Vol 17 Chapter 10-1 (1/2)
The past five days were difficult for everyone in the team. The sense of threat was always there despite them hiding far from the steel fortress. A squad of Decepticons patrolled right past them every two hours. They almost got discovered in the first few patrols due to the scent of the Autobots they possessed. The team had to back off fifty meters further. Even communication between the two groups became difficult.
“Xuan, what are you really thinking?” Zheng poked the campfire and asked. “It’s only my intuition but I feel that you are scheming something. Same with HongLu. What are the two of you planning to do? Understand that you two are still part of the team no matter how smart you are. Don’t make plans based on however you want.”
Xuan turned around and glanced at him. He did not say anything then continued eating his food, a bunch of bananas he brought from Shelter 1.
Zheng was defeated seeing Xuan didn’t talk. He turned to the other members and especially chatted with Lan. The main focus of conversation was on the psyche scan.
“The area fifty meters beneath the fortress have been converted into several floors. Each of these floors is larger than the fortress above ground and bigger than the original St. Louis. I can’t probe further than fifty meters downward. It feels like it’s being masked.” Lan said with her eyes closed.
A warm breath of air blew by her ear. She opened her eyes in a shock and saw Zheng spoke next to her ear. “Don’t just focus on the scan. Say, what do you think will happen between the two of them?”
Lan was surprised. Zheng gave a nod. She touched her forehead then muttered. “I think the highest possibility is they diverged on the plan concerning nuclear weapons. Or perhaps they both have their own plan regarding nuclear weapons. The details are beyond my ability. Don’t you feel suspicious that HongLu chose YinKong?”
“Suspicious?” Zheng became curious. “Of what?”
“YinKong was the key to stealing the nuclear arsenal password. I can control a person temporarily but I can’t insert a piece of information into a person’s mind and hypnotize him for days like movies and novels depict. The password is dynamic so sneaking to the secret place was their criteria. YinKong could put the CD into the computer while I controlled the president temporarily.” Lan said.
“Yeah, that’s Xuan’s plan. There doesn’t seem to be anything suspicious on this.” Zheng looked to Lan and saw a smile on her face. A thought suddenly struck his mind. “I get it. The CD was in YinKong’s hand during that time. Only she knows what HongLu coud have done on the CD. That’s why HongLu chose her. Her close combat ability is less effective than Kampa and WangXia in enacting the bait plan. Even Gando would be more useful than her.”
Lan just smiled without responding. Her gaze was tender.
Although Zheng still didn’t know what HongLu did but if YinKong helped him complete the plan and hid the fact, it shouldn’t have a big impact on the team. HongLu was still a boy after all. He might be smart but he would get influenced by his emotions. As long as he did not cause a negative impact on the team, it was fine to let him contend with someone stronger than him.
However, Lan… She had been quiet ever since being revived. Zheng occasionally could feel her gaze. Most of the time she played her role as the psyche force user in the team to the best of her ability but beyond that, her sense of existence in the team was thin. Zheng knew what Lan was planning. She was attempting to shut herself off using this method. The distance between the two of them would grow with time until they become strangers to each other.