Chapter 58 I crossed "mountains" and "seas"...
To be honest, the scenery in the park is quite beautiful. Especially this artificial lake, but you can tell from the water quality that it's specially supplied with fresh water. It's rare to see such meticulous attention to detail in the construction of public works.
The above is the evaluation from Anti-Fraud King No. 214.
[Anti-fraud expert #205: The council hall is three stops east of here; it was just completed earlier this year.]
Oh, so that's where the boss works.
The landscape photos he sent didn't receive a reply, but Morofushi Kagemitsu wasn't too bothered. With the agreed-upon noon time drawing ever closer, the police team, which had been lying in ambush and surrounded the entire park, quietly awaited the appearance of their target.
Even the nearby Nichiuri TV station seemed to be affected by this invisible atmosphere, and the sound it emitted became lower.
Morofushi Kagemitsu was hiding in the artificial hill, where there was a small door to a storage room that the park had specially reserved for staff to store odds and ends. Now that all the black paint buckets had been emptied, there was naturally enough room for someone to hide inside.
[Anti-fraud expert #66: Hagiwara is already hiding, right there in the tree above your head.]
[Anti-Fraud Guru #19: Matsuda ran to the top of that pavilion next door!]
As expected of you guys, even your hiding places are so creative.
Zhu Fujingguang twitched the corner of his mouth.
"Someone's heading towards the artificial hill, two men." His teammate reported this over the headset, and he immediately snapped out of his thoughts.
Sure enough, a few seconds later he heard footsteps coming from outside the artificial hill.
As agreed, he tapped the earpiece.
[Anti-fraud expert #198: These two not only searched the artificial hill, but also learned how to use a signal jammer.]
[Anti-fraud expert #26: Too bad they ran into us. They immediately activated their data camouflage, and sure enough, they walked right past the small door as if they hadn't seen it.]
Perhaps feeling safe enough, the two began to speak in hushed tones.
"The crackdown on prohibited imported goods has been very strict lately, are you sure..."
The phone call that will expose my identity is coming up soon. Hopefully nothing goes wrong.
[Anti-fraud expert #214: Don't worry, the "call alert" function is always on. Any messages from members of the organization will be blocked.]
Morofushi Kagemitsu remained silent until he suddenly heard a sharp sound of a dead leaf being trampled, quite close to him.
He silently shifted into a ready-to-strike stance, pressing his hand against the engraved image discovered on the inner wall of the artificial rockery as he moved.
Just then, the air seemed to be disturbed by something, causing a ripple.
[Anti-fraud expert #198: Huh? This... wait! Jingguang...]
The last invisible ripple erased the call of No. 198, but don't erase the pink bubbles in your sight.
Suddenly, everything went quiet. His heartbeat abruptly began, accompanied by a sharp, electric-like pain that made it beat faster and faster.
What... is going on? Even without the anti-fraud agent blocking my view, nothing around me has withered.
Anti-fraud expert?
This time, all he received in response was a faint, indistinct electrical sound.
[*@&%^*～｀……]
No, something must have happened.
However, with the surroundings silent, he became even more tense, daring not to relax at all.
A passerby seemed to be passing by the artificial hill, so he hid further inside. As he moved silently, he seemed to step on something.
Um?
He moved his feet slightly, sensing the general shape of the object beneath his feet. It was hard, seemingly a corner of a metal box.
That shouldn't be the case. The police had already surveyed the area before moving the black paint bucket. Logically, something buried so shallow shouldn't have escaped this level of search.
He frowned and listened intently to his surroundings again. The passerby had probably already left; apart from the wind and the sounds of small animals, there was nothing else to disturb him. It was like a normal park, not a transaction site surrounded by police.
He shifted slightly and cautiously peeked out. Sure enough, there was no one outside the artificial hill. He touched his earphones, trying to contact his colleagues in the police force, but there was no response either. He looked around again, as if seeking confirmation, and looked towards the artificial lake. The people from the Japanese TV station were gone too; only some families and young couples were laughing and playing on small white boats.
He took out his phone to make one last attempt, only to find that the time on the screen was garbled. He then looked at his watch; the hands had stopped, and the dial even had a crack.
He must have encountered some kind of paranormal event. Combining the anti-fraud guide's previous explanations, the news push notifications he received, and his own accumulated knowledge of metaphysics, he began to suspect that he might have traveled through time.
If it's true, then could it be...?
He took a few more steps outside, only to find that everything around him was starting to emit black smoke, which seemed to be gathering in wisps. The occasional electric shocks in his heart were also getting stronger. At this moment, he remembered the warning from the anti-fraud expert and, fearing that he might attract the shadowy figure that preyed on the "abnormal," he decisively took a few steps back and returned to the artificial hill.
Everything has returned to how it was at the beginning.
It seems the key to this timeline lies within the artificial hill, which corresponds to the content mentioned in the report…
Morofushi Kagemitsu's gaze fell on the hard metal object he had just discovered.
Could it be?
