Chapter 29: I Was Wrong

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“What? There’s a space underground? The one who fired that shot was Robin Rommel? And there’s a sonic transmitter that was just destroyed? We’ve caught a big fish! Hurry, seal off this place and request reinforcements!”

The company commander in charge of this area raised his gun.

Bang!

A red flare shot into the sky.

The commander was nearly driven mad by his own troop of idiots.

They had found the man, yet instead of securing him immediately, they had let him escape. Not one of them had been captured!

Worse still, they had lost quite a few men inside.

Fortunately, they had located the enemy’s hideout. That at least counted as redeeming themselves.

After firing the signal flare, the commander shouted, “First platoon, go down there! If you don’t find them, none of you come back today!”

……

Boom!

Robin and the others had not gone far when the earth behind them seemed to heave and tremble.

Apparently, the enemy had chosen to use explosives to destroy the bronze gate blocking their way.

“Are the other exits aboveground secure?” Robin asked Matthew.

“Damn it, it’s daytime. How could we possibly confirm that?” Matthew replied as he ran. “You should have listened to me. The two of us should have left directly—”

“Left directly?”

Ginnis had still been reeling from the shock, but when she heard Matthew’s words, the blood in her veins seemed to turn cold.

To leave directly meant…

Abandon me?

It was the discipline of underground workers. It was something every underground operative had to face, and something they should be mentally prepared for.

But how should one put it?

It was like shouting at someone not to come back for you, telling them to run—and then watching them turn around and leave without even struggling. Anyone would be stunned. No one could accept it.

After all, people were selfish. Everyone had the instinct to survive.

You might say, “Don’t save me,” but if the other person truly abandoned you, the feeling would be: “Awei is already dead. You chose this, idol!”

“I can’t possibly abandon the person who saved my life!”

Yesterday, Meryl had been beyond saving. There had been nothing Robin could do for her, which was why he had not turned back.

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But Ginnis was still alive. She had been dragged into this because of his own plans, and Robin could not bring himself to coldly abandon her.

He could raise his gun against an enemy without hesitation, but when it came to his own people—especially someone who had saved his life—he would not leave them behind, even if doing so meant taking a risk.

There was an old joke online: “If the person who saved your life committed a crime and came to ask for your help, would you help them or not?” Many people played along with replies like, “They saved me once again.” Others were truly cold-blooded enough to betray the person who had saved them.

Robin could not do that.

Someone as warmhearted as him might not be suited to intelligence work or life underground.

“You…”

Ginnis opened and closed her mouth, her eyes glistening with tears.

She knew she had acted foolishly earlier. She had mishandled things in several places, and if she had not, the situation might never have deteriorated so badly.

But when she thought of how the team leader she had spent every day with was willing to abandon her, while Robin—whom she had known for only a day—was risking his life to save her…

In that instant, she seemed to grow up. She came to understand what a true underground operative was.

It was not about shouting a few slogans, nor telling one’s teacher, “I can do it” or “I’m up to the task.”

[Notice: The Loyalty System has been activated.]

[Ginnis Scadi]

[Loyalty: 79]

Robin froze for a moment.

Loyalty? He could actually see this sort of thing?

Seventy-nine? Was that high or low?

Robin had no time to study it now. He was still running, searching for a way out.

Some matters deserve elaboration; others can be passed over briefly.

What had seemed to take a long time just now had actually lasted only a few exchanged words.

After Jennifer had come down and been dragged away, Matthew’s mental suggestion had already lost its effect.

“Robin—Robin Rommel? Who are you people? What are you trying to do? Why did you kidnap me?” Jennifer asked, still shaken.

Even now, she had no idea what had happened.

Jennifer carefully replayed the day in her mind. First, she had been questioned that morning. Then she had taken the cat, which had come down with a minor illness costing three thousand dollars to treat, to the clinic. After chatting with Ginnis about women’s affairs, she had gone upstairs to nap, read, and pass the time.

She had been reading and humming to herself before coming downstairs, only to find a group of people confronting the veterinarian she often visited. Ginnis had even taken a man in a shirt hostage.

Before she could make sense of any of it, Robin had dropped from the sky. Everyone who had broken in had died. Robin had told her to run, and for some inexplicable reason she had jumped down after him. Then they had taken her along as they fled?

“We didn’t kidnap you. You jumped down here on your own.” Robin even helped Matthew smooth things over. “Were you simply too frightened?”

“Yes, yes…”

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Jennifer suddenly understood. “I was so terrified that my mind went completely blank. You told me to run, so I jumped down!”

“Let me go! I have nothing to do with this!”

Seeing a familiar face made Jennifer feel somewhat safer, even under these circumstances.

But once that relief set in, she began worrying about herself again.

Were these the people who had rescued Robin yesterday? Were they agents of Grand Duke Benito?

Then had she just been asking for death by claiming that she was Vincent’s girlfriend?

No, that made no sense. How could a veterinarian possibly be one of Grand Duke Benito’s people?

“You’re certain?” Robin glanced back at Jennifer as they ran. “You were my ward attendant, and you were with the agents who rescued me. The soldiers who came from outside just now all belonged to Marquis Hyde. When they see you running with us, won’t they assume you were an inside accomplice who helped us rescue me?”

“I’m not! I didn’t…” Jennifer immediately panicked. “Vincent—Vincent is pursuing me. I’ll be fine…”

In front of Robin, Vincent was no longer her boyfriend.

It was clear that the instincts of a heartless woman had already been carved into her bones.

If she had been living in the present day, she would have been the sort of woman who could say that wearing protection did not count as giving herself away.

“This is no longer a minor matter. Forget the fact that Vincent is pursuing you—even if he himself had committed a crime, he would not escape. When the time comes, they will hypnotize you and search for the truth. Even if they discover the truth and release you, you will become nothing more than a drooling idiot. You will lose more than your job. If you were walking down the street and a vagrant took an interest in you, what do you think would happen? You would have neither the intelligence nor the ability to resist.” Robin spoke grimly.

She had already been dragged into this. He might as well explain the consequences clearly.

In truth, Robin genuinely did not want to involve any more uninvolved people.

As far as he was concerned, war had nothing to do with civilians.

He had once considered making use of Jennifer, but that had been before he understood the reality of the situation.

After witnessing someone die while saving him, Robin no longer entertained such thoughts.

Even if Jennifer was Vincent’s mistress, she could still be indirectly killed because of him.

That was the nature of troubled times: temptations multiplied, people matured quickly, and holding fast to one’s principles became all the more difficult.

Now that Jennifer had been caught up in everything, Robin did not want to argue with Matthew. Doing so would only waste time and hope. For the moment, he could only calm Jennifer down, or at least keep her from becoming too frightened.

“Is it really that serious?” Jennifer asked in growing panic.

I was wrong. I was wrong from the very beginning. If I had never met Ginnis, I would never have come to this veterinary clinic. If I had never come here, I would never have encountered all these inexplicable disasters. I would never have become an accomplice of the rebels…