"bell--"
The ringing sounded.
Hitzfeld put his left hand on his skirt and touched his leg to make sure the things were hung there properly. He took a breath and motioned Darent to go forward and open the door.
In this situation, she would not be naive enough to think that the other party would still wait for them at the gate outside the yard.
"Hi~"
The door opened and a black face squeezed in instantly.
"It's nice to meet you, Hitzfeld."
"I really wish you could join the Security Service so Doyle wouldn't be nagging you all the time."
Chapter 2 New Teammates
"Monster! Who are you!?"
Ashley was frightened by the face and raised a suitcase as if to throw it to death.
“Don’t get excited!” The black man was also startled, “Wait! I’m a human! I’m a human! I’m not a monster! Oh my god, your reaction is too exaggerated…”
"Put the box down." Hitzfeld also ordered, "He is indeed a human."
Then she heard a burst of undisguised crazy laughter coming from outside the door.
With a clang, the door was pushed open completely. At this moment, everyone inside saw two men in dark black flat-tailed suits standing outside. Two of them were leaning on each other's shoulders, trembling and pointing at the black man in front of them, laughing so hard that tears came out.
"'I am human! I am a human! I am not a monster!'" The young man on the left loudly imitated the black man's defense, exaggeratingly shouting: "Grim... My God, you are qualified enough to join the Golden Sparrow Troupe!"
"Pippen! And Herm!" The black man stared at his two colleagues who were laughing wildly, and said in a bad tone, "Have you forgotten the instructions? Or do you want to be punished?"
"Don't punish me, brother." But the two of them still looked unconcerned. "I really doubt that you only remembered this word..."
Ashley began to space out.
She has had some social experience, and although she may not be able to do it well herself, she at least knows what behaviors are impolite.
She looked at the dark-skinned man who claimed to be a human—from the sound of his voice, he must be a man—and tried to discern his expression, trying to see what state he was in.
She felt that this person should have a dark and ugly face, just like the ugly face the teacher at school gave her every time she acted up.
But he was really too dark, and she couldn't tell any joy or sorrow from his expression.
And every time at this moment, she would always turn to the person she trusted the most. So she naturally turned to look at Hitzfeld, but found that she was staring straight out the door, her eyes passed through these people and locked onto the tall figure in a cloak at the end.
"How did you recognize it?" Xia Yibing lifted her hood, shook her signature long ponytail, and reached out to comb her hair to both sides of her forehead. "I looked at myself in the mirror, I shouldn't be able to see any flaws."
The robe was extremely large, not only hiding her curvy figure, but also covering her favorite long boots. Even if Hitzfeld was familiar with her, she felt that she shouldn't reveal herself when they met.
"Scent." Hitzfeld was still staring at her, his right eye flickering in the night. "You always use a perfume with a mixed scent of orange and pear blossoms... I always remember this habit."
"Oh, I did forget." Xia Yibing nodded, "Usually I would wash off the smell when I tell them about the mission, but this time the distance was short and it was an escort mission, so I didn't care."
Once these two people started talking, their aura and momentum instantly swept everyone else aside.
The two men in black who were arm in arm stopped smiling. They looked at Xia Yibing, then at Hitzfeld, and finally at each other, gradually feeling that something was wrong.
Along the way, the captain was indifferent to their jokes and pranks, and thought she was easy to bully.
But judging from this aura and the confidence revealed in his tone, it seems that he is not as easy to get along with as I thought...
"It's six o'clock now." Xia Yibing reported the time. "The trains are outside. There are three in total. Remember to take the middle one. Go by land and go to the North Station first."
It was almost the most extreme form of shocking words, instantly lowering the atmosphere by three degrees.
"Captain..." the agent who imitated the black man at the beginning asked tentatively, "Didn't you say we would take the water route when we came here?"
"Yes, Captain." The agent next to him was also a little dissatisfied, "We have never heard of changing the route!?"
"That's because you are not qualified to know this."
When saying this, Xia Yibing didn't even look at them.
She kept staring at the gray-haired girl standing inside the door.
From the moment she appeared, this gaze never changed for a second.
"You have the right to refuse my orders, but you have to think carefully - according to Article 97 of the Agent Code, disobeying orders during a mission can be considered as desertion, and any security staff on the scene has the power to shoot you dead."
The sound was like the January wind, cold enough to freeze the bone marrow.
The two of them shuddered unconsciously, shrank their necks, and dared not joke anymore.
Under Xia Yibing's command, they - including the tall black agent - helped take over everyone's luggage.
They were stuffed into three black vintage cars, then Hitzfeld got in the middle one, Darent got in the front one, and Ashley got in the back one. The three cars started directly, parted ways at the intersection, and drove towards the station in different directions.
“I still think it’s too exaggerated…”
Sitting in the passenger seat, Hitzfeld looked back at the empty back seat.
