Chapter 5: A Clueless Investigation
What was a dream?
Zhong Jing believed it to be a physiological phenomenon caused by still-active brain cells during sleep; it wasn't impossible for the content of an involuntarily controlled dream to involve a military operation to encircle and annihilate a witch in the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area, but Zhong Jing didn't believe a dream could cause such unknown changes to her body and necklace.
Everything that happened in that so-called ‘dream’ revolved around the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area and the witch; Zhong Jing's purpose in coming to the Special Business Handling Center this time was to start an investigation using the former as a breakthrough point, as it would be easier to find the truth compared to the ‘witch’ intelligence, which was defined as high-security level.
In her view, the battle in the dream was a rare large-scale operation since the establishment of Chu Sheng City; the base government must have had a long period of groundwork to make full preparations beforehand. Even if the final battle was canceled urgently due to unforeseen circumstances, the traces left behind would not disappear.
For example, intelligence gathering work; before obtaining definite intelligence and analyzing it rigorously, the base government would not rashly commit a large amount of manpower and resources to that dangerous ruined city nuclear wasteland area.
Zhong Jing intended to search through the massive number of mission assignments issued by the base government to find those related to the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area, thereby finding more traces of that dream and uncovering the truth.
Perhaps the changes in her own body could be explained; with this thought in mind, Zhong Jing performed this tedious, mind-numbing work with exceptional seriousness.
Each swipe of her finger across the screen from right to left would take away the dismissed page, revealing the next page of mission content awaiting review; her fingers and eyes repeated the same trajectory of movement like machinery, and the quiet, independent meeting room was silent except for the sound of her fingernails touching the display screen.
Unaware of the passage of time, unaware of what was happening outside…… It wasn't until the last swipe of her finger, when the content on the display screen no longer changed, that Zhong Jing suddenly came to her senses.
Her eyes, from staring at the electronic display screen for a long time, had become extremely dry; every blink brought a clear, aching pain deep into the nerves of her eye sockets. Her arm, held in mid-air and not put down for a long time, was also extremely stiff, but she paid no attention to these things.
She immediately looked at the page number record in the bottom right corner——this was already the last page; unknowingly, she had completed the review of these thousands of missions.
However, the end of it all did not bring Zhong Jing the slightest sense of relief……
Nothing…… nothing…… Why was there nothing? Did I miss something?
Zhong Jing would rather believe that she had missed some important information due to her own negligence, but Shang Shu, who was helping her with a secondary check on the other side, had not found any omissions.
This time, she had come with great confidence, initially thinking she could at least find some clues, yet the actual result was completely beyond her expectations. Could it be that it was really just a dream, and everything that happened to her had nothing to do with the ‘dream’? Then where should she look for the reason she had become like this?
Among these thousands of mission assignments, she had not found the information she hoped to discover at all; even the mission assignments related to the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area were all patrol missions in the peripheral areas, or assistance transport missions for supplies to the Chu Sheng City Standing Combat Army base stationed near the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area. These were all regularly issued routine missions.
“Haah——A Jing, didn't you find the information you were looking for……” To help Zhong Jing, it was the first time Shang Shu had worked for such a long time, and it indeed made one feel a bit tired. She stretched hard to relieve her body, allowing her stiff joints to relax a little.
When she turned her head to look at Zhong Jing, the expression on Zhong Jing's face made her suddenly realize that her earlier question seemed somewhat redundant; it appeared things were far from over.
Could there be no information at all among so many mission assignments? The difficulty of this was much greater than Shang Shu herself had imagined.
“Sister Shang Shu, can you retrieve even earlier mission assignments! If the time is early enough, we’ll definitely be able to find something!” Zhong Jing's bloodshot and reddened eyes moved closer, filled with hope despite her fatigue, but Shang Shu could not respond to Zhong Jing's expectations with a satisfactory answer.
“A Jing…… I'm sorry, I can't do that.”
Apology slowly appeared on Shang Shu's face; this was something she was powerless to do.
“The data stored in the handling center’s database is uploaded entirely to the base government’s database for records every week…… My access level isn't high enough to access it.”
How could…… this be?
Zhong Jing trembled all over; Shang Shu's words struck her eardrums, making her feel dizzy spells in her brain. Her body felt as if it had suddenly lost all strength, and like a salted fish, she leaned back against the sofa's backrest, her lackluster eyes staring blankly at the ceiling above, withdrawing into herself.
