Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Chapter 548 Temporary Team (1)

“Chew, chew, chew…”

In Liz's kitchen, the scene fell into an awkward silence. Apart from the sound of Adenauer eating the food Frank bought without any courtesy, the only sound was the rhythmic beeping of the alarm on the IED.

"suck!!"

Adenauer's behavior now was not like that of a dangerous intruder, but like that of a person who was resting in his own home. He took the ice cola in front of Frank and sucked the straw hard, making a loud sound of air. After putting down the drink, as if he was full, Adenauer took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and put one in his mouth.

"Want one?"

Just like visiting a friend's house, Adenauer handed the pack of cigarettes to Liz and Frank inside the kitchen bar, but after all, there was a beeping IED on the bar, so neither of them acted rashly.

"Don't worry, there's no poison on it. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it a long time ago. I could have shot Liz in the head while she was showering, then used her phone to send a message to trick you into coming here."

Liz glanced at Adenauer, then exchanged glances with Frank. From Adenauer's words, they both learned an important piece of information. At the police station, when Lugosi was looking for details of the case with Frank, Liz had returned home first. She arrived home around 1:20, less than half past midnight. From the moment she entered the house to the bathroom, it took only a minute or two. So Adenauer must have been there at that moment. Or, perhaps, when Liz entered the bathroom and turned on the shower, Adenauer, using the sound of water as a shield, pried open the door and entered Liz's apartment.

Now in front of Frank and Liz, the IED on the kitchen bar uses the warning part of the alarm clock on the bedside table in Liz's bedroom. Liz didn't take a long time to take a shower, only about ten minutes, so this IED is relatively simple, so Adenauer should have assembled this IED in Liz's bedroom, and the time should have been during the ten minutes that Liz was in the bathroom.

Using the IED's core material, the two were able to deduce Adenauer's general movements. The explosives in the IED were two old-fashioned hand grenades, not common items, but Frank clearly remembered seeing them in the police evidence room, as he was in charge of the case at the time. Based on the IED's core material, the two concluded that, despite using various methods to distract attention, Adenauer had not left the hotel. Instead, he had managed to follow Frank and Liz, and must have been very close. He might even have been able to slip into the police evidence room and steal the two old-fashioned hand grenades. The only possible hiding place that met all these requirements was the trunk of Frank's car. He must have taken advantage of the chaos and hidden in the trunk of Frank's old-fashioned Meteor, then arrived at the police station. As Liz left the station, he followed her to her residence.

Adenauer was currently wearing a trench coat, trousers, and a pair of oversized round-toed leather shoes. This outfit might have drawn attention elsewhere, but not in Oak City. Thanks to the popularity of a private detective-themed TV series that had taken the city by storm a few months earlier, most of the private investigators in Oak City, even the detectives who weren't required to wear uniforms, were now dressed in this way. Even some ordinary citizens, if they were in decent shape, would occasionally wear this outfit. So, entering and leaving the police station in this outfit was a perfectly normal occurrence. Furthermore, the police were busy handling the details of the Fabron murder case and dealing with the influx of reporters, so the management of personnel wasn't as strict as usual. Under these circumstances, with Adenauer's skills, sneaking into the police station was incredibly easy.

"Where is the owner of the clothes you are wearing?"

"He was sleeping in a trash can in your police station's underground parking lot. Don't worry, I just knocked him out. Luckily, he's a fat guy who loves donuts, otherwise his clothes might not be big enough."

"It's Robert."

Liz glanced at Frank. Based on Adenauer's words, the latter guessed who the man who was knocked unconscious was. It was Deputy Chief Robert. This guy was an excellent policeman. His only shortcoming was that he was addicted to sweets, especially donuts. His daughter was a police inspector at the Oak City Police Department. For the sake of Robert's health, he had been forbidden to eat donuts and other things for a few months. However, Robert always found opportunities to avoid his daughter and ran to deserted places to eat secretly. The underground parking lot was where Robert often appeared. Frank had encountered him several times. This time, Robert probably saw Adenauer coming out of the trunk of Frank's car while eating, or Adenauer discovered him first, and then he was knocked unconscious by Adenauer and thrown into the trash can.

(The rank order in the Oak City Police Department, from junior to senior, is Constable < Detective < Sergeant < Inspector < Superintendent < Deputy Senior Superintendent < Senior Superintendent < Deputy Chief < Chief or Commissioner 6-8. While Frank and Liz are nominally called detectives, they both possess far greater qualifications than Sergeant. However, Liz has always had no interest in advancement, while Frank prefers a management background, which would reduce his involvement in field operations. Therefore, neither of them took the Sergeant promotion exam. However, their actual status within the Oak City Police Department is on par with Sergeant. Frank, in particular, is particularly well-known. Some younger Sergeants have even served as his apprentices, so within the department, he is considered a semi-inspector. Furthermore, both are experienced and have solved numerous cases. Although both are only in their early thirties, if they seek promotion, Chief Lugosi, Liz's father, would likely use his connections to allow them to skip the rank and take the Sergeant exam. Both are highly popular and capable, so no one in the department would object.)

"If you two are worried or don't believe it, you can call the police and have them take him out of the trash can."

Adenauer used the empty drink cup, now empty of ice, as an ashtray. Although Frank appeared relaxed and at ease, his eyes never left the disposable phone in his hand. After all, as long as he pressed the dial button, he and Liz would become part of Liz's kitchen. Frank wanted to do something to distract Adenauer, then throw the IED, thus resolving his current passive situation, or at least sacrificing himself to protect Liz. But just as he was about to do something, he looked up and found Adenauer's sharp eyes fixed on him. Now didn't seem like a good time to act.

