Free Web NovelChapter 57: Chapter 57: The Secret of the Gao Ta Town Garrison Corps
The madwoman in the asylum.
Bai Wu almost developed PTSD at the mention of the word "asylum," instinctively thinking of a place teeming with talent.
Especially after a few outings and learning that Cain might very well be within the tower, he thought it wouldn’t be strange if such a place truly existed inside.
"Do we have any information about this madwoman?"
"We have to wheedle it out of the Garrison Corps," Wu Jiu said, a bit helpless.
The implication was that they had no information.
Bai Wu read something in Wu Jiu’s expression:
"On the surface, we are helping the Garrison Corps solve the case, but in reality, are we competing with them?"
"Yes," Wu Jiu nodded.
Bai Wu then asked:
"So, what information do we have?"
"The location of the asylum and the time our target went missing, a week ago."
That’s it? Isn’t this the same as Liu Mu interrogating Bai Wu—not knowing anything?
"Does the asylum have security footage?"
"Yes."
Wu Jiu said there was, yet he shook his head.
Bai Wu frowned:
"It looks like the Garrison Corps destroyed the footage."
"Yeah, they destroyed it two days ago. They have backups, but I doubt they’ll be willing to share with us."
"Just because they don’t want us to solve the case first, they’d rather hide the clues than bring them out for joint analysis?"
"These kinds of things have happened a lot over the years. It seems that the higher-ups are also intentionally suppressing us."
Bai Wu continued to ask patiently:
"I remember the captain mentioned that they already had some clues?"
"That’s right."
"Is there any chance we could steal these clues?"
"No chance."
Without waiting for Bai Wu to ask, Wu Jiu explained:
"The intelligence is on the fourth floor, and we don’t even have the opportunity to go there. Most of the time, their cases are also handled on the fourth floor."
By and large, Bai Wu grasped what kind of case this was.
It was almost the same as his own experience in the zoo, a nightmare start.
The scene was already a week old, and the information that could be found was very limited, while the "colleagues" who knew some of the clues were basically a blessing if they didn’t add to the chaos.
And while the target spanned the third, fourth, and fifth floors, their investigative scope was confined to just the third floor, yet from the activities of the Gao Ta Town Garrison Corps, it seemed that more clues might lie on the fourth floor.
This case was impossible to investigate.
"In a certainly losing game, can’t we shirk it?"
"We cannot refuse, and moreover, I believe in you," Wu Jiu was actually quite calm.
Bai Wu looked at Wu Jiu and wanted to retort with something like, Dwarf, are you misunderstanding something about me?
However, the excitement on Bai Wu’s face betrayed his true thoughts.
The more disadvantageous the situation, the more it stirred his excitement.
"I have another question."
"Go ahead."
"Why bring him along? Yin Shuang should have a sharper mind, right?" Bai Wu was referring to Lin Wurou.
Lin Wurou’s beautiful eyes widened mockingly:
"Foolish and ignorant newbie."
Ye Weiming was competent in his duties and might be of some use, the captain was in charge of combat, but Bai Wu truly hadn’t thought of any use for Lin Wurou.
"Wurou is really good at insulting people, and the Garrison Corps, they deserve it,"
Bai Wu was stunned by Wu Jiu’s straightforward answer, he truly did not expect it, and was genuinely impressed.
He remembered the captain mentioning that Lin was pretty venomous with her words, but that she took care of her own quite well. Against outsiders, however, her tongue could be ten times as vicious.
Having a teammate who’s good at trash-talking is quite beneficial, if the opponent is annoying enough.
"That really is an important role," Bai Wu said, now somewhat expectant.
Wu Jiu stood up:
"The night is deep; you should get some rest. We’ll set off tomorrow morning."
Bai Wu had been out of the tower for seventeen hours, leaving at four in the morning, and it was now nine at night.
He nodded his head, bid farewell to Lin Wurou and Wu Jiu, and after learning about today’s earnings from Liu Chengzi and Ye Weiming, he went to bed satisfied.
...
...
The next day.
On the huge elevator ascending to the third level of the High Tower, there were about twenty people. freewebnσvel.cøm
Some were merchants heading to the third layer; these were not residents of the lower levels but had businesses there. These people basically had gloomy expressions.
In stark contrast were the slaves from the lower levels crouched in the corners, heads bowed, going to the third layer where they had very limited permissions and were merely summoned for dirty and exhausting labor.
Bai Wu and the others, wearing the uniform of the Investigation Corps, were different from both groups.
"Captain, there’s something I’ve always wanted to know."
The 900-meter ascent takes some time, and Bai Wu started a conversation.
"Speak freely."
"The Investigation Corps outside the tower is responsible for life-risking exploration, which means our combat power is generally higher than that of the Garrison Corps of Gao Ta Town. But doesn’t this create an imbalance between the two armies’ strengths? Doesn’t the Garrison Corps feel a sense of crisis?"
Bai Wu didn’t spell it all out, but Wu Jiu understood the implication. Both legions were organized on the fifth layer, one treated as lower-class and the other as nobility. However, it was the lower-class who wielded the greater martial force...
Weren’t they afraid that one day, things might abruptly change?
Wu Jiu shook his head:
"The middle and lower ranks of the Garrison Corps are much weaker than us, far weaker. But overall power... doesn’t actually fall short of the Investigation Corps."
This answer puzzled Bai Wu:
"Does that mean, in terms of top-level combatants, we are inferior to the Garrison Corps?"
"Their structure is very similar to ours, with sixteen squads each, and internal compositions that are largely alike. Squad member for squad member, we are stronger, but when it comes to the top fighters, the Garrison Corps has consistently suppressed our Investigation Corps."
After Wu Jiu finished speaking, Lin Wurou took over the conversation, saying:
"Every year, the Garrison Corps of the High Tower and our corps hold martial exercises. Sixteen squads each select their strongest member to compete against the strongest from the opposing sixteen squads. The result is... our Investigation Corps has eleven squads that lose."
"Their squad leaders are those whose Innate Forces are at fifth or sixth tier, and their Sequences range from two hundred to three hundred, and even from one hundred to two hundred. Any one of these individuals would be a monster. And the most terrifying thing is that we know almost nothing about them."
"Each year, in the military exercises, they also have quite a few new faces... each one just as abnormal. Their talent supply is even more exaggerated than our Investigation Corps."
"Before our captain succeeded to the position, our Investigation Corps had never managed to achieve first place in the exercises. However, for the past two years, the captain has claimed first place."
Lin Wurou felt proud, her captain was so strong that no one in the upper echelons of the Garrison Corps could contend with him.
However, Bai Wu still keyed into several points of doubt in Lin Wurou’s information.
The Garrison Corps of the High Tower had many top-level experts.
These experts, according to Lin Wurou, started with Innate Forces at the fifth tier, and there were even those at the sixth. While this was impressive, the Investigation Corps was not lacking in this regard either.
But the key point was, their Sequences led the Investigation Corps by a significant margin.
The former indicated fundamental combat capability, whereas the latter referred to combat skills. If the gap was too large, the outcome of a battle would be quite clear.
It was only monsters like Wu Jiu, an eighth tier in his fourth stage, that allowed the Investigation Corps to regain some face in these past two years.
But the question that really needed pondering was, why did the Garrison Corps of the High Tower—have so many top experts with rare Sequences?
It seemed that the fifth layer... and perhaps even the sixth, contained something revolutionary?
As Bai Wu pondered these questions, they reached the third floor.
(To be continued.)
