The Beautiful, Strong, and Tragic Female Lead is Mine [Transmigration Into a Novel] - Chapter 56

The first thing Xie Zhitian did when she returned to the rest area was to message Tang Zhuoran to let her know they were safe.

She first sent a message saying, “All three of us are in the underground palace and are currently safe,” and then continued typing, concisely describing what had just happened.

Because she and Luo Yang, along with Zheng Lin and Liu Yunna, were the only ones in the underground palace participating in the third step of the experiment, Zhou Quan arranged for Xia Fufeng to stay in the same room with them for the subsequent experiments.

Xia Fufeng’s two other companions were arranged in other rooms and held as hostages.

Zhou Quan was middle-aged and didn’t exercise. He delegated all his tasks to his subordinates, so his physical fitness had been declining. Coupled with his injury, he couldn’t hold on for long and urgently needed rest.

He was naturally suspicious and didn’t trust Xia Fufeng and the others to conduct experiments out of his sight. So he simply let everyone go back to sleep and would continue the experiments the next day.

This gave a group of people, whose nerves were stretched thin, some breathing room.

Xie Zhitian quickly received a reply from Tang Zhuoran: “Glad you’re okay. Be careful yourselves.”

A moment later, another message came: “How’s little Xia?”

Xie Zhitian knew that she and Xia Fufeng were close and that Tang Zhuoran must be worried sick. She replied, “Don’t worry, with me and Luo Yang here, we won’t let anything happen to little Xia.”

Xia Fufeng looked at the communicator and sighed, whispering, “I wish this thing could send voice messages.”

That way, she could personally tell Tang Zhuoran that she was safe and hear the other person’s voice.

Luo Yang saw that she was dispirited and whispered to comfort her, “It’s okay, we’ll get out soon.”

By this time, the lights in the rest area had been turned off. Although the modified humans had been put through their paces by Zhou Quan, their daytime work was so exhausting that they quickly fell back into a deep sleep.

Xie Zhitian continued to message Tang Zhuoran: “Did you find anything about Ning Ximing?”

After learning that her companions were safe, Tang Zhuoran quickly regained her composure and replied, “Yes, I found out. Her identity is not a problem; she’s a modified human who just retired from the military. It’s just that she recently submitted an application to change her name and started using the new name, Ning Ximing, before the procedures were completed. That’s why everyone calls her by her new name, which doesn’t match the one on the roster.”

Xie Zhitian was a little puzzled. The apocalypse hadn’t completely ended yet, and most people were thinking about food, shelter, and their next steps. The approval of all applications was based on survival first, so changing a name would probably take a long time.

Spending the effort to change a name at a time like this sounded a bit sentimental. She didn’t think Ning Ximing seemed like a particularly romantic person, so why was she so insistent on changing her name?

However, Tang Zhuoran’s next message made her understand the reason in an instant.

“Ning Ximing’s original name was Yang Zhao Di. Her father’s surname is Yang and her mother’s is Liu. She didn’t take either of their surnames.”

Xie Zhitian stared at the line of text for a few seconds, her eyes suddenly feeling a little sore.

“Changing both her first and last name…”

She sighed softly, muttering, “Sister Ximing must have had a tough time these past years.”

Luo Yang and Xia Fufeng fell silent in unison after seeing the message. Any girl could understand what Ning Ximing’s original name meant.

It was a sign of being undervalued, the most selfish chain binding her in her parents’ name.

Many years later, Ning Ximing finally had the courage to break free from it.

Tang Zhuoran’s messages kept coming.

“I’ve checked, and Ning Ximing was forced to stay. Her younger brother has been a scoundrel since he was a child. This time he committed a crime and was detained by Zhou Quan, which by regulation is a life sentence. Her mother threatened to die if anything happened to her son, so Ning Ximing, after much hesitation, went to see Zhou Quan. As a result, Zhou Quan took the opportunity to trick her into the underground palace and threatened her with the lives of her family.”

Xie Zhitian understood. No wonder Ning Ximing was being blackmailed by Zhou Quan even though her remote wasn’t in the jurisdiction. For a person with a strong backbone like Ning Ximing, using her own life as a threat wouldn’t work.

But it sounded like Ning Ximing’s relationship with her family wasn’t very good. More than love, she seemed to be bound by a sense of duty.

Not only a duty to her family, but also a duty to the other girls in the underground palace. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to protect everyone from Zhou Quan.

“I also have a lead on Zhou Quan’s motive. Since the apocalypse, men’s abilities have been far inferior to women’s, so their status has been declining. Even among modified humans, male abilities are far inferior to female ones, and their numbers are also very small.”

“Zhou Quan used to be a leader and was accustomed to being praised, so he was very resentful of this. He had intentions of rebellion, which is why he set his sights on the xenomorphs. He has a lot of male supporters, and there should be other forces supporting him behind the scenes.”

Xie Zhitian was deep in thought. Tang Zhuoran’s intelligence explained why the modified humans in the underground palace were all female, while most of the guards were male. As for the few female guards who liked to curry favor with Zhou Quan, she thought they were more aptly called lackeys. There’s no shortage of such people in any era.

She and Tang Zhuoran discussed a few more details, then she put away the communicator.

Now that everything was clear, they could act soon.

Xie Zhitian looked up and saw Liu Yunna and Zheng Lin at the other end of the room.