There was more than enough space for three people, and even if Ashley was included, two cars would be needed at most.
"You should have figured it out from the fact that I didn't tell them we were going by land." Xia Yibing held the steering wheel steadily, looking straight ahead, "The situation is a little different this time."
"What's going on?" Hitzfeld frowned at her.
First there was an emergency evacuation without any notification.
Then there was the captain of the 17th squad, who concealed his identity.
In the end, the escort route was concealed even within the team.
The pace seems like Shadow Lion has lost trust in the grassroots agents.
"Do you remember the Book of Roar?" Xia Yibing did not answer directly but asked a question first.
"Remember." The girl nodded.
"Where are the fragments of the broken sword?"
"I remember that too." He nodded again.
“Both items were stolen.”
"..."
Hitzfeld didn't react for a moment.
"Wait, aren't these things well-protected?"
After half a minute, she raised the volume slightly and glared at the woman with her right eye.
"The Book of Howling seems to have been sent to the Central Cathedral, or to the White Shadow Palace?"
"And the broken sword fragments have always been kept in your headquarters, right? You seemed to have told me that they were always with Pusiangsi!"
"Why..."
"Yes." Xia Yibing raised her eyebrows. "Everyone has expressed similar feelings, 'Why is it so?'"
“You can actually guess why.”
She glanced at the girl.
"There's a traitor within."
"After the incident, we immediately blocked all traffic channels from Wayne to other areas. At present, we are relatively sure that the two objects are still in Wayne... Those people should not be able to take them away under such strict inspection."
"But we can't find them, let alone which link has gone wrong."
"It should be easy to find Pushuangsi."
Hitzfeld asked.
After all, in her understanding, there are very few people who would go to the Dream Corridor, especially those who would choose the middle path.
"No..." The woman began to sigh.
"She studied the fragment for a long time but could not find anything, so she put the matter aside for the time being. Then she was worried that the fragment might be contaminated if she kept it, so she asked someone to pack it and return it to Villefort. The problem occurred during the transfer process."
“Have all those involved in the transfer been investigated?”
"We investigated and found nothing wrong."
"Has the news been announced?"
"No, we don't want to make people panic."
indeed.
Hitzfeld fell silent.
No matter what, internal problems are always the biggest blow to faith. Especially for those who rely on faith to a large extent, the lack of faith is more terrible than anything else.
"What's the situation with those three people?"
She began to try to change the subject.
"You should have met Grimm." Xia Yibing smiled.
"Grim Alex, you two met when Ethan brought you there. He has severe amnesia and often says he wants to treat Ethan to pink therapy."
"I remembered."
He didn't have a deep impression of the previous description, but when he heard about the pink therapy, Hitzfeld immediately remembered where he had seen him.
"As for Pippen and Herm, they are the additional players selected by Zafira for us."
At this point, Xia Yibing curled her lips.
"He said he passed all the exams with the highest scores and performed well...but I think there are big problems with his selection criteria."
"So..." Hitzfeld asked tentatively, "They will be... your teammates in the future?"
"Yes."
Sigh again.
"Including Grimm."
"There are six more people in Team 17."
Chapter 3 Sticking
This sentence is quite meaningful.
Just like there were really six people in Team 17.
Of course, Hitzfeld was not questioning this. She knew that this team had officially existed at least in 1943, forty-one years ago. Over the years, the number of personnel had increased and decreased, and it was definitely not a small number to maintain six people.
She was just very curious... because Xia Yibing's tone made her feel like it was a distant memory, and she couldn't help but imagine in her heart who the other two people would be.
Because there were six people, excluding Xia Yibing, Ethan, Zafira, and Mu Ke, the four people he knew at the time, there were only two spots left.
But she is also very good at observing people's words and expressions.
From Xia Yibing's tone, expression, and revealed emotions, she could vaguely guess that it would not be a happy story, so she didn't ask any more questions.
The journey was smooth and no abnormalities occurred during the transfer.
On Saturday morning, Hitzfeld boarded the Royal Autumn and stood in the aisle of an entire carriage that was directly booked by the Security Bureau. He looked up through the glass and saw that the sky was still dark.
Ramadan is over. It is now the Ice Month, the coldest and darkest time of the year.
"Don't stand there." A voice came from the side. "Be careful of getting shot."
Turning around, I saw it was Grim Alex.
That black man.
"There are no lights in the hallway, so no one outside can see me," Hitzfeld explained.
Moreover, she was very careful not to breathe when she got close to the glass, so naturally no moisture would be left on it.
"You are very cautious." The black man nodded. "That's good. Being cautious will always help you live longer."
He was very reserved - always had been, and his voice was low and pleasant, as if he would never have any extreme emotional fluctuations no matter what the situation.
According to Hitzfeld's impression, it was as if he had just been offended and insulted by his colleagues, and the emotional fluctuations he experienced were not as great as when he met Ethan that time.
Even though he is tall.
