LIGHT NOVEL Chapter 213 - Exposed
Mai Dongzi and Zhuang Huaiya, fully aware of the mercenaries tailing them, continued walking at a steady and composed pace, pretending to have noticed nothing.
When the siblings reached the area outside the rooms where the mercenary group was staying, six mercenaries suddenly surged forward, blocking their path. Without a word, they swiftly drew tranquilizer guns and fired, their movements clean and well-practiced, indicative of professional training.
However, the tranquilizer darts seemed to hit an invisible barrier and failed to reach the siblings.
Unwilling to give up, the mercenaries prepared to fire again, but before they could, their guns were suddenly yanked out of their hands by an unseen force and flew straight into the young girl’s grasp.
Before they could react or dodge, they were struck by their own tranquilizer darts and collapsed.
Mai Dongzi observed that the mercenaries had carefully chosen their positions to ambush them, ensuring that their movements avoided the direct line of sight of the ship’s surveillance cameras.
While the spaceship was equipped with monitoring systems, it was far too large for every corner to be under constant surveillance. Judging by how adeptly these six mercenaries avoided detection, it was clear they were very familiar with the layout of the ship’s surveillance zones.
The six mercenaries weren’t planning on engaging in a direct fight. Instead, they intended to use tranquilizer guns to incapacitate the siblings, then “escort” them into one of the rooms.
This method would be quick and discreet, avoiding unnecessary commotion that might alarm others. Even if the surveillance staff in the ship’s control room witnessed the scene, it would be difficult to determine that Mai Dongzi and Zhuang Huaiya were being forcibly taken.
However, Mai Dongzi effortlessly seized the tranquilizer guns from the mercenaries and turned them against their owners, neutralizing them one by one. The siblings then dragged the unconscious mercenaries into one of the rooms.
The two military academy students had given Zhuang Huaiya some knockout powder earlier. Despite his sister swiftly resolving the situation on her own, leaving him unable to help, he diligently acted as the porter, hauling the incapacitated mercenaries.
Although Mai Dongzi tried to avoid surveillance cameras, they inevitably left some traces while moving the six bodies.
“What about the ones still in the hall?” Zhuang Huaiya asked. “If they try to contact these guys and can’t, they’ll know something’s wrong.”
He had also considered the issue of the surveillance cameras. While he wasn’t overly concerned about the ship’s security staff seeing this unfold—his sister had a legitimate identity for carrying out such actions—he was more worried about how the remaining mercenaries would react once they realized something had gone wrong.
The remaining mercenaries were in the ship’s main hall. Mai Dongzi could devise a way to lure them over and deal with them as well, but she didn’t want to expose her ability to control others with mental power.
The fight with the six mercenaries had undoubtedly been partially captured by the ship’s surveillance cameras. Even if her swift movements meant the control room staff might not have noticed anything unusual yet, any action she took in the busy main hall would be much harder to conceal.
The hall was crowded with people and heavily monitored, with cameras covering nearly every angle. Trying to operate unnoticed in such a setting would be nearly impossible.
Although Deputy Officer Chen had temporarily assigned her the identity of an external National Security Bureau agent, giving her the authority to act without fear of the ship’s security team, Mai Dongzi preferred not to interact with them unnecessarily.
Her priority was to neutralize the remaining mercenaries and hold out until the military took over. However, unless absolutely necessary, she was unwilling to reveal her trump cards.
After all, once the National Security Bureau took control of the ship, they would undoubtedly conduct a thorough investigation, which would include reviewing the surveillance footage.
When she had saved the two military academy students earlier, the situation was too urgent, and she had no choice but to directly use her mental powers to attack.
However, there were no surveillance cameras in the private room, and the two students were in a controlled state of mind, unable to understand how she had incapacitated the two mercenaries.
As for the mercenaries themselves, it was even simpler—they had no idea how they had been knocked unconscious.
Thus, Mai Dongzi could easily attribute the incident to her sound attack technique. She had already demonstrated multiple times that her sound attacks could induce hallucinations, which would hold up under investigation.
Zhuang Huaiya’s concerns were valid. About ten minutes later, the mercenaries in the ship’s main hall noticed something was wrong, likely due to the prolonged lack of contact from their comrades.
Mai Dongzi’s mental power “observed” the mercenaries repeatedly tapping on their communicators, trying unsuccessfully to reach someone. Their expressions gradually darkened.
However, these mercenaries were experienced. Even after realizing something was amiss, their behavior remained composed despite their grim expressions. They huddled together, speaking softly, and their actions didn’t draw much attention from others in the hall.
These mercenaries had likely concluded that trouble had occurred in both directions. After a brief discussion, their gazes shifted to the corridor leading to the private room where the two military students were and then toward the corridor where Mai Dongzi was.
Mai Dongzi “watched” them closely, waiting for their next move.
If they chose to approach her side, she would not hesitate to deal with them. If they went toward the military students’ side, she planned to follow and resolve the situation there.
What she didn’t expect was that the mercenaries opted to scatter and flee, splitting off in different directions and quickly disappearing into the labyrinth-like corridors.
In such a situation, unless Mai Dongzi had access to the ship’s surveillance footage, it would be nearly impossible to track them all down.
While she could let most of them go, there was one Level-5 mercenary she couldn’t risk losing. Mai Dongzi had already detected the presence of a metal box on this mercenary during her earlier mental scan of the group in the hall. Allowing him to escape would be far too dangerous, so she decisively controlled him with her mental powers.
Coincidentally, this Level-5 mercenary fled in the direction of the corridor near the military students’ private room. To avoid revealing her ability to control minds, Mai Dongzi directed him to approach the students’ door and knock on it.
This way, when the National Security Bureau later reviewed the surveillance footage, they wouldn’t suspect that the mercenary had been under her control.
Before leaving, Mai Dongzi had warned the two students not to open the door if any mercenaries came knocking and to remain hidden in the room until the military took over the ship.
Under her control, the Level-5 mercenary persistently knocked on their door.
According to her plan, she would have him knock for a while.
Once the door remained unopened, she would have the mercenary leave and head toward her location.
This allowed her to deal with the mercenary discreetly, ensuring no trace of her mental manipulation would be evident in the surveillance footage.