Chapter 236

"Clang~"

The chop to the neck produced a metallic clang. This powerful strike had no effect whatsoever?

Exusiai stood still, spun around, and unleashed a barrage of fire from her musket, each shot aimed at her brow.

But this man was incredibly stubborn, in every sense of the word. He took a whole magazine of bullets and still managed to stay upright.

For a time, the two hurt each other. But in their back-and-forth exchanges, neither could truly harm the other.

Lappland quickly dispatched the thugs in front of her, then turned her head and realized that this wasn't over yet. She charged straight at them, her crescent sword dripping with blood.

"Huang, step aside, let me handle this."

Jestton fought back barehanded, but was overwhelmed by Lappland's relentless onslaught.

This aggressive playing style is wide-ranging and involves a high frequency of attacks. Even if he finds an opening in Lupo's defenses, he might not have the chance to capitalize on it.

"Ta-da!"

The crescent sword struck Jestton, producing a crisp metallic sound, like striking iron.

In fact, the upper limit of the Iron Transformation ability is higher than that of Rhine Lab's Saria's Langya Essence. However, how to use it and how proficient one is depends entirely on the individual.

Finding her attack ineffective, Lappland immediately changed her strategy. As she activated her Originium Arts, visible Wolf Soul began to appear on her Crescent Blade.

Now, Jestton was starting to feel the strain. The thought of escaping kept popping into his head.

No, we can't win, we simply can't win!

This reckless attack method completely abandoned any possibility of self-defense. The high frequency of attacks left him with absolutely no chance to retaliate.

However, this attack method has a huge flaw: if someone attacks from behind, they are guaranteed to succeed.

Damn it...

Someone please come and help me relieve some of this pressure!

Upon catching a glimpse of the thug lying in a pool of blood in the distance, Jestton's heart skipped a beat, knowing that defeat was inevitable.

After being struck hard by Lappland, he fell face-first to the ground. His left hand was raised above his head, and he never moved again.

Exusiai was closest to the 'corpse,' so she crouched down and pressed her finger against Jestton's nose. Once she confirmed he was no longer breathing, she stood up and spread her hands.

"It's boring."

Lappland didn't check his breathing, and instead delivered two more stabs. Seeing that the man still didn't react, she joined Texas Croissant sweeping through the scene.

Before the four Messenger, the resistance of more than a hundred thugs was futile. They crushed the enemy with overwhelming force, annihilating them in one fell swoop.

Lappland then pulled down the lever, opening the iron door to the cold storage room. She used her crescent sword to cut through the numerous ropes, rescuing the captured Rhodes Island operator.

"Don't worry, we've taken care of those people outside. Take your things and get out of here."

The Scavenger, seeing Lappland's dashing figure, felt a fleeting glint of something different in his eyes. She had fought her way here for him, so incredibly cool.

"Thank you so much. Um, did you see my weapon? A broadsword with a very wide blade?"

Lappland pondered for a moment, then shook his head:

"No, you can go out and find it yourself."

The Scavenger's throat bobbed, as if he wanted to ask the other person for a hug. But the words caught in his throat, and he swallowed them back down.

As soon as the Rhodes Island operator stepped out of the cold storage room, they were hit by an extremely strong smell of blood. The combination of the semi-finished canned meat and this odor made some of the Operator's faces turn pale, and they covered their mouths with their hands.

How pretentious.

Lappland mentally scoffed, glancing at them sideways before ignoring them. She tried searching the production workshop for any hidden laboratories.

These guys use the meat canning plant as a front, but behind the scenes they're mostly doing things that nobody knows about.

But where is the experimental site?

I wiped out the enemy just now for a moment of pleasure. I should have left one of the henchmen for questioning.

Fortunately, Texas was observant and sensed something was amiss with the vase; it shouldn't be there. She went over and twisted it, triggering the mechanism.

With the sound of gears turning, the door to the secret room behind the wall suddenly swung open.

As the group approached, they discovered that the room was filled with numerous bottles, jars, and various types of experimental equipment.

After verification, this place was not a human laboratory, but a workshop for manufacturing illegal drugs.

Well, we can't have come all this way for nothing.

The four Messenger had clear roles: Exusiai and Croissant with sabotaging the surveillance system; Texas and Lappland were to photograph the counterfeit drug workshop as evidence. Who knows, it might come in as evidence someday.

Once everything was in order and everything was confirmed to be correct, the four Messenger and the Scavenger team left the factory together.

More than ten minutes later, Jestton shakily got up from the ground.

He forcibly held his breath while Exusiai checked his breathing. He endured several more sword strikes without moving, thus narrowly escaping death. However, Female Lupo's sword strikes inflicted serious injuries on Jestton.

Damn it, is it Blaze from Rhodes Island?

I've got it. You just wait!

Jestton clutched his leg and limped away from the meat canning plant.

March 25, 8:11 pm

Because the vehicles had limited passenger capacity, Texas paid for two taxis for the Scavenger team.

We first drove to the city center, and then took them to their hotel by multiple taxi rides.

The Scavenger crew is definitely not going back to the hotel where they're staying. Who knows, their whereabouts might have been exposed because the hotel owner arranged it.

Amiya received the news and immediately led her team to the scene.

She showered them with thanks. She promised to increase the bonus for the Special Operations Team when she returned.

Shi Lei wasn't particularly interested in the money and gave Amiya a serious warning. There was a strong possibility of Cooperative Relationship between the Columbia government and the human lab.

He suggested leaving Trimon as soon as possible, but as a bodyguard, he would definitely have to consider his employer's wishes.

