STB Chapter 72: Brother and Sister

Guan Cheng, a Huai City resident.

In the Huai City Pearl Hotel explosion on November 7, Guan Cheng, a hotel restaurant waiter, went missing. Suspected to be kidnapped by terrorists (book transmigrators), later. Someone witnessed suspicious people near an industrial warehouse in the development zone, one of them looks a lot like Guan Cheng. Red Dragon is about to deploy personnel for search and tracking. However, Major Zhang YaoJin accidentally entered the Abandoned World, alarming the North headquarters, and disrupting several plans that the Red Dragon was about to execute.

The cunning terrorists escaped with Guan Cheng, while Red Dragon is busy dealing with a series of damages caused by the Abandoned World. With limited manpower, Guan Cheng’s disappearance is unresolved, until today.

China is so large, and some places are blind spots.

In a mountainous area in Jing Province, Guan Cheng, who is hungry and thin, is at the window, both his eyes dull.

There are four people in the same room. Their mental state a little strange. Some are lying on the bed, and some are murmuring, making the house crowded.

The guards outside the house are smoking and playing poker.

The doors and windows are locked, and guards looking all around seemed a bit unusual.

Far away is the sound of an engine. An electric three-wheeled agricultural vehicle is on the dirt road, loaded with bags of rice, potatoes, winter melon, instant noodles, shampoos and other things.

The four men playing cars lazily walked over to help unload.

Seeing that terrible food, they cursed, “What the hell is with this broken place! I don’t want to drink beer, and just eat instant noodles! We brothers spent half a month here, seeing that it’s going to be New Year, are the Red Dragon group still tracking us?”

“Soon!” The delivery driver with yellow teeth said while smoking, “There are more and more monsters, increasing the number of casualties, do they still have the heart to trace after these missing people? Aiai, when you unload, be gentle. The boss is stingy, and it’s not me, it’s just that this neighborhood only sells these broken things, I don’t have a choice ah!”

The cold wind blows, and there were several coughs in the room.

“Yo, who’s sick?”

“The timidest one……what’s he called, Guan Cheng?”

“Fill him with a few mouthfuls of medicine, don’t let him die.” The driver bit his cigarette as if reluctant to lose it, carefully inhaling.

“Dead is dead. I heard that he’s not an important person in the book, only a peripheral member of the Black Abyss. He died in an accident, and lucky to come back home. But they’re saying he’s a rebellious guy. He wanted to find the Red Scorpion to sell intelligence about the Black Abyss. As a result, others didn’t believe him, and he still lost his life, hahaha.”

The ridicule outside the window is endless. Guan Cheng huddled while shivering.

“Such a person, what’s he doing here? Wasting food!”

“Ai, you don’t understand! Although he’s useless, he has a good sister! B-class space ability holder, and key personnel of Red Dragon. Her brother’s a good bargaining chip ah, how can we lose him?”

Guan Cheng’s expression changed a bit.

His bloodshot eyes filled with hatred, fisting his hand. He quickly grabbed his chest again, severely coughing.

Here is deep in the mountains, and they often hear the sound of wolves in the middle of the night. Last time, two people took advantage of the lazy guards and went out at night. Guan Cheng is afraid of death and didn’t go. The result is that in less than three days, the body of the escapers is found under a ravine cliff. It was dark, and they don’t dare walk along the road, so they got lost and slipped to their deaths.

The nearest village is a few hours away. There are private minibus cars in town, if you take this car and walk for another three hours, you will arrive at a small county bus station. It’s hard to escape just by running.

As for the villagers, they don’t come here. Even when passing by, they were indifferent to voices calling out for help.

——This house is rented exclusively to foreigners, and those who settle here are human traffickers.

They not only traffic women and children but they also traffic men to sell them to coal mines in remote areas or smuggle them to the Southern border, transfer them to SouthEast Asia and sell to fishing boats for labor. All are hell on earth.

Among the kidnapped group is Guan Cheng who knows the truth, they’re not really traffickers.

But they are heinous criminals, madmen! Remembering the night of the Pearl Hotel explosion, these guys stabbed a stranger on the road. Guan Cheng shivered with fear.