When she, Luo Yang, and Xia Fufeng had shown familiarity with each other, they were already surprised. When they saw them communicating with Tang Zhuoran with the communicators, their expressions gradually changed from surprise to seriousness.

But Liu Yunna and Zheng Lin probably didn’t want to disturb them, so they didn’t ask any questions and just waited quietly.

Xie Zhitian thought for a moment, then took two steps forward and whispered, “Do you two have anything to ask me?”

In the initial stage of the plan, to prevent exposure, she didn’t want to involve too many people. But now that it had come to this, they needed more people’s help. Of course, if Zheng Lin and Liu Yunna were unwilling, she wouldn’t force them.

But as she expected, the two girls were very enthusiastic.

Liu Yunna quickly spoke up, “You have a plan to fight Zhou Quan. I’m willing to help!”

Zheng Lin’s voice was excited, “I can do anything. Please let me join!”

Xie Zhitian smiled, “Okay, let’s start from the beginning.”

She and Luo Yang gave a detailed account of what had happened, including how they found out something was wrong, how they took over other people’s identities to infiltrate the underground palace, and their cooperation with Tang Zhuoran over the past few days.

Zheng Lin suddenly understood, “So the communicators you were holding just now are tools to communicate with Captain Tang, to share information in real time, right?”

Luo Yang nodded, “Yes. Captain Tang is nearby now. If there’s an emergency, she’ll come over to help immediately.”

Liu Yunna said, “We now have a general understanding of the situation. What can we do to help you? We’re not afraid of danger; we can do anything.”

Seeing their determination, Luo Yang was a little moved.

She organized her thoughts and said, “Now, with the cooperation of the various jurisdictions, things are progressing very smoothly on the outside. This includes personnel allocation, destroying the self-destruct device in the underground palace, and preventing Zhou Quan’s people from accessing the remote controls in District 7. Captain Tang even took Ning Ximing’s brother into consideration and plans to rescue him as much as possible before taking action. Although I heard he’s not a good person, let’s leave him to the law to punish.”

“When the time comes, various details will be handled by others, so we have no worries and can act boldly. What we need to do now is to cooperate with Tang Zhuoran when she brings people in, and strive to get all the modified humans trapped in the underground palace out alive. This includes you two; you must also be careful because this is our most important goal.”

Zheng Lin and Liu Yunna nodded repeatedly, “Don’t worry, we’ll be careful.”

Luo Yang continued, “To ensure everyone survives, we need to consider two points: first, the hostages who are being held captive need to be rescued; and second, the xenomorphs need to be controlled, and it’s best to kill them all. When a physical conflict breaks out, the situation will be chaotic. It’s inevitable that some xenomorph cages will be damaged, or some extremists will deliberately open the cages. The modified xenomorphs are very smart. If they cooperate to fight humans, things will become very dangerous.”

Normally, when they fought xenomorphs, they would often use their excellent physical abilities as modified humans to jump to high places to avoid the xenomorphs’ attacks. But the space in the underground palace was limited, and there was only a small distance between the xenomorphs and the ceiling, leaving no room to dodge, so the difficulty of the battle would be greater. Moreover, the xenomorphs had been modified and were stronger than ordinary ones, which was also a tricky matter.

Xie Zhitian said, “My current plan is, once Captain Tang’s reinforcements arrive, Luo Yang and I will lead a team to kill all the xenomorphs, and we will try to eliminate them all in their cages. We will absolutely not let a single xenomorph escape to the ground and cause public panic. You two will take little Xia to rescue the hostages and make sure everyone is safe.”

“At that time, we will have the modified humans in the underground palace evacuate first. They have been trapped for so long and have suffered great mental and physical exhaustion, so they are not suitable for combat. The same goes for you two. Take everyone back to the ground as soon as possible; don’t linger.”

Liu Yunna was a little worried, “There are dozens of xenomorphs in this underground palace, and they are all very strong and have been modified. You must be careful. Especially the four who have completed the first and second steps of the modification; you can’t treat them like ordinary xenomorphs. Captain Tang, how many people can she bring in?”

Luo Yang replied, “Many people are coming to support us, but there are too many things to do. So, when the time comes, Captain Tang will only bring a dozen modified humans into the underground palace. But don’t worry, they are all very skilled, and that’s enough.”

Zheng Lin lowered her head and thought for a while, then hesitated and said, “Did you miss something?”

Xie Zhitian asked her, “What?”

Zheng Lin said, “Sister Ximing will also be at the xenomorph modification site at that time. If you want to kill the xenomorphs, you’ll have to get past her. Her brother is still being held, and she has a mother who threatens to kill herself. If our plan succeeds, her brother will go to jail for life, and her mother will definitely not be able to handle it. Their family will fall apart. Will she be willing to cooperate with us? Even if she has a plan, it should be after Zhou Quan releases her family, right?”

Luo Yang frowned, “But for a family like that, it’s not a big deal if it falls apart. We’ll find a chance to talk to her tomorrow. Sister Ximing has been protecting everyone; I believe she’ll be willing to help us.”

Xie Zhitian listened to her words and suddenly recalled the tall and straight figure that stood in front of them like a green bamboo yesterday.

That person said, “I will bear the consequences.”

“I also think there’s nothing to worry about here.”

Xie Zhitian smiled softly, her tone certain, “Yang Zhao Di might not cooperate, but Ning Ximing will.”

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