Amiya hesitated, considering her cooperation with Rhine Lab. She wanted to send the Scavenger team back to This Ship and consult with Doctor Kal'tsit along the way.

Shi Lei did not force a minor girl to make a decision immediately.

He proactively asked the Scavenger team if they could check the hotel where the operators had stayed that night. If they could find the Operator's luggage, they would bring it back. However, there was a high probability that it would be thrown away or taken away.

The four Messenger have handled the aftermath at the meat cannery. Shi Lei deliberately eliminated all potential problems to prevent any unforeseen complications.

Before returning to the This Ship, Scavenger apologized to Amiya for his failure. The latter spoke very gently, comforting her and expressing her understanding.

Trimon is, after all, someone else's territory, and conducting a clandestine investigation like this is indeed risky. The most important thing is that everyone returns safely.

Amiya immediately made a phone call, informing the other two Reconnaissance Squad to temporarily suspend all investigations until she returned from the This Ship and announced future missions.

The next day, morning.

Shi Lei didn't need to rest; he read books all night and was still full of energy.

"Knock knock knock".

Suddenly, a rapid knocking interrupted my thoughts. Then, Texas's voice came from outside:

"Zhongli, I need to talk to you. Open the door!"

He tucked the book cover away and put it back in his backpack. Then he stretched and went out to open the door.

Texas entered without a word and handed Shi Lei a newspaper. Shi Lei took it and looked down at it.

"Shocking! The actions of a demon!"

Last night around 8 PM, a pharmaceutical company from Rhodes Island hired a large number of thugs to break into the Beach Umbrella Company's pharmaceutical workshop on White Street. After brutally murdering 112 employees, they stole a drug formula the company was preparing to patent. The Trimont Police Department has opened an investigation. Anyone with relevant information is asked to call the number below: XXXXXXXXX.

Ark Pictures

300 Zhongli's Words 4K

After browsing through the newspaper, Shi Lei turned the page to check and found no relevant content on the back before putting it down.

The Scavenger team was captured and rescued after several hours. During this time, the other side had numerous opportunities to report to the forces behind the scenes.

Moreover, he saw several Operator wearing Rhodes Island uniforms last night, which exposed their identities.

Regardless of whether Texas and her group of four wiped out all the thugs at the meat canning plant, any conflict between the two sides will be blamed on Rhodes Island.

Shi Lei now doesn't sleep at all, yet he remains energetic. He has eight more hours a day than the average person, enough to think about the situation and predict future developments.

As the saying goes, every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt has its debtor.

When Beach Umbrella Company discovers that a workshop producing illegal drugs has been destroyed, there are usually two ways to handle the situation.

Either they are afraid that Rhodes Island has taken photos of its illegal drug workshops, and choose to swallow their anger.

Alternatively, they could try to gather more manpower and retaliate against Rhodes Island with a larger force.

However, the Beach Umbrella Company's decision-makers did not do that, but instead used a more ingenious approach.

They first published the story in the newspapers, preemptively defining the nature of the incident before the Trimon police could release their statement. Simultaneously, they positioned themselves on Morality high ground, claiming Rhodes Island was a competitor. They used any means necessary to obtain the formula, manipulating public opinion.

This news item appeared in the same section as other business articles in the newspaper, indicating that Trimon's officials have not yet commented on the matter.

However, announcing the police investigation in advance and then secretly manipulating public opinion will turn a lie into the truth.

Not bad, that's interesting.

Seeing Texas frowning and looking somewhat flustered, Shi Lei smiled slightly and offered words of comfort:

"Don't worry. It's not a big problem. But you need to wake up the other Messenger. We need to go back to This Ship and see what Amiya plans to do next."

Seeing his calm and composed demeanor, Texas felt a surge of immense security.

She quickly realized she had been too nervous, so she lowered her head to avoid eye contact and turned to run away.

"Okay, I'll go get them right away."

Shortly afterward, Texas woke up the other Messenger.

At Shi Lei's suggestion, Exusiai called both Ace Squad and Frostleaf Squad, informing them about the newspaper and agreeing to immediately regroup and return to the This Ship.

Now that the enemy is in the dark while we are in the light, the situation is somewhat passive.

Nobody knows what kind of outrageous tricks the Beach Umbrella Company might pull behind the scenes.

The best course of action right now is to regroup and return to Rhodes Island to prevent any small squad from being captured and affecting the subsequent developments of the situation.

After the Scavenger Squad was captured, Amiya ordered the Ace Squad and the Frostleaf Squad to remain in place. Both squads, having learned of the news in the newspaper, agreed.

They regrouped and moved to Trimont City to join the Special Operations Team. The three teams then set off together to return to the This Ship, which was located in the boarding area.

Amiya was very surprised when she heard the news and immediately summoned the Operator' representatives to the control center for a meeting.

There was a twenty-minute break between the notification and the official meeting. She used this time to rush to the lab, knocking on the door repeatedly and calling out:

"Doctor Kal'tsit! Are you still there?"

A moment later, a low growl came from inside the room from Mon3tr.

Kal'tsit opened the laboratory door, looked at the nervous-looking Casters, and asked:

"What happened?"

Amiya told her about the information in the newspaper and looked at her with a pleading gaze:

"Doctor Kal'tsit, I don't know how to handle this matter and need your advice."

Kal'tsit stood at the door, showing no intention of letting anyone in or out, and posed the core question:

Will Zhongli attend this meeting?

"Meeting."

Amiya was puzzled by this question:

"What happened to Doctor Zhongli?"

Before waking the Doctor, Kal'tsit needs to minimize contact with him, avoiding face-to-face meetings if possible: