Chapter 6: The First Day Without the Medicine: She Nearly Tore the Military Department Apart
The underground training ground of the Northern Frontier Military Department's Jinghai Office looked as if it had just been hit by a magnitude nine earthquake.
The piercing shriek of twisting metal echoed throughout the underground space, sparks flying everywhere. The air was thick with the smell of burnt material and a high concentration of ozone. A heavy-duty training mech, worth a staggering thirty million, lay in a crumpled heap like a pile of scrap metal. The armor plate on its chest had been ripped open by a slender yet terrifyingly strong hand, revealing the still-smoking circuitry inside.
"Too slow."
Lin Qingge stood in the center of the wreckage, panting heavily. Her usually immaculate long hair was now somewhat disheveled, plastered to her cheeks. Sweat dripped from her chin, hitting the scorching hot mechanical debris and instantly evaporating into wisps of white mist.
Deep within her pupils, a trace of dark red light flickered madly—a dangerous sign that her contamination value had breached 80%.
"This pile of junk's reaction speed is like a turtle crawling compared to those abyssal aberrations!"
She spun around abruptly and kicked a nearby support mech that had attempted a sneak attack. With a thunderous boom, the mech was sent flying dozens of meters away, embedding itself deep into the special alloy wall, impossible to pry out.
The mechanics responsible for maintenance cowered behind the blast-proof glass, their faces pale, not daring to breathe too loudly.
This wasn't training. This was demolition!
"C-Commander Lin!"
Aide Thunder Tiger, braving immense pressure, steeled himself and ran out from the elevator. He held a freshly printed report in his hand, his forehead slick with cold sweat. Even before getting close, he could feel a wave of palpable killing intent that made his face sting.
"Spit it out!"
Lin Qingge didn't turn around. She was in the process of snapping an alloy steel pipe with her bare hands, her knuckles white from the strain. "If you're telling me you still haven't found him, you can roll yourself into that waste disposal unit."
Thunder Tiger swallowed hard, his legs feeling a bit wobbly.
He had followed Lin Qingge for five years. On the battlefield, this woman was the valkyrie who struck fear into enemies' hearts. At home... while her temper wasn't great either, she was at least someone who could be reasoned with.
But ever since that fake young master named Lin Ji ran away from home yesterday, Lin Qingge had completely mutated.
In these short twenty-four hours, she had not only smashed the living room at home but was now on the verge of depleting the military department's entire inventory. This was no commander; she was a human-shaped nuclear bomb ready to explode at any moment.
"Reporting, Commander Lin... we... we indeed haven't located Young Master Lin Ji's whereabouts yet."
Thunder Tiger's voice grew smaller and smaller. Seeing Lin Qingge's back suddenly stiffen, he hurriedly sped up his explanation, "But it's not normal! It's too abnormal! Our tech division mobilized the entire city's surveillance system, even utilizing facial recognition big data. The results show... no such person found!"
"No such person found?"
Lin Qingge slowly turned around. The steel pipe as thick as a wrist in her hand was twisted like modeling clay into a pretzel shape.
Her bloodshot eyes fixed on Thunder Tiger, her voice terrifyingly hoarse: "A living person, no border exit, no plane or high-speed train taken, just vanished into thin air in Jinghai City? Thunder Tiger, are you trying to tell me there are ghosts in this world, or that your entire intelligence division is full of useless wastes?"
"No, Commander Lin! It's really weird!"
Thunder Tiger was so anxious he took off his cap, revealing a crew cut. "Even if a fly left Jinghai, we should have a record. But Young Master Lin Ji... it's like he's shielded by some high-level signal. Any electronic eye that captures him automatically loses the data! The tech division says... this kind of method can only be achieved with national-level, top-secret protection!"
"Top-secret protection?"
Lin Qingge was stunned for a moment, then let out a cold, mocking laugh. "Him? An ordinary person who's cooked for the Lin family for eighteen years, who hasn't even awakened any supernatural abilities? Who would give him top-secret protection? That idiot Wang Xue? Or that waste Lin Tian who only knows how to glow?"
