You don't even want to call me godfather

"We formed teams of two and spread out across the area, disguising ourselves as Colombians and secretly searching for intelligence," Jose gradually calmed down. He stopped thinking about the girl and secretly took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket. "After more than half a month of lurking, we got some news, and all the news pointed to one person."

Koshe took the paper from under the seat and flipped it open in the blind spot of the audience closest to him. There was a name written on it.

Arthur Wilder.

"I'm very sorry, Godfather." Perhaps feeling ashamed of his limited abilities, Jose suddenly began to apologize. "With our abilities, we can only investigate this far. Anything deeper would be..."

"No, you've done a great job, Jose." Koshe put the piece of paper in his pocket. He raised his hand and gently patted Jose's shoulder. "As long as we have a direction, everything will be easy. Leave the rest to us."

"...Yes, Godfather."

Jose took a deep breath, nodded to Koshei, and stood up to leave the theater.

"Is it done?"

Indra suddenly leaned towards Koshei. Judging from her still shaking legs, she could hardly hold on any longer.

"Ah."

"Then hurry up--"

"I've already bought the tickets, at least watch it to the end."

But Koshei interrupted her and even leaned back to find a more comfortable sitting position to watch the opera on the stage.

Perhaps with Indra's temper, she might indeed rebel violently, but after all, with Vina around, she would not do such a rash thing.

"Tsk, I'll settle the score with you later."

Under Veena's silent gaze, Indra smacked his lips in dissatisfaction, then leaned heavily back in his chair, sighed deeply, and stared at the ceiling idly.

"I offer jewels to the Virgin Mary every day and sing praises to God under the stars at night. Even so, my Lord, why do you repay me like this?"

The actors on the stage were performing hard, but most of the audience below were not paying attention to them.

Koshe watched their performance, but he was thinking about other things.

Chapter 44: Out of Time

"The opera just now, was it called 'Tosca'?"

Vina suddenly asked as they left the theater and headed to the hotel.

"Well," Koshe walked in front. He turned his head slightly and glanced at Vina, who had rarely spoken since entering Columbia. "It seems that you are quite interested."

"I've seen it in Victoria before," Vina said cryptically, pulling down the brim of her hat to prevent passers-by from seeing her face. "But after I became an adult, there are no more opportunities for entertainment."

"Because of the chores and responsibilities that come with age," Koshei snorted secretly, as if hinting at something. "If Sichan saw this, she would probably cry. 'Born for art, live for love', she would definitely cry her eyes out."

This also reminded him of the irises far away in Syracuse.

What would she think about this as she loves music so much?

He thought more than that.

"What are you talking about? Why don't you take me with you?"

At this moment, Indra suddenly came over, sandwiched between Koshe and Vina, and complained unhappily.

"We were talking about the opera just now," Koshe took the initiative to make way for the three of them so that they wouldn't be so crowded, "but Indra didn't seem to pay much attention to the content of the opera, did he?"

"Tsk, who said that?" Indra clicked his tongue and argued even more unhappily, "Of course I paid attention, because Master Vina watched it very carefully."

"Huh? Then tell me the background story of this opera."

Koshe smiled maliciously and looked straight into Indra's eyes, with the intention of embarrassing her.

"Um……"

Indra pouted, as if he was reminiscing, but more likely he was making up an excuse.

"Tosca's stage is Syracuse, which was under the political terror of the last century. There are four main characters: Tosca, the most outstanding singer in Gaul; Cavaradossi, a painter who is also Tosca's lover; Angelodi, his friend and political prisoner; and Scapia, the police governor who is chasing the fugitive." Just when Indra was about to go crazy, Vina spoke up to help her out. "Cavaradossi was sentenced to death for hiding his friend. Tosca petitioned the police governor to save him, but was forced to have sex with him as a condition for releasing her lover."

"You understand this very well, Vina."

Koshe looked at Vina with some surprise.

"Because a friend of mine used to like this story very much."

Under the brim of her hat, Vina gave a barely perceptible smile, as if she was recalling something that made her happy.

"And then what?" Indra suddenly came forward, and for some reason he became very excited. "How did this story turn out?"

"Hmm..." Vina frowned slightly, trying to recall, but finally gave up, "I don't know, I have forgotten."

"In the end, all four characters died, and their deaths were quite tragic," Koshe said. "Syracuse-style operas are all like this, death from illness, suicide, revenge, most of which end in death. In other words...Syracuse is a country that likes tragedy very much, and feels quite sentimental about death. So even now, Syracuse is still full of violence, as if nothing can be solved without bloodshed."

