She is the most beautiful rose

Chapter 346, I suspect they come from the same organization.

The roads were slippery due to the snow. Shen Manzhi drove slowly for half an hour along the western part of Huaicheng, glancing at the rearview mirror. "I need to take care of the tail."

She heard a voice through her earpiece and received a reply. She turned and sped onto the country road, followed closely by a Range Rover Sentinel. Half an hour later, Shen Manzhi stopped by the roadside and switched cars with the people who got out of the vehicle behind her.

It wasn't snowing in the town, but it was drizzling. Ares drove a little earlier than expected.

Two hours later, it was completely dark. A few houses along the rugged mountain road were deserted and remote, with lamps left on in front of their doors. From a distance, they looked like scattered, lonely lights. Only when you got closer could you see the people standing by the roadside.

The man had a mixed-race appearance, was tall, and his veins bulged as he reached out to open the car door. He spoke in a low voice, in English.

Shen Manzhi responded and got out of the car. A long umbrella was held up for her, but she raised her hand to shield it. "No need, let's go inside."

Ares followed half a step behind her as they entered through the door. There were guards all the way, and they bowed slightly to everyone they met as a sign of respect.

It wasn't until they entered the inner room that the room was empty and much brighter. Akso pushed open the curtain from another door and came in, his face cold and ruthless as he removed his black gloves. When he saw the people in the lobby, his deep-set eyes lit up with a smile. "Boss."

The woman's windbreaker was clearly ill-fitting, draped casually over her shoulders. Ares glanced at her twice.

Shen Manzhi slightly raised her chin, the coldness that had enveloped her faded, and her expression softened. "How is it?"

Akso poured her some water, his expression turning indifferent. "They couldn't reach an agreement, and she's determined to die."

"Go and see."

Ares looked away from the windbreaker, lifted his jacket, and pulled a pistol from his waist, handing it to Shen Manzhi.

The three entered the room Akso had just come out of. Behind the equally dilapidated wardrobe was a path leading downwards, lit along the way all the way to the ground.

There were guards inside; two cages each held one person, the same European and American man who had set up the trap on Huaicheng North Street that night. He had been tortured beyond recognition and was unconscious.

The brutality of the organization's hiring practices means that those caught are in no better shape.

Shen Manzhi stood quietly in front of the cage.

That night, a total of six people were caught as stalkers. Four of them were of Asian appearance, and their tattoos led them to the neighboring organization, Xiao Niao. However, the identities of the remaining two remained unknown.

“No one has claimed the bounty on the internal network,” Akso said, his expression darkening. “I don’t know if the organization behind these two is really powerful, or if nobody really knows.”

Shen Manzhi gestured for the person next to him to open the door. "Baihu checked on the internal network before. There was a hiring transaction and entry information a month ago. You said on the phone that day that there were four from Xiao Niao. I had Baihu confirm that the hiring transaction was indeed from Xiao Niao."

Akso followed her inside, raising an eyebrow upon hearing this, "Only Xiao Niao was found in the immigration employment transactions? Have you confirmed the number of people?"

"Yes, four."

That means the information they found is correct, and it further suggests that the identities of these two people are questionable.

Ares chimed in, "What if it's for money?"

Many mercenaries are undocumented, meaning they are not affiliated with any organization and risk their lives for money. As a result, no one can find out the buyer's information.

Akso pulled his coat tighter. "If it's just for money, why would they need Xiao Niao's people as cover to enter the country? There are so many ways to hide; they could forge identities and pretend to be tourists, or follow a legitimate group. Unless they're trying to divert attention and make us mistakenly believe that Xiao Niao is the mastermind."

Shen Manzhi suddenly raised her eyes.

Ares said calmly, "Even the leader of the owl might not be used as a pawn."

"Oh? Then tell me, why did they specifically choose Xiao Niao as a cover? Why didn't they just pay other unorganized individuals?"

Ares looked at her calmly. "I'm just offering a reasonable guess. There's no information pointing to it right now, and spending time here investigating their identities is probably futile."

After he said that, Akso stopped arguing with him.

This possibility cannot be completely ruled out. The other party has gone to great lengths to hide the organization behind the scenes, so how could they easily find out?

Shen Manzhi remained silent.

She walked up to the man who was on the verge of death and had fainted, bent down and turned his left arm inside out.

Ares stepped forward, "Boss, I'll take care of it..."

"Rinse it clean with water," Shen Manzhi said, pointing towards the man's arm.

Ares immediately went to get water.

"what happened?"

Akso went closer to look, and apart from the bloodstains and fresh wounds from her torture, there was nothing else.

Shen Manzhi released her grip. "I've clashed with their people more than once."

But on the same day.

Qin Yanfeng went to Hong Kong on a business trip. Old Master Qin invited her back to the old mansion for dinner to discuss business. On the way back, the people who had been following her car suddenly ambushed her on the outskirts of the city. She then led them to a side street to fight them off. That night, the wind and rain were fierce, and she couldn't see anyone clearly.

