60: Chapter 60: Ice and Snow in a Cage, and the Lever That Pulls at the Soul

Inside Confinement Room No. 1, the air seemed to have solidified into lead, making it hard to breathe.

"Phantom"—or rather, we should call her by her original gender now—the woman with the cold and elegant face, was currently curled up in a corner. Her disguise had been torn away, revealing a face that was slightly pale yet still beautiful.

But in those sapphire-like eyes, the former arrogance and coldness were gone, replaced only by confusion, bewilderment, and deep fear.

Zhang Cheng pulled over a metal chair and sat opposite her with a commanding posture. He was in no hurry to interrogate her, instead leisurely taking a sip of tea; his relaxed manner made it seem as if this weren't a cage, but his living room.

"Now, we can have a good talk."

Zhang Cheng set down his teacup and looked at her calmly, his gaze seemingly able to pierce through her flesh and look directly at her trembling soul.

"First, your real name? Of course, I know you won't say it—professional ethics of an assassin, right? Then tell me, does 'Blood Moon' have any follow-up plans besides you this time? What else did that old fogey Bao Youxiang promise, besides paying for the hit?"

"Phantom" pursed her lips and turned her head away, using silence to resist. Although a storm was raging in her heart, years of training made her instinctively choose to resist.

"Heh, you've got backbone," Zhang Cheng chuckled, not surprised. "However, I hope your backbone can withstand the erosion of time, as well as... the test of the truth."

He stood up and paced in the small space, the sound of his leather shoes hitting the metal floor striking "Phantom's" nerves one by one.

"Do you think 'Blood Moon' really trusts you? Or rather, trusts any tool that knows too many secrets?"

Zhang Cheng stopped in front of her, looking down at her with a hint of meaningful mockery in his tone:

"The news of your 'failed' mission and capture has likely already reached the organization. Guess whether they will find a way to rescue their ace, or... make you shut up forever?"

"Phantom's" body suddenly trembled.

This sentence accurately struck the greatest fear deep within her heart.

Assassin organizations, especially top-tier groups like "Blood Moon" known for their ruthlessness, have only one way of dealing with failures and "stains" who might leak secrets—elimination.

"You... you're trying to drive a wedge between us?" she finally spoke, her voice hoarse with a tremor that betrayed her weakness.

"Driving a wedge? No, I'm stating facts." Zhang Cheng looked at her coldly. "You being alive is a nuisance to many people, including your employer, Bao Youxiang. If I were dead, you would naturally have value. But I'm alive, and quite well. Do you think he would want an assassin who knows the inside details of the assassination to fall into my hands?"

"Think about it. Here, at least you're still alive. Although you've lost your freedom, it's much better than becoming a cold corpse or being 'cleaned up' by your own people."

Having said that, Zhang Cheng wasted no more words and turned to leave the confinement room.

The heavy alloy door closed with a "clang," leaving her in endless darkness and silence.

"Phantom" hugged her knees and buried her face in her arms. Zhang Cheng's words circled in her mind like a curse. The strange failure of the mission, the target's incredible resurrection, the organization's ruthlessness, the employer's unreliability... all her beliefs cracked at this moment.

The next two days were absolute silence.

No one came to interrogate her, and no one spoke. Only the soldiers delivering food were like mutes, leaving the tray and walking away.

This kind of loneliness was more torturous than physical punishment.

Until the third night.

After the food delivery soldier left, "Phantom" checked the tray as usual. Suddenly, her finger touched a rice-grain-sized protrusion at the bottom of the plate.

Her heart skipped a beat!

That was a micro signal transmitter! It was specific to the organization!

"The organization... contacted me?" A surge of wild joy rose in her heart, like a drowning person grabbing at a straw. Is it a rescue? The organization hasn't given up on me?!

A massive struggle played out within her. Activating the transmitter might offer a glimmer of hope, but it could also expose her location.

Ultimately, the instinct for survival and her remaining trust in the organization won out. She gritted her teeth and pressed the tiny switch.

Late at night, all was silent.

In the corridor outside the confinement room, extremely faint footsteps suddenly echoed. More than one person, moving professionally and precisely.

"They're here!" "Phantom" stood up excitedly and pressed herself against the door.

The alloy door silently slid open a crack.

However, what greeted her was not a familiar code or a hand reaching out to rescue her.

Several dark muzzles fitted with silencers were coldly locked onto her head and heart through the gap!

At that moment, "Phantom" felt her blood run cold.

That was... a silencing!

No hesitation, no words; the other side didn't want to save her at all, they only wanted her dead!

"No—!"

She tried to retreat in despair, but the muzzles were already spitting fire.

At this critical moment—

"Da da da da!"

Another burst of dense gunfire suddenly erupted in the corridor!

It was the characteristic roar of an AK-47!

The men in black who were about to commit the murder didn't even have time to pull their triggers before they were riddled with bullets from behind!

Blood splattered onto the alloy door, a shocking sight.

Old K, leading two Death Soldiers, seemed to coalesce from the shadows, coldly scanning the corpses on the ground.

Zhang Cheng's figure reappeared at the end of the corridor, walking slowly with a hint of mockery on his face, as if he had expected this all along.

"It seems you've made a choice." He looked at the female assassin inside the confinement room, whose face was pale and whose eyes were a mix of lingering fear, anger, and total despair. "Unfortunately, the people you chose to trust gave you the worst possible answer."

"Phantom" looked at her colleagues who had been dealt with in an instant outside the door, then at Zhang Cheng, who seemed to control everything and understood her inner struggle perfectly. Her last line of psychological defense collapsed completely, accompanied by total disappointment in the organization and an unfathomable fear of the man before her.

She slumped powerlessly to the ground, her arrogant head bowed low, her shoulders trembling slightly. The cold shell that had supported her all this time shattered completely, revealing her tired, bewildered, and fragile essence beneath.

Zhang Cheng walked to the door but didn't enter. He simply said indifferently, "This is your last chance. Either continue to rot here with that pathetic pride of yours, or work for me and gain a new life. The choice is yours."

He didn't wait for her answer and turned to leave. He knew that after this incident, this arrogant "beauty snake" was not far from yielding. Prying her mouth open was only a matter of time. And she would become a sharp blade in his hand, piercing into "Blood Moon" and the remnants of the South Wa forces.