Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 848: Sniper

The moment she landed, Jiang Baimian dashed to the jeep and said to Long Yuehong and Bai Chen, “Go to Mor’s room and search for any clues related to the Eighth Research Institute. Then, wait for the Gesterbourg sheriff to come.”

This place was a land of law, an important settlement under the White Knights. It was impossible for nobody to care about how many people died when something of this sort happened, unlike in the wilderness. Therefore, the Old Task Force had to consider the existence of the officials and cooperate to a certain extent. This was to prevent them from having to hide in Gesterbourg to carry out investigations; it would only seriously affect their progress.

Most importantly, the White Knights were a large faction, and it wasn’t like they didn’t have powerhouses. It was very likely that one of them was asleep in Gesterbourg. It wouldn’t be easy for the Old Task Force to do much here.

Once they were exposed, the officials on the surface and the Eighth Research Institute lurking in the dark would be enough to make their lives miserable. They would be finished if they weren’t careful.

Bai Chen and Long Yuehong knew that something had happened from the sound of glass shattering. Therefore, they didn’t waste their breath and left the jeep to run into the apartment ahead.

As they had to cooperate with Gesterbourg’s sheriff for future investigations, they only brought their basic weapons and walkie-talkies. They didn’t bring the military exoskeleton or bionic artificial intelligence armor with them.

At the same time, Jiang Baimian didn’t think too much about it. She opened the door and sat in the driver’s seat.

Shang Jianyao took a look and hurriedly got into the passenger seat. “Listen to my instructions!”

Jiang Baimian grunted and came to a realization. She didn’t insist.

After Genava got into the jeep, Shang Jianyao began to point the way.

They were about 400 meters away from the United Mining Association. The route wasn’t complicated if they took the main road instead of alleys; therefore, the Old Task Force didn’t get lost and quickly arrived at the destination with brownish-yellow walls.

In front of the building was a small square. There weren’t many people at this moment, coming and going with nobody stopping.

After parking the car, Jiang Baimian and the others pushed open the door and ran across the square to the United Mining Association’s main entrance.

There were many armed guards. When they saw two humans ‘storm over’ with a robot, they immediately became nervous and raised the guns in their hands.

Just as the captain was about to give a warning to stop the intruders, Shang Jianyao shouted, “Don’t be afraid; we’re on the same side!”

The words ‘same side’ were deeply imprinted in the guards’ minds. They relaxed one after another and lowered their muzzles.

“What happened? Why are you guys in such a rush?” the guard captain asked curiously.

As Shang Jianyao ran toward them like a gust of wind, he simply replied, “There’s a sniper on the roof!”

He ran past the guards and left a last word in the wind. “He killed Old Mor…”

The United Mining Association guards came to a realization and believed him without a doubt.

A few seconds later, Jiang Baimian and the others entered the United Mining Association’s lobby. This place was paved with stone excavated from the mountains, and it was luxuriously decorated and resplendent. It was so spacious that it seemed to allow two teams to play basketball.

Before the receptionist could ask who they were looking for and what the matter was, she saw the group of people rush to the elevator, leaving echoing footsteps only.

She was stunned for a few seconds before she quickly picked up the phone and informed her superior.

“There’s actually an elevator. As expected of the United Mining Association.” Shang Jianyao pressed the button in relief.

As she waited for the elevator, Jiang Baimian took the opportunity to catch her breath. “It’s a mainstay industry in Gesterbourg after all.”

It had constantly produced tycoons.

She then looked around and thoughtfully said, “There are no cameras in the elevator lobby… Are the White Knights lacking in electronic products?”

This led to few surveillance cameras in a place like the United Mining Association.

“That seems to be the case,” Genava replied according to the information he had gathered so far.

Shang Jianyao smiled. “Maybe it’s just that some people don’t want to install them to prevent them from getting in the way.”

Nobody replied because the elevator arrived on the ground floor. The elevator’s two doors opened.

Jiang Baimian and Genava entered the elevator first, and Shang Jianyao wasn’t much slower.

“There are cameras here.” Jiang Baimian looked up.

Shang Jianyao raised his hands without hesitation, pressed the corners of his eyes and mouth, and made a face at the camera.

Thanks to the elevator, the Old Task Force team quickly arrived at the top floor and went up the stairs to the rooftop.

After finding the location from where the shot was fired based on Genava’s calculations, the three of them spread out, looked for traces, and carried out a search.

