Chapter 24: The Outlaw Inspector Hagiwara

"Heh..." Looking at the smiley face on the note, Hagiwara could imagine Fuu-chan's smug expression and couldn't help but laugh. Then, thinking about the convenience of her backpack space, she hurriedly asked, "By the way, could you take their phones out of the backpack by yourself?"

If I can get hold of other people's phones, I can use those phones to contact a few friends and ask them what happened to Xiao Zhenping four days ago. Tomorrow I'll try again to access the time before Xiao Zhenping's last text message and see if I can help him...

{No! That's a bit strange; none of them are carrying any communication devices!}

Kenji Hagiwara immediately understood: "It's a remotely controllable bomb! The signal must be cut off, and no cell phones are allowed? It could be because of signal concerns, or it could be to prevent participants from taking photos as evidence and leaking secrets?"

In short, the power and composition of this bomb seem quite complex! And this structure? It seems to be the same type as the chemical bomb that Kojinpei described to me in the text message about the one encountered by Project 06? Could this be the one he dismantled that day?

He also said that a Russian was kidnapped at the time, and the maker of the eight bombs was exceptionally agile. Even though the squad leader and the four of them (including Kofuruya) were all there, they couldn't catch him. Is this bomb and its maker related to some international crime issue, which is why it's being taken so seriously?

{You're asking me? I don't know either! I rarely follow international news reports, let alone anything related to international crime.}

"Heh! Sorry!" Kenji Hagiwara apologized, then thought for a moment and continued, "Then you go and collect the things first, I'll see if I can turn this place into a delayed-action fire device... cough! If the class monitor and the others see me doing this, they'll probably have put my silver bracelets on my wrists by now!"

Arsonist? Outlaw? We were clearly trying to save lives! o(￣ヘ￣o＃) But there's no need for arson, is there?

"Although we don't know what problems will arise later, since the game's dungeon countdown is here, the first two dungeons have shown that this place is bound to be destroyed! Our actions of rescuing people and taking away the eight eggs have changed this doomed ending."

Rescuing people is certainly necessary, but the fact that many things have disappeared in reality, especially with surveillance cameras everywhere, might raise suspicions and investigations. If the commotion is too big, I'm worried that the game might discover our problems.

Since they are a technologically advanced being beyond Earth, it's estimated that no country on Earth possesses the same level of information technology as them. They could easily gather all of Earth's intelligence, including the recent spacetime anomalies. "If countries around the world can discover these spacetime anomalies because of this..."

Conducting relevant investigations and preparations might prevent or even change the arrival of the road game, but that can only be attempted after rescuing Jinpei. Before confirming Jinpei's safety, Hagiwara doesn't want to cause the game to interfere and erase the miracle that Fuu-chan bestowed upon her and Jinpei...

I didn't expect Hagiwara to think that way. Uh... how should I tell him tactfully that the whole road survival game is probably a live entertainment program from the higher civilization side, and that the things he's guarding against might have been seen by the game organizers and viewers?

She couldn't bring herself to say it! Saying it might reveal that she'd discovered the true nature of their game… Thinking this, she could only reply in agreement: {Fortunately, we were able to save them; we don't have to stand by and watch them die to avoid suspicion.}

"Yeah! Being able to arrange the environment to fit the historical timeline and manage to save people through a loophole is lucky enough." At least in my own mind, I would have preferred to face my boss's criticism, or even lose my job, rather than die...

.

So this time they didn't linger. They collected all the usable materials from the abandoned factory, leaving only the materials for a simple fire starter. Then they prepared to move the people outside the factory and evacuate by setting it on fire.

However, an unexpected event occurred during this time: Feng Xing Shou realized for the first time that there was a range to her entry into the dungeon, and she was unable to leave the factory building and set foot outside of it.

She had no choice but to write this down. When Hagiwara was outside the room and didn't see her release the people, he noticed something was wrong and immediately returned to pass the note to him again.

Unexpectedly, after reading it, Hagiwara said, "I had guessed before that there should be distance restrictions in the dungeon, otherwise people would just run out to the nearest supermarket to collect supplies as soon as they enter the dungeon, and one trip would be enough to last for several days."

Moreover, supermarkets are well-stocked with everything imaginable. A single trip to the supermarket would allow survivors to survive for a period of time without participating in racing competitions. Regardless of the game organizers' motives, it's impossible for them to provide survivors with such ample resources.

Therefore, the distance restriction in dungeons is inevitable. It's just unexpected that the area is so small; we can't even get out of such an abandoned factory. It seems the distance restriction in daily dungeons is likely related to the area of ​​the dungeon's destruction; the entire area that might be destroyed is part of the dungeon.

{What you said makes a lot of sense, but what should we do now? It's troublesome and dangerous to leave them inside the factory since I can't get out. They might burn out before the fire even starts, or the fire might get too intense and they won't be able to escape.}

"Then let's set up an escape route for them." Kenji Hagiwara said casually after seeing the note that Kazesei was worried about, and then busied himself for a few more minutes.

