535: Chapter 535: Advance by Retreating (A large chapter for monthly votes) 535: Chapter 535: Advance by Retreating (A large chapter for monthly votes) Dawn was approaching, yet the bright lights continued to shine in the polished, spacious office.
A young man with bronzed, curly hair was propping his head up, struggling to stay awake, as several burly n beside him were sound asleep.
Thunderous snoring echoed on and off throughout the office.
Just then, a faint click of a lock’s core twisting could be heard from the far end of the office.
The source of the noise was a small door’s lock, which was currently being turned from the inside out; simultaneously, the door was pulled open.
Behind the small door was an office nested within the larger one.
A figure erged from the smaller office.
Soft yet sowhat hasty footsteps began reverberating in the large office.
The young man in front of the computer suddenly woke from his doze.
He sat up straight, rubbed his bleary eyes, then quickly shook the slumbering muscular n beside him awake, and turned his full attention to the chat interface on the computer.
anwhile, those sa muscular n, still a bit groggy and in the mood to vent their irritation, heard the footsteps and instantly beca alert.
They crowded around the chat interface, their eyes fixed on the screen.
The footsteps grew closer, and a smartly dressed, middle-aged man with impeccable posture and gold-frad glasses approached the group’s workstations.
“Wint, any reply from that end?”
The middle-aged man looked at the curly-haired youth.
“Ah, sure.”
The young man’s mind fogged for a mont before he snapped back to reality.
He stared at the chat box on the computer monitor, where only his ssages were visible, with no reply from the other party.
“Boss, no reply yet.”
“Don’t slack off,” said the man referred to as Boss, glancing at the youth before scanning the robust n around him, “The client for this case is generous.
If we can locate the target, we’re set for the first half of the year.
When the ti cos, everyone can bring their pockets to collect the bonus.”
At the ntion of the word “bonus,” the youth instantly snapped out of his drowsiness.
He focused on the computer screen, and as if recalling sothing, he looked towards the middle-aged man,
“Boss, so we’re not making Jess’s data public?”
“What good would that do?” The middle-aged man looked at him coldly.
“Anyone able to conduct such experints has a significant background, don’t they?
Could it be so big financial group?
Can we afford to offend a big financial group?
Do you want us all to be picked up by the city morgue van tomorrow?”
His gaze swept over all the muscular n.
Underneath their neat shirts, intricate tattoo lines were faintly visible,
“We all ca from the West District.
We’ve risen from a small gang to where we are today by stopping at nothing.
Kindness is useless in this world.
Money and fists are the truth.
“If we could cling to this client’s coattails and keep receiving assignnts from him, everyone would eat at every day, live in big houses downtown, and pick the prettiest won in Lakshu.”
“Long live the Boss!”
Everyone roared in unison.
Wint, the curly-haired youth, was caught up in the midst of the crowd, the fervent atmosphere dissipating his concerns.
Although he had enjoyed his ti with Jess and had once aspired to the wonderful life of a university professor and felt pity for the tragic academic,
if it ant sacrificing the professor for a better future for himself, he wouldn’t mind.
After all, this was sothing he had done many tis while in the West District.
At that mont, the middle-aged man’s wrist device vibrated.
He looked at it and scanned the crowd, “Keep contacting the target.”
“The target hasn’t replied to us all night,” Wint glanced at the chat screen, “Could it be that he’s noticed we haven’t published the information he wanted us to, and sensed sothing is wrong?”
“Impossible.”
A muscular man sitting beside him lit a cigarette and scoffed, “This guy’s had a smooth life.
Apart from being educated, he’s nothing.
He’ll believe anything you tell him.
If he were shrewd, he’d have seen through us ages ago, not waited until now.”
“But…”
Ding—
Wint was about to argue when a sharp alert suddenly ca from the computer.
It was the sound of a specially marked friend coming online.
Wint snapped back to attention, looked at the computer screen, and saw that the previously dimd avatar of the target was now bright.
In an instant, everyone gathered around, crowding in front of the computer screen.
“Quick, ask him where he is?”
The middle-aged man ordered with a hint of urgent excitent.
Wint imdiately woke up the keyboard and typed out a line,
[Where are you now?]
In a very short ti, the computer blared with the rapid sound of notification alerts,
[I’ve arrived]
Ding-dong—
As all eyes converged on the computer screen, the crisp sound of the doorbell echoed through the room.
The doorbell’s chi mingled with the sharp notification tones, making the quiet dawn seem so noisy.
