“Get down.” The middle-aged man was the first to descend once the car was parked. Fatty was the second. He moved faster than Jiang Cheng. It was like something was hunting him.
Jiang Cheng opened the door and looked around. He realised they were in a villa. The place was huge. It had a stone fence. However, the mottled walls suggested that it was old. The place was secluded. He didn’t even know such a place existed. Fatty bounced over to Jiang Cheng and whispered, “Doctor, where are we?”
Jiang Cheng shook his head. He narrowed his eyes at the middle-aged man. Even though Xia Meng appeared to be well-respected, it was clear that the middle-aged man was the true leader. After the middle-aged man got out of the car, a young man instantly got on and drove it away. A panel opened on the side of the building to reveal a dark, cavernous space like a garage. The car drove it, and the panel closed again. All the traces were removed.
The villa gates slowly moved. With a clunk, the rusted door shut, sealing hope and sun outside.
Fatty’s throat shivered. He wanted to say something but cleverly shut his mouth when he saw Jiang Cheng’s face.
Eventually, the last ray of the sun sank down the horizon, like a dying man taking his last breath. The old villa’s shadow stretched down the horizon.
The middle-aged man walked into the villa. Jiang Cheng moved around 2 meters behind him. Fatty jogged to keep up with the Doctor.
The villa looked abandoned. As they walked in, they saw many workers still cleaning up the place. The group came to the real leather couch and sat down. Before them was a clean marble table. It reflected the cups of water placed on it. Jiang Cheng reached out to pick up one. The temperature from his fingers was just right. He took a small sip. He then held the cup instead of setting it down. The warmth from the cup chased away the chill he experienced earlier. “It looks is the place.” He looked up.
The middle-aged man didn’t say anything. His aura was imposing. Eventually, he nodded. “Yes. You can start preparing after dinner.”
“Not me.” The middle-aged man turned to Fatty, “Just you.”
Even though the Doctor had already stressed that he’d join him in the mission, when the middle-aged man said it, Fatty confirmed it. After all, it looked like the Doctor was also under the middle-aged man’s control. Fatty knew that the Doctor was holding a ball of fire. After they were in the nightmare mission, Xia Meng wouldn’t have a good time.
“You have the clue newspapers,” Jiang Cheng said calmly. Even though Xia Meng was close to him, his attention was on the middle-aged man. After all, he was the only source of danger.
“Yes.” The man nodded. This was not hard to guess. The newspapers could open the corresponding door. Jiang Cheng experienced that during the school mission. Back then, he had just experienced his first mission. The frequency with which he tackled the mission almost killed him. He didn’t request to check the newspapers. After all, he was not going alone. The precious Xia Meng was going with him.
Based on the middle-aged man’s personality, if Xia Meng perished in the mission and he survived, he probably wouldn’t survive in the real world.
After a simple dinner, the middle-aged man led Jiang Cheng, Fatty and Xia Meng to a large room on the second floor. The villa had three floors. So far, only the first floor had people milling about.
They had a simple meeting. They listened to middle-aged man catching them up on the things they needed to pay attention to in the mission. Regretfully, the middle-aged man only mentioned a little bit about Deep Red, that Jiang Cheng cared the most about.
He only said that Deep Red would intervene in this mission, but the depth of infiltration, the members and so on were all unknown. The middle-aged man glanced at his watch. “It is 10 pm now. Half an hour later, I’ll start to clear out this villa. Everyone, including me, will leave.”
Before he left, the middle-aged man glanced at Xia Meng, who was purposely avoiding him. He sighed and extended his hands. Fatty watched in confusion, not knowing what they were doing. A few seconds later, Xia Meng unwillingly took out a piece of newspaper from her bra. The middle-aged man accepted it and handed it to Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng accepted it without hesitation.
“Do take care of her.” The man nodded.
Jiang Cheng stared at him and said, “I hope you will still abide by our promise when we return.”
The middle-aged man looked at Xia Meng before he left.
After the wooden doors closed, only Jiang Cheng, Fatty and Xia Meng remained. Different from what Fatty anticipated, Xia Meng didn’t look as arrogant as before. She sat on the largest bed in the room. She glared at Jiang Cheng and the newspapers he held.
“Doctor,” Fatty slunk over. He stared at the newspaper, “Is this thing fake? Why is it so easy?” He kept shooting glances at Xia Meng. He wanted to know why she didn’t keep the newspaper and gave it to them.
Jiang Cheng didn’t worry as much as Fatty did. He left Fatty and came to Xia Meng. He tilted his head and narrowed his head. With a salacious smile, he placed the newspapers next to his face. “It’s still warm.”