Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 67 Convergence
"Splash, splash."

My heart was pounding, accompanied by a tearing pain.

A wave of dizziness washed over Zhuang Fan, making it almost impossible for him to maintain his balance.

The bloodstains on the steering wheel had dried, but he gripped it tightly, driven only by mechanical instinct.

With each bump, black spots would appear in my vision, and my head would throb with pain.

This time they really messed up.

Excessive activation of the eerie mist has resulted in more severe aftereffects than ever before.

He drove the abandoned car back to the outskirts of Linhai City, swaying and staggering.

The wrist communicator finally regained a weak signal, and an encrypted message appeared on the screen.

[Me and the kitten girl at the recycling bin]

The message is brief, with no unnecessary words.

Zhuang Fan breathed a sigh of relief, turned the car around, stepped on the gas, and quickly returned to the familiar concrete building.

As soon as the car came to a stop, he pushed open the door, staggered out, and felt as if the world was spinning around him.

Hearing the commotion outside, the group immediately came out and saw Zhuang Fan covered in blood, swaying precariously.

"Brother Ya!" Hua Xin was startled.

Chu Ningyan took a few steps forward, but saw that Hua Sheng and his sister had already gone over to help her, so she stopped.

Gage came over, and the three of them together helped him to a chair to sit down.

The lights in the recycling station brightened, and with the fog lights working, the eerie fog disappeared.

"This isn't my blood, I'm fine."

After catching his breath, Zhuang Fan pointed to the abandoned car outside, his face grave: "Your mother is in the car. I brought her back."

Hua Xin's body stiffened abruptly, and then she and Hua Sheng rushed out like madmen.

Chu Ningyan already knew the old catwoman's true identity. Her amber eyes locked onto Zhuang Fan's tattered coat and the bloodstains all over his body.

"you……"

She didn't explicitly say "Harry's" name, her voice carrying a hint of ambiguity: "You ran into them?"

Before Zhuang Fan could speak, Gage sensed the heavy atmosphere and wisely stood up: "Boss, you two talk, I'll continue my research on the Baron."

Only Zhuang Fan and Chu Ningyan remained on the field, and the air was so quiet that they could hear each other breathing.

Suddenly, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, which startled Chu Ningyan.

"Are you bleeding internally?"

"No. I just had a persistent headache and felt unwell, but I'm much better now."

Zhuang Fan's pale complexion improved somewhat. He took the water glass from Chu Ningyan's hand, said thank you, and drank it down in large gulps.

"When I got there, I thought something had happened to Little Cat Girl, so I didn't notice your message."

Zhuang Fan briefly recounted, "I've taken care of the group sitting in the very center."

"All resolved?"

"Ah."

"Harry?"

"In the stove."

"."

Chu Ningyan remained silent for a long time, then sighed softly, "You've really put me in a terrible situation this time. I have to hurry up and leave."

"Grey Goose, why don't you stay?"

Zhuang Fan looked up at her. "We need you."

"stay?"

Chu Ningyan shook her head, refusing decisively: "Then I will become a major suspect tomorrow and will be hunted down by the entire Fengmang Mercenary Group."

She paused, a hint of self-deprecation in her voice: "Besides, I have a lot of expenses, and you can't afford to pay my salary."

"A spendthrift?"

"almost."

Zhuang Fan said earnestly, "I will pay you your full salary. I don't lie to my fellow villagers."

"I'll think about it later."

She turned and walked towards the door without stopping for a moment.

"Grey Goose, thank you."

"I'll remember that, you owe me a favor."

Chu Ningyan didn't turn around, but simply waved her hand gently: "It's a great favor."

She walked out of the recycling center and saw the Watson siblings holding a corpse, their cries echoing intermittently in the night wind.

Chu Ningyan did not approach to disturb them. She stood quietly at a distance for a while before leaving and getting into the black hovercar.

The engine started silently, and the vehicle slowly rose into the air.

