After Qin Xin left with Jiang Yuan.

Yi Nanye glanced at her wrist and started working on the small display above it. Her wristband could sync with all of Jiang Yuan’s information. She admitted she’d panicked earlier—and so had Qin Xin.

But one person hadn’t panicked.

“Vital signs are good.”

“No abnormalities in the internal scan. All organs are in good condition.”

“Mild bruising on the limbs.”

“There’s a wound in the mouth.”

The wristband let her check Jiang Yuan’s current physical condition. The monitoring equipment on him wasn’t some cheap gadget. It was futuristic technology so valuable it was practically impossible to buy. It could even detect where he’d been injured and roughly how many milliliters of blood he’d lost.

Thinking back to when Jiang Yuan had been beaten, he’d curled up on the ground with his arms and legs drawn inward, protecting his vital areas from attack. The blood he’d coughed up hadn’t come from internal injuries. It had flowed from the wound in his mouth.

Yi Nanye suspected Jiang Yuan might have bitten himself to make that wound, then sucked out some blood and spat it up to make it look like he was badly hurt. In reality, his injuries were about as serious as a fall.

And then there was Jiang Yuan’s reaction to Qin Xin afterward…

Yi Nanye had good reason to suspect that Jiang Yuan’s so-called plan had been to provoke Qin Xin into striking first—and that he’d already figured out how to deal with the aftermath. From now on, as long as Qin Xin was beside him in class, the other students wouldn’t dare bully him again.

“Jiang Yuan…”

“Honestly, you seem even more suspicious to me now.”

Yi Nanye looked up at the sky and couldn’t help talking to herself.

She’d already met Sato Jiang and Jin Zaijiang. Compared to Jiang Yuan, the two suspects were worlds apart. Sometimes, having no suspicious points at all was the most suspicious thing of all!

Codename Jiang wasn’t someone who relied on brute force to simply destroy the world. According to the information provided by the people from the future, Codename Jiang was also frighteningly clever and calculating.

To become a shadow capable of covering the entire world, an existence like that needed both strength and intelligence.

No matter how carefully the other person tried to hide it, certain traits would still show through without them realizing.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Qin Xin had just helped Jiang Yuan out of the school gates when a blue car happened to pass through the intersection. The driver deliberately got out and pretended to make a phone call. Without a word, Qin Xin walked straight over and pointed her gun at the driver.

“Take us somewhere.”

“Y-you…”

The driver put on a shocked expression and signaled with his eyes for Qin Xin to fire a shot to scare people off. Qin Xin didn’t hesitate. She raised her gun and fired straight into the air. The shot rang out along the empty street, sending nearby pedestrians fleeing in panic.

The driver immediately raised both hands in cooperation, then got into the car at gunpoint.

“Let’s get in!”

Only after the driver had gotten in did Qin Xin help Jiang Yuan into the car. Keeping her gun raised, she sat in the back seat and aimed it at the driver’s head.

“Go to Clear Lake in the western suburbs.”

The driver didn’t reply. He started the car at once and headed for their destination.

The car drove on for a little while before the driver suddenly spoke in a strange, muffled voice.

“About how many of them are there?”

“I don’t know.”

Qin Xin noticed that the driver in the rearview mirror wasn’t moving his mouth at all. That meant he was using ventriloquism.

“Did they clearly say they could take Jiang Yuan away?”

“Yes!”

“All right. I understand.”

After speaking, the driver began tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. That seemingly casual habit was definitely meant to pass along some kind of message, and his careful behavior made Qin Xin realize what was going on.

“Is the situation actually complicated?”

“That’s right. A number of terrorist organizations and cults have received staggering amounts of funding lately. We’ve already gotten plenty of tips. Some members of the upper classes in various countries are secretly backing those groups.”

The driver made no attempt to hide the information. Qin Xin and Jiang Yuan would keep running into situations like this one, after all. There wasn’t much that could be done about it. Codename Jiang was practically the spark that would set off World War III.

“I think it’s incredibly irrational to know what’s coming and still turn on each other instead of preparing for it.”

Qin Xin gave her opinion. No matter how she looked at it, the whole thing was absurd. This was an apocalyptic crisis!

“Complaining to me won’t help. Every government thinks the same way, but some people just won’t listen. I reckon there’ll be frequent terrorist attacks and counterterrorism operations all over the world before the apocalypse arrives.”

After the driver finished speaking, he fell silent. Qin Xin turned to glance at Jiang Yuan. He was staring out the window with a blank expression. Even Qin Xin, his boyfriend since childhood, had no idea what was going through his mind.

“So you agreed to release Jiang Yuan partly because you intend to use him as bait?”

Qin Xin’s tone suddenly turned serious. The driver didn’t answer, but his silence was practically an admission.

“How can you treat Jiang—”

“I’m willing to cooperate unconditionally.”

Before Qin Xin could finish, Jiang Yuan suddenly said he’d cooperate unconditionally with the government’s arrangements. Even if it meant being used as bait while the whole world cursed him, it certainly wasn’t fair to him.

But what kind of time was this? What position was he in?

He didn’t need fairness. He just needed to stay alive—to live until the truth came out. And the only ones who could protect him were the government.

“On behalf of the people of the world, I thank you for your cooperation, Jiang Yuan. You’ve made a valuable contribution to maintaining world order.”

“Mm.”

Jiang Yuan nodded. For some reason, Qin Xin found it a little ridiculous. The people of the whole world were hounding him and cursing him to die every day, yet he’d accepted it all without complaint—and now he was going to protect those very people?

Was Jiang Yuan really someone with such noble convictions?

An hour later.

They reached a lakeside resort in the western suburbs. It drew plenty of visitors during holidays, but on ordinary days, hardly anyone came. The surrounding area was mostly small towns, with vast stretches of undeveloped wilderness. If someone wanted to flee, this was definitely the best place to start.

But before they reached the agreed meeting point, while they were still on the way, they heard gunshots in the distance.

“Looks like our people have found them. Let’s wait here.”

The driver said there was no need to go meet them now. Qin Xin and Jiang Yuan had no objections; they only suggested getting out to rest and take in the scenery.

The driver probably figured that, when all was said and done, Qin Xin and Jiang Yuan were still just high school students. After hesitating for a moment, he actually agreed kindly.

“Stay where I can see you. I feel sorry for you, but I don’t want that to get me in trouble.”