Ch 97: Defection

“Thump thump thump——”

Cui Zixuan jolted awake, sitting up in bed.

Ever since she feigned madness, her room’s door hadn’t been knocked on in a long time. Whenever the door rang, nothing good ever followed.

But it wasn’t mealtime yet, and she hadn’t put on makeup. She possessed the beauty of sleeping in until she naturally woke up every day.

“Thump thump thump——”

Cui Zixuan didn’t dare make too much noise. She quickly picked up her makeup brush; the dark circles under her eyes had to remain.

Seemingly after a long wait, a doubtful voice came from outside, “She’s not in the room?”

“She’s lucky, go look elsewhere.”

Cui Zixuan was about to open the door when she heard this strange conversation.

What did “She’s lucky” mean?

Surely nothing good.

But she had already gone mad like this, would they still assign her dangerous tasks? Or why would they say she was lucky?

A bad feeling welled up in Cui Zixuan’s heart.

She didn’t open the door immediately, but listened to the two people leaving, and used her Special Ability.

She followed behind the two.

The two first walked around this floor, then, finding nothing, they went to the cafeteria.

Finally, they went to the Recreation Area, but still found no trace of Cui Zixuan.

“Where could that madwoman have gone?”

The Guard found it strange, he picked up the phone.

“Doctor Xiao, Cui Zixuan isn’t in her room, we’ve even searched the cafeteria and the recreation area, she’s not there. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, alright, we’ll go check the Monitoring Room now.”

“Doctor Xiao? What does he want with me, even checking the monitoring to find me? But if he checks the monitoring, wouldn’t he discover that I’ve been following them the whole time?!”

Could she keep up the act of madness?! Should she confess now, was it still possible?

Thinking this, Cui Zixuan decided to confess to Doctor Xiao, avoiding the awkwardness of being exposed after the monitoring was checked.

To speed things up, she used her Special Ability and arrived at the Research Center.

Someone looked at her with a strange gaze.

“Why did you come here by yourself?”

Where were the Guards? If this madwoman had a relapse, who would care? And why wasn’t she wearing an Ability Lock? The Staff member frowned at Cui Zixuan.

“Ah, I have some things to tell Doctor Xiao.”

“Oh, he’s been waiting for you, come with me.”

Just as Cui Zixuan was about to follow the person to find Doctor Xiao, the text appeared on the back of the Staff member’s Lab Coat.

It was a word, “Escape!”, written in fresh blood. What did this mean?!

The unease in her heart intensified. As if afraid of being discovered, the word “Escape!” was gradually blurred by the newly added blood, as if the back under the Lab Coat had a wound.

Two Guards rushed over. Their expressions were strange as they looked at her, and one of them had their hand behind their back.

Cui Zixuan watched the approaching guards warily.

Suddenly, the guard with his hand behind his back brought it forward, and in his hand was an Ability Lock!

As if deliberately trying to avoid being discovered by her?!

Cui Zixuan’s life-saving instincts were extremely strong. Without time to probe further, she quickly used her Special Ability to teleport away.

“Are you sick?! Why did you leave the Ability Lock out like that?!”

“I didn’t mean to! It’s like someone pulled my hand, pulling my hand out!”

“Why do you have such a large bloodstain on your back? Did that madwoman hurt you?”

“No, it might have been accidentally splashed during surgery?”

……

Her sixth sense about facing death was always accurate; before she could figure it out, her body had already reacted.

Cui Zixuan had transferred to the City. She felt that everything that had just happened was unusual.

She was “mad,” yet the Guards were still searching for her, making her see Doctor Xiao, yet preparing an Ability Lock.

This clearly meant they were afraid that she would use her Special Ability to escape, but what did she need to face, and why did she need to escape?

She felt she couldn’t return to the Base. If she was caught even a moment later, she would probably face something terrifying.

And the person who wrote the word “Escape” seemed to know the inside story, already clearly reminding her.

Where could she go?

Cui Zixuan immediately thought of Olijia’er, because Wu Qian was still there.

But how should she face Shen Mengting, how could she survive?

That’s right, she knew Ji Chuan’s whereabouts! Li Jingru had already announced to all the Higher-Ups that Number One had gone to Xinze City. This news had already spread throughout the Base.

But the people at Olijia’er probably didn’t know yet, right? Using this news to pledge allegiance should work, and her Special Ability wasn’t weak.

As long as she could see Wu Qian, she had hope of survival.

Thinking this, Cui Zixuan teleported to near Olijia’er, but didn’t dare get too close.

No one from the Base dared to approach this area anymore, so even if she shouted now, no one from the Base would hear her.

But the area near Olijia’er was like Hell on Earth, full of shattered Zombies.

This was unprecedented; before, the Zombies at Olijia’er were like the Hotel’s guards, they wouldn’t easily take action.

“I know Ji Chuan’s whereabouts! I want to seek refuge at your Stronghold!”

“I know Ji Chuan’s whereabouts! I want to seek refuge at your Stronghold!”

“I know Ji Chuan’s whereabouts! I want to seek refuge at your Stronghold!”

Cui Zixuan shouted three times.

A rabbit-like figure jumped out of the Hotel—it was Song Ci!

“Team Leader Song!”

Cui Zixuan was a little excited. As long as it wasn’t Shen Mengting who jumped out, she could probably survive.

“Is that true?”

Cui Zixuan nodded vigorously.

“Aren’t you infected with some Heart-Eating Gu, an undercover agent here? Your dark circles are so heavy.”

Song Ci raised his hand to sense, but there was nothing unusual, nothing sensed.

Cui Zixuan quickly wiped away her dark circles forcefully; the black makeup was smudged everywhere, and Song Ci realized she had drawn them on herself.

In the Hotel’s Conference Room, Su Shen looked at Cui Zixuan with an inquiring gaze.

“If you want to join the Stronghold, I will grant you Loyalty Status, you must not resist.”

Cui Zixuan hesitated, but still nodded; she had no way out.

After granting Loyalty Status, Su Shen began to question her.

“You mean the Leader went to Xinze City?”

“That’s right, Ability User Bases in various Cities can communicate. Jianghua City has already announced to the Higher-Ups that Number One appeared in Xinze City; they must have received news from the Xinze City Ability User Base.”

“Then why did you seek refuge with us?”

Cui Zixuan recounted her recent actions and the Base’s unusual behavior towards her today.

Su Shen nodded; under Loyalty Status, Cui Zixuan wouldn’t lie.

“Zi Xuan is a good person, and her Special Ability is very useful, let her join!”

Wu Qian had already started to chime in from the side; he didn’t expect to have the chance to fight alongside his former partner again, this feeling was great.

And Wu Qian knew that if Sun Tao knew Cui Zixuan’s whereabouts, he would probably come too.

As for Old Wang, the possibility of him betraying the Ability User Base was small, that old man was stubborn.

“I can teleport! I can transfer up to 6 people simultaneously over long distances, it’s very convenient. If there are fewer people, I can teleport farther and more frequently!”

With Cui Zixuan, the Supplies team could be reduced to 3 people, and they wouldn’t need a car.

Zhu Zhu would collect, Xia Yiqing would protect, and Cui Zixuan would travel. This system would allow them to complete the supplies collection task quickly, a sure win.

After everyone expressed their opinions, Cui Zixuan successfully joined. Her Special Ability was destined to be in high demand in any Stronghold.