Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Chapter 534 The Polluted City (28)

In an ordinary hotel in Oak City, Adenauer was chatting with the hotel owner at the front desk.

"What happened in the city? I see quite a few police patrolling the streets."

"I'm not sure about that, but it's been like this for the past week. Some say a criminal escaped, others say someone's planning to assassinate the mayor. But even though there are a lot of police on the streets, they're actually quite lax. There aren't any checkpoints in the city, and no wanted posters have been posted. It seems like they're not really paying attention to these things. The reality is probably not what's being said. If you didn't know better, you'd think they were checking for drunk driving or something."

The innkeeper was a portly man in his sixties, a nice, talkative guy. Adenauer seemed friendly, so the innkeeper struck up a conversation easily. Based on the innkeeper's account, he was completely certain that the police's explanation during his previous inspection was completely false. Even without considering their lax behavior, the various explanations even the locals had heard suggested their purpose was definitely not the rumored one.

Furthermore, according to the local boss, the police activity in the inner city has been going on for a week, so it doesn't match what the previous police officer said, that the bank robbery had only occurred recently.

"I see. But brother, when I was being examined just now, they said there was a bank robbery recently. But if you say that, that statement should also be false, right?"

"That's not true. This morning around six or seven, there were indeed a lot of police cars speeding down the street with sirens blaring, as if they were arresting someone. I didn't know what was going on at the time, so I got up to take a look. As soon as I got up, someone knocked on the door. I went out and saw three policemen. They said a nearby bank had been robbed and they wanted to search my hotel. While they were searching, I asked about it, and it seemed like the bank robbery had indeed happened. And sure enough, the bank was in that direction."

The hotel owner walked out of the counter, came to Adenauer's side, and pointed to a place on the right side of the hotel door, but soon he scratched his head. Although as a local, he knew very well where the bank was, for an outsider, in such a heavy rain, it was impossible to see the bank's neon sign directly from the hotel.

"It's raining so hard. If the weather were good, you should be able to clearly see the bank's neon sign from this location. The blue light you see in the rainstorm is the location of the bank's neon sign."

However, Adenauer's powerful eyesight allowed him to clearly see not only the bank's neon sign but also the bank's facade. It seemed a robbery had indeed occurred. There were three or four police cars outside the bank, but no one was inside. There were no restaurants or dessert shops nearby, so the police were probably inside.

"Alright young man, your room is on the third floor, 309. Go right from the elevator. It's the third room from the end of the hallway."

"Thanks."

The standard of living in Oak City was quite good. While it was an ordinary hotel, that was only for Oak City. It had all the amenities, including an elevator, room service, and electronic key cards. These features would have been considered hotel-like in any other city during the era of the dungeon's setting. The main advantage was the affordability. Adenauer couldn't use the contractor's equipment to transfer funds; his situation was illogical, so he only had a few hundred pounds he'd found in the cash register at the town's gas station. While not a small sum, it still didn't allow him to stay in a large hotel. He could stay for a day, but the situation was still uncertain, and Adenauer might need to stay in Oak City for a while longer, which was why he chose the hotel. He hadn't expected this place to be quite nice.

Originally, he wanted to find a motel to stay in. The place where he parked his car for the first time was also a motel, but the motel was full and there were no rooms available, so Adenauer came to this place.

Contrary to Adenauer's expectations, he had originally thought the hotel wouldn't be crowded. After all, it was located in the inner city of Oak City, and Oak City didn't seem like a good place for sightseeing. But in reality, there were quite a few people in the hotel, and most of them weren't locals. They looked like tourists, as could be seen from their accents, which were different from the Germanic accents he pretended to have. They would occasionally speak in their native language, confirming that they were indeed tourists.

And if you think about it carefully, the motels I've been to before were not small in size, so it's rare to see them packed with tourists.

Adenauer slowed down and listened to the conversations between tourists and hotel staff in the corridor. From their conversations, he learned that the main reason Oak City attracted so many tourists was because of its two famous sports: football and boxing. Football was easy to describe, suitable for all ages. However, although the tourists didn't mention the boxing matches in their conversations, it seemed that they were different from ordinary boxing matches.

