Chapter 1960 - 1959: ’Catching Thieves

"He really is one of Keskein’s people," the young man with glasses continued, "He went to the same high school as us, and they say after he became Vice President, the principal even erected a statue of him in the most prominent place at the school."

"Do we really have such a big celebrity here? And from the old district?" The young man with yellow hair blinked, "Do you think if we go to seek refuge with him and say we’re from the same hometown, he might take us in?"

"Wake up," the young man in work clothes spat, "He’s a big shot now, completely different from us."

"I passed by near his house last time," the young man with glasses nodded, "Got questioned several times by plainclothes agents."

"I see," the young man with yellow hair pursed his lips, "This guy’s really got no sense of camaraderie, huh."

"You’re not his relative, why would he bother with camaraderie with you?" the short, stout young man couldn’t help but sneer.

"I advise you all not to think in that direction," the young man in work clothes took a bite of fried beans, "My last factory job, it was thanks to his investment plan when he was a Senator."

"The one where the wages were below the average line, and they worked people to death?" The young man with glasses chimed in.

"Yeah," the young man in work clothes nodded, he reached out, took out an electronic lighter, then patted his body, seemingly looking for cigarettes but couldn’t find any.

"To be honest," the casually dressed young man spoke, "I really hope Christos can come and take over."

"They say Christos’s people are cannibals, killing without batting an eye," the young man with yellow hair looked at the casually dressed young man, whispered, "Do you really want them to come?"

"Those are just rumors, right?" The young man with glasses couldn’t help but interject.

"Better if they are cannibals and killers," the casually dressed young man gritted his teeth, "Kill these bastards who feed on human flesh and blood. I’ll help them build their sacrificial altar and let them throw me up there, I just want them dead."

The crowd fell silent once again.

"His dad died in a factory incident last month," the short, stout young man said softly, "Didn’t get a dime of compensation, and the Note Intelligence factory even said they were going to sue his family, demanding they pay for lost labor."

Everyone opened their mouths slightly, falling silent once more.

The worker chewing on fried beans swallowed, took a sip of booze, and suddenly said, "I think going down together might not be unacceptable."

Boom—

At that moment, a sudden loud roar was heard, "Federal Bureau of Investigation, open up!"

Everyone was suddenly stunned.

The young man with glasses quickly moved to grab the pole, preparing to turn off the lights.

The others scrambled to start clearing the items off the table.

While the young man in work clothes slowly pushed beans into his mouth one by one, turned his head, and looked behind him.

Bam—

The entire door was smashed open directly by force, and a figure wearing the Federal Bureau of Investigation uniform quickly charged in. Immediately following was a group of agents in exoskeleton armor, armed, filing in one after another.

Bright beams from their flashlights mounted on their guns shone on the faces of several people inside the room.

"Put your hands up, squat down!" The lead Federal Bureau of Investigation agent quickly walked over, shouting loudly.

The group froze at that moment as if not realizing the lengths the Federal Bureau of Investigation would go to.

Looking at the dark, hollow muzzles of guns, they instinctively raised their hands and slowly squatted to the side.

"Sir, we didn’t do anything; we’re just gathered here for a drink!" The young man with yellow hair shouted loudly, holding his head, looking at the agent.

Bam—

A sudden gunshot rang out, the bullet almost grazing the young man with yellow hair’s head, hitting the discarded machinery behind him, producing a thudding sound.

The young man with yellow hair was suddenly stunned by this unexpected turn of events, everyone looked up and saw an agent wearing a tactical mask, raising his gun, some smoke still emanating from the barrel.

The young man in work clothes glanced at the crowd that had come in, held his head, and turned slightly to cover the strong distilled liquor under the table behind him.

Seeing this scene, the lead agent also froze for a moment, lowered his voice, and quickly said, "Someone reported you were colluding with the rebels, attempting to overthrow the Federation."

"We didn’t—" The short, stout young man raised his voice, just about to refute, the agent’s smoking gun barrel slowly turned towards him, and he was like a throat was choked, the sound abruptly stopped.

Seeing this, the young man wearing glasses suddenly raised his head, softly speaking, "Sir, we are all law-abiding citizens, just gathering here,"

The black muzzle turned towards him, but he seemed unaware and continued, "You can contact our Lawyer, he’ll defend us."

