Although the couple insisted that the three didn't have to send them to the underground tunnel location, Chen Mu made it difficult for them to refuse their offer. The couple could only shrug at the end and surrender to them.
"We're here." In addition to the tensed atmosphere in the car, the dropped dead silence after they had arrived made it extremely difficult to part. The doors were still locked, and it took the couple a few minutes to bid them goodbye. Chen Mu waited until the last second to unlock the doors.
Everyone watched as the two figures held each other's hand and walked towards the foggy area ahead. Seeing the couple's back slowly disappear in front of them, heaviness drowned their hearts. Even after their shadows were lost in the fog, none of them looked away from the direction.
Perhaps a part of them really hoped for them to change their minds last second and run back to the car. Eventually, Chen Mu started his car before anyone comes across the vehicle and raises suspicions.
It took Ariana and Chen Nan a lot of courage to keep walking and not turn around. They knew that Chen Mu wouldn't leave them alone until he was sure that they were gone. Therefore, the couple continued walking forward. For each step they took, they reminded themselves that this was to save Susu and avenge their family.
Countless steps were taken until they reached the short staircases that leads up to the gate. Chen Nan whispered, "ready?"
"Mm." She grabbed the keys that she had custom made for the lock that they found last time. Taking a deep breath, she carefully stuck the key into the keyhole and turned it sideways. At first, they were very nervous that the key would fail to help them get past the gate. Then, they heard the tiny "click" sound that the lock made when she turned the key sideways.
Instantly, they breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Ariana smiled and whispered as she stuffed the another set of keys into his hand, "let's part here. The other entrance should be around the corner. Ten steps away."
He gave her a small peck on the forehead, "Be careful. We still need to make a little Ariana or little Nan to play with after this."
"You too. Be careful. We can have more than one little Ariana and little Nan Nan. As many as you want. The locks are all the same, so keys should work fine too. If anything, you can come back to this route to meet with me. Go as we had planned." She whispered and took the initiative to leave his side.
Since they observed the entrances for a while before mapping out the few openings to the underground tunnel, they knew that they had a few hours to sneak inside without anyone finding out. There were also no surveillance cameras outside, which made everything less complicated. After passing through the gate, she closed the lock and put away her key.
She could feel his stare from behind. He was rooting for her as she carefully made her first turn around the corner. Feeling slightly relaxed that she has successfully gotten through the first challenging part of the mission, he could rest assure and officially part ways with her.
Although he was pretty sure that there were no guards at this time, he still kept his guards up before making a move. Finally, he reached one of the planned entrances and also successfully unlocked the gate.
He was very glad for the invention of gloves because the inside of the tunnel was very dusty. 'Thank goodness I also gave her a pair of gloves. So, this is how it feels like to be a prisoner in a creepy broken down place like this. I should give those actors more credit when they film horror movies...'
In the meantime, Qian Ling, the nurse Ling who attended Alexander's wounds was in the same devastated state as she has been in since several hours ago. Alexander tried his best to comfort her, but nothing seemed to have worked. Everything that he had said was like a wall that bounced the words back to him.
"My family..I..I need to get out of here quick. Need to kill that old bastard!" She mumbled as her fists slammed against the solid tiles on the floor. She said these words out loud that it alerted him right away. Quickly, he crawled out of bed to cover her mouth and watch the door to make sure nobody was eavesdropping on them.
"Shh. Are you asking for death? He could have had a spy out there!" He whispered as he squinted from the pain of the wounds on his back.
She realized that she lost her rationality for a split second and exposed her inner thoughts too recklessly. Seeing that he had left his bed to cover her mouth like that made her feel that she made the right choice to save him back then.
"You're not supposed to get out of bed. I'll help you." Once he heard the tone that she would normally use to speak to others with, his body loosened up. He could finally take a deep breath and relax now that she's back to normal.
"Thank you, Aunty Ling." He smiled charmingly while showing his teeth.
"By the way, what did you do this time to make that ancient man mad? Fifty slashes are more than enough to turn you into twenty meals." She asked curiously because his punishments were normally less severe.
"Haha, you finally started to take interest in me! Not bad, not bad. This wound was quite worth it." He joked around carelessly and overlooked her seriousness.
