Enforcer Manual
Chapter 181: The Most Expensive is the Free One_1

Chapter 181: Chapter 181: The Most Expensive is the Free One_1

In order to avoid arousing the suspicion of local law enforcement, he did not continue to ask questions on this topic at the time.

After all, nobody suspected Deputy Captain Eric, and it would seem odd for a stranger like him to be asking so many questions. However, once they had identified their suspect, tracking Deputy Captain Eric’s movements was not difficult.

Information brokers or hackers could help locate Deputy Captain Eric’s whereabouts.

"According to them, Deputy Captain Eric’s main responsibility was network security. They dealt with the internet and surveillance every day. On the day Lieyang’s father went missing, he had been working at the station the entire time, with no suspicious individuals visiting the place," he explained.

Only Deputy Captain Eric could edit or delete recordings from the surveillance area without raising any suspicions.

"You were able to uncover all of this?"

Lu Xiang was somewhat astonished. Song Lan once again demonstrated his knack for socializing. In fact, among those who interacted with him, there was almost no one who spoke negatively of him.

"As long as you hide the questions you really want to ask among a pile of others and ask them casually, it won’t raise anyone’s suspicion," he said.

For instance, regarding Deputy Captain Eric, he approached the topic by highlighting the need to improve cyber security in the 17th District, wanting to learn from their collective experience, and managed to gather this information.

"Of course, just asking the right questions isn’t enough. Remember when we went shopping for small gifts at the department store?"

The gifts were only small tokens of respect, but since all he asked the law enforcers were minor, unimportant questions, those who received the gifts were more than happy to chat with him.

While they were talking, a black stretched sedan parked by the side of the road.

The window on the passenger side rolled down, revealing a man sporting a pompadour they had never seen before. After feigning surprise, he looked at the two of them and said, "Director Lu, I didn’t expect to meet you here. What a surprise."

"And you are?"

Lu Xiang’s gaze drifted past the man to the woman seated in the driver’s seat.

The woman wore an expressionless face and had a dagger strapped to her waist. Although she kept her eyes forward, her imposing demeanor was reminiscent of an unsheathed sword.

A soldier?

Lu Xiang quickly deduced the woman’s identity.

"I sent you an anonymous email before. I hope it helped in the end," the man with the Pompadour cheerily stated. "Since we’ve bumped into each other here, how about I give you a lift?"

This was hardly a coincidence. He must have known they were in the capital of the Twelfth Nation right from the night they arrived. As they hadn’t attempted to hide their flight details, it was not difficult for an information broker to discover their identities.

Given the two anonymous emails they had previously received, this information broker had likely been waiting for them right here.

After considering for a moment, Lu Xiang opened the door and got into the back seat.

"They call me Vulture in the underworld. I’m acquainted with Ophir and learned quite a bit about you from her," he said.

While talking, Vulture turned to Song Lan, offering him a friendly nod and a cigar.

Song Lan quickly waved his hand, "No thanks, I don’t smoke."

"What a pity, I find that doing so adds a lot of pleasure to life."

He lit the cigar for himself, settling comfortably in the passenger seat, letting out a cloud of smoke. "Let me think, Deputy Captain Eric left the capital quite a while ago. The last sighting of him was at the second stop closest to the Twelfth Nation. However, I must advise against digging deeper. It probably won’t benefit you."

"Is that a warning?"

"No, just a friendly reminder."

Vulture explained, "Naturally, someone doesn’t want Eric to be found and has found a way to distract him. As far as I know, the Rebel Army is also looking for Eric. This isn’t a good sign."

His free hand rhythmically tapped on his knee while the expression behind his continued puffs of smoke remained hidden. "The situation outside is not too peaceful. The Barrosa Group seems to have had a wind, bringing in military supplies like they are dirt cheap."

Vulture did not rush to clarify.

The Barrosa Group had gone into war preparedness mode right after Lu Xiang and her team arrived in the Twelfth Nation. Could there really be such a coincidence?

According to the residents of Quicksand Town, someone killed a group of the Barrosa Group’s cavalry midway. This startled Scarecrow, who immediately sent a batch of personal guards that very night. However, these well-equipped guards never returned – not a single trace of them could be found.

The merchant group also did not find any indication of attacks en route.

An intuition tells him, this had to do with Lu Xiang and her companions. That’s because, according to the residents of Quicksand Town, a four-man merchant group arrived at the small town the next morning. One of them climbed the command tower of the Barrosa Group and burned their flag.

"I don’t know. It’s not related to us," Lu Xiang lied with a straight face. Sooner or later, anyone serious about investigating the situation would connect the dots back to them. But she wouldn’t spill everything just because some unknown information broker made some insinuations.

Although the information broker had sent her two anonymous emails, there was clearly an agenda.

CTEA-32.

The broker was likely investigating the drug, and showing up now probably had something to do with the vials.

"If there’s nothing else, you can drop us off at the next intersection," Lu Xiang said nonchalantly.

"This country recently purchased a large batch of CTEA-32 vials from the Barrosa Group. It made both the rebels and the locals nervous. I personally feel you might be interested in this information. It might be related to the case you’re investigating."

The car came to a stop at the corner of the intersection.

Providing just enough information was sufficient, since they were not close friends, after all.

"Oh yes, there’s a bar in that town... Dark something or other... I remember Eric had some connections with the owner of that bar. Each time he passed the town, he would go and have a drink there."

"Thank you."

...

Vulture chuckled as he watcuted h Lu Xiang and Song Lan get out of the car. It wasn’t until they disappeared into the crowd that his smile faded.

Aside from providing them with some free information, there was another reason for his rendezvous with them.

"Ke Ling, what do you think?"

He was, of course, referring to Song Lan.

"He seems to be just an ordinary person," Luo Keling replied. "Nothing special to look out for."

"Oh? Your saying so gives me assurance."

"Why?"

"You always help me eliminate one wrong answer, Ke Ling. Everything about you is great, except your judgement is consistently lacking."

A trace of irritation appeared on Luo Keling’s face. She glanced at the man’s legs and asked coldly, "Boss, do you want to walk home today?"

"Just a joke!"

To prevent Luo Keling from actually leaving him there, Vulture quickly said, "But if what you said is correct, then their future does not look too bright."

As the saying goes, free things are often the most expensive.

In the business of information brokerage, this is an unchanging truth.