The Beautiful, Strong, and Tragic Female Lead is Mine [Transmigration Into a Novel] - Chapter 46

Xie Zhitian’s heart fluttered when she heard this.

However, she didn’t show any signs of suspicion. Instead, she cooperated, “A confidential mission? Can the two of us handle something this important?”

Gao Hua, seeing her innocent expression, chuckled, “Of course, you can. You two were selected after multiple rounds of screening in our district. Normally, we wouldn’t let newcomers take on such a vital mission right away, but this is an exception.”

He stood up, “Wait here for a moment. I’ll go make some porridge.”

Xie Zhitian obediently replied, “Okay, thank you, Brother Gao.”

After Gao Hua left, Luo Yang whispered, “The porridge must be a problem.”

“Mhm,” Xie Zhitian responded, also lowering her voice. “But it probably isn’t poison. I think sleeping pills are more likely. The workplace isn’t here, so they’ll make us fall asleep to easily transfer us.”

District 7 went through all this trouble to select them and deceive them; they wouldn’t just poison them right off the bat.

Luo Yang said, “Don’t worry, I can identify common poisons, even in small amounts. If it’s poison, we just won’t drink it.”

Xie Zhitian said softly, “Okay.”

Gao Hua quickly returned, carrying a small pot of steaming sweet potato porridge.

He ladled a large bowl for Xie Zhitian and Luo Yang, and a small one for himself. “You two must be starving. Eat more.”

Seeing Luo Yang’s expression, Xie Zhitian knew there was no poison in it. It was likely sleeping medicine.

She immediately took a big sip and praised, “It’s delicious. I was so hungry.”

Then, she asked Gao Hua, a little embarrassed, “Brother Gao, are we eating too much? You’re only having so little, will you be full?”

Gao Hua replied, “Don’t worry about me. I already had dinner before you arrived. I just couldn’t resist the smell, so I’m having a little more. I’m not hungry.”

Xie Zhitian nodded, “That’s good.”

She lowered her head to drink the porridge, thinking to herself. Gao Hua served himself some porridge to eliminate their suspicions. But she deliberately drank her porridge before he did, which would make him think she was easily fooled and lower his guard.

Seeing her and Luo Yang take several big sips of the porridge right away, Gao Hua visibly relaxed.

He picked up his own bowl of porridge. “You two drink slowly. I’ll go have a smoke over there.”

These two fools were completely defenseless. He didn’t even bother to watch them. The room was small, and he could see everything, so there was nowhere to dump the porridge.

Gao Hua thought, slowly finishing his cigarette.

When he returned to the room, he saw, as expected, the two girls slumped over the table, fast asleep.

He glanced at the small pot; it was empty. There wasn’t a single drop of spilled porridge anywhere else in the room.

Gao Hua scoffed. The dose was meant to make them fall asleep after drinking a little more than half a bowl. These two, however, had foolishly drunk the entire pot without any caution. Such a large dose was enough to keep them asleep until tomorrow morning.

He pushed the door open and called out into the hallway.

A man and a woman immediately walked in. “Brother Hua.”

Gao Hua pointed at the two motionless girls, lazily saying, “The new ones. Take them away.”

The two obediently stepped forward, tied Xie Zhitian’s and Luo Yang’s hands and feet with restraint straps, and carried them on their shoulders down the stairs. Their movements were practiced, as if they had done this many times before.

A van was parked downstairs. Gao Hua and the other two threw Xie Zhitian and Luo Yang into the back seat, then got in themselves. The car started and slowly drove off in a certain direction.

The man driving chatted casually with Gao Hua in the passenger seat. “Brother Hua, these two women aren’t very good-looking. Not as pretty as the last ones.”

Gao Hua cursed with a laugh, “All you care about is how good-looking they are. Show some ambition.”

The woman chimed in, “Exactly. What does it matter how pretty they are to you? Don’t get any funny ideas.”

The man laughed. “How would I dare? It’s something the higher-ups explicitly forbade. I was just thinking…”

Driving at night, the lights inside the car were off, and the back seats were almost entirely swallowed by the darkness.

No one noticed that the girl in the back, tied up, slightly opened her eyes.

Xie Zhitian discreetly observed her surroundings. It was a 7-seater van, and the interior was a bit messy. The cotton covers on the seat backs were dirty, with a few holes revealing the blackened foam inside.

Initially, Xie Zhitian thought Gao Hua would watch them until they finished the porridge, so she had prepared a fine needle to secretly prick her fingers and stay awake as long as possible. To her surprise, his guard was lower than she expected. After she had proactively taken a few big sips, he left.

After Gao Hua went out, she and Luo Yang didn’t drink another drop of the porridge. They poured the entire pot into her portable space. The amount they had actually drunk was less than a quarter of a bowl, so they were only slightly sleepy and could easily stay awake.

Xie Zhitian tilted her head slightly, peering out the window.

Outside, the landscape was still desolate. Dark tree shadows sped past under the moonlight, and she could feel the car slowly going uphill, likely heading into the mountains.

