old dream

Chapter 328 A Calm Meeting

Before seeing Zar Winter with his own eyes, Colin had also imagined how vicious this man would be.

After all, for the sake of strength, he can even swing the butcher's knife at his former subordinates.

The Ninth Bureau was established by Winter during the war, and he also destroyed it after the war.

Because of his betrayal, Archduke Edmund launched a hunt at all costs, but the hunt lasted only one month before it could only be forced to end, because in less than a month, nearly half of the ninth inning The elite was buried by Winter himself.

It was also after that that the police detective department, which was once famous in the alliance, fell into a slump and was no longer useful.

That hunt was an old injury that the principality authorities would never mention, so the CIA had extremely limited materials, only some vague descriptions.But just from these brief descriptions, one can already get a glimpse of how fierce Zar Winter is.

After all, those killed by him should be subordinates trained by Winter himself, and even the students he brought out by himself.

This person is cruel and ruthless, and his strength is also unimaginably powerful.

So Colin didn't expect that Winter himself would look like this...

so ordinary.

At this time, the murderer was reclining on the cloth sofa and taking a nap, as if he hadn't noticed Colin's arrival.

His body was covered with a layer of felt that was so dirty that he couldn't see its original color, and there were leather kettles and kraft paper bags that were originally used to wrap food on the floor.

Winter's hair should have not been cut for several years, and it was almost clumped. His gray beard seemed to have just been shaved, leaving thin stubble, which made his whole face look more honest and harmless.

Whoever saw this scene thought he was a bum who had sneaked into an empty house for the night, the kind of person who was used to spending the night on a sofa or a park bench, being driven around with a stick all day, if luck No, maybe he will be killed by wild dogs.

But less than five meters away from him, stood a translucent ice coffin that sealed the corpse.

The ice was still exuding a cold air, absorbing the surrounding heat, but there was no sign of melting.The floor was as dry as ever, with no trace of water stains.

Winter's head paused, as if dozed off.Only then did he slowly open his eyes, and looked at the strange visitor in a daze.

"What's the date?"

He asked it as a matter of course, like asking a roommate what time it is.As soon as he opened his mouth, a strong sour smell of wine came out of his throat.

"February [-]th." Colin looked at him and said, "Thursday."

Wen Te rubbed his temples, relieving his hangover headache, but his slightly opened gray eyes were still clear:
"It was too slow," he said.

"what?"

"I've been waiting for you here for nine days... are you the only one?" Winter looked behind Colin, and then at Colin again, his gaze changed slightly:
"Are you from the Ninth Bureau? Or from that theater?"

"Neither," said Colin.

The unexpected answer caused Winter to pause slightly, but his expression did not change:
"CIA..."

Winter has been away from the power center of the principality for many years, and he has long been unaware of the changes in the situation at the top of Danaro. He said with a little feeling:

"If it was three years ago, it wouldn't have taken so long for my people to find this place."

Colin felt a little strange when he saw that he didn't speak.What is this person remembering?After all, it was you who ended the heyday of the Ninth Game.

Then, Colin's attention was once again attracted by the ice coffin.Even though the most dangerous person in the entire principality was right in front of him, he didn't show much fear or apprehension. He just walked past him wordlessly, and Winter didn't seem to feel offended.

Standing in front of the frozen corpse, Colin looked at it carefully.

There was no panic on the face of the corpse, eyes were closed peacefully, and even the skin on the face did not change color.But for some reason, he changed back to the traditional clothing of the Gallu Forest, a dark green short suit that is good for walking among the bushes, and there are ornaments made of rattan on his chest.

"Did you kill him?" Colin asked while observing.

"If I killed him, it would be impossible to stay here."

Winter has a scruffy appearance, but his tone is steady and patient, like a teacher giving a lecture to a student.

"But you are the one who sealed him into this ice coffin." Colin said.

These ice crystals are obviously the creation of witchcraft, and only Winter can maintain them here.

"If I don't," Winter said:

"Now you'll just find a pool of rotting meat with bones missing."

He deliberately preserved the body, in other words, preserved the evidence.

This is also what Ke Lin has been wondering since he entered the door.

Because Winter's behavior at this time is as if... as if he is assisting the investigation of the authorities.

But.Ke Lin thought to himself that the theater had already determined that the seemingly honest man in front of him was the murderer. After all, it was also a fact that the recording agency had recorded his traces of witchcraft.

Winter unscrewed the military kettle and took a sip.Then he stood up without saying a word, and when Colin was a little nervous about his movements, Winter began to roll up his own dirty blanket.

He didn't plan to stay here for long, nor did he plan to talk too deeply with anyone.It was as if his brief appearance this time was solely for the purpose of handing over the corpse.

He had to get this little thing done and get out before the entire Principality reacted to him in a bigger way.

Seeing Wen Te tidy up his things, Colin walked around the ice coffin again, then frowned.Because there are no wounds on the body, it seems to be frozen alive.

As if knowing what Colin was thinking, Winter said while hanging the cowhide water bottle on his waist:

"By the time I found him, he was dead."

"It's like falling asleep, you will die..." the former director whispered to himself.His tone had been steady since we met, but now he showed a hint of confusion.

What was it that made him wonder, too?
"Why do you have to hand over the corpse to us?" Ke Lin asked, "The higher authorities may not pay much attention to it, and it's hard for anyone to believe you."

The corpse had already passed through the hands of the suspect Winter, and no one would take this evidence seriously.

So even if he really wasn't killed by Winter, it's hard to believe.

"No, I don't care," Winter said:

"Believe it or not is always your question."

