474: Chapter 474: Death is the Most Intense Firework (Seeking Monthly Pass for the 5000th ga Chapter) 474: Chapter 474: Death is the Most Intense Firework (Seeking Monthly Pass for the 5000th ga Chapter) He Ao slowly walked toward the wall at the furthest end of the intersection, reached out to touch it, and then turned to Janos, asking, “What room is behind this wall?”
Behind this wall, there was a strong life force wafting through.
“That’s an underground garden my father once built,” Janos said calmly, “It’s been abandoned now.”
“Underground garden?”
Nock looked surprised.
“So flowers and plants from the wilderness can’t survive on the surface, and my father was soone who really enjoyed gardening,” Janos glanced at Nock, who seed about to speak, and before Nock could start, continued while walking, “I’ll take you to see it.
The door to the garden is right ahead.”
He could almost guess what Nock wanted to say.
Nock gave an embarrassed smile.
He actually wanted to ask on behalf of He Ao, knowing that if He Ao asked about what was behind the wall, he must be curious about the environnt behind it.
After walking a few steps, the three stopped in front of a dusty double door.
The door was unlocked, Janos pushed open the double doors, and instantly, an overwhelming scent of decay and soil assaulted their senses.
Nock instinctively covered his nose, while He Ao walked straight in.
Bulbs in the room lit up one after the other, illuminating the entire space.
Clearly, this room had been sealed for many years; the entire space was filled with rotting leaves, the branches of withered plants, and scattered soil.
This ‘underground garden’ was generally round in shape, and the surrounding walls were not the tal-covered walls seen outside, but were instead covered with uneven layers of rock.
From the outside, it didn’t look like a ‘garden’ or a ‘house’ at all, but more like so kind of underground cavern.
Drip—
A drop of water condensed in the crevices of the rocks overhead and fell onto the rocky ground mixed with soil below, making a crisp sound.
“It’s so damp in here.”
Nock glanced around and remarked with so confusion.
“There’s no central air conditioning here.”
He Ao walked deeper into the garden along the rocky wall while observing what looked like a natural stream, now dry, and explained off-handedly.
“Yes,” Janos looked at everything in the garden, his gaze deep, as if responding to so mory, “Father said that to grow these plants, we had to maintain a natural environnt, so we only installed so simple water purification devices.
Besides that, everything else was brought here from a wild cavern.
“But after his death, the garden fell out of use, and the flowers and plants within it gradually withered.
Later, I had the butler co in and clean it up once.”
“Such extravagance…”
Nock couldn’t help but exclaim.
To move everything from a cavern into the city, just for the sake of cultivating so ornantal flowers and plants that had no practical use, must have consud an incalculable amount of labor and resources.
To abandon it afterward indeed showed a grand gesture.
At this mont, having reached a central area of the garden, He Ao squatted down and looked at the completely dry pond in front of him.
There was nothing at the bottom of the pond but so damp rocks.
And this was the place in the entire three underground levels with the most concentrated life force.
He activated Super mory, glanced around, and spotted the water purifier disguised as a rock.
The garden’s ecosystem was supposed to be internally circulatory, not connected to the outside world.
He Ao lowered his head again, looking at the small pond in front of him, he reached out his hand to touch the rocks at his feet.
The edges of the rocks were sowhat sandy, crumbling into damp soil when pinched.
Within this soil, He Ao’s attention was drawn to so different colors; he brushed off the sandy soil, and bits of soil stained with deep red that had been silent for who knows how many years ca into his view.
This deep red was extrely rare, and its color was very similar to that of the sandy soil; without He Ao’s Super mory, it would have been difficult to distinguish this soil.
However, after seeing this deep red, He Ao’s hand did not stop; he fiddled around a bit more and turned up so decayed roots, leaving only a few remnants, before stopping.
“Were Transcendent plants once grown here?”
He Ao inconspicuously picked up a root between his fingers and stood up to walk out, softly asking Janos.
Such roots, tough in texture, could only belong to Transcendent plants, which even after so many years, had not completely decayed.
“So were,” Janos answered casually, “But I was young at the ti, and after the incident, I didn’t return here for many years.
By the ti I ca back, these plants were all dead, so I’m not clear on the details.”
Then he turned with a smile to Nock, “Is there anything else you’d like to see?”
Nock subconsciously looked toward He Ao.
“It’s gone,” He Ao said as he and Nock moved out of the underground garden, “Thank you for your trouble today, Senator.”
“It’s nothing.”
Janos reached out to close the garden door and led the three n out.
After walking a distance and turning a few corners, He Ao suddenly stopped at a fork in the road.
He pointed in the direction opposite to Janos’s choice and said,
“Mr.
Janos, I rember we’ve been here before, the elevator is in that direction.”
“Is it that way?”
Janos slapped his head, turned to He Ao, and said, “This…”
His tone paused for a mont, “This detective has really good mory,”
Right after, he laughed, “As you get older, so things beco harder to rember.”