She recalled the conversation between Gao Hua and the other man and felt that something was not quite right.

Xie Zhitian quickly realized the problem. The way the two men spoke reminded her of the lewd men in her original world, judging women’s looks and speaking lewdly.

In the current world, women hold a superior status, so she rarely had a chance to hear such talk since she transmigrated. The last time was from Xiao Wen.

Also, the man said, “the higher-ups explicitly forbade it.” “Forbid” sounded like it meant they weren’t allowed to sexually harass the reformers. But who were “the higher-ups”?

While she was thinking, Xie Zhitian gently wiggled her wrists bound by the restraint straps.

She put a little force into it and found that she couldn’t break free by brute force alone. These must be restraint straps specially designed for reformers. She had tried them before she left and knew she couldn’t tear them with her wrist strength alone. And when they were just tied, she could feel that they had wrapped them many times.

Xie Zhitian was prepared. She had razor blades in her space that could cut the straps. If the situation became urgent, she could cut them instantly and regain her ability to move.

Her fingers moved slightly, and she took out a communicator from her space, fumbling to press a long string of numbers on it.

This was a military communicator that Tang Zhuoran had given her in advance. It was the size of half a palm, had a strong signal, and a communication range of five kilometers. It could even be used underground. The downside was that it could only transmit numbers, spaces, and asterisks.

Tang Zhuoran and Xia Fufeng each had one. She and Luo Yang had to go deep into enemy territory, so carrying it with them might expose them. It was stored in Xie Zhitian’s personal space, and they shared it.

So before they came, they had created their own code, using different numbers to represent different initials and finals, to transmit information in pinyin. The asterisk was used to separate words. She and Luo Yang had excellent memories and easily memorized the code, which earned them continuous praise from Xia Fufeng.

After entering the district, she had used the communicator to contact Tang Zhuoran, who then knew the location of Gao Hua’s building. However, there were too few cars on the road at the time, so it wasn’t convenient to follow directly. Just now, Xie Zhitian had used simple language to describe their trajectory in the van, and she believed Tang Zhuoran would understand.

After doing this, Xie Zhitian gently nudged the person next to her with her arm. The person’s breathing paused, then they gave her a small nudge back, indicating they were okay.

Xie Zhitian’s heart relaxed a little. With nothing to do, she simply closed her eyes to rest.

About an hour later, the car shook and then stopped.

The car door opened and closed, and Xie Zhitian felt her feet leave the ground, and she was carried again.

She squinted, seeing that they were walking along a mountain path. The dirt road twisted and turned, eventually leading into a forest.

Gao Hua bent down and fumbled on the ground, then pulled hard.

A stone on the ground, along with the turf underneath, was lifted, revealing a round metal lid. The metal lid was grayish-black, two sizes larger than a manhole cover, and had a keypad on it.

This place was quite hidden. An ordinary person would never have thought there was an underground space beneath the unremarkable turf.

Xie Zhitian tried to make out Gao Hua’s finger movements, memorizing the password in her mind: 623056, ready to send it to Tang Zhuoran when she had a chance.

The man with Gao Hua went ahead with a kerosene lamp to lead the way, walking down a long stone staircase. After about two or three minutes, a spacious hall appeared before them.

The surrounding walls were made of sturdy stone, with a lamp fixed every so often. There was no other light source. Only after her eyes adjusted to the dim light could she barely make out the layout of the room.

Xie Zhitian’s vision swayed, and then she was thrown onto the ground.

She lay on her side, observing in the dark with her eyes squinted. Behind her was the stone staircase they had come down, and in front of her were four long corridors that looked pitch-black due to the lack of light.

“Brother Hua, I’ll go call Sister Ximing out.”

The man walked into the leftmost corridor, his shoes tapping the ground with a crisp sound that echoed clearly in Xie Zhitian’s ears.

He came back shortly, followed by another person.

Due to her low position, Xie Zhitian couldn’t see the person’s face. She could only see a pair of straight calves and a pair of spotless black pointed ankle boots.

The two walked towards her together, stopping about a meter away from Xie Zhitian.

A cold female voice spoke, “Are these the new ones?”

Gao Hua’s voice was respectful. “Yes, they’re from District 14. They just arrived tonight, so I hurried to bring them over.”

Xie Zhitian could feel a scrutinizing gaze on her, like a snake slowly slithering over every inch of her skin. She closed her eyes, her heartbeat quickening slightly.

After a moment, the oppressive feeling disappeared. The female voice asked, “Only two? Weren’t there three?”

“There were three at first, but one of them was temporarily injured and needed to recuperate, so she didn’t come this time.”

Gao Hua’s voice was very cautious, as if he was afraid of her getting angry. “Please don’t be mad. Even if that good-for-nothing came, she wouldn’t have been able to accomplish anything. It’s a position they worked so hard to apply for, and they don’t even know how to cherish it…”

“Alright, I get it.”

The woman’s voice was calm, showing no emotion. “Take them inside.”

Support The Beautiful, Strong, and Tragic Female Lead is Mine [Transmigration Into a Novel]