Just when Yuri was at a loss what to do, he saw the car lights coming on from behind, and his hand originally holding the steering wheel reached for the revolver on his waist.
The car got closer and closer, and finally stopped slowly behind him. Yuri watched the rearview mirror. If something went wrong, he would step on the accelerator and leave. A conflict in such a remote place was not what he expected.
In addition, he couldn't figure out how many people there were on the other side.
The car behind turned off its lights, and a familiar voice came, "I can help you find those people, if you want to cooperate."
Yuri recognized the voice. He drew his pistol from his waist without hesitation and replied as calmly as possible: "I don't understand what you are talking about, sir."
"Come on, Yuri. I know you recognized me, and I also know that you must be holding a gun in your hand now. In addition, I also know that you have no way of finding those people, right? Otherwise you would have left early
Now, you won’t stop talking nonsense to me at all.”
"That's hard to say. Maybe I just want to kill you?"
"Aha." Xing Ze laughed, "Are you sure you have this ability?"
"How will you know if you don't try?"
"Then why are you still hiding in the car? Are you planning to poison me with exhaust fumes?"
"Very interesting." There was a hint of uneasiness in Yuri's tone. He knew that he didn't have much chance of winning. The other party was a wizard, and he should have prepared magic by the time of the conversation.
His anti-magic cloak was scrapped after the last battle in the apartment, and the current points are not enough to replace it with a new one, so even the lowest magic at this time can make Yuri lose the opportunity.
After a period of silence, Yuri asked: "Why pretend to be Quentin?"
"I just want an easier identity to integrate into. I don't expect you to believe it, Yuri, but we have the same goal, and cooperation is the way to do it."
Either way, he will die. Now Yuri has two choices before him. Cooperate with this monster who doesn't know whether it is an enemy or a friend, or fight to the death to see if he can escape and ascend to heaven. No matter which plan, the risk is quite huge.
.
"There's no time, Yuri. They're getting further and further away. If you don't want to cooperate, then don't block my way."
After saying this, the other party restarted the car, and the dazzling roof lit up again, reminding Yuri that he needed to make a decision as soon as possible.
"What can you do?"
Xing Ze smiled lightly and said, "Follow me." After that, he drove the car and passed Yuri.
…
The ringing of the phone woke up Ellie, who was sleeping soundly. She opened her eyes drowsily, reached out to pick up the topic and asked, "What's the matter?"
Ribbon's voice came from the other end of the phone, "Do you remember the clue wall in Frank's office?"
"What time is it now?" Ellie asked, rubbing her temples.
"Two o'clock in the morning."
"Don't you want to sleep, Superintendent?"
"I like to think about something at night, which makes my thinking clearer."
"Then you must have discovered something."
"Hmm, the technical department sorted and rescued some information." Ribbon said on the other end of the phone. "I brought the backup home to study it. Frank is looking for a person named Kimball, right?"
"That's right."
"I might be able to help you narrow it down."
"go on."
"Nursing homes and homeless shelters. You might be able to start at these places. In the recovered information, Frank mentioned a nursing home, um, or a shelter, but he didn't specify which one."
"Interesting, I took note of it."
After ending the call, Ellie sat up in bed. She lowered her head and thought for a while, then got up and walked to the pile of information.
“Nursing homes and drop-in centers?”
Most of the information Frank looked up was about nursing homes and shelters. At first, Xing Ze thought it was related to the abbreviation SUE. In this case, their thinking fell into a misunderstanding from the beginning.
Frank's purpose in investigating these nursing homes and asylums may be to find the person named Kimball.
Ellie waved her magic wand, and the information floated up in the air in an orderly manner. She needed to further sift through it. The information hidden in the underground archives was very old, and a large part of the nursing homes had closed down, not to mention that it was becoming increasingly difficult to operate.
Sheltered.
Looking at the vast amount of documents, Ellie sighed. It seemed that she would have to stay up all night today, and she didn't know if her new ideas could lead her to find some useful clues.
…
Under the guidance of Lan Bei, Xing Ze followed the kidnapped investigators to a small village. Because the roads were not good and it was still night, it took them nearly two and a half hours.
The sun will rise in an hour, and as night falls, Xing Ze parks the van in the woods near the village.
This village is not shown on the map, but according to the information left by the three mercenaries, it should be called Emberhead Village, and it is also the place where they need to send the investigators after they deal with them.
Yuri also found a secluded spot to park his car. He arranged his equipment and then walked towards Xing Ze.
Two meters away from Xing Ze, he stopped and asked, "Why did you stop?"
"We're here." Xing Ze said, "Come up and take a look."
Yuri frowned and climbed up the high slope in a few steps. From here, he could see some shining lights not far away, indicating that there were people living there.
"This is?" Yuri was a little confused. He was fairly familiar with the surrounding areas of the Severn Valley, but he had never been here. Judging from the dirt roads, this place was probably a remote village in the mountains and forests.
Xing Ze handed the mercenary mission documents to Yuri and replied: "Emberhead Village, what do they call it?"
With the help of a flashlight, Yuri could see the words on the document clearly, but he still had doubts in his heart. He still didn't know how Xing Ze tracked down this place. They didn't see an ambulance or other vehicles along the way.
It is very possible for the other party to change cars midway, because driving around with an ambulance is too risky, but even if they change cars midway and are delayed, it will still be faster than them.
This poses a problem. Unless Xing Ze knew where the village was from the beginning, how could he bring it here without the car in front of him to track it?
Magic? It is possible. After all, magical magic can achieve many incredible things, but Yuri is more worried that Xing Ze brought him there for other purposes. For example, to find a suitable place to kill him.
This is not impossible. Many cult organizations like to do this. They will sacrifice captives to the gods they worship. Among them, living sacrifices are undoubtedly the best.
Just when he was thinking wildly, Xing Ze reminded him: "I think you should put out the flashlight. It's not far from the village. If they have sentries, it will be easy to find us."
This was true. Yuri put out the flashlight and asked, "What are your plans next?"
"Let's get to know each other formally first. You can call me Li."
Yuri nodded and asked: "Are you a wizard, or are you?"
"Wizards. Among wizards there are also scholars who study dreams."
"I understand, a wizard who studies dreams is very good." Although he said so on the surface, Yuri didn't believe Xing Ze's words at all. For a person who is good at pretending, anything he said was irrelevant.