Chapter 148: Maniac
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
“It isn’t hard to let you people go, but why should I do that?”
The mayor’s office in the city hall was a large semicircular room. There was a large thick wool rug in the middle, and the floor lamp in the room had been dimmed, so the surroundings were now an orange-yellow, like the color of sunset dipped in water. The screen showing Aliba’s image was hidden between the boundary of the shadows in the room and light poured from it.
Aliba scanned the entire office with his long slitted eyes. When he saw a pair of feet poking out from behind the office table, his facial muscles twitched a little. As if to control his emotions from showing, he knocked on his own table. He still had a very strong impression of those pair of leather shoes…
Aliba felt his guts trembling slightly, and a sort of murky, indistinct idea popped up in his head. He coughed and smiled coldly, “When you people escaped from the Lunar New Year Tournament, I was humiliated. Now, you are begging me to pull back the policemen and soldiers? Why should I? Ha. And I already know where you are, so I can simply send my men to surround you!”
When they heard Aliba’s words, Xueqin, Bai Xiaoke and the others exchanged glances and realized that they all looked a little pale. None of them expected to have a conversation with Aliba there. When they first stepped out of the wormhole, their first thought was that Gong Daoyi had betrayed them. It took half a second before Xue Wei noticed that they were looking at a full-body screen and it showed the 1:1 image of Aliba in his uniform. She blinked her eyes multiple times because it really looked like he was standing in the room.
“Didn’t I say that I have an idea that might save everyone?” The women’ expressions relaxed a little after hearing Gong Daoyi’s warm, soothing voice. “Before I went to look for all of you, I made a call to Mr. Chief of Police’s communicator.”
Negotiation. That was Gong Daoyi’s intention.
He was the only one among them who seemed prepared for this. All the women turned to look at him, except Xueqin. She did not even want to see his face and uttered coldly, “If you have anything to say to him, make it quick!”
Gong Daoyi was unoffended and just nodded. When he turned to look at the screen, a glint flashed past his star-sprinkled eyes as if he just suppressed an urge to laugh after remembering something funny, but no one noticed. He pointed at the mayor’s office table and commented mildly, “Mr. Chief of Police, I am sure you already noticed that the Mayor is dead.”
“So what?” Aliba tried to conceal his hidden intentions, “You’ll only die faster!”
“Is that so?” Gong Daoyi smiled, “I personally think that it is a convenient fact for the mayor to die in this insurrection.”
Aliba’s eyelids twitched and he didn’t reply. When he could no longer cover up the news of the female Posthumans escaping, the official from the Administrative Office forced him to appear in the courts. Aliba had to use a lot of his connections to reduce the disciplinary actions so that he was only temporarily monitored. Admittedly, he sent out the troops to stop the insurrection because he wanted to atone for his mistakes. However, no matter how hard he tried to make up for the failure, death was the most efficient way to get rid of his rival…
“Let’s make a deal.” Gong Daoyi thrust his hands into his pocket, his tall, slender silhouette cut a striking figure. “Your Lords.h.i.+p will provide a way for all of our people to gather here. When we see that everyone is well, you, Mr. Chief of Police, can choose any target that you would like our teams to destroy… What do you say?”
“Doesn’t that mean we will be working for him?” Bai Xiaoke, who was standing behind him, gasped.
Aliba felt his heart racing. Even though he had control of the army, there were too many political checks and balances. If all his political opponents were killed… that would mean that Garden of Eden would become his private corporation. When he thought of this, he felt a warm gush of excitement in his chest. He opened his mouth but didn’t speak, observing all the people in the room with his signature gloomy gaze instead.
“To us, it makes no difference who we kill and what we destroy,” Gong Daoyi did not turn behind but spoke calmly, in a manner which seemingly answered the doubts that the women had, “if a change in target could help us redeem a life, I think this deal is pretty worthwhile.
“After all, from your perspective, if you risked everything to fight with us and someone else ended up taking the credit, wouldn’t that be a little unfair? You can decide on the locations and you can also decide on the number of people in the teams sent there.”
“However, we need Mr. Chief of Police to show us a little sincerity,” when Gong Daoyi said that, the man in the screen c.o.c.ked his head. “How will your Lords.h.i.+p ensure that we can leave safely after the whole operation?”
Gong Daoyi spoke slowly, and each of his words played to Aliba’s emotions. Aliba couldn’t control his pulsing heart. He raised his head and burst out into laughter. He raised his finger and pointed to Gong Daoyi from the screen, “Okay! It’s a deal. When everything is done, I’ll let all of you go. My words are the only guarantee you need. You will all leave in one piece.”
Xueqin sneered. She was angry and found it beneath her dignity. But before she could comment, Bai Xiaoke tugged her s.h.i.+rt and stopped her.
“Let’s just see how Mr. Gong will handle this,” she whispered, trusting fully in the man.
Failing their expectations, they were all shocked when Gong Daoyi simply accepted it, “Good. It’s a promise, then. We will contact our companions now. Can your Lords.h.i.+p please call away the troops?”
When they heard this, the women began to feel uneasy but they didn’t say anything as Aliba was still watching. Aliba didn’t antic.i.p.ate that the other party would accept his words so readily. He narrowed his eyes and examined Gong Daoyi. He couldn’t help having second thoughts. It took him a few seconds before he forced a smile and said, “I don’t know what’s wrong with you. Why would you sell them out and then save them…”
Aliba was certain that the female posthumans did not know that Gong Daoyi leaked the information about their operations. He could place a mental ticking time bomb in that team just by saying that, and it might come in handy…
But, he was disappointed the next second—the female posthumans frowned but they expressions didn’t change much. Following which, Gong Daoyi approached the screen and knocked the base of the communicator a few times. With a face of pure bewilderment, he asked, “h.e.l.lo? Why isn’t there any sound? Is it some kind of signal interference?”
At the same time, Aliba had to admit that he admired Gong Daoyi’s tact.
After the ‘signal’ recovered, both men quickly worked out the details. After that, Aliba disconnected and disappeared from the screen. Once the screen turned black, Dong Haohao who had held herself back for a long time suddenly went straight to the point and asked, “We are going to create trouble and a.s.sa.s.sinate who he wants us to get rid of. Aren’t you afraid that he would just catch all of us in the end so that he can be the hero of the day?”
“Ah… Don’t worry. It’s okay.” Gong Daoyi flashed her a lazy smile, he combed his hair to the back of his head, “Just leave it to me.”
Nevertheless, he acted like Dong Haohao’s words didn’t matter to him. The five simple words from him were somehow extremely convincing. The women looked at each other and didn’t make any more comments. They still had a long night ahead of them.
In the end, nine teams managed to get in touch with Xueqin’s team. They still couldn’t contact one of the teams, which meant that it was probably too late for them. Not all nine teams were intact. It took some effort for everyone to understand the current situation and for them to get out of their scary predicament of getting surrounded. Some of them were wounded, dead and quite a few of them had abandoned their teams. In the end, only three-fourths of the original numbers gathered in the city hall.
By then, it was already 4 am.
During this time, Bai Xiaoke couldn’t reach Li Tao despite the countless number of calls; Lin Sanjiu didn’t show her face all this time. One of the teams that went past the meeting point also reported that they didn’t see anyone at the factory. Perhaps the lack of Lin Sanjiu’s appearance made everyone on tenterhooks. This unwittingly created a heavy atmosphere where the women whispered to each other and started panicking. In turn, the words exchanged generated even more panic.
On the other hand, Aliba’s orders were urgent. They did not have any time to slowly discuss the situation. They only had one hour till sunrise, or this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity would just fade away. After pointing out four targets which must be exterminated, the teams which retained most of their manpower had no choice but to set off immediately.
Before this night, none of the posthumans imagined that they would ever work for the Police and Military Department. While they resented and fretted over their circ.u.mstances, Lin Sanjiu sighed and cursed.
“I’d never f*cking imagine that there is a maniac like you in this world.”