"Welcome aboard, Johnny, you're one of us now."
Scarface Andro squeezed Ed's shoulder with his broad, rough palm, and slapped his arm with his other hand:
"For a newbie, you did really well. You must have killed someone in the past, right?"
"Yes, can I go and rest for a while first, boss?"
Ed, in his cotton clothes, tried his best to keep his breathing steady. The fishy-sweet smell still lingered in his nasal cavity, lingering like a gangrene attached to the bone.
"No problem. Take off the cotton-padded clothes and take him down to rest for a while."
Immediately, someone came forward to help Ed take off his armor and cotton clothes, and led him to a small room next to the corridor to rest.
There was an oil lamp and unwashed dinner plates placed on the table in the room. Several blowflies were sitting on it, greedily feasting on the remains.
"Just rest here first. There is water in the bucket over there. If you want to drink it, scoop it out yourself."
"Thanks brother."
Ed suppressed his discomfort, took out a cigarette from the cigarette box in his pocket and handed it over. The other person reached out to take the cigarette and closed the door.
Seeing no one around, he finally gasped for air. At this time, he was sweating profusely like a patient, and the shirt on his body was soaked through. Bean-sized sweat beads dripped from his forehead, like warm tears.
【How are you? 】
Not very good. I've killed people before, but this feels a little... different.
【You are scared. 】
Sylvie told the truth, and even Ed himself didn't realize that this dark red, fluffy emotion had enveloped him and spread quietly in his heart.
Yeah, I'm scared, Ed had to admit.
But what am I afraid of? Is it the hive of flesh and blood made of piles of rotten flesh, or is it the man who was sent to make the hive with my own hands?
[You are afraid of your own shadow, my dear good sir. Everyone has a shadow, in the thin night, in the dark forest. It will fall off your body and collect in black scabs, and that is the madness you want to understand. 】
Okay, Sylvie, now is not the time to chat, let me calm down alone...
Ed took a deep breath, raised the wooden ladle to scoop some water, and then wiped his cheeks with the water, trying to peel away those chaotic thoughts from his brain.
Remember, Ed, you're on a mission, don't let unnecessary emotions cloud your judgment. He told himself this.
After confirming that no one was around, he closed the door bolt, took out the cigarette box given by the informant from his pocket and opened it. Sure enough, there was a line of writing written in pencil on it:
I will send Andro away at 12 o'clock. You have half an hour to act. After that, I will wait for you at the alley at the back entrance of the factory.
Well... half an hour to get the books and leave. Although the attack time planned by the Bureau of Investigation is exactly four o'clock in the afternoon, it does not have to wait until that time.
My mission was to find the account books and cover the safe escape of Frank, the informant. There was no need to assist the East Area Team in their offensive operations. The scene would be extremely chaotic by then, and he and his informants might be hit by stray bullets at any time, so it was better to leave early.
After making up his mind, he struck the match and lit the oil lamp. The bright yellow flames danced gracefully, immediately igniting the cigarette box into pieces and turning it into ashes.
The old leather shoes crushed the embers on the ground into a cloud of black dust. As for the remaining loose smoke, Ed put it in his smock pocket for another use later.
Then he unlatched the door and walked along the corridor to the entrance. There, Ed gave away a cigarette to the two gang thugs guarding the door, stood at the door and chatted:
"Excuse me brother, what time is it now?"
The janitor took the cigarette and put it in his mouth. He took out his pocket watch from his pocket and took a look:
"11:50."
There are still ten minutes left, and he must act quickly.
"It's almost noon, aren't you going to eat?"
"Hey, eat your ass. Someone will come over to deliver the food. By the way, remember, only Boss Andro and Mr. Frank can come and go here freely. Don't wander around here if you have nothing to do."
While he was chatting with the guards, Ed controlled the one-eyed spider to sneak into the interior of the blood honey factory silently.
The attention of the two guards was attracted by the new boy, and they did not realize that an eight-clawed mechanical spider the size of a pocket watch crawled quietly above their heads.
"Okay, I understand. Thank you two big brothers." Ed nodded with a smile, then turned and left.
Just as he was walking through the corridor, Andro walked slowly towards him. He quickly parked the one-eyed spider under the wooden cabinet in the corner, lowered his head and greeted:
"Boss."
"Yeah." Andro put his hands in his pockets and walked out of the door without paying much attention to him.
Scarface went out, which meant that the informant had started taking action. Ed knew he had to act quickly.
He walked in the direction Andro came from, and sure enough he saw a guarded iron door with a plum blossom pattern engraved on it. The quality was far superior to other doors.
The account books are most likely hidden here.
However, there is a gangster guarding the door. Since the iron door is closed, not even the one-eyed spider can get in.
Ed didn't dare to approach and strike up a conversation easily: there was no chance, and it might arouse suspicion, so he had to find another way——
Fortunately, after a while, the food delivery cart arrived.
The thugs in the underground factory stopped their work one after another to eat. At this time, even the two thugs guarding the gate went to eat in shifts. Only the thug in front of the patterned iron gate did not move.
This also made Ed more and more convinced that this was the hiding place of the account books.
It seems that I have to find a way to get him to leave before I can enter here.
He came up with a plan and walked to the restaurant to eat with everyone. The one-eyed spider moved among the debris in the corridor and headed to the control room.
The supervisor guarding the place was also dining in the restaurant, and the one-eyed spider quickly cut open the glass of the observation window. Several Blood Weaver Bees felt the flow of air and flew out.
Before anyone discovered this situation, Ed quickly controlled the one-eyed spider to sneak out of the control room and parked it under the cabinet in the corridor so that he could take it away later.
"Oh no, the Blood Weaver Bee has escaped!"
After waiting for a moment, someone shouted in the corridor.
Due to Andro's absence, the scene suddenly became chaotic:
Some people ran towards the control room, trying to block the hole, while more people fled towards the exit. In order to maintain order, the guards at the patterned iron gates had to step forward to divert the crowd.
So Ed took advantage of the chaos and quietly picked up the one-eyed spider, put it in his pocket, and walked straight to the patterned iron door. Since someone was always guarding the room, the door was not locked. When he saw no one around, he opened the door and walked in.
There is a U-shaped table in the room. There is also a half-opened bottle of whiskey and a handful of playing cards on the table. The safe is in the corner. It seems that Andro usually works here.
Ed put his ear against the safe. There was so much noise outside that he couldn't hear the slight scraping of the lever.
If this method doesn't work, he can only try to push the code to open the safe - this method depends on luck, and it can take as short as three to five minutes, as long as one or two hours.
The guard outside the door may return here at any time. If the other party tries to counterattack, he will be able to get in but not get out.
Well, there is a way...
After a second thought, he took out the one-eyed spider and pressed the sound-transmitting crystal against the lever.
Through the sound coming from the one-eyed spider, the slight sound suddenly became distinguishable. Ed gently adjusted the wheel plate with his hands until the gaps in the wheel plate completely overlapped and the lever tumbler pushed into it.
With a click, the door of the safe opened, and a leather-wrapped account book lay quietly inside. He briefly looked through it and confirmed that it was undoubtedly the accounts of the Blood Honey Factory.
Done.
Ed put the account book inside his blouse, closed the safe again, walked out as if nothing had happened, and closed the door behind him.
In front of the gate, two gatekeepers were pointing guns at the people who wanted to escape, forcing them to go back to prevent the swarm from swarming further.
"Damn it, where is the boss?!" Someone in the crowd yelled, but no one answered the question. Andro didn't notify him of his whereabouts before leaving, so naturally no one would know where he was.
He walked forward blatantly, and was immediately pointed at the head with a gun. The guard threatened:
"Stay back, come back and I'll beat you to death!"
"Let me inform Mr. Frank, he should know where Boss Andro is." Ed did not panic, but said confidently.
Since Ed was introduced personally by Frank, no one doubted this.
"Okay, go and come back quickly." So, the guard stepped aside slightly and let Ed walk over.
Ed pretended to be calm and trotted out, then ran faster and faster, all the way towards the alleyway at the back door of the factory.
As expected, the informant Frank was waiting there. He looked calm and his voice was a little low:
"Did you get the stuff?"
"I got it, let's go..."
Before he finished speaking, Frank suddenly locked Ed's throat with his left arm from behind. His power was so powerful that Ed couldn't break free from the restraint - a second-level Beyonder, or stronger.
Frank betrayed?
Thoughts flashed through my mind, but what was the reason for the other party to do this?
If the informant betrayed him, he would have been arrested as early as in the alley in the dock area. The other party had countless opportunities to take action before, why did he choose now?
From beginning to end, Frank acted like an excellent informant, so much so that Ed didn't have any suspicion at all.
A syringe pierced Ed's right arm. The stinging pain made him grit his teeth, but the doubts in his heart became more intense:
Mr. Eaton mentioned before that the informant was not an extraordinary person, so he needed Ed's protection. He didn't believe that Eaton was so stupid that he couldn't even trace the informant he sent undercover.
Is it possible... that the other person isn't Frank at all?
In his confusion, he suddenly thought of the skinned bright red body in Room 0...
When he looked at himself, his slowly opening jaw and his meaningful eyes...
