Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

----

Sam stared in disbelief, cold sweat beading on his forehead, his lips trembling, his voice stammering, "You...who exactly are you..."

“I won’t ask who you are, and you shouldn’t pry into my life,” Zhang Renfeng said in a deep voice. “I assure you, there’s nothing wrong with the information here. Gordon wouldn’t do something like that, and he’s not one of the Wendigos.”

"You can look at all the documents and materials as you like after we take them out. But don't forget our agreement: I have the right to know half the truth."

"Of course, if you're willing to tell me everything... I'd be happy to accept."

Zhang Renfeng emphasized his tone, without deliberately putting pressure on him. With just one glance, Sam couldn't stop trembling, his fat face shaking uncontrollably.

"I……"

"I will try my best... I will try my best."

Before long, large boxes of documents were brought out and placed in front of Sam.

Chapter 716: I didn't want to either, but I had no choice.

"Boom!"

Gordon practically shoved the door open with his shoulder and rushed in.

What he saw left him speechless.

A group of sheriffs formed a circle around the city. Zhang Renfeng sat on a chair not far away, while a large, fat man sat on the ground, rapidly reading through a mountain of documents.

He raised an eyebrow, immediately turned around, and was about to ask a question.

Zhang Renfeng raised his hand slightly, signaling him not to make a sound, seemingly to create a relatively quiet reading environment for Sam.

Of course, Gordon couldn't confirm whether this could be considered "reading".

The moment Sam touched the paper documents, he seemed like a different person. His face was expressionless, and his slightly large hands flew across each page. He'd glance at something briefly before immediately moving on to the next page. His movements were as if he were trying to divide the pile of documents into two categories, and sometimes he'd take out a pen and paper to quickly jot down some information.

As the clock ticked round and round, the atmosphere inside the police station grew somewhat oppressive. Even the most oblivious person, seeing this scene, wouldn't be able to guess that something big was about to happen.

Otherwise, why would the long-dormant Australian shrike case be brought up again?

Seeing the commotion, Gordon knew there was no point in panicking. He waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to stop watching and get back to their own business.

He let out a long sigh, sat down next to Zhang Renfeng, and lowered his voice, "What's going on? Give me a break, is Wendigo dead or not?"

"died."

"you sure?"

"determine."

Gordon had always known what Zhang Renfeng and Mike had done. Zhang Renfeng's explanation was "falling off a cliff," so let's accept that as a fall; that's what the case file said too. As for the actual manner of his death… from Mike's perspective, any manner of death would be normal. He simply couldn't imagine what reason Mike and Zhang Renfeng, those two ruthless men, would have given Wendigo to survive.

So how do we explain this situation?

……

After lost in thought for a while, Sam finally gently put down the last letter, closed his eyes, and exhaled a breath of stale air. He kept rubbing the bridge of his nose to relax his tense optic nerves. Perhaps he had found what he was looking for, because he visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, these are very useful." He seemed to have completely recovered, and without even seeing where Zhang Renfeng was sitting, he stood up and picked up the sifted documents. "At least now, we have a general direction."

“Sam, right?” Gordon said in a deep voice, “Although there are special circumstances, I am informing you now, as the White Torch Sheriff, that you are not allowed to take away any of the materials you have reviewed here. Furthermore, considering your previous unauthorized entry into the mayor's office, you must cooperate with our follow-up investigation!”

"What? This..." Sam was immediately taken aback, but his first thought wasn't about his own safety. "I can't stay here any longer!"

“Then there’s nothing we can do,” Gordon said coldly. “If someone hadn’t vouched for you, you would be wearing handcuffs right now, just for that reason alone!”

“We made a promise, Sam,” Zhang Renfeng said in a deep voice. “It’s time for you to keep your word.”

……

Sam struggled with his conscience and finally convinced himself that he wouldn't be able to leave the house tonight unless he handed over something.

“I am a special investigator for customs, although… I shouldn’t be officially employed yet, I…” He rummaged through his wallet for a while and finally found a crumpled piece of paper. “This is my employment certificate.”

"Customs?" Zhang Renfeng was completely bewildered. This was one of the few words he was hearing for the first time since arriving in this country.

"Are you from customs?" Gordon's expression changed slightly.