She felt her head was about to split open with pain.
That familiar, agonizing feeling—like millions of ants gnawing at her brain—was crashing against the dam of her rationality in ever-increasing waves.
"Medicine... where's my medicine..."
Lin Qingge clutched her forehead, her body swaying slightly. She instinctively wanted to search for that figure who always stood quietly in the corner, carrying the faint scent of cold grass and trees. As long as she held him, as long as she smelled his scent, this pain would vanish.
But now, there was only the cold smell of metal and machine oil around her.
"Commander Lin! Hold on! The medical team is already preparing the S-grade sedative!" Thunder Tiger was horrified at the sight and hurried forward to support her.
"Get away! Don't touch me!"
Lin Qingge swung her arm violently. A savage gust of air directly sent Thunder Tiger tumbling to the ground. "That garbage medication is useless on me! I want Lin Ji! I only want Lin Ji! Capture him and bring him back to me!"
Her current state was like that of an addict, and Lin Ji was her exclusive, special supply of drugs.
Without Lin Ji, she felt every cell in her body screaming, rioting. That abyssal instinct craving blood and slaughter was wildly reviving.
"Since conventional methods can't find him..."
Lin Qingge took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the coppery sweetness rising in her throat. Her eyes became frenzied and resolute. "Then we'll use unconventional methods."
She strode to the control console and slammed her palm onto the red emergency communication button.
"Connect me to the Sky Eye Satellite Command Center!"
Thunder Tiger scrambled up from the ground. Hearing this, he was scared out of his wits: "Commander Lin! That's a strategic resource only to be used during wartime! Privately mobilizing satellites to find one person, the military tribunal will..."
"The military tribunal? Let them come arrest me!"
Lin Qingge grabbed Thunder Tiger by the collar, lifting him up. Her eyes were crimson red like a ghost's. "Right now, I feel like I could turn into a mindless death knight at any moment. If I go on a rampage then, half of Jinghai City will be buried with me! Do you think those old men on the military tribunal dare to gamble with me?!"
Looking at the dense, inky black mist swirling in the depths of her eyes, Thunder Tiger finally realized the severity of the situation.
Lin Qingge wasn't joking.
She was truly going mad.
An 80% contamination value was the warning line; 90% meant irreversible corruption. She was teetering on the edge of the cliff right now, and Lin Ji was the only rope that could pull her back.
"I understand... I'll go arrange it immediately." Thunder Tiger said, trembling.
"And one more thing!"
Lin Qingge released her grip. Pointing at the still-blank search results on the large screen, she said through gritted teeth, "Since we can't find him secretly, then we'll search openly! Let everyone help me search!"
"Issue a warrant."
Thunder Tiger was taken aback: "Huh? A warrant for who? Young Master Lin Ji?"
"Yes! Issue a city-wide warrant!"
Lin Qingge's rationality had been completely devoured by obsession. Her logic became simple and brutal. "The charge... write 'extremely dangerous individual,' fleeing with national-level secrets! Bounty amount: one hundred million! I want every police officer, bounty hunter, even the homeless on the streets of Jinghai City to be looking at his face!"
"As long as he's still in this city, as long as he still needs to go out to buy food, I don't believe no one will see him!"
"Commander Lin, this... this isn't really appropriate, is it?" Thunder Tiger's cold sweat poured like a waterfall. "He's your own brother. Issuing an S-class warrant... what if an uninformed special police officer shoots him on sight?"
"Whoever dares to touch a single hair on his head, I'll exterminate their entire clan!"
Lin Qingge suddenly punched the control console. The hard alloy surface instantly caved in, leaving a deep fist imprint.
She turned her head. That stunningly beautiful face now bore only a sickly obsession and madness. Her voice seemed squeezed out from between her teeth:
"I want to see him alive, or see his body dead."
"Thunder Tiger, you have two hours. If Lin Ji isn't standing before me in two hours, come see me with your head in your hands."
"Now, immediately, right away—issue that warrant!"