Confession

“Appearance, abilities, specific identity, last known location… Brother Dashan, you don’t know any of this?”

Bai He’an rattled off a string of intelligence-related terms in one breath. Since her battle with Ran Jiuyi, she had reflected deeply on her own shortcomings and pondered Ran Jiuyi’s words, finally realizing the vital importance of information. This was a classic case of “a fall in the pit, a gain in wit.”

However, Bai He’an couldn’t wrap her head around it—if she understood this logic, there was no reason for the wiser, more mature Meng Shan to be ignorant of it. After a moment of thought, she hit upon the most plausible explanation.

“Is it possible your informant is intentionally feeding you fake intel to scam you out of your money?”

Meng Shan shook his head. “I’m afraid not. It’s simply because my informant doesn’t know those details either. If she did, she would have told me long ago.”

He continued, “The only other piece of information is that ‘Ken the Werewolf’ was created by Cheng Ya—the mysterious woman you were tailing that day, the same one who later fought Bian and practically plowed the suburban wasteland into a crater.”

Hearing Meng Shan mention Bian again, Bai He’an couldn’t help but interrupt. There was one question she absolutely had to have answered today.

“Brother Dashan, tell us the truth. Is Ran Jiuyi actually Bian?”

Jiang Yunshu and Yi Ziling chimed in as well. Deep down, they already had the answer, but they needed to hear it from Meng Shan’s own lips.

“Yeah, it’s been so long. Brother Dashan, just tell us.”

“That’s right. No matter what the answer is, we can take it.”

Seeing the three of them so determined to get to the bottom of things, Meng Shan sighed. “Fine. I planned on telling you later, but after everything that’s happened, you’ve probably guessed it anyway. You deserve to know.”

“Er… yes. Ran Jiuyi is Bian.”

“I knew it!” To his surprise, Bai He’an actually looked relieved upon hearing the news. “I knew it was her. She’s… she’s not our enemy, is she?”

Meng Shan shook his head. “Of course not. In fact, if she were truly our enemy, we would have all died the very day we met her. You all don’t seem very surprised. Had you suspected it for a while?”

Bai He’an nodded. “Yes. I was definitely terrified by Ran Jiuyi in her ‘Bian’ form yesterday. But once I calmed down and thought about it, she never seemed to initiate an attack against us, and every confrontation ended with her holding back.”

Yi Ziling added, “The first time Sister Ran fought us, she just used a simple palm strike to knock us out. The second time, she just used those needles to prick us a bit to scare us into fainting. She never truly did anything to hurt us.”

Jiang Yunshu agreed. “Sister An told us all this last night. To be honest, I was shocked when I first heard it, but looking back, it all makes sense.”

Then, with a mix of anxiety and hope, Yi Ziling asked, “So, is Sister Ran our friend? I’ve spent quite some time with her, and I can feel that she isn’t a bad person.”

Meng Shan was about to shake his head but stopped. After some careful thought, he finally nodded. “I suppose so. After all, like you said, she isn’t a bad person.”

Finally, Jiang Yunshu asked, “Then by that logic, the information about Ken the Werewolf must have come from Sister Ran too. So where did she go? Why didn’t she tell you the rest of the details?”

“She didn’t say because she doesn’t know, just like I told you. As for where Ran Jiuyi went… I’ll explain that to you slowly.”

With that, Meng Shan began to recount the events that occurred after the three girls had lost consciousness. To make it more vivid, he even played the footage he had recorded for them to see.

After listening to his explanation and watching over an hour of footage, the three girls finally understood the whole story.

“Is Sister Ran okay now?” Yi Ziling asked worriedly.

Meng Shan shook his head again. “I don’t know, but I think she’s doing fine. I gave her a month’s salary in advance; she’s probably relaxing in some hotel right now, enjoying life.”

At that very moment, in a plush hotel bed, Ran Jiuyi—who was indeed comfortably watching TV—suddenly sneezed.

“Who’s talking about me now? It couldn’t be Meng Shan, could it? Hmph, no use thinking about me. I’m not lifting another finger for him.”

Back at the center, Yi Ziling asked, “Then why did Sister Ran leave? Does she have something important to handle?”

After a brief hesitation, Meng Shan replied, “No. It’s just that she and I had a fight over some ideological differences, and I made her angry enough to leave.”

“Will she come back?” Jiang Yunshu asked.

“I don’t know. To be honest, I said some pretty harsh things that day. So… I really don’t know.”