Oak City holds football matches every year, and right now, it's peak season. Coupled with the fact that they're happening close to several highly anticipated boxing matches, Oak City has seen a surge in visitors lately. It seems the pre- and post-match performances featured a number of celebrities, so some visitors aren't interested in the matches themselves, but are visiting Oak City to see their favorite celebrities. This explains the current surge in visitors to Oak City and why the motel was so full.

However, Adenauer was not interested in these things. He was a little curious about the bank robbery, but there seemed to be no motivation for him to meddle in other people's business. So he planned to go to his room to rest first, maybe soon, or maybe it would take a day or two, waiting for the engineering team outside the city to complete the cleanup work, and then continue to Johor Bahru.

"309, that's it."

Entering the hotel's room, number 309, it wasn't particularly large, but it was cozy, with a bathroom, a master bedroom, a small living room, and a semi-enclosed balcony. The environment was pleasant and the price/performance ratio was excellent.

After taking off his clothes, Adenauer took a quick shower, but just as he came out of the bathroom, there was a knock on the door.

"Tuk-tuk-tuk."

Using his clairvoyance, Adenauer glanced outside the door. He saw a man wearing hotel work clothes, unarmed. He put on his clothes and opened the door to his room.

"anything?"

"Sorry sir, your car is parked in the wrong place. Could you please move it?"

"Sorry, I'll be down right away. I happened to be planning to go out for something to eat."

"Thank you for your cooperation, sir."

It wasn't a big deal. After notifying Adenauer, the hotel staff left immediately. There were indeed quite a few guests in the hotel recently, and he looked very busy.

Adenauer didn't have any luggage, so he grabbed his key card and left his room. However, he shifted the carpet slightly so that if anyone had entered his room before his return, he would be able to detect it immediately. Adenauer didn't need any protective measures; he could have used the echo to learn about the previous situation. However, after all, this was a more complete act, so it made more sense.

After leaving the hotel, Adenauer returned to the pickup truck. He re-examined where he had parked his car and realized he had parked in the hotel staff parking space. He hadn't noticed before, so the staff member should be fine. So he started the car and left the hotel.

Adenauer wasn't hungry, nor did he feel like eating; this was just an excuse. Besides, the neighborhood where the hotel was located didn't have any decent restaurants, though there was a small hot dog stand. Adenauer wasn't a big fan of hot dogs, so naturally, he wasn't interested. So, he decided to wander around the inner city to familiarize himself with the terrain.

When driving near the robbed bank, he happened to encounter a red light. So while waiting, Adenauer looked inside the bank. He did see more than a dozen police officers in the bank lobby, but he also saw many bank employees. This was very strange. It was already past eight o'clock in the evening, and the employees of any bank should have left work long ago. Even private banks that would keep employees would not keep so many people at once.

Even if the police officers were investigating the situation, it wouldn't make sense. According to the hotel owner, the bank robbery took place at around six or seven in the morning, when the bank staff should not have arrived for work, and the bank should not even have been open. And since there were police officers catching the robbers at the time, it meant that the bank was not robbed by the staff who arrived at the bank later, so there was little point in questioning them, and it was even more impossible to keep questioning them until now.

This unreasonable situation aroused his curiosity, but there was no suitable opportunity for him to investigate the bank's affairs, so Adenauer retracted his gaze and temporarily restrained his curiosity.

After the red light ended, Adenauer drove the pickup truck forward, circling the inner city. A kilometer from the hotel, he spotted the football field where a match was about to begin. Despite the awful weather, he could still hear faint singing, likely from a celebrity rehearsing. Even at this hour and in this weather, there were still many young fans outside the stadium.

A few hundred meters away from the football field is a large gymnasium. It is more like a sports activity center than a gymnasium. You can see that there are quite a few people inside the activity center. It seems that they are holding a press conference, but the spokesperson does not look like an athlete or a boxer. He is probably an agent, an athlete's boss or a spokesperson. There are not many ordinary citizens, but there are quite a few reporters.

In the center of Oak City, there is a luxurious six-star hotel, which also gathers many reporters and paparazzi. Professional reporters can enter the hotel, and someone provides them with a special rest area, while the paparazzi can only hide in the car or hide around the hotel wearing raincoats. In addition to them, there are also many star-chasers, but their treatment is similar to that of the paparazzi.

There were other guests inside the hotel, all seemingly checking out, and their expressions were less than pleasant. Some of the front desk staff could be seen repeatedly apologizing. Considering the hotel's current state, it seemed likely that celebrities were also staying there, and the reporters, paparazzi, and enthusiastic fans following behind them seemed to be causing considerable inconvenience to the guests. Furthermore, judging by the equally unhappy expressions of some of the hotel staff, it seemed that some of the celebrities staying here were not particularly friendly.

Adenauer was also not interested in the hotel's situation. He had no interest in celebrities and did not chase them at all. He also could not understand the behavior of those who chased them. So naturally, he did not care about them at all.

"Ok?"

"Discovery Mission: Find the murderer and his accomplices who killed Mike Fabron, uncover the truth, and make it public. Alternatively, once the murderer is identified, kill them and their accomplices directly. (Optional)"

At this moment, Adenauer, who had already been planning to leave the hotel and return to his hostel, suddenly noticed a task pop up on the task panel. After reading the task, Adenauer immediately looked inside the hotel again. Sure enough, some of the staff inside, probably affiliated with the celebrities, suddenly became chaotic and rushed to the elevator in a panic. A murder must have occurred.

Normally, in such situations, the police would be called immediately. However, given the precarious situation at the hotel's main entrance, surrounded by reporters, paparazzi, and adoring fans, if the celebrity agencies involved are large and influential, they would likely use their connections to secretly call in experienced detectives to investigate, in order to avoid public pressure. Regular police officers wouldn't be called in, and entry would typically be through the employee entrance or underground parking lot to avoid being photographed by reporters and paparazzi, especially the paparazzi. While legitimate journalists have some sense of self-control, and agencies can leverage their connections to curry favor, that's not the case with the overly egocentric paparazzi. Their thirst for attention and fame can't be quelled by hush money or public pressure.

If Adenauer wanted to complete this task, there were three ways for him to enter the hotel under such circumstances. The first method was the simplest, but also the stupidest, which was to pretend to be a normal tourist and enter the hotel in a normal way. But not to mention that Adenauer did not have enough pounds on him. Even if he did, the staff inside the hotel should have been notified in this situation. So even if he had money, he might not be able to stay there.

The second method, while relatively moderate but less reliable, involves using a contractor's equipment to intercept internal hotel communications, determine where the assigned detectives would enter, and then ambush them there in advance, "borrowing" their identities. However, this carries significant risk. The detectives assigned to investigate are likely acquainted or familiar with the agency's senior management, making it easy for them to detect any anomalies. Furthermore, such high-profile cases attract extra attention from the police, who will likely contact the detectives frequently to confirm progress. Even if Adenauer could deceive the employees, he wouldn't be able to conceal the truth from the police. Furthermore, while Adenauer lacked moral integrity, he generally wouldn't kill innocent people unless provoked. While unlikely, it's possible that the assigned detective is actually a good person. While knocking them unconscious is possible, waking them prematurely would be a problem for the attacker.

The third method was more complex, but for Adenauer, both reasonable and reliable. He would infiltrate the hotel and use the contractor's equipment to analyze the echoes at the crime scene to confirm the identities of the murderer and his accomplice. He would simply need to find opportunities to eavesdrop on the conversations of those who had experienced the crime, and then he could pretend that his conclusions were based on deductions, without arousing suspicion.

The third method is the most feasible and most to Adenauer's liking. At present, there is nothing too attractive about this case, so he does not intend to waste too much time on it. He just needs to go in, find the murderer and accomplice, and then kill them. As for the follow-up matters, at least they have nothing to do with the mission, and of course they are not important.

While the hotel was still under lockdown, Adenauer immediately drove his car into the underground parking lot and parked it in an inconspicuous but convenient location. He then immediately walked into the stairwell, ready to enter the hotel and begin this mission.