Chapter 109: The Cowardly Turtle

"So, your name is Lu Yue, 'Yue' as in moon, and here..." Inside a wonton shop, two people who had slipped in through the window were conversing.

"Is this Fucheng Town?"

Ding Mo sat on a chair, peering through the gap in the window at the soldiers patrolling the street from time to time.

"Mm," Lu Yue's paper bag was sitting safely on the table, her hair already tucked into her peaked cap.

She nodded vigorously and said:

"If you go forward from here, you'll reach the border of the three countries. I hear there are often terrorist activities."

Terrorists... Ding Mo understood that this was an excuse used by the state apparatus of this world to cover up certain bizarre incidents.

He withdrew his gaze from the street and asked:

"Do you know if there is a luxury Hotel built in the forest nearby?"

That Hotel was the place where Ding Mo had executed his last Task, and it was also the location of the "Memory Origin" he was searching for this time.

Although the 'landing' point had shifted, looking at it now, the degree of deviation shouldn't be large.

"Hotel?" Upon hearing this, a look of confusion appeared on Lu Yue's face, and she shook her head.

As expected... Ding Mo felt a bit disappointed.

The army on the street, as well as the government here, had indeed hidden this matter; how similar it was to the style of the Processing Bureau.

Moreover, there was martial law outside now, so he couldn't move about freely—he didn't want to have a direct confrontation with the state apparatus.

It seemed this matter would have to be considered at length...

Just as Ding Mo was getting a headache over how to find the Hotel, Lu Yue stared at him and asked with some curiosity:

"Big brother, are, are you a superman?"

"... Superman?"

"The ones in the legends," Lu Yue gestured with her hands:

"The kind of... hero who descends from the sky the moment a nasty guy appears?"

Lu Yue said this unfamiliar word with some difficulty,

"Sorry, my family is very poor, I haven't really been to school."

Ding Mo said subconsciously: "You're only 12 or 13, right? You are much braver, smarter, and more polite than many of the peers I've met who have been to school."

"R-really..." The girl lowered her head, seemingly a bit shy.

For a moment, the two were silent.

Ding Mo didn't have any ideas at the moment, so he looked at the paper bag on the table and asked:

"By the way, what is that? I saw you holding onto it tightly just now."

"Oh! This!" Lu Yue opened it as if sharing some kind of secret, her smile as bright as a flower as she said:

"This is good stuff, it's a magical item! I had such a hard time getting it!"

"Eh?" Ding Mo looked at the Dove chocolate inside, his face full of confusion.

"Magical... item?"

"Yeah, one day when I snuck into a shop, I saw a beautiful woman on the TV saying: 'Dove, silky smooth enjoyment'!"

"And that woman's skin was also especially smooth and beautiful! Very white!"

"Mom always says she works too much and her skin is very rough, so I wanted to get some Dove for her!"

Lu Yue said with a look of conviction, but after she finished speaking, her expression suddenly withered.

"But Mom, she's been locked up by a group of hateful people in green clothes now. Mom was even threatened by them, saying they would abandon me..."

"Hm?" Ding Mo had just wanted to complain about commercials being harmful, but he keenly sensed something was wrong and hurriedly asked:

"The people in green clothes you mentioned, are they the ones on the street?"

Lu Yue nodded.

Ding Mo narrowed his eyes.

These soldiers must know the location of the Hotel, but the problem was, how was he supposed to sneak in to look for clues?

As he thought, Ding Mo's gaze fell upon Lu Yue.

"You... your mom, why was she locked up? Did she commit some crime?"

Before Ding Mo's last sentence had even finished, Lu Yue's eyes widened, and she shook her head like a rattle-drum:

"No! Even if our family is poor, we don't steal or rob! Absolutely impossible!"

Then why? Ding Mo was puzzled, but this matter had nothing to do with him, so he didn't press further.

But after a moment of silence, Lu Yue suddenly spoke up:

"C-could you help me? You're so powerful!"

As she spoke, she hesitated for a moment and handed the bag of chocolate over,

"Take this as payment. I-I know it's not enough, I can work for you in the future... P-please don't look down on me!

"I heard from others that a girl my age can qualify for a very lucrative 'job'! It's just..."

Lu Yue hesitated,

"Mom is firmly against it, and even said if I dare to go, she'll break my legs!"

Ding Mo was silent.

He looked at the girl's face.

Soft features, a small cherry-like mouth, bright, lively eyes, and the snow-white neck revealed after her hair was put up—at only 12 years old, she already showed extraordinary beauty.

