Puzzle Madness

Chapter 28
Lately, shopping ads for air fryers and ovens have been playing all over the TVs—even the TVs in department store windows are blaring them non-stop.

Richard can guarantee that if everyone were to fall into the underworld right now, Mong Cai City would definitely be able to play the role of an oven in the King of Hell's kitchen.

Pedestrians on the street were sweating and staring blankly at the shadows they cast in front of them; car horns made strange, listless noises, and parasols were the only bouquets of flowers in this season, and everyone held one in their hands.

Richard crossed the street and bought a bowl of summer cypress tea under an awning. He drank half of the brown liquid in the paper cup, but the sweat he produced was more than the drink he had just consumed. After making sure that no one was following him, he got up and went into an apartment building called Jinqiao Building in the alley.

Neither he nor his [former] partner John Dou were long-term field officers in Mong Cai - but Richard still set up two safe houses in Mong Cai; one was registered with his personal fake identity, and the other was a commercial and residential property rented under the name of an office through a subsidiary of Asia-Europe Post.

The fake identity registration is on the surface, and the real safe house is on the other side: as a field worker of Asia-Europe Post, Richard must consider the possibility of confrontation with local law enforcement agencies, or other companies, groups or organizations; then the anti-reconnaissance part must also be taken into consideration.

Although Richard himself had no idea how effective this anti-reconnaissance arrangement would be - corporate wars had not happened for a long time, at least he himself had not experienced it.

No matter what industry you go into, there are always some who are just starting out, and Richard's job is no exception. I heard that a colleague had prostitutes all over Southeast Asia, and if anything went wrong, he would just slip into his mistress's bedroom and stay with her for a few weeks.

Richard naturally scoffed at this: not only was its safety not guaranteed, but it was not even cost-effective enough to use it as entertainment outside of work.

The reason why he didn't laugh at these behaviors was simply that he didn't like to make too many comments on irrelevant trivial matters.

He considered himself a rare academic among the field staff of Asia-Europe Post - he had participated in one or two field staff social gatherings and the company's annual meeting. Other field staff rarely followed the instruction manual during their induction training; he was much more reckless than John Dou.

The reason is not complicated: although Asia-Europe Post's performance is booming, the expenses of the field staff's original routine tasks - safe houses, informant training and placement, local intelligence gathering at the mission site - are becoming increasingly difficult to reimburse.

Perhaps it’s the growing power of Asia and Europe’s postal services, or perhaps it’s simply cost-cutting: [People in the Tower] seem to be encouraging a more aggressive style of operation in the field, rather than stealth and security.

Richard is a special case—he pays out of his own pocket, using his activity allowance and salary to build the safe house. The reason is simple: the career path of a field agent is inherently difficult, and Richard naturally values ​​his life.
At least he won't die so early like John Douglas; Richard has already written a plan for his career and life until he's 60. When he retires, he plans to use his severance pay to buy a yacht and sail it all the way to the Caribbean:
He had heard that Dominican carpaccio was delicious and he really wanted to try it - but even on his annual leave, Richard couldn't leave Asia.

Thinking of this, Richard's pace could not help but quicken: he had intelligence that had to be reported.
The truth about the boy in the yellow raincoat and John Dou's death in Tianhu Community.

The safe house was not very spacious; it only had one bedroom and a living room, and the only way to go to the toilet was to use the public bathroom in the corridor - it seemed that the security was not enough, but his funds were limited.

Richard used his key to unlock the door, his hand clutching his service pistol under his arm. He waited at the door for a moment, making sure nothing was amiss, before entering.

Everything seemed almost the same as when Richard rented the house - in the sunlight, one could see the thin layer of dust on the surface of the furniture and the thin fluff floating in the sunlight: it had been several weeks since Richard last came to the safe house in Mong Cai City.

There's no sign of anything out of the ordinary.
The toothpicks positioned in the crack of the door and the iron wire stuffed in the window panes were all the same as before Richard left: his salary was not enough to install an electronic security system in every safe house; he could only use these simple and effective methods.