That same evening, a bite incident occurred involving a mentally ill person. She arrived at the scene too late, so she waited at a noodle shop opposite the Third District Police Station, only to find these people there instead.

There were too many people following her, and at first she didn't know which group they came from, assuming they were there to cause her trouble because of what happened that afternoon.

But it just so happened that it was on the very night of the incident.

In retrospect, they recalled that the leader had said a few words: "Leave her alive." They clearly hated her, yet they were also afraid of her. When her physical strength suddenly surged, the man's expression turned ferocious and slightly excited, further confirming that she was the person they were looking for.

Shen Manzhi then realized that this group of people were the foreign organization that had been trying to capture her to obtain experimental data.

Akso tilted his head slightly, trying to understand her meaning. "So, these two came with a specific mission. They not only know the specific implementation plan for this mission, but also know the real reason why their superiors want to arrest you?"

This is why she orchestrated the arrest of these people; her aim was to trace the organization behind them.

Shen Manzhi didn't say it for sure, only that it was "very close to the truth."

But Akso knew that she was already certain.

"But the problem now is that all the evidence points to Xiao Niao behind this group, and even these two most suspicious people seem to be hired by Xiao Niao. The trail goes cold here, and there's nowhere to start investigating. But since these two people were specially sent by another organization, or even members of that organization, there's no reason to let them disappear. So why is there no news from the outside world at all?"

Shen Manzhi didn't answer for a moment, but just watched Ares wash the man's bloodstained arm clean. Except for some knife marks that were still bleeding, the skin color had returned to normal.

She pressed her gloved fingers against the elbow vein on the inside of the man's forearm, her brows furrowing slightly. She then looked at another man's arm next door before answering Akso's question.

"Because the mission failed, it is no longer of any use."

Akso raised an eyebrow slightly.

Shen Manzhi took two steps back.

Akso observed the spot she had just been looking at for a while longer.

A purplish-blue area on the inside of a man's forearm, near the median cubital vein, indicates a need for a larger dose of injection.

She exchanged a glance with Ares, who was standing next to her.

Shen Manzhi lowered her eyes and took off her gloves. "Let's go upstairs first." Back in the main room, Shen Manzhi sat in the seat of honor. Akso brought over a folding screen, unfolded it, and handed her an electronic pen.

“Now let’s analyze two things,” Shen Manzhi said, drawing two lines on the screen panel and writing the words “A” and “B”. “First, these two people are known to be from a certain organization, which we will tentatively call Organization X. Second, why do they insist on using Xiao Niao as cover?”

Akso rested his chin on his hand, but his gaze was first drawn to the ring on Shen Manzhi's hand.

Wearing a ring is normal, but wearing it on the ring finger...

She noticed the gaze from the other side and bumped right into Ares.

"Did you just find something?" Akso thought of the tiny needle marks on the man's arm.

Shen Manzhi nodded slightly and circled the organization X on the screen. "Before I returned to China at the end of December, I contacted the eastern part of Country A to help me find someone."

During a mission in Yuncheng that bordered a neighboring country, the hypnotist Meher became the sole survivor and fled alone to the eastern part of Country A.

Shen Manzhi then wrote down Meihe's name.

"Her hypnosis skills are so advanced that she can even control a person's consciousness using drugs or just close-range hypnosis."

Akso raised his eyes. "If these two people are also under similar mental control, then it's not that they're unwilling to speak, but that they simply can't speak?"

All the torture methods used these past few days have been useless.

“That’s not all,” Shen Manzhi circled Mei He’s name and “A, B” with the organization X, his eyes darkening slightly. “I suspect they come from the same organization.”

Ares raised an eyebrow. "Based solely on the injection marks on those two's hands?"

Shen Manzhi took out her phone and pulled up an email. "When my people in the east were tracking Meihe, they discovered a suburban laboratory where she frequently appears. A group of people go in there at fixed intervals, some for three days, some for seven days. So far, they've only been observing her for less than a month, and we don't know if it will be longer."

However, these people generally share a common characteristic: their mental state changes significantly before and after entering and exiting the facility. They experience a period of adjustment lasting about half an hour, characterized by sluggishness and slowed reactions, followed by a state of excitement, after which they return to normal.

The email attachment contained more than a dozen pictures, all of which featured European and American faces wearing uniforms. The last three pictures were close-ups of different people's arms.

Akso zoomed in on the image, focusing on the details, his pupils widening slightly. "Exactly the same?"

There are obvious and fresh injection marks on the medial cubital vein on the inner side of the forearm.

Ares pondered for a moment, "Even if he could track down or even find these people, he wouldn't be able to get any information from them related to this organization X, would he?"

"That's right, just like the current situation."

Akso pressed, "Where did they go after leaving this lab? If they could catch these people, couldn't they trace the organization behind them?"

Shen Manzhi twirled the pen in her hand and shook her head. "After leaving here, everyone returned to their own lives and became no different from ordinary people. At least during the month of observation, no connection between them and any organization was found."