Various anxieties mingled in her chaotic mind.
In that case, wouldn't it be impossible to know the truth about why I've become like this? Do I really have to live like this for the rest of my life? Why did I encounter such an inexplicable thing?
“I think…… A Jing becoming like this isn't bad……” As if seeing through Zhong Jing's thoughts, Shang Shu whispered comfortingly after a short silence.
“How could it not be bad.”
Zhong Jing naturally couldn't accept such comfort. She extended her hands in front of her eyes; the sight of these fair and tender little hands filled her, and her heart, with a sense of powerlessness: “How can these hands grip a weapon, how can this body continue to fight? Right now, I probably can't even lift a large-caliber gun.”
“Then A Jing shouldn't be a mercenary anymore.” Shang Shu, however, didn't think this was something to fuss about.
“Come work here with me. A Jing looks so cute now, I'll explain it to the supervisor, and working on the second floor will definitely be no problem.”
Working as a waitress at the Special Business Handling Center?
After hearing Shang Shu's words, Zhong Jing couldn't help but imagine herself wearing such sexy clothes and fishnet stockings…… This shameful attire wasn't even the end of it; especially when she thought about having to smile welcomingly at those mercenaries who made no secret of their invasive gazes, it gave her goosebumps all over.
Even…… some audacious mercenaries might want to go further……
“No! I don't want to! Absolutely not!”
After another shiver, Zhong Jing resolutely stated her firm attitude.
Only someone with Sister Shang Shu's temperament could be so indifferent to such offensive gazes.
“Eh? This is clearly a very good job.”
Zhong Jing's refusal disappointed Shang Shu greatly. She crossed her arms and showed a very puzzled expression; why would Zhong Jing refuse? Jobs at the Special Business Handling Center were quite popular in the outer city districts.
“I said I don't want to! These clothes……”
As Zhong Jing spoke, her gaze fell on Shang Shu's attire, and when her line of sight focused on a certain part of Shang Shu's body, the latter half of her comment on the waitress uniform trailed off, unable to come out.
Shang Shu's posture with her arms crossed instantly pushed out her chest, making the already not-small mounds appear even more prominent. The daring design of the neckline revealed a deep cleavage, making it difficult for one to easily look away.
This also made Zhong Jing involuntarily recall the situation when Shang Shu had hugged her earlier; although it was a terrifying experience of struggling on the brink of life and death, recalling that different kind of touch……
“Mmph!”
A blush instantly spread across her face; with belated realization, she finally understood what kind of contact she had just had with Shang Shu.
“Clothes? What's wrong? Is there a problem?” Shang Shu looked down in confusion to check if there was anything wrong with her attire. The act of adjusting her clothes caused them to sway, and one could even vaguely see ripples.
“No…… Nothing……” Zhong Jing averted her gaze, blushing, “Anyway, I won't work here.”
“Then does A Jing really still want to be a mercenary?” Shang Shu knew her words couldn't change Zhong Jing's mind, but she still had something she wanted to explain to Zhong Jing.
“These past two years, I've been really worried about A Jing.”
She was a very important person to Zhong Jing, and wasn't Zhong Jing just as important to her? They had relied on each other since the orphanage, and had started planning their future together very early on…… However, ever since Zhong Jing embarked on this path, it meant that she could lose this family member forever on any given day.
Shang Shu's words made Zhong Jing fall silent; her mumbling lips hesitated for a long time before she finally uttered three words softly.
“I'm sorry……”
After speaking, Zhong Jing lowered her head, not daring to meet Shang Shu's eyes.
“……”
“Sure enough, even if you've become like this, A Jing is still A Jing……”
After a long period of silence, a smile returned to Shang Shu's face, though it carried a hint of helplessness; she knew Zhong Jing's thoughts still hadn't changed, but this wasn't surprising.
“Since we're clueless for now, let's go first. I'll go ask the team leader for leave……” Shang Shu got up and walked towards the door.
“Ask for leave?”
Shang Shu's abrupt sentence left Zhong Jing somewhat bewildered: “Is Sister Shang Shu going somewhere?”
“Yes, there is a place I need to go.”
From behind the door, Sister Shang Shu returned a brilliant smile, her gaze, tinged with an unknown meaning, stirred unease in the depths of Zhong Jing's heart.
“The hospital.”