Chapter 1308: Chapter 1308: Manor (Large Chapter, Request for Monthly Ticket)
“Hello, may I ask who you are?”
Almost at the mont He Ao’s feet touched the ground, a middle-aged man who looked like he was in charge ca forward and looked at He Ao.
“Hello, from the Research Institute, I’m He Ao.”
He Ao softly replied, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding courtyard.
This ‘mansion’ seed very expansive, but in reality, not much was in use; most rooms were dimly lit.
There weren’t many staff gathered around either. Liu Zhengyun seed to have only employed basic personnel, simply tending to the mansion.
As He Ao spoke, Ming Guang also jumped down from the helicopter, standing behind He Ao. He looked at the middle-aged man and smiled, “Ming Guang, we’ve t before when I ca here previously.”
“Mr. He Ao, Mr. Ming Guang,”
The middle-aged manager looked at He Ao, initially wanting to inquire further, but upon seeing Ming Guang behind He Ao, he refrained and replied with poise, “Our boss is also from the Research Institute. I’m not sure what the reason for today’s sudden visit is?”
“No particular reason,” He Ao slowly moved forward towards the buildings still lit, “Director Liu disappeared today. We can’t find him, so we’re here to see if there are any clues. Have you seen him recently?”
“Director Liu…” The middle-aged manager was slightly stunned, and his facial expression imperceptibly changed before quickly collecting himself and subtly asked, “Are you referring to our boss?”
Then he asked with a hint of urgency, “I reported work to the boss two days ago. He disappeared?”
“Did he contact you today?”
Without turning back to look at the middle manager’s expression, He Ao asked casually as soft light fell on his cheeks.
“No,” the middle-aged man shook his head, “The boss rarely visits this mansion and hardly stays here.”
Beside him, Ming Guang listened and looked up at the middle-aged man.
“Mind if we take a stroll inside?”
He Ao asked with a smile.
“Of course not,” the middle-aged man imdiately replied, “This mansion is open to the public. I can take you wherever you’d like to go.”
“Isn’t this mansion Director Liu’s private residence?”
He Ao asked with slight confusion.
“Our boss isn’t the type who loves indulgence, nor would he build a mansion purely for living,” the middle-aged man explained slowly, “This mansion was given to him as debt repaynt by another boss, including the orchard behind the mountain. After taking over, part of the mansion was developed into a vacation hotel, leaving a small area for daily residence. When necessary, this mansion can be rented to film crews.”
“So scenes in the recent popular urban dramas were fild at our mansion.”
He glanced at the unlit buildings in the distance and said softly, “It’s currently the off-season, so the hotel is closed for upgrades, giving an impression of low utilization.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is.”
He Ao nodded gently, walking forward at an unhurried pace.
The information he had only ntioned Liu Zhengyun owning a private mansion here, but not how he used it.
“So,”
However, he didn’t stop talking, lifting his gaze to the dark building complex in the distance, “Are the removed windows part of the mansion’s renovation plan?”
The middle-aged man followed He Ao’s gaze, seeing only a blur of darkness. Without light, he couldn’t make out the shapes of the buildings, relying only on fuzzy mories to identify areas.
Yet the ‘young man’ before him discerned at a glance that the windows had been removed.
Indeed, soone worthy of having the East Capital Bureau’s head follow him.
A flash of amazent crossed his eyes, but his expression remained unchanged as he followed He Ao’s pace, softly saying, “Yes, our upgrade project includes replacing all window glass with privacy glass. The windows were removed a day or two ago, and we’re preparing to install new glass.”
“You didn’t prepare the new glass before removing the old ones?” He Ao turned to look at the middle-aged man, “Aren’t you afraid of rain damaging the equipnt inside the rooms?”
“The supplier promised tily delivery, but delayed by a day or two. We are already anxious about removing the windows,” the middle-aged man calmly said, “Coordinating projects can be challenging, but we’ve been lucky as it hasn’t rained in Dongdu for the past couple of days. Hopefully, our upgrade will be completed soon.”
“I see.”
He Ao nodded softly, refraining from pursuing the topic further.
As they spoke, they reached the lit buildings.
These buildings weren’t luxurious, with many simple modern decor elents.
However, the designs were quite exquisite, possessing strong artistry, giving a sense of ‘expensive at first glance’.
“This is the boss’s room and our staff dormitory.”
The middle-aged man’s gaze swept over the buildings as he cautiously explained to He Ao.
“May I take a look inside there?”
As he explained, He Ao suddenly raised his hand, pointing to a small building in the distance, and asked.
“That’s the eting room,” the middle-aged man looked at the building He Ao pointed to, and without changing his expression, imdiately said, “If you want to look, I can take you, though there’s not much to see.”
He turned to look around, spotting a building of similar style, “That eting room is like this one. If you want to see…”
Yet before completing his sentence, he felt the side empty suddenly.
He imdiately turned back to look at his side.
Where He Ao stood was already empty. Sohow, He Ao’s body appeared in front of the building.
The middle-aged man lifted his eyes, looking to his side, then towards where He Ao appeared, eyes slightly wide.
What was this, teleportation?
He had never seen such an ability from his ‘boss’.
A glance from Ming Guang guided him back as he observed He Ao in the distance,
‘So inexperienced.’
In Ming Guang’s field of view, He Ao had already reached out to hold the door handle.
“That door is locked with a high-security lock. It won’t open by force,” the middle-aged man shouted, running towards He Ao, “Wait a mont, I’ll get the keys.”
Yet as he shouted, he saw He Ao gently ‘turning’ the door handle.
He was slightly stunned, eyes widened.
A clear sound echoed, the door opened, and He Ao pushed it, entering.
Ming Guang, observing the scene beside him, was also slightly stunned.
