76: Your money has arrived.

Zhang Yuan stood at the corner of the Stairwell 3 landing, completely stunned.

The hand holding his gun was slick with cold sweat.

What did that mean?

What the hell kind of code was that?

He didn't understand.

But he could hear the breakdown in Director Fang Zheng's voice, and the absolute, unquestionable coldness in the voice of the temporary commander behind him.

Obedience.

This was the sacred duty carved into his very bones.

Inside the ward.

Fang Zheng's breathing had almost stopped.

He stared fixedly at the screen, his heart pounding wildly, feeling as if it might leap out of his throat.

He felt like he had gone insane.

He was actually playing this absurd game, betting lives and careers, with a young man barely in his twenties!

Chen Mo kept his eyes closed.

In his perception, the entire world was reduced to just two points.

One was Liu Feng's heartbeat, which was accelerating wildly, rushing toward 150 beats per minute.

The other was Zhang Yuan's heartbeat, also accelerating due to nervousness and confusion, but with a completely different rhythm.

They were rapidly drawing closer.

Like two stars about to collide.

Urgent footsteps echoed in the corridor.

Liu Feng's figure appeared around the corner of the surveillance screen!

He was running very fast, his face flushed red from lack of oxygen, his eyes filled with anxiety and reckless desperation!

Zhang Yuan saw him.

He instinctively tightened his grip on the gun.

Now!

Zhang Yuan stepped forward, blocking Liu Feng's path.

He opened his mouth and, using all his strength, roared the words he himself could not comprehend.

"Your money has been transferred!"

The voice echoed through the empty corridor.

Time seemed to press the slow-motion button at that instant.

Liu Feng's wildly running body slammed to an immediate halt!

His pupils contracted violently within a thousandth of a second!

Inside the ward.

The corner of Chen Mo's mouth curled slightly upward.

He "heard" it.

He heard Liu Feng's frantically beating heart exhibit a strange, 0.5-second... pause the moment he heard the sentence!

It was the momentary shutdown caused by the brain receiving unexpected information!

Immediately following!

That heart erupted in a series of palpitations wilder and more chaotic than before!

Mixed in was... ecstasy!

It was the euphoria of a gambler who had staked everything and saw a straight flush on the river!

He thought this was the person his superior had sent to meet him!

"You..."

Liu Feng's lips moved, just about to say something.

But he saw the unconcealed look of confusion on Zhang Yuan's face.

He saw the colleagues flanking him from the opposite direction behind Zhang Yuan.

He saw the black muzzles of the guns in their hands.

The ecstasy instantly froze.

The next second, it transformed into endless, chilling... terror!

This was a trap!

The heart that had just been celebrating felt as if it were fiercely clenched by an invisible hand!

His heart rate instantly dropped below 100!

Immediately after, driven by extreme fear and despair, it bounced back wildly, skyrocketing toward a level close to sudden cardiac arrest!

"Ah—!"

Liu Feng let out an inhuman roar!

All pretense vanished from his face!

All that remained was the savagery and madness of a cornered beast!

He did not surrender!

Nor did he run!

He spun around violently, like a maddened bull, charging toward the nearest person, Zhang Yuan, who hadn't yet reacted!

A black, syringe-like metal pen had appeared in his hand at some point!

He wanted to take someone down with him!

"Watch out!"

Fang Zheng cried out in alarm from the ward!

Zhang Yuan's mind went blank!

He had absolutely not anticipated that his colleague would try to kill him!

The cold, gleaming tip of the metal pen.

It rapidly magnified in his pupils!

"Bang!"

A muffled gunshot rang out!

It wasn't Zhang Yuan's gun.

It was a security officer ambushed on the other side who fired decisively in the nick of time!

A rubber bullet accurately struck Liu Feng's wrist, which was holding the pen!

"Clang!"

The metal pen dropped to the floor.

Liu Feng groaned in pain and stumbled.

Before he could regain his balance, several security personnel rushed forward like starving tigers, pinning him firmly to the ground!

"Don't let him bite down on his teeth!"

Zhang Yuan finally reacted, lunging forward and using all his strength to pry open Liu Feng's mouth!

He violently dug a cold, hard object out from Liu Feng's molar.

A cyanide capsule.

Everything was exactly as Chen Mo had predicted.

The farce was over.

Deathly silence returned to the corridor.

All that remained was Liu Feng's suppressed, animalistic gasping and the heavy breathing of the security officers.

Inside the ward.

Fang Zheng looked at the subdued Liu Feng on the screen, feeling as if all the strength had been drained from his body.

He slowly turned around.

He looked at the young man still leaning against the headboard, pale-faced, yet with terrifyingly calm eyes.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

An apology?

Gratitude?

Or... an interrogation?

He found that he couldn't utter a single word.

The rules he prided himself on, the procedures he had upheld for half his life, were as fragile as a sheet of paper before this man.

Easily pierced and torn apart.

And then.

Reassembled in a way he couldn't comprehend, transforming into... a new set of rules.

"Now."

Chen Mo's voice broke the silence.

"Do you believe me now, Director Fang?"

Fang Zheng's lips trembled.

He didn't answer, merely nodding with difficulty.

That single nod seemed to consume all the strength he had left for the rest of his life.

It represented.

The complete submission of an old-era bureaucrat to a new-era monster.

"Very good."

Chen Mo picked up the communicator.

"Bring him here."

"Also call Engineer Su and Captain Zhao back."

"Furthermore..."

His gaze swept across the screen, lingering on Liu Feng, who was still struggling madly, pinned down by two burly men.

"Prepare a cardiac defibrillator and a strong sedative for me."

Fang Zheng's pupils contracted again.

"What... what are you going to do?"

"Interrogation."

Chen Mo's tone was as flat as if he were discussing a trivial matter.

"The fish has taken the bait."

"Now we need to use him to drag out the fisherman hiding beneath the surface."

"But he is a suicide operative! Even if you kill him, he won't talk!"

"Who said I was going to kill him?"

Chen Mo looked at Fang Zheng and offered a smile that sent chills down the latter's spine.

"Death would be a release for him."

"I won't allow him that easy release."

"I'm going to make him..."

"Live in a hell deeper than hell itself."