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Chapter 297 Heroes of the Fire (Part 2)

Honglian was taken to an ambulance in a daze.

Wang Baihu did not follow.

Looking at the busy medical staff in front of her, she suddenly felt a sense of panic for no reason. "Where is the other person...? Where did you take him?"

No one paid any attention to her; they just kept putting various electrode patches on her. One of the nurses even brought an IV drip, as if to give her an injection.

Honglian's panic intensified. She shoved the nurse in front of her away and yelled, "Get away! I don't need these! Don't come near me!"

The push was quite forceful, and the young nurse slammed heavily against the carriage wall, letting out a painful scream.

The others were stunned, seemingly not understanding why she would do such a thing.

Honglian was also somewhat surprised, as she would never act like this normally.

"Sister Honglian?"

Just as the two sides were at an awkward silence, a slightly immature voice broke the deadlock.

Little Dove's head popped out from behind the car door. "My God, it really is you! Oh, so you and Bird Bro took leave together, you were just lying to us!"

"Kojima!" Honglian's heart suddenly warmed. Even if the entire mechanism was malfunctioning, Kojima would never stand against her. "What exactly is going on?"

"What's going on..." Xiao Jiu looked puzzled. "Isn't this the secret operation you and Captain Xiao were carrying out? I was just about to leave work when I suddenly received an emergency deployment notice. I was worried that the team might not be able to manage without you and Bird Brother."

"Of course, that's fine, since I'm here!"

"Just don't cause any trouble."

Han Yuhao and Li Xing also appeared at the rear of the car. They both looked very energetic, and it seemed that the serious injuries they had suffered at the Wuhuan Factory had been healed.

"Hello, group leader, I'm the fifth member. Do you remember me?" Then a short boy pointed to himself with some anticipation.

“Uh…” Honglian nodded subconsciously.

"Get out of here, kid! I bet the team leader doesn't even remember you!" Han Yuhao, the man with the earring, sneered. "Didn't you see she can't even remember your name?"

“Lin… Jia?” She finally remembered the other person—the “high school student” operative who had never come to the office after reporting for duty.

"Yes, it's me!" Lin Jia said happily, "Now you're the team leader I respect the most!"

“Everyone move aside, don’t bother the team leader here.” Jiang Siqi interrupted at this moment, “And everyone—” she pointed to the medical staff, “excuse me, could you please go and look after the other injured people… Our team leader is perfectly fine, I can tell.”

Surprisingly, her words had an effect. The nurses exchanged glances and then got off the bus.

"Have you seen Wang Baihu?" Honglian asked anxiously.

“Bird Bro is in another ambulance,” Little Dove answered quickly. “Could he be seriously injured?”

"No... not really." Hearing the other person's reply, she calmed down a little, and at the same time realized that she had been too flustered. That's right... if Xiao Kanong didn't intend to pursue their lies, there was naturally no need to take Wang Baihu away alone. He just wasn't in the same ambulance as her, that's all.

but why?
She couldn't understand how things had gotten to this point. In the worst-case scenario, once the captain discovered their leave requests were suspicious, he would likely separate them for interrogation. However, unless Lin Qing was caught in the act, the interrogation wouldn't yield any useful information. She might lose her position as team leader, be sidelined for a long time, or even be dismissed from the maintenance agency altogether…

She considered many possibilities, but this situation was definitely not one of them. "What emergency operation briefing did you receive?"

"A high-risk criminal has appeared at Hongda Chemical Factory, and we are required to go to the factory area immediately to apprehend him." Han Yuhao sneered, "I was excited that I was going to pull off another big operation, but when I got here, I received a notification that the mission had been changed to assisting the police in sealing off the scene. I wondered which task force was so capable, but it turns out it was you, team leader."

"Don't be sarcastic, Sister Honglian!" Jiang Siqi raised her hand and slapped him on the back of the head, the sound crisp and pleasant.

"Are there really capable people in the factory killing people? I heard they brought out a huge thing?" Li Xing asked curiously.

