Chapter 958: There are No Coincidences
Lin Sanjiu didn’t expect him to suddenly ask this question. Caught off guard, she blurted out, "I don’t have it with me..."
"Then let’s go back and get it," the man’s tone was simple and direct, like a straightforward command.
She hesitated for a moment and took a closer look at Tan Zhang. This young man had thin eyebrows and eyes, with a flat expression that made it difficult for her to discern his true emotions.
"Actually, it’s not a music player..." She pondered for a few seconds. "You probably won’t find it useful."
But unexpectedly, Tan Zhang persisted.
"It’s fine," he continued to gaze directly at Lin Sanjiu, clearly not willing to give up. "I just want to hear something, anything will do."
She pursed her lips and remained silent for a moment. Should she say that it’s not convenient for others to listen to recordings of loved ones? Or should she take out the tape recorder—even without headphones—to bluff her way through?
Before she could make up her mind, Tan Zhang suddenly let out a sigh.
"I understand," he said softly, waving his hand to the side as he spoke. "What he said is indeed true..."
What is really true?
Before she could ask, Lin Sanjiu looked up and saw that six or seven people on the observation deck suddenly stood up and began to converge on them, forming a semi-encirclement. These people seemed to have been waiting there for a while and appeared to be skilled. In this moment, Lin Sanjiu became strangely calm.
"What do you mean by this?" she asked coldly, her face stern. "Surely, it’s not just about a player?"
"The reason is clear to you," Tan Zhang furrowed his brow out of habit. "If you are willing to cooperate, both sides can avoid trouble. Otherwise... don’t think that you can enter the Munitions Factory and that we, the Night Wanderers, won’t be able to do anything to you."
How did he know?
Lin Sanjiu was taken aback, unable to figure out how she had slipped up. Tan Zhang’s tone was firm, showing that he had no doubts. Even if she denied it, it would be in vain. She thought for a moment and could only come up with one possibility, "Have you reestablished contact with the surface?"
Tan Zhang let out a light snort.
"It seems you’re admitting it," he said coldly. "We don’t need to reestablish contact. I have suspected you for a long time. Not only did you react slowly to your own name, ’w.i.l.l.y,’ but before you boarded the s.h.i.+p, you couldn’t even provide the flight code... If these things aren’t enough to prove anything, then this morning, when I accidentally learned some information, I finally confirmed that you are not the true owner of this s.p.a.cecraft, w.i.l.l.y."
Lin Sanjiu turned her head to look at the six or seven people standing nearby.
They had obviously come prepared, each holding an unknown Special Item, their eyes fixed unwaveringly on her. Although she wasn’t afraid of a fight, if things escalated, it could disrupt her plans... She thought of ways to stall for time while saying, "What information? Wasn’t contact with the surface cut off?"
"It comes from within this s.h.i.+p," Tan Zhang said, taking a few steps back and swiftly flicking his hand, causing the shadows to coil around his fingers like threads. "As w.i.l.l.y, you should have known that w.i.l.l.y is also a member of the Night Wanderers. Yet, you referred to us as ’your people’... This is enough to prove that you are someone else entirely."
Lin Sanjiu was stunned, and it suddenly became clear to her. She had only said the words "your people" to one person. The latter half of the sentence was, "Very considerate of you, arranging a room for me."
"Octo told you!" she raised her voice, decisively shouting. No wonder the Night Wanderers’ officers showed her no respect. In their eyes, she was supposed to be their subordinate! The pieces fell into place: they let her board the s.h.i.+p with minimal inspection; not only did they a.s.sign her a room, but she also had the freedom to move around most of the time. They even sent someone to accompany her, perhaps to help their own people familiarize themselves with the situation.
She no longer had any doubts. Octo couldn’t possibly be Stan Smith. Otherwise, why would he have exposed Lin Sanjiu when his own ident.i.ty was also under suspicion? What a coincidence that two impostors b.u.mped into each other and the other side took the initiative! Tan Zhang admitted it readily.
"Yes, it was him. I don’t know what your purpose was in going to such lengths to infiltrate this s.h.i.+p," he said calmly. "But because of your slip of the tongue, it all ends here. Are you willing to surrender or do you want to fight?"
She couldn’t afford to be captured here—she didn’t have much time to waste. Exodus and her friends inside had already been missing for nearly a day and night.
"It seems that a fight is unavoidable," she sighed, but before she could finish her sentence, a long shadow was suddenly flung towards her. However, before she could retaliate, Tan Zhang shouted, "Retract!"
Lin Sanjiu hurriedly halted her steps, watching as the plastic hose-like object retracted around a man’s neck. She then glanced at the young man in front of her.
Tan Zhang was clearly prepared for a fight, his muscles tense and his expression firm.
"Speaking of which, I really don’t understand someone like you. You took someone else’s name and went to great lengths to infiltrate this s.h.i.+p, yet when we asked about the Heaven Zone, you hardly lied. There was a part of the final message from the Heaven Zone that I didn’t tell you, but it matched what you said. Now, answer me one question," his voice was low, with a slight tremor—it was unusual for him, someone usually serious and composed, to display such strong emotions. "Why did you kill the Munitions Factory Commander?"
Perhaps because Lin Sanjiu was too surprised and didn’t say anything for a while, Tan Zhang sneered, "Do we have to resort to force to make you talk?"
"Wait, I didn’t kill him—" Lin Sanjiu began to speak, but as her eyes met with Tan Zhang’s, she suddenly had a realization, recalling his behavior earlier that morning.
If they only knew that an intruder somehow escaped from the Munitions Factory, and she happened to steal someone else’s aircraft and escape from the Heaven Zone at the same time, she would probably connect the two as well.
"You’ve misunderstood everything," she hastily spoke, but Tan Zhang’s expression of annoyance had already surfaced. He signaled to the others with a gesture. As Lin Sanjiu dodged, she shouted loudly, "It’s true that I stole that thing called w.i.l.l.y’s aircraft, but I’m not the one who killed the commander! In fact, I—get out of the way!—I’m also looking for that person!"