"If you don't want to say it, then it's fine too. I need to get back to the lab." She turned her eyes away from him and stood up to leave.
"I'll say it. I'll tell you everything." He sighed as he thought about how weak he was against women. Since his parents died during a mission, he had longed to speak to someone about his personal matters. It took him a while to figure out who was truly loyal to him and who was a snitching dog behind his back.
After all, his grandfather had plentiful tricks up his sleeves. His fingers tugged the edge of her white lab coat to get her attention.
"I was protecting a girl from Leader Rong. He got mad and decided to punish me for it. But knowing me, this wouldn't be the last time that I take another hit for her." He smiled, looking as if getting whipped was equivalent to eating his daily meals.
She rubbed her forehead lightly and said, "I'm guessing that she isn't just any girl you came across. You must have some feelings for her, am I right?"
"Bullseye! You could say that she's the only weakness that I have. It's already been almost 11 years already... since we first met." He looked very chirpy at the moment as he revealed his joyful smile in front of her.
"Does she know about how you feel?" She couldn't help but lower her guards around him. He reminded her too much of her young love back then.
"No, and I don't plan on telling her either." His voice lowered slightly as he mentioned about Ariana.
"Then, does she at least know that you're risking your life for her? Is it worth all these wounds and scarring for her?" She bent down to his eye level and listened to his heart felt emotions.
"Nope. Stupid, isn't it? I'm doing all this on my own, despite the fact that she probably thinks of me as her enemy. But it feels very weird. My heart would ache very badly when I see her upset or hurt. I think that pain is a thousand times worse than the pain I receive from fifty back whips. Therefore, I'm not afraid of the punishments as long as it is for her."
He maintained a smile as he said these words. Perhaps it was a rare sight to see him dispirited with a bitter smile on his face; she subconsciously brushed through his hair. "You're not stupid at all. I'm very proud that you didn't turn out like your grandfather and went out of your way for her."
"Pfft, if I ended up like him, I wouldn't have this much hair right now! I'll be bald. By the way, since I shared my story with you, would you consider telling me a bit about your story? Like~ how you and your husband met~"
Since it was his first time talking about his feelings to someone, he felt somewhat embarrassed. The random words that he spat out at the heat of the moment unexpectedly received a positive response.
"Sure, it's actually been a while since I've talked about it with someone." She leaned against the side of the bed and began reminiscing the past.
"It's pretty old fashion to call it fate, but our families were opponents in the same industry. From the day we met to the day we went out on our first date to getting married and having a wonderful family, we knew that it would be a rough journey. When we gave up our family's inheritance to explore on our own and build our own business, many people called it stupid."
She smiled blissfully as memories flowed through her mind, "regardless of what people had said, we ignored it. We were happy and feeling good at where we were standing in life. There was a lot of drama from both sides of our family, but we made it on our own."
"Those years must have been very joyful." He commented as he caught the sweet smile on her face that didn't match with the lingering sorrow in her eyes.
"Very. Extremely grateful that I met him. His family members were like leeches, but he never complained once." She wished that there were more she could complain about, but nothing mattered at this point because he was already gone.
"Ahh, family drama is always so tangled."
"Yeah, but he was very optimistic. No matter what obstacles we had to face, he would smile and find the positive perspective out of everything. That was up until your grandfather imprisoned me and separated my family and me."
"I'm really sorry." He said guiltily as he saw through her heartbroken expression.
She sighed, "again, you can't repay what your grandfather has done. I could tell that you are a good boy. You should leave this place and leave your grandfather one day because it is too toxic here."
"I will figure out a way to help you escape." He patted his chest and promised her.
"After many attempts to escape this place, your grandfather threatened me with my family's lives. I have to protect my daughter. So, unless your grandfather dies, I doubt there is another way out of this shit hole." She looked at him when she said these words to vent out some negativity.
"But why would he want to keep you here at all costs? Just for some lab research? That's absurd." Alexander didn't understand this point at all and decided to ask her about it.
"His greed." She shortened her response as she knew that she could not disclose anything more related to the lab to him. Too many people had been and are still implicated. The less someone knows, the safer it is.
Hearing her response, he held back his inquiries because he also understood that there were boundaries that he could not force through. He believed that he could figure things out in his own way.