Chapter 17 - Footsteps in the Hallway

By the time he came out of the lab, the Investigate what exactly did Putnam bring to the S District Task Force had grown from four to five members.

Armstrong, the employer, had gotten Henry's help and returned to the team with the sleeping pills.

Henry himself had stayed in the lab to make the pills.

In his words, "I'm not interested in this."

However, even though Henry was not interested, there were still people who were interested. At least, other than Li Zhuo, everyone else was interested.

"Team leader, what should we do next?" Alsop leaned behind Li Zhuo curiously and asked in a low voice.

Feeling the two soft objects touching his back, Li Zhuo silently accelerated half a step forward and pulled away from Alsop.

"Let's find Putnam's location first," Li Zhuo said. He did not realize that he had subconsciously accepted the title of team leader.

In fact, it was not that Li Zhuo was better than the others. It was just that the investigation naturally had to be done by someone with a strong intelligence system and a higher IQ.

Although Carl also met this standard, his hacking skills could only play a very small role in this investigation. Therefore, Li Zhuo was more suitable.

Of course, the most important thing was that the other three people besides Armstrong were very curious about how Li Zhuo planned to deal with the matter that Armstrong had entrusted to him.

In order to speed up the progress so that things would become more interesting, Alan took the initiative to say, "Putnam likes to stay in the gym most of the time."

"Most of the time?" Li Zhuo was a little puzzled.

That was because when he came to Section S, he saw that he was playing beach volleyball most of the time.

Alan seemed to immediately understand Li Zhuo's doubts. "Beach volleyball is a new entertainment that we have recently. Before that, he spent the most time in the gym," Alan said with a smile.

Li Zhuo nodded. He turned right at the next intersection and walked in the direction of the gym.

Alsop, who was about to provide directions to Li Zhuo, was slightly stunned.

When did this kid remember the structure of Section S? He even remembered where the gym was that he had never been to before?

However, when she thought of Li Zhuo's observation and memory, Alsop shut her mouth and did not say anything.

Just because others could not do it, it did not mean that Li Zhuo could not do it.

Alsop, who was following behind, revealed a smile. She really wanted to see how Li Zhuo would help Armstrong out of his predicament.

...

Li Zhuo's light footsteps echoed in the corridor. The others seemed to have their own ways to hide their footsteps, but only Li Zhuo did not have this kind of skill.

After all, he was not a criminal, he was just an ordinary student.

However, after a while, even the last light footsteps in the corridor disappeared, because Li Zhuo stopped.

When Li Zhuo stopped, everyone followed. Although they did not know why Li Zhuo suddenly stopped, they still followed his lead.

Not far from the corridor was the door of the gym. It was not too far from where they had stopped, but it was not too close either.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, Armstrong could no longer hold it in. He took the initiative to ask in a low voice, "team leader, why don't we go over?"

Li Zhuo turned his head and looked at Armstrong with a sidelong glance. "What do you plan to do after we go over?"

Armstrong was slightly stunned when he heard this.

Yes, what do we do after we go there? We can't just directly inject the drug given by Henry into Putnam's body through a syringe, can we?

If they really wanted to do that, the five people here together would not be able to carry it out.

Moreover, there were quite a few people in the team who only wanted to watch the show and did not want to contribute. Armstrong was very clear about this.

Thinking of this, Armstrong asked in a low voice, "then... What should we do next?"

Li Zhuo was silent for a moment.

"Go back."

"Go back?" Hearing this, Armstrong subconsciously raised his voice.

If it were not for Li Zhuo glaring at him, he might have continued to speak loudly.

Although he shut his mouth, Armstrong was still very puzzled. He had walked all the way here and did not do anything. He did not even enter the gym, but he actually wanted to go back just like that?

However, Li Zhuo did not seem to intend to explain anything. He just turned around and repeated in a low voice, "go back."

The other four people looked at each other and saw the doubt in each other's eyes. However, in the end, they did not say anything and could only do as they were told.

So, the team started moving in the opposite direction again in the corridor.

Only this time, Li Zhuo walked at the back of the team.

He heard faint footsteps coming from the corridor again, and they were getting farther and farther away.

The expressionless Putnam opened his eyes again.

He did not sweat at all, and his clothes were the prison uniform he usually wore. He did not change into the prison uniform he used to wear when he worked out.

Putnam's eyes looked calmly at the door of the gym.

The japanese-style kitchen knife in his hand was reflecting a faint light under the light of the gym.

...

When the five of them returned to the recreation room, Armstrong returned to his usual volume and complained.

"Team leader, we went to the gym. Why did we come back without doing anything?"

"If you don't have any good ideas, I can find someone else to be the team leader. The money I gave you doesn't need to be refunded to me."

It could be seen that Armstrong had a lot of money. It was so much that it seemed like he would never run out of it in his lifetime. However, he was not really a fool.

Armstrong did not mind spending money, but this was not a small matter. If he did not handle it well, he might lose his life. He had to be careful.

If Li Zhuo could not solve this task perfectly, Armstrong would rather find Carl to be the team leader. It did not matter even if he had to pay another sum of money.

Li Zhuo glanced at Armstrong, who was sitting on the sofa with a dissatisfied expression, and said softly, "didn't you guys notice anything wrong just now?"

Hearing this, the other four people looked at each other again.

"Something wrong?" Armstrong asked in puzzlement.

At this time, Alan had been watching the show without saying anything.

"It's the sound. The gym is too quiet," Alan finally said. He seemed to have noticed something long ago, but he did not take the initiative to say it because he was watching the show.

Li Zhuo nodded. "That's right. If Putnam was really in the gym, it wouldn't be so quiet.

"So there are only two possibilities. He was doing something else in the gym, or he noticed someone approaching the gym and stopped what he was doing."

"Imagine what would happen if we went in at that time."