"What is that?" Zhang Renfeng turned his head, his face showing a genuine thirst for knowledge.

"Simply put, our country has business dealings with other countries, right? All goods coming from abroad are inspected by government personnel when they cross the border. These government personnel are what we call customs officials. If there are any prohibited items that violate the law, they will be detained at this stage."

"..." Zhang Renfeng was speechless for a moment. He suddenly realized that he seemed to belong to the category of "illegally entering the country".

It's a miracle that it wasn't detected by customs.

Gordon carefully examined Sam's work pass; it was tattered and worn, as if it had been rubbed countless times.

Being an old hand, he immediately saw through the deception and his gaze towards Sam changed slightly. "Is your work ID 'temporary'?"

“Yes, but I am indeed a member of the investigation team, and my work permit hasn’t expired yet.” Sam wiped the sweat from his forehead and gritted his teeth. “I don’t have much time left.”

"According to him, shouldn't you be checking the ships on the coast? Why are you all here?" Zhang Renfeng suddenly had a wild idea, his mind racing. "Could it be that Wendigo... has eaten something imported?"

"Since the Customs Reform Act of 1874 was introduced, the establishment of the investigation team has had a legal basis. At first, our main responsibility was to investigate the smuggling of goods and the evasion of customs duties at the docks. As the investigations deepened, our investigations began to extend to all parts of the country. The data obtained from the investigations were gradually merged with the Ministry of Finance."

"This time, I spent a long time sifting through a huge amount of information before I finally located this place."

"To be honest, before I came here, I was less than 10% sure. If it weren't for your help, I would have completely messed up this trip."

“At a specific time and place, Wendigo Lecter, the former mayor of White Torch, had a one-hour encounter with our official investigation subject. Based on that one hour, I have to examine every trace he left behind and dig deeper to uncover further clues.”

Sam's tone was very earnest, "Zhang, please forgive me. I really have no right to reveal any more information to you."

"However, the seriousness of this matter, the people and positions involved, and its impact on the country and the power center are far beyond your imagination."

"Once you get involved in these things, there's no way to extricate yourself. It's better for you to know as little as possible."

----

Inside the police station, the atmosphere was as still as ice.

The young sheriffs realized something was wrong and shut their mouths, refusing to speak.

Alarm bells rang in Gordon's mind; he had keenly sensed that he was stepping one foot into the edge of a bottomless vortex.

Looking down, from the bottomless abyss, shadowy tentacles stretched out, spying on him, ready to devour him.

……

“Is that so?” Zhang Renfeng asked calmly, “Then why…”

"Are you still going to rush into the fire like a blindfolded horse?"

Sam gave a wry smile.

“I don’t want to either,” he shrugged, “but I have no choice.”

Chapter 717: The Key to a New Era

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is our brand new product! As you can see, anyone with normal intelligence can master the skills to operate it after a certain period of learning. Individually, they are just a bunch of immobile parts, but when put together, they have a more powerful and stable power than a horse, allowing you to go anywhere."

"You have all seen its advantages: comfort, convenience, stability, and reliability. Compared to horse-drawn carriages, it has a higher load capacity. Tests have shown that the carriage can easily support a weight of several hundred kilograms."

"Ordinary carriages are usually pulled by two horses. Even a four-horse carriage can only carry a maximum of three people, which is already quite bulky. Each horse has a different temperament, and only an experienced coachman can handle it."

"However, the drivers you see here are all recruited from the town. They don't have much education, but they learned how to drive after a month. Now, they can easily pull hundreds of kilograms of weight with just a turn of the steering wheel!"

“But I can’t ride a horse. I mean… I’ve tried so hard, really hard, but the horse just won’t cooperate.” A young man raised his hand, asking somewhat embarrassedly, “Even so, is it possible to learn… to ride this thing?”

“Sir, there is absolutely no need to worry. It is not a living thing; it is just a collection of metal parts.”

Jimmy walked around to a car, gently tapped its hood twice, making two clanging sounds, and laughed, "It has no will of its own, it will never throw a tantrum at you, and you don't need to guess what it's thinking. As long as you operate it the right way, it will obey your will and move."

At this moment, the exhibition is already halfway through, and as the host, Jimmy has officially introduced to the guests the groundbreaking exhibit for tonight.

car.

