V, Rogue, and the others widened their eyes, hiding in the corner, rubbing their hands together, even looking somewhat expectant.
If only there were a bucket of popcorn right now.
"Let them fight, let them fight..."
Rogue whispered softly.
However, the guy didn't make a move. It wasn't time for a showdown, no need for weapons to clash.
Instead, he scowled and walked away.
The female brawler with spikes all over her head walked out of the factory gate, leaned against a cement column on the side of the street, took out a cigarette from her pocket, and lit it up with her head down.
There.
Rogue tapped Maelstrom's shoulder, pointing to the cleaner outside the gate, making a shooting gesture to his head.
"Pfft!"
With a muffled thud of a bullet penetrating a skull, the guy fell silently.
Good shooting skills.
Rogue gave a thumbs up, a "666" gesture, and continued to move forward.
Meanwhile, V, Jackie, and Maelstrom, as the cleaners at the entrance looked away from each other, fired a synchronized round, taking down three careless guys.
"What are you doing!?"
Bodies fell, hitting the iron of the container, attracting an unexpected voice.
Rogue, who was crouching, looked up in a panic, seeing a head poking out from the railing on the second floor of a half-demolished shabby building in the corner.
It's a cleaner!
"Damn it!"
Rogue's nerves and scalp exploded in an instant.
Without thinking, he pulled out his katana from his waist and threw it with a swing of his arm.
Half a second later, the cleaner's skull had a wobbly katana stuck in it, and he fell back weakly.
"What happened?" Judy was still searching for the blueprint of this warehouse, hearing the commotion, she asked anxiously.
"Minor issue, huh... damn."
Rogue exhaled and quickly climbed to the second floor to make sure they hadn't been spotted.
There was a TV, a refrigerator, a buzzing generator, and even a laptop connected to the surveillance equipment here.
The guy on the second floor earlier, now lying on the ground bleeding, was probably the one monitoring the cameras.
He opened the laptop and expertly browsed through the emails.
A knowing expression appeared on his face.
[Insider Info
Sender: Ivan Medvedev
Recipient: Slavic Life
The guy on Twist Street was killed, the goods shattered all over the place, definitely not a robbery. I think someone's got their eye on us.
——
Sender: Slavic Life
Recipient: Ivan Medvedev
Reply:
That means our goods are strong. If someone wants to mess with us, let them come. I want to see who's got the guts. Damn it, Twist Street business can't be interrupted. Find someone to replace him.
——
Sender: Ivan Medvedev
Recipient: Slavic Life
Reply:
Alright, I happen to have someone here. Also, we should at least double... no, triple the manpower guarding the entrance, so others don't barge in and cause trouble for us.]
These cleaners, who treat people like meat, are not easy to deal with, and their informants on Twist Street are very quick.
It wasn't long since Maelstrom had taken out the Black Ray Dream merchant that this hideout went on high alert.
However, from a certain perspective, this is also a good thing.
"I've confirmed it, the cleaners are most likely producing the Black Ray Dream here. I found their messages."
He said in the communication channel.
From a bird's-eye view, V and Jackie were carefully dragging and hiding the bodies, but there was nothing they could do about the bloodstains on the ground.
"Are you sure?" Judy asked.
"Positive. Even if it wasn't produced here, there's definitely a profound connection. In short, there are clues all over the place."
"Alright, I'll come to find you as soon as possible."
Pfft!
Another cleaner, previously unnoticed in the corner, fell to the ground.
The kidnappers have deployed quite a bit of force here.
Fortunately, the cleaners' usual negligence made dismantling their defenses much easier.
It's always been them plotting to harm others, but when was it ever someone else's turn to cause trouble for them?
If there was, it would be other gangs – those who would resort to violent means, like smashing doors and storming in with guns blazing.
Four ghost-like figures, the same ones who had infiltrated the Azure Tower, silently slipped in, hitting the cleaners' weak spot.
"Whew... I got the blueprint. I'll be there in a minute."
Judy breathed a sigh of relief.
"Alright, we'll meet outside the main building. We've cleaned up all the enemies outside."
Rogue replied, standing high above, holding a piece of clothing he found somewhere and wiping his blade with it.
Maelstrom, V, and Jackie stood by his side, hidden in the darkness of the night, quietly watching the filthy factory area filled with goods.
Evelyn, will you really be here?
A few minutes later, Rogue, who stormed in like a bandit, cleaned up a few cleaners and found the entrance to the underground level.
Judy managed to get the blueprint, confirming that there's a huge underground structure within.
In the dark and damp underground, there were boilers, pipes, and large steel doors spraying "NO ENTRY" signs... heavy iron doors.
A familiar scene often seen in movies, making one feel a sense of déjà vu.
"I'm here." Judy ran up from behind, "We need to go to the second underground floor. I bet she's locked up there."
By the unusable elevator at the corner, there was a man wearing only shorts lying in a pool of blood, having been dead for some time. The walls were covered in blood, with crooked blood writing.
I AM NOT ME (I am not me)
NOT ME (Not me)
[What a horrifying situation.]Johnny commented,[In an unknown corner, another life has vanished.]
"We'll find her."
Ignoring Johnny, Judy seemed to be talking to everyone, but also as if she was talking to herself.
The truth was just within reach, and a mixture of tension and excitement filled the air.
It was like the moment before the results were announced, when the rhythm of one's heartbeat doesn't seem to belong to its owner.
"I recognize those clothes."
By the garbage pile, a bunch of blood-stained clothes were heaped up – they belonged to Evelyn.
The situation they had hoped for, and also the one they dreaded, had materialized.
Evelyn was indeed most likely here.
All the way through, there were dimly lit workspaces and disarrayed items.
The shelves were stuffed with the same black Ray Dream packaging boxes and plastic bags used in "Deep Fried Death's Head Moth."
All the information was pointing towards the truth of the matter.
"We're running out of allylthiourea tonight."
A female cleaner said, startling Rogue.
"It's fine, we can add RTL to it, the weight is the same anyway."
Another man said, just behind a thin plastic film.
"RTL?"
"Red moss sugar alcohol, similar to the sugar consumed by adults."
Hearing this, Rogue became alert.
Red moss sugar alcohol, a zero-calorie sweetener, not as sweet as glucose syrup but more natural, has a downside – it's not metabolized in the body, causing diarrhea and bloating, which can affect a developing body.
"This RTL... it won't cause people to foam at the mouth, right? Otherwise, we'll lose business."
"Do you even know what we're making?" The man retorted, "This is propylthiourea, even the gang members will be so thrilled they wet their pants. What harm could adding some synthetic sugar do?"
"I don't understand why they eat that..."
"Except for madmen, no one would buy it because they like it."
"Then who buys it?"