. When presented with a concept as grand as national duty, she couldn’t accept it immediately. In her subconscious, she felt she was simply helping Jiang Taian and Li Sang.
This response left Xu Jiao speechless for a moment.
She opened her mouth, and after a long pause, she spoke again. “So, what am I supposed to do now?”
“You need to come with us.”
This matter had been authorized by the higher-ups. Since they had succeeded in their recruitment, they needed to show the results to their superiors.
In truth, the vast majority of people did not believe what Li Sang had said. Only Uncle Lin had stood against the consensus to dispatch this team to Li Sang to cooperate with her mission.
In other words, Li Sang had not yet secured a firm footing. She also needed someone to prove her value.
Xu Jiao was that person.
This space, which could store all things, should not be used merely for food. It could perhaps play an even greater role. As long as Xu Jiao’s ability was verified and recognized, both Xu Jiao and Li Sang would be highly valued by the state.
Xu Jiao might not have realized this yet, but Li Sang knew it clearly.
“Come with you? Where to?”
“You’ll know in a moment.”
As Jiang Taian said this, he gave a slight nod, signaling Qi Yan to drive. Seeing this, Qi Yan nodded and immediately swapped seats with Ling Lan. He sat in the driver’s seat, preparing to start the battered Wuling Hongguang and head to their next destination.
Before the car started, Jiang Taian pulled open the car door, looking as though he intended to get out.
Li Sang called out to him before he stepped down. “Captain Jiang, where are you going?”
Aren’t you coming with us?
Hearing this, Jiang Taian paused mid-step and looked back at Li Sang. “Do you want me to just leave my motorcycle behind?”
“…”
Oh, right. Jiang Taian had ridden a motorcycle here earlier.
As if thinking of something, Jiang Taian stared at Li Sang for a moment. “Want to ride together?”
Although the Wuling Hongguang was a wreck, at least one didn’t have to deal with the wind.
Consequently, Li Sang immediately sat back down and waved her hand in Jiang Taian’s direction. “Drive safely, Captain.”
She wouldn’t be joining him.
Jiang Taian’s eyes darkened slightly. He gave a small nod and closed the car door.
Once Jiang Taian shut the door, the Wuling Hongguang, which had been idling for quite some time, finally started and drove aggressively toward a certain direction.
Watching the scenery outside the window become increasingly unfamiliar, Xu Jiao felt her heart grow more and more apprehensive. She felt like she was being sold out while still helping the buyer count the money.
To ease her anxiety, Xu Jiao turned her attention to Li Sang, who was also a woman.
The reason she didn’t look at Ling Lan was that Ling Lan was sitting in the front passenger seat, making it difficult to talk to her.
“Are you all really from the government?”
Li Sang nodded. “Yes, the real deal.”
“Then why don’t you have any IDs or something to prove your identity?”
Did people in classified work really need those things? Wasn’t that only for the top brass to know?
Li Sang found it hard to explain, so she could only say, “They are legally carrying guns. That should tell you their status is definitely not ordinary.”
And it was one gun per person. Aside from what Xu Jiao already knew, Ling Lan also had a handgun on her. It was issued to prevent special circumstances from occurring.
Xu Jiao caught the most critical point in Li Sang’s words. “What do you mean ‘they’? Don’t you have a gun?”
“…”
Was Li Sang even qualified? Forget a gun—she didn’t even have a fruit knife in her pocket.
“I’m the same as you. I was also recruited by the state.” Li Sang spoke with a mix of truth and fiction.
“What?”
The girl in front of her was also recruited by the state?
“Then… then you…”
Xu Jiao suddenly began to stutter. She sat with her mouth open, not knowing what to say. Recalling Li Sang’s words from earlier, she guessed, “Then… are you also a rebirther? What is your ability?”
Wrong. Li Sang was a transmigrator.
Before Li Sang could answer, Xu Jiao answered for her. “You know so much… is your ability predicting the future?”
That was the excuse Li Sang had used to fool Uncle Lin. She had originally intended to continue using it, but she felt it would be hard to fabricate details later, so she hadn’t brought it up. But since Xu Jiao had taken the initiative to guess for her, she didn’t deny it.
“What do you think?”
Since they were in the same car, their conversation couldn’t possibly be hidden from Qi Yan and Ling Lan. Rather than saying Li Sang’s words were meant for Xu Jiao, it was more accurate to say she was intentionally letting Qi Yan and Ling Lan hear them.
The car continued driving toward the remote outskirts, heading further and further until it seemed like they were going deep into the mountains and old forests.
By now, Xu Jiao was numb; she wasn’t even afraid anymore. Instead, she asked calmly, “How much longer until we arrive?”
“One minute.”
This time, the one who answered her wasn’t Li Sang, but Ling Lan, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.
Ling Lan’s voice was cold, and her delicate, beautiful face remained expressionless. Such was her personality; she did not like to smile or talk much. At first, Li Sang thought this person was targeting her, but she later discovered that Ling Lan wasn’t targeting her specifically—she was equally cold to everyone.
The moment Ling Lan’s voice fell, the smoothly driving Wuling Hongguang suddenly made a sharp turn, charging straight toward the distant forest. Seeing that the car was about to crash, Xu Jiao took a sharp breath and clenched her fists.
This single day was more thrilling than her entire previous life.
Just when she thought a violent impact was imminent, the car continued to drive smoothly, though its speed gradually slowed until it came to a complete stop.
She slowly opened her tightly shut eyes to look at the surroundings. Once she saw the environment, she couldn’t help but gasp.
Before her eyes was a parking lot as large as several basketball courts combined. It was filled with various vehicles: large trucks covered in graffiti, rusty three-wheeled carts, and even shared electric scooters and bicycles occupied a space.
Just as she was about to ask where they were, she saw a red flag fluttering in the airflow, slanted across a massive support pillar.
In that moment, she suddenly felt a powerful sense of belonging to this place.