Stay away from Conan.

"Camus...was sniped..."

The pickup truck lurched slightly due to the sudden impact and the driver's instinctive reaction, but did not lose control.

Inside the moving car, Hanada Emi noticed Camus's situation in the back seat through the rearview mirror because of the sound of the sniper shot earlier, and her heart skipped a beat.

However, Hanada Emi did not appear to be completely lost in thought. She gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, her knuckles turning white from the force.

Her gaze didn't even leave the road ahead; her pupils contracted for a moment, and her breathing paused for a split second, but then returned to normal.

She didn't panic. On the contrary, after stabilizing the car, she even quickly and subconsciously glanced at the left rearview mirror, trying to find the source of the sniper's shot, although she couldn't see the sniper's possible direction from that angle. Then, she slightly turned her head and, in an almost professional, calm tone, briefly explained the situation to Gao Yuan behind the car, before adding:

"The sniping came from roughly the left, at an extremely long distance. Camus is confirmed dead. There were no signs of follow-up shooting, but we cannot rule out the possibility that we are still within the enemy's sniping range."

Thus, Hanada Emi's voice was so calm that it didn't seem like she had just witnessed a close-range sniping attack; she was just speaking a little faster than usual.

"The vehicle is in normal condition."

Finally, Hanada Emi gave a relatively good piece of news.

Faced with this situation, Gao Yuan, sitting in the truck bed, was also jolted by the sudden turn of events. A sharp pain shot through his left shoulder wound, but he forcibly suppressed a cry of pain. His eyes, sharp as knives, instantly swept across the left side that Hanada Megumi hadn't mentioned—

Lush greenery, utterly silent, with no trace of a sniper to be found.

Such precision and timing, and perfect concealment after firing...

The armed personnel chasing behind them shouldn't be able to catch up, and they had also deployed several drones to harass and monitor them, so it was unlikely that the attack came from their snipers.

Therefore, was this sudden sniping carried out by the person who sent the message?

Is she, or her people, nearby?
In this case, the message sent by the other party is no longer a bluffing threat, but a naked display of power and control over the situation.

“I can kill any one of you anytime, anywhere, even if you are moving.”

My phone vibrated again; a new message popped up, the cold text seeming to impose an unquestionable demand:
"Now, do you believe I have the ability to take your life even in this situation? Cooperate, or die silently on this desolate road like him. The choice is yours."

Seeing this, Gao Yuan gripped his phone tightly, his knuckles turning white, whether from the force or from blood loss.

Camus's body was just a few feet away in the carriage, warm blood flowing down the seats. This treacherous and cunning elder, whose hands were stained with blood, and who was also the direct murderer of Jundo and the previous generation Louise's tragedy twenty years ago, ended his sinful life in such an abrupt and cheap way.

But Gao Yuan had no time for sentimentality. The shadow of death had never been so close; the other side had used Camus's death to draw a clear red line—

There is no room for bargaining.

Now, armed personnel are tracking us from behind, and the sniper's location is uncertain...

If I had more drones to conduct a large-scale search of that area, finding the sniper wouldn't be difficult. However, a large number of drones were needed to engage the armed helicopter, and I was already stretched thin just dealing with the armed personnel. There was simply no way to spare any drones to search for the sniper...

With unknown snipers and mysterious instigators ahead, and armed men pursuing her from behind, and herself seriously wounded, Hanada Emi, though outwardly calm, is in equally perilous a situation. It can be said that she is in a desperate predicament with no way out.

Unfortunately, the number of drones was still insufficient. Producing such a number of drones in a short period of time was the limit of their financial resources and capabilities.

Setting aside such thoughts for the moment, Gao Yuan took a deep breath, suppressing the metallic taste of blood in his throat and the surging dizziness. He glanced at Camus's rapidly cooling body inside the car, then at Hanada Emi in the driver's seat, whose face was slightly pale but who was still steadily controlling the vehicle, and at Hanada Emi who had proactively provided enemy intelligence. Finally, his gaze returned to his phone screen—

"How to cooperate?"

He typed those four words.

—If the other party really is Vermouth, then taking this opportunity to test her true thoughts can be considered a gain.

And the reply came immediately:
“It’s simple. Tell me all the instructions and keys to start and guide those ‘toys’ for the final search. I’ll send them where they’re supposed to go and find that ‘old guy.’ After that, I need to know the exact location. Don’t try anything funny; I can tell the real from the fake.”

Upon seeing this, Gao Yuan's mind raced—

Did the other party really want to use the intercepted drones to find the organization's BOSS?

if it is like this……

It seems there's no need for much thought, because isn't this exactly what I need?
So, Gao Yuan immediately gave a reply:
"Just press the switch where there is cell phone signal."

—As long as these drones can be started and connected to the communication network, our cloud computing power can automatically access and control these drones to complete the next operation.

Thus, after the message was sent, Gao Yuan held his breath and waited.

Then, a few seconds later, the reply came, with a hint of amusement:
"Want to be somewhere with cell phone signal? Ah... I see. Okay, but I need to see the 'results' immediately. So... I'll give you five minutes."

As soon as Gao Yuan finished reading the information, almost immediately, the cloud computing control interface on Gao Yuan's phone, which controls the drones, showed that the signals of two drones that were supposed to be transported by Professor Agasa had been received by the main control system.

After waiting a short while longer, no other drone signals appeared besides those two, which suggests that—

Was the other party still cautious and didn't activate all the drones?

Without much hesitation, Gao Yuan connected to the signals of the two drones, allowing the AI ​​program, powered by cloud computing, to begin controlling them and transmit their exact location and surrounding images to him.

Then, Gao Yuan discovered that the two drones were still in the same location that he had asked Professor Agasa to send them to, but the other drones could not be detected by the signal search function built into those two drones.

It seems the other side really only left two drones for their so-called "cooperation," while the others...

They should have been moved to a very far location or hidden in a place that blocks signals.

Without further ado, Gao Yuan pressed the confirmation button and sent a command to the two drones—

Let them search for the BOSS's location according to their predetermined purpose... (End of Chapter)