Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Chapter 