Ares continued, "So these people only contact the organization when they are on a mission. And because of the regular injections of some kind of drug or some kind of mind control, they receive high rewards once they are selected to participate in a mission. Conversely, if the mission fails, even if they are captured, there is absolutely no possibility of exposing the organization."

Akso clicked his tongue lightly, "This organization's methods are pretty ruthless."

She snapped her fingers. "Since we can't get information from these people, could we consider starting with this hypnotist and this laboratory?"

Shen Manzhi nodded, "Yes, this is currently the only lead that can be connected and is the most likely. I need you to take people to the eastern part of Country A, make contact with the people there, and find this organization X."

Akso pointed at Ares, "Me with him?"

Ares remained calm.

"You've been active in Country A for years and are very familiar with the area, so I feel more at ease leaving it to you. Besides, this mission isn't just about finding out about Organization X; I need you to do other things as well."

"Anything else?"

Shen Manzhi pointed to the second line with her pen. "I always thought they were cooperating with Xiao Niao's people because one of them happened to be very familiar with Huaicheng, and it was also to hide their identities. But Akso's words just now made me realize something."

Akso recalled his argument with Ares, "They're trying to divert attention and make us think it was Xiao Niao who did it?"

She paused for half a second, somewhat puzzled, "But why shift the focus? Who are you shifting the focus for?"

Shen Manzhi looked at the relationship diagram on the screen, wrote the word "laboratory" next to it, and linked it to "A" and "B". "They are conducting a mind control experiment."

Akso frowned slightly, realizing that what she was about to say was about to reveal a secret.

"The night I was surrounded by these people, a case of a mentally ill person biting someone occurred on a street in Huaicheng. The mentally ill patient was sent back to his original hospital for treatment. An insider revealed that the person's mental state was originally stable and good, but after a period of time, he was sent to a high-level control area, and then escaped from the hospital and committed this kind of malicious attack. I suspected that there was something wrong with this hospital, so I checked it out and found that it was funded by a foundation called the Hiro Foundation, which is registered in Country A."

Ares and Akso were unaware of Shen Manzhi's unusual physical condition, assuming it was retaliation for investigating the matter. They were somewhat surprised upon receiving this information, but Akso reacted quickly, immediately pointing out the key point.

"This hospital is very likely controlled by the people behind this foundation. If this organization X and the mastermind behind this malicious attack by a mentally ill person are the same group, then it explains why they would use Xiao Niao as a cover. Not only can they use Xiao Niao as a shield, but they can also successfully cover up the hospital's affairs?"

Ares continued, "After all, investigating this hospital will reveal more details. Compared to the two downstairs, it's easier to find information about the organization behind the scenes by starting with the hospital."

Therefore, we should shift our attention away from malicious attacks and instead focus on the actions of foreign powers.

Shen Manzhi lowered her eyes and did not answer.

The pen in my hand unconsciously traced patterns on the screen, and the scattered clues in my mind seemed to be connected by an invisible thread.

Actually, I've always felt that these things are connected, whether it's the person who followed her and wanted her alive, the two cases of mentally ill people maliciously injuring others in Huaicheng, or Meihe, the only surviving member of the Jinbao Group who can control her mind.

These seemingly unrelated things subtly reflect the same thing: human experimentation, and even the same organization behind them.

Now we have finally found the complete logical chain and connected them together.

She circled "A" and "B" again. "These two have been missing for almost a week. They'll soon realize that there are experiment participants missing in the east, and they'll become even more cautious. So we don't have much time left."

Ares asked, "How should we handle the hospital situation?"

“I’ll make the arrangements here. You guys go to Country A and keep a close eye on that hypnotist and that laboratory, and also find out more about the Hiro Foundation.”

Akso stood up. "I'll take people to clean up the scene immediately and head to Country A before tomorrow."

"Ares, contact the people in Huai City and have them all evacuate back tonight. Then you and Akso can separately arrange for people to fly to Country A."

Ares frowned. "Don't you have anyone with you?"

Shen Manzhi zipped her coat up to her chin, the coldness in her eyes fading, replaced by a relaxed and languid expression. She spoke softly, "After all, their initial target was me. If the plan goes smoothly, we will meet in Country A."

The two guessed what she was going to do almost instantly. Akso frowned, a rare sight for him. "It's too dangerous."

Shen Manzhi put on her hat, gently patted her shoulder, and then looked at Ares, "So you all need to hurry."

It was still raining outside, so Ares grabbed an umbrella from the room and followed.

Shen Manzhi didn't turn her head, but simply waved her hand casually, "No need to see me off."

Akso stood under the eaves in front of the door, watching the car taillights gradually disappear into the rain and mist. The next second, his gaze was captured by Ares, who turned around and climbed the steps.

She raised an eyebrow and walked inside first, saying, "You set the time, I'll deal with the people downstairs."

Ares looked at her body, enveloped in the oversized windbreaker, and lowered his eyes slightly. "Okay."