“This deep in the forest, I can’t meet a living person for a long time, and even the Abandoned World does not appear, if it goes on like this, we’ll be dragged by the several wastes in that house! With no chance to awaken, how can we live in the days to come?”

“And the other organizations are expanding, when’s it safe to enter the Abandoned World again ah! Like us veterans……”

Guan Cheng also wants to continue to eavesdrop, but there’s a nervous person in the house who is a little abnormal, “Ability! Right, have an ability!”

Guan Cheng annoyingly glared at him. Being held here, he has enough to eat, but he has no strength, or he really would like to shut the other person up. His “companions” are strangers and seem to be like him, a person kidnapped by bandits.

Without Guan Ling, Guan Cheng feels that he’s still more comfortable at home, watching football and drinking beer, going to work to make ends meet. He had a good relationship with the female colleagues in the Pearl Hotel. Maybe he can get married next year if he found a love interest!

Just now……

Guan Cheng coughs, hate in his heart again. He didn’t dare to put those into words.

He knows that if this group of people finds out that his sister left home many years ago, and that the relationship between parents and brother is almost cut off, it’s estimated that he’ll soon be killed!

The mountain is very cold. There’s no heater in this house, and although it’s not leaking, a broken cotton quilt is not enough against the cold. Guan Cheng feels drowsy between coughs because everything in front of him is spinning.

The screams came from the window.

Guan Cheng woke up. His “companions” in the room went to the door in horror, shouting for help since there’s an earthquake, and someone banged on the window.

A sharp paw full of black hair slowly stepped into the courtyard, the fence fell.

A boom from a gunshot followed, the soil exploding with impact.

The giant spider reveals half of its body. The bullets fell to the ground, just making its body shake slightly. Translucent spider silk was spat out, suddenly pulling down a pine tree.

The roof was smashed, and the house was shaking violently. A big gap was opened on the door.

Guan Cheng was shocked to opening his mouth, looking at the driver and guards fleeing and running away, but was soon caught by the huge monster, wrapped them in spider silk, and hanged outside in the woods.

The people in the house covered the madman’s mouth, not letting him speak.

The madman struggled a few times and fainted because of lack of oxygen.

Guan Cheng has a cold sweat. His throat is itchy, and he desperately tried to hold back his cough, but unable to restrain it, he put a corner of the quilt in his mouth in a panic. The sound was muffled and low. Even so, the people in the same room are still stunned.

The giant spider seems to use the house as its nest, patiently spitting out silk, and crawling around the house. The busy spider moved to the woods and started eating.

Soon the “cocoon pockets” hanging in the woods are reduced to two. The giant spider laid down on the big web, seeming to be in a deep sleep, and not moving for a long time.

Guan Cheng remained still for a long time, his body almost stiff. He looked at the gap in the door, eyes full of hope.

Some people are scared and carefully found something to pry open the door, expanding the crack. The earthen walls gave them a hope to escape. Finally, their hard work pays off. Pulling at the gap until they can squeeze out, at the same time, the house grumbled.

It’s easy to squeeze out people who are thin from hunger.

They never looked back, escaping to the end of the mountain road. No one bothered about the lunatic lying on the floor. No one realized that when they left the courtyard, they stepped on some spider silk.

A subtle shake is transmitted along the spider web. The giant spider that is resting felt its foot move, and slowly raised its body……

***

“Boom!” The glass on the table burst, hot water, and broken glass spreading over the table.

Guan Ling takes a step back, went back to herself and hurried to get a broom and dustpan.

“Ai Ai, you shouldn’t move, I’ll get it!” Guan Ling’s mission partner jumped up to help. He sweeps the floor while comforting Guan Ling who is somewhat in a daze, “After the interrogation results, you’ll know the whereabouts of your brother! It’s definitely nothing, so you don’t need to worry.”

Guan Ling is depressed. After saying thank you, she sat down and continued reading the mission file.

She passed the basic military combat training, and just joined the Red Dragon for three days, but still on probation.