At that mont, everyone fell silent.
After the doorbell rang for a few seconds, the person outside seed puzzled by the lack of response and pressed down on the doorknob, slowly turning the lock.
The middle-aged man glanced at the ssage on his wristband.
······
He Ao pushed open the door, just in ti to see the young man with chestnut-gold hair standing in front of the door, taking a few quick breaths.
“Mr.
Jess, I was just about to open the door for you.”
Wint looked at He Ao and smiled, and then his gaze settled on the blood-stained clothes on He Ao’s body, “Mr.
Jess, what happened to you······?”
“A little trouble, it’s taken care of now.”
He Ao looked serene as his eyes shifted toward the office interior.
A few disheveled n who appeared to have just been roused from sleep were walking around the office, or working.
“Mr.
Jess, please co in and have a seat.”
Wint glanced at the blood on He Ao’s clothes and hesitated for a mont but still invited He Ao into the office.
As they walked in, he joked, “Mr.
Jess, this is your second ti coming here, isn’t it?”
The first ti was when Jess found this detective agency and entrusted them with investigating his parents’ deaths.
Although the two parties had been working together for years, they mostly interacted online or t at arranged locations, so Jess hadn’t visited the detective agency again.
“Yes,” He Ao nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the busy crowd in the office, “Does your agency work late into the night as well?”
The mont the question was asked, Wint paused, his brain whirring to life as he imdiately said,
“Well, you said yesterday you were going to do sothing ‘big,’ right?
And you asked us to publish data and contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but you gave us too much data, we needed more manpower to sort it out, as it was urgent, so everyone stayed here to work overti last night.”
As he said this, he looked again at He Ao’s figure, feigning concern, “Mr.
Jess, are you really alright?
Do you need to call a doctor for you?
Our agency has a long-standing relationship with a family doctor, and the fees are quite reasonable.”
“No need,” He Ao shook his head, his eyes scanning the entire office, “Where is the person in charge of your agency?”
“Our person in charge is also working overti here, in his own office.
I’ll take you to et him,”
Wint said eagerly.
“No need.”
He Ao took two steps at a ti and quickly walked to the door of the small office.
The small office door was open, but there was nobody inside.
He Ao turned his head and looked at Wint.
Just then, a genteel-looking middle-aged man walked out of the bathroom on the other side of the office.
His eyes swept around the room and finally settled on He Ao, smiling as he said,
“Mr.
Jess, it’s been a long ti since we last t, and I have missed you dearly,”
The previous few batches of the Secret dicine were personally delivered into Jess’s hands by this person in charge.
“I have too,”
He Ao smiled, his eyes narrowing slightly.
These people were buying ti.
He quickly stepped forward to the middle-aged man and asked, “Mr.
Norbeck, I only want to know one thing, the answer to one question, who is your real patron, or rather, who has been instructing you to monitor , to deliver those specific Secret dicines?
I need all his information.”
The mont He Ao’s words fell, everyone, whether they had been looking through docunts, typing on the keyboard, or walking between the desks, stopped what they were doing, looked up, and stared at He Ao.
The atmosphere turned eerily silent.
“I’m sorry, Mr.
Jess, what are you talking about?
I don’t understand,” Norbeck was also montarily stunned, but then he gave a sowhat confused smile, “Aren’t you my patron?”
“Of course, I was the patron when I began the investigation of my parents’ deaths.
But what about after that?
When you gave compromised Talent Sequences Secret dicines, when you leaked my movents to others, who then was the real patron?”
He Ao watched Norbeck, speaking deliberately, word for word.
Norbeck locked eyes with that calm gaze.
Within those eyes, as tranquil as the Abyss, seed to be a torrent of hidden madness surging.
For a mont, his heart quivered, but it quickly steadied himself.
Due to the issues with the Talent Sequences, Jess had long been on the brink of madness, sothing he was well aware of.
“Whatever are you talking about?
I don’t understand,” he said.
He spread his hands in a smile, his gaze upon He Ao’s face carried a hint of mockery.
In a sense, Jess’s madness had been fueled by his own hand.
Based on past occurrences, when no clear answer was provided, the young professor standing before him would compromise, doubting his own judgnt.
“I see,”
He Ao nodded.
It seed like things were unfolding just as Norbeck had anticipated.
Seeing He Ao nod, he slowly began, attempting to verbalize the dialogue he had rehearsed many tis in his mind, “Mr.
Jess, I’m very sorry for troubling you, perhaps there is so misunderstanding between us.
