Chapter 18 The bridge, sweeping across, immediate escape—these four words are anything but ordinary…

L City, two months ago.

Snake Eyes walked out of a Mediterranean-style breakfast shop, picking his teeth as usual.

Of course, it was on credit.

As for whether this debt will be repaid, it's highly unlikely.

Back outside the two-story building, which was written as "office" but read as "operation base," Snake Eyes immediately noticed something unusual.

That was a car.

A Jeep that has been modified into a bizarre and incongruous shape by all sorts of strange stickers.

Upon seeing the car, Snake Eyes laughed and strode into the hall, trying to find the car's owner—Rhinoceros Horn.

This rhinoceros horn was his former junior and subordinate, and the two had done many despicable things together, such as stealing chickens and dogs. Because they knew too many embarrassing things and dirt on each other, their relationship was, in a sense, "stronger than gold".

Since Rhinoceros Horn rose to fame in one battle, transforming from an unknown nobody into the right-hand man of the group's big boss, Dragon Spine, the two have rarely seen each other.

Snake Eyes wasn't envious of this opportunity at all. After all, he would rather have most of his original leg and a fully functional egg than earn more money.

This rhinoceros horn was quite loyal; after he became successful, he didn't forget to help his old boss, Snake Eyes. He found an opportunity to transfer Snake Eyes from the "frontline henchman position" to the "rear support position," making him a "sheepdog" to keep an eye on the group of researchers who were as gentle as sheep.

Although life wasn't as tumultuous as before, it was still quite comfortable. While the researchers were engrossed in their work, Snake Eyes was even able to go out for a stroll.

In short, Snake Eyes was very happy to see the rhinoceros horn today.

The moment he stepped into the office lobby, he instinctively spotted Rhinoceros Horn's figure behind the water bar.

"Why are you just sitting here?" Snake Eyes pulled out the chair next to Rhinoceros Horn and sat down casually.

Rhinoceros Horn shook the sugar packet into his coffee and said irritably, "Because it's only 8:53 now."

The snake's eyes were clear.

Although these researchers are usually as docile as sheep and can be bullied and manipulated by others, they are united in their commitment to working in the morning. They say it's nine o'clock and it's nine o'clock, and even if they are already sitting at their workstations, they will not start working a second early.

What wind blew you here?

Although he asked that question, Snake Eyes' attention was already focused on the box next to Rhinoceros Horn's feet.

The box was entirely plain silver, with no decorative patterns except for a separate protective layer wrapped around each of the eight corners, giving it a very high-end appearance.

Moreover, in terms of materials, it is perhaps more valuable than the alloy ankle exposed at the slightly empty right leg of the rhinoceros horn trousers.

"Want to know? Call me Dad and I'll show you." Rhinoceros Horn laughed and scolded, casually taking the box onto the table.

"Screw you." Snake Eyes casually dragged the box in front of him, quickly unlocked the three latches, and lifted the lid.

Then I was almost blinded by what was inside.

It was something that Snake Eyes could hardly describe with his limited vocabulary.

It's round, like a pebble that's been washed by the sea for decades.

It was bright, as bright as the eight-figure jewels displayed in the black velvet jewelry box behind the thick bulletproof glass on King Street.

Four words: This is no ordinary thing.

"What is this?" Snake Eyes looked at the rhinoceros horn and asked, forcibly suppressing the trembling in his voice.

Rhinoceros Horn rolled his eyes while sipping his coffee. "Big brother, use your brain. If you knew what this was, what would I be doing here?"

Realizing he had asked a foolish question, Snake Eyes stopped talking, put on the white silk gloves that were next to the object, and carefully picked it up.

Light, as light as a newborn kitten that hasn't opened its eyes yet.

It's warm, like a towel that's been ironed.

Just then, the clock hanging in the office lobby struck exactly nine times.

Rhinoceros Horn tapped Snake Eyes' wrist with a coffee stirring spoon. "Alright, alright, hurry up, I need to get to work."

Snake Eyes reluctantly put the item back, then watched as Rhinoceros Horn closed the box, picked it up, and went into the soundproof room next door with the chief researcher to talk.

Although he couldn't hear what the two were saying, Snake Eyes could clearly see a very obvious sense of confusion and bewilderment on the chief researcher's face.

This is a very rare thing.

Since Snake Eyes was transferred here to act as a "sheepdog," he has been observing these "sheep" quite a bit out of boredom, especially the one leading the "sheep."

I heard that the leader of this "sheep" group graduated from a good university in V City, but had to return to L City due to family reasons and became a researcher at a subsidiary of Kangming Group.

Perhaps his output is indeed outstanding, but he usually looks at everything with an attitude of "This is just a trivial topic, I have already thought of a perfect solution, but I am too lazy to explain it to you."

What could have made this person make such an expression...? What did that rhinoceros horn say?

Well, if even a sheep leader can't understand something, then someone with my own intelligence certainly can't handle it either.

As Snake Eyes was pondering this, the conversation over there had ended, and the box had been handed over to the leader of the "Sheep" by Rhinoceros Horn.

Judging from the expression on the leader of the "sheep," the "sheep" will be working hard again for a long time starting today.

So after sending away the rhinoceros horn, Snake Eyes very conscientiously started slacking off again.

In the evening, Snake Eyes, who had been wandering around all day, plopped down on the waterfront of L City near the stronghold and habitually lit a Da San Xi cigarette and put it in his mouth.

Through the smoke from the burning tobacco, he looked at the L City Bridge not far away and the vehicles of all sizes moving across it, and suddenly thought angrily:

This bridge is so noisy with all the cars coming and going every day. It would be so much better if it could be moved to the next block.

However, the moment he had this thought, the bridge actually started to move!

Snake Eyes rubbed his eyes in disbelief, then was shocked to discover that this was not a hallucination!

From slow to fast and then back to slow, the bridge did indeed move a whole block to the side, just as he had wished!

But the vehicles on the bridge weren't so lucky.

As the bridge moved, the objects remained in place due to inertia, maintaining their forward-moving posture.

They then crashed in a line into the bridge railings that swept across them, tumbling and collapsing onto one another before falling into the surging river below.

no? !

ah? !

Seeing all this, Snake Eyes instinctively had another thought:

Will this bridge ever be able to be restored?

As if by magic, the bridge, which had just come to a stop, started moving again and returned to its original position along the same path.

Some of the vehicles that were barely floating on the water were completely deformed by the returning bridge piers, and those vehicles that did not have time to escape sank without hesitation.

However, despite such a huge change, neither the merchants along the river nor the passersby reacted in the slightest, as if they were separated into another time and space.

It wasn't until the bridge was put back in place that the first person noticed the horrific scene in the river and let out the first scream.

Snake Eyes, his eardrums scraped by the high-decibel scream, finally snapped out of his shock and immediately called Rhinoceros Horn.

The phone was answered after one ring, and Rhinoceros Horn's irritating voice came through the receiver: "What? You've been caught trying to dine and dash again? You'd better stay here, I don't have time to bail you out right now."

At other times, Snake Eyes would definitely have a daily verbal sparring match with Rhinoceros Horn.

But not today.

His mind was filled with the scene he had just witnessed, and he blurted out, "You have no idea what I saw!"

Snake Eyes was about to tell Rhinoceros Horn everything he had just seen, but he instinctively stopped the car after hearing a faint sound of plastic rubbing against skin.

"Just tell me, I'm listening." Rhinoceros Horn's urging voice came from the other end of the phone, a little softer than before, and his tone had shifted from purely joking with his brother to one of respect.

This respect could not possibly be directed at Snake Eyes.

Given Rhinoceros Horn's current status, there aren't many people in L City who need him to show respect.

His superior, Longji, is one of the top bosses of the Kangming Group.

Upon realizing who he was talking to, Snake Eyes broke out in a cold sweat and, suppressing his fear, recounted everything he had just witnessed in as natural a manner as possible.

"Understood. So, are you still on the other side of the bridge?" Rhinoceros Horn's voice grew louder again, sounding as if he had taken back control of the phone at Dragon Spine's behest. "Now, return to the base immediately and seal off all entrances and exits. Not a single fly can be allowed to escape."

"Okay, okay, I'll be right back." Snake Eyes bowed repeatedly at the air, and after a few tugs, hung up the phone.

Just before the call was about to be disconnected, he heard two extremely faint words—"key".

[Key]?

Snake Eyes instantly recalled the deep emotional fluctuations he felt when he picked up that "round, bright, light, and warm" object. It was indeed as if he had received some kind of enlightenment and opened a door to the Promised Land.

