"Will you cooperate with them?"
"...the factory...tell them..."
The sound coming from the bug was very clear.
Luo Ruyan's plan is simple.
Ask the boss to lead Xia Chuluo's team to a factory, and he will handle the rest.
It's getting dark.
This city has not escaped the law of many cloudy days. Dark clouds began to gather over the city, making the floating city in the sky look even hazier.
There was constant rolling thunder in the sky.
Xia Chuluo came to the front desk on the first floor, handed the boss a stack of banknotes, and took out a photo.
The photo is of Luo Ruyan.
She stared into her boss's eyes with an indifferent expression and asked in a deep voice: "The man in the photo stayed at your hotel not long ago. He also appeared in the surveillance video. I want to know about him."
The hotel owner received the instructions and naturally understood the identity of the girl in front of him.
He looked embarrassed and seemed to be very reluctant, and said in a low voice: "Girl, in our line of work, the most necessary professional ethics is to keep customer information confidential. I have given you the surveillance videos from this month. It’s a violation of conscience and we can’t go any further.”
"I can add money."
Xia Chuluo gently placed the photo on the table at the front desk.
The two people communicated in low voices.
Thunder rumbled outside.
The guests sitting in the lobby on the first floor resting or chatting did not pay attention.
The boss thought of what Luo Ruyan had said and tried to pretend to be a little more like him.
His expression changed, and he looked at the photo on the table, as if struggling for a long time. Finally, he slowly turned the photo over, covered it on the table, and said, "I do know some news."
"Say it."
"That guest doesn't appear often on weekdays. He always stays in the room on the second floor. Sometimes someone will look for him. He doesn't seem to be a local. He just came from another city. When I was delivering breakfast, he accidentally I heard that he... seemed to be avoiding someone's pursuit. "
"and after?"
"That day, another person came to see him. Not long after, a group of them came out of my hotel. When they checked out, they said something like, 'It's done, we won't be tracked anymore.'"
"Did they say where they were going?"
"This..." The boss hesitated for a while and stopped talking.
Xia Chuluo took out a thick paper bag from his shoulder bag, placed it on the table, and slowly pushed it to the boss.
The shop owner's eyes lit up and he looked around. He saw that no one was paying attention here and most people were looking outside, so he quietly put away the paper bag.
"I vaguely heard that they were going to a factory not far from here to establish a base, as if they were planning something bigger."
"Which factory is it?"
"yes… "
"Don't lie to me, the security in this city is not very good." Xia Chuluo stared into the shop owner's eyes, "In this place, it is very common for a few people to die."
"How is that possible? You have to do things after you receive the money. I still know this, and I will definitely not lie to you." The store owner laughed dryly.
The city has no executive bureau.
Public security still relies on robots left over from decades ago.
The floating city governs everything in the central city, perhaps deliberately causing chaos in the city.
Those robots are slow, low-intelligence, and have low combat effectiveness. Apart from their daily role in patrolling, they are simply decorations at other times.
The shop owner took the money and looked at Xia Chuluo's back slowly going upstairs, feeling uneasy in his heart.
It is impossible to say that I am not afraid.
But after all... Luo Ruyan and the others gave him more money.
…
Xia Chuluo and the others took action.
That factory is naturally fake.
But Luo Ruyan won't be too far away from the factory. He is working hard to complete the transformation from prey to hunter, so there is a high possibility that he will personally guard the factory.
"Boom!"
A furious thunder pierced the sky.
This old city in the dark night ushered in a moment of light.
Thin raindrops hit the broken steel pipes, making a ticking sound.
Neon lights of various colors light up at night, shining on both sides of the rusty streets. The hazy rain and fog make those light strips look more blurry.
People held black umbrellas and slowly disappeared into the dark rain.
"The factory has been abandoned for a long time. The weeds are knee-deep. There are two buildings next to the factory that are suitable for observation. One of them has six floors and the other has five floors."
Someone in the team talked about the terrain of the factory.
Xia Chuluo and the others did not leave from the main entrance.
They left through the window.
Darkness is the best protective color.
Before leaving, in order to create a little confusion, Xia Chuluo went downstairs and told the shop owner to make breakfast early tomorrow. They would go out to do errands around five in the morning.
So now the voice of the shop owner on the phone came from everyone's headphones.
"Mr. Luo, they are going out at five o'clock tomorrow morning. It seems that they are preparing to raid you before dawn..."
This shop owner took money but worked for others.
All we can say is that either this boss will jump around repeatedly and eat the money from both sides.
Or, Xia Chuluo didn't give enough money.
Lu Wen prefers the latter.
The public security in this city is not very good, it can be said that there is no security at all. In a place like this, no one would dare to jump repeatedly unless they think they have lived too long.
"The five-story building next to the factory is a hotel. There are many people coming and going, so it is easy to be exposed, while the six-story building is just an ordinary residential building."
"If my guess is correct, Luo Ruyan is probably somewhere on the top floor of that six-story residential building."
The team is analyzing Luo Ruyan's possible position.
Looking down from the top floor of the sixth floor, the entire factory is within sight.
It is indeed a unique location.
But Xia Chuluo frowned, pondered for a moment, and said: "These two buildings are too obvious, and there are no suitable escape directions around them. Luo Ruyan is a very cautious person, no matter how good the location is and there is no escape route, He wouldn’t choose to check whether there are ventilation ducts in these two buildings.”
"No, this type of building will not have ventilation ducts."
"Look carefully. In this area, you can see the factory and find a residence that is convenient for escape. For example, there is a helicopter parked on the roof, there are water canals around, it is close to the mechanical deaconry, and it is easy to cover sewer manholes... Forget it, Luo Ruyan probably can't. Drill into the sewer."
Luo Ruyan is a person who has been pampered for a long time.
He lives in the upper echelons of society, has a wide range of friends, has hidden methods, and is a top executive in the executive bureau in the art of disguise.
The sewers would not have been his first choice.
He is more accustomed to using the cover of the surrounding environment, such as crowds and darkness.
"In fact, you may not be able to see the factory with the naked eye. You can also observe it in all directions with surveillance. Maybe he will install micro-monitors in that factory?" Fatty Jiang expressed his guess.
He felt that Luo Ruyan should be sitting quite far away.
The cunning middle-aged man stared at the screen intently, waiting for them to enter the factory and throw themselves into a trap, and then start using smoke, bombs, siege and other means.
"There will definitely be surveillance, but Luo Ruyan is too cautious. He was deceived by surveillance once, so he trusts his own eyes more now." Lu Wen said.
Luo Ruyan originally installed surveillance cameras at Xia Chuluo's home.
He thought he could catch Xia Chuluo's every move, but he miscalculated.
That miscalculation caused him to fall into an extremely passive situation, forcing him to give up his many years of business in Mowu City and escape to Central City to seek help from his friends.
"Since it must be visible to the naked eye, let me think about it..."
Fatty Jiang called up the three-dimensional city model of the nearby urban area.
Everyone stayed in the alley on a rainy night, using the darkness as cover, waiting for Fatty Jiang to give his conclusion.
Didn't wait too long.
Fatty Jiang marked three red points on the map, packaged all the models and vector data he had made, and gave a copy to everyone.
"From a geographical point of view, the abandoned factory can be seen from these three locations, and it is relatively hidden and difficult to be discovered."
The advantage of the first location is convenient transportation.
The roads in the central city are relatively narrow and often congested, but the first location is well connected and you can run in any direction. If Xia Chuluo and the others choose to pursue them, they will inevitably be pursued by the Mechanical Deacons.
The second location is next to a small ditch. The ditch is only more than ten meters wide, but the flow is very large. It is the source of drinking water and tap water for the entire urban area.
Many companies have products for one-man submarines, and it is not difficult to get one.
Bilan and Xinhong also cooperated with the Parliament to develop combat-ready micro-submarines, but later due to low actual combat value and the world being full of deserts, the submarine project was shelved.
"The third location is quite special. Next to it is a mechanical execution station. Those silly old robots come out every day to patrol and handle disputes."
Xia Chuluo looked at the model and calculation results given by Fatty Jiang.
She ultimately decided to go to a second location.
Lu Wen had the same idea as hers. The first location was more dangerous. Luo Ruyan had experienced road chases and knew that their group was always waiting for them with rocket launchers, so he did not dare to take risks.
The third location may lead to both parties being targeted by the Mechanical Deaconry.
Luo Ruyan was so cautious that he would not let himself fall into passivity again.
"In the second location, you can not only see the factory, but also the two more conspicuous buildings next to the factory."
…
Numerical zoning is a common practice in many cities.
At that time, there was a tacit understanding when establishing the nine major cities. People who had experienced the war were too lazy to do those complicated things and kept everything simple.
Central City has nine districts.
Coming from Mowu City, the passage into the city leads to the fourth district.
Luo Ruyan was sitting in front of the window, and the rain was winding down the glass window.
The constant flashes of thunder and lightning made this summer night a little more depressing and dull.
After arriving in Central City, he quickly found some old friends he had known for many years and formed his own team.
This not too small room is their current base.
"Don't sit in front of the window, watch out for snipers."
In the corner of the room, a tall man warned.
"If it's really Xiaoxia who's here, she won't kill me just yet. At most, she'll seriously injure me, because she wants to know more about the death of her parents from me."
Luo Ruyan smiled gently and was confident.
Understanding the opponent's psychological state is something a team leader must learn.
"I suggested at that time to install surveillance cameras around the hotel. At any rate, we can know their every move at any time." A person sitting in front of the computer said.
This man wore thick glasses, was thin, and had sallow skin.
It was this person who helped Luo Ruyan get rid of Fatty Jiang's pursuit.
"Surveillance is somewhat deceptive. What you see in the surveillance may not be true. With Xiaoxia's ability, if the existence of surveillance is discovered, it will be very easy to change the surveillance video. Then we will be more passive."
Looking out from the window where Luo Ruyan was.
The factory has a clear view, and you can also see several distinctive buildings around the factory.
Of course, they also installed monitoring systems in the factory.
It is safer to combine the monitoring picture with the naked eye.
"Is that hotel owner trustworthy? He said that Xia Chuluo's team will go out at five o'clock tomorrow morning." Someone asked.
"The hotel owner's words are credible to us, but to Xiao Xia... she should be able to guess that the factory is a trap. As for leaving at five o'clock tomorrow morning, it may also be used to confuse us." Luo Ruyan said.
"My lord, it's really tiring to deal with your family. They are scheming and scheming." The strong man complained: "If there is any problem, I will just open the skylight and speak out. If I don't like it, I will fight. I will speculate all day long. Do you find it troublesome?"
"Your IQ... will be like this for the rest of your life." Someone laughed in the corner of the dark room.
Luo Ruyan has a team of more than ten people, all of whom have made achievements in various fields.
They have been friends with each other for many years and are familiar with each other. They have searched for treasures in no man's land together, and have also carried out assassination missions together. They have a life-long friendship.
"There is no need to be too nervous. Xia Zheng was already dead back then. How could his daughter be more difficult to deal with than him?" someone said.
"The reason why Xia Zheng died was because he insisted on going against the Floating City. He was okay alone, but he still dared to go against the Floating City when he had a family."
In that plan against Xia Zheng, many experienced killers took over the task.
Not many people can withstand the temptation of that generous bounty.
"You said...it was originally rumored that Xia Tian was digging out some of the high-explosive warheads buried in the north and hiding them somewhere in the floating city. Is it true?"
"It's not just high-explosive warheads." Luo Ruyan said: "Although I don't know the inside story, the original batch of missiles were buried by those in the Floating City. There were all kinds of missile warheads. Judging from the fierce reaction in the Floating City at that time , those missiles must have been dug up a lot, who knows where Xia Zheng got them."
"It's unlikely that he could have taken away so many missile warheads by himself."
"What if there is help from other forces?"
"With Xia Zheng's arrogant character, he will never cooperate with ordinary people."
"Then what if... the person he is collaborating with is not a human being?"
(End of chapter)