The Beautiful, Strong, and Tragic Female Lead is Mine [Transmigration Into a Novel] - Chapter 59.1

“Guess how long it’ll take for Captain Tang to get here.”

Zhou Quan held a dagger, patting Xia Fufeng’s cheek with the blade. “I advise you to be honest, or this delicate skin of yours won’t withstand a few cuts.”

The bright reflection of the blade shone in her eyes, a bit dazzling. Xia Fufeng instinctively tried to dodge, but her body was tied so tightly that she couldn’t move at all. She could only squint her eyes.

Zhou Quan sneered, “You and Captain Tang… have a very good relationship?”

Xia Fufeng remained silent, ignoring his words completely.

Earlier, she, Zheng Lin, and Liu Yunna were heading to the lounge together. The two of them, following Xie Zhitian’s instructions, led the way and protected her from behind. However, as they rounded a corner, Zheng Lin and Liu Yunna went ahead to fight the guards, leaving her to wait a few meters behind.

Xia Fufeng followed the arrangement but didn’t know what mechanism she triggered. A floor tile beneath her suddenly slid away, and she fell right through.

It happened so suddenly that Xia Fufeng only let out a brief shriek, which was instantly drowned out by the clang of weapons. She was then bound by ropes from the mechanism, and the opening above her closed again with a faint sound. But in the midst of the fighting, no one would notice such a small noise.

She had been silently lured into the trap, disappearing from her companions’ sight.

The next second, Xia Fufeng’s body began to slide. She realized she was in a dark, slide-like tunnel, not knowing where it led.

The tunnel wasn’t very long. After about ten seconds, a bit of light appeared at the end of her vision. The light grew bigger and bigger, and soon, she slid to the exit and fell heavily onto the ground.

Struggling, Xia Fufeng raised her head and saw Zhou Quan’s repulsive face.

Her heart sank. Zhou Quan was a deeply cunning man, who had probably set up some mechanisms when the catacombs were being built. After everyone started their operation, he hid in his lounge and arranged for his men to use a mechanism to capture her as a hostage to threaten the others.

Zhou Quan was at the end of his rope, and his goal in taking her hostage was nothing more than to escape. But letting him go would be a future disaster, and she would not let him succeed, no matter the cost.

Zhou Quan waited for a while and, seeing that Xia Fufeng didn’t answer his question, laughed dismissively. “Such a young girl, but you have a tough backbone.”

He toyed with the dagger, muttering to himself, “When Captain Tang comes, I wonder if you’ll still be this tough.”

Ever since he captured Xia Fufeng, he had been trying to find out information about the three of them. After a lot of effort, he finally found some clues, confirming that the commander of the Guard Army in District 14, Tang Zhuoran, was currently in this district and had close ties to the three people he had captured.

But he found out too late, and before he could even resist, the other side had already launched an attack.

Today, with the sudden turn of events, Zhou Quan was besieged on all sides. He knew Tang Zhuoran was an important figure in this plan, and to survive, he took control of the seemingly most fragile and easy-to-control Xia Fufeng, planning to negotiate with Tang Zhuoran.

Xia Fufeng could, of course, guess Zhou Quan’s intentions. So even when he punched and kicked her just now, she bit her lip and tried not to make a sound. The fact that he didn’t want Tang Zhuoran to bring a weapon showed he had malicious intentions. What if the negotiations broke down and Zhou Quan wanted a mutual destruction?

She didn’t want Tang Zhuoran to risk her life to save her. Tang Zhuoran was the captain of the Guard Army and was much more capable than she was. She was also a person she secretly admired, someone she could only look up to. From every perspective, she hoped Tang Zhuoran would survive more than she did.

However, things didn’t go as she wished. A soft tune soon played; someone had pressed the doorbell outside the lounge.

Zhou Quan got up, walked to the door, checked the peephole, and then hurried back to Xia Fufeng’s side, a sinister smile on his face. “You probably don’t want her to come, but it’s a pity, she’s here.”

Xia Fufeng’s eyes welled up, and tears almost fell. She had never hated her own incompetence so much for putting Tang Zhuoran in such a position. If she were a little stronger, maybe she could have broken free from the ropes, subdued Zhou Quan, and not been so helpless.

Zhou Quan grabbed her, pressing his bandaged right arm against her neck, holding her in front of him like a shield. His left hand held the dagger, only a few centimeters from her throat.