The dust covering the safe house was a natural sign of surveillance, and the floor was covered in a thick layer - just like an apartment that had no signs of life for weeks, which was consistent with the impression that Richard had in his mind.

There are no footprints, no abrupt clean areas; the dust is still there, so there should be no intruders.

Normally, these simple and effective protective measures are enough to prove that the safe house has not been exposed; the safe house is still a safe house.
But Richard still felt his own rising alertness: the beating of his heart was like a drum, deafening in the quiet room -
Something was wrong: a malaise that permeated Lee Chuck.

It's too quiet.

Normally, the safe house chosen by Richard is relatively quiet: this is not only due to budget considerations, but also the guidance in the field training manual.

If a safe house is locked and attacked, the noise caused by the breach can more easily attract the attention of surrounding civilians - considering the enemies that field operatives are fighting against in most of their missions, attracting the intervention of local law enforcement agencies can sometimes save the lives of field operatives.

Richard's safe house was naturally chosen under the same guiding principle. As far as he knew, the Golden Bridge Building had many rooms available for rent as mixed-use commercial and residential spaces, as well as numerous small and micro-enterprises, including cafes, bakeries, and tea rooms. The floor where the safe house was located naturally had such businesses. While customers weren't constantly coming and going, at this time of day, the kitchen would always be bustling with activity, preparing for the upcoming business hours.

Part of Richard's job is to capture the incongruities in other people's daily lives.

This also made him dare not underestimate his intuition: as he was told during the on-the-job training, intuition is not just the result of the human subconscious processing of external information.

Just as the world is not just the reflection of light on the human retina—
Apart from the home radio set with an antenna that filled the entire iron table in the middle of the living room, there were several mirrors placed everywhere in the living room: a dressing mirror embedded in the wall, a makeup mirror on the table, and even a Bagua bronze mirror hanging from the ceiling.

Richard likes it this way; looking forward allows him to collect information behind him, which makes him feel more at ease.

These mirrors only reflected Richard and the beams of sunlight filtering through the glass panes. This orientation not only avoided possible sniper points outside the window, but also allowed for complete visual information from inside the safe house through the cleverly placed mirrors.

It can be said that Richard is now standing in the safest position in the entire safe house.

[Safest]

at this time--
He realized that this was also the place where he would be most relaxed.

flutter!
Even with the silencer, the sound of the bullets being fired is still clearly audible:
Before hearing this muffled and crisp sound, Richard had already bent down.

The bullet passed over Richard's head; it tore through the air and pierced into the floor, and the exploding wood chips stung like sharp needles.

If Richard hadn't lowered his head, the bullet would have penetrated his occipital bone, crushed his tongue and mouth, and then rolled out -
"Well."

He heard a thud behind him, almost only slightly behind the shooting, a sound that sounded like disappointment and embarrassment:

Richard raised his left arm, and held his right arm against his chest as if to embrace himself. The pistol in his right hand pierced through his left armpit and fired through his windbreaker.
Bang! Puff, puff!

Gunshots rang out simultaneously from the muzzle of Richard's gun and from behind: he could feel something hard whistling around his torso and neck, and a hole was drilled in the hem of his windbreaker.

However, the gunfire behind him was farther away than at first, the two bursts of gunfire drifting back and forth. His unaimed shooting also had an effect, forcing the other party to change their firing position.

Richard lifted his left foot, lifted his right foot, and pushed hard - the sudden change in center of gravity caused his entire body to roll diagonally forward and slide into the bedroom like a ball.

Bang—his back hit the wall, stopping his momentum; the clock above his head swayed, but it did not fall down after all.

Richard leaned against the wall, one hand holding the gun pointed at the door; with the other hand he patted his torso and limbs vigorously - there was no warm blood, no burning pain. Perhaps it was God's blessing that the three bullets did not hit him.

[There really is an ambush, there really is an ambush——]

But this was not the reason that frightened him the most.

[Shit! This time, I might really be doomed!]

the most important is
When he bent over to shoot, he saw: there was no gun or human figure behind him - but the muzzle flame burst out from the void more than one meter above the ground.

The killer who ambushed Richard was invisible.
-
(End of this chapter)