Chapter 244: Chapter 244 Saving Lives

Chen Ke took a taxi to Raffi Road, the car radio broadcasting the late-night news, roughly revolving around recent overseas consortia’s impact on the United Federation’s stock market and business world.

Half an hour later, Chen Ke arrived at the entrance of Lester’s clothing store.

It was already past midnight, yet the business street of Raffi Road was still bustling with people, the only lively place in Opportunity City at this time.

Lester hadn’t expected Chen Ke to come, and his face showed surprise when he saw Chen Ke standing at the door. He closed the shop and took Chen Ke to the back room, where he made two cups of coffee.

“The professor is no longer an issue,” Chen Ke said, taking the coffee and sitting in a chair.

“Uh-huh… So, you talked to him?” Lester sat across from Chen Ke.

“When I found him, he was talking with a woman who called him ‘professor,’ and she seemed to be from some organization called a foundation,” Chen Ke said.

Lester hummed lowly, sipping his coffee.

“Do you know anything?” Chen Ke asked tentatively.

“Chen Ke… even I may not be fully clear on some matters. Moreover, knowing too much is not good,” Lester warned.

“You always say that, but I feel that this concealment has already put me in some kind of danger. That woman didn’t seem like an easy one to deal with; I saw three corpses in the villa’s swimming pool… She seemed to be protecting the professor,” Chen Ke said.

“I… won’t deny that. Our sources of information are limited, and there are too many interfering factors; we also couldn’t predict who you would encounter,” Lester said.

“At least let me know who I’m killing for, and who the people I kill are,” Chen Ke said.

Lester remained silent for a while, his hand holding the coffee cup trembling slightly. After a long thought, he finally raised his head to look at Chen Ke.

“Alright, I’m not supposed to tell you, but considering the adverse effects this behavior has on your operations, which may well lead to a failed assassination… I think the employer won’t have any complaints,” Lester said.

Chen Ke leaned back in his chair, holding the cup of coffee, his eyes narrowing.

“We are not tied to any particular employer. The contracts for the first three assassinations came from the Spiritual Enterprise Alliance of the United Federation. The employer for these three targets comes from the Fei Huang Republic, a CEO of a large industrial consortium. You don’t need to know the name,” Lester said.

Chen Ke listened silently; the information Lester shared answered his questions but was of little use. The Spiritual Enterprises in the United Federation were like a shoal of carps; God knows which enterprises formed the alliance.

The assassination targets had no direct connection. Why would the Spiritual Enterprises want to assassinate them? Surely Lester didn’t know this either. After all, an assassin only needs to know the aim; the employer’s motives are always a secret.

The second employer coming from the Fei Huang Republic… Chen Ke suddenly remembered the conversation he overheard between the woman and the professor; they mentioned a CEO of an industrial consortium named Li Moyang… and in the last assassination mission, one of the targets had a phone call with someone surnamed Li…

Could it possibly be the same person? Chen Ke tried to connect the sparse information he had.

Professor, saving the world, foundation, founder… This chain of information originated from the mysterious woman.

In contrast, there was the man surnamed Li, who hired an assassin to kill the professor and the other two targets. Could those three be the people the foundation couldn’t get a hold of in their plans?

The CEO of the consortium who was on the phone with the man surnamed Li, what role was he playing in the whole affair…? The three corpses left by Yasla in the villa’s swimming pool proved that they, too, were hostile toward the foundation…

In Chen Ke’s mind, several major forces emerged: the company, Yasla, the foundation, and those surnamed Li. Everything had arisen with their own goals in mind.

As part of the company, what responsibility was Si’s consortium undertaking? What was the Horror Whip Mark searching for beneath the sea? What was the green gem? What were they exploring in the Great Void?

Chen Ke felt he had moved a step closer, although he was still unclear about the objectives of these organizations, at the very least, he now understood their relationships.

On the surface, Yasla and Si’s consortium were cooperating, but it was apparent that they were also making moves behind the scenes, evidently competing for the gem entrusted to Si’s consortium by the company.

The foundation and Yasla seemed to be enemies, the details unknown, but from the mysterious woman’s and the professor’s conversation, it appeared that the foundation was currently looking for a key person called the founder, while Yasla was trying to assassinate the foundation’s informant who knew this information.

As the force from the Fei Huang Republic represented by the ones surnamed Li, what was their purpose? It seemed the company was eliminating people connected with him, and moreover, those surnamed Li were also opposing the foundation.

This brother was playing both sides, a bit rashly, perhaps with a bigger power supporting him…

“Regarding the other two targets… I’ll try to gather more intelligence for you so you can avoid uncontrollable situations, Chen Ke,” Lester said. “You see… I do not wish these minor episodes to affect our cooperative relationship.”

Lester didn’t know what Chen Ke was thinking right now, seeing his expression shifting, he thought Chen Ke was dissatisfied with him.

“Hm?” Chen Ke suddenly snapped out of his thoughts and suppressed a sip of coffee.

“Hm… nothing.” Lester noticed that Chen Ke had just been distracted, so he didn’t say much and took a sip of coffee.

Chen Ke put down his coffee cup. He had wanted to ask Lester if there was a way to obtain Spiritual Bullets, but he held back from asking, because doing so would undoubtedly expose the secrets that he owned a Spiritual Ability Pistol and was himself a Spiritual Ability User.

His relationship with Lester was still merely at the level of mercenary transactions. Lester was just an assassin broker, and Chen Ke was someone who pulled the trigger for others, nothing more.

As long as someone was willing to pay, even lives had a price tag.

At that moment, his phone vibrated briefly. Who would be sending him a message this late? Could it be Lucina?

Chen Ke set his mug on the table and took out his iPhone to check; unexpectedly, it was Sleili.

She was the woman he had met after entering the digitized West Gold Building, and he had also encountered her coincidentally on the day of the bank heist. If he remembered correctly, her full name was Sleili Miles, a rather wealthy woman.

Sleili wanted to get close to Chen Ke, and she seemed not very discreet, so Chen Ke didn’t want to interact with her. This late at night, the reason she sent a message was obvious.

She was not like Sam, Diana, and Lucina, who knew his secrets but whom Chen Ke believed would keep his secrets. Sleili was different…

She knew too much, having seen with her own eyes how he and the contract demon had fallen into the light gate and then came back alive. Keeping this girl around was an uncertain factor for Chen Ke; his gaze turned cold as he contemplated a kill.

He unlocked his phone and opened the messages to see Sleili had sent a simple line:

“Tulip Apartments No. 1708, help!”