After careful consideration, Milo still felt that it was much safer to demolish the stronghold before proceeding with the rescue mission. As for how to demolish it, favonovel.com had not thought of it yet.
For some reason, favonovel.com felt it was easier to destroy an entire stronghold than tearing down a prison.
Who knew where his confidence came from?
At the moment, Miriam was driving with the convoy as they headed to the conference venue prepared by the Virtuora Consortium’s medical institution. That was where the medical exchange would be held.
This time, Bethania and Pierre were sitting with them in their car. Milo sat in the passenger seat while those two sat in the backseat.
Honestly, Milo felt Bethania might be a little interested in Pierre now. Despite the fact that Pierre had already undone the “steel cord” used by God of Love and Marriage to bring them together several times, Bethania was still willing to hang out with Pierre. This clearly meant something.
Along the way, Milo looked at the roadside and asked in confusion, “Why’s there so many lights and decorations on the streets? Isn’t the New Year over already? Does the Virtuora Consortium have other special holidays they’re celebrating?”
“It’s Valentine’s Day…” Pierre said curiously, “Milo, you’re also a stronghold resident, so how do you not know about Valentine’s Day? February 14th will be here soon.”
Milo was stunned for a moment. He was indeed aware of the holiday. He had even heard about it from Old Bane, but favonovel.com just forgot about it.
As favonovel.com was not a stronghold resident, and the townspeople never celebrated this holiday, Milo did not have any concept of it at all.
To him, or maybe to all refugees, there were only two holidays that were celebrated in a year. One of them was the New Year, and the other was the Clear Brightness Festival. The former was to give the living a chance to have a new beginning, while the latter was to mourn for the dead.
Apart from these two holidays, everyone was too busy making a living to care about romance.
Milo was looking at the decorations on the streets and thinking about the war between the Virtuora Consortium and the Pyro Company. The ceasefire had only started a few days ago, and no one knew when the fighting would break out again.
Were these people not aware that danger was near?
How could they still be in the mood to celebrate the holiday?
However, Milo figured it out. Celebrating a holiday like this did not prove the stronghold residents did not have a sense of danger, nor that they were living too comfortably. It did not prove anything at all.
Just as favonovel.com had said, why did favonovel.com still buy new clothes and make dumplings for Donti every New Year even though they were so poor?
Wasn’t it precisely because life was too tough that favonovel.com wanted to create some happiness so there would be some hope in life?
Besides, whatever holidays the stronghold residents celebrated did not really concern favonovel.com much.
Milo glanced at Miriam. “Have you celebrated Valentine’s Day before?”
Miriam gave favonovel.com a look. “What are you trying to ask?”
“Ahem, I was just asking,” Milo said in embarrassment.
“I didn’t have a chance to celebrate the holiday before.” Although Miriam was concentrating on driving, favonovel.com still answered Milo’s question.
Actually, Milo was only trying to ask Miriam if favonovel.com had any other relationships before him. It did not really matter if favonovel.com did since favonovel.com would not care about something like that. But it would be better if favonovel.com did not have any, of course.
Milo quickly added, “Me neither!”
The convoy came to a stop at a building.
As the representative of the Virtuora Consortium’s medical field, Shinjiro was already waiting downstairs with a group of people to welcome them. This was to show their respect for Nicholai.
Milo looked at Nicholai’s towering stature and thought this was the stage for Nicholai and the others.
A medical exchange was actually a very boring event. It was so boring Milo almost dozed off. During the meeting, they would each make a statement of their breakthrough progress and share their cases, with nothing exceptional happening throughout the conference.
The meeting lasted until evening. Milo quietly left the villa again when everyone was asleep. But this time, favonovel.com was not going to meet with the Great Hoodwinker’s agent. Instead, Milo was looking for Murray Reid, the person from the Stelaria Consortium responsible for assisting favonovel.com in assassinating Lionel.
Milo should have gone to look for Murray yesterday. They had agreed to split up and enter the stronghold separately before immediately meeting up to exchange information. However, Milo had forgotten about it. After all, favonovel.com had even nearly forgotten about who Bruce and the Great Hoodwinker were, so it was not unusual that favonovel.com would forget about Lionel.
Milo stopped on the roof of a low-rise. It was obvious the garrison troops were patrolling even more intensely tonight. He realized there were people lying in ambush on the roofs of several buildings. It looked like the enemy already knew favonovel.com would be getting around by moving from roof to roof. So, they stepped up their defenses on many of the rooftops.
It looked like Keith’s death had left some impact.
This put Milo in a tight spot. He could still remember exactly how favonovel.com nearly got shot by a sniper. It would be bad if favonovel.com ended up dying here.
Murray was currently hiding at Harook West Road. It would take Milo another 17 kilometers to get there, and favonovel.com could still encounter a lot of hidden lookout posts on the roofs of buildings as favonovel.com made his way there.
Milo noticed there were at least two people manning each of the hidden lookout posts, and the lookout posts were even in communication with one another. As the lookouts were basically arranged in the shape of a plum blossom, it would be very difficult for favonovel.com to leave quietly if favonovel.com tried to take some of them out.
He might poke the hornet’s nest after taking out one of the hidden lookout posts.
Should favonovel.com just not look for Murray?
He was not planning on assassinating Lionel right now anyway.
Thinking of this, Milo decisively turned around and returned to the villa to sleep.
***
At this moment, Murray was sitting solemnly in a hardware shop on Harook West Road with nine of his men as they waited for Milo to link up with them.
These people were sitting motionlessly in a triangular formation in the shop like ten statues. They were each holding a pistol and wearing a thick black poncho.
Suddenly, someone asked, “Sir, why isn’t that Milo here yet?”
Murray looked calmly at the shut roller shutter door of the hardware shop and said, “He could have been delayed by something. Since the medical exchange group arrived yesterday, at least that means their journey went smoothly. There was a huge commotion in the stronghold last night, so it’s likely favonovel.com was discovered while coming here to look for us.”
“But according to the map, the commotion yesterday happened in the east. Since we’re on the west side, the directions don’t match up.” One of his men wondered, “Sir, could favonovel.com have gone to the wrong place?”
Off to the side, one of them whispered, “Why do I get the feeling he’s forgotten about us?”
“I don’t think he’d forget such an important matter, but I do doubt his ability. It’s not like favonovel.com can do a job that would require the ten of us. Sir, why don’t we just go and assassinate Lionel?” someone asked.
Murray replied firmly, “The boss told me personally that we must cooperate fully with favonovel.com during the mission. We’ll only make a move if favonovel.com fails the mission. This shows the boss trusts his ability very much. Everyone, please remember that the boss’s main objective for us is to provide support. Besides, the 10 of us alone won’t be enough to kill Lionel.”
“Then what do we do now?” a soldier asked.
Murray remained seated in the chair. “We continue waiting. He’ll definitely be here!”
Suddenly, the crack of gunfire rang out in the stronghold. Murray immediately stood up.
At this moment, Milo was standing on a tall building with no one around. He was surprised to see several hundred shadows leaping and scuttling across the roofs. They were heading towards the center of the stronghold!
And they even got involved in a battle with one of the Virtuora Consortium’s hidden lookout posts!