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere between the three of them suddenly became dull.

"Hey... that's your own country, isn't that right..."

Even Indra didn't know what to say. She noticed Koshei's gloomy expression. Even though she was usually carefree, she knew that now was not the time to speak.

"If you need any advice on running the country, you can talk to me," Vina said, just as she did in the cafe before. "We agreed on this, Koshe."

"…Sorry, I said something inappropriate," Koshe sighed secretly. He himself didn't understand why he suddenly felt so resentful. Then he stopped in front of a building and said, "Okay, we're here."

Before they knew it, the three of them had arrived at the motel they had found in advance.

"Hisdell Eldridge, I should have booked a room," Koshei told the administrator at the front desk his fake name and handed over a forged passport, "I'm traveling to Colombia, so this is the only one I have."

The receptionist took the passport, looked up at the three people in front of her, and then took Koshe's passport without saying a word.

"Rooms 207, 208."

After confirming the identity, the administrator placed the passport and room card on the table.

"Thank you."

Koshe took the passport and room card, then looked back at Vina and Indra.

"Let's go upstairs first and then divide the rooms."

Vina understood and spoke calmly under the scrutinizing gaze of the receptionist.

……

"Fuck, are all Colombians so paranoid?"

After coming upstairs, Indra finally couldn't hold it in anymore and started cursing.

"After all, foreign races enter this country every day. If the frequency is high enough to affect life, xenophobia is inevitable," Koshe shook his head and said with emotion, "At least in this respect, they are very similar to the Syracuse people."

"Wow, now you can understand how we felt when we came to Syracuse?"

Indra sneered mercilessly.

But Koshe just shrugged and said nothing. He seemed to have gotten used to Indra's carefree personality.

"Okay, Indra, don't embarrass Koshei. You know it's not his fault," Vina said while trying to stop Indra's behavior and looking for their room. "Found it."

"So, do we have to open the blind box next and guess which room they are in?"

Indra noticed Veena's confusion when she held the two room cards, so he joked.

At this moment, the door of Room 207 suddenly opened. Sheffield poked his head out, looked around the corridor, then opened the door wide and welcomed Koshei and others in.

There were two beds in the room, a very standard double room. Abraham was leaning against the window, looking outside. Sichan was sitting alone on one of the beds, swinging her legs idly.

"Kosh-e!"

When she saw Koshei enter the room, she leaned back with her hands, rushed to him excitedly and threw herself on him.

"Huh... finally I have a place to rest."

Indra entered the room through the gap next to Koshei, locked onto a bed and lay down on it.

Vina came in last and closed the door.

"Alright, alright, Sichan, that's enough." After Sichan wrapped her arms around Koshei's neck and circled around him a few times, Koshei finally pulled her off him. He took a deep breath, looked at everyone in the room, and said, "Now, we have to sort out our plans and itinerary."

Chapter 45 Shameless

Shortly after Koshei and others left the theater, a young girl also walked out of the theater.

She took off her black leather gloves and put them in her pocket, then walked in one direction as if nothing had happened, took out her cell phone and dialed a number.

"It's me, Freya." After the call was connected, Freya looked around and confirmed that no one was following her before she spoke, "The mission was accomplished. There was no noise and no one was alarmed. I broke the target's neck. The opera was loud and no one noticed my actions."

"Very good," Arthur's voice came from the other end of the line, "Besides that, have you encountered any other situations?"

"No," Freya thought for a moment and then corrected herself, "No, before the mission, I noticed two female Victorians in the theater."

"Victorians?" Arthur asked with a hint of doubt in his tone. "Go on."

"Although one of them disguised herself very well, based on my ability to identify people, I can confirm that she is most likely from the Flin tribe," Freya recalled the scene she saw in the theater and described it to Arthur, "Although the other person did not disguise herself at all, she clearly showed an aversion to the opera. She is not someone who would come to a place like a theater. In addition, it seems that there is also a male Luper traveling with them."

"This is Columbia, Freya," Arthur said softly on the other end of the line, as if speaking in an inconvenient situation. "The Lupo are very common here, there's nothing to be surprised about."

"No, Mr. Wilder..." Freya's tone suddenly became serious, as if she was trying to prove her point. "He has a kind of... I can't describe the temperament. I can even say that he is similar to you. I am very sure that this is not a common character in Colombia."

"...I already know the general situation. These people don't match the characteristics of any of the forces we are currently tracking down." Arthur was silent for a while before he spoke, "I will order Balder and Bugila to investigate later. You should focus on the mission first. Freya, contact me if there is any situation. I'm hanging up now."

