596 Missing persons
A group of people were standing on both sides of the road, and some of them even deliberately raised the banners they were holding higher into a more conspicuous position. Luo Lan thought they were protesting him, so he wasn’t really bothered. But when he saw they were targeting Qing Zhen, it made him very unhappy.
“Just drive past them, don’t stop.” Luo Lan sneered, “The w.a.n.g Consortium must have stationed these people here to stir up trouble. How else could they have known the time we were slated to arrive? The Hope Media newspaper did not report our exact itinerary for today.”
Actually, everyone was well aware the w.a.n.g Consortium was controlling everything from behind the scenes. Zhou Qi was thinking about how to resolve the situation they were in now. If such a group of people charged over and beat up Luo Lan, that would be terrible.
Luo Lan and the others could not possibly open fire inside the w.a.n.g Consortium’s stronghold. If they did, that would give the w.a.n.g Consortium a reason to detain Luo Lan.
However, Zhou Qi realized Luo Lan was still comfortably sitting in the car and did not seem to be panicking at all.
The convoy was driving forward slowly, and they were still about 2.2 kilometers away from the hotel in the center of the stronghold. The hotel they were going to stay at could be considered the most luxurious hotel.
The Qing Consortium soldiers in charge of protecting Luo Lan were getting tense in the vehicles. They were afraid someone in the crowd would suddenly shoot Luo Lan.
The Qing Consortium soldiers were eagle-eyed. When they scanned the crowd, some people got so scared they took a few steps back in fear.
The security personnel Qing Zhen picked out for Luo Lan were elite soldiers. Qing Zhen did not even deploy these elite trump cards for his own protection.
After the convoy drove past them, the dense crowd holding the banners on either side of the road followed close behind them on foot. They walked all the way to the hotel where Luo Lan and his entourage were staying.
“These people won’t follow us to the hotel, right?” Zhou Qi frowned.
But Zhou Qi guessed wrong. After they got to the hotel, the group of protesters sat quietly outside the hotel entrance with their banners that had all sorts of things written on them. Some of the banners were chastising Qing Zhen, some were requesting that the Qing Consortium give up their nuclear weapons, while others were calling for Luo Lan to leave the Central Plains. Several people were not holding up any banners and were quietly watching from within the crowd. These were the ones giving instructions to the rest of the protesters.
Before Luo Lan and his subordinates entered the room, the Qing Consortium soldiers did a sweep of the room first. Besides checking for bugs and surveillance cameras, they also had to ensure there were no double walls or secret compartments in the walls.
The entire process took fifteen minutes. The Qing Consortium soldiers were extremely rigorous in their duties, and Luo Lan did not rush them and waited quietly outside the door with five soldiers protecting him.
Although Luo Lan claimed there was nothing to be afraid of, it wouldn’t hurt to be a little more cautious.
After entering the room, Luo Lan ordered one of the soldiers behind him, “Have the hotel’s restaurant make dinner and have them serve their most luxurious and expensive food to me. Price is not an issue for the Qing Consortium.”
Zhou Qi was stunned. “It’s only noon. Why are you asking them to prepare for dinner?”
Luo Lan strolled to the window and opened a tiny gap in the curtains. He said with a smile, “I’m preparing it for them. They’ll definitely be sitting there until evening. Who knows? They might even sit there for several days. So how can we allow them to go hungry?”
Just as Luo Lan predicted, the group of protesters downstairs were determined to force Luo Lan to confront them. They sat there without moving an inch.
At past 6 PM, Luo Lan pushed the service cart out of the hotel personally. The cart was adorned with a white cloth and filled with food.
One of the protesters spoke, “Don’t think you can send us away with just some food, we—”
“Well, aren’t you presumptuous? Who said this food was for you people? This is for my personal consumption,” Luo Lan said with a smile.
After that, one of the Qing Consortium soldiers carried a chair over for Luo Lan to sit down on. Luo Lan then started gorging himself at the entrance of the hotel, eating until his lips were glistening with oil.
While Luo Lan was eating, he even heard someone among the protesters sitting across from him swallow hard. After all, these people had not eaten anything since morning. Besides, it would make them look really uncommitted if they ate during such a serious protest!
Luo Lan continued munching on his food like no one was around. Actually, he had not fully told Zhou Qi what he wanted to say. After these people had criticized Qing Zhen, it would not be enough for them to just go hungry. They would have to suffer his spite!
After he finished eating, Luo Lan even burped in satisfaction. “Wow, I don’t think I can finish it all. There’s still more than half left. Why don’t you guys have some? You should be quite hungry by now.”
After that, Luo Lan pushed the service cart with the leftovers to the front of the protesters before heading back to the hotel laughing.
Not only did he want to savor the food in front of these people, but he also intentionally left behind some leftovers for them to look at.
The group of protesters looked at Luo Lan’s back and gritted their teeth in hatred. But they could not make a move on him yet. If they initiated a fight, they would be the ones in the wrong!
…
While the group of protesters were staging a sit-in at the hotel’s entrance, someone suddenly came to the Public Order Division to report a case.
The staff in the Public Order Division’s office lobby were very unhappy as the majority of their manpower had to be rea.s.signed due to Luo Lan’s visit. Their hands were already tied, and they were busy up to their ears, so why was someone still coming to trouble them?
Furthermore, the artificial intelligence had proven to be really useful over the years as it directly informed the Public Order Division’s staff whenever there was a case. Most of the cases reported by the stronghold residents were often just trivial matters.
However, the w.a.n.g Consortium had set a target of 100% solved cases rate for the Public Order Division, so as long as a case were reported, they would have to investigate and solve it.
An employee of the Public Order Division asked, “What case are you reporting?”
“Several of our workers in the garment factory have gone missing. We tried calling their home phones, but they didn’t pick up. So we went to their apartments to look for them, but they were not there either. They seemed to have just vanished into thin air!” A middle-aged man said, “Those are our factory’s workers. We can’t just let them disappear like that without a reason, right?”
The Public Order Division employee was stunned when he heard this. Why hadn’t they received an alert from the artificial intelligence regarding such a conclusive missing persons case?
“Could they have been spies?” Another employee said, “There were cases like this in the past where several people suddenly disappeared entirely. But actually, it was just that they had escaped the stronghold.”
“That doesn’t seem right. Why would spies go to a garment factory? They can’t find any secrets there.” The Public Order Division employee said helplessly, “Why don’t you register your case and provide us with the information you have? I’ll go with you later to visit their apartments and investigate if there were any traces of a fight. I wonder what’s been up with the AI. We still haven’t been able to solve the case of the missing cats and dogs from some time ago.”
The manager of the garment factory gave a placating smile. “This is definitely more serious than the case of the missing cats and dogs.”
The Public Order Division employee glanced at him and said, “In our department, there are no cases that are less important than the others. As long as you report a case to us, we’ll have to solve it. By the way, where do your workers live?”
The manager of the garment factory said anxiously, “Have you read the news of the creeper vine?! Their homes are in the vicinity of where that creeper vine is growing!”