After Snake Eyes returned to the stronghold and sealed it off as requested by Rhinoceros Horn, he suddenly realized something unusual.

If the goal is simply to retrieve the key, then why is it absolutely necessary to seal off the outpost?

Based on the usual operational objectives of the Cummins Group, sealing off a place serves only two purposes: 1. To prevent outsiders from entering. 2. To prevent those inside from leaving.

The clause about "preventing outsiders from entering" can be disregarded, since the residents in the surrounding neighborhoods are well aware of the true purpose of this small villa, and there have been no reports of any conflict between any forces and the Kangming Group in recent times.

But if it's the latter, why bother... when this is a research base that we know so well?

etc!

If there was anything different about the base today compared to usual, it was the addition of the box that Rhinoceros Horn brought over this morning and the secret research mission he had assigned.

Recalling the astonished expression on the leader of the "sheep" when he communicated with the rhinoceros horn, the snake eyes suddenly understood.

The strange behavior of the L City Bridge just now must be related to that round and shiny thing in the box!

Who would have thought that such a small, mysterious creature could possess such immense power?!

No, is it really of dubious origin?

Snake Eyes immediately felt a chill run down his spine.

Even if the rhinoceros horn doesn't know the origin of this thing, the dragon spine certainly does.

Now, Dragon Spine has issued this order through the mouth of the rhinoceros horn, which means that Dragon Spine does not intend to let outsiders know about the existence of this thing.

So, does someone like myself, a nameless nobody, count as an "outsider"?

...The answer was obvious; Snake Eyes, unwilling to be buried with the dead, decided to flee immediately.

But where can it run to?

In this vast world, he couldn't think of a single place that wouldn't be encompassed by the Kangming Group's sphere of influence.

But anyway, let's get started.

Snake Eyes immediately flagged down a car, told the driver L City Transportation Terminal as his destination, and then leaned back in his seat as if he were completely exhausted.

Watching the trees rushing past on both sides of the road, his brain was thinking at an unprecedentedly high intensity.

Why did the bridge move? Why was I the only one among so many people who saw the bridge move? What exactly was that thing? What did those researchers do to achieve this result?

Ten thousand questions nearly burst Snake Eyes' already small brain.

He knew he couldn't solve the problem on his own, and he was thinking about these issues more to prepare himself for the future and avoid becoming one of those people on the bridge.

"Brother, you look a bit gloomy. What happened?" The driver glanced at Snake Eyes in the rearview mirror and asked with concern.

Snake Eyes was in a state of confusion and naturally had no interest in responding.

Seeing that Snake Eyes wasn't the talkative type of customer, the driver didn't say anything more and casually turned on the central control in the car.

At this time, the television station had already begun broadcasting reports of the tragedy that had occurred on the L City Bridge.

Snake Eyes turned his head and stared blankly at the four characters "Charon Crossing" on the screen.

The driver in the driver's seat was chatting with other drivers in the group.

"Look how terrible it is, hundreds of vehicles were blown up in an instant."

"What? The road to L City's main transportation hub is blocked? Kangming Group is conducting an inspection? What are they doing here?"

Snake Eyes knew without a doubt that they were trying to capture him.

The thought that Rhinoceros Horn might be among those who captured him filled Snake Eyes with despair.

When he heard the driver complain, "The executives in L City are a bunch of useless cowards, all they do is hide in their shells and protect themselves," he suddenly realized that there was still a place in the world that could stop the Kangming Group.

That's the adjudication board!

But if he were to simply go through with it, given his long history of misdeeds, the adjudicators would likely use the fast track to execute him directly.

That won't do; it goes completely against my own ideas.

Just then, Snake Eyes caught a glimpse of "Charon Tso" on the screen in front of him.

That's right! We can use this "wrongful crossing of the card" truth about the incident to keep those executives hanging!

But now there's another problem—how can he convince others that what he says, which is almost a fantasy, is true?

...

...Got it!

He can't prove that what he's saying is true, but someone can determine whether what he's saying is true or not!

That person is Yuan Jianxing, the chief adjudicator of V City!

Snake Eyes slapped the driver on the shoulder, startling him from his engrossed conversation.

"Turn around up ahead, I need to go to the Second Trial Chamber."

A note from the author:

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[Glasses] The previous events have been recounted. In the next chapter, the young couple will return.