Chapter 1865 - 1864: Ilotan?

The mercenary holding a gun kicked open the bathroom door, only to find an empty restroom.

Outside the bathroom, Anke, holding a little boy, rolled onto the ground, coughing violently twice.

"Are you okay?" Two little girls climbed out of the trash bin and hurriedly approached.

"I’m fine," Anke shook his head, taking a deep breath, "My body is still fine."

At that moment, a sharp pedestrian alarm sounded faintly behind him.

He turned around to see a massive overland truck slowly driving away from behind him.

There were two mercenaries on the truck, one driving and another in the passenger seat.

The mercenary in the passenger seat was squinting, seemingly napping, while the driver raised his head to look at the corner, seeing Anke standing on the ground and the three children beside him.

Time seemed to have stopped for a moment.

Then the truck stopped in front of Anke, the driver leaned out, and asked with some doubt, "What are you doing here? Is there a mission assigned?"

Just as Anke was about to speak, a loud cry came from the intercom of the truck, "The captain has been killed!"

Upon hearing this, the driver stared slightly, and his gaze naturally fell on the blood splattered on Anke.

Without hesitation, he reached towards his waist.

But Anke was faster. At this moment, he was already holding the door handle, pressing the electric baton onto the driver’s body, who then stopped with violent convulsions.

At the same time, the mercenary in the passenger seat was roused by the shout.

At this moment, Anke had already reached through the window to open the door from inside, hitting the passenger with the electric baton before he could fully react.

With intense trembling, the passenger also passed out.

Seeing this, Anke finally let out a sigh of relief.

He glanced behind the driver’s seat where an open bed was visible.

Long-distance vehicles often have a bed behind the driver’s seat for drivers to alternate rest.

Thud, thud, thud—

Slow footsteps were faintly heard from behind the truck. Anke unfastened the driver’s seatbelt, pushed him out into the resting area, then pulled the three children up, placing them into the resting area as well.

Then, he closed the door, fastened his seatbelt, and started the vehicle.

As the vehicle slowly moved forward, he glanced at the electronic rearview mirror.

Several mercenaries walked out from behind the building, glanced at the departing vehicle in confusion but did not chase after it.

He drove to the exit building, the automatic parking system scanned the plate but did not raise.

The mercenary in the gatehouse raised his head, glanced at the ’sleeping’ mercenary in the passenger seat, then tapped his file.

The barrier lifted accordingly.

Anke calmly started the vehicle, continued forward, and entered the street.

"Why didn’t you greet the gatekeeper?" An elderly voice inquired at his ear.

"When those two drivers boarded, they didn’t interact with the surrounding mercenaries, nor did anyone help them," Anke replied calmly, "This indicates they aren’t connected to the mercenaries around, they belong to another group."

He turned the steering wheel, "Being too proactive would only lead to suspicion."

"Why didn’t you shoot just now?" The elderly voice continued.

"Shooting would attract other mercenaries, and reveal my current position." Anke continued.

"You don’t seem to be as reckless as you appear." The elderly voice laughed.

"Old man, don’t laugh at me," Anke replied calmly, "I almost peed myself. Without your help, I wouldn’t have made it inside."

Speaking, he saw the overland vehicle parked on the side, "By the way, old man, are you in the vehicle?"

"Yes." The elderly voice replied calmly.

"Big brother, who are you talking to?" At that moment, a little girl sitting in the back cautiously asked.

"On the phone," Anke replied quickly, "Can you help me? Look behind to see if there’s any rope or something."

"There’s handcuffs!" The little boy immediately raised a pair of handcuffs.

"Good." Anke nodded, he glanced forward, then turned at a corner and stopped the vehicle, climbed into the back, pulled off the unconscious driver’s coat, and handcuffed him.

Then he rummaged through the corner, finding two more pairs of handcuffs, and handcuffed the passenger as well, throwing him into the back.

Later, he took off the blood-stained coat, changed into the driver’s coat, searched the driver and passenger for all guns and items.

Besides firearms, and some tissues, documents, and personal items, the driver’s pocket contained a storage chip with a navigation emblem, evidently a specialized navigation chip.

Then he tore off the bedsheet behind, shredded it into strips, tied the two up, and piled them in the back.

Once everything was done, he returned to the driver’s seat and inserted the storage chip into the vehicle’s system.

With a slight flicker, a navigation interface appeared in Anke’s view.

It was a trade route across the wilderness, leading to the end point of...

"Ilotan?"

Anke looked at the city name at the end of the route, slightly stunned, "Is it such a coincidence?"

"It might not be coincidence," He Ao’s calm voice sounded in his ear, "Ilotan’s geographical location is right in the passage connecting the east and west regions of the Central Federation, a position naturally makes it a large transport hub city, it might be the center of that area, serving as a logistics distribution center."

"So, are they transporting people to Ilotan?" Anke pondered, "Anyone from nearby cities would be transported there?"

"Possibly," He Ao calmly replied, "but more likely, it’s just a transshipment center, gathering people to be conveniently transported elsewhere."

"Possible." Anke nodded slightly.

"So how do you plan to handle these captured ’Believers’ and ’children’?" He Ao asked softly.

Upon hearing this, Anke subconsciously raised his head, looked at the truck compartment in the rearview mirror, then turned to see three pairs of somewhat confused eyes behind him.

"Get out of the city first," he took a deep breath, "The captain is dead, if they escape smoothly, as long as they’re in this city, they’ll inevitably become tools for the Mercenary Corps’ outlet."

After saying that, he looked at the distant city gate and started the vehicle.

——

Inside the building

"Dead?"

The man in a military officer’s uniform looked down at the round-eyed captain’s corpse on the floor, "Killed instantly, to kill an E-level Transcendent this easily indicates a master is present, seems that an Overseas Dragon has entered the city this time."

