A bit of hope

Song Yinan sat in the control room, watching the surveillance cameras with a blank expression. Whether the man was worried about the outcome of tonight's plans, or getting excited at the impending success on his side – it wasn't apparent with the rigid way he sat and the almost-bored look on his face.

He was only focused on the screen monitors, particularly at the ones showing a woman in a security guard uniform, shooting down the people she had encountered.

Ying Yue had put a gun against a security guard's head and made him open one of the entryways to the facility. She gave a fatal shot to the man's knee and shot the others she met inside. She looked like a completely different person from the angelic woman who called him Brother Yinan.

Or perhaps she'd always been this way and yet he'd been to blind to see it.

Su Jianjun knocked and slipped inside the room, his face sporting a half-smile that seemed sweet and innocent if it wasn't for the crazed look in his eyes. In contrast to Song Yinan, his eyes darted instead to the monitor showing Fei Huangjin sitting on the ground with his legs stretched out, his blood dripping from a wound on his shoulder. It was a beautiful sight to see.

"Pfft." He let out a laugh, holding his stomach with one hand. It was a delight to see the powerful Fei Huangjin looking pitiful. "Yinan, how long do we need to wait for that woman? I'd like to kill him off now."

The other security personnel in the room felt chills down their spine. The two masters in the room – one, the adopted son of President Song, and the other one, the young master of the Su family, seemed like they were both out of their minds.

Song Yinan tutted. "Let's wait 'til she finds him. We should be gracious enough to give them a bit of hope."

He didn't say it out loud, but Su Jianjun suddenly felt proud of this hateful human he'd created. Song Yinan was proving to be a very good asset on his part. However, when he finds out the inevitable truth tonight that only he knew about, it would surely damage the man…

Ah, well, there was a saying that a tree could only flourish if you cut the dying branches out. And a man like him had to cut his losses at the right time.

Song Yinan trained his eyes on Ying Yue, who was taking a security guard hostage, making use of the man to find where Fei Huangjin was. She was well-trained, he'd give her that. And then in a few minutes after that, she'd successfully located Fei Huangjin's room in the basement.

He stood up, meeting Song Yinan's amused eyes with his serious ones. "Let's go."

"Mmm." The other man smiled. "Wonderful."

***

Ying Yue held one of the guards in a choke hold, using him both as a shield and as a guide to where Fei Huangjin was. She was already at the basement, at the familiar hallway where she'd traversed a while ago.

"L-left," he croaked out.

She turned left, and upon the sight of two guards standing guard in front of one of the doors, he shot them down before they could aim their guns at her.

Blood spilled on the hallway floor.

"T-that door—"

Ying Yue released the skinny man she was taking hostage and he slumped onto the floor, heaving as he tried to breathe properly. "Are you right-handed or left-handed?" she asked.

The man looked at her worriedly. "What?" She raised her gun to his head, and the man immediately lifted up both hands in surrender. "Please, don't kill me! Right! I'm right-handed!"

"Okay." She moved her gun upwards. BANG!

"Aaarrrgh! My hand!"

She turned to the door. She didn't want to kill such an obedient man, so she shot his hand instead. That way, he wouldn't be able to lift up a gun in her direction.

"Huangjin?" She knocked on the door several times. "Huangjin? Answer me."

"Yue?" A hoarse but familiar voice could be heard from the other side of the door, and for a moment, Ying Yue felt like crying.