Conspiracy (Five updates!)

Tianyang parked by the roadside, raised his head, and looked at the guard atop the ten-meter gate. "I'm Tianyang, a Second Lieutenant of the Nightwalkers! I order you to open the gate!"

The guard froze, then burst out laughing. "Don't make me laugh, kid. Why would a Nightwalkers Second Lieutenant come to the Black Mine in the middle of the night? Do you take me for an idiot? Wearing a black coat doesn't make you a Nightwalker. Get lost! Get the hell out of here!"

With that, the guard let out a drunken belch. Management at the mine was lax, and he had drunk two bottles of cheap liquor that evening. His muddled head had kept him from noticing Tianyang's Electromagnetic Motorcycle. Otherwise, he would have known that not just anyone could ride one of those around outside.

In the searchlight's beam, the guard watched with satisfaction as Tianyang turned away. That's more like it, kid.

But after a few steps, Tianyang suddenly turned and raised his hand, a strangely shaped rifle now in his grip.

The gun fired one blue energy beam after another, piercing the steel gate's heavy locking bar and melting through the mechanisms and components inside.

Moments later, the entire locking bar fell off and hit the ground with a clang, sending dust flying.

With the locking bar-which normally required machinery to operate-lying on the ground, the gate slowly slid open, revealing the mine beyond.

Only then did Tianyang look up at the guard. "I wasn't asking you. I was giving you an order. Now here's another: take me to the person in charge of this mine!"

"Yes, yes! Sir, I'll come down right away." The guard hurriedly climbed down from the gate, all traces of drunkenness gone. Stumbling and scrambling, he led Tianyang into the mine.

At that moment, the mine's manager had just left his office and was preparing to return to the Fortress.

Suddenly, he heard someone calling him. "Mr. Yingqi! Mr. Yingqi..."

He turned and saw the gate guard. The man named Yingqi frowned. "What is it?"

Before the guard could answer, an impatient Tianyang shoved him aside from behind.

Yingqi jumped at the sight of the gun in Tianyang's hands and cried out, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"A Second Lieutenant of the Nightwalkers. You're in charge of this mine, right? Good. Check immediately whether the Fortress sent over a female worker named Nanfei a few days ago."

Yingqi backed away two steps. "There are so many workers at the mine. How would I know..."

The muzzle of the Assaulter Rifle pointed at the manager. Tianyang's voice carried barely restrained fury. "That's why I told you to check!"

Yingqi shuddered. "Even if you are a Nightwalkers Second Lieutenant, what you're doing is illegal. If you want to look up a mine worker's identity, you must present an internal affairs authorization issued by the Iron Wall Legion!"

Tianyang abruptly lowered the muzzle and fired at Yingqi's feet. "One more word, and the next shot goes through your head."

Looking at the hole the energy beam had burned through the floor beside his feet, the manager dared not argue again. He quickly opened his office door and took out an information tablet. His fingers flew as he searched the mine's records.

A moment later...

"Found her. Nanfei. Brought over from the Fortress four days ago. Let me see... she's in work area three."

Tianyang waved the muzzle. "Lead the way."

Yingqi swallowed, not daring to resist.

In work area three, Tianyang kicked open the door to the supervisors' break room. Several middle-aged women inside were laughing uproariously over something. At the sight of the murderous-looking Tianyang and the reluctant manager, they all jumped.

Tianyang glanced at Yingqi, who had no choice but to step forward. "You received a female worker named Nanfei four days ago. Where is she now?"

"Nanfei? The one who keeps shouting that she's been falsely accused?" asked an overweight female supervisor.

Tianyang hurriedly asked, "Yes, her. Where is she now?"

The supervisor glanced guiltily at Yingqi. "She was injured yesterday. She should be in her room now."

Tianyang's heart lurched. "Take me there. Now!"

The supervisor looked at Yingqi, who snapped, "Do as he says!"

They hurried to the workers' living quarters, where the conditions were appalling. Filthy water covered the corridors, and a nauseating stench hung in the air. Household rubbish and scraps of food had simply been dumped in corners along the passageways, attracting swarms of flies.

Tianyang's face darkened. Compared with this place, the Lower City could have been called paradise.

"That worker's room is just ahead." The fat woman walking in front pointed to a nearby room with its door open.

Just then, a figure emerged from the doorway. It was a burly man with a scar on his face, dragging something in his hand and cursing. "You're a fucking prisoner. Who are you trying to act all noble for? You're just a worthless bitch from the Lower City. Think you're some delicate Upper Citizen? Stop playing dead. You've been lying there all day. Get your ass back to the mine and work! Try slacking off on me, and I'll give you another few lashes!"

He dragged a slender arm out of the room, its owner too weak to do anything but let him pull her along.

With a swing of his arm, the man flung the woman into a corner, sending her tumbling into a nearby heap of rubbish.

The woman's right shoulder sagged at an unnatural angle. It appeared injured, most likely broken. Yet there wasn't even a bandage on it. Clearly, the mine had provided no medical treatment.

Her clothes were in tatters, and her back was covered in bloodstains. Some had dried, while others were fresh.

The woman lay motionless on the ground as though dead. Only the occasional rise and fall of her shoulders gave any sign that she was still alive.

"Still playing dead." The man, who appeared to be a supervisor, walked over and raised his foot to kick her.

A beam of light shot through his knee.

The man froze. Then excruciating pain erupted from his pierced knee. The beam's intense heat had even charred the edges of the wound, leaving a finger-wide hole without a drop of blood.

A scream rang out as the man collapsed. Then his vision went black, and he heard the sound of his nose breaking.

Tianyang withdrew the foot he had kicked into the man's face. Without even looking at the blood-covered man, he rushed to the woman on the ground and carefully turned her over.

Brushing the hair from her face, he saw his mother's bloodless features.

"Mom... Mom, it's me, Tianyang!"

Hearing the boy's words, Yingqi felt his heart clench into a tight knot.

He could hardly believe his ears.

The woman sent to the mine as a prisoner was the mother of a Nightwalkers Second Lieutenant?

The manager knew very well that anyone serving as a Second Lieutenant in the Nightwalkers had to be an Ascender!

How could an Ascender's mother be a prisoner?

In that instant, the manager seemed to catch the scent of a conspiracy. And a conspiracy involving an Ascender could very well spell the end of a lowly manager like him, right here.

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