Sunday, 10:30 AM, Washington D.C., FBI headquarters, underground prison.
"Conservatives think the radicals are too conservative, while the radicals think the conservatives are too radical..."
Next to the interrogation table, Mona wrote down this sentence in her notebook, a look of confusion on her face as she turned to look at Michelle and Reesi, who also seed totally bewildered.
Luo An, standing beside them, was initially just as perplexed, but his mind quickly ford a hypothesis. He reached out and tapped on the glass window, saying:
"Explain this in detail."
"What’s there to explain? It’s exactly what it says."
King Bar sat with his hands firmly shackled to a tal chair, legs crossed, and gave Luo An a deep, complex look.
After being taken out of the hospital and learning Luo An’s real identity as the head of an FBI investigative unit, King Bar just wanted to curse.
His curses weren’t directed at Luo An, though, but at the "Skull Flower" assassin organization’s intelligence departnt.
After the bank robbery in Los Angeles, the na Luo An-Greenwood caught the attention of "Skull Flower", and after gathering information, they rated Luo An as tier two upper.
As Luo An continued to solve cases and get promoted, "Skull Flower" kept upgrading his rating, but in the end, he was rated only as tier one middle-lower.
Since many of the cases Luo An dealt with were confidential, "Skull Flower" didn’t spend too much effort on him.
In the heat of battle, King Bar guessed that the Black Headscarf Man might be from the Federation Governnt and considered the possibility of the identity being Luo An-Greenwood.
But to soone rated as tier one lower-middle, plus using a stratagem that forced the triplets to take action against him, King Bar thought that, as a tier one upper-level assassin, he had a good chance to kill them in a short burst of adrenaline.
Then King Bar picked up the triangular spike and charged... only to be knocked out by Luo An, coughing up blood.
Luo An wasn’t particularly interested in King Bar’s complicated feelings. He tapped on the glass window again and said insistently:
"Explain the difference between the conservatives and radicals, and their respective thoughts."
King Bar paused briefly before explaining:
"I don’t know much about the high-level affairs of ’Skull Flower’; most of what I know is from friends.
The radicals want to expand the ’Skull Flower’, increasing the number of custor service centers, establishing branches in the Federation, other countries, and around the world to provide services to assassins and clients."
"Wow."
Reesi’s eyebrows raised:
"That is indeed quite radical."
Michelle, with a frown creasing her brow, shivered just thinking about "Skull Flower" assassin organizations possibly spreading across Arica, Europe, Africa, and even parts of Asia.
Mona looked up and asked:
"Then what about the conservatives?"
King Bar leaned back, finding a more comfortable position, and said:
"The conservatives think that the plan takes too long, requires a large amount of capital, and it’s quite troubleso to connect with local criminal organizations around the world, so they oppose the proposal."
Luo An asked:
"What is the conservatives’ plan?"
On hearing this, Mona, Reesi, and Michelle all simultaneously turned their gaze to King Bar, expecting that, logically, the conservatives would have their own plan since they opposed the radicals.
"Sorry, I don’t know."
Under their questioning stares, King Bar spread his hands and answered:
"I don’t know the specifics. My friend didn’t tell , and I never asked."
Mona and Reesi exchanged looks, both seeing the displeasure in each other’s eyes.
Sensing they weren’t being lied to, Luo An changed the topic and asked:
"Blue-eyed Roy and his group are targeting vengeance and to uncover the truth, while you and the triplets have been trying to assassinate them. Which side are you on? Radical or conservative?"
"I am on neither side; I am only in it for the money."
As he spoke, a hint of undetectable lancholy flashed across King Bar’s eyes:
"I’m already in my forties, nearly fifty. The assassin life is no longer suitable for .
So ti ago, several of us frontline assassins received secret information that capturing or killing Blue-eyed Roy and his group would net a bounty of Ten Million Dollars for each head, so we all started to pursue them."
"Ten Million Dollars?!"
Mona’s expression tightened, and both Reesi and Michelle’s faces shifted slightly, the high value indicating that Blue-eyed Roy and his cohort must possess sothing critically important to the mastermind behind the scenes.
But during the interrogation of Blue-eyed Roy earlier, it seed like he hadn’t acquired anything of significant value... The trio exchanged glances, falling into deep thought.
After a mont of reflection, Luo An asked:
"Do you know the identity of any high-ranking mber of ’Skull Flower’?"
"I don’t know, but I know who does."
At the crucial mont, King Bar decisively chose to betray soone.
If he got wet in the rain, he needed to dismantle everyone else’s umbrella.
Luo An gestured for Mona and the other two to note down the following information, and after a few more monts of interrogation to confirm there was no other useful information, Luo An called soone to take King Bar away.
"Oh, one personal question I’d like to ask."
Just as King Bar was about to be taken out of the interrogation room, Luo An suddenly thought of sothing, tapped on the glass, and with a smile, inquired:
"If you had earned that Ten Million, have you thought about how you’d spend it?
Like in the movies, finding a place to open a bar or café, then marrying and having kids to spend the rest of your life?"
Mona looked at Luo An with a touch of confusion, while Reesi and Michelle were both full of puzzlent, not understanding the point of Luo An’s question.
"I did have that thought."
King Bar smiled, not minding answering such a question, nodded in agreent with Luo An’s guess, and added:
"But to be honest, Ten Million is still too little, even with the savings from the first half of my life, living off my wealth isn’t ideal.
So I was planning to invest this money in the stock market, waiting for federal real estate to appreciate and make money."
"..."
After King Bar was taken away, Luo An’s eyelid gave a fierce twitch.
The current ti was June 2006, and the gentle breeze of the subpri mortgage crisis was already stirring, buying federal real estate at this mont was almost no different than that event in ’49.
The door to the interrogation room closed, and Mona patted Luo An’s arm, asking with a hint of concern:
"What’s wrong? Your expression seems off, are you feeling unwell?"
"No, nothing, thanks for your concern."
Regaining composure, Luo An smiled and as they walked out, he said:
"Honestly, even though I’ve thrown King Bar into prison, he should actually thank ."
In this remarkable Federation country, being in prison is better than going bankrupt.
"? x3"
The won looked puzzled, not understanding Luo An’s joke, and he didn’t explain further but switched the subject:
"The person King Bar just ntioned, the one who knows the identity of the ’Skull Flower’ higher-up, have you found him?"
"We’ve found him."
Mona nodded, opening her laptop and introduced:
"FBI internal databases show that this guy’s public identity is one of the managers for a private equity fund."
"Good."
Pressing the button to close the elevator, Luo An smiled and said:
"Bring this manager back, I want to have a chat with him."
"OK!"
Arresting the manager of the private equity fund didn’t take long; without Luo An needing to be involved, Winslow and Reesi led a team and brought the individual to Washington.
Learning of Luo An and his team’s objectives, the manager decided to be a wise man and know the tis, spilling all the information he knew.
Looking at the "good teammate’s" provided information about the "Skull Flower" higher-ups, Luo An nodded in satisfaction and with a grand gesture, he ordered:
"Arrest them!"
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