Zhou Quan pressed a button on the table, and the heavy metal door slid open to both sides.

He said, “Get in now.”

Tang Zhuoran immediately entered, and the door closed behind her. After she saw the scene in front of her, her eyelashes trembled slightly, but she quickly returned to normal.

She raised her hands, indicating that she wasn’t carrying any weapons. “Commander, I’ve done as you asked. What do I need to do to let her go?”

Zhou Quan didn’t waste words. “Have your people retreat, prepare a car for me. I’ll take her with me and no one is allowed to follow. You must have a communication device. I’ll leave her a dozen miles away, and you can come get her then.”

“Okay, but you have to guarantee her safety.”

Tang Zhuoran looked at him, her tone calm. “Give me a reason to believe you won’t harm her, and then we can talk.”

After hearing this, Zhou Quan was silent for a while, then suddenly burst into laughter.

“Good, very good. Your relationship is truly touching.”

His eyes were filled with malice and madness, his voice hoarse from shouting. “But I can’t guarantee her safety, and I can’t give you any reason. But if you don’t cooperate, I will die with her right now.”

With that, he waved the hand holding the knife, bringing it a little closer to Xia Fufeng’s neck.

Xia Fufeng was desperate. “Zhuoran, don’t…”

“I agree. Just don’t touch her.”

Tang Zhuoran suddenly raised her voice to interrupt her. “I’ll arrange the car right now. Once it’s ready, I’ll take you out.”

With that, she took out a communicator, pressed a series of numbers, and hit send.

Seeing this, Zhou Quan’s expression relaxed slightly, but he was still wary.

Tang Zhuoran was young to be the captain of the Guard Army, so she must be very capable. If she was caught off guard and injured him and took the hostage during their exit, it would be bad.

He looked her up and down with a sinister gaze, and spoke again. “Although Captain Tang is so cooperative, she is still very strong, so I’m very uneasy. I’m getting old, and I get shaky when I’m worried. It would be bad if I accidentally hurt this girl.”

Tang Zhuoran said, “Then what can I do to make you feel at ease?”

Zhou Quan said, “I want you to disable your right hand.”

“No, don’t listen to him! Run!”

Xia Fufeng was immediately anxious. Her right hand was Tang Zhuoran’s dominant hand. Once it was injured, her combat power would be greatly reduced, like a bird with broken wings. It was more painful for her to see Tang Zhuoran hurt herself than to be stabbed herself.

“Shut up.”

Zhou Quan moved the knife forward, piercing the tender skin of her neck. A small trickle of crimson blood spread down her fair skin and flowed down, looking shocking.

Xia Fufeng didn’t care about the burning pain in her neck and shouted, “Don’t listen to him, he…”

“Don’t touch her. I agree.”

Tang Zhuoran’s voice changed a little as she saw the blood.

She used her left hand to grab her right wrist, and as she moved, a white jade peace buckle tied to her wrist slipped out from her sleeve.

Xia Fufeng’s eyes widened. The peace buckle swayed gently, bringing her tears with it. It broke her heart to see it. That peace buckle was a birthday gift she had given to Tang Zhuoran. She didn’t ask for much, just that Tang Zhuoran could live a peaceful and happy life. But the current situation seemed to be just the opposite.

Tang Zhuoran’s gaze paused for a moment on the peace buckle, but she didn’t hesitate. She exerted force and twisted. The sound of a bone shattering was clearly audible in the quiet room.

Tang Zhuoran let out a muffled groan of pain, and cold sweat appeared on her forehead.

She panted softly, and with great difficulty, she lifted her right hand. Her wrist was bent at a twisted, unnatural angle. “Is that good enough?”

Seeing that she had actually done it, Zhou Quan’s eyes showed a hint of excitement. “Good, good, Captain Tang.”

What Guard Army Captain? Just an emotional, incompetent woman who could be easily manipulated. Now that Tang Zhuoran had no weapon and her combat power was greatly reduced, the threat she posed to him was much smaller.

Xia Fufeng’s eyes were very red. She felt as if her heart had been pierced by steel needles, and she couldn’t breathe from the pain. But she knew that crying wouldn’t help and would only be a bother to Tang Zhuoran, so she held back her tears.

About ten minutes later, the screen of Tang Zhuoran’s communicator flashed. She glanced at it and said to Zhou Quan, “Commander, we can go now. Follow me.”

