That didn't sound like someone turning over; it sounded more like a leg accidentally kicking something.
Another expert?!
A glint flashed in the red-haired Yu Jin's eyes. The eye hidden in the hair on top of his head strained to look upward.
Perhaps afraid that the sound had startled someone, the person on the top bunk remained completely still for a long time.
The red-haired Yu Jin was in no rush either, waiting in silence.
It wasn't until half an hour later, when even the snoring in the partitioned area had settled into a steady rhythm, that rustling sounds came from the top bunk once more.
This time, the noises lasted for a while, sounding like someone removing their clothes.
After another moment, the sounds died down. Suddenly, a head hung down from the right side of the top bunk, staring directly at the red-haired Yu Jin's face.
This sudden peek gave Yu Jin a fright. Fortunately, the red-haired Yu Jin's extra eye was concealed in his hair and wouldn't be easily spotted, and his closed eyelids revealed no flaws.
The little girl observed him for a moment and nodded slightly. With a nimble leap, her body flipped lightly down from the top bunk.
Peering through his hair, the red-haired Yu Jin saw that the chubby little girl who had arrived earlier had undergone a complete transformation. She seemed like an entirely different person—at least a size smaller, with the fat on her neck and her round belly completely gone.
She had somehow changed into white pants and a white shirt, with a white baseball cap on her head, looking youthful and trendy.
But a head-to-toe white outfit in the dark of night was far too eye-catching. Was she trying to hide or stand out?
Yu Jin didn't get it, and the girl wasn't about to stand there waiting for him to figure it out. With her slender body being agile and nimble, she tiptoed her way out of the partitioned area in no time.
Witnessing two sneaky individuals show up one after another left Yu Jin thoroughly shocked.
Was this really Taotie Street?
A single night at a drug testing stronghold was this lively?
If he hadn't kept his cool and waited a bit longer, would he have already been exposed?
Just who was this little girl?
With so many people infiltrating it, was this stronghold really that valuable?
Yu Jin kept pondering while the red-haired Yu Jin remained patient.
They both feared that behind the mantis lurked a siskin, and behind the siskin, an owl...
There were far too many nocturnal animals active at night. He didn't dare bet that he was the last one, so he had no choice but to wait.
He waited and waited. Two hours passed, and even the patrolling night watchman had completed a round, yet the little girl still hadn't returned.
Oddly enough, the watchman had checked the beds one by one but hadn't noticed she was missing, strolling right back out.
Once the watchman left, the red-haired Yu Jin snapped his eyes open.
He slid carefully off his bunk and peeked at the top bunk, only to find someone still sleeping there.
He was startled, but he immediately frowned and patted the "body."
The sleeping body let out a soft, dull thud and collapsed inward.
The red-haired Yu Jin raised an eyebrow, realizing it was nothing more than an empty shell.
What a clever trick of shedding one's skin like a cicada!
“Impressive.”
He quickly put the collapsed shell back in place, then mimicked the girl's quiet movements and tiptoed out.
During the afternoon, the red-haired Yu Jin had already scouted most of the factory workshop. At the end of the partitioned area was an office that belonged to Brother Scar.
Barring any surprises, any files of interest in this stronghold would likely be hidden there.
To protect his identity as a drug tester, the red-haired Yu Jin summoned all his focus and crept toward the office.
He stuck purely to the shadows, avoiding the panning security cameras at the workshop entrance, not daring to make a single sound.
Yet before he had gone very far, he realized his caution was redundant.
Aside from the patrolling night watchman, the other guards had long since fallen fast asleep.
The snoring from the guard post at the entrance was even louder than in the partitioned area, and not a soul could be seen in the factory workshop, which was illuminated by only a single hanging light.
Still, Yu Jin didn't dare lower his guard. It was like playing a first-person horror game, tracking the red-haired Yu Jin's footsteps as he approached the dimly lit office step by step.
There was no one inside the office, but someone had clearly been there.
Documents had been rummaged through and lay scattered all over the floor.
The red-haired Yu Jin's brow furrowed, slightly annoyed by his predecessor's sloppy habits.
Fine, rummage for files, but at least follow some etiquette. How am I supposed to find anything with papers strewn about like this?
I didn't sneak up in the middle of the night and slip into the office just to do cleanup duty for you.
Though the red-haired Yu Jin was irritated, he could only pick up the scattered documents with a sigh, flipping through them to see if there was anything he needed.
Most of these were the stronghold's drug testing logs.
Times, IDs, side effects... everything was recorded in great detail.
Yet, there wasn't a single name of a drug tester.
They didn't care who you were; they only cared about whether your dreams could trigger a Nightmare Disaster.
But evidently, a Nightmare Disaster had never broken out at this stronghold.
The red-haired Yu Jin flipped through the pile of documents with growing impatience. After a moment, he finally made a new discovery.
It was a letter without an envelope. Various characters cut out from newspapers had been pasted together on a sheet of writing paper.
The content was similar to the conversation between the woman and Brother Scar earlier that night. It seemed their superior was pressing the stronghold leader to find the dilution ratio for the dream-inducing agent as soon as possible, and warning them that direct injection of the undiluted dream-inducing agent was strictly forbidden.
The writer even threatened that if they triggered a Nightmare Disaster because of this, the Disciples of Eternal Night would ruthlessly destroy the place.
Disciples of Eternal Night!
This was the first time Yu Jin had encountered the words "Disciples of Eternal Night" in a place like this.
It proved that this was indeed a secret stronghold of theirs, and it also highlighted their sheer arrogance.
They had actually written their orders on paper, without even using their shadow network to broadcast the message. With a trail-leaving notice like this, wouldn't their actions be fully exposed once the stronghold was infiltrated or wiped out?
Or did they deliberately leave these clues to lead investigators down a false trail?
Yu Jin pondered silently, his eyes shifting back to the term "dream-inducing agent" on the paper.
What on earth was this?
Could undiluted dream-inducing agent directly trigger a Nightmare Disaster?
Was it true, or just alarmist talk?
If this claim had come from some underground lab, Yu Jin wouldn't have believed a word of it. But since it came from the Disciples of Eternal Night...
He really couldn't write it off.
He could only commit the information to memory for now and continue searching the office for other clues.
Before long, he had gone through all the records. Aside from the letter and the test logs, there were no other discoveries.
However, in a hidden compartment in one of the drawers, he found a jewelry box. The character “Ting” was written in a crooked scrawl on the lid. Opening it revealed it was empty. Judging by the indentation on the bottom of the box, a bracelet was supposed to be kept there, but someone had taken it.
On the reverse side of the lid was a photo showing a person from behind. It looked like the woman who had appeared at the stronghold tonight.
Both Yu Jins froze upon seeing the jewelry box.
They had expected that Brother Scar had suffered the bitter pangs of love, but they never imagined he had suffered the exact same kind of heartbreak.
So you had a gold bracelet too?
Was this what you tried to give her tonight?
But she didn't take it, did she? Where did the bracelet go?
The red-haired Yu Jin glanced at the documents scattered around his feet, immediately realizing: could the man in the Tang suit or the little girl in white from earlier have swiped it?
Arrive late and you won't even get any soup leftover. The red-haired Yu Jin curled his lip. He searched for a bit longer, and once he confirmed there was nothing else new, he quietly slipped back.
Shortly after he left the office, a large patch of shadow in the corner of the room began to writhe, weaving together to form a head and an arm. Rubbing his chin, he looked in the direction Yu Jin had disappeared, murmuring thoughtfully, “Interesting. Whose side is this one on?”
...
Rate on N.U.
