At this very moment, the Ursus man hiding in the office and observing Jeanne appeared to be reporting the situation here to someone. His expression was incredibly tense—as if he wanted to crush every word the person on the other end said and chew on it carefully.
"Yes, the Guard Department has already begun an extremely strict investigation of us! The officers who came here include Senior Superintendents; they definitely know something to have come here this time."
Even while speaking to the person on the other end of the line, this Ursus man stood there respectfully, not even having the courage to sit down while taking the call. He was secretly rejoicing in his heart; if he hadn't received word in advance and brought his subordinates into the secret room, he would have been completely at a loss facing this situation today.
When he thought about who could have leaked the intelligence here, he immediately remembered that Vouivre captured alive by the LGD—was his name Tom or Jerry? Regardless, it made no difference. He had long regretted sending a Vouivre. If an Ursus had been caught back then, they would have either committed suicide on the spot or refused to reveal a single shred of intelligence.
This was perhaps a common ailment among the Ursus; aside from their own primary race, they harbored extreme exclusion toward others. Even if they allowed others to become soldiers, they had to pass extremely rigorous assessments. Furthermore, those who passed still had to endure exclusion from the Ursus themselves, remaining at the very bottom of the army.
Someone like Hellagur, who could be promoted all the way to General, could be said to be one of the very few representatives within the country of Ursus. This was also because he was of the Hippogryph race—descendants of the family that once ruled Ursus thousands of years ago. More soldiers ended up following a path like Patriot's; even if they contributed everything to Ursus, the honors they received wouldn't be very high.
"Do not be complacent, Ivanov! Since the other party already knows the clues, they will absolutely not give up until they find them! You must prepare for two possibilities now!"
The noble contacting him from the other side was not as optimistic as this fellow. He smelled the scent of danger in this operation and had already guessed that his subordinates might very well "overturn their carriage." Yet, even while guessing that his subordinates might lose their lives because of this, the noble remained leisurely sitting in his room enjoying morning tea, watching the snow flying at the horizon.
"You must pull strings now to have various parties apply pressure so the LGD leaves early, and clean up any 'unclean' tails. But you must also prepare for the possibility of attacking these three officers!"
Hearing this, Ivanov's massive bear-like frame shuddered. He hadn't expected his master to actually want him to attack the police. This was almost like notifying him to go to his death. Even if he succeeded in attacking the LGD, there was almost no possibility of safely escaping Lungmen.
"This... if we do that, isn't it very likely to make the Yan Empire declare war on us?" Ivanov said tremblingly. Clearly, he hadn't lived long enough. No matter how grandly he spoke, only when such a thing was right before his eyes would he feel that sense of terror. He wasn't some warrior who would spend his last drop of blood for the country; he was just a guy who became an undercover agent for glory and wealth. As for words like "loyalty" and "lifelong devotion," they only existed in slogans.
"If things truly evolve to that point, it's not impossible. We'll have to start a war sooner or later anyway; what does it matter if it's a bit earlier?"
The noble behind him represented those who were unwilling to work with the Black Snake. They didn't want such a character involved; it was a disgrace to their family name. If the Lungmen issue escalated into a Yan-Ursus war now, wouldn't that be wonderful? Moreover, he remembered Kashchey saying that the Lung officer was Wei Yenwu's niece and belonged to the nobility in Yan. Wasn't that a coincidence? If something happened to her, wouldn't turmoil break out within Yan? Then they could stir things up even more—wouldn't that do it?
"But you must protect that expert well! Even if you fall in Lungmen, you must bring him back!"
The noble's command was extremely harsh; he hung up without even waiting for his subordinate to respond.
Damn, interrupted the mood of my morning tea again for these trifles. Why couldn't these subordinates be a bit sharper and solve all these problems in one go? Why did he always have to handle these things? Was the brain of a noble under the old Ursus banner meant for this? Back in his ancestors' generation, they had already worried about everything they needed to while fighting across the south and north for Ursus; he should be enjoying his blessings now.
On the other side, after hearing the click of the hung-up phone, Ivanov felt the blood in his entire body go cold. He froze there for a good while before collapsing into his chair. He regretted it; he shouldn't have agreed to come to this godforsaken place. If he hadn't come, his family wouldn't have fallen into the other party's hands; if his family were safe, he wouldn't be contemplating how he was going to die...
At this moment, he was powerless against everything and could only look at the three people on the monitors with a gaze that was almost prayerful.
"I beg you, please don't discover the secrets here! After this is over, I'm willing to give you as much money as you want..."
As glorious as he had been just now, he was just as helpless now. He watched the three people on the screen and murmured to himself.
"Pink Sausage, Pink Sausage! How is the situation in there? If it's inconvenient to speak, tap the intercom. If you encounter danger, just smash the intercom!"
Seeing that there had been no news since the three went in, Swire worried they were in a very dangerous situation. Ch'en, who was currently conducting the investigation, couldn't communicate with Swire because there were people all around, so she had to find a way to notify her.
After thinking for a moment, she turned into a blind spot where no one else was paying attention and where no surveillance cameras were monitoring her. Her tail, in the process of swaying, suddenly exerted force, inadvertently tapping against the intercom clipped to her lower back.
It was lucky that her tail wasn't soft and powerless like Swire's, nor was it like Hoshiguma's, who didn't have a tail at all. Otherwise, in this situation, she wouldn't have known how to signal Swire without being discovered by others.
When the people around saw Ch'en's tail swaying like that, the shallow worry in their hearts began to dissipate. According to "tail psychology," this kind of casual swaying—even when it hit oneself—indicated that the other party was becoming a bit impatient. If they stalled for a while longer, Officer Ch'en would likely lead the team away. Then they could resume their pleasant research—just thinking about it was a bit exciting!
The staff here weren't actually all excavated by Rhine Lab. However, they were similarly involved in a large number of inhumane experiments and weren't exactly good people.
Hearing Ch'en's response, Swire also breathed a sigh of relief. She signaled her subordinates not to raid the company for the time being. After signaling, she looked at Lemuen beside her, who was ready to charge. At this moment, she didn't feel like "Exusiai's older sister" at all; she gave off an aura of grim solemnity. Those eyes that usually showed a smile had lost their former gentleness. Swire could see that this was a person who had experienced battle—a ruthless character who had been through extremely cruel combat.
So, what kind of identity did Jeanne have—the one inside being protected with everything by such a figure, whose situation Swire had heard from family intelligence networks was of extreme interest to Laterano?
But now wasn't the time to think about these things. If she was truly curious, she would ask in person after it was over! Anyway, for things that could be told, that Jeanne wouldn't intentionally hide them.
At this moment, Jeanne stood before a massive painting. her all-encompassing Revelation had just told her that within this painting was one of the doors leading to the secret room she was searching for. But she had tried several times just now and failed to open this hidden door. It seemed it had been locked from the inside by someone.
She wondered how those few little "Earth Dragons" she had released were doing. She was worried those fellows wouldn't just fail to find the secret room, but would also grow larger from eating too much soil. If several big monsters came running out, Jeanne would be very embarrassed. Whether to fight them or not would be a problem.
Worse still, the growth rate of these hatchlings was extremely fast! As long as there was sufficient food and water, they could shed their gecko-like size and grow to the size of a large crocodile within half an hour!
However, she had secretly told them not to eat anything except soil. Hopefully, they would be obedient and stay small... hopefully they would listen well!