Meng Shan’s confession left Jiang Yunshu at a loss for words.

“Wait, Brother Dashan, what did you say to make her that mad? It wasn’t about her age or something, was it?”

Yi Ziling added, “Yeah, Sister Ran usually has a pretty good temper. Did you say something really nasty, Brother Dashan?”

Nasty? Meng Shan recalled the conversation. It was indeed nasty—he had been rubbing salt in her wounds the entire time.

“Alright, stop asking about that,” Bai He’an interrupted their questioning. “Knowing Ran Jiuyi isn’t our enemy is enough. The priority now is Ken the Werewolf. We can discuss Ran Jiuyi later.”

She continued, “So, I have one question. Brother Dashan, if we end up fighting this Ken guy, will Ran Jiuyi come to help us?”

“I don’t know. Probably not,” Meng Shan answered. “I can’t give you a definite answer, and in a fight, even a shred of uncertainty can be fatal. So, let’s assume she won’t be coming.”

“Oh…” Jiang Yunshu said disappointedly. “That’s a shame. If Sister Ran were here, she’s so strong she could probably handle that werewolf with ease.”

Bai He’an cut her off. “Enough. Stop focusing on Ran Jiuyi. Even if she doesn’t come, we can do this on our own. Isn’t that how we’ve always made it through? What we need to do now is focus entirely on the potential enemy, not sit here sighing.”

After yesterday’s ordeal, Bai He’an seemed to have matured significantly, showing hints of a true leader’s temperament. She followed up, “Brother Dashan, do you have a plan for what comes next?”

“I do have some plans for dealing with this,” Meng Shan replied. “However, most of them require knowing Ken’s abilities in advance to set up, and we don’t have much time left. We’ll have to rely on some more universal methods.”

“I’ll lay out the specific protocols now…”

By the time he finished explaining and discussing the contingency plans with the girls, night had already fallen. After bidding them farewell, Meng Shan didn’t head home. He had another matter to attend to.

Driving to the edge of the city, Meng Shan followed a pitch-black road until he arrived at a ruined factory. This had once been a high-pollution chemical plant, a major tax contributor to the city during its glory days. Later, due to shifts in national policy, technological advances, and public outcry over pollution, the plant struggled and eventually went bankrupt.

Even after it closed, a massive amount of highly toxic compounds remained untreated inside. Many scavengers who tried to loot the plant ended up severely poisoned; some even lost their lives. More seriously, the chemicals showed signs of seeping into the surrounding area. Nearby residents had complained numerous times, but because the cleanup costs were astronomical, the government stalled with endless excuses.

In a localized struggle like this, civilians couldn’t outlast the government. For their own safety, the only choice left for the residents was to move away. Gradually, the chemical plant and a large swath of the surrounding area became a “forbidden zone” within the city. No one would set foot in such a death trap. The government had even put up banners warning anyone against entering.

No one would come to such a dangerous, desolate place. But for Meng Shan, it was a high-quality hiding spot.

Donning a hazmat suit and filtration gear, Meng Shan entered the factory, heading toward the most toxic areas. In a place this lethal, he had to remain at peak alertness. Every few minutes, he checked the toxicity levels and the status of his filtration system on his watch.

The data on his watch was slightly different from previous visits—the concentration of toxic chemicals had dropped by about a third, and in the most hazardous zones, it had plummeted by nearly half.

This was proof that someone had been here.

Meng Shan quickened his pace, reaching the depths of the factory’s basement. He stopped before a dilapidated, heavy, rusted iron door that looked as though it could never be opened.

It was all a facade.

After tapping a few commands into his wrist device, the door emitted a tooth-grinding screech of metal on metal and slowly ground open. Inside was a room that looked like a decontamination chamber. Meng Shan entered, sealed the door, and activated the sterilization cycle.

Only when the toxicity reading on his watch hit zero did he feel safe enough to peel off the hazmat suit and meticulously wash every inch of his body. Once certain no toxic residue remained, he moved into an adjacent room that resembled a waiting area and changed into clean clothes he had stored there.

After double-checking for lingering toxins or any sign of a tail, Meng Shan pried up a perfectly ordinary-looking floor tile. A dark hole with a ladder appeared before him.

Climbing down the ladder, Meng Shan felt his way to a generator and switched it on. With a roar of machinery, lights flickered on to reveal the surroundings: an armory packed to the ceiling with advanced weaponry.