Su Xiji’s counter-question was like a stone thrown into a frozen lake; it didn’t stir up ripples, but rather caused the air to freeze instantly.
The dim yellow light in the warehouse seemed to fade a bit.
Dust floated slowly in the beams of light, as if time itself had become viscous at this moment.
Lin Mo’s gaze suddenly sharpened.
Although Chu You remained calm, her body leaned forward ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly.
However, Su Xiji did not wait for their answer.
Or rather, he had already obtained a certain confirmation from their reactions.
Slowly, and with a weary certainty, he leaned back against the ammunition box.
His posture was completely different from the indulgence he had shown just a moment ago; he was now more like a narrator who had stripped away his disguise and was prepared to speak the truth.
First, he let out a silent sigh.
His gaze swept over Lin Mo and then flickered past Chu You with a complex look in his eyes.
“You want to know the truth, or what you believe to be the evidence of a traitor…”
Su Xiji began to speak.
His voice was deeper than before, losing some of its usual steady majesty and gaining an indescribable weight.
He paused for a moment, as if weighing his words.
“First of all, you are right about one thing, but also wrong.”
Su Xiche’s gaze refocused on Lin Mo’s face.
“I… do indeed have a certain connection with the Shi Bian Ti outside. That is a fact. I cannot deny it, nor have I ever intended to deny it.”
The moment these words were spoken, Lin Mo’s brows locked tightly, a sharp light flickering in his eyes.
Although Chu You made no obvious movement, her eyes suddenly turned profound.
She was clearly thinking rapidly about the terrifying implications behind those words.
‘A connection with Abnormal Beings? This almost confirms the worst of our suspicions!’
But Su Xiji’s next words caused that suspicion to waver.
“However,” his tone was categorical, carrying an unquestionable certainty, “I, Su Xiji, am not a traitor.”
“I have never sold out any defense line, any soldier’s position, or any operational plan to the Shi Bian Ti… To this day, my gun is still, and will only ever be, pointed at them — pointed at all enemies who threaten the survival of humanity.”
This firm confession created an extremely contradictory conflict with what he had just admitted.
The doubts in Lin Mo and Chu You’s hearts did not decrease; instead, they became even heavier, like rolling dark clouds.
Chu You’s brow furrowed slightly, revealing a clear expression of deep contemplation.
Her fingers unconsciously tapped lightly on her knee, a habitual gesture she made when lost in deep thought.
Su Xiji ignored their confusion and continued along his own line of thought.
His tone carried a sense of detachment, as if he were recalling a distant memory.
“The operational plans and defense maps were, indeed, leaked.”
“And the leak was very thorough, very precise, to the point where every adjustment we made, every reinforcement, and even the movement direction of every reserve unit seemed to be carried out right under the opponent’s nose. This directly led to our passivity and casualties.”
A trace of icy anger seeped into his voice, the hatred he felt for an internal parasite.
“The one who did this is someone else.”
“Moreover, it must be one of the high-ranking officers in the operational staff department with high enough clearance and a deep enough understanding of the overall deployment.”
Su Xiji shook his head, frustration and a deeper gloom appearing on his face.
“But unfortunately, the opponent was very cunning, or the thing behind him is beyond my imagination… Until the defense line collapsed and the headquarters moved underground, I was unable to find out exactly who it was.”
This information caused another stir in Lin Mo and Chu You’s hearts.
The traitor was someone else?
“As for my so-called connection with the Shi Bian Ti,” Su Xiji’s tone shifted, becoming exceptionally complex and mixed with disbelief, “that goes back to the first day this holding action began, before the situation had completely deteriorated.”
His gaze became distant, as if piercing through the thick walls of the warehouse to return to that beginning, which was filled with heavy gunfire and uncertainty.
“That night, the forward command was still in the temporary camp above.”
“During a lull in the shelling, the sentries reported unusual movement at the outer perimeter. It looked like a single Abnormal Being approaching. Its behavior was strange; it had no intention of attacking. Instead… it seemed to be avoiding our fire, looking for something.”
Su Xiji’s voice lowered, taking on the tone of someone telling a strange tale.
“I personally went to the forward observation post, and then I saw it… or rather, him?”
“A monster that didn’t look much different from a regular swift-type Shi Bian Ti, but its eyes… its eyes were completely different.”
“It was injured, but it didn’t lunge forward screaming like other monsters. Instead, it used the terrain and shadows in a way that was almost… tactical, avoiding stray bullets and searchlights, moving toward the headquarters with a clear objective.”
“Even more bizarre, when it was finally cornered by our fire and was about to be destroyed, it actually used its forelimbs, which still had sharp claws, to make a gesture of surrender and signaled for us not to fire!”
Su Xiji paused here for a moment.
The warehouse was so silent that only the sound of the three of them breathing could be heard.
A muscle in his face twitched slightly, as if he were once again struck by that absurd scene.
“Then, it said haltingly… that it wanted to see the commander, and that it had vital information. Information that concerned the life and death of everyone.”
“I ordered my men to stop firing, but we remained on the highest alert. I had the soldiers use a megaphone to ask what it was and what its purpose was. It… it replied saying…”
Su Xiji took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled, as if saying the next few words required great effort.
“It claimed to be a… soldier from the future.”
“!!!”
Despite having many guesses and preparations in their hearts, when the words “soldier from the future” came so clearly from Su Xiji’s mouth, Lin Mo and Chu You still felt a powerful impact hit their hearts!
