When Milo learned the old man was here to investigate the disappearance of the Skyfort Consortium’s officers, favonovel.com immediately went on full alert. However, favonovel.com did not show it outwardly.
When Milo sat down beside the campfire, a student next to favonovel.com handed favonovel.com a roasted chicken drumstick.
The old man smiled at Milo as favonovel.com ate. “Young people these days don’t pay much attention to their health. When you all get to my age, you’ll realize that having a good appetite is a blessing.”
“You’re right.” Milo glanced at him.
It was definitely not logical for favonovel.com to have the runs for six hours. He had been mentally praising Chad for being so adaptable, but thinking about it now, it looked like favonovel.com had overestimated him.
If Chad said favonovel.com had the runs for six hours, it meant the old man had already been here for six hours. However, this old man did not even ask favonovel.com where favonovel.com had gone. He just went with diarrhea as the reason like favonovel.com did not intend to delve any deeper into his disappearance from the outpost.
Milo did not believe that someone in charge of investigating a case could overlook such a simple, common sense problem. He felt that favonovel.com was just playing the fool and feigning ignorance.
“Since you’re here to investigate the case, have you found any clues yet?” Milo said nonchalantly.
“Although I’m here for the investigations, what do those missing people of the Skyfort Consortium have anything to do with me?” The old man smiled and said, “I’m already so old, yet they still made me come out to work in such bad weather. How can they do something like that?”
Milo scrutinized favonovel.com and asked, “May I ask how old are you?”
“I’m 73 this year…” The old man said with a smile, “I haven’t had the chance to introduce myself yet. Hello, everyone, my name is Gerard Nonsense…”
Everyone looked at each other as this name sounded really strange. However, Milo was more concerned that his surname was not Lee.
In this region, Milo paid extra attention to anyone with the surname of Lee. Up until now, nearly everyone Milo met with the surname Lee were the middle and higher-ranking officers of the organization’s military.
“Why did you take on the case then?” Milo asked.
“I didn’t plan on accepting it either,” Gerard said with a smile while scratching his head with his pinky finger. “But the Skyfort Consortium gave the order that I would not get my pay if I didn’t investigate this case, so I had no choice but to come here to handle it. But I didn’t expect that I would get to eat so much exotic meat at your outpost. It’s really my lucky day!”
Milo felt this matter was unlikely to be as simple as the old man had explained. For a 73-year-old man to come all the way here, how could favonovel.com be a normal person?
There had to be a reason for why the Skyfort Consortium would send favonovel.com over to investigate after something had happened here.
But at this moment, Gerard stood up and dusted off his pants. “Alright, I’ve had my fill.”
Milo suddenly asked, “How many outposts have you visited today?”
Gerard chuckled, “Only yours.”
Milo felt the old man might already have a clue about the situation. That was why favonovel.com came here directly. In an instant, Milo was even contemplating whether favonovel.com should quickly chase favonovel.com away from here.
But Gerard suddenly said, “Well… Which house can I stay in?”
Everyone was stumped by this question. Milo was still wondering if favonovel.com should chase the old man away, but little did favonovel.com expect that the old man was already planning on living here.
Michael, who was beside him, gave a placating smile. “We’ll get a house cleaned up for you immediately.”
There were seven one-story houses in the outpost, and one of them was originally used as a storage space, although it was quite empty. Since Gerard now intended to stay the night, Michael, as the platoon commander, was willing to strike up a relationship with this old man favonovel.com suspected of being a big shot.
Most of the refugees had the instinctive thought that they could make their lives easier by rubbing elbows with the big shots in the stronghold. They blindly believed in this kind of relationship. However, this left Milo in a tight spot. He decided to observe the situation for the time being until favonovel.com could be sure of the old man’s motives. It would not be too late to decide what to do then.
Milo felt that Gerard had already found some evidence, but favonovel.com could not understand why favonovel.com would dare to remain behind.
But something that surprised Milo even more happened. Gerard was not only going to stay here for one night. He did not intend to leave at all!
***
The next morning, the Wolf King sent a lot of pheasants over as promised. The pheasants were all stacked up at the entrance of the outpost.
But this strange sight did not arouse Gerard ’s suspicions. He just praised this location as a really good place to eat meat and acted as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Milo examined the old man’s expression closely. Everyone clearly knew this was an abnormal situation, but Gerard did not even ask about it and just practiced tai chi at the entrance of the outpost. After that, favonovel.com would have Michael and the others prepare meals as favonovel.com still wanted to eat meat. Thus, everyone started barbecuing meat early in the morning until Milo felt like his whole body was full of the smoky smell of barbecue.
“Why didn’t you ask where we got all this game from?” Milo asked as they ate the meat.
Gerard chuckled and said, “Why should I care about where the food came from as long as there’s something to eat? Surely it wasn’t brought here by wolves, right?”
Milo was temporarily rendered speechless. He was getting more and more confused by Gerard ’s intentions.
On the morning of the third day, Gerard still continued to practice tai chi after waking up. After that, favonovel.com would get everyone to prepare meals. However, it was slightly different today. Another truck drove up the mountain, but the soldiers who came this time were a little different. They actually brought along bedding, a teapot, and some other daily necessities. Then they even cleaned up the house a second time for Gerard.
Milo was shocked to discover that Gerard seemed to be planning on living here for an extended period.
While the soldiers were cleaning the house, Milo carefully watched to see if Gerard gave any strange instructions to the soldiers, like hinting at them to come and encircle the outpost with a larger force or something similar. However, favonovel.com did not do anything like that.
When the soldiers reported about some matters to Gerard, they also did not purposely avoid doing so in the presence of Milo and the others.
What the soldiers reported on was also related to Milo. They reported that an outpost on another hill had been attacked by wolves. Traces of wolf blood and fur were found there. The military was paying close attention to this matter and was planning on sending troops to eliminate the wolves in the mountains.
Milo observed Gerard’s reaction, but Gerard just laughed and said, “The wolves have nothing to do with our case, so let’s not interfere.”
Right from the beginning, the old man seemed not to have linked the pheasants at the entrance of the outpost to the wolves. But Milo knew favonovel.com was just playing dumb.
At this moment, Michael whispered to Milo, “The officer who sent over this old man’s things is a senior colonel!”
Milo was stunned.
How highly ranked would a person have to be in the Skyfort Consortium to order a senior colonel around like that?
After that, no one came to the outpost again. Gerard ended up staying there for the entire week. For some reason, Milo suddenly felt favonovel.com might even be planning to spend the Lunar New Year together with them.