“When you arrested the members of the vicious organization today, you went a little too far……” The partner made a gesture, apparently making a well-intentioned reminder, but he doesn’t know how to express it implicitly.

The unlucky bastard who fell by Guan Ling’s hand lost two front teeth and has a mild concussion.

Her partner is a little worried, and want to persuade her with a few more sentences, but the internal phone rang and made him go to another office.

Only Guan Ling is left in the room.

Soon the door was gently knocked. Guan Ling saw the person who came in was Zhang YaoJin, she stood up and made a less standard military salute.

“This is?” Zhang YaoJin’s eyes fell on the shards of glass.

“Living in the North for a long time, I’m not used to the winter in the South. I poured boiling water into the cup without warming it up. It’s the consequences of low room temperature and no heating.” Guan Ling has a bitter smile with hidden meaning.

“You are from Huai City.”

“I haven’t returned for many years……” Guan Ling subconsciously said, then closed her mouth.

Zhang YaoJin said quietly, “I have your information. You’ve severed contact with your family for a long time, and you have no feelings for your brother or parents, the only connection is blood. You’re so out of control today, what’s the reason?”

Guan Ling can’t say a word.

“Red Dragon currently only has one B-class ability holder. Whether as the team leader of the ability holders group or as your future comrade, paying attention to the emotional changes of my subordinates is also my responsibility.” Zhang YaoJin walked to the chair opposite to Guan Ling and sat down.

The time of Red Dragon’s Major Zhang is, of course, precious. Guan Ling is reluctant to hear about her “ability value”, so she bluntly said, “Holding him hostage, and escaping the police chase requires them to spend a lot of time and energy. They’re doing something else. I assume Guan Cheng is one of their bargaining chips, and it’s to blackmail me?”

Zhang YaoJin did not deny, “Pretty good, but there’s no more information written in the book. They don’t have a way to check out your relationship with Guan Cheng.”

“Guan Cheng is deeply influenced by my parents. He is not a bad person, just going with the flow……he’s used to everything at home. I work to earn money to send him to school so that later he can marry and save money to buy a house. About our brother and sister feelings, we still have it when we’re young. When I was bullied by my classmates, he will fight with others, and it was only later that he changed.” Guan Ling said with a blank expression, “I have read all the information provided by the ‘insiders’. It said that my parents died, and my brother also died. It also said that I would pack my belongings and that I would return to Huai City.”

“In the North, you heard that Guan Cheng is missing, and agreed to join the Red Dragon……I was a little surprised.” In Zhang YaoJin’s tone, you can’t hear at all that he’s hidden this question for a long time.

“If Guan Cheng is dead, my parents will collapse. There will always be some leftover feelings, even though they didn’t appreciate it.” Guan Ling tiredly answered.

Especially when she found out that Guan Cheng maybe held hostage because of her.

“The terrorists chose to destroy Huai City Pearl Hotel as a signal to gather the members of their organization. This hotel is one of the landmark buildings of Huai City, same reason why the other group chose LinJiang Bridge.”

Zhang YaoJin’s back is straight. She was swept by his eyes, and Guan Ling feels like that decadent state is silently criticizing her. She has to brace her spirits, and deal with the “leader’s inquiry”. The meaning behind the other’s words made her surprised.

“……Guan Cheng works at the Pearl Hotel, this doesn’t relate to you. He was kidnapped, it’s an impulse of the criminals. Later, the situation changed, and the expansion plan of the vicious organization was broken. If Guan Cheng is still alive now, he should thank you. The doubt in your heart is meaningless, him being kidnapped is not because of you.”

Zhang YaoJin thought about it. The three things said by the book transmigrators to evaluate Guan Cheng: Cannon fodder without even an appearance, cause of death is being caught between the confrontation of two ability holder organizations, and recognized to have “bad luck”.

“It’s not your responsibility, so don’t carry it!”Zhang YaoJin patted Guan Ling’s shoulder.

“I……”

“The pressure is big, but just look at the information on Jian Hua and Li Fei. They are still alive and living well!” Zhang YaoJin lit a cigarette while speaking slowly.