The two of them instinctively glanced at each other, seeing the same shock in each other’s eyes, along with a sense of realization that things were as they had suspected.
Many of the previous doubts — the abnormal organization and tactics of some Shi Bian Ti, Su Xiji’s contradictory behavior — seemed to be connected by a faint line at this moment.
Su Xiji did not miss their subtle interaction.
The look of understanding in his eyes deepened, but he did not point it out.
He continued his narrative: “My first reaction at the time was that it was absurd, a trap, or some new deceptive tactic of the Shi Bian Ti. But its subsequent performance forced me to… slowly begin to believe.”
“It understood our military terminology and knew some internal army rules. Its behavior was also very consistent with how a soldier should act… but what truly swayed me was that aura.”
Su Xiji’s gaze became extremely sharp, as if he were recalling every detail.
“The temperament and logical thinking of a true soldier, the kind that is soaked into one’s bones after being in a highly disciplined and organized environment for a long time.”
“The angle from which it analyzed the battle situation, the regret or affirmation it showed when mentioning certain tactical choices, the tone in which it spoke of missions and sacrifice… those are things a monster cannot imitate.”
“At least, from what I know of the Shi Bian Ti, they do not possess this level of acting skill.”
“Furthermore,” Su Xiji added in a heavy tone, “it didn’t explain in detail why it had become that ghastly shape or why it appeared at this point in time.”
“It told me that there weren’t just one or two comrades who experienced this bizarre event with him, but…”
“Exactly 3,000 people.”
‘It really is the Second Synthetic Brigade!’
All the clues collided at this moment!
Everything made sense now!
Lin Mo’s heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably, but he maintained a calm expression.
He met Su Xiji’s gaze and asked in a flat tone, showing no emotion: “And then?”
Looking at Lin Mo’s young but excessively composed face, Su Xiji’s lips curled up once again.
This time, the smile carried more insight and a subtle interest, as if he had met a worthy opponent.
He did not answer Lin Mo’s question directly.
Instead, he leaned forward slightly, his gaze scanning back and forth between Lin Mo and Chu You’s faces before finally fixing on Lin Mo’s eyes.
His tone became somewhat strange and slow, yet it carried an unavoidable penetration.
“Before that… let’s talk about something else first. Let’s talk about… you, and the young lady beside you.”
Su Xiji’s words seemed to have hooks, approaching the core step by step: “Let’s talk about Wang Yun.”
“Let’s talk about my old partner, Lu Sanshan.”
With each name he spoke, his tone grew heavier, and his gaze grew sharper.
Finally, he asked clearly, enunciating each word: “You… come from the future as well, don’t you?”
This question was finally laid out on the table.
It was no longer a circumvention or a hinted guess, but a direct, frontal inquiry.
The air in the warehouse seemed to be completely sucked out.
The moment Lin Mo heard this question, his expression did not change in the slightest.
There was no panic, no bewilderment, and he even controlled the contraction of his pupils with exquisite precision.
He just quietly and calmly looked back at Su Xiji, as if the other man had asked an insignificant question.
A few seconds later, Lin Mo even tilted his head slightly, a perfect expression of slight doubt and inquiry appearing on his face as he asked back in a steady voice: “Why does the Division Commander think so?”
He did not admit it, nor did he deny it.
Instead, he threw the question back, while also observing the basis for Su Xiji’s judgment.
Looking at his airtight demeanor, the smile on Su Xiche’s face became even more obvious, even carrying a touch of playfulness that suggested he had expected this.
“Your question itself,” Su Xiji said slowly, tapping his finger lightly on his knee, “has already given me the answer.”
He leaned back comfortably and began to analyze the situation piece by piece.
“First, the logic is very simple.”
“Since I already know that a group of people from the future — no matter what they look like now — have appeared in this world and in this battle.”
“Then, why can’t there be a second group?”
“Secondly,” Su Xiche’s gaze became as sharp as a hawk’s, as if he wanted to pierce through all of Lin Mo’s disguises, “and this is the most important point — if Lu Sanshan were still the Lu Sanshan I knew…”
“You wouldn’t need to go through all this trouble to test me, because Old Lu himself would know all my plans.”
Su Xiche’s gaze firmly locked onto Lin Mo, the curve of his lips carrying an insight that saw through everything.
“So, there is only one answer, isn’t there?”
After saying this, he spoke no more.
He just quietly watched Lin Mo and Chu You, waiting for their response.
A long silence fell over the warehouse.
Under the dim yellow light, Lin Mo’s face was finally no longer entirely calm.
His eyes were deep, as if countless thoughts were rapidly spinning, colliding, and integrating.
He glanced at Chu You beside him.
Chu You was also looking at him.
In the meeting of their eyes, there was a tacit understanding that required no words.
Su Xiji’s reasoning was impeccable.
Continuing to deny it would be meaningless and might instead cause them to lose the chance to gain the other party’s trust and more information.
A long time seemed to pass, yet it felt like only an instant.
Finally, Lin Mo slowly curled his lips, revealing a light smile that was completely different from before — one that carried a bit of relief, a bit of helplessness, and a faint hint of sharpness.
It was a smile that truly belonged to Lin Mo.
He met Su Xiche’s all-seeing gaze and nodded.
His voice was clear and certain, no longer hiding anything: “As expected of the commander of the 103rd Division, Su Xiche.”
“Yes.”
“You guessed correctly.”
“We… do indeed come from the future.”
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