The Master’s Mask Unveiled Again
Chapter 728 - Chapter 728 Chapter 727 I Am Number Thirteen

Chapter 728: Chapter 727: I Am Number Thirteen Chapter 728: Chapter 727: I Am Number Thirteen “A defective product is still a defective product,”

Huo Zhu was as cold as frost.

After Gu Jingyi’s mission had failed, he had said the same thing.

Then he’d discarded the experimental subject without a trace of mercy,

as if throwing away trash.

And after hearing such cold, unfeeling words, Hua Ying not only didn’t get angry but kept apologizing.

“I’m sorry, sir, I’m sorry… I’ll fix it right away.”

Seeing this, Lu Mian thought of a mental disorder: Stockholm syndrome.

As a victim, falling in love with one’s own captor, becoming utterly dependent on and protective of them.

Hua Ying was in such a state.

Huo Zhu had even become her faith, to the point Hua Ying could abandon her own father.

Lu Mian looked calmly towards the figure on the high platform, thinking that this man seated high above seemed more like a PUA master of psychological manipulation.

In short, two words.

Sick.

“Do you need my help?” Lu Mian slowly walked to Hua Ying’s side.

Since Lu Mian had been fed sedatives and couldn’t recover her strength in a short time, Hua Ying was less vigilant toward her, and due to the mistakes in her work, her attitude was also extremely impatient.

“What can you help with?! With that little bit you’ve learned, what makes you think you can help me?!”

Hua Ying’s pride as one of the top three hackers was nearly trampled by Lu Mian.

Lu Mian smiled, holding a mobile phone lazily, casually tapping on something.

Hua Ying, on the other hand, was focused solely on the computer screen, watching the progress bar and completely ignoring her.

“Sir, we have ten seconds until the explosion,”

Huo Zhu changed his posture, tapping fingers on the armrest of his chair, seemingly in thought.

Hua Ying brought her hands together in front of her chest, silently counting down.

Just as her big eyes were focused on the last three seconds, about to successfully eliminate Number Thirteen,

the progress bar stopped.

It froze perpetually at the last second.

“What happened?!” Hua Ying jumped up, realizing that there was a problem with the system even if she was slow to catch on.

Was she being hacked?

But Number Thirteen on the screen was clearly doing nothing.

What was going on?

Lu Mian’s fingers moved faster, starting to work silently as soon as she had recovered enough strength.

While Hua Ying and Huo Zhu were brainwashing each other, she intercepted Hua Ying’s bombing program and busied herself with some other trivial matters.

Lu Mian casually put away her phone and stood beside Hua Ying.

Her lips parted slightly, “Actually…”

Hua Ying felt a chill, her body stiffening slightly.

“I am Number Thirteen,”

Lu Mian said these words with almost cruel coldness.

Hua Ying abruptly turned to look at Lu Mian, staring at her mocking face in disbelief.

“You, you…”

Lu Mian tilted her head, “You couldn’t beat me before, and it’s the same now.”

Having said that, she placed a hand on Hua Ying’s shoulder, and with a snap that caught everyone off guard, dislocated one of Hua Ying’s arms.

It was harsh and spicy.

Hua Ying screamed, slumping like a deflated doll, her arm hanging lifelessly, as she sat down in the chair.

Huo Zhu’s eyes were like a cold snake in the dark night, his pupils harbored malevolent venom.

Tian Shu, who had been lurking in the shadows, also stood out immediately.

The reversal came too suddenly.

Hua Ying’s eyes brimmed with terror as Lu Mian’s words echoed over and over in her mind.

“I am number thirteen.”

“I am number thirteen.”

Lu Mian was not some damsel in distress waiting for rescue; she had the ability to get out on her own!

Does that mean Lu Mian had escaped the lab years ago solely by her own capabilities?!

Lu Mian, the little expert at delivering the final blow, unflinchingly stabbed another dagger into Hua Ying’s heart.

“Thank you for bringing me here,”

These words, just like when Hua Ying said to Wang Xintong “Thank you for the information you provided,” were not meant to avenge Wang Xintong, but to exact revenge on behalf of the office.

“You already knew?!” Hua Ying suddenly felt drained, her arm’s pain was nothing compared to the mental anguish struck by the truth.

She always thought she held all the initiative, that she had successfully deceived a whole bunch of people, and she had even pushed Lucy forward as her scapegoat.

All her carefully arranged plans, and Lu Mian had known about them all along.

“You, when did you…” Hua Ying could not believe she had been seen through; it made no sense, all the explanations were so perfect.

“Ah.” Lu Mian’s tone was light and breezy, “When you were trying hard to make me believe.”

“…” Hua Ying’s eyes glazed over: “Why didn’t you expose me, why…”

Lu Mian smiled calmly.

Actually, Hua Ying knew the answer.

She knew better than anyone how difficult it was to find Yinye Island, and how tough it was to infiltrate this core stronghold.

Lu Mian… oh no, number thirteen, so formidable, yet back then she also failed to locate this place or catch them all in one fell swoop, didn’t she?

So…

Lu Mian was never the one who was forced to come to the island; from the beginning, she saw through Hua Ying’s intentions and turned the tables on her!

While she thought she was manipulating her within the palm of her hands, she did not realize that she was the one being played.

Perhaps it even went further back.

“Was it also you who instigated the INTERPOL offering a reward for number thirteen?”

Lu Mian felt Hua Ying wasn’t that ridiculously stupid.

Hua Ying gave a bitter smile, then looked at Huo Zhu in a panic.

She had failed her mission, botched the master’s grand plans; how was she to make amends…

However, the man she had been longing for and looked up to with admiration, aside from a merciless cold snort, gave no other response.

She, the defective product, had disappointed the master…

Lu Mian did not bother with Hua Ying any longer but slowly made her way to Tian Shu.

They hadn’t exchanged blows before, but her instincts told her that this person was very skilled.

Lu Mian felt somewhat uncertain; she was not omnipotent, nor was she invincible.

She was only slightly better than a normal person.

But against absolute strength, her advantage wasn’t going to do her much good.

Lu Mian’s lips were pressed into a thin line. Now, she placed more hope on the RE Factor concentrate that Team Leader Pan gave her.

Fortunately, the concentrated RE Factor was more potent, with a higher concentration and a faster reaction compared to the experimental drug that Wa Zhiqi had taken.

Tian Shu was tall and heavily muscled, overwhelmingly stronger in terms of power.

He did not take Lu Mian seriously at all. To him, such a thin and frail girl could be snuffed out with just one hand.

If the master gave the order, he would act without hesitation.

Perhaps it was the unmistakable intent to kill in Lu Mian’s eyes, or perhaps it was finally sensing that Lu Mian was beyond control.

Huo Zhu’s patience with Lu Mian also reached its breaking point.

“Eliminate her.”

This sentence was an unconditional surrender.

Huo Zhu closed his eyes wearily, and said with some pain, “Lu Mian, you should not have revealed your trump card as number thirteen.”

His laboratory could not tolerate someone who would betray him like this.

Even if she were perfect, it was not allowed.