Chapter 2318 — Sun Jingyan's Call
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Wei Zhao drew a deep breath and steadied his emotions. "Those captives," he asked, "how did they come to be?"
"They're people who set themselves against the Red Conch—rival gangs, mercenary outfits, and types like you... Granted, a man as capable as you could never be taken captive; I was only using that as an example," Big Feng said.
"You've seen those captives? Where are they? Why did you say they'd be better off dead?" A surge of excitement and agitation rose in Wei Zhao's heart. The Pangolin... perhaps he was not dead after all! If Yang Huaijun had never seen his body back then, then there was a very good chance he had been captured by the Red Conch and made a prisoner. Listening to Big Feng now, that possibility seemed all the greater, for they needed people to cook their drugs for them!
"Those captives were originally held at a secret base near the Golden Triangle, but later I heard the place was attacked and they were all moved. Where they are now, I don't know—that's a secret of the Red Conch. I doubt even the Third Boss and the others know," Big Feng said.
"Then how do you know?" Wei Zhao frowned, as though trying to see through the man and determine whether he was lying.
"I used to be in charge of guarding those people..." Big Feng said. Later, however, he had been posted here to hold the fort—a promotion, in a sense, though it also meant he no longer had anything to do with the drug-cooking process.
"I see. Then why did you say they'd be better off dead?" That was the question Wei Zhao cared about more.
"Better off dead—those people have lost their own minds. It's as if some drug has altered their bodies and turned them into living machines that can only labor, like a pack of puppets who do nothing but obey and work..." Big Feng said. "I don't know whether they still have thoughts, because they can't communicate. Every day it's nothing but cooking drugs, cooking drugs. I'm terrified that if I betray the Red Conch, I'll end up the same way—that truly would be worse than death. So you might as well do me a favor and just finish me off. I don't want to become one of those things—neither human nor ghost!"
"Living machines..." Wei Zhao sucked in a cold breath at Big Feng's words! Those captives and traitors had all been transformed into living machines? Capable only of cooking drugs, with no minds of their own? The news pierced Wei Zhao's heart with another stab of pain. If the Pangolin was alive, then he must surely have been turned into one of them by now. Then... could he ever be restored to normal?
Yet Wei Zhao knew he could not let his emotions cloud the greater matter at hand. He pulled his phone from his pocket, called up a photograph, and zoomed in until only one person remained in the frame. Then he held the phone up before Big Feng's eyes. "Since you were stationed at the drug-cooking base, take a look—was this man among those living machines?"
The photo in Wei Zhao's hand was one of the Pangolin, the same one he had once shown Ying Ziyu—except that this time Wei Zhao had cropped himself out of it.
"This..." Big Feng looked at the photo on the phone and shook his head blankly. "You know as well as I do, that base had over a thousand living machines. How could I possibly have looked at every one of them? I was only responsible for keeping the place safe from outside attack and from discovery. I had no time to go studying people's faces."
Wei Zhao nodded. Big Feng was not wrong there; given his position at the time, it truly would have been impossible for him to pay attention to what any of those living machines looked like.
"Have you heard where that drug-cooking base was moved to?" Wei Zhao asked.
"That I really don't know. After I was transferred away from there, I had no reason to inquire. I've been living the high life here—I've no desire at all to go back," Big Feng said.