Chapter 397

Chapter 397: Pledge of Allegiance

The weather grew colder, and fewer people could be seen on the streets of Hope City.

Due to the chill, people preferred to stay in their noisy workplaces rather than venture outside, and even the usually half-open largest black market became quite desolate.

On an evening with falling snow, a man wearing a hood appeared at a street corner.

His clothing was very tattered, making him look as if he were wrapped in a sack.

Despite that, his strong physique was still visible beneath the shabby layers.

As he reached the corner, the man spotted a young man who seemed to be idling away time. The young man was thin, with his hands stuffed in his pockets, his body rhythmically trembling, unsure if it was from the cold or some habit.

The hooded man quietly walked up to him, closing the distance between them quickly, exceeding the polite space between strangers.

"Hey, man, what’s up?"

The young man asked, his voice filled with caution.

In saying this, he felt somewhat guilty.

As a member under the new leader, the young man knew full well he hadn’t been a good person a few months ago. He even worried at night about being ambushed in his home for revenge.

But ever since he joined the new leader, his future appeared bright.

Yet, new issues arose; as a familiar face in a few neighborhoods, the young man understood that his reputation in that area was deeply tarnished.

Staying in that hellish place, with the kind of intimacy that made him as unwelcome as a stray dog, he thought it impossible to truly integrate into the group; he was more likely to get beaten up.

Having never been to prison, the young man first learned what a criminal record meant, and whenever he thought his life might improve, he would remember his unappealing past.

Thus, when he received the surveillance task, he resolved to cut ties with his past self and started anew in a different environment.

So, as the strong man slowly approached him, the still somewhat guilty young man couldn’t help but show a hint of nerves.

He feared that someone he had offended in the past had hired this strong man to take him to "have a good meal."

This term was something he had picked up from the leaders, who had recently treated many people in the inner and outer city to nice meals, leaving the diners quite satisfied.

"Your surveillance has been exposed."

As the two men closed the gap, a deep voice emerged from beneath the strong young man’s shabby hood.

The crouching youth instinctively shivered but quickly put on a nonchalant demeanor as he looked at the man before him:

"Hey man, I don’t understand what you’re talking about."

"You don’t need to act so tough; it’s obvious you haven’t had professional training."

The strong young man gave this stranger no quarter, speaking plainly:

"In the past five days, I’ve seen you around Factory No. 12 every day—sometimes at the street corner, sometimes under the bridge, sometimes at the roadside stall."

"What about the roadside stall?"

The skinny young man stubbornly resisted, even though the other’s words described his movements from a few days prior. At that moment, he believed it was important to hold his ground.

The newcomer shook his head:

"You’re full of flaws."

Saying that, he extended his finger and began counting for the young man.

Strangely enough, although it was already December, the weather in Hope City remained mild, and very few people wore knitted gloves, especially near the factories.

Due to the way these gloves were woven, they could easily get caught in high-speed machinery when worn, potentially causing their owner to lose one or several fingers in a short time, or even an entire hand.

The skinny young man’s gaze quickly shifted away from the gloves as he began to listen carefully to the man in front of him. After all, acknowledging mistakes but refusing to admit them was the typical style for people like them.

The man across from him seemed unconcerned about such things and took it upon himself to raise a finger to begin counting:

"In the past few days, you’ve changed several outfits to try to hide your traces, but this has backfired.

"First, although you’ve changed clothes, your overall posture hasn’t changed; second, your jacket shows minimal wear, as if it were newly bought just without the tags. These two points have actually made your attempts to be clever counterproductive."

As he spoke, the man pointed in a direction behind him:

"When I arrived just now, I heard two ladies discussing you. They’ve figured out that you don’t belong to this neighborhood and are curious about what you’re sneaking around for every day."

"Hmph, I told you, even if they figured it out, how could they guess what I’m doing?"

Seeing that the young man remained stubborn, the kind-hearted strong man remarked:

"They can’t, but those who have received training definitely can, like me."

He looked at the now visibly uneasy young man and confidently continued:

"You arrive here half an hour later than the morning shift at the factory and leave half an hour earlier. This looks a bit odd.

"Anyone familiar with factory schedule planning knows that the management works two hours less than the front-line workers, which conveniently corresponds to one hour later in the morning and one hour earlier in the evening.

"Quite a coincidence, isn’t it? So either your target is a member of the factory management, or you’re just a lazy bug who can’t get out of bed in the morning."

"You…"

Before the young man could express his shock, the strong man continued:

"You’re positioned this way because the person you need to investigate comes in and out through this gate every day. Last night, you lingered here for an extra hour and a half but didn’t see your target, because they happened to leave the factory from another side.

"This isn’t coincidental; of course, it doesn’t mean they discovered you. Perhaps they simply have a lover in building fifteen of the Phase Two commercial complex on the third commercial street, and Thursdays are their meeting days…"

The strong man’s hand clapped on the young man’s shoulder:

"Look, you have many flaws.

"Now, all we need is a list of the managers from Factory No. 12. Finding the one who fits the above information shouldn’t be too difficult…

"And he would surely want to make a spying eye like you disappear in the sewers of the inner city."

"What do you want to do?"

At this point, the skinny young man had completely lost his composure, appearing like a child who had seen a nightmare.

"I’ve heard that a group of people has recently been collecting evidence of crimes committed by the factory. Is there any truth to that?"

"There is."

The young man exhaled slightly, as this was not a secret.

Initially, they didn’t understand why the task assigned by the leader required no confidentiality, but after a period of investigation, they realized—

Asking everyone to do things and keeping secrets are indeed two conflicting concepts.

"Take me to see your leader."