He knew the door was standard high-security, tough even for F-level Transcendent, probably stronger in Liu Zhengyun’s possession.
He was never in doubt of He Ao opening the door, given He Ao’s capability to break it with a kick.
Of course, he could also do it.
But He Ao opened the door without using force, which puzzled him a bit.
Of course, while pondering, his actions didn’t stop at all, he quickly walked up behind He Ao.
He first glanced at the lock on the door He Ao had pushed open and saw the complex locking chanisms.
It was the kind of high-security lock he knew of.
He couldn’t help but take another look at He Ao’s back.
Is this guy really of the sa style as us? What exactly is his ability?
This is no longer an Extraordinary Ability; it’s magic, right?
Of course, as thoughts raced through his mind, his actions didn’t stop.
He lifted his gaze and followed He Ao’s line of sight towards the back of the door.
A series of overlapping glass panes appeared in his field of view.
These overlapping glass panels sealed off the entire room, and at the very center of the glass, a small empty table could faintly be seen.
Ming Guang carefully observed these glass panels, noticing obvious misting inside the gaps.
These glass panels were used to ‘seal’ the Eye of the World Fragnt.
Of course, the item that was sealed inside has already been taken.
Ming Guang glanced at the marks on the ground, his gaze sweeping over the misting inside the glass.
The item inside had not been removed for long; it was very likely taken today.
As Ming Guang was pondering, the middle-aged person in charge had already walked up behind him and He Ao, saying sowhat perplexedly, “This lock···”
“Is this your old glass storage warehouse?” Ming Guang didn’t wait for him to finish and asked with a smile.
He had seen through this person in charge trying to hide sothing, constantly lying.
However, he didn’t say anything because it was apparent that He Ao had also noticed.
The middle-aged person’s conversational pace was actually being led by He Ao all along.
His gaze unintentionally swept over the back of the young man in front of him.
The other’s skills and abilities were completely not at a level an eighteen-year-old should have.
“Yes, yes,” the middle-aged person in charge seed not to catch the sarcasm in Ming Guang’s words, or he had, but was still trying to struggle for a last-ditch effort. He smiled, “All the glass we took down is stored here, this is the warehouse,”
He glanced at the heavy door that He Ao had pushed open, slowly reaching out his hand to try to grasp the doorknob, “There might be sothing wrong with this lock, I’ll have soone fix it later.”
He Ao didn’t compete with him for the doorknob but naturally withdrew his hand, allowing the middle-aged person in charge to grasp the doorknob and close the door. Just then, he looked at the middle-aged person and asked with a smile, “Director Liu’s benefits and compensation are good?”
The middle-aged man was montarily taken aback by He Ao’s question. After a brief hesitation, he smiled, “All things considered, not bad,”
He glanced at the staff who had returned to their posts in the distance, smiling as he said, “We were all picked off the streets by the Boss. He said he had a job and asked if we were willing to do it, offering wages 20% higher than the market rate and including als and accommodation, though the workplace is a bit remote,”
He paused, speaking slowly, “At that ti, I couldn’t even afford a al, having just been evicted by the landlord. The Boss offered us food, so I stayed on ever since.”
He withdrew his gaze, “Over the years, people have co and gone. So worked for a few months and left once conditions improved, while others stayed on. This place is remote, not many people co vacationing here, so often we’re in the red, but the Boss has never missed a single paycheck, and those who left received their severance pay.”
Hearing his words, He Ao didn’t probe further but glanced at the mountains hidden in darkness in the distance, asking softly, “What’s in there?”
The middle-aged person in charge fell into silence.
He Ao looked at him, speaking slowly, “I won’t harm him.”
“I know,” the middle-aged man was silent for a mont, “the Boss ntioned your na before,”
He paused, speaking in a low voice, “There is an airport there, a training airport for small aircraft.”
When he gave this answer, even Ming Guang standing by the side was slightly taken aback.
What exactly has Liu been hiding?
He Ao didn’t seem surprised. In fact, when he asked the question, the thoughts that welled up in the middle-aged man’s mind had already given him the answer.
Having reached his current level, when facing ordinary people at close range, he can approximately sense their emotions and so shallow and intense thoughts, even without using marks.
He said those words, in essence, to reassure this middle-aged man.
Even if the middle-aged man possessed strong ntal managent abilities and ‘deceived’ He Ao with his thoughts, He Ao didn’t mind.
Because from beginning to end, he had been tracing the trail left by the Eye of the World Fragnt in the World’s Bottom Layer.
Since Liu Zhengyun had taken the Eye of the World Fragnt, regardless of his reason, he should have brought it with him.
The Eye of the World Fragnt, being such a powerful Extraordinary Item, would leave traces in the World’s Bottom Layer even if it just passed through space.
So, following the traces left by the Eye of the World Fragnt, one could easily find Liu Zhengyun’s ‘traces.’
“How far can the training aircraft fly from there?”
He Ao continued to ask.
“The fuel tanks of the training aircraft are enlarged. The Boss said they can fly over two thousand kiloters.”
The middle-aged man spoke slowly.
Upon hearing this answer, both He Ao and Ming Guang were slightly taken aback and exchanged glances.
He Ao took a step forward, joining Ming Guang in running quickly towards the depths of the mountains.
——
Ruins
An eyeball floating in the air pierced through the darkness, slowly moving along the straight corridor.
Suddenly, it ca to a stop, lowering its ‘gaze’ to look at the ground in front of it.
There, at this mont, stood a small round sphere.
The eyeball raised its gaze to look into the darkness ahead and saw the hall in front of it.
The figure that had originally intruded upon this hall seed to have long since departed.
The eyeball slowly hovered its body, ‘drifting’ towards the spacious hall.
And at that instant, brilliant electric light erupted in the darkness.
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