There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

As the thought flashed through his mind, Manager Zhang was too lazy to keep observing the situation outside. He just wanted to get out of there fast!

With such a foolish teammate, he even suspected that this guy had been tailed on his way here!

And they had wasted so much time in the basement just now, for all he knew, the encirclement might already be forming!

So, the male waiter noticed Manager Zhang gave him a look of deep frustration, and then he turned and jumped out of the window.

The male waiter was momentarily bewildered. Read exclusive chapters at empire

But before long, Manager Zhang hurried back inside under the cover of darkness.

Right after entering the room, he headed straight for under the table.

"What are you doing?" the male waiter asked, puzzled.

"These kind of agent safehouses usually have escape tunnels built underneath," Manager Zhang said without looking back.

He had been busy healing his internal injuries before and hadn't had the time to search the place. By the time he could move freely, he noticed noise upstairs.

The male waiter standing nearby hadn't quite grasped the implication of these words until a sudden chill ran down his spine, and he jolted to the realization of what that meant.

"Shit!"

The male waiter took a big step and rushed toward the basement.

And the very next moment, the heavy sound of metal striking something came from all directions, as if something had been thrown onto the ground and was rolling away.

Instantly, there was a deafening blast!

An ear-splitting explosion tore from the yard into the house, sending stones and bricks flying. Scorching waves rose up with thick smoke into the sky, like a raging sandstorm, ravaging the house into pieces!

The roof collapsed, the walls came crashing down, and the air filled with the dust of gunpowder, tiny particles mingling with the drifting rain, immersing the space in a misty haze of smoke.

The male waiter, who had just jumped to the entrance of the basement, choked on the ash and, seeing the scene outside, suddenly thought he might take this chance to escape.

But it wouldn't be good if, after escaping the blast radius, he was met with a myriad of gun barrels.

"You really are an idiot. Don't you even know if you were followed here?!" Manager Zhang furiously cursed as he searched for a secret passage in the basement.

"I can assure you, I definitely wasn't followed just now..." the male waiter coughed, a strange look in his eyes.

If—

If that person's objective was to ambush him, then whether in the hotel or at the Radiant Corps' stronghold, he had had countless opportunities.

It definitely wouldn't make sense to go through the unnecessary step of doing it now.

But if the person's objective was Manager Zhang and he had known Manager Zhang would be here, he wouldn't have waited until now to ambush.

Could it be they were waiting for the two of them to complete their exchange?

However, the male waiter himself, the one on the mission, didn't even know what the item they were supposed to exchange was or what its uses were. And since the other party had already seen the item, it was even less likely that this was the reason.

So what could the other party gain by acting this way now?

To have both him and Manager Zhang captured together?

That somehow didn't sound logical...

The male waiter stood still at the staircase, listening to the sounds from the basement and pondering deeply, but no matter how long he thought about it, he couldn't figure out what benefit there was for that guy to betray him?!

"Damn it, there's not even a secret passage. Who built this crappy safehouse?!"

Manager Zhang's angry voice came from the basement again.

Outside in the spreading smog, the distant sound of heavy military boots could be faintly heard—the material used for the boots in District 13 was quite special, a kind of metallic steel, which produced a low thud when walking on stone pavement.

These military boots might be inconvenient for stealth attacks, but they were perfect for a charge.

And when kicking someone, they hurt especially badly.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Manager Zhang quickly came out of the basement. The table that had been above their heads had been blown who knows where, and the surroundings were filled with lingering dust.

After scanning around, he frowned tightly. "We shouldn't have wasted time inside with you."

"It wasn't that much time..." the male waiter muttered.

"Yeah, and you dallied around outside for who knows how long," Manager Zhang scoffed coldly.

"But you were testing me earlier, weren't you?"

Manager Zhang clicked his tongue, not wanting to engage in verbal sparring anymore. He carefully retreated backwards, gradually moving to the corner of the room's remaining walls, listening to the footsteps that were getting closer all around.

In the fog of night and dust, only his blurred figure could be seen, while the Male Waiter remained crouched near the staircase, motionless.

He was somewhat worried that the group outside might start firing indiscriminately.

The continual drizzle washed away the lingering dust, and the smoke from the explosions was slowly dissipating.

After a long wait, the wild gunfire never occurred, and the approaching footsteps from earlier also faded away,

It seemed as though the enemy was only tightening their encirclement within the smoky area; if they continued to wait like this, they might no longer be able to hide!

The Male Waiter gritted his teeth and lightly stepped on the ground littered with brick fragments, then suddenly dashed out!

Whoosh—

The dust was blown away by the brisk wind of his passing, and a person could vaguely be seen standing in the mist.

The Male Waiter reached out his hand.

But as the thin smoke cleared, the face of the person standing there also came into clear view. The person seemed to notice the movement and turned their head to look, a gentle and elegant face wearing a faint smile.

"..."

Hisss!

The Male Waiter suddenly braked hard to stop his momentum, his body twisted bizarrely, and then he returned to the smoke without looking back.

He had only wanted to capture a soldier with a gun.

This one, never mind.

...

...

Before the military attacked this stronghold...

The Male Waiter truly hadn't been followed, but it was precisely because he hesitated and pondered for too long in the house that the patrol team noticed something amiss from the vague shadows on the wall from a distance.

After all, the aura of authority the Capital Commandant exerted when ordering a search was truly terrifying. The secretary didn't dare to be reckless, sternly instructing the patrol team to be thorough in their search, not even sparing the floor!

To facilitate patrols, the lights were on in the houses of the civilian area or candles were lit.

During the fight with Manager Zhang, the immense commotion had destroyed a section of houses, which also included the temporary stronghold of the Radiant Corps.

But there were still lights in other places!

"Found something?"

The Capital Commandant raised his eyebrows slightly upon hearing the report.

He was ready to go extract the person himself, but before he could even start, they reported an anomaly? Truth be told, he was used to his subordinates being useless, so their sudden efficiency was indeed surprising and — suspicious.

Capital Commandant·Everything-Is-Suspect.

But he wouldn't let suspicion prevent him from taking action, so after reloading his pistol, he was ready to go kill someone personally.

At this time, the Capital Commandant suddenly looked at Doctor Kong, who was still eating, "You come along."

After killing someone, they could head to the military district. If they didn't catch anyone, there was no need to waste further time here in case this was the enemy's delaying tactic.

Xu Shuo was stunned for a moment before he caught on, then asked a soldier to help fetch the hotel's medical kit.

"Can you shoot?" asked the Capital Commandant as he loaded his gun.

"Of course."

Xu Shuo took the medical kit from the soldier's hands, but as soon as he replied, he saw the Capital Commandant toss a pistol toward him, which he instinctively caught.

Clack...

The pistol hit his extended left hand, but quickly dropped to the floor as Xu Shuo failed to grip it firmly.

He was holding the medical kit in his right hand, so he could only try to catch it with his left, but this hand had previously been twisted and broken by someone. Even after he had used medical techniques to reset it, lingering injuries remained, leaving him without any strength.

Seeing this, the Capital Commandant let out an ambiguous snicker and turned to leave.

Xu Shuo, with his head full of cold sweat, picked up the pistol and stuffed it into his pocket. But as he left the hotel, he took one more glance back.

...