America: The Cremator

Su Long looked at the photo, his brows gradually furrowing.

This level of heavy firepower is usually only found in the top-secret arsenals of the federal military, and is definitely not something that ordinary street gangs can access.

To acquire such a powerful weapon in Seattle would require extremely specialized smuggling channels, a vast network of connections, and massive financial support.

He put the photos away, took out his phone from his pocket, dialed Dania's number, and sent a short message: "Are you free tomorrow? Let's meet at Jack's BBQ, I need to talk to you about something."

Less than a minute later, Dania replied: "I'm free tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM. How about we meet at the same barbecue restaurant?"

"it is good."

……

The next day at 3 p.m., Jack's BBQ restaurant.

The afternoon sunlight filtered through the gaps in the blinds, casting dappled light and shadow on the wooden dining table.

In a quiet corner away from the noisy crowd at the bar, Dania was already waiting.

Today she was wearing a dark gray motorcycle leather jacket over a black turtleneck sweater, and her long blonde hair was casually tied back, making her look capable and alert.

On the table were several plates of sizzling, oily grilled beef ribs, and two bottles of Budweiser beer with condensation droplets clinging to their exteriors.

Su Long pushed open the glass door, looked around the store, and then walked straight to the table, pulled out a heavy wooden chair, and sat down.

Dania pushed an already opened bottle of chilled beer toward Surong, but he pushed it back to its original position and calmly said, "No drinking contest today, I want to talk to you about something serious."

The relaxed smile on Dania's face vanished instantly. She adjusted her posture, leaned forward slightly, crossed her hands on the table, and her expression became serious.

"Hey, Sue, what's wrong?"

After a moment of silence, Su Long suddenly asked, "In Seattle, besides your family, what other channels are there to purchase heavy weapons?"

Dania's gaze lingered on Suron's face for a moment, her tone revealing a confidence stemming from her family's heritage: "You want to buy heavy weapons? Not just in Seattle, but throughout the entire West Coast, only our family can provide illegal and powerful heavy weapons."

"Tell me, what kind of heavy weapon do you want?"

Su Long was silent for a few seconds before slowly pulling out the neatly folded photo from the inside pocket of his clothes.

He placed the photo on the table, pressed the edge with his index finger, and pushed it in front of Dania.

"Did you sell this type of gun?"

Dania glanced at the photo: "This is... NTW-20? This kind of large-caliber anti-materiel weapon is an extremely rare model. Only our family has exclusive access to the supply. In theory... only we can sell it on the entire West Coast market."

Upon hearing this, Su Long pushed the photo forward a little more: "So, you sold this weapon?"

Dania frowned: "I just checked the recent transaction records a few days ago, and this kind of firearm is not on the list at all. I'm sure we haven't sold this kind of gun to any outsiders recently."

Surong's gaze was fixed on Dania's face, observing the subtle changes in her expression.

Just then, a pale blue light suddenly appeared on his retina, and a clear line of text appeared before his eyes.

[Intelligence Insight Triggered!]

[Key intelligence: The leak of this weapon is directly linked to Dania's uncle, Igor Yurievich.]

Su Long stared at the message floating in mid-air, his eyelids drooping slightly. He quickly picked up a beef rib and took a bite to conceal the turmoil in his heart.

After a few seconds, he looked up at Dania again, his tone still calm, but with a hint of leading question: "Are you sure your family hasn't sold anything? Can you check the transaction records of everyone in your family?"

"For example, are there other people in your family who are also responsible for the sale and record-keeping of heavy weapons?"

Dania fell into a brief moment of contemplation upon hearing the question.

Her fingers tapped unconsciously on the table, making a dull sound.

After a moment, her eyes changed, and her tone became uncertain yet clearer: "Igor, Igor Yurievich, he is my uncle, and he used to be in charge of heavy weapons sales."

"He went to Chicago to expand his business two months ago and gradually faded out of Seattle's sphere of influence, so I didn't think of him at the moment."

After saying this, she looked up at Su Long, her blue eyes filled with confusion: "What happened? What trouble has this gun caused?"

Su Long frowned slightly: "You knew absolutely nothing about what happened at the Parker Candy factory in the suburbs yesterday?"

Dania was completely stunned, her face filled with astonishment. She shook her head and replied, "I really haven't received any intelligence."

Su Long nodded, his expression grave, and said, "Yesterday, the Special Operations Team of the Bureau of Mystery Support and the FBI's top agents were investigating a case of illegal drug trafficking at a candy factory in the suburbs when they were suddenly attacked by an armed sniper team."

"And the sniper rifle they used is the one you just saw."

He paused, giving Dania time to process the information, before adding, "This gun is no ordinary weapon. The sniper at the time directly killed an FBI Special Agent, and was even so audacious as to shoot at FDRF's Bradley."

Su Long's tone turned unusually serious: "You'd better pray that this gun didn't come from your family, otherwise, we'll have to put your family's protectors to the test to see if they're tough enough."

Dania's expression turned serious upon hearing these words: "This is a serious problem... The death of an FBI agent isn't such a big deal."

"But our family has clear orders that we are absolutely not allowed to sell this level of heavy weaponry to untrusted groups. We have always had reliable partners who would never do such a thing."

As she spoke, Dania's tone became worried: "Moreover, with the intelligence channels controlled by the family, they were completely unaware of the firefight that occurred at the candy factory yesterday."

"There's definitely something wrong here. It's possible that someone in the family betrayed the elders, sold the weapons without permission, and cut off the family's intelligence network."

She took a deep breath, looked at Su Long, and said slowly, "Wait for me a moment. I need to call my father and report this to him."

After saying that, she picked up her phone, which was placed aside, and quickly walked to a relatively quiet corner outside the barbecue restaurant.

Su Long sat in his seat, looking through the floor-to-ceiling glass window at Dania standing outside the shop.

She dialed the number, her body slightly hunched, her knuckles protruding as she held the phone, speaking quickly and in a low voice into the receiver.

During this time, her brows furrowed several times, and her free hand waved impatiently in the air, her expression appearing unusually anxious.

A few minutes later, Dania hung up the phone, turned around and walked quickly back to the restaurant. Looking at Su Long, who was still slowly eating his skewers, she said directly, "Stop eating and come with me."

Surong stopped what he was doing, looked up at Dania, and asked with a hint of confusion, "What's going on? Where are we going?"

Dania looked at him, her tone surprisingly calm: "My father already knows the general situation."

"He has prepared a special dinner at the manor and asked me to take you there so he can meet you in person."

Su Long was completely stunned.

His gaze swept across Dania's face, confirming she wasn't joking, and he instinctively asked in return:

"See me? This is a matter between your family. What would he want with a cremator like me?"