Even a genius like Tao spent a considerable amount of time integrating, experimenting, trial and error, replacing parts... repeating this process repeatedly until the final product satisfied him. Only then could he begin recruiting drivers, conduct final testing, and launch it into the market.

With his financial resources in Dover Valley, producing even one engine would be the limit.

After joining Zhang Renfeng, he could remotely control the industrial production lines in Lagras and Saint Quintak, with various parts flowing into White Torch Town along the railway tracks. After dozens of experiments, the four-wheel drive car finally made its dazzling debut before the world!

The most direct way to demonstrate this is to let people see it in motion with their own eyes.

For tonight, Jimmy specially trained several drivers, had them drive around the track a few times, and then smoothly parked in front of everyone.

The beams of the headlights shone down, illuminating the car body and reflecting a dazzling metallic sheen.

To people of that era, this scene was nothing short of science fiction.

……

After a long silence, the audience spontaneously burst into applause.

Soon, applause surged like a tidal wave, drowning out most of the other sounds in the room.

This is the perfect time to take action.

But... Sophia, who was mixed in with the crowd, did not move. She just stood there, stunned, watching everything that was happening in front of her.

"Ha, Sanyuan Heavy Industries, right? I think I recognize you, lawyer." A stocky man with a thick mustache spoke in a somewhat rough voice, "That light bulb from last time, you guys were the ones who did it, weren't you?"

“Mr. Tao is the founder of Sanyuan Electric Manufacturing Company. At the same time, he was also employed by Henry Heissen and served as the chief production technology consultant for Sanyuan Heavy Industry.” Jimmy neither confirmed nor denied, using ambiguous statements to gloss over the matter. “Some of the electrical technology was also applied to the vehicle body, for example, the headlights can be turned on when driving at night.”

"When will we be able to buy it in the market?!" another younger man shouted. "The sooner the better!"

"Gentlemen, please calm down." Jimmy patted his palms down twice and smiled helplessly. "As you can see, I am just a small lawyer. I have no say in the production plan of Sanyuan Heavy Industries."

"But what I can tell you is that it will be at most a month before our first batch of about 30 commemorative brand cars are available on the market."

"It is foreseeable that a brand new era is about to begin. And you, my friends, will become the first great pioneers of this new era!"

"I propose that we raise our glasses to Mr. Tao!"

The atmosphere reached its peak.

Those invited to tonight's exhibition are basically the same people who profited immensely from the previous collaboration with Sanyuan Electric Manufacturing Company. They're not stupid; they've all sensed an untold business opportunity in the roar of the engines!

The thought of getting a share of the profits made the act of raising a glass become powerful, and his eyes shone with a fervent and sincere light.

"..."

Tao wasn't used to this kind of situation, and simply raised his glass passively as a response to these important business figures.

----

Sofia saw all this and felt a mix of emotions.

Because of his work, her father didn't have much time to spend with her, but he never missed out on exposing her to the world.

When she was very young, Istavo took her to the big cities in the north. As they walked, he explained to her the rules by which these so-called upper classes ruled the world. His explanations were always simple and easy to understand, even for a child like Sofia.

Anyone with a modicum of vision can see what a remarkable invention these roaring iron horses are!

If you ask someone in their fifties or sixties, they'll tell you how the world has changed. Railroads and trains have connected this land, making it more compact, suffocating people, and so on.

Even so, this country, this land, is still too vast and empty. Between towns, and along the railway lines, there are still large swathes of mountains, grasslands, deserts, and Gobi, all undeveloped.

No longer.

These untouched lands will be trampled by wheels.

The existence of automobiles means accelerated flow of goods, and that the economy and trade will expand across the country at an unprecedented pace. While trains will still be needed between states, within a state, towns and cities can rely entirely on automobiles for economic activities.

Those invited here are all intelligent people; they can surely see that an era of great explosion is about to arrive.

By slightly riding the edge of this wave and seizing the right moment to enter the market, existing assets can experience a qualitative leap.

She seemed to understand why the higher-ups had ordered him to be eliminated.

Because the key to unlocking a new era is not in their hands, they would rather break that key.

……

Sofia hesitated.

The cheers and clinking of glasses overwhelmed her senses.

If I really have to make a move, I'll kill her right here...

How will future historians evaluate them?