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Chapter 326: As If in a Nightmare (Part 2)

...

After being injected with the drug, Honglian felt the nerves throughout her body boiling, her senses magnified countless times, any bit of pain causing her to scream out loud.

She suspected that soon, she would die from the pain, but the unconsciousness she hoped for never came. Not only was her mind clear, but she could also think about why.

Is it because the injuries I’ve suffered are not fatal?

She looked at her right hand bound to the chair’s armrest—knuckles red and swollen, immobile, the nail lifted, exposing the tender flesh beneath... the pain was indescribable, heart-wrenching, yet not enough to kill her.

"How many Wanderers have you encountered, and what are their names?"

"Are they organized?"

"What are their objectives?"

"Tell me about your conversations with them."

Wang Qianduan was indifferent to her screams, calmly asking the questions the Mechanism wanted to know. Whether she answered or not, he would move on to the next topic after asking several times, as if her confession didn’t matter.

What is he doing?

The interrogation is just an excuse; is he simply enjoying torturing me?

Impossible... Honglian immediately dismissed this thought. The Mechanism took great risks to bring their team to this world just to give Wang Qianduan an opportunity, and he wouldn’t use it to satisfy personal desires.

Could it be—

A terrifying thought emerged in Honglian’s mind.

"How did the Wanderers find you?" Wang Qianduan asked again.

Suppressing her fear, Honglian deliberately conjured a nonexistent scene: a person in a black mask contacted her, and when the mask was removed, Xiao Canong’s face appeared.

For a moment, Wang Qianduan’s brow furrowed.

Honglian did not miss this subtle change.

She suddenly felt a chill throughout her body!

This man... is reading my thoughts!

"Slap!"

Wang Qianduan angrily raised his hand and slapped her hard, "Don’t play such tricks. Fake memories are not hard to identify after a few questions. Increase her dosage."

Yet another vial was injected into her neck.

The pain surged over her like a tsunami, even more intense than before, almost blanking her mind! Honglian’s whole body convulsed, drenched in sweat, opened her mouth to scream but couldn’t make a sound because her vocal cords spasmed from the pain.

She realized that the drug’s purpose is to weaken her will.

To fight the pain, she had to concentrate most of her effort on endurance... this forced her brain to involuntarily reveal more information.

Or perhaps... she had already disclosed much—without her even knowing.

"Kill, kill me..."

After a series of rapid breaths, Honglian spat out some bloody froth and spoke with difficulty.

"I do want to deal with the traitor myself, but you can’t die yet. The Mechanism requires you alive." Wang Qianduan refused, "Your only choice now is to confess everything willingly; this will reduce your suffering."

"Kill me, kill me..." Honglian kept saying.

She changed her strategy, no longer confronting with silence but repeatedly saying the same words to fill her mind.

"Inject her with the hypersensitizing drug without the neuroprotective agent," Wang Qianduan said to the logistics team member.

"This could damage her brain and turn her into a vegetative state," the subordinate worriedly said.

"No matter. Headquarters only required her alive, not intact."

Soon, someone approached with a new syringe.

Honglian knew a new round of torment was about to begin.

...

She didn’t know how long it had been; the pain made her consciousness blurry, and even breathing was a struggle.

But even so, she hadn’t given up resisting.

Even those in the logistics group looked at her with a bit of reverence in their eyes.

Wang Qianduan walked back into the basement, holding something in his hand.

When Honglian saw what it was, her mind exploded.

——Wang Baihu’s head.

His face was distorted, pale, clearly having endured great pain. But now, he wouldn’t complain about the pain anymore...

"Wang! Qianduan!"

She opened her mouth and roared, struggling fiercely to break free, lifting the iron chair off the ground, the chains below taut!

People around rushed forward and pressed her back into place.

"Not considering being killed now?" Wang Qianduan seemed to have anticipated this, "I warned you, this interrogation isn’t easy for them to endure."

"I... I will never forgive you!" Honglian screamed with heart-wrenching anger.

"Hm, I sensed the moments between you two... it seems his confession was accurate, the enemy contacted him first, then through him connected to you."

"You and the Mechanism are crazy!"

"Our plan deviated, don’t forget who we have to thank for that!" Wang Qianduan’s tone carried a hint of anger as well, "We are fighting for all humanity, no mistakes allowed, but you—betrayed that noble goal!"

The Mechanism is wrong...

She couldn’t control herself from recalling Lin Qing’s words.

"What did you say?" Wang Qianduan frowned.

"I thought she was talking nonsense at first... but now, I fully believe her." Honglian said through gritted teeth, "The Dimensional Limit Mechanism can’t save this world... it’s not the organization it once was."

"Arguing is meaningless, I only know, what the doctor foresaw is coming true piece by piece, the Mechanism must lead the world to win the fate challenge." Wang Qianduan returned to his initial indifference, seemingly losing interest in arguing with Honglian, "If you don’t cooperate, Little Pigeon and Jiang Siqi will be next."

"They... have nothing to do with this!"

"That’s not important; what’s important is they can break your passive resistance, just like earlier." Wang Qianduan lifted her chin, saying, "I repeat, Headquarters is serious, we’ll stop at nothing to eliminate threats in the bud."

Sorrow, pain, and despair flooded Honglian’s heart.

Her ability couldn’t help her escape the predicament; she couldn’t convince them to spare her team.

She couldn’t even keep a secret.

If Wang Qianduan did that, she didn’t know if she could persist.

This was all like a nightmare, slowly devouring her.

The physical pain and inner struggle gave Honglian an illusion: if only it were a dream, she would even accept never waking in exchange.

...

She didn’t know how long had passed, but she felt warmth.

It seemed like something soft was wrapping her, and the omnipresent pain eased a lot. It was very quiet around; Wang Qianduan’s interrogation and her own screams were gone, a faint fragrance wafted in the air, the sour and bloody smell seemed far away...

Has it truly become a dream?

Or is she dead?

These thoughts brought her a rare sense of ease.

But in the next second, rationality forcibly pulled her relaxed mind back: A dead person cannot have awareness, and the Mechanism wouldn’t let her go, this is just a fragile illusion, escapism solves nothing.

No matter how she resisted, no matter how unwilling she was to return to reality, that responsibility threatening to drive her crazy forcibly opened her eyes—

The ceiling above was painted stark white, no longer the cold, dark stone blocks.

Honglian was stunned.

Then she discovered she was actually lying on a bed, wrapped in a soft blanket.

What on earth is going on?

She actually got out?

She struggled to get up, but her limbs didn’t have any strength, and the pain in her wounds returned, making her let out a soft moan.

At this moment, Honglian heard someone approaching.

A slender hand rested on her shoulder, "It’s good that you’re awake. Don’t move; I’ll go get Master."