“I’m just better at rembering routes,” He Ao replied, smiling, “Tracking criminals through complex alleys can be dangerous if you lose your way.
After a few bad experiences, I forced myself to start rembering.”
Indeed, while chasing Mu Xiu in the Copy World of Ande, he had taken several lengthy detours.
“There aren’t any notorious criminals in Lin City,” Janos said as they walked side by side, chatting and laughing, “Where had the detective worked before?”
“In Dawn City, under the supervision of the field departnt manager.”
He Ao said with a light laugh.
“Dawn City, that place is quite bustling.”
Janos comnted sowhat emotionally.
“It’s bustling indeed, but living costs are high too.
Our weekly salary of 800 federal coins is hardly enough to live well,” He Ao said with a hint of exasperation.
“The field manager, John of the Dawn City Federal Bureau of Investigation is a good man,” Janos said with a smile, “I rember seeing him at a party during my visit to Dawn City.
He was handso and dignified.”
“The field manager in Dawn City is Smith, and he has been there for over a decade,” He Ao said with a smile on his face, “He’s far from handso and dignified, he’s bald.
He beca bald quite early, and we all call him Bald Smith behind his back.”
“Haha, my mory,” Janos said, slapping his head, “It gets worse with age.”
The three had now reached the elevator.
Janos lit up the elevator call button.
Nock, standing behind the two, looked on with confusion as the pair had started chatting rrily, as if they were long-ti friends.
Although he felt sowhat bewildered hearing their conversation,
it seed that his ‘new friend’ really was an FBI investigator, and one from Dawn City at that.
In the midst of their warm and friendly conversation, He Ao and the other returned to the first floor.
After saying goodbye to Smith, they got on a hover car to leave the villa, escorted by a server.
He Ao glanced at his watch, the ti was 4:58.
Two more minutes to go.
If he had followed Janos for another two minutes, the situation would now be completely different.
He Ao adjusted his bowler hat, which he had not taken off throughout all their interactions.
The two figures followed the winding path out, flanked by the garden’s viewing route.
anwhile, Janos returned to his office on the fourth floor.
He stood again by the window next to his desk.
From there, he could survey the entire garden in front of the villa.
Of course, he could also see the garden’s gate at the far end.
Two tiny figures gradually moved away along the garden path.
He watched the figure on the left, the one wearing a hat.
In the course of their recent conversation and ‘visit,’ he had not once gotten a full view of that ‘detective’s” face, part of it always concealed under the brim of his hat.
And he did not know the man’s na.
The pace of the conversation was well-controlled by the stranger, who had maintained the authority in their exchanges.
If not for the conflict at the end, he might not even have realized he didn’t know the man’s na.
He knew the na Nock, because at the beginning, upon entering, Nock had shown his ID, so naturally, the old butler relayed his na.
However, not knowing the na didn’t matter much, since all visitors were required to fill out a visitor registration card that asked for their na.
If the other party didn’t fill out a fake na.
Click—
The office door opened automatically, and the white-haired elderly man slowly walked in.
He stood behind Janos and said softly, “Master, I’ve found the information on those two people.”
—
“Um, senior,”
At the big gate of the garden, Nock stepped off the balance and followed He Ao out of the gate; the fence door behind him closed automatically, and he looked at He Ao with so confusion, asking,
“I seem not to know your na?
‘Zadi’ isn’t your real na, is it?”
He Ao looked up and turned to glance at him, asking with so confusion, “Weren’t you right beside when I was filling out the visitor registration card?
Didn’t you see my na?”
“I…,” Nock looked sowhat embarrassed, “Didn’t you hand your visitor registration card directly to that old butler?”
As he said this, he seed to realize sothing was amiss and made an excuse for himself, “Moreover, the na you wrote might not be your real one.”
“A qualified Federal Bureau of Investigation officer should learn to get the answers they want through analyzing various details,” He Ao looked at him calmly,
“Most of the people you’ll deal with won’t be honest, and people do lie.
I think soone must have taught you this during your internship, right?”
Ordinary people’s work doesn’t require dealing with such matters, so they can afford to be careless, but Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, especially when investigating dangerous criminals, can lose their lives from any single oversight.
“I understand,” said Nock, nodding his head, then he asked softly, “So, senior, your na is?”
At that mont, an autonomous cab they had previously reserved stopped in front of them, and its door opened automatically.
He Ao glanced at Nock, then slowly turned to look back at the villa deep in the garden, where an elegantly dressed man was standing by the bed, watching them.
He Ao removed the bowler hat from his head to reveal his full face, and with a smile, he gave a slight bow in farewell to the man.
Then he naturally sat in the back seat of the cab.
At this ti, Nock also got into the cab.
He Ao cast another look at the young Federal Bureau of Investigation agent,
“You can call …”
—
“Pete…”
Janos stared at the receding cab, gaze cast down, pondering over the na.
“This Mr.
Pete is not present in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s archives.
Either he’s using a fake na, or he is not an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation,”
The elderly butler behind him said slowly, “And as for Mr.
