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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Eighty-Five: The Game of Power
“Buzz, buzz, buzz…”
On the clean tabletop, the communicator was incessantly buzzing, moving slowly with the rhythm of its vibrations. Less than half a meter away from the communicator, a pair of delicate, slender feet rested on the edge of the table. From the glossy color of her toenails, it was clear that this was a woman.
Caroline was dressed casually today, her golden hair loosely cascading behind her as she wore a simple cotton nightgown, meticulously applying nail polish to her toenails. The communicator vibrated every two minutes, but Caroline chose to ignore it. The computer screen was divided into thirty-six small grids, each containing busy or utterly bored individuals; beside the screen sat a pitch-black metal box tangled with countless transmission cables. Several stacks of leather document folders were piled nearby, some already frayed at the edges; scattered across the table were numerous A4 sheets filled with drawings and charts, along with lengthy texts in both English and Chinese. A silver Berettam9 lay disassembled next to more than ten colorful bottles of OPI nail polish.
The person on the other end of the communicator seemed to have lost patience and stopped calling repeatedly. Caroline finally sighed in relief and gently brushed the color evenly on her nails.
The room was small; apart from a square table and its contents, there was only a single bed and a swivel chair. The white walls had several hooks on which hung a few of her frequently worn clothes. The floor was spotless, as if no one had ever set foot in it. The solid wooden door was slightly ajar, behind it stood a bouquet of nameless wildflowers, their tiny petals in various colors exuding a faint fragrance.
Footsteps approached from outside, quickening as they drew near, echoing through the corridor with a rhythmic ‘thud thud.’ A bead of sweat formed on Caroline's forehead as she thought to herself that she hoped it wasn’t someone looking for her.
With a loud bang, the wooden door swung open forcefully, sending a gust of wind that knocked over the bouquet of flowers, scattering petals all over the floor.
In that moment when the door opened, Caroline’s final brush stroke went awry; the wind made her squint her eyes involuntarily, causing her hand to shake and leaving a long streak of vibrant red across her toes.
Caroline closed her eyes and took a deep breath before capping the nail polish. She looked up at the insufferable man in the doorway and gritted her teeth. “Wu, you’d better give me a reason for barging in here; otherwise, I’ll make you drink all this nail polish.”
The disheveled Wu Wentao pretended not to hear Caroline’s threat, his face unable to hide his delight as he plopped down onto Caroline’s small bed.
“Haha! It’s been a while since I last saw you; how did you become so feminine?” Wu Wentao teased upon noticing a makeup bag resting on one side of her pillow. “Have you taken a liking to men?”
Caroline didn’t respond to his banter; she turned away with an icy expression and squeezed out through clenched teeth, “Did you come back to change clothes?”
“Hey, why should we nitpick among ourselves?” Wu Wentao waved his hand dismissively, showing no concern for leaving two dark smudges on the pristine white sheets.
Caroline bit her lip as she calculated what punishments she might face if she killed this man. After a moment's thought, she dismissed that idea and swallowed her anger.
“On a serious note, I heard Kenny is back? Where is he? I want to see him.” Wu Wentao seemed unusually cheerful today as he lit up a cigarette while speaking; ash fell onto the bed with a flick of his wrist.
“Who told you Kenny is back?” Caroline decided she would request logistics to switch rooms soon enough and chose not to bother with him any longer. “You look so happy; care to share?”
“Not back?” Wu Wentao furrowed his brows together playfully and chuckled. “Don’t mess around; I have serious business.”
"I told you he hasn't come back, and he hasn't," Caroline said, picking up a nail polish remover pad and wiping away the painstakingly applied polish. She looked puzzled and asked, "You still haven't told me who said he was back?"
"Didn't anyone tell you? A friend from the data department said Kenny sent someone to contact the Power Broker Informant last night. If he hasn't returned, how could he have sent someone? Did he give you any instructions?" Wu Wentao observed her expression, noting that she didn't seem to be lying, which made him curious.
"Contact the Power Broker Informant?!" To his surprise, Caroline's expression was even more astonished than his. She stopped wiping her nails and exclaimed, "What are you joking about?! Just half a month ago, a group of Establishment troops came to search for deserters. Kenny specifically instructed us to halt all activities recently. Why would he recklessly contact an informant?"