The lead agent raised his head, glanced at him, "What you did isn’t up to you to dictate."

He said, turning around, looking at the agents at his side.

The agent took a sweeping glance at the people under the chandelier, hoarsely said, "These people believe in the Evil God, colluding with rebels, attempting to assassinate the Vice President, to overthrow the Federation, the evidence is conclusive, execute them on the spot."

Upon hearing this, everyone was slightly stunned.

The lead agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation also froze on the spot, he immediately opened his mouth, "This is not how it is—"

Bam—

A bullet hit his chest, freezing his surprised expression on his face, blood splattering instantly.

The agent in tactical gear raised his gun, quickly said, "Rebels attacking the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the evidence is conclusive, clear them out immediately!"

As soon as he spoke, the agents in tactical gear immediately raised their guns.

At this moment, the young man with glasses dashed to the side, shouting loudly, "Hide behind the machines."

As the shout echoed, the young man in work clothes, who had been squatting by the table, suddenly grabbed the bottle of liquor from behind him and smashed it towards the agent in front.

At the same time, an ignited electronic lighter was also thrown out.

The bottle shattered, splattering liquor, ignited by the flame from the lighter.

Bang bang—

Simultaneously, seemingly frightened by this sudden attack, disorderly and intense gunfire erupted.

Thud thud thud—

Bottles on and under the table shattered, flying debris from fried beans and shattered fried chicken scattered everywhere, several bullets hit the body of the young man in work clothes, also hitting the bodies of several other young people who didn’t manage to run fast enough, spilling splatters of blood.

A roaring fire, fueled by scattered liquor, also ignited, and the agents in tactical gear glanced at the flames on the ground of spilled liquor, raised their heads, looking towards the youths hiding behind the machine.

The young man in work clothes, being the closest and delayed by throwing the bottle, was now lying in front of them, blood streaming from his body.

He raised his head, staring at those agents, sneering, "Beasts."

The lead agent didn’t hesitate, raised his gun, aiming at his head.

Bam—

Red and white blood burst open, splashing on the young man in work clothes’s face.

The lead agent’s body leaned forward, crashing to the ground with a dull thud.

The agents standing in the square were momentarily stunned, then immediately turned around, looking behind them.

Intense gunfire and flames suddenly flared up in the dimly lit factory.

The young man in work clothes stared blankly at the scene, not yet reacting.

At this moment, the blond youth and the short chubby youth hiding behind the machine quickly scrambled out from behind the machine, dragging his body back behind the machine.

Bang bang bang—

Bullets sprayed against the machine, making a clattering sound.

Several people hurriedly dodged, quickly pulling the young man in work clothes behind the machine.

The blond youth hid the young man behind the machine, then slowly poked his head out, wanting to see what was happening.

"Damn, are you crazy? You dare to look?" the short chubby youth hiding behind couldn’t help but shout.

Bang—

Just as he finished speaking, a stray bullet hit the machine, directly piercing the steel plate, infiltrating inside.

The blond youth and the short chubby youth both shivered in fright.

"Damn, with such power, they must be using Gauss guns," the blond youth bit his lip, still cautiously taking out his wristband, turning on the camera, and extending it outward to look at the interface on the wristband.

"Damn, you’re smart," the short chubby youth came over too, looking at the interface on the wristband.

Clear images flickered on the wristband, perhaps due to the camera, the images were somewhat blurry, only explosions and gunfire could be seen and heard.

The flames on the ground continued to burn, and those agents in combat suits seemed to have encountered some terrifying enemy, fighting as they retreated.

Figures in exoskeleton armor fell rapidly like wheat being harvested.

Even those who found cover behind the machines were penetrated by the powerful bullets, falling into the flames.

"These agents have all switched to Gauss guns," the blond youth quickly said, looking at the guns in the agents’ hands, "but they still can’t beat them, the opposing firepower is too strong, it might be the military."

"The military?" the short chubby youth was stunned, "Is Dawn City really attacking us?"

"Isn’t this a bit too fast?" the blond youth was also stunned.

Just then, a figure retreated in front of them, a fully armed agent.

The agent glanced at the three hiding behind the machine, raising his gun, about to pull the trigger.

The blond youth lunged forward, directly crashing into the agent.

The agent’s body bent backward a bit, retreating half a step, the exoskeleton armor quickly restoring his posture, he looked at the blond youth, letting out a low, mocking laugh, gun muzzle down.

Bang—

The bullet pierced through the agent’s chest, spraying blood.

This time, the exoskeleton armor couldn’t maintain his balance, and his body tilted to the side, heavily hitting the ground.

The gunfire and smoke stopped at this moment, everything seemed to quiet down.

The blond youth cautiously raised his head, looking at the source of the gunfire.

A blood-soaked man stood amidst the dense bodies of agents, standing in the flames of burning liquor, holding two Gauss rifles.

As the blond youth stared, the man raised his head, glanced at him, and dropped the guns from his hands to the ground.

Then, the man turned his head, looking at the agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation lying on the ground.

The agent was not completely dead yet, eyes wide open, looking at him blankly.

He Ao lowered his head, glanced at the wound on the agent’s chest, "If you call for help now, it’s still not too late."

The gun used by the team leader hit this agent was an ordinary pistol, not a Gauss gun, otherwise, at such a close distance, the agent’s chest would have been a big hole, dead on the spot.

Moreover, the bullet didn’t hit the heart, probably not intentionally merciful, but to disguise as a reckless shot by a novice, erasing traces of agents’ operations.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t carried out further shooting before he was gone.

Upon hearing He Ao’s words, the agent tremblingly raised his hand.

He Ao lifted his gaze, glancing at the table already broken into pieces, rasping, "You all, come out."

The youths hiding behind the machine exchanged glances, falling into a short silence, seemingly no one dared to step out first.

"Hello—"

Just as He Ao was about to speak again, a figure wearing glasses stepped out from the machine, raising his hands, looking at He Ao, gritting his teeth, nervously saying, "Why are you looking for us?"

His left leg had been hit, not in a critical spot, but bright red blood still quickly seeped out.

"Are you the leader?" He Ao glanced at him and asked.

"Yes." The youth with glasses glanced at those hiding behind the machine, then nodded slightly.

"Follow me." He Ao turned, directly walking towards the door.

The youth with glasses hesitated for a moment, still limping to follow He Ao, walking out the door.

By this time, He Ao was already waiting for him under the street lamp at the door.

"Are you a ’K’ follower?" He Ao gave him a glance, asked casually.

He Ao actually knew these young people weren’t real spies, nor pure ’K’ followers, just some young people who liked to gather and complain.

The agents from the Secret Service Bureau actually knew this too, but they didn’t care. Killing these young people and labeling them as ’K’ followers was much easier than finding truly dangerous ’K’ followers.

The youth with glasses walked to He Ao, looking at He Ao’s blood-stained body, blood-caked hair and cheeks, silent for a moment, he couldn’t recognize He Ao’s face, nor discern his intentions, whether he was friend or foe.

He hesitated for a moment, whispering, "Sort of—"

"Want to go to the East?" He Ao looked at him, continued to ask.

The youth with glasses was stunned.

This was a completely unexpected question for him.

The East, Dawn City, New Federation, those seemed like distant terms, not part of his life, only stories that appeared in casual conversations and complaints.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but He Ao directly interrupted him, "You just need to answer yes or no."

The youth with glasses was stunned, he raised his head, gazed at He Ao, and after a brief pause, nodded firmly, "Yes!"

As soon as he spoke, several off-road vehicles parked by the roadside lit up in the dark, vehicles that Eve had cracked before He Ao entered.

"Ask your friends, once you’ve decided, get on those cars, they’ll take you to your destination, where someone and the Doctor will meet you," He Ao rummaged through his pocket, taking out a cigarette, putting it between his lips, heading towards another off-road vehicle, "The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s rescue vehicles will be here soon."

The youth with glasses wanted to say something, but only saw the blood-soaked silhouette walk onto an edge of an off-road vehicle.

"Aren’t you going?" he couldn’t help asking.

"I have other things to do." He Ao started the off-road vehicle, disappearing into the night.