Zhou Quan stared at Tang Zhuoran, as if trying to see a flaw in her face. He had already decided that if Tang Zhuoran tried any tricks, he would immediately kill Xia Fufeng. He would take someone with him even if he died.

But Tang Zhuoran didn’t show any signs of abnormality, only a face full of cold sweat from the pain. From time to time, she would wipe it off with her uninjured left hand, but nothing else.

Zhou Quan nodded, and the arm holding Xia Fufeng tightened. “Okay, you lead the way.”

Tang Zhuoran walked ahead, going up the stone stairs. The dim light outlined her slender silhouette.

As she walked, she said, “Commander, I’ve ordered my people to all leave and not to attack you. But as you’ve probably found out, the people here are from different districts. I can’t guarantee that everyone will listen to my orders. There might be some radical elements who try to ambush you. It’s something I don’t want to see, for you to be attacked and then injure my companion.”

Zhou Quan frowned and asked, “Then what do you think we should do?”

At this point, the three of them had reached the end of the stone stairs. All they had to do was push open the door in front of them to reach the upper level of the catacombs where the modified people were. Once they were out of this level, he could escape.

Tang Zhuoran turned around and said seriously, “After we get to the upper level, don’t stay too far away from me. That way, even if someone wants to act, they will be hesitant for fear of hurting me.”

Zhou Quan said, “I understand.”

He was a little nervous and took two steps forward. The distance between him and Tang Zhuoran suddenly shortened to less than a meter.

“Is this close enough? Let’s go…”

Before he could finish, he saw Tang Zhuoran’s lips move slightly, and then a few small flashes of silver shot out from her mouth.

Before Zhou Quan could react, a piercing pain shot through both of his eyes. His hand trembled, and the knife fell to the ground. He screamed in pain, “Tang Zhuoran, what did you do! You…”

In a terrifying darkness, he felt the person in front of him effortlessly break free. Then, a powerful force hit his abdomen, and he was kicked directly down the stairs. He rolled all the way down the stone steps and then hit the wall heavily, falling unconscious.

Tang Zhuoran let out a small breath, took out the mouthpiece dagger from her mouth, and put it into her pocket. She had used the excuse of wiping away sweat to put the tiny mouthpiece dagger, which contained only four silver needles, into her mouth. She was afraid of missing, so she had deliberately found an excuse to close the distance between her and Zhou Quan.

The little girl she had been thinking about for so long, with tears in her eyes, threw herself into her arms, whimpering and asking, “Your… your hand, is it okay? Does it hurt?”

Tang Zhuoran smiled, and wrapped her uninjured arm around her waist. “It’s okay. Sister is here.”

When Xie Zhitian saw Liu Yunna and Zheng Lin running towards her in a panic, her heart tightened.

What about Xia Fufeng? Why wasn’t she with them?

Liu Yunna was out of breath from running, her voice already tearful. “When the fighting started, we told Xia to hide, but when we turned around, she was gone.”

Zheng Lin was also full of panic, speaking incoherently. “Really, a person disappeared in half a minute. We’ve been looking around for a while, but we can’t find her…”

The place where Xia Fufeng disappeared was not far from the lounge. After that, they quickly found a few reliable companions in the lounge and started looking for her nearby, but they came up empty-handed.

The two women’s words were like a bucket of cold water poured over her head, and Xie Zhitian felt cold all over.

She forced herself to calm down. “Think about it again. Is there anything suspicious around? Any hidden rooms or mechanisms?”

Luo Yang said, “Even if there’s a mechanism, it probably leads somewhere else.”

She turned to Fu Xin and said, “The plan can’t be stopped. You guys take people to the experimental area to kill the aliens and rescue the modified people. Zhitian and I will go look for Xia.”

Fu Xin, following Tang Zhuoran’s instructions, was completely obedient to Xie Zhixian and Luo Yang. “Understood.”

Xie Zhitian said, “The area of the catacombs is only so big. Let’s divide the work…”

A sudden broadcast interrupted her words.

It was Zhou Quan. He had taken Xia to the lounge downstairs and asked Tang Zhuoran to come alone without any weapons.

Xie Zhitian immediately took out her communicator to contact her, but Tang Zhuoran’s message came first.

“I’ll go by myself. I’ll contact you if anything happens.”

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