No wonder she would be targeted by some beasts.

"Your mom is right." After Ding Mo finished speaking, he glanced at the bag of chocolate again:

"But you can keep your magical item. I happen to have some business with those green-clad people anyway, so I can help you look for your mom on the way."

Lu Yue's eyes lit up: "My mother is locked in a building; I can take you inside, they won't stop us."

"Oh?" This remark made Ding Mo raise his eyes, and he perked up.

……

Fucheng Town, military facility area.

The night was already quite deep, yet it remained brightly lit here.

In front of the sentry post, Ding Mo raised his hands under the muzzles of two soldiers' guns.

"Don't be nervous, I am just a concerned citizen."

Lu Yue, meanwhile, was being tugged by a soldier and shouted: "Let go of me! Let go of that big brother!"

That soldier seemed somewhat helpless, but not daring to hurt her, he could only let her kick and struggle.

Ding Mo took all of this in; watching the two soldiers approach, he let them search him while explaining:

"I heard you were looking for her, so I brought her over, hoping..."

A slightly mercenary smile appeared on his face, his eyes full of hints.

"Alright, alright." The officer at the sentry post sized him up for a moment, and seeing that the soldier searching him found nothing unusual, he nodded at Ding Mo.

Afterward, he sent someone to take Lu Yue away.

"I'm not going! I'm not going... you idiots!" Lu Yue became anxious at the sight.

In her view, if she left Ding Mo, how could she lead the way for him?

But when her anxious gaze met Ding Mo's smiling eyes, she was stunned, and then she fell silent.

She let the somewhat strange soldier take her away.

"You, go with him to collect the reward money." The officer waved his hand at the ever-smiling Ding Mo.

A soldier came out and looked at Ding Mo.

A moment later, in a dark little corner of the facility.

Not far away, the glare of a searchlight was almost enough to blind someone.

Ding Mo glanced at the unconscious soldier in the ditch, identified the surrounding paths and patrol teams, lowered his military cap, and walked in the direction Lu Yue had just left.

He had no experience as a secret agent; even with a physique that barely surpassed that of an ordinary person, infiltrating the most heavily guarded outer Defense Line was fraught with difficulties.

Now that he was inside, it was much better; as long as he didn't approach the buildings guarding the forest, he was still well within his capabilities.

Following the night, Ding Mo moved quietly.

Before long, he arrived inside a building.

There was a tea room here; looking through the window, Lu Yue was sitting sullenly on a sofa, not saying a word.

He turned his head to look around from time to time, seemingly searching for something.

Pata!

With a soft sound, Ding Mo opened the window and landed in the tea room's restroom with a nimble roll.

Opening the restroom door, Ding Mo glanced at the camera in the corner and gave a light cough.

Seeing Lu Yue look over, he immediately pointed at the camera, signaling Lu Yue to be careful.

Lu Yue was very clever and understood immediately; she pretended to go to the restroom and walked over.

Closing the door, Lu Yue looked at Ding Mo with pleasant surprise, just about to speak.

Ding Mo made a shushing gesture at her:

"Keep your voice down, you only need to tell me the access routes of this place."

"And, your mother's location."

Lu Yue seemed to have stayed here for a period of time; hearing this, she immediately began to describe it in a low voice, even gesturing with her hands, fearing Ding Mo wouldn't understand.

At the end, she asked urgently: "When are we leaving?"

"Not we, you just wait here." Ding Mo climbed onto the window and left.

"But!" Lu Yue watched him disappear and grew angry with annoyance.

Arriving outside, ignoring the strange gurgling sounds made by the little girl inside, Ding Mo looked at the moon.

"Judging by the appearance of that wolf monster, the 'Drama' seems to have already begun; I wonder if I will run into some bad situations by the time I arrive there..."

At this moment, a searchlight suddenly shone over.

As shadows flickered, the soldier on the tower was somewhat puzzled.

Strange, he just thought he saw something over there?

After watching for a while longer and finding nothing unusual, the soldier dismissed his doubts, feeling only that he had been watching for too long and his eyes were a bit blurry.

"Speaking of which, it's almost time for the shift change..."

When the light passed, Ding Mo poked his head out from the green belt nearby and looked at the surrounding sentry posts.

"Hmm, not much time; with this patrol intensity, it's only a matter of time before the soldier I knocked out is discovered."

"Let's go around to other places first to scout for news about the Hotel, then plan an escape route, and then consider the matter of that girl's mother."

Another searchlight shone over, and Ding Mo retracted his clear-headed brain into the darkness like a turtle.

……