Doomsday Wonderland

TheWildWind23: Does anyone know the people involved in that cruise nightclub incident?

SpringBlossomMeadow: You mean the one with the mayor's son?

TheWildWind23: Yeah. With so many people involved, it feels unsafe. Isn't the snakehead smuggling rumor fake anyway?

SpringBlossomMeadow: I don't know them... They don't seem like high schoolers; they're way too bold.

SoAnnoying: My friend knows them.

TheWildWind23: Really? I didn't expect much, honestly. Do they know them personally?

SoAnnoying: Not exactly. One of them is the older brother of a classmate in my friend's class. Why are you looking for them?

TheWildWind23: I wanted to ask if they have any follow-up plans. I want to join them.

SpringBlossomMeadow: Join them? But their actions are really dangerous... By the way, where have you been lately?

Xie Feng stared at the glowing screen of her phone, unsure how to respond.

TheWildWind23: I'm not afraid. I feel like everyone's kind of discouraged lately. Same here—I even thought about escaping the city by smuggling myself out.

SoAnnoying: That's understandable... Aren't we just ants trying to stop a chariot?

SoAnnoying: I don't see much hope either... but maybe my life's purpose is to defend Tear City.

SpringBlossomMeadow: I don't blame anyone for wanting to leave. I get it. Even as a guy, I can barely take it. If girls want to leave, I understand even more.

JingIchida: If you're gonna leave, you'd better do it soon. I heard they're going to close the borders soon.

TheWildWind23: Thanks, but I'm not leaving.

TheWildWind23: Just chanting slogans doesn't seem to mean anything anymore. No matter how much we protest, do you think anyone's going to listen? They're not even pretending anymore. All it takes is one charge against us, and we're just handing our brothers and sisters over to prison.

SpringBlossomMeadow: Yeah...

LittlePuppet: If peace doesn't work, then we have no choice but to abandon peace. I get it.

TheWildWind23: Isn't history shaped by major events? If our voices no longer matter, then I want to do something bigger—something that can change history.

SoAnnoying: I'll DM you.

Before putting down her phone, Xie Feng glanced at the time—it was already past 1 a.m.

The heavy rain that had battered Tear City for days, even unusual by local standards, had finally stopped. Aside from the raindrops snaking down the window, the world outside seemed to have fallen into silence. It was only when she looked out the window that she realized the glass was soundproof. The roads between the tall buildings still shimmered with streams of lights, as if they would never stop flowing.

Every corridor in the hotel led straight to the elevator lobby, with nothing to hide behind or take cover in. So, after Chief Qiu entered Dong Luorong's room, Xie Feng immediately returned to her own room, leaving the door slightly open as she sat on the floor within the doorway. From this spot, she was out of sight, but if she heard any noise from the elevator lobby, she could peek out right away.

She had been sitting there for two or three hours, checking the elevator at least four or five times. Each time, it had been someone else entering or leaving the elevator—never Chief Qiu.

The first thing Xie Feng did upon returning to her room was search for information on Qiu Chantian. Like all imperial officials, the internet only had official, curated information about him, filled with glowing reports of his dedication and integrity. It was no surprise—imperial bureaucrats were always praised as model public servants until they fell from grace, at which point everyone acted shocked, as if no one had seen it coming.

However, there was one detail about Qiu Chantian that stood out from the typical bureaucratic image: despite his successful career and promising future, he was still unmarried.

That was curious. In politics, it was difficult for an unmarried person to earn trust, yet Qiu Chantian's career had progressed smoothly. Still, given his age, he didn't have much time left to delay marriage. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Would Xie Feng feel better if he were married? She wasn't sure.

Either way, she was far from feeling "better" right now.

She felt like a trapped animal, too naive to realize she had been caught in a net—only now, as the ropes tightened around her, did she struggle to escape, only to find it was too late.

Did Dong Luorong deceive her? No. But it was worse than being deceived—Dong Luorong had known everything all along. She knew why Xie Feng had ended up on the streets. She knew about Xie Feng's anger toward the Empire. Yet she had said nothing. She hadn't lied to Xie Feng, but she also hadn't offered her any answers, as if unwilling to take on any guilt herself.

And wasn't Xie Feng just as guilty? Hadn't she suspected something? The path open to an imperial woman was always narrow and short. Though it might seem as broad as a man's, many doors closed once she reached marriageable age. The entire Empire pressed down on women, keeping them under a certain ceiling. How could Dong Luorong, living so far outside the norm, enjoy a life more privileged than the average middle-class man?

Had Xie Feng ever asked? Not even once. If she had been too timid to ask, could she really blame Dong Luorong for not volunteering the truth?

And besides, Dong Luorong probably didn't even want this life.

