The Mighty Mage
Chapter 525: Jin Mu’s Story

Chapter 525: Chapter 525: Jin Mu’s Story

Just as Mimi finished the last bite of her steak, a knock came at Gu Jin’s door.

Knock knock.

Gu Jin stood up and walked to the door. When she opened it, she saw Jin Mu and Pei Ke standing outside. She didn’t look surprised. Instead, she gave a small nod and moved aside.

"Come in."

Jin Mu and Pei Ke entered the room. Pei Ke looked tired, but his eyes were sharp. Jin Mu seemed more curious than before.

Gu Jin closed the door and turned toward them.

"How are you both now?" she asked.

"We’re fine," Jin Mu answered. Then she looked at Gu Jin seriously. "But I want to know everything. What really happened? Why did you disappear? And where’s Gu Aihan?"

Gu Jin didn’t answer right away. She walked over to the table and sat down. Then she looked at them both and said, "Sit. I’ll tell you everything."

Jin Mu and Pei Ke sat quietly. For the next hour, Gu Jin explained everything.

Jin Mu listened with wide eyes. So many shocking things had happened.

When Gu Jin finally finished, Jin Mu let out a long sigh of relief.

"So that’s what happened..." she said softly. "But where’s Gu Aihan? Don’t tell me..."

Gu Jin’s face turned cold. "That’s the worst part. I don’t know where she is. But when I find her, I’ll make sure she regrets everything she’s done."

Jin Mu nodded firmly. "When that happens, count me in. I want to help crush her too."

Gu Jin smiled for the first time in a while. "Of course. I’ll let you be part of it."

Then Gu Jin looked at Jin Mu with a curious expression.

"Tell me, what happened to you when you first arrived in this country? You looked like a mess."

Jin Mu blinked. "Right... I almost forgot."

She leaned back and began to remember...

Jin Mu had just arrived in the new country. She didn’t even know the name of the place. Her body still hurt from using the artifact. When she looked around, everything felt strange.

"Where am I?" she whispered.

Before she could figure it out, someone suddenly ran past her—bam!—and hit her on the shoulder. She fell to the ground with a thud.

"Ow—what the—?" she muttered. But before she could stand up, she saw something had fallen next to her: a bag full of strange papers and shiny cards.

"What is this?" she asked, confused.

Before she could even touch it properly, a group of officers came running toward her. They looked serious and angry.

"There! That’s the thief!"

Jin Mu’s eyes widened. "Wait, what? Me?!"

The officers saw her next to the stolen items. They didn’t listen to her at all. One of them shouted something she didn’t understand, then motioned with his hand for her to raise her arms.

"Put your hands up!" one of them shouted in English.

Jin Mu raised her hands slowly. "Listen! I don’t know what’s going on! Someone dropped these!"

But they didn’t believe her. One officer used a psychic power to wrap invisible ropes around her. She couldn’t move.

Another aimed a gun at her.

"No! I’m not the thief!" she shouted.

But because of the language barrier, they didn’t understand her. Instead, they thought she was lying.

She was too weak to fight back. The artifact had drained all her energy. So they dragged her away.

But they didn’t take her to jail.

Instead, they brought her to a strange building. It looked like a secret place—no signs, no windows, and cold floors.

That’s when Jin Mu started to feel that something was very wrong.

She realized those "officers" weren’t really police. They were members of some kind of secret institute.

And the person who had stolen those things... Jin Mu was sure they were working with the institute.

"But why arrest me?" Jin Mu had wondered. "I’m not even part of their world!"

Her questions were answered when the leader of the institute came into the room. He spoke in Chinese—and luckily, Jin Mu understood it a little.

He explained that someone had posted a mission on the dark web. The job was to steal ID papers from the institute’s top members.

They had tracked the thief and planned to catch them by following the stolen items. But when the thief dropped the items next to Jin Mu and ran, they thought Jin Mu was connected.

They wanted to catch the mastermind, and Jin Mu looked suspicious.

"They thought I was helping the thief," Jin Mu explained to Gu Jin. "Even though I had no idea what was going on."

Gu Jin stayed quiet, listening carefully.

Jin Mu continued, "I tried to explain that I came from China to this place using an artifact. But they didn’t believe me."

"They said I was lying. They said there’s no artifact that can help someone cross countries without being detected. If it were that easy, assassins wouldn’t need airplanes."

Jin Mu shook her head, remembering the frustration.

"They didn’t listen. They just thought I was a really good actress, pretending to be innocent."

Her hands curled into fists. "But I really didn’t do anything."

Pei Ke gave her a gentle pat on the back.

Jin Mu took a deep breath before she continued. Her voice was quieter now, but every word was filled with pain.

"After they took me in... they started asking all kinds of questions. They wanted to know why I had those papers. They asked who I was working with, which family I belonged to, and why I needed those papers."

She looked down, her fingers shaking a little.

"I told them again and again that I didn’t know anything. But they didn’t believe me. They thought I was hiding something."

Gu Jin stayed silent, her red eyes watching Jin Mu closely.

"They said... if I didn’t tell the truth in ten days, they would kill me."

"They tortured me," Jin Mu whispered. "Every day. For three whole days."

Pei Ke’s face darkened with anger. His fists were clenched.

"They kept asking me the same questions over and over. I was tied to a chair. My hands and feet hurt. My head... it was spinning the whole time. I wanted to scream, but I was too scared. I thought I was going to die there."

Tears formed in Jin Mu’s eyes, but she blinked them away.

"And then... I don’t know how, but maybe the fear, the pain, the stress... something must have reached Pei Ke through our magic bond."

"On the fifth day," Jin Mu said, "he came for me. He broke into the place and found me."

"I almost didn’t recognize her," Pei Ke said softly. "She looked so pale. Like a ghost. But I knew I had to get her out."

"On the sixth day, he helped me escape."

Jin Mu’s voice trembled as she remembered. "We ran through back alleys, stayed hidden, moved like shadows. But..."

She bit her lip.

"The institute was smart. Way smarter than we expected. As soon as they realized we escaped, they filed a report."

Pei Ke nodded. "They told the government and the public that Jin Mu was a criminal. They made it look like she was trying to steal national secrets."

Gu Jin’s eyes turned cold. "So they turned you into a public enemy."

"Yes," Jin Mu said. "Now the whole country thinks we’re dangerous. They even added Pei Ke’s name too, just because he helped me."

"They branded us as criminals," Pei Ke said. "Everywhere we go, there are wanted posters. We can’t show our faces in normal cities anymore."

Jin Mu looked away. "So now... we can only stay in the criminal zones."

"And that’s not all," Pei Ke added. "When we were escaping, they took our devices. Phones, watches, even tracking rings."

"They probably destroyed our IDs and passports too," Jin Mu said. "Or maybe they’re using them to find out everything about us... our families, our past, our homes..."

She hugged herself tightly.

"I almost thought that I was going to die."

Gu Jin stood up and walked over. She placed a hand on Jin Mu’s shoulder, her grip firm but warm.

"It’s okay. Everything is fine. I am here. I will make sure to clear both of your names. I have brought your ID cards and passport."

Pei Ke shook his head and said with a hesitant expression,

"We suspect that someone from the police department is working with the institute. We had once tried to file a complaint by approaching an honest officer.

The officer promised to help us, and we thought that we would be able to leave the country soon. Who would have thought that the officer would be reported the very next day?

That was not all, the officer was kicked out of his position and even threatened. At the last officer refused to help us and asked us to go back since those institute people might trace us through him."