Chapter 56: Rescue Zhao by Besieging Wei?

Clearly, Ye Mi had no intention of answering her.

Watanabe Rei had no choice but to carefully examine her own body, yet she sensed nothing amiss within herself.

The deputy director, meanwhile, was impatient to have her bring Ian to his office, so Watanabe Rei had no choice but to escort her there first.

When Ye Mi was brought into the deputy director’s office, the man—usually arrogant and overbearing—was now pacing madly back and forth, his expensive leather shoes shattering the fragments of a coffee cup scattered on the floor.

He spun around abruptly, his face livid with rage. “Dr. Ian! What exactly do you think you’re doing? Do you know how many years of work you’ve just destroyed?!”

Ye Mi couldn’t help but let out a soft, mocking laugh as she watched his expression. This was precisely why she hadn’t relinquished control of Ian’s body—she enjoyed watching the higher-ups of the Defense Bureau flustered and at their wits’ end.

If only he knew that the losses amounting to hundreds of millions just days ago were also her doing—his reaction would surely be even more dramatic.

“Idiot! How dare you laugh!”

The deputy director’s neck tensed as he roared, his entire face turning the color of raw liver. He was preparing to continue his tirade when a message came through from his subordinate: “Report—Subject 06 has disappeared. None of the surveillance feeds have captured any trace!”

The Defense Bureau’s post-disaster inventory was swifter than Ye Mi had anticipated. Barely a dozen minutes had passed since the monster riot, and yet news of her disappearance had already reached the highest ranks.

The deputy director’s expression froze at once upon hearing this.

He shot a baleful look at Ye Mi, who stood there with a look of utter indifference, then opened the surveillance records and incident reports sent by his subordinates.

The footage showed the ambiguous smile of the researcher, Ian’s mention of special circumstances, and that phrase about starting a happy day... All the clues wove together into a clear trajectory.

“You did all this... just to rescue Subject 06?!”

Having reviewed the records, there was nothing left for the deputy director to misunderstand. Ian had unleashed the monsters and caused such an immense loss, all as a diversionary tactic to save another.

Watanabe Rei had watched the entire holographic playback from the side, and only after it ended did a hint of surprise flicker across her usually impassive face. She looked at Ye Mi and asked, “Are you lovesick?”

Ye Mi—Ian: ...

At last, she understood what her subordinate’s odd smile had implied after the monitors were shut off.

In Edge City, 2082, one’s orientation was hardly a point of curiosity. Ian’s manner toward her was notably gentle—strikingly so among the typically cold and aloof doctors. It was no wonder everyone had leapt to the wrong conclusion.

But was it not possible that Ian was simply a gentle person? Perhaps even disturbingly so, to the point of mental instability.

Ye Mi had personally witnessed her tenderly caress the limbs of the flesh incubator. She was well aware that Ian regarded her entirely as one might a pet.

Of course, only as the experiment subject did Ye Mi know these inside details. To outsiders, Ian was simply a relatively approachable scientist.

Since everyone at the Defense Bureau was convinced of this, Ye Mi was more than willing to let Ian take the blame.

While these thoughts churned in Ye Mi’s mind, the deputy director’s plump body trembled with fury under the harsh white glare of the overhead lights, making him look, at that moment, like a slab of raw pork.

“Dr. Ian, the Defense Bureau pays you a handsome salary, and this is how you repay me?”

The deputy director glared at Ye Mi through gritted teeth, only to see her lips curled in a faint, almost teasing smile.

His expression faltered for a moment.

At this moment, Ye Mi’s smile was utterly unlike Ian’s usual gentle one; it was laced with biting mockery, enough to make anyone’s blood boil.

This was the final spark for the deputy director, who was already teetering on the edge of sanity. With a roar, he seized an ashtray and hurled it at Ye Mi, but she dodged nimbly without even thinking.

Even though Ian’s body was ordinary, the deputy director was also just a regular man without any abilities. Years of combat experience had honed Ye Mi’s reflexes far beyond those of a civilian—dodging an ashtray was child’s play.

“How dare you dodge!”

Ye Mi rolled her eyes. “It would hurt if I didn’t.”

“You... you...”

The deputy director pointed a trembling finger at Ye Mi, speechless in his agitation, looking as if his blood pressure were about to skyrocket.

Just then, a medical robotic arm delivered a box of medication into the office. The deputy director snatched it up and swallowed the pills in one gulp, his breathing only beginning to steady after a moment.

The upper echelons of OC Corp enjoyed the best technological services; even their vital signs were monitored in real-time.

Ordinary people, those like Ye Mi—mere civilians—found it nearly impossible to access medical care, unable to afford the exorbitant VIP fees.

Watching this unfold, the derision on Ye Mi’s face deepened.

If she could succeed in angering the deputy director to death, it would count as a good deed in her book.

Unfortunately, after swallowing the pills, his chest merely heaved a few times before he quickly regained his composure.

The office’s smart climate system instantly detected his elevated temperature and, with a beep, lowered the temperature. Cold air whooshed from the vents, gradually drying the sweat from his brow.

He exhaled heavily, his thick fingers drumming on the desk, and a holographic screen immediately popped up with dozens of alerts waiting for his attention.

Ultimately, he was a seasoned administrator—anger soon gave way to reason.

“Initiate emergency protocols at once,” he ordered into the communicator, his voice regaining its usual authority. “Prioritize repairs to the containment zone, tally casualties, dispatch teams to search for Subject 06 and bring her back—”

He broke off mid-sentence, suddenly turning to Watanabe Rei, a flash of cruelty in his eyes. “Kill this useless trash.”

Watanabe Rei automatically raised her long blade, but just as she was about to strike, she stopped abruptly.

“Wait,” she said, sheathing her weapon and shaking her wrist, “She left something inside my body.”

Watanabe Rei recounted the events to the deputy director in detail.

Hearing this, his expression grew even darker.

Watanabe Rei, as a B-class ability user, was of enormous value to the Defense Bureau. There was no way he could simply sacrifice her—meaning he couldn’t even vent his anger on the true culprit!

“What did you leave in her body?” he snarled at Ye Mi. “Tell me, and I’ll let you die painlessly.”

Ye Mi gave a meaningful smile. All of this was exactly as she had expected.

She deliberately took her time straightening the rumpled lab coat, only speaking when the deputy director slammed his hand impatiently on the desk. “Kill me, and you’ll never know.”

Both Watanabe Rei and the deputy director’s faces grew so dark that water might have dripped from them. The latter, in particular, was so furious he let out a strangled laugh. “Fine, fine, fine.”

He repeated the word three times.

Exhausted, he waved his hand, unwilling to look at Ian’s face a moment longer. “I underestimated you, Doctor. Take her to the special containment room and keep her under strict surveillance.”