Who started the fire?

"What happened to you in Building Two? Tell us!" the others chimed in, asking questions all at once.

“This matter…” Honglian couldn’t help but feel a headache. She definitely couldn’t reveal such sensitive information about the World Ability Center and Lin Qing to them, but did she have to cooperate with Xiao Kanong in this charade? The thought alone disgusted her.

"Please be quiet for a moment, the captain is speaking!" Jiang Siqi suddenly interrupted. She held up her phone so everyone could see the live stream.

In the footage, Xiao Kanong stands in front of the factory where the fire has been extinguished, with a large number of firefighters going in and out behind him, but this does not prevent him from becoming the focus of everyone's attention. Standing next to him is a man in a police uniform, whom Honglian recognizes as Fu, the deputy director of Jiangcheng Police Station.

Xiao Kanong, unusually, did not smile; his expression even carried a hint of sorrow. "...I wonder if you all still remember the attack by ability users that occurred at Jiangcheng TV station a few months ago, the subsequent Five Rings Mechanical Park tragedy, and a man-made plague incident that few people know about... These major cases are actually all intricately connected."

As soon as this statement came out, the scene was in an uproar.

"Huh? Wasn't the Mechanical Park caused by the Wanderer invasion?" Kobato asked in surprise.

Xiao Kanong continued, "Through our joint investigation with the police, we have finally identified the mastermind as an illegal organization called the Evangelical Fellowship. Its members are all individuals with superpowers who refuse to accept the jurisdiction of law enforcement agencies and are not fond of abiding by the laws of various countries. The organization's ideology is based on the supremacy of ability and the superiority of the capable, and it has now become a major culprit in destabilizing the world."

"The Gospel Society conducted an experiment in Jiangcheng—using special drugs to artificially create individuals with special abilities. These individuals are the main culprits behind the aforementioned cases. Hongda Daily Chemical Factory was the base of their experiment. Beneath the factory buildings, there is a huge secret space where many unemployed people or those dissatisfied with society are summoned and lured to become their pawns in overthrowing the existing order!"

At this moment, an officer ran up to him and whispered a few words in his ear.

Xiao Kanong nodded, his expression growing even more grave. "The preliminary statistics are in. Twenty-five bodies have been found beneath Building No. 2. I feel sorry for what happened to them."

"More than twenty more dead?" Li Xing clicked his tongue. "This is really... a major case every month..."

Kojiu then reached out and placed her hand on Honglian's palm.

Seeing her worried expression, Honglian mouthed "I'm fine."

After the flashbulbs stopped, Xiao Kanong raised his hand to quiet everyone down. "Think about it," he said, "if these twenty-five people could all become ability users, and then, in a daze, be grateful to the Gospel Society and believe in the supremacy of ability users, how many terrible disasters would happen to our city?"

"So I mourn the fate of these people, but at the same time I feel somewhat fortunate! The reason why the Gospel Church went to such lengths to kill and set fires to silence witnesses is because we have caught them red-handed! For the past few months, the security agencies and the police have been working day and night to track down clues and search for any traces left by the enemy. Fortunately... we have finally caught up with them!"

Xiao Kanong spread his palms out to the deputy director beside him, "Without the cooperation and assistance of the Jiangcheng police, the agency would not have been able to succeed. I believe this case will open up a new area of ​​cooperation between us and the Jiangcheng police!"

A round of enthusiastic applause immediately erupted from the audience.

Director Fu nodded to the camera and said, "Please rest assured, the public, we will do our utmost for the safety and stability of Jiangcheng!"

"As for the secondary credit, it should be attributed to two of my agents." Xiao Kanong finally revealed a slight smile. "Their names are Honglian and Wang Baihu, the ones who just fought their way out of the fire! It's no exaggeration to say that without their bloody battles on the front lines, this matter could not have ended so smoothly. In a sense, they are heroes who saved the city!"

(End of this chapter)