Chapter 428: Investigation Mission (Part 1)

Li Ang did not know the director was shamelessly squeezing favors for him; at this moment, he stood a kilometer away from the middle-aged nurse's home, using Yang Tou's soul vision to repeatedly scan the souls of everyone within range with wary eyes.

Although his first assignment after joining had succeeded without incident—aside from a bruise on his shoulder from the rifle's recoil—he never forgot his conversation with the red-haired director before joining, nor that startling statistic.

The overall mortality rate of the Cleanup Bureau is eight per thousand, and it's eight per thousand every month.

Both Senior Emma and the red-haired director had emphasized to him repeatedly: no matter the situation, he must remain cautious, cautious, and even more cautious, because the targets the Cleanup Bureau faced came in too many forms, and he might at any moment encounter one whose ability perfectly countered his own.

Even that hospital incident proved it—Senior Emma, who had immortality as backup, had still been caught off guard, half her body swallowed by the hospital's floor; had he not pre-arranged the sniper strike with Yang Tou, she would have been left waiting for the director to rescue her.

And even more chillingly, this incident occurred just three streets away from the Cleanup Bureau—if Senior Emma had been caught, she could still wait for the director to save her, but what if this incident had happened in some remote, uninhabited mountain forest? Or what if the Red Brick Hospital could move, making its location impossible to pin down?

Even if her immortality kept her from dying, she might still be trapped for months, years, even kept conscious and motionless in a state of absorption, sealed inside concrete slabs—far more agonizing than death itself…

Breathe… cautious, cautious, and even more cautious!

After recalling the details of his last mission, Li Ang took two deep breaths and repeatedly warned himself: even if a situation seemed harmless, if it had even the slightest connection to the "anomalous," he must remain vigilant.

Though he possessed a unique badge perk that guaranteed future growth, in terms of pure survival ability, he was currently unfit to even polish Senior Emma's shoes—yet she, with her immortality, had still been caught off guard; how could he afford not to be twice as careful?

…

After repeatedly confirming the soul states of everyone around him—especially the middle-aged nurse's family—and verifying their emotions remained stable and no anomalies had surfaced, Li Ang shoved the grumbling Yang Tou into a shopping bag and hurried toward the neighborhood where the middle-aged nurse's family lived.

After showing the building manager his Cleanup Bureau credentials and stating he was a government official investigating the hospital director's embezzlement, Li Ang easily gained the manager's trust; the elderly woman even set down her half-knitted woolen scarf and personally escorted him upstairs.

"Officer, the Hanas are good people. She works at the Red Brick Hospital, but she's nothing like that money-grubbing director—you absolutely mustn't wrong a good person."

The building manager, an elderly woman likely over sixty, shuffled her thick, wild white curls as she slowly led Li Ang up the stairs, chattering away:

"Twenty years ago, when she was still a girl, she was already a nurse at that hospital—always diligent, never made a mistake. When my husband broke his leg and spent half a month in the hospital, she cared for him better than our own daughter ever did."

"The only thing wrong with that girl is she's too straightforward. By seniority, she could've been head nurse ten years ago—but head nurses handle drug records, and she refused to collude with those people in falsifying logs, so every promotion passed her by…"

After rambling on without pause, the building manager quietly passed the fifth floor where the middle-aged nurse lived, leading Li Ang toward the sixth floor—empty apartments—and stole glances at his expression as she probed:

"By the way, officer, are you here to ask Han Na to testify against those people who cheated patients, or are you here to take her in for questioning?"

"…"

So if I say I'm here to arrest her, you're just going to pretend you didn't hear me?

After a moment of disbelief, Li Ang, now standing on the fifth floor, couldn't help but speak up:

"Auntie… her house is on the fifth floor, isn't it? Didn't you go up one floor too far?"

"Huh? Oh! Old age, memory's bad, hehehe."

The building manager's composure was excellent—she wasn't flustered even when caught, but slowly shuffled back down the stairs, yet still didn't lead Li Ang to the middle-aged nurse's home; instead, she turned left toward another empty apartment.

"…" Wait… I already know her house is on the fifth floor, and you're still trying to lead me elsewhere? That's really too much.

"Tsk…"

This little black-skinned dog's got nerves—he must've done his homework before coming!

Seeing Li Ang refuse to be fooled and instead stand firmly outside Han Na's door, waiting for her, the building manager's eyelids and mouth both drooped at once. She hobbled back on her bowed legs, banged on the middle-aged nurse's door, and glared threateningly:

"Listen here—if you're investigating, investigate properly. Don't try to smear Han Na. Those filthy things in the hospital have nothing to do with her!"

"And if Han Na comes home with any injuries or seems off, I'll personally testify—I'll file a complaint against your police department for illegal interrogation!"

"…"

Under the building manager's suspicious gaze, the middle-aged nurse's door creaked open from inside, revealing a middle-aged man with a weary expression.

Seeing Li Ang's unfamiliar face, the scholarly man adjusted his glasses and asked, slightly startled:

"Excuse me, who are you looking for?"

"He's…"

"I'm here for your wife, Mrs. Han Na."

Raising his voice sharply to drown out the building manager, Li Ang cut in:

"I'm Li Ang. Your wife was the nurse in my sister's ward—has she mentioned me to you?"

"Oh! Yes! Yes!"

Hearing Li Ang's words, the weary man's face brightened. He threw open the door, stepped forward quickly, seized Li Ang's right hand, and shook it vigorously.

"Yesterday, thanks to you and your colleagues arriving in time to shut off the hospital's gas valve! And if not for your sister noticing something wrong and telling Han Na to slide down the bedsheet, she might've…

Oh my! I don't even know how to thank your family! We should've come to visit you—but you came first!"

"You're too kind. My sister benefited greatly from your wife's care. Yesterday, she only suggested tying the curtain together. Their safety was thanks entirely to your wife."

"No, no, no—it was your sister…"

???

Watching the two men shaking hands warmly, one endlessly thanking the other's family, the building manager standing nearby with a hostile glare froze in place.

Wait… let me process this…

(End of Chapter)