Chapter 189 – Who
After leaving the medical department, Tu Ran headed straight for the administrative building.
Halfway there, she paused.
She had the ability to read memories, so why bother looking for surveillance footage?
That would be too much trouble and might arouse suspicion.
It would be much simpler to find a guard from the Executive Department and use [Memory Reading] to access their memories.
The entire perimeter inside and outside the Threshold was guarded by the Executive Department’s security personnel.
They had been stationed there continuously, always keeping their scopes trained on the pioneers emerging from within the Threshold. They would definitely remember Xi Chunzhi.
With this in mind, Tu Ran went directly to the administrative building.
Thirty minutes later, she arrived.
As she walked through the lobby of the administrative building, Tu Ran quietly observed her surroundings, looking for someone she could subtly touch without arousing Zero’s suspicion.
From what she knew, every time the Threshold opened, the Executive Department would send half of its guards to stand watch outside.
During regular times, when the Threshold was closed and there was no danger, only two or three small squads would patrol outside.
So, even if she randomly selected a guard to read their memories, there was a fifty percent chance she would see Xi Chunzhi.
Many guards were moving back and forth in the lobby, most of them in groups of six or seven, sticking close together.
None of them were suitable for her to approach directly.
Tu Ran scanned the area and spotted a guard standing alone by the elevator, waiting.
She immediately walked over.
She casually patted the guard on the shoulder.
“Xiao Lai, you’re back from the field?”
She made up a name on the spot.
The ability [Memory Reading] required physical contact.
The guard turned around, looking puzzled. “You must have mistaken me for someone else.”
“Sorry, your back looked so much like his. I recognized the wrong person, sorry.” Tu Ran bowed her head in apology, her attitude sincere, as she retracted her hand.
The guard shook his head, indicating it was no problem.
Just as the elevator doors opened, the guard stepped inside. Seeing Tu Ran still standing there, he asked, “Aren’t you coming up?”
“No, I thought you were Xiao Lai, so I just came over to say hi,” Tu Ran replied with a smile.
The guard didn’t say anything else. The elevator doors closed, and it began to ascend slowly.
Tu Ran remained where she was, the smile fading quickly from her face, replaced by a cold, menacing expression in her eyes.
Her luck had been quite good—this person’s memory contained Xi Chunzhi.
However, Xi Chunzhi didn’t appear in his memory near the Threshold, but rather in the medical department.
White walls, a nutrient tank filled with crimson fluid, and Xu Bingli in his medical department uniform.
All these details unmistakably indicated that the place was a recovery room in the medical department.
Xi Chunzhi was floating in the liquid inside the nutrient tank.
Her eyes were closed as her body underwent repairs.
Two nurses from the medical department worked together to lift her out.
One of them was the head nurse who had led Tu Ran to the nutrient tank earlier, reputed to be Xu Bingli’s right hand.
Throughout the entire process, Xi Chunzhi remained unconscious.
Tu Ran reasonably suspected that a sedative had been added to the nutrient tank.
Afterward, they took Xi Chunzhi to the changing room. Three to five minutes later, they brought her out, now clean and dressed in simple clothing.
She was still unconscious.
The guard whose memory Tu Ran accessed, along with another guard, then carried her away.
Throughout the entire process, Xu Bingli stood to the side.
He did nothing and said nothing.
The two guards took Xi Chunzhi into the elevator, which descended directly to the third basement level.
They encountered no one on the way.
On a normal day, whether day or night, the Executive Department was always bustling with people coming and going.
Zero was involved as well.
The third basement level of the medical department was a place that no one without the proper clearance could access.
Xi Chunzhi was laid flat on a transport bed.
Then, two people in lab coats and masks emerged, took the transport bed from the guards, and wheeled it through a set of doors.
The memory ended there.
Whatever happened next was beyond the guard’s sight, and therefore beyond Tu Ran’s as well.
But she already had her suspicions.
Her hand, hanging by her side, had clenched into a fist at some point, her knuckles slightly pale.
“Pioneer Tu Ran, your blood pressure has been detected at 180mmHg, significantly exceeding normal levels. You are at risk of a sudden health issue. Please remain alert and calm. If you cannot manage it yourself, I can call for assistance.”
“That’s not necessary,” Tu Ran took a deep breath, suppressing the anger simmering inside her, trying to keep her mind clear.
Zero, Xu Bingli, the Executive Department guards—any one of them would be beyond the control of an ordinary person.
For someone to have coordinated these three to help abduct someone, it had to be someone very high up in the Federal Government.
Tu Ran immediately thought of the three major families.
The Xie family, the Pang family, and the Wells family.
They were the true power behind the Federation.
Which one could it be?
Tu Ran couldn’t guess.
Regardless of which family it was, they were beyond her reach at her current level.
She needed to find Xu Bingli.
She couldn’t touch the others, but Xu Bingli was someone she could still meet.
Inside the medical department’s elevator, Tu Ran ran into Meng Fancheng and his companions.
“Sister Tu Ran, what brings you here?” Meng Fancheng asked, pleasantly surprised.
“Looking for someone,” Tu Ran replied, staring straight ahead, waiting for the elevator doors to open.
Her aura was heavy, her face clearly saying, “I’m in a bad mood, don’t bother me.”
Everyone else shrank back, not daring to make a sound, except for Meng Fancheng, who seemed oblivious. “Who are you looking for, Sister Tu Ran? I can help you find them.”
Tu Ran glanced at him. “Xu Bingli.”
Xu Bingli?!
Calling Dr. Xu by his full name?!
The people in the elevator exchanged looks, communicating silently.
‘Did Dr. Xu get into trouble?’
‘She looks like she’s about to take Dr. Xu down.’
‘I feel the same way.’
“Where is he now?” Tu Ran fixed her gaze on Meng Fancheng.
Meng Fancheng bit his lip, hesitating whether to answer.
Dr. Xu was his idol, and Sister Tu Ran was his goddess.
But with the way she seemed ready for a fight, pointing her in the right direction didn’t seem like a good idea.
“Come here,” Tu Ran suddenly said.
“Huh? What for?” Meng Fancheng asked, confused.
Tu Ran grabbed his arm and forcibly pulled him a step closer.
Meng Fancheng’s friends tensed up, thinking she was about to lose control and hit him.
But Tu Ran abruptly let go of his arm, her face expressionless, eyes fixed ahead. “There was a bug on the floor just now.”
“Huh? Really?” Meng Fancheng looked down.
There was no bug. It was just an excuse Tu Ran made up.
With that brief contact, she had already seen where Xu Bingli was.
The 21st floor.
He was in a meeting.
The elevator doors opened right then, stopping on the 22nd floor.
“You stepped on it; it’s dead under your foot,” Tu Ran added coldly before leaving the elevator, heading down one flight of stairs and straight to the meeting room where Xu Bingli was.
Her words left the people in the elevator staring at each other, bewildered.
What were they doing on the 22nd floor for again?
Oh, right—they were here to eat.
