Chapter 386: Chapter 386 Trite Love Story_1
In the lower district, within a room of a rental apartment, Heinz Hoffman sat in a chair, looking at several secret police captains with their heads lowered before him.
After a few seconds of silence, he spoke, "The same as always, the priority is to complete the mission; reviews and punishments can wait until later. However, that doesn’t mean there’s no need to look back and think about the problems that have arisen. Why do you think the police suddenly found that hotel?"
After they settled in Silvertown, they established a few secret temporary strongholds; the Wisteria Hotel, where Sara Rekhsia once stayed, was one of them. Disguised as a Gistas businessman, Heinz resided there, listening to his subordinates’ reports in the room or a private dining room nearby before giving instructions.
The plainclothes personnel who showed up at the Wisteria Hotel’s front desk to ask questions appeared out of nowhere, and fortunately, the lookout nearby who was responsible for ensuring Heinz’s safety astutely detected the danger.
Before these individuals began to check the hotel’s guests, Hoffman had already managed to escape in time with the help of a pre-prepared plan and the cooperation of his subordinates. They weren’t sure which investigative unit the other party belonged to or whether they came specifically for them, but they didn’t dare take the risk of deceiving the other party’s investigation with a falsified identity.
"I think the clue... might have come from the gang we hired," a secret captain responded, "The only people we’ve had direct contact with locally are them. We employed them and they wouldn’t fully trust the foreign force we pretended to be; they would also try to investigate us."
"I think so too," Heinz nodded slightly, "But the problem lies here, how could the gang’s investigation lead to official investigative departments?"
"We unilaterally terminated our cooperation with the gang, so it’s not surprising they harbor resentment towards us," another secret captain offered his opinion.
"Our deal was made directly with the upper ranks of the gang; if the deal were exposed, the gang leaders themselves would be implicated. So, right now they’re just pinning it on a few low-level members within the gang," Heinz said indifferently, "It’s unlikely they would tell the local police about this; just sending an anonymous letter suggesting there are fugitives here wouldn’t make the police take it seriously."
The captains looked at each other, at a loss.
"Perhaps it’s... an informant within the gang who works for the mounted police?" one captain ventured.
"That would mean the police’s informant happens to be the one sent by the gang to investigate us, which seems a little too convenient," Heinz replied.
"You mean..." the captain asked cautiously.
"My guess is that someone else with connections to the gang got the clue from them," Heinz thought for a moment, "and then handed it to the authorities."
"Who could that be?"
"..." Heinz fell into deep thought.
Aiden Galahad—although without conclusive evidence, he had almost instinctively fixed on an answer in his mind.
For an official investigative department to take immediate action, the clue must have come from someone within the system who could make the department trust them completely. According to Heinz’s conjecture, that person was Aiden Galahad, who was now actively obstructing his actions.
Although he didn’t yet understand how a jailer could get involved with a gang, his intuition told him the problem lay with this man.
The deeper he investigated Aiden Galahad, the more mysteries he found surrounding the man.
If this was indeed his doing behind the scenes, then they had essentially engaged in an indirect clash through layers of cover, and the result had been a stalemate, with neither side gaining an advantage.
His earlier decision on direct contact was right; if the man were willing to be bought and cooperate, that would be the best outcome—but judging by the failure of the attempt to bribe Vlanda Rogli, it was very likely that bribery would not succeed.
It seemed that if they were to make contact, they would need to be prepared for various approaches to ensure a one-time resolution of the man.
"Have you found Aiden Galahad’s residence?" Heinz asked.
"We have; should we prepare to sneak in?" asked a subordinate.
"Let’s not do anything so impolite; although slim, the hope is still there. Let’s start with a ’gentler’ approach," Heinz waved his hand dismissively.
...
Rose Iron Prison, library.
"I’ve told you several times already, even if the shelves are empty, don’t wipe them with such a damp cloth. It can cause mold if it happens too often," Asenna spoke emotionlessly as she admonished Sera, "Was your brain eaten by zombies?"
"I’m, I’m sorry," Sera apologized frantically.
When Asenna scolded someone, her face was expressionless, and her tone was equally flat; but this mechanical indifference somehow created more pressure than if she had displayed emotion.
"Go over the corners where the light doesn’t reach with a dry cloth again," Asenna pointed toward the shelves deeper in, "Sometimes, the way you do things really makes me feel like turning you into a corpse to manipulate myself would be more efficient."
"Is... is that a joke?" Sera asked tentatively.
"What do you think?" Asenna adjusted her glasses, still without a trace of emotion.
"I’ll... go and wipe it again," Sera, trembling with trepidation, walked towards the shelves inside.
Over the days of their association, Sera always took care not to offend Miss Asenna, ’the guard with a poker face’. Aside from being a bit harsh and venomous when speaking to her, Asenna hadn’t really done anything excessive to her.
It wasn’t that Asenna lacked malice; rather, she seemed to have no interest in Sera whatsoever.
A quarter of an hour later, Asenna arrived with a stack of books, arranged them in order on the shelf, then turned to take out two books from the shelf to borrow on her way back to the cell.
Sera, cleaning nearby, cautiously glanced over and caught sight of the titles "Red Love and Death" and "Empire Love Story", involuntarily letting out a small "huh".
"You seem to, have an opinion about the books I’m reading?" Asenna instantly caught her voice and turned to stare at her.
"No, no, not at all..." Sera said hastily, waving her hands, "I was just, a little surprised. That... actually, I’ve read both books as well, they are kind of..."
"Trashy romance stories. So you didn’t expect a woman fascinated by corpses and the undead, who always wears a lifeless expression, to indulge in such stories. It’s hilariously unexpected, is that what you mean?" Asenna asked coldly, "Shall we have a good talk back in the cell?"
"I really didn’t mean to make fun of you!!" Sera tried to explain herself.
"No need to be so nervous, I was joking," Asenna said, still with an impassive face.
Startled, Sera then covered her chest and let out a breath of relief, "Please don’t do that again..."