He put dirty blankets on his body, and he turned into a tramp that can be seen everywhere again.Just like the countless days and nights spent alone after the big hunt, Zar Winter will quietly evaporate from here again:

"But I know that you will never ignore this corpse. On the contrary, you will investigate every detail all the way..."

"After all, after hearing my name and seeing the dead face of this corpse, some people should have started to be afraid."

"Go ahead, I'll watch you." Winter finally said:

"After all, I also want to know what exists behind this incident."

After speaking, he quietly left from the door.

…………

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"There's something behind this thing."

Even the main culprit, Wen Te, didn't know what it was?
During Colin's search for survivors, the mysterious informant "Magician" has been sending new reports to the investigation department, so the new progress in the ninth game is almost transparent to him.

So far, analysts have teased out the life trajectories of the Woodlanders after they arrived at Danaro, down to almost every day since they disembarked.

Because the people above hope to speculate on the reason why these people will be targeted by Zar Winter.

Especially the woodland priest.

The results of the final analysis are consistent with the initial guess.That is, in the hands of the woodland people, there is indeed a secret art of great value to the "Road to Awakening the Inner God". It's about a ceremony.

This should be what Traitor Winter desperately needs right now.

In this way, his motives can also be clarified.

…………

…………

On the night he met Winter, Colin took Melita to find the frozen body again.Looking at the ice coffin that had started to melt slowly, Melita was a little speechless.

After all, when you really see the dead body, you will still feel sorry for the death of the search and rescue target.Even in this operation, few people really cared about the life of this foreigner.

At the same time, she can also imagine how difficult it is for Colin to find this thing:
"No...how on earth did you find it?"

Melita slowly came back to her senses, and began to ask puzzledly.She knew that it would be fine if she found a living person. It is not uncommon for such a well-preserved corpse to be found by no one within a few years.

Especially in Xiazedi, a place with almost no permanent population.

"Just luck," said Colin.

"I patrolled the night as before, but for some reason, I bumped into Winter like a ghost. Maybe he deliberately wanted to hand over this corpse to us."

"What Winter..." Melita said, but then she realized that her pupils shrank violently:

"You mean Zaar Winter!?"

…………

…………

The body of the last woodlander was also transferred to the ninth inning, and word spread immediately that Colin had met Winter directly.

After all, so far, no one who has seen Winter has come back alive.

It wasn't until a few days later that Colin gradually began to realize how appalling the seemingly peaceful meeting between himself and Winter was in the eyes of others.

Soon, the Ninth Bureau emptied an office for him in the headquarters building, and asked him to stay here for a few days to cooperate, so that the various ministries could learn about Zall Winter's current situation and update those old files that hadn't changed for several years Record.

Then, various people of unknown rank began to come to this office specially. They brought various forms to visit Colin, and politely and restrainedly asked about the details of the meeting.

Colin could feel that he was also considered to be under some kind of suspicion at first, but this suspicion was quickly dispelled.After a day or two, the attention of these personnel has completely shifted to Winter.

Even the piece of broken felt seems to make them full of interest.They even scrupulously inquire about the dimensions of the felt, and the overall tone of the stain on it in indoor light.

Someone had hinted to Colin cryptically that the Grand Duke in the Garden Palace had also paid close attention to this matter in person.

The Commander-in-Chief is not currently in Danaro, but if he were, he would have agreed to share this information with the authorities.After all, the traitor Zal Winter is too sensitive and important to Archduke Edmund.If the Investigation Department wants to continue its activities in Danaro smoothly and steadily, it must make compromises in these aspects.

Then, there was the corpse without any wounds.

In the current headquarters of the Ninth Bureau, all personnel related to Zal Winter have been transferred to work on the same floor, and Colin, who is a "direct contact", is of course also here.So Colin can also infer the progress of those analysts from some tiny details.

He noticed that the conference room on the floor was always occupied, and there were frantic howls from behind the door from time to time.The shredders kept roaring, and the paper incinerators burned day and night. Analysis reports were formed in a short period of time and destroyed in the same short period of time.

It is entirely conceivable that the work of the analysts was thrown into disarray in a very short time.

Why on earth did Winter hand over the body to the ninth inning?This behavior of his made many things that were originally certain before suddenly become confusing again.

I'm afraid that no matter how rigorous the analysts' conjectures are, the unscathed corpse will haunt them like a ghost, bringing countless senses of disobedience.

And maybe, this is exactly the effect Winter wants to achieve.

Maybe he did something to the body on purpose, in order to release a smoke bomb to the authorities and buy precious time for the next move.

No matter what kind of speculation the analyst is going to make, he must first consider this question.

Colin looked at all this with cold eyes. Of course, he didn't care what kind of struggle and conspiracy existed between Winter and the authorities. After all, this was another old thing that had nothing to do with him.

Anyway, now, he has done what he originally wanted to do: find the survivor.Although it was found that the person was dead in the end, which did not meet the original idea, but overall, he had a clear conscience.

...Do you really have a clear conscience?

If Winter didn't kill him, how did he die?

Even Winter was puzzled as to what it was.

Colin shook his head, shaking all his thoughts out of his mind.Intuition told him that this was not something he could touch at present.

And even if you really want to know the truth, you don't have to do everything yourself.What Went said that night flashed through his mind again:

"...On the contrary, you will investigate every detail all the way."

"...After all, after hearing my name and seeing the dead face of this corpse, some people should have started to get scared."

If things really develop as he said, there will naturally be more anxious people to find out the facts behind it.

Then, maybe it is enough for me to keep an eye on the progress of the ninth game just like Winter.

I've been busy for nearly half a month, so let's just watch from the sidelines.

(End of this chapter)