With only 6 minutes left on the countdown, and most of the factory already ablaze, he had Feng Xingshou release the people at the entrance of the abandoned factory. He then hid in a blind spot near the entrance where there was no flame or smoke to check the situation.

Prepare to fill any gaps, in case they still try to rush back to check the condition of the bomb, so that you can quickly knock them out and move them out of the abandoned factory.

Fortunately, people's instinctive reactions to disasters functioned normally. As soon as they were released, they found that there were fires behind and around them. They didn't have time to think about what had happened or why there were fires. They instinctively ran towards places without flames and smoke amidst the thick smoke.

After running a few steps, they seemed to remember why they were there, and immediately shouted in Japanese, "Evacuate quickly, the bombs might still be inside!"

"The power of that bomb was enough to level this area."

"It seems we were somehow rendered unconscious for a period of time. Perhaps the enemy used this time to set off a bomb, preparing to detonate us along with the explosive."

"This is outrageous! Could it be that the culprit who made the bomb has tracked us down? How did he know about this place?"

"We'll investigate these things once it's safe. With such a large fire, the bomb could explode at any moment. Let's evacuate to a safe distance first."

"What exactly happened?" The people asked as they ran quickly toward the abandoned factory, thankfully thinking that they had taken into account the danger of the bomb when they were defusing it.

The chosen location was an abandoned old factory area where not only this factory building was located, but also other buildings in the surrounding area were all abandoned. There was no concern that the explosion of eight eggs would affect the people in the surrounding area, and naturally there was no need to spend time evacuating the surrounding residents...

They kept thinking this until they reached a safe area, called the fire truck, and reported to their superiors, but they still didn't hear the eight eggs explode...

That evening, Ryougu Zero

Morofushi Kagemitsu, no! The current organization members Bourbon and Scotland have received secret orders from the Public Security Bureau that the bombs they defused on November 6th were stolen today.

All traces at the scene were destroyed by the fire, and no clues could be found. It was clear that the perpetrators intended to kill the researchers and police officers present at the time to silence them. Fortunately, they woke up early and were able to save themselves.

It's unclear what methods the other side used. No external injuries could have caused them to lose consciousness, and no sedative ingredients were detected in their bodies. It's speculated that the Black Path might have some kind of undetectable black technology sedative.

In addition, the police officers responsible for guarding the area had all their firearms and spare magazines stolen. Fearing the suspect might use the powerful bomb and ammunition for some dangerous crime, they were instructed to use their existing information channels to investigate which criminal organization the suspect was connected to…

Upon seeing the email, the two men simultaneously thought that the organization's method of eliminating traces was always a one-stop service of murder, silencing witnesses, and arson, leaving no clues whatsoever. Based solely on this email, they both assumed it was the organization's doing.

But I haven't heard anything about any missions from the organization in the last few days. Besides, the organization has its own secret weapons smuggling channels and its own bomb manufacturing technicians. It's unlikely that they would go to such lengths for a few guns or a chemical bomb.

Unless it was to investigate the composition of that chemical bomb? The thought sent a chill down their spines. Realizing the danger of the organization possessing such a chemical bomb, they simultaneously sent each other an email:

{Bābon! Has the organization been on any secret operations lately? Scotch!}

{Scotch! Any information about the fire at the abandoned factory? Bābon!}

'It seems Zero doesn't know what role the organization played in this! But if the organization were to gain control of such a dangerous bomb, the threat to them would be even greater.'

'This incident clearly has the characteristics of an organized operation. Neither Hiro nor I knew anything about it. It seems they haven't infiltrated deep enough; they haven't reached the organization's true core power structure, which is why they haven't been able to access intelligence regarding the organization's weapons, bomb manufacturing sources, and other related information.'

The two people who received the emails almost at the same time looked at the contents of the emails and had almost the same thought—this must have been done by the organization, and we must investigate it thoroughly. Maybe...maybe we can take this opportunity to find out the bastard who killed Hagiwara and Matsuda!

The innocent organization that got blamed: ... (＃￣～￣＃)

.

"Wow! Suddenly being transported from a fire scene to a safe car feels like triggering a teleportation skill in a game." On the other side, Kenji Hagiwara, who was experiencing another kind of 'teleportation' effect, looked at Mamoru Kazesei sitting in the passenger seat and joked.

Feng Xingshou patted his chest with lingering fear: "You can still be so relaxed after setting the fire. Your ability to withstand pressure is truly enviable."

"Eh? I'm actually a little nervous too!" Kenji Hagiwara suddenly emphasized his words, giving her a half-smile, and continued in a stressed tone, "After all, it's my first time too!"

"Ahem! The countdown is about to end, it's time to start the race. Focus on racing, don't chat for now." Feng Xingshou looked at his expression, which was somewhat similar to when he joked last night.

I felt that the next sentence didn't connect with the previous one, as if it was talking about something else. Worried that I would get caught up in a troublesome dilemma again, I quickly changed the subject.

He was puzzled. Logically, since the instance didn't reach the time he wanted today, he should have been disappointed and dejected. Why was he not affected at all, and even seemed a little excited?