Perhaps, we should have an earnest talk, clear things up, and dissolve any misunderstandings between us.”
He said this, wanting to lead He Ao to a semi-open reception room off to one side.
Based on his understanding of Jess, even if there was distrust, Jess would still ‘willingly’ listen to his side of the story.
Such a conversation typically lasted half an hour, sotis even an hour.
But this ti, things did not progress as he had expected.
After hearing his statent, He Ao simply nodded quietly, “If that is so, I won’t bother you any longer.”
Having said that, he turned and walked towards the open door.
This guy wasn’t playing by the book.
Norbeck watched He Ao’s retreating figure and tried again, “Mr.
Jess, we really should talk.”
He Ao did not respond to him but continued toward the door at a quick pace.
Realizing that He Ao was truly leaving, Norbeck signaled Wint, who was closest to the door, with his eyes, and then suddenly raised his hand.
At the signal from the boss, Wint rushed to the door and closed it.
At the sa ti, the burly n around stood up with a swoosh.
“I’m sorry, Mr.
Jess.”
With his back against the door, Wint watched He Ao.
Gleaming patterns dotted his body.
chanized Body.
“Mr.
Jess, I really didn’t want it to co to this.”
Behind He Ao, Norbeck also stepped forward, looking at He Ao with a hint of regret.
“So what price did he offer you?”
He Ao turned around with a smile, his eyes on Norbeck.
He didn’t have the ti to find evidence proving Norbeck was problematic, so he resorted to a more brute force approach.
It was obvious that everything Norbeck had done up to this point was to stall him, and this wasn’t sothing the head of a detective agency would do for fun.
Clearly, this was due to soone’s “commission.”
So, when He Ao insisted on leaving and could no longer be stalled, Norbeck had no choice but to make a stand.
“To hold you back, two million.”
Norbeck replied calmly.
With things having co this far, there was no need for him to pretend anymore.
All the strong n around them converged, seven ordinary n lifting guns, and two with chanized bodies revealing miniature laser cannons in their palms.
Add Wint to the mix, and there were a total of eleven people, three with chanized bodies, seven strong n, plus Norbeck.
He Ao swept Norbeck with his Divine Sense, a Transcendent, Grade D.
Looking at those gun barrels, he walked to the center of the office with composure and smiled, “By the looks of it, you don’t seem to be planning to just stall .”
“To kill you, ten million.”
Norbeck signaled for the surrounding n to slowly close in.
His words were not only for He Ao but also for the subordinates around him.
Sure enough, as soon as his words dropped, the strong n pointing guns at He Ao started to look at him with more fervent eyes.
It was apparent that Norbeck hadn’t discussed this with his subordinates beforehand; he probably just indicated that they should stall He Ao.
In fact, this was the correct approach.
Though ten million was a high price, Norbeck was clear that with his capability, he wasn’t fit for a ten million job.
Moreover, a person that the wealthy patron couldn’t deal with did not warrant his attention.
Therefore, he chose to use tactics to delay He Ao, aiming for that two million.
But wealth sways the heart.
When his tactics failed, he refused to let go.
Especially upon seeing He Ao covered in blood, clearly after a harsh battle the night before, impractical fantasies started to form in his mind.
Regardless of how good a person’s recovery ability is, it’s not possible to heal up significantly overnight, and he knew ‘Jess’s’ abilities.
It was Norbeck who’d sold the Talent Sequences Secret dicine to Jess, and he was well aware that Jess was just a Grade D non-combat ‘Almsgiver.’
All this made him feel that getting that ten million might be possible.
He Ao gazed at the man, smiling, “It seems I’m quite valuable after all.
Now, can you tell who your employer is?”
Although Norbeck had already tried to ‘take out’ He Ao, the fact that he didn’t imdiately act showed that he was still hesitant.
If he could make two million without bloodshed or any cost, he would certainly opt for it.
So, when He Ao asked a question that could help him stall for ti, Norbeck would still choose to delay as much as possible.
This made it so that he had to answer He Ao’s question to keep him stabilized.
And he was likely not to lie, as he didn’t know what information He Ao actually held.
If the lie were to be exposed, trust between them would be broken, and he would be forced to wager the ten million in direct conflict with He Ao.
In this mont of indecision, although he was on his own turf, he had actually lost the initiative.
Whereas He Ao, despite standing among the crowd, being pointed at with guns, had effectively taken control of the situation through his earlier tactical retreat.
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