“Does he get what he deserves?” Jiang Baimian’s eyes flickered slightly, and she chuckled:
“Looks like he’s done quite a few bad things.”
Old Chen kept his head down while preparing the ingredients and said in a deep voice:
“He doesn’t know how many people he’s killed for his arms business.”
Old Chen wasn’t annoyed at all by Jiang Baimian standing at the kitchen door watching him cook, because this was in complete accordance with the doctrines of the Vigilance Church:
Always be vigilant and don’t blindly trust anyone.
Things that need to be eaten must be watched personally, so that the chef doesn’t have a chance to play tricks.
While chatting idly, Old Chen made one dish after another, and every time he made one, he would pick up a chopstick and put it in his mouth in front of Shang Jianyao and the others.
His explanation for this was:
“If I don’t taste it, would you dare to eat it?”
“Dare.” Shang Jianyao answered without hesitation.
He had already taken out a few small plastic bottles.
These were all medicines repackaged from the first aid kit, including but not limited to ‘Biological Cleaning Tablets’ and ‘Neutralizers’.
Faced with this guest wearing a monkey mask, Old Chen was speechless.
Fortunately, Shang Jianyao’s thoughts always jumped around, and he had already changed the subject:
“It’s bad for the stomach.”
“?” Old Chen was confused.
Jiang Baimian sighed and helped explain:
“Every time a guest comes, you have to taste the dishes once, eat a lot of small portions, and it’s always past mealtime. It’s not good for your stomach.”
Old Chen pointed to his face:
“How do you think I got so fat?”
In the Ashlands, not many people are qualified to be fat.
Jiang Baimian and the others were quite satisfied with this meal. Although Old Chen’s cooking skills could only be considered average, and there was an overuse of spices, after many days of canned food, biscuits, and energy bars, as long as the food was up to par, it was delicious to the Old Task Force.
“This pea stew with tender mutton is good. It combines the characteristics of Ashlands cuisine and Red River cuisine. It’s simply invincible with rice.” After putting down her chopsticks, Jiang Baimian praised with a smile.
“Exclusive secret recipe.” Old Chen was a little proud.
Being able to make the soup more plentiful and thick enough while maintaining the same taste was a technique he had slowly figured out.
After leaving the No Poison Restaurant, the Old Task Force took the escalator down to the bottom level and entered the Security Department.
Han Wanghuo had returned from the area where the Ash Speakers were hiding and was sitting behind the innermost desk, looking at some documents under the fluorescent light.
If it weren't for the two deep scars on his face, one horizontal and one vertical, and his messy eyebrows that made him look quite fierce, Long Yuehong would have thought he had returned to Pangu Biology, entered his parents' workplace, and met their supervisor.
“Good afternoon.” Jiang Baimian greeted with a smile.
Han Wanghuo looked up at them:
“Sit down.”
Shang Jianyao didn’t stand on ceremony at all and immediately moved a few chairs from another place.
—There was only one chair in front of Han Wanghuo’s desk.
“You want to ask me how the investigation went this morning?” After the Old Task Force all sat down, Han Wanghuo grunted.
He was looking at Jiang Baimian.
This was because he had seen the Old Task Force without their masks, and his intuition told him that Jiang Baimian was the team leader.
Of course, he had also hesitated about Shang Jianyao’s position, but the latter’s performance had successfully dispelled some of his thoughts.
“Yes. That’s one of the requests.” Jiang Baimian responded with a smile.
Han Wanghuo put down the information in his hand and leaned back in his chair:
“Basically no results. No one admits it, and there are no clues.
“If I wasn’t an Ash Speaker, I would definitely have been kicked out directly.”
He subtly pointed out the internal conflicts of Redstone Collection.
“You lost.” Shang Jianyao suddenly interjected.
“Huh?” Han Wanghuo frowned slightly, indicating his confusion.
Shang Jianyao said seriously:
“You lost when you admitted you were an Ash Speaker.
“Everyone is human. We shouldn’t form cliques.”
Han Wanghuo didn’t know how to respond for a moment, so he had to turn his gaze to Jiang Baimian.
Jiang Baimian skipped the previous topic and raised the second request:
“Can we borrow some information?”
Han Wanghuo’s gaze suddenly sharpened:
“What information?”
Jiang Baimian smiled:
“Information on those cases of death from excessive fright in the past few years.”
This was to see if there were any Awakened or murderers who could create the corresponding cause of death hiding.
Han Wanghuo’s gaze swept across the faces of the four members of the Old Task Force, and finally said:
“You’re more, more intelligent than I thought.
“This makes it a little puzzling. Why would you intelligent people take on the stolen arms mission? Can’t you see the great danger hidden inside?
“Or are you very confident in your strength?”
He's also a smart person… Long Yuehong was slightly impressed after hearing this.
“If you don’t enter the tiger’s den, how can you catch the cubs?” Jiang Baimian replied skillfully.
Shang Jianyao took the opportunity to add:
“As a big villain, are you afraid of such a small danger?”
Is this guy not quite right in the head? The reason why their team took on the stolen arms mission was because they were all not quite right in the head? I heard that the crazier you are, the smarter you are… Han Wanghuo looked at the four people opposite him warily and didn’t speak.
After a while, he said to Bai Chen, who was wearing a fierce man’s mask:
“The amazing thing is that there’s only one Intermediate Hunter in your team, and it’s you.”
“She was kidnapped by us!” Shang Jianyao explained.
Bai Chen was a little uncomfortable with this joke, but with her personality, she didn’t say anything.
