Madness ecstasy

Even when he was forcibly opening the window pane, Richard always maintained a "high-readiness" shooting posture; he pulled the trigger without hesitation.

boom!

flutter.

Both pistols fired simultaneously—but neither hit.

The door frame exploded into a cloud of sawdust, and a hole with a bullet embedded in it appeared on the mottled wall behind Richard; the bullet casings fell to the ground with a clinking sound: the caution of both sides made this round of mutual suppression and exchange of fire become like the environmental props in a movie or TV drama.

The pistol retracted again, and Richard quickly left his original position and climbed up the empty window pane lightly - now, he could escape from this safe house at any time.

The two returned to the confrontation situation a moment ago; the difference was that now they had the opportunity to see each other with their naked eyes.

"You saw my flaws? You're such an excellent student. No wonder you did so well in orientation training."

The voice of the "invisible man" has changed, and the way he calls himself has also changed - there is no longer the word "brother".

The originally slow and drawn-out tone seemed to have been played at an excessive speed, becoming rapid and cold. The strange swelling sensation that had been at the source of the voice a moment before also vanished. Richard was now finally able to determine the approximate location of the "invisible man."

"But your team is the only one in the department working in the field right now, and you haven't been back to headquarters to report for a long time. I told you the truth before, so don't blame me. It was an order from above."

Richard squatted on the window pane that had been kicked open, holding the cement top with one hand; sweat slid from his scalp into his eyes, but he didn't blink. The gunman's elbow rested on his knee, and he never relaxed his aim at the door:

"What do you mean now? Are you going to fight me to the death? You're going to interrupt your vacation to work overtime, and then die in this small city?"

"If we keep dragging this out, you should have heard it just now. My gun doesn't have a silencer. Local law enforcement officers could arrive at any moment. Are we going to keep pushing this far? If the police break in, the first person they'll shoot is you, who's closer to the gate."

"Or - should we change venues and start over again?"

After a brief silence, the cold voice still lacked any emotion:

"No, never mind. I won't fight you now. I can't stop you: you win."

"If you want to talk to Corey, leave the code in the channel yourself."

Just as Richard had imagined—using a special package to handle Co's situation in Mong Cai City wouldn't necessarily mean he had enough resources to spare. So, after the "Invisible Man's" madness was exposed, would Co invest even more resources to kill himself?

[Yes, absolutely. If they don't want to kill me, they'll tell me to run away and never have anything to do with Southeast Asia or the company again.]

[They even asked me to talk to Corey. That's kind of funny.]

Richard pushed his glasses up with his knuckles and made up his mind:

"I hate it when people hide in my safe house. Next time I see you, I'm going to blow your head off."

Although he spoke harsh words like a movie villain's farewell, Richard did not escape from the window pane - instead, he took a deep breath until his entire chest was expanded.

The cold voice from the other side of the room finally took on a hint of anger and impatience:

".Stop talking nonsense and get out of here if you can save your life. I have to deal with the section chief: you know her methods."

Richard shifted his weight to his toes, leaning forward, his hands hooking onto the cement outside the window pane; his thighs tensed, as if ready to launch at any moment.

This was a dangerous move—the gunman was also placed outside the window; if the "invisible man" rushed into the house at this time, Richard would have no room to fight back with his gun:

"Section Chief—Section Chief, is she here in Mong Cai?"

Richard had no intention of getting an answer from the other party - as soon as he asked the question to attract the other party's attention, he started to act.

He loosened his hands from clinging to the window pane, and his feet straightened out. His body leaped out like a diver, slanting towards the wooden floor.

His left palm and five fingers pressed against the ground first, his elbow bent to cushion the fall, and his back rolled across the dusty ground; Richard flipped into the living room -

flutter.

The muffled sound of a gunshot, weakened by the silencer, rang out. The muzzle flash made Richard's glasses shine, and the glass window of the living room behind him suddenly shattered.

The shot that met his target did not hit him - just as Richard had expected, the "invisible man" who had been deprived of vision and hearing for too long and was accustomed to perceiving through touch did not react fast enough.

Moreover, facing a target rolling in, the "Invisible Man" still raised the pre-aiming shooting direction too high.

Puff: Another shot.

But the silencer extending from the barrel of the "Invisible Man"'s gun had been grasped by Richard in his left palm just right, and then pushed up: the bullet drilled into the ceiling diagonally upwards, leaving a white hole.

Richard raised his right hand and stretched out his arm, put the muzzle of the gun against the chin of the "invisible man" who was no longer transparent, and pulled the trigger:

boom!

The bullet penetrated the invisible man's mouth, twisting and crushing his tongue, knocking out a cavity in his brain, and finally flew out through his occipital bone.

