Recalling the experiences he once shared with his friends, and then thinking of his current predicament, a sharp pain twisted in Ning Fan’s heart.
Even after surviving a great disaster and narrowly escaping death, he still felt his partners hadn’t truly intended to kill him.
But when he went to the company to confront them, the hope in Ning Fan’s heart was completely extinguished by their vile attitude.
“…Miss Jiang Yuening, do you know what they became like after my accident?”
“I don’t know,” Jiang Yuening replied immediately. “Are you saying they seemed like different people?”
“Pretty much. They actually said they did nothing wrong, and even told me we should prepare early to ‘increase revenue and reduce expenditure,’ to cut down on future costs.”
“That sounds fairly normal,” Jiang Yuening replied.
Ning Fan suddenly laughed.
Following the navigation’s prompt, he turned the steering wheel and drove towards a nearby tavern.
Only when they were three kilometers from the destination did Ning Fan speak again to explain.
“They said they are now preparing to enter high society, so my sacrifice was necessary.”
‘How disgusting. I can understand you now,’ Jiang Yuening said.
“And that’s not all. They also said our previous actions were too cautious, leading to a lot of unnecessary expenses. We should be bolder.”
“Directly use living human bodies for experiments, observe for rejection and dosage issues,” Ning Fan said calmly. “Rapidly launch the product to earn the first pot of gold, then let the profits roll in.”
“What did you say?!”
Jiang Yuening looked shocked.
She truly never imagined there were still such madmen in this world, daring to openly bring up such topics.
Noticing Jiang Yuening’s reaction, Ning Fan gave a light chuckle and continued.
“They said if City A can’t do it, they’ll go to other places in the world to do it.”
“Ethics, morals, laws, rules—they’re all cages meant to restrain the weak. They don’t need to care about such things.”
“For ordinary people to become experimental material is an honor for them.”
“Even… they said they wanted to taste the flesh of their own kind, to see if it was like vegetarian meat or… whatever. Forget it, I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
Ning Fan sighed quietly at this point and didn’t continue.
But the meaning behind his words was crystal clear.
After their start-up company received its first round of funding, the partners he worked with had all gone mad.
He could no longer see the camaraderie of overcoming hardships together, nor any trace of human compassion or the morality humans should possess.
They seemed to have turned into cold-blooded business animals, devoid of any spark that could be called human.
This filled Ning Fan with a lingering fear, which was why he had spent these years convinced his partners had gone insane and deserved to die.
But when a case of their disappearance truly emerged, some doubts surfaced in his heart, feeling they shouldn’t just vanish like that.
“…Thank you for the information. It’s very valuable.”
After listening to Ning Fan, Jiang Yuening swallowed dryly, feeling her worldview had been shaken.
Her head felt inexplicably heavy and muddled, her stomach churning, making her feel nauseous for no reason.
If Ning Fan wasn’t lying to her, then these partners’ minds had probably been corroded by something long ago.
Massaging her temples, Jiang Yuening suddenly felt like retreating, wanting to call Director Xu and tell him she didn’t want to investigate this case any further.
She was afraid that if she investigated to the end, she’d find Ning Fan’s partners were still alive, and then she’d have to safely rescue them all, ensuring nothing happened to them.
Although she hadn’t met them yet, relying solely on Ning Fan’s account to imagine what they were like.
But judging by Ning Fan’s expression and his experiences over the years, what he said was probably ninety percent true.
What a terrible case this is.
After pondering deeply for a long time, Jiang Yuening finally calmed her thoughts and decided to continue handling the case.
She couldn’t let personal feelings interfere with the truth of the case. Perhaps these people were all tempted by Shadow Beasts.
She had to be more rational. She couldn’t handle an unverified case like this.
She was Magic Girl Sapphire, after all.
Cheering herself on, Jiang Yuening closed her eyes to rest, waiting for Ning Fan to drive them to their destination.
Seeing Jiang Yuening’s calm expression from the driver’s seat, Ning Fan felt a sense of admiration.
He hadn’t expected her to remain expressionless after hearing such disgusting things.
If it’s Miss Sapphire, she might really be able to get to the bottom of this.
Trust Sapphire.
Soothed by Jiang Yuening’s composed demeanor, Ning Fan drove steadily and soon arrived at the Nine Dragon Grand Hotel.
“We’re here, Miss Jiang Yuening.”
“Mm, I know.”
Jiang Yuening nodded, got out of the car with Ning Fan, and walked into the extravagantly decorated grand hotel before them.
Looking at the lush greenery everywhere, the ubiquitous pools and fountains, then at the smooth black-and-white marble floor and the marble ceiling overhead.
Jiang Yuening couldn’t help but frown slightly, feeling an inexplicable sense of incongruity.
She couldn’t pinpoint where this feeling came from, but she felt something was off.
“Beautiful, right? Back when our product successfully launched and we made a killing, we also steeled ourselves and splurged here for a bit, experiencing a life of luxury and decadence.”
“After a few days, everyone said they felt a bit uncomfortable, so we checked out and left.”
“Thinking about it now, I was probably the only one who was uncomfortable. They must have really enjoyed that kind of life.”
Seeing Jiang Yuening standing still, Ning Fan thought she was dazzled by the splendid decorations, so he smiled and shared another story about him and his partners.
Sapphire looked at the scene before her, remained silent for a few seconds, then suddenly asked Ning Fan a question.
“When you came here back then, how many cars were parked around?”
“Ah? Let me think… uh…”
Ning Fan completely didn’t expect her to ask this. He scratched his head, racked his brains for a long time before replying with some uncertainty.
“Probably… quite a few? I don’t remember clearly. Anyway, the number of cars was about the same as now, and they were probably all luxury cars, red and black ones.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Jiang Yuening nodded, then walked straight to the young and beautiful female receptionist at the front desk.
She watched the other woman, observing the receptionist’s expression.
The female receptionist saw Jiang Yuening approach and gave a slight bow, a sweet smile on her face.
“Hello, miss. How may I assist you? Do you need to book a room, or are you looking for a nearby location? I am at your service at any time.”
“City A Monster Response Department, here on official business. The investigation request was sent to you yesterday. Tell me the room number where the incident occurred.”
Confirming the receptionist seemed normal, Jiang Yuening took out her credentials and case documents from her pants pocket and handed them over, speaking flatly.
Seeing this, the smile on the receptionist’s face instantly froze.