The Wind's Too Loud to Hear!

Lao Li sat behind the desk in the examination room, frowning over a lab report.

"Comrade Zhou," Lao Li said, pushing up his reading glasses, "what illegal coal mine did you dig this comrade out of?"

Lorna sat on the edge of the bed with her arms around her knees, her head turned toward the night outside the window.

Whenever Lorna saw someone in a white coat, Stryker's face and the blood-drawing needles flashed through her mind.

"Watch what you're saying, Lao Li. What illegal coal mine? This was a legitimate overseas recruitment of special talent!"

Sing Sing took the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Get to the point. What's wrong with her results? Is she low on calcium? If she is, I'll authorize two cases of high-calcium milk for her."

"If only that were all!"

"Severe malnutrition! Severe anemia! Bone density far below normal for her age! Her endocrine system and hormone levels are a complete mess!"

"Her hematopoietic stem cells are overtaxed, and she's covered in hidden injuries from repeated needle punctures!"

Lao Li's voice rose as he went on. "And that's not all. She also shows a strong tendency toward post-traumatic stress disorder, and her nerves have been on high alert for a long time. In thirty years as a military doctor, I've never seen anyone treated this badly!"

Lorna bit her lower lip, her green hair falling over most of her face as her fingers tightened on the bedsheet.

Sing Sing took off his coat and draped it over Lorna's shoulders, pulling the collar closed around her.

"Keep it on. The wind gets strong at night in the northwest. Don't catch a chill. You'll get better. Trust me."

His voice was gentle, for once.

After reassuring Lorna, Sing Sing went outside, took out his satellite phone, and called Director Wang's private line.

"Director, it's me! Ah Qi!"

As soon as the call connected, Sing Sing spoke up without hesitation. "Little Luo's examination report is out. Things are very bad! The exploitation of capitalism is outrageous!"

"I'm requesting approval for a premium recuperation package for her! She needs nutritional supplements too, and the best psychologist available to help her work through her emotions! Right, not just Little Luo—all the returning talent should get nutritional allowances at the highest standard!"

Director Wang had no objection to taking care of the Mutants. "That's no problem. The organization won't shortchange its comrades. But that's going to cost quite a bit..."

"No problem! Take the money out of the spoils I brought ba—out of my special operating funds!"

"You were going to say spoils, weren't you? Ling Ling Qi! Explain yourself, you little rascal! Did you help yourself to something in the United States again?"

Sing Sing's expression changed.

Oh no!

He'd let it slip!

He quickly held the phone half a meter away and shouted into the air, "Hello? Director? What did you say? Oh, man! The wind and sand out here in the northwest are too strong! They've blown the signal to pieces!"

"Quit playing dumb!" Director Wang roared. "You're using a military encrypted satellite phone!"

"Oh, Director, you don't understand. I've got full bars here, but our motherland is vast! Those electromagnetic waves have traveled over five thousand kilometers. They're out of breath too!"

"Hello? Hello? The signal's gone, it's gone! I'm hanging up now! Beep, beep, beep..."

Sing Sing pressed the hang-up button, tucked the phone into his pocket, and returned to the room. Before he could speak, Lao Li picked up another report, his expression grave.

"Her condition can be treated gradually. But that young man named Anton... I don't dare touch him."

"There's an extremely aggressive foreign gene in his body, and it's causing a severe rejection response with his own cells. His heart rate, blood pressure, and magnetic field fluctuations all defy medical understanding."

"I only tried to draw some blood for a test just now. The moment the needle touched his skin, the silvery-gray markings on his body began to glow, and the heart monitor nearly blew up."

"I'm afraid a more thorough examination could send his genes berserk. If that happens, not only would his life be in danger, he might also tear this medical station apart."

Two hours later, everyone's preliminary examinations and isolation procedures were complete.

Apart from the unconscious Anton, the other special talents Sing Sing had recruited suffered mostly from malnutrition and psychological trauma.

Ma Weiguo reported the matter to his superiors and arranged for a special flight to take the group of special talents to Beijing the next morning.

Before they boarded, a female logistics soldier from the medical station ran over and pressed an insulated food container into Lorna's hands.

"Two boiled eggs, hot milk, and a few pieces of high-calorie military beef jerky. Eat them while they're hot!"

Lorna took the container and rubbed her eyes.

During the year she had been held captive in the United States, all she had faced each day were walls and tasteless nutrient solution.

"He wasn't lying..."

Lorna murmured under her breath.

"Who wasn't lying?" Amy came over and looked curiously at the container.

Lorna quickly hugged it tight and put on a stern face. "Nothing. I said these clothes were pretty warm."

The plane took off smoothly, and the cabin was spacious.

As soon as Edith boarded, she found a corner and wrapped herself in a blanket. In the blink of an eye, she was snoring.

Amy, meanwhile, had taken a keen interest in the high-calorie military rations they had been given.

She was trying to use her ability to recreate the taste of canned red-braised pork in a red-braised pork-flavored ice cream.

Riptide stood guard beside Anton's stretcher.

Sing Sing had told him about Anton's condition, leaving Riptide with mixed feelings.

Sing Sing, meanwhile, was scribbling and drawing in a small notebook, muttering to himself.

"What are you calculating?" Riptide couldn't help asking.

Without looking up, Sing Sing said, "Doing the accounts. Working out the depreciation costs and compensation for lost work time on this trip... and how to launder Black Shark's sponsorship money... I mean, how to enter it in the books properly and legally."

Riptide looked at the stingy man who had nevertheless treated them like people when it mattered, and let out a breath.

"Thank you," Riptide said softly.

Sing Sing's pen paused. He looked up. "We're all colleagues. Do a good job on the wind power project from now on. We clock in with our fingerprints, you know."

A few hours later, the Y-20 landed smoothly at a military airfield in Beijing.

Several black sedans were already waiting on the tarmac.

The convoy drove out of the airfield and took a winding route away from the bustling city center, finally stopping deep inside a hutong in Beijing's old quarter.

At the end of the hutong stood a large iron gate.

Lorna was surprised. "This is your secret headquarters?"

Sing Sing straightened the black Zhongshan suit he had just changed into. "The best place to hide is in plain sight. Only by putting down roots at the grassroots can we secure lasting stability."

Sing Sing pushed open the iron gate.

Beyond the main hall of the run-down Siheyuan, a dedicated elevator led straight underground.

As the elevator doors opened, an underground base appeared before them.

Personnel in white coats and uniforms moved between the various areas, and all kinds of precision instruments were running.

"Welcome to the 749 Bureau."

Director Wang approached with his hands behind his back, his gaze passing over the group one by one before finally settling on Sing Sing. He sneered. "You finally decided to drag yourself back, you rascal."

Sing Sing stood at attention and saluted, beaming. "Director! Mission accomplished. The first phase of the overseas special talent recruitment plan was a complete success!"

"These are the future backbone of our infrastructure projects! Every one of them is an advanced productive force!"

Director Wang looked at Lorna and the others, forced a smile, and said in stilted English, "Thank you all for making the long journey. Now that you're here, you're home. Don't be afraid. We don't do human experimentation here."