To the Start of a New World

2.13

"This bastard keeps trying to sabotage the base!"

"He was poisoning the water—we all saw it! He can't live, or he'll kill us all!"

The ones who ganged up on him were the ordinary members of the base, the survivors that Lu Hao's team had taken in. They were like a raging horde around him. The SG guards sent to check on the situation were nearly pushed back, and they scowled.

One of them roughly grabbed Hong Sheng by the back of his shirt and hauled him up. "You're lucky the leader spoke for you," he murmured lowly. He then shouted loudly to the crowd, "We'll be bringing him in. Everyone, make way."

"He's going to get away with it again!"

"What a conniving bastard..."

Face lowered and out of sight, Hong Sheng's eyes were dark, without a trace of light.

The people around him spit at him, hit him, cursed him. He was a piece of garbage that they itched to throw out. They had 'seen' him tampering with the base's power source, and had just now 'witnessed' him altering the water purifier.

They didn't know that it was Hong Sheng who had seen Ji Ling's people do these things first, and that he was just trying to fix the problems she tried to cause while Lu Hao was away.

But of course, no one would know these things. They just thought he was the culprit, and they did everything they could to grind him under their boots. They did everything short of killing him.

But even if they did kill him, it would be fine, Hong Sheng thought.

Because all of this was instigated by that woman, and that woman had slowly grown her power until she had the SG in the palm of her hand.

She suspected that he knew her secret. So she couldn't let Hong Sheng go.

Even though Hong Sheng wouldn't say a word.

Because only Lu Hao mattered to him, and whether the people in this base, or even everyone else in the world lived or died, all that mattered was Lu Hao being alright.

But Lu Hao was on her side.

And Lu Hao wouldn't care what happened to Hong Sheng, if that woman was the one standing at the other end.

So Hong Sheng wouldn't say anything. Because he wasn't as important to Lu Hao as she was. Even if he did say something... Lu Hao wouldn't believe him. Why would he?

The guards dragged Hong Sheng away into the base. Normally, instigators would be expelled, or punished with labor, but instead they threw him into a room in the base and kept him under watch.

Sitting on the ground in this empty room, separated from his tools and belongings, Hong Sheng's eyes dimmed. He knew that woman was going to search through all his belongings now. Looking for the things Hong Sheng stole.

But she wouldn't find them.

He had hidden them in a secret compartment, somewhere only Hong Sheng knew.

Hong Sheng thought for a long time. He wondered about the point of him being here. Why did he even survive this long. What was humanity going to do after that woman succeeded. If Lu Hao was really going to be happy if she did whatever she wanted.

After half a day, Hong Sheng raised his head.

Lisa Xi's laboratory was deep in the SG base, under so many layers of protection that no one except those specifically authorized could enter. Yet even then, rats kept scurrying in because of that damned woman.