On the way back, Gary kept recalling the figures he'd seen earlier, so much so that he momentarily forgot to compose the mission report he'd used to fool his superiors. His memory had clearly become distorted; the more he focused on it, the more real those figures seemed to him, and the details of the oncoming car kept piling up.
He went straight back to the police station without stopping, parked the requisitioned smart car in the underground garage, cut the car's starting wires with tools, opened the door and got out of the car, locked the wheels, and then left with the remaining weapons and ammunition.
The police station garage was empty. Besides the sheriff's car, there was only a common, battered taxi with a sloppy yellow paint job. Gary, remembering the riots of the previous night, understood the situation. The taxi was most likely 11B's vehicle, but there was also a small chance it was someone else on business. So, he simply glanced at it and noted the license plate number.
He took the elevator to the second floor, returned his exoskeleton and weapons and ammunition, quickly wrote a few hundred words of damage report into the armory system, and submitted it. Returning to his workstation, he lifted the now-cold coffee from the table and gulped it down. He hadn't rested for two cycles, and considering the unfinished tasks for the day, he desperately needed this refreshment.
But before he could take out a new bag of instant coffee, the door of the sheriff's office opened a crack, and the light from inside immediately shone out, revealing two figures arm in arm.
"Who is it?" asked a strange yet familiar voice.
"Oh, it's Xiao Li!" the sheriff said. "I didn't expect you to be back so soon... That's perfect. Take these three big clients out for a stroll, and I'll reimburse you for any expenses you incur when you come back!"
Gary squinted his eyes. The darkness of the office area, with the Valles Marineris approaching its night hemisphere, made it difficult for him to see the three men. "Yes, I'll complete the mission!" He stood up, forcing himself to appear energetic.
The sheriff enthusiastically escorted the three men to the station gate. When Gary followed closely behind, he stopped him and whispered softly, "Keep an eye on them. I don't know how they found me, but they might be connected to that Security Bureau field officer from earlier. If you find any problems with them, contact me immediately! You know what to do."
Gary nodded calmly, straightened his appearance a little, and quickly caught up with the people who were leaving.
The street lights were on, and he finally had a chance to get a good look at the three men. The one in the lead was rather plump, looking pot-bellied, but he didn't have many of the health problems associated with obesity. He walked briskly, as if he had no fat at all. The guy to the "fat guy's" left was the complete opposite, a skinny, thin dog, wearing a suit that didn't fit him well, like a sack, and was baggy. The one on the far right was a tall, stocky man who looked a bit like a wealthy man's personal bodyguard. Unfortunately, from Gary's perspective, he lacked the vigilance a bodyguard should have, and instead looked like a tourist curious about everything around him.
A very strange combination.
Gary overtook the three people and stopped in front of them, wanting to see if his judgment was correct, but he only saw several people giving him a weird smile at the same time, and then each of them reached out to their cheeks and tore off the simulated human skin used for camouflage.
"Gary, it was so hard to find you. We took a lot of detours!"
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