He shifted his gaze, looking at the mercenary beside him, "Did any suspicious characters show up?"

"There was a young mercenary," the mercenary replied, "He came out with the captain, but after the captain died, he vanished."

"The mercenaries here don’t know him?" the officer continued to ask.

"No, they don’t," the mercenary shook his head, "These mercenaries thought he was one of the captain’s men. The captain seemed to trust him a lot."

"What was this guy originally planning to do in this room?" the officer continued to inquire.

"There were three children locked in this room before," the mercenary said slowly.

"Fools." The officer stared at the corpse at his feet, raising an eyebrow.

He turned his head, looking at the mercenary, "Have all the believers been transported out?"

"Yes, transported out," the mercenary nodded slightly, "The drivers assigned from above took them away."

"Then it has nothing to do with us," the officer shook his head, "Send a message to the higher-ups and report the situation."

"Sir, aren’t we going to investigate?" the mercenary asked with some doubt.

"Investigate what?" The officer lifted his gaze, looking at him.

"The captain of the special operations team is dead..." the mercenary paused, "Won’t the higher-ups blame us?"

"We don’t have the authority over this special operations team," the officer shrugged, "If there’s a problem, it’s their direct superior’s issue."

"What about this dangerous person..." the mercenary said hesitantly.

"Do you think I’m tougher than the guy lying on the ground?" the officer glanced at him, asking directly.

The mercenary was momentarily stunned.

"Whoever easily killed this captain," he reached out, patting the mercenary’s shoulder, "can also easily kill you and me."

The mercenary instantly fell silent.

The officer turned around and walked out of the room, lifting his head, he glanced at the corridor; there wasn’t a single camera in this building.

"By the way, Captain," the mercenary said slowly, "the three children in this room seem to have gone missing as well."

"Got it," the officer waved his hand, "report it all together and let the higher-ups decide."

——

West City Gate

"Stop the vehicle, inspection." Standing at the entrance, the City Defense Army soldier raised his hand, halting the heavy off-road truck.

Anke, sitting in the driver’s seat, lowered the window, glancing at the soldier below.

He raised his hand, pointing to the West Steel insignia on his shoulder.

"I asked you to get out, for inspection," the soldier raised his head, looking at Anke, and said somewhat angrily, "Can’t you speak?"

Anke lifted his head, glanced at the soldier, and directly drew a gun from his waist.

"What are you planning to do?" the young soldier was clearly startled, gripping his gun, and looked up at Anke.

"Alright, alright," a slightly older City Defense Army soldier, seeing this scene, walked over from behind and pulled away from the young soldier.

He lifted his head, glanced at Anke, then looked at Anke’s badge, "Officer of the Mercenary Corps?"

Then he took down a tablet from his shoulder, glanced at the truck’s license plate, and entered a string of data.

Accompanied by a green light, he raised his hand and waved it, the barrier ahead lowered, "You may go."

Anke raised the car window again, started the vehicle, and drove the truck away.

"Damn, that bastard, what kind of attitude is that?" the young soldier looked at the departing truck, "You just let him go?"

"Why not? He’s on a top-secret mission from the Mercenary Corps, with the highest clearance," the older soldier raised his hand, revealing the top-secret label on the tablet, "what could you possibly do!?"

The young soldier was immediately silenced.

"Alright, your temper is only useful for regular trade convoys," the older soldier shook his head, looking up at the truck departing, "These mercenaries, especially those executing top-secret missions, might really kill."

——

The wide off-road truck drove along the old trade route, with Anke holding the steering wheel, looking at the clear sky ahead, the long road, and the endless wilderness.

"These roads in the wilderness sure are long." He looked at the road ahead, sighing.

The response he got was silence; the three little ones had already fallen asleep behind the driver’s seat.

Even though they hadn’t completely escaped danger, these children couldn’t hold on after all the tension.

The two ’prisoners’ in the back woke briefly midway, only to be stunned with electricity again.

"Old man? Can you hear me?" Anke spoke softly, tentatively asking.

"I can hear you," He Ao replied, "I thought talking to yourself is something you’d do after driving alone for too long."

"Old man, don’t tease me," Anke breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the wilderness outside, "In your day, was the wilderness like this too?"

"Just about," He Ao said slowly, "The wilderness is always the same, grass grows and withers, it’s beautiful but also dangerous."

"Indeed," Anke nodded slightly, "why would the Mercenary Corps let a transport vehicle traverse alone in such dangerous wilderness?"

He glanced at the rearview mirror into the carriage, "Though this transport vehicle should have bulletproof armor, surely there should at least be an escort team."

"How are you sure there’s no escort team? Did you interrogate those two drivers?" He Ao laughed and asked.

"Because no one has contacted us," Anke tapped the car radio, "This vehicle’s intercom can stay connected all the time, but since we left, no one has contacted us. If there were an escort team, even if we left alone, they would have tried to contact us."

He held the steering wheel doubtfully, "Honestly, this escort mission feels as if it’s unrelated to the Mercenary Corps; they only capture the people, and the rest is handled by another organization."

"Maybe," He Ao said casually.

The screen on the car’s system was lit, showing the truck’s current position on the route.

There’s no positioning system on the wilderness; this positioning is a local estimation system.

Using the truck’s orientation, speed, and images captured from surrounding cameras, compared with the local database, to ’estimate’ the vehicle’s location.

This is also one of the ’navigation systems’ used more frequently on the wilderness.

This navigation, of course, only works on trade routes. Off the trade route and relying on locally gathered data, the system is useless.

"These big shots’ intentions are so hard to guess." Anke shook his head.

"So," He Ao suddenly asked, "are you planning to take these people to Ilotan?"