But what difference did that make? Even if Dong Luorong had been with a wealthy merchant, Xie Feng wouldn't feel this troubled. The problem was that Dong Luorong was tied to an imperial official—the security chief representing the Empire, who had seized Tear City's sovereignty and crushed countless citizens.

Xie Feng wanted to tear her pillow apart. She wanted to be angry, but she didn't know at whom. She wanted to leave the hotel that very night and cut ties with Dong Luorong, but she kept thinking about how she had saved her and taken care of her. She tried to find reasons to hate Dong Luorong, but she couldn't. Instead, she couldn't help but think about the other's suffering. At times, Xie Feng felt she should help her; at other times, she thought she should hate her. And at moments, she feared she might drag her down with her.

Dong Luorong was a trapped beast herself—and now, she had trapped Xie Feng too.

Eventually, Xie Feng made up her mind.

There was no need to twist herself into knots over someone from the Empire who had happened to help her. She was a citizen of Tear City. She had responsibilities to Tear City. Her mission was with the people who had bled, cried, and gone to prison for their cause. Now that fate had handed her a chance to achieve her goals, how could she let personal matters stand in the way? How could she betray Tear City and all those who had sacrificed so much?

She just had to be careful when the time came, ensuring she didn't drag Dong Luorong into any unintended consequences. It was a good thought—but the more she thought about it, the more it felt like a way to comfort herself.

Getting in touch with the people involved in the cruise nightclub incident turned out to be easier and faster than Xie Feng had imagined. She had assumed they would be laying low, avoiding contact with outsiders.

Her phone vibrated silently in her pocket. She immediately pulled it out, put her earphones in, and covered her mouth with one hand as she whispered, "Hello?"

Two or three hours had passed, and Qiu Chantian still hadn't left. It seemed unlikely he would leave tonight.

"Xie Feng, right?" The boy's voice on the other end of the phone was clear, and even if he were older than her, he couldn't have been much past college age. It was hard to imagine that someone with a voice like his had been involved in the cruise nightclub incident. "I've heard about you."

"Huh?" Xie Feng was startled, feeling a bit like a fan who had been recognized by a singer at a concert. Someone so high-profile, someone wanted with a bounty on his head, knew about her?

"That scene where you escaped from the security forces, it's pretty famous." The boy chuckled, his tone carrying a subtle, soft, and slightly effeminate quality.

So that was it. Since he already knew who she was, that made things easier—at least all the effort she had spent figuring out how to prove herself was unnecessary now.

"Is he still in the hotel?"

"Yes, I've been keeping watch upstairs. I haven't seen him leave." Xie Feng didn't go into detail about her encounter, saying only that she had happened to spot Chief Qiu at the hotel. "When I saw him, he was alone—no security or staff with him."

"Normally, the driver would be put up in a different room," the young man mused. "But it's strange—meeting a woman at a hotel so openly... People are bound to notice. Isn't he worried about his reputation? Or does he really think Tear City is already his private domain?"

Xie Feng suppressed the discomfort in her heart and said, "Yeah, it is strange. I don't get it either."

Whatever Qiu Chantian's situation was, it wasn't their problem to dwell on. As the young man put it, the way an imperial official thought was none of their business—as long as they accomplished their goal.

There was a fine line between provoking the Empire into retaliating and successfully achieving their demands. They couldn't afford to misstep.

An hour later, still waiting at the door, Xie Feng dozed off, only to be startled awake by the vibration of her phone.

"There are two dog cars parked on the street near the hotel."

They're already here? Xie Feng's heart jumped. Before she could respond, the young man spoke again, his tone pleased. "That means someone important really is inside."

Everything was moving too fast. Even though she was the one who found the information and provided it, Xie Feng couldn't help but feel that things were spiraling out of control.

"He hasn't left yet... but how are you going to get in without being noticed? The hotel has cameras," Xie Feng asked nervously. "Do you have to act tonight? Isn't it a bit rushed?"

"Even we didn't know we'd be acting tonight, so there's no way Qiu Chantian could have predicted it. The fact that he's not taking precautions now means this is our best chance. Besides, he probably thinks no one in Tear City would dare touch him. It's been over a year since the surrender, and before the nightclub incident, people were just chanting slogans, right?" The young man gave a quiet laugh. "We're not going in just yet. We'll regroup and contact you later."

Xie Feng ended the call, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. She had been sitting at the door for far too long, and her body—still weak from the recent fever—was starting to ache again. Her mind was being torn in every direction by countless thoughts, each one pulling at her like it wanted to rip her apart. But there would be no relief. She wouldn't be torn to pieces—no such luck. She would just keep suffering.

"Oh, you didn't run?"

Dong Luorong's soft, raspy voice came out of nowhere, accompanied by that peculiar, strange scent like drunken flowers