Chapter 20: Video Conference
Room 207 was a single room, one-third smaller than room 206.
A bed sat in the middle of the room, with a coffee table at its foot. On either side of the coffee table were two single sofas.
Wen En picked up a cloth and a bottle of cleaner, casually wiping the table and chairs, and then smoothly installed the micro-camera and listening device.
From time to time, he secretly observed the pale-skinned anonymous man. The anonymous man sat on the bed, his head lowered in thought, not saying a word. He had been in this state since Wen En entered, treating him as if he were invisible.
What on earth does this person want with Vulcan?
Wen En really couldn’t figure it out. He had previously thought that this anonymous buyer was a mysterious, eccentric, and crazy scientist. Well, this person was a bit eccentric, but so far, Wen En couldn’t see anything crazy about him.
Wen En took the toilet brush and pushed open the bathroom door. The bathroom was neat and clean, with no odor. The towels and toothbrush were arranged neatly, as new as if no one had stayed there.
“When you’re done with the cleaning service, please leave my room,” the anonymous man’s voice came from behind Wen En.
What does that mean? Wen En turned around, smoothly placing a listening device. He looked at the anonymous man with confusion. Did he discover something?
The anonymous man said, a little unnaturally, “Are you the new cleaner?”
Wen En nodded.
“Alright,” the anonymous man said. “I’m sorry, I don’t like people coming into my bathroom and touching my toiletries. I’m a long-term guest. I’ve already told the previous cleaner that there’s no need to enter the bathroom during room service.”
“I’m sorry,” Wen En said, “if I made you feel uncomfortable.”
“…It’s alright,” the anonymous man was a little taken aback by Wen En’s apology.
Wen En nodded and said with a polite smile, “In that case, I’ll be leaving now. If you need anything else, you can call the front desk for service.”
The anonymous man nodded. “Thank you,” but his eyes remained fixed on Wen En.
Fortunately, Wen En had worked for many years and had a strong psychological fortitude. He smiled calmly, pushed the cart with the cleaning supplies, and left room 207.
Wen En pushed the cart back to room 206 next door.
The moment the door closed, Wen En took off the cleaner’s uniform he was wearing and put it back on the unconscious cleaner lying on the floor.
Romeo stood far away, so that Wen En wouldn’t see him and order him to do this and that.
Wen En glanced at Romeo, not intending to let him off the hook. “Come here. Help me carry him to the third floor.”
“Oh.”
Romeo reluctantly walked over. The two of them worked together to lift the unconscious cleaner and place him on the cart. Wen En took a towel—he didn’t know if it was clean or used—and covered the cleaner with it. He then walked to the computer and checked the micro-surveillance camera he had just placed in the hallway. After confirming that the hallway was empty, he ordered Romeo:
“We’ll take the stairs up in a moment and put this cleaner on the third floor.”
Romeo nodded.
The cleaner’s body was thus dragged out of room 206. Fortunately, room 206 was very close to the emergency staircase. The two of them quickly dragged the cleaner to the tool storage room on the third floor, placed him in a corner, and even took a baseball cap that someone had left on a nearby hook and placed it over the cleaner’s face, making it look like he was napping.
“What if he wakes up and remembers all this?” Romeo asked curiously from the side.
“Shh,” Wen En put a finger to Romeo’s lips in a silencing gesture. “Then speak softly, so his subconscious doesn’t realize what we’re doing.”
“…”
Romeo had a feeling that Wen En was just telling him to shut up.
After setting everything up, the two returned from the third floor to room 206 on the second floor. Along the way, Wen En installed a few more surveillance cameras.
This was just a dilapidated hotel. To save costs and to avoid trouble from people engaged in illegal business, the owner had not installed cameras in the hallways. This also made things convenient for Wen En and Romeo, as they didn’t have to go to the extra trouble of disabling the hotel’s cameras.
Romeo stood in front of the table, watching the footage from room 207 on the screen. He had to admit, the layout of room 207 was exactly the same as it had been a few years ago, not a single thing had changed.
Romeo suspected that this anonymous person had some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
His thoughts involuntarily drifted back a few years, and the scene of his transaction with this anonymous person replayed in his mind.
Romeo had walked into room 207, placed Vulcan and a box of inspection reports on the coffee table. The anonymous person had done the same, placing a box of cash on the coffee table. The two had taken each other’s boxes, without a single word of exchange, and then left the eerily quiet hotel room.
At that time, Romeo hadn’t thought much of it. He just wanted to take the money and run, to leave this place with its terrible security safely, and then go to a bar in the well-developed and safe main city to drink until he was drunk.
At that moment, a notification box appeared on the screen. Romeo clicked on it. It was a file that Della had just sent. Romeo opened the file.
In the file was the identity information of this anonymous trader, which Della had obtained through the empire’s Skynet missing persons query system.
Charles Brown
47 years old, male Alpha, resident of Block B of Capital Star’s main city. He holds a dual Ph.D. in materials science and chemistry, and is a professor in the chemistry department of XX University. He once served as a technical consultant at Joseph Hall Biotechnology. Five years ago, at three in the morning, he left the gates of Joseph Hall Biotechnology, drove to an abandoned amusement park in the suburbs of the main city, and then disappeared.
His wife had reported him missing, but the police’s search was fruitless. In the end, they could only enter him into the missing persons system, hoping to find him one day.
Who would have thought that he would be holed up in an old, dilapidated hotel in the lower district?
Joseph Hall Biotechnology?
Isn’t that the client behind their current mission? The unlucky company that had bought the Vulcan gem in the name of biotechnology research, then anonymously entrusted the Interstellar Central Bank to store it, only to have it stolen by Romeo?
Why would an employee of this company commission Romeo to steal Vulcan?
Faced with so many questions, Wen En frowned.
Was Joseph Hall Biotechnology hiding something from them?
At that moment, a video call invitation popped up. Wen En clicked “accept,” and the serious faces of RV and Della appeared on the screen, with Claire pacing back and forth idly behind them.
“Wen En, let’s have an emergency video conference,” RV said.
Wen En nodded.
Through the video conference, the group roughly sorted out the clues they currently had.
Della thought for a moment and came to a conclusion: “So, are we caught in their company’s internal struggle?”
“Yes, obviously,” Claire said loudly from behind her. “I told you, the people at Joseph Hall Biotechnology are a bunch of disgusting capitalists. They’ll make everyone’s life miserable.”
“Shut up,” Della rolled her eyes. “Who asked you?”
Wen En said, “So, are we still going to continue with this mission?”
After he said this, Della’s and Wen En’s gazes turned to RV.
“Of course we’re going to continue,” RV said. “They’re paying a lot of money.”
“…Alright, then what’s the next step?”
F.I.A.D. was, after all, the intelligence agency of the Interstellar Federation Empire. Getting involved in the internal strife of a biotechnology company was a bit awkward.
After thinking for a few seconds, RV made a decision: “Let’s proceed according to the original plan.”
Wen En nodded and said, “Okay.”
At this moment, sticking to the plan was the best way to deal with the situation.
