Abyssal Wanderer

The call was answered fifty-nine seconds after it rang, which was the last second before timeout.

This is not a good sign. Obviously, the other party made the decision to connect after a very intense inner struggle.

And I can't give her the answer she wants...

Jim thought.

But the call had to be made.

"I thought I would never receive this call in my life."

A young female voice sounded on the other end, sounding as stiff and forced as if she were shoveling snow in Siberia.

"That's what I originally thought."

Jim tried not to sound heartless.

"So, why did you change your mind?"

At this moment, the other party had already reached the North Pole from Siberia with a snow shovel.

Feeling the biting chill in the words opposite him, Jim couldn't help but close his eyes. After hesitating for a moment, he opened his eyes and said:

"I am now at the security checkpoint on the ninth floor of the settlement area."

The other party did not reply, but waited silently for him to finish.

Jim continued:

"I need your Public Security Bureau pass code to the tenth floor, Wang Ying."

For a short period of time, not only was there a reply, but there was not even a sound of breathing coming from the other end of the phone.

There was a huge silence between the two of them, and Jim even had the illusion that the other party would hang up the phone.

But in the end, she still - just as she expected - let out a burst of desperate laughter.

"That's how you are, isn't it? You will only contact me again when needed, just like a handy tool."

The sergeant named Wang Ying from the Ninth Floor Public Security Bureau said this.

In Jim's memory, she is a person just like Hanel in the longer memory, who dares to love and hate, and sticks to her own principles, but will restrain her sharp edges and live with the dust - if there could be more in the world For people like her, maybe this world will be a place suitable for upright people to live.

It is also for this reason that Jim once had a relationship with her that was neither long nor short in terms of time together - if it was indeed "Jim" who was with her at that time.

"I have never thought so... Of course, if I look at it from your perspective, I do. I will never make any excuses for this."

Jim replied.

Analyzing according to the representational structure of the other party's words, he has a far better response pattern than this. But at this moment, Jim didn't want to splice those rational and pale words to cater to the other party.

Since he can't even determine his past existence, at least in the present, he needs to express according to his true thoughts deep in his heart.

"Do you think just saying this will sound sincere enough?"

Wang Ying couldn't help but chuckled at Jim's answer.

"I'm just sincerely asking for your help, and it has nothing to do with what happened between us in the past."

Jim paused, then continued:

"This involves a huge conspiracy related to the survival of the entire resettlement area, and... and a crisis that I don't know how far it will go. I understand that you hope to get an answer to some questions - this is not Let me make a deal with you - but when I investigate all the causes and consequences of the matter, will I give you a clear answer, but not now.

"Now I need your pass."

After Jim finished speaking, Wang Ying on the other end of the phone was silent for a long time.

"How much can you say about the 'conspiracy' part? Is it related to the Icarus Liberation Front?"

After a while, Wang Ying asked.

"Most likely it has nothing to do with them. The threat mainly comes from the companies at the top... You must have heard of the recent cases of assassinations of government and company executives? If you don't know, I will provide a few keywords: the same Time, gunpowder weapons.”

Jim replied.

"My task force is responsible for the investigation of the ninth floor."

Wang Ying replied simply.

"very good."

Jim nodded and turned on the image signal, pointing the scar on his head at the camera.

"Same time, same weapon... I am the victim that was missed in your investigation, maybe just one of them."

After he finished speaking, he turned off the image signal, and without giving the other party much time to think, he answered quickly before the other party asked:

"The girl sitting next to me was the provider of those weapons, I mean their family was the provider of the weapons, but now their family has been wiped out. My memory before I was shot is completely lost, so I don’t know what I knew, so I was killed. As for why I survived... I can only say that it was all because of the blessing of Janus."

Wang Ying only thought Jim's last words were a self-deprecating joke. In the past, she might have ridiculed something like "When did you start talking about Holy Trinity nonsense?" But she was not in the mood now. .

“But the intelligence we received here is that this matter is related to the militants of the Icarus Liberation Front...There are rumors that they will launch a larger-scale terrorist attack at the end of the month to incite chaos in the resettlement area. "

Wang Ying's voice was much lowered.

"Why does Icarus want my life? I have a lot of troubles with those companies. I have successfully disgusted them in several previous cases."

Jim said.

"What security checkpoint are you at? I'll be here right away."

In this regard, Wang Ying said this after being silent for a while.

…………

Jim understood that no matter what answer he gave the other party, Wang Ying would choose to help him after learning about the case he was currently investigating.

She is one of the very few living people who can still insist on her own justice as much as possible in the Sheriff's Department system.

With such a strong will, her emotions don't make her weak.

In fact, they separated back then because Wang Ying couldn't accept that Jim couldn't let go of a dead person.

"Wait until she is completely dead in your heart before you come to me."

Wang Ying left after leaving these words.

But he still chose not to tell his answer - it wasn't that he didn't have an answer at the moment, but that he wasn't even sure whether his past existence was real.

Only when all this comes to light, when he investigates the truth about the "Eden Resettlement Area" and the "Doppelgänger", and knows what he really is... can he feel at ease to tell his answer.

"Just say what you want to say, don't look at me like that, okay?"

After waiting for about ten minutes, Jim glanced at Donata and said helplessly.

The girl seemed to have forgotten all the surprises along the way, and her expression at this moment was like holding a bucket of popcorn.

"Mr. Jim, your tone really sounded like a scumbag when you called me just now."

Donata looked suddenly enlightened, as if Jim's previous gaffes along the way had a reasonable explanation.

A chestnut hit her on the head, and at this moment, a whistle suddenly sounded from the side.

Wang Ying was wearing a leather jacket and a black matte helmet, and she was sitting astride a carbon fiber motorcycle with perfect curves like Venus. The body of the motorcycle was printed with "NORD PD" in dark silver. words.

Jim rolled down the window, but the other person just tilted his head towards him, his tone cold.

"Let's go, Detective. I'll take you two through the inspection."

In response, Jim quickly adjusted his somewhat embarrassed expression and asked:

"You can just issue me an electronic pass directly. There is no need to come here in person..."

“The e-pass is no longer useful.”

Wang Ying quickly interrupted.

"After the company's armed forces withdrew, the resettlement area government's border security outsourcing had to be replaced. Now the security forces of the Human Intelligence Ethics Supervision Committee are maintained. All approvals require the nod of their person in charge... I don't know who that person is. How did you handle it?"

Certain elements in the words gave Jim some bad premonitions, and he couldn't help but ask:

"Do you know who is in charge? I mean the name."

"Héloïse Haenel." (End of chapter)