Nock, although he indeed is an agent from Lin City’s Federal Bureau of Investigation, he was suspended this morning for talking back to a superior.
However, the case concerning ‘Zadi’ does exist, but Director Thorin is not willing to disclose the details of the Head Case.”
“Is he from Dawn City, and why would Dawn City extend its reach here…”
Janos kept his head down, seemingly deep in thought, “Is it a coincidence, or…”
He turned around to look at the elderly butler behind him, “Book a flight ticket for tonight, I’m going to Ains to et with so old friends from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
“Yes, Master.”
The elderly butler nodded gently.
—
“So Pete is your real na, senior?”
Nock seed to be made sowhat paranoid by He Ao; after getting out of the car, he followed behind He Ao, cautiously asking.
“You can use that na.”
He Ao didn’t even look up, as he was reviewing the clues he had collected that day.
“Um, senior, did you really work in Dawn City before?”
Nock asked again carefully.
He Ao replied offhandedly, “You could say that.”
“Then do you know Ande, the one who…”
Nock continued.
“Ande Stickwich,” He Ao stopped in his tracks and turned back to look at him, “the one buried at Dul National Cetery?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Nock suddenly beca excited, “Do you know him, senior?
What kind of person was he?”
“I guess I know him,” He Ao turned his head and continued walking forward, “Why do you ask about him?”
“Senior, your words are always so equivocal,”
Nock blurted out a complaint, then muttered,
“I really admire him.
During my internship, I saw his promotional video.
I saw that despite his lack of prominence, despite being just a newly employed rookie, he selflessly sacrificed himself to save the city, becoming the hero that rescued the city.
“I’ve always been an ordinary person, attending a so-so middle school, a so-so university, always with grades slightly below average, not handso, not good at making friends, the kind of person who gets lost in the crowd like a drop in the ocean, never to be found again.
“Even when I entered the internship at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, I barely made it in with the lowest score.
“The FBI internship is tough, and every ti I faced difficulties and wanted to run away, I would think of Ande.
“I would think, when he was in that situation, did he know he could escape?
“He could have escaped and saved his life, and no one would bla him.
Even if more innocents died, he could not be blad.
But he didn’t run, even knowing he might die, he still didn’t.
“Whenever I rember this, I push myself to hold on a bit longer, and gradually, I went from last place to top ten, to third, to first.
“My colleagues all say I’m a fool who’s not afraid of death, always rushing to the frontlines.
But I know, soone has to be at the front.”
Nock looked up and t the gaze of He Ao, who had stopped to listen to his story, “All these years, Ande’s story has inspired to move forward, so I want to know what kind of person Ande really is.”
“First off,”
He Ao looked at Nock, “Ande wasn’t ordinary, at least, he was much better than you.”
Nock: ?
He nearly choked on his breath.
“At least Ande wouldn’t have made these elentary mistakes that you have,”
He Ao turned and continued walking, “Being a hero isn’t just about rushing blindly forward; you need to think, analyze, and understand your opponent’s intentions.
Do you think it was just pure luck that the others didn’t encounter Mu Xiu, but Ande did?”
Nock followed behind He Ao, feeling sowhat embarrassed.
He had boasted about his achievents, actually hoping to get so praise from He Ao.
“However, Ande did have one thing inferior to you.”
He Ao changed his tone.
“What’s that?”
Nock’s eyes lit up.
“Thick skin,” said He Ao calmly, “Ande never went around bragging about being the top of his training class during the internship.”
Ande’s firearms and combat skills were basically perfect, only his academic subjects were sowhat lacking, but they were still among the very best.
That’s how he qualified to choose the Dawn City Bureau of Investigation.
Nock: …
“Do you want to be a hero?”
He Ao suddenly asked.
“Yes.”
Nock nodded.
“Then are you truly prepared to accept death?”
He Ao asked quickly.
Nock wanted to confidently answer ‘I am prepared,’ but looking at He Ao’s silhouette, suddenly found he could not speak.
He didn’t actually know if he was prepared; every ti he seed to take a risk, it was really just holding his breath and charging forward without thinking about death.
But now, when he really started to contemplate death, he found he was also afraid of it.
“Ande wasn’t prepared for death either,” He Ao lit a cigarette and put it in his mouth, “If you can live, who would choose to die?”
The thick smoke slowly rose, shrouding his whole face, “You are right.
He was just an ordinary person.”
He Ao turned back, gently patted Nock’s shoulder, “Thinking about death at any ti is aningless.
When that mont cos, you will make your own choice,”
He passed by Nock, “Death is the most intense firework, but until that mont cos, you need to learn to live, to live earnestly.
Only by living can you emit more light and warmth, illuminate more of the darkness, and pass that light on to more people.”
“Go back,” He Ao’s figure appeared at the end of the road, he waved gently, disappearing under the afterglow of the sunset,
“Think carefully about everything today.
Courage is your strength, and so is wisdom; don’t let down those who trust you.”
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