"Yes, I understand, Mr. Wilder."

As Freya responded, Arthur hung up the phone.

"Are you talking about those things that happened to your men again?" The person standing next to Arthur was his father. "Sometimes, I feel troubled for you. The white gloves and black gloves, the tricks your generation played, in my opinion, are really crude."

"I've said this before, Father," Arthur put away his phone, obviously getting a little impatient with him, "I don't have to do things your way. I have my own strengths, and I hope you can respect that a little bit."

"Ha, you still have the nerve to ask me for respect," the old man sneered disdainfully. He raised a hand and pointed at Arthur's face. "I have seen everything you have done in Columbia. Over the years, I have never intervened in your development. And now, you come to me and want to gain control of the port."

"...That's your problem, father. You always think the world revolves around you. You're arrogant." Arthur took a deep breath, lowered his voice, and looked into the old man's eyes. "I came here today with my sincerity. I want to learn something I don't know from you, not to listen to you teach me how to stay within my means."

"The first bird to stick its head out gets shot... You should understand this, Arthur." Seeing Arthur's attitude change drastically, the old man simply stopped using that playful tone, "You have no idea what kind of impact your actions will bring. In the near future, you will hand over everything in Colombia to foreigners and hand over the future of Colombia to those traitors. Things will only go this way. I can see it."

"Who says that the future is what you say it is?" Arthur was quite dissatisfied with this. He refuted the old man's inference, "You only care about your own power and resources, and never think about other things, including me and my mother. Is there nothing that can make you a little more humane?"

"...I knew this day would come. Your shamelessness will sooner or later cross my bottom line. I have always been tolerant of you, but your ambition is intolerable to me." The old man paused, then changed his attitude and said something that was enough to anger Arthur, "I am glad that your mother didn't see this. She would be heartbroken because of her disappointment in you."

"..." Arthur held his breath, as if he was enduring it. After a long time, he slowly exhaled, "Nice to meet you, father. We'll talk next time."

PS: The author is currently traveling in Guangzhou, staying in a hotel with friends. He usually spends most of his time playing games, so the frequency of typing will become lower.

Chapter 46: Clever Snakes and Gentle Doves

After leaving the hotel where his father was staying, Arthur got into a high-end black car parked on the side of the road.

"How's the insurance business?"

After getting in the car, Arthur looked out the window and asked Mondirfarli who was sitting in the driver's seat.

"It's been resolved, Mr. Wilder. They didn't extract anything useful from the destroyed truck, so they didn't ask me any more questions." Mondirfarley looked at the rearview mirror outside the car and started the car. "But you'd better be careful in the near future. I suspect that someone from another party planned this 'accident', and now the congressman is the most prominent target."

"Humph……"

Arthur leaned back in the seat, took a deep breath, and said nothing more.

"Speaking of which, Freya has started to carry out missions again," Mondirfarri changed the subject when he saw that Arthur had no intention of mentioning this topic, "The child's condition seems to be much more stable than before. Is it also thanks to your efforts?"

"Well... But I'm tired of this lately..." Arthur raised his head and rested it on the cushion, saying weakly, "When I'm with her, I always have to take care of her emotions. The topics are all about missions and killings, and giving gifts is just a formality... There's no sense of reality at all."

"You don't have to be so self-deprecating, Mr. Wilder?" Perhaps he was amused by Arthur's idea, Mondirfarley couldn't help but smile helplessly, "Hypocrisy is also a kind of good deed, and being able to do it thoroughly is also a virtue. Freya seems to be eager to be recognized."

"Don't say that, Mondirfarri," Arthur waved his hand casually, looking a little tired. "You should also know that if you can't act naturally, no matter how realistic you act, you are just blatantly deceiving her and yourself."

"As shrewd as a serpent, as innocent as a dove. I remember hearing this phrase somewhere before."

Montilfarli reached over and adjusted the rearview mirror so he could look at Arthur.

"what is that?"

Hearing this, Arthur lowered his head in confusion and looked at Mondirfarri through the rearview mirror.

"This is the mentality you should have in this harsh world," Mondirfarri avoided his gaze and raised the corners of his mouth slightly. "Although I told Freya before that she should control her emotions, I also know that this is a very difficult request."

"I know that," Arthur closed his eyes and took a deep breath, not wanting to go any further on this topic. "That's why you want me to work as hard as she does. That's the goal of this conversation, isn't it?"