"Huh? Does the Establishment still have time to look for deserters?" Wu Wentao's expression grew increasingly strange as he recalled, "I asked the contact person; it seemed like it was someone from your team."
"Rumor has it that those deserters were carrying a lot of weapons and equipment. Perhaps they're worried about leaking information... Wu, don't say things carelessly. My people are all here except for those on duty outside." Caroline became serious and pulled out a document with a red stamp from a pile of A4 papers on the desk, handing it to Wu Wentao. "Look at this; it strictly prohibits any contact with the Establishment."
"Are you kidding me?" Wu Wentao rubbed his stubble and asked, "Isn't that Vincent or Winston from your team?"
"He died at the Power Station on the mountain! Wu, what's wrong with you today?" Caroline was furious; her pretty face turned icy as she coldly said, "Are you trying to mess with me on purpose?"
"Calm down, calm down." Seeing her genuinely angry, Wu Wentao quickly waved his hands in reassurance while feeling anxious himself. Did he make a mistake?
"I wouldn't just say something like this without basis. How about this: I'll go ask the data department again... but I checked the code; it definitely belongs to our department." Wu Wentao believed Caroline wouldn't lie about such matters, but he was also confident in his memory. The personnel identification and department codes were easy to recognize and couldn't be faked.
Caroline sat cross-legged in her swivel chair, her sapphire blue eyes darting around as she sensed something was off. Although Wu Wentao had caused a blunder at the Power Station before, he wasn't foolish enough to misread department codes. She hurriedly typed away at her keyboard and grabbed her communicator, calling out, "Suzumiya, bring over this month's personnel reduction statistics, quickly."
Wu Wentao involuntarily raised his eyebrows. Watching Caroline's demeanor, it seemed like Kenny had handed over jurisdiction here before leaving. He couldn't help but feel a sense of imbalance thinking about how this Foreign Girl had just been leisurely painting her nails while he had to run around the world following orders from above.
"Looks like you won't have to report for duty much longer?" Wu Wentao teased with jealousy.
"Do you think I enjoy staying indoors painting my nails every day?" Caroline rolled her eyes at him and typed out a window on her computer, sending a short email.
"Can we reach Kenny?"
"Nope; the communication lines only connect to the lab."
"Pfft." Wu Wentao looked speechless. "Isn't the lab just downstairs?"
"Yeah." Caroline shot him a glance but didn't reply further.
A few minutes later, an Asian person with short hair and a round face knocked and entered. They nodded in greeting to Caroline and placed a sealed folder on the desk.
"Where are you from, miss?" Wu Wentao squinted as he looked up and down at the professionally dressed woman, cursing under his breath why all his subordinates were rough men and not a single sweetheart.
The woman slightly tilted her head and replied, "Shinjuku."
"Huh? Where's that?" Wu Wentao didn't catch on, thinking the name sounded quite unfamiliar.
"Japan." Caroline was already too exhausted to comment on her partner, pulling out the list of casualties from the Power Station incident from her folder and comparing it one by one.
"Look, Winston exceeded the waiting period and hasn't returned. Deceased." Caroline pointed at a name and said, "At that time, there were three people responsible for guarding the intersection. Do you remember?"
"That did happen." Wu Wentao recalled the situation back then, frowning as he said, "But we didn't go back the same way. They might not be dead, right?"
"If they aren't dead, where did they go? They didn't return either; could they have just vanished?" Caroline handed the folder back to the waiting Suzumiya, signaling her to leave for now.
Wu Wentao couldn't make sense of it either; it didn't add up. Could those people have been dispatched on a secret mission by Kenny after returning?
"What if they were his people..." Caroline suddenly turned her head sharply, zooming in on one of the images on the 36-grid display screen. Wu Wentao leaned over to take a look and saw a man wearing black-framed glasses doing push-ups with his bare torso exposed. The guy seemed to have heard the sound of the camera adjusting its angle and deliberately raised one hand to give the camera a middle finger.
"No way. Those guys ran down the mountain. Besides, how would they find our contact area?" Wu Wentao dismissed that idea but then wondered aloud, "How did this fat guy end up here?"
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