As an experienced detective, Liz remained unfazed despite the situation. Her thoughts mirrored Frank's, except she was focused on saving him. Seeing Adenauer staring intently at Frank, Liz reached for the bar drawer. For safety reasons, Liz kept guns strewn throughout her apartment. For example, in the drawer she was trying to open, there was a fully loaded automatic pistol. If she could reach that automatic pistol, she might have a chance to kill Adenauer before he could detonate the IED. However, things didn't go the way Liz envisioned.

"Don't look for Miss Liz, she's here with me."

"Dang, dang."

Although Adenauer was not looking at Liz, he saw Liz's small movements out of the corner of his eye. He extinguished the cigarette, reached into his pocket, and threw something on the kitchen bar. Liz looked down and saw that it was the automatic pistol that should have been in the bar drawer, and its unloaded magazine.

"As someone who knows a lot about firearms, I can give you some advice, Miss Liz. Don't overload the ammunition. Leave a gap of one or two bullets. This will reduce the chance of malfunction. After all, you won't use it often. However, I can see that you clean these guns regularly, which is a good habit."

"What exactly do you want to do?"

"So direct? I thought you would ask about my relationship with the Fabron case, but that's fine, be direct and don't waste time. The reason I came here was to take Liz hostage and use her relationship with Director Lugosi to successfully pass through the blockade of Oak City and leave here. However, after seeing these tampered surveillance videos, the method of just taking Liz away is not feasible. I can't guarantee that Liz will come back alive. After all, I don't have a hobby of being a nanny, and I don't have much interest in it. So I need a bodyguard who can guarantee Liz's safety before I leave Oak City. Frank is a good fit. I can see that you two have some different chemistry. It's like Frank is thinking about how to ensure that Liz is not affected by the explosion, and Liz is also trying to protect Frank, right?"

"With your skills, escaping Oak City on your own shouldn't be easy. Why do you still need Liz's identity?"

Frank was not only curious about Adenauer's behavior, he was also looking for an opportunity, so he finally took the initiative to talk to Adenauer.

"I could kill as many people as possible before escaping, but that would only lead to more people following me. I don't have time to deal with them, and I don't intend to waste bullets on them. Liz's background can cover my whereabouts to a certain extent. Even if I'm discovered sooner or later, at least I'm far away. I don't need to pay attention to the followers behind me in the short term, and it can also minimize attention."

"what are you up to?"

"I need to find a way to get into Johor Bahru, find some guys, and put some holes in their heads. Or find a way to blow the whole city up."

“What?! Why Johor Bahru??”

Adenauer didn't rush to answer, but pointed at Liz's computer. Frank and Liz had already suspected that the town's surveillance footage on the computer was likely fake, and now Adenauer, the only one who had experienced the scene, didn't need to say anything, they immediately understood that their suspicions were correct.

"What if we don't cooperate?"

"Then I'll do something a little perverted to force you to obey. After all, I'm a wanted criminal, so I have to do something that lives up to my notoriety."

Frank recalled the records he'd found through his connections, taken by the guards during Adenauer's time in prison. He'd once used the exercise equipment in the exercise area to prick an inmate who'd irritated him, then ripped off his head. He'd then played soccer for a few minutes before the guards swarmed over him. A few days later, in the prison bathroom, he'd disemboweled several inmates who'd tried to kill him with an unpolished toothbrush and ripped out their entrails. Then, in the same bathroom, he'd showered as if nothing had happened. Before being sent to a solitary cell, he'd brutally killed a guard who'd used an electric baton on him by stabbing him through the eyeballs. Someone capable of such behavior, even if he said he wanted to deal with some perverts, who knew what he was capable of. To protect Liz from such a fate, Frank instinctively moved to the right, shielding her from the crowd.

"Don't worry, Frank. If I really want to take action, you'll be the first one I kill, so don't worry. My request is simple. As long as you and Liz can cooperate, once I leave Oak City, you can return to Oak City. After that, as long as you don't commit suicide, I think that will be the last time you see me. Killing is just a means to an end, not a hobby of mine."

"You have to understand, Adenauer, it's hard for people like you to get others to believe what you say."

"That's true."

Adenauer agreed with Liz's response. He nodded and raised the disposable mobile phone in his hand that would serve as a detonator. Just as Frank was about to use his body to block Liz, Adenauer did something that puzzled both of them.

"Kara."

"Dang Cang."

As the two men watched, Adenauer threw the disposable cell phone onto the kitchen counter, then cut a wire on the IED, stopping it from working.

"In that case, now that there's no danger, we can talk first. I guess you must have a lot of questions. I can tell you what I know. Of course, whether you believe it or not is not my problem, but I don't like lying, after all..."

"Dong dong dong..."

Adenauer was halfway through his words when he suddenly turned his head to look at the door of Liz's apartment. Some subtle, rapid and dense footsteps reached his ears. Soon, some rustling sounds came from the door lock, as if someone was trying to pry open the door lock.

"Click."

"squeak.."

As Frank and Liz were watching, someone successfully opened the door of Liz's house, quietly pushed it open, and was about to enter Liz's apartment. At this moment, Frank noticed that Adenauer suddenly took out something from under his trench coat. They were two submachine guns that they had seen before. Needless to say, the bullets were probably full and were always loaded.

"what?!"

After the door opened, the face of the person who came in surprised Frank and Liz. The person who opened Liz's door was a guy who looked exactly like Liz, whether in appearance, figure, or even voice.

"Where are you looking?"

"Who are you...?!!!!!"

"Da da da da da da!!!"

The person who looked exactly like Liz was attracted by Adenauer's words and immediately showed a surprised expression. Adenauer did not hesitate to pull the trigger. Bullets rained down. A big hole was immediately dug out in her chest by two submachine guns firing at the same time. She fell to the ground and died.

"It seems that cooperation is necessary, Miss Liz. You may be more important than you think."