“It’s indeed here…” Genava came to a conclusion not long after.

“Yes.” Jiang Baimian nodded first before frowning. “There are no other clues. We can only preliminarily determine that he left through the stairs.”

They didn’t find any items left behind by the sniper at the scene, nor did they discover any fingerprints or anything else.

“Based on the present situation, that’s indeed the case,” Genava agreed.

Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and punched his left palm. “He knows that there are cameras in the elevator!”

“Let’s go down and take a look,” Jiang Baimian ordered.

The 17th floor wasn’t too high for the three of them—just descending the stairs consumed relatively little stamina. After a while, they returned to the ground floor and realized that the stairwell exit was very close to the building’s back door.

From here, there was a wall and a sentry post.

Outside the sentry post, there weren’t many people on the street because it was office hours.

“Did you see anyone just now?” Shang Jianyao asked the guards at the sentry post.

Jiang Baimian added, “He was holding a relatively long box or carrying it on his back.”

The guards imagined that the sheriff was investigating something. They seriously recalled and shook their heads. “Nothing.”

“Then, did anyone leave through this door in the past ten minutes?” Jiang Baimian asked.

The guards gave a negative answer again.

After exchanging looks, Shang Jianyao and the others returned to the stairwell.

“Either that person didn’t leave the building at all, or he affected the guards and made them ignore his existence. Yes, we can’t rule out the possibility of memory erasure…” Jiang Baimian muttered to herself.

They didn’t consider crossing the wall because the soldiers in the sentry post would see them the moment they left the building’s back door.

Genava then said, “For the street leading to the back door, most people seem to have to work, so nobody is home during the day. It’ll be very difficult to find witnesses.”

Perhaps some passersby had encountered the sniper, but these pedestrians had already left. The Old Task Force wouldn’t be able to find them any time soon.

Shang Jianyao suggested, “Search the entire building, exchange a few words with everyone, and take a look at the surveillance footage.”

“This will take too much time. The Gesterbourg sheriff should be here soon, so he won’t give us a chance.” Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and smiled. “Hey, come back with me to Mor’s place to undergo the investigation. Old Ge, stay nearby and find a place to monitor the building’s front and back doors. See if that person will take the initiative to appear and swagger away after we ‘give up.'”

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao applauded this train of thought.

This was called luring the snake out of its hole.

…

Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao drove the jeep back to Mor’s apartment without hiding anything.

At this moment, two white sheriff’s cars with blue stripes were parked downstairs.

“That’s pretty fast,” Shang Jianyao praised.

Jiang Baimian nodded. “This means that Gesterbourg is relatively orderly.”

The two of them chatted all the way to the top floor and saw two public security officers in bulletproof armor guarding the door.

“You are?” the public security officer—who was taller than Shang Jianyao—asked in a muffled voice.

“Witnesses,” Jiang Baimian replied with a smile.

After declaring their identities, the two of them were allowed into the house and saw Bai Chen and Long Yuehong being investigated by a sheriff.

The sheriff had a thick golden beard and blue eyes. It was impossible to tell how old he was, but he couldn’t be more than 50 years old.

He pointed at Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao and asked Bai Chen and Long Yuehong, “Are they your companions?”

“Yes.” Bai Chen and Long Yuehong nodded at the same time.

The sheriff then looked at Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao and said, “According to other eyewitnesses, the two of you were the ones who entered the apartment to visit Mor.”

“That’s right,” Jiang Baimian replied calmly. “We did witness More getting shot, but it’s obvious that this has nothing to do with us. The bullet came from outside the window and from afar.”

The inspection of the scene could fully prove this. The golden-bearded sheriff didn’t question her and nodded. “Why were you looking for Mor? Why did you leave in a rush after the accident?”

“To get information. Don’t you know that he’s an intelligence peddler? The answer to the latter question is to chase after the sniper.” Jiang Baimian smiled. “We’re Ruin Hunters; it’s impossible for us to miss an opportunity to make a fortune. I think you won’t be stingy with the bounty, right? Besides, didn’t we leave our companions behind to protect the scene and wait for you to carry out the investigations?”

Without waiting for the sheriff to ask further, Shang Jianyao interrupted coldly, “If we really wanted to kill Mor, we wouldn’t have chosen this time and method. Instead, we would’ve first put him under our control and pretended that he was fine before secretly bringing him to the factory area and finding an opportunity to throw him into molten iron.”

Everyone fell silent.

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