The storage room in this time-space artificial mountain was filled with a lot of miscellaneous items, so he started digging with his shovel.
As a result, they dug out a safe with a combination lock.
The details all match up.
Just as he was about to investigate, he suddenly heard footsteps outside, getting closer and closer, and it sounded like a woman.
Could it be the one mentioned in the report?
Knowing he couldn't expose himself, he climbed up the rocks with the briefcase to hide, where there was a small gap.
As he moved, his hand touched a scratch drawn on the wall, which felt like a six-pointed star. He felt a similar sensation again, and a subtle realization dawned on him. He instinctively picked up the combination lock box he had just dug out.
The next second, the invisible ripples in the air spread again, and not only did the footsteps outside disappear, but even the static in his ears vanished. But the burden on his heart became even heavier, causing him to clutch his chest and lean against the wall to catch his breath.
This seems like the price of time travel. If I don't get back before my heart reaches its limit, I might die of heart failure.
He braced himself for the worst and reluctantly took a few steps outside. The hustle and bustle of the outside world rushed towards him, and several large red lanterns hung between the trees.
Is this the timeline where power is traded? He subconsciously felt the carvings on the artificial hill, which were smooth. Sure enough, he had returned to the time before the events occurred.
His heart pounded faster and faster, and his thoughts raced. Since an accidental explosion was possible here, and the source was the red lantern, the most urgent task was to get the dangerous object away from the crowd.
A gentle breeze brushed against his cheek as he watched the red lanterns sway slightly in the wind. He decisively drew his small knife for self-defense, took a deep breath, gathered his strength, and threw it forcefully at the attached rope.
With the lanterns no longer restrained and pulled by the ropes, they floated into the lake in strings.
He staggered back into the artificial hill, picked up the briefcase, and felt around at all three locations on the hillside. After his vision began to darken, familiar ripples finally appeared in the air, and the pain in his heart gradually subsided. In the blink of an eye, pink heart-shaped bubbles burst forth.
Is he... back?
[Anti-Fraud Guru #26: Jingguang?! He's back! He's finally back!]
[Anti-Fraud Guru #198: Your disappearance this time was too sudden! We had just detected the appearance of spacetime ripples when you vanished on the spot!]
[Anti-fraud expert #205: We didn't have time to tell you many taboos... You might not know, but just a few seconds ago, our connection with you almost ended.]
[Anti-fraud expert #214: Thank goodness you're alright, that was terrifying! The recent rule changes are so strange. This was supposed to be something you were likely to encounter in the next phase, why did it suddenly happen earlier?]
The anti-fraud team members told him about the unexpected situation, and they all breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that he had not chosen to pretend to be the shadow.
How is the transaction going? Have any unexpected issues arisen?
[Anti-fraud expert #66: They just finished the transaction. They called three times during that time, but we kept using electronic interference in our Bluetooth headsets, so there's been no problem so far.]
[Anti-Fraud Guru #19: We used your voice to notify the police, and they've sent people to apprehend the person who wanted to rebel. Now... he's left the park and sped away in his car.]
Upon hearing that the person had been successfully rescued, Morobushi Kagemitsu breathed a sigh of relief. He came out of the artificial hill and asked casually: "Can you trace the source of that informant call?"
[Anti-Fraud Guru No. 205: There are traces of fate; we can't pinpoint the exact location, only a general range.]
where?
[Anti-fraud expert #205: Tottori. To be more specific, we'll have to go there in person to confirm.]
Tottori, that place is very close to Nagano.
As Morofushi Kagemitsu stepped out of the artificial hill, he happened to run into Hagiwara Kenji, who was jumping down from a tree. At that moment, a large pink bubble rose on the ground, perfectly fitting the scene: "Morofushi, how are things over there?"
He pursed his lips, professionally suppressing his laughter.
Considering that the police might check the small gate in the artificial hill where he was located again, he revealed the secret of the combination lock.
"A combination lock box?!" Kenji Hagiwara exclaimed in surprise. "How could it be hidden so well? I thought that with the police's attitude of digging up the whole mountain, there wouldn't be any new discoveries inside."
Morofushi Kagemitsu approached the small door, pulled the briefcase out of the bubble pile, and said, "Judging from the trademark, it's quite old. I remember that this Chunren Company declared bankruptcy two years ago."
Kenji Hagiwara examined the briefcase, tapped on the casing, and said, "Even the outer casing is made to the specifications of a safe. It must be something very important."
Pink bubbles seemed to appear as Hagiwara tapped, and there was really no need to use intelligence here.
Zhu Fujingguang blinked and said, "We'll know what's inside once the police crack the code."
"It feels like a document..."
"Beep beep—"
"It's Kojinpei." Kenji Hagiwara answered the phone; the signal was still a bit blurry, but he could still hear it clearly.
"Hagi, there's something going on at the artificial lake." Matsuda's voice was serious. "The police found bombs under the white boats rented by the Yomiuri TV station. Come quick!"
!!
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Author's note: This is a post that transcends time and space.
Some truths will gradually be revealed.
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