Some pink tofu-like brain tissue and blood spurted out from the hole, splashing the wall with scarlet patterns like lightning.

boom!

Richard grabbed the "invisible man" by the hair, pressed the hot muzzle of his gun to his forehead, and fired again. He let go, letting the freshly born body and the bullet casing roll on the ground.

call.

Richard stood up straight, exhaled a long breath, and kicked the "invisible man"'s body, which lay limp on the wooden floor, with the tip of his shoe. Dark blood slowly spread from under his lifeless head.

"You son of a bitch, what do you mean you know I'm an excellent student with high scores? Not just high scores, I was number one in many subjects that year. You're not running away, and you want me to get out? Who the hell are you?"

"Is my psychological analysis report so bad? Do they think I'm a coward? I don't even dare to fight? Is it because I wear glasses or because I talk too much? Rubbish induction training, rubbish special package handling department, rubbish Asia-Europe postal service. Fuck, all of you go to hell."

The barrage of chatter came to an end, and the brief emotional outburst was over: Richard took off his glasses, wiped them with his wet shirt, and wiped away the anger and fear brought about by walking on the edge of life and death.

Even though Richard was alone at the moment, he still felt that he had lost his composure.

Chapter 31 Mystery

When his excited mood calmed down, Richard was finally able to take a serious look at the guy in front of him who almost killed him: in the two quick glances just now, he had no chance to notice the other person's appearance at all.

"Well, the common face of industrial products."

Average features with subtle contours, average height and a balanced build; he wasn't even wearing a fieldwork trench coat and shirt, but a gray T-shirt and black sweatpants. If it weren't for the tongue in his mouth, torn apart by a Richard bullet, and the bullet hole between his eyebrows, this face would be completely unmemorable.

Even his appearance after death was so ordinary, just an ordinary corpse; the remains of a brutal murder.

The "Invisible Man" must have undergone plastic surgery so that he can maintain a certain degree of concealment even when the ecstasy is not activated - he has indeed been specialized to his advantage.

As for whether the "Invisible Man" can levitate and the complete content of the trance, and what are the ritual behaviors he uses to initiate the trance, it is unknown now; perhaps it is still in the files of the Special Package Handling Department, but it is no longer meaningful to Richard.

Richard had no intention of leaving anyone alive for torture: there were many opportunities to obtain intelligence, but life was only once.

He couldn't afford the risk of the "invisible man" counterattacking before his death; his radical action just now - although Richard tried his best to maximize the probability of success, it was still a gamble.

Not to mention there was no time or space for interrogation—the gunshots had been going on for so long, law enforcement officers would be arriving at any moment. And to capture the "invisible man" alive and then relocate him, not to mention the difficulty of lacking transportation, someone was likely already waiting at Richard's other safe house:

Even without the ambush, the safe house was no longer safe.

Richard sighed and began to search the body of the "invisible man".

-

"The head of the department wants to kill me. The Special Package Handling Department wants to kill me. But why?"

Richard huddled in the corner of the sofa in the listening bar's private room: before he heard the sirens in the distance, he had already left the safe house - returning to the listening bar, a noisy but more secluded place.

His CZ-75, equipped with a silencer, accompanied John Dou into the evidence room at the Mong Cai Police Station. Richard had anticipated that exchanging fire with the "Invisible Man" with his backup gun would attract law enforcement.

Judging from the time, the detectives should be cleaning up the scene in Richard's safe house now.

Then, the biggest enemy now, the Special Package Handling Department, should have also learned that the "Invisible Man" was killed by Richard.

He kept changing the jacks of his headphone cables. The bustling noises around him made him feel a little uneasy—but at least, he no longer had to worry about invisible enemies hiding somewhere waiting for him.

There was no secret code in any channel: just like no useful clues were found on the body of the "Invisible Man". There was only a fake passport, spare magazines and adrenaline syringes; there was not even a hotel room card or room key. In the end, Chuck only picked up the "Invisible Man's" pistol with a silencer.

However, the behavior and words of the "invisible man" during his lifetime still revealed a lot of information.

Generally speaking, the Special Package Handling Department does not handle internal employees, especially those working in the field.

No matter what mistakes Richard made, he should not be facing the gun from other field officers. All internal affairs except defection will have separate reporting channels and be handled by independent "cleaners"

Therefore, the previous order only requested the recycling of the "package" and did not mention the specific treatment of the [customer].

"No, it's the Section Chief who wants to kill me. And he wants to kill me without telling anyone higher up."

Only the section chief has the authority to review Richard's psychological analysis report and has the corresponding resources to assign other field officers to kill him; and these field officers are on vacation.