“You can make up a more reasonable story.” Long Yuehong couldn’t help but ridicule.
Clap clap clap, Shang Jianyao clapped his hands, as if praising Long Yuehong for his tacit cooperation.
While Long Yuehong was at a loss, he said with a smile:
“We kidnapped her back with friendship and trust.”
“Pfft…” Jiang Baimian laughed.
Bai Chen pursed her lips.
Han Wanghuo couldn’t understand this group of people even more, so he sighed and pointed to the stack of documents in front of him:
“This is the information you want.
“In the past two years, the Security Department hasn’t taken over any similar cases. We haven’t received any news of anyone dying from excessive fright.
“Going back another year…”
Speaking of this, Han Wanghuo said with a serious expression:
“There were a full four cases.”
“What about going back further?” Jiang Baimian asked.
Han Wanghuo shook his head:
“The management of the Security Department was very chaotic three years ago. Many cases weren’t recorded, and many documents were lost.”
“You took office three years ago?” Jiang Baimian understood something.
“Yes.” Han Wanghuo nodded slightly, “But I asked some colleagues, and they all said that there were definitely cases before three years ago. They just weren’t sure how many. It seems that there were also people with similar causes of death in those teams that attacked Redstone Collection.”
Jiang Baimian turned her head and glanced at Shang Jianyao and the others:
“Do you have any other questions?”
Bai Chen didn’t give Shang Jianyao a chance to “talk nonsense” and asked:
“Is there a connection between the four cases two years ago and Hervig’s death?”
“What surprised me the most was this.” Han Wanghuo pushed the information in his hand over, “The four cases themselves have some common points. For example, the dead were all Ash Speakers. For example, they had either done some not-so-good things to the Red River people, or they occupied a large share of the corresponding business and suppressed the Red River people. Hervig doesn’t have these.”
Jiang Baimian took the information, and while flipping through it, she casually read:
“Bao Xuan, 27 years old at the time of death, was a radical in the Ash Speakers. He had hunted down three Red River people in several conflicts… Died in a long-term hiding underground room. It wasn’t until a few days later that his wife, Wang Xian, discovered him… Cause of death: excessive fright… Investigation situation…
“A lot of annotations have been added later… Are you still investigating these cases?”
After reading for a while, Jiang Baimian raised her head and looked at Han Wanghuo.
Han Wanghuo responded with a serious expression:
“Since I promised to be the Security Officer of Redstone Collection, then I have a responsibility to catch the murderer.
“As for what background he has, what abilities he has, and how dangerous he is, those aren’t things I need to consider.
“I’ve never given up in the past two years.”
Clap clap clap, Shang Jianyao clapped again.
“Aren’t you worried about affecting your family?” Jiang Baimian asked curiously.
Han Wanghuo gave a self-deprecating smile:
“As a former wilderness wanderer and ruin hunter, I haven’t had any family for a long time. My past companions also went to other places when I chose to become a Security Officer.”
“You don’t have a wife?” Long Yuehong keenly noticed a problem.
Han Wanghuo grunted:
“I’ll consider it after the security and order of Redstone Collection is initially established, and I have some savings and can resign.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Shang Jianyao stretched out his hand to him.
While Han Wanghuo was at a loss, Jiang Baimian sighed and helped explain:
“You have a goal, and he also has a goal. You’re willing to make certain sacrifices for it, and he’s also willing to make certain sacrifices for it. Therefore, he thinks he should shake hands with you.”
…Team Leader has been infected by Shang Jianyao’s ‘Reasoning Clown’ mode… Long Yuehong listened on the sidelines and found it amusing.
Although Han Wanghuo still couldn’t quite understand, he could feel the other party’s good intentions, so he didn’t refuse, stretched out his right hand, and shook hands with Shang Jianyao.
Jiang Baimian no longer gave Shang Jianyao room to play and instead asked:
“In other words, you suspect that Hervig’s death is different from the previous cases?”
This wasn’t impossible. The previous murderer had been quiet for more than two years. Recently, there might be a similar Awakened appearing—provided that 'fright' is within the domain of the Authority, Yougu, and within the scope of the Vigilance Church; otherwise, the probability is very low.
This point needs to be confirmed.
“Yes.” Han Wanghuo pushed another stack of papers over, “This is the list of suspects I’ve sorted out. They all have grudges and conflicts of interest with Hervig.”
Jiang Baimian took it and saw that the first one was written:
“Carl. Sterly, Mr. DiMarco’s butler, the largest arms dealer in Redstone Collection, is competing with Hervig for the Lehman line…”
She scanned it and asked with a smile:
“Is there a photocopier?
“We’ll make a copy and take it back to look at it slowly.”
Han Wanghuo laughed:
“A can of food.”
They, who were on the smuggling node of United Industries, didn’t lack some common machines, but they weren’t very popular.
After getting the information, Jiang Baimian sighed after leaving the Security Department:
“I overlooked one point before:
“Hervig finding outsiders for missions to gain the trust of the Vigilance Church wasn’t necessarily to detonate conflicts and deal with the Ash Speakers. It might also have been aimed at the Underground Ark, aimed at DiMarco…
“Haha, these are all guesses. Further investigation is needed.”
Long Yuehong then asked Jiang Baimian:
“Team Leader, where do we investigate next?”
Jiang Baimian responded amusingly:
“Didn’t I say? Let’s be lazy for two days and see who will show up besides Teresa to look for us.”
As she spoke, she stretched again:
“Let’s go. Let’s go back and take a nap and let Shang Jianyao try to conquer the island more.”