She originally planned to return directly to Fengmang's temporary base, but after driving a short distance, she changed her mind.

Going back now would be too deliberate.

According to the excuses she had given, she should have been completely unaware of what was happening at the camp.

She changed direction and flew towards Linhai City. It would be safer to find a place to stay in the city first and then return early the next morning.

Just then, the communicator on my wrist suddenly rang; it was Captain Qiu Shan's encrypted message.

"Grey Goose, where are you?"

"Captain, I'm in Linhai City."

Chu Ningyan answered truthfully that if the two sides could communicate wirelessly, it would mean that they were very close to each other.

“Come here, come with me to Camp Harry.”

Qiu Shan's voice was serious: "Something's happened over there."

The investigation team of the Sharp Edge Mercenary Group was extremely efficient.

When Qiu Shan arrived at the camp with Chu Ningyan, the site had already been sealed off.

More than a dozen investigators are examining the scene and collecting evidence.

They searched every corner and turned over every inch of land, but still couldn't find any trace of Harry.

Eventually, someone discovered a charred human-shaped skeleton in a nearly burned-out kiln.

DNA testing confirmed it was Harry.

In this round, the Sharp Edge Mercenary Group suffered heavy losses.

Apart from Chu Ningyan, who escaped death because she left early, all six other team leaders were killed in action.

Qiu Shan stood in front of the charred remains for a long time.

He was a thin old man with slightly gray hair and a face etched with the lines of time.

According to the organization's plan, as long as Harry successfully completes the mission of eradicating the Apocalypse Cult, he will be promoted to the new captain and take over his position.

But Qiu Shan didn't want to retire. He was still young, only 130 years old, and in his prime.

Unfortunately, Harry has a board member father with powerful backing, but his backer is old and frail.

Unfortunately, Harry died at this critical juncture.

All suspicions pointed to him, the "old force" that was about to be replaced.

Seeing the complicated expressions on the faces of the mercenaries around him, Qiu Shan felt only absurdity and frustration.

He had countless ways to make Harry disappear without a trace, and he would never choose such a foolish time and such a foolish method.

Qiu Shan looked at the charred corpse, shook his head, and felt even more frustrated.

He turned to Chu Ningyan beside him and said, "You need to undergo an investigation; this is a necessary procedure."

Chu Ningyan nodded: "I will cooperate."

He paused, then added, "Me too."

……

Watson and his sister had been sitting on the ground for a long time, holding their mother's body.

They didn't care even if the bloodstains on the corpses turned dark brown and covered their clothes.

After a long while, Watson finally raised his head.

"Let's... bury Mom."

"Mmm." Hua Xin's cat-like eyes were swollen from crying.

At this moment, Zhuang Fan also came over, his wounds already bandaged.

"Brother Wuya, we can go by ourselves."

"It's nighttime now, and the situation outside is complicated."

Zhuang Fan's voice left no room for argument: "I will go with you."

Watson did not insist further and nodded.

Two hours later, it was already past midnight.

On a high point in the wilderness, a small mound appeared.

Hua Xin and Hua Sheng knelt before the grave without saying a word, and only slowly rose after a long time.

Zhuang Fan stood not far away, holding a shovel, like a statue; in truth, he was exhausted.

Hua Xin walked over and stood in front of Zhuang Fan. Her emerald cat eyes were somewhat red and swollen in the dim light.

"Brother Ya, can I hug you?"

"can."

She gently hugged him, her body trembling slightly as if she had just survived a disaster.

"thank you"

Her voice trembled with tears: "They risked their lives to save us."

“We’re all in this together. It doesn’t matter who’s in trouble.”

Hua Xin nodded, wiped away her tears, and returned to the car with Hua Sheng.

The carriage was quiet for a while.

"Sister Grey Goose is a very nice and gentle person."

Hua Xin said softly, "After she found out you went to the camp, she was actually... quite worried."

Zhuang Fan nodded: "I understand."

(End of this chapter)