This is a simple answer - but what Richard needs to know is the reason: field staff are not trash that can be casually manipulated and killed; he has a regular position within the Asia-Europe Post.

"Because of John's death—no, at most they'll just deduct my year-end bonus. Falsifying John's observation records? Impossible. I haven't even had time to compile and submit a report. And how could such a thing cost me my life?"

It is not uncommon for field officers to die while on duty - unless there is solid evidence, their partners will not be blamed.

Although he avoided it intentionally or unintentionally, the answer finally came to his mind: it was the [deal] he had received before, the order that cost John Dou his life.

"[The client] died and John Dou died, but the package was never found; so they started to suspect that I took it?"

"Impossible—then before I die, you have to get the package from my mouth. That transparent idiot, he just aimed at my head right away."

"It's just to kill me, it has nothing to do with the package."

Richard hugged his knees and rocked back and forth using his hips as a fulcrum:

"The remaining possibility is..."

"The mission itself is problematic—that's why Corey wants to silence us. What could possibly be wrong with the mission? Chief, Chief, that could only be the Chief's problem."

He knew the client was a defector from the Special Package Handling Department, but he had no idea what information he had or why he was considered a defector. Richard had no idea: field work was about practical application, not about understanding too much.

"Damn it! Damn it! This is terrible! That package recovery order wasn't an official assignment at all: it was a private order from the section chief!"

[Trade] was the code that Richard extracted from the background sound of the radio station covering Mong Cai City. He learned that the content of this mission was conveyed in accordance with the standard and formally. Therefore, although he and John Dou felt that this was a very complicated matter, they did not seriously consider the details.

This was a problem: Richard had not been working in the field for long and had not yet established a private line, making it difficult for him to escape to other safe houses set up in Southeast Asia. All the cross-border transportation resources for his field work came from the Special Package Handling Section.

"No. You can't run."

Richard bit his nails - the edges of his nails had long been like saw teeth, full of rough bite marks.

He would not be so stupid as to just go back to the headquarters to seek justice for himself: but if he wanted to escape, without support and resources, what route could Richard take to escape?

"I have to find a way to fight back. I have to know what's going on."

In this rapidly running brain activity, Richard gradually pieced together a rough picture:

From the moment they took on this mission, he and his partner were destined to be eliminated.

First, the field staff who have little connection with the headquarters will do the dirty work; then the department will chop off this dirty hand.

Simple, vulgar, but easy to use and effective.

However, John Dou died earlier: without the threat and greater uncertainty of the "sinner", the number of killers who came to carry out the mission of silencing him was reduced slightly.

But what exactly is the dirty part of this job? What's wrong with the mission?

as well as--

Richard suddenly remembered:

Who is that boy in the yellow raincoat? Is he connected to all this? And does the Special Package Handling Unit even know about him?

Richard rubbed his tense brows fiercely. As a sinner, John's ability required ritualistic movements, and his ecstasy lacked direct lethality. Therefore, even though he knew the young man had killed John Dou, he also felt a deep-seated fear when facing him.

But is the fanaticism of the boy in the yellow raincoat really that intense?

"Died from an act of nature—but John died at the hands of the man in the yellow raincoat."

Richard suddenly remembered what John Dou said after listening to the divination tape -

"Is divination really all fake? Oh, I don't know what the hell they're doing now. Should I have believed what he said back then?"

Richard grabbed his head with both hands and sighed softly.

[Cheer up! Cheer up! The game isn't over yet, and I haven't lost yet.]

There might be some secrets in [the client]: although it sounds a bit desperate, this is the only direction that Richard can try right now.

"We need to go to the morgue—to see what happened to [the client's] body. Maybe the 'package' is actually hidden inside her body; there's even a case like this in the on-the-job training materials."

The bodies of [Client] and John Dou are probably still undergoing local autopsies and haven't been transferred back to headquarters yet. So, maybe Richard can still find some clues from [Client]—

At least it's better than rushing up to the door and confronting the section chief face to face: Since the "invisible person" showed that the section chief had arrived in Mong Cai, Richard could roughly guess where she might be.

There are too few cards in hand now, it is not the time to go all in.

Since escape has become a dead end, fighting is the only option.

I'm afraid Corey's men are now like leeches, chasing me around like a leech. I can't rule out the possibility that they're preparing personnel to stake out the location where the client's body was found. Perhaps another purpose for their visit to Mong Cai is to remove the client's body.

Suddenly, a little inspiration lit up in Richard's mind like a light bulb:

There is a way that may be able to solve this problem - even if it cannot be solved, at least it can determine whether the Special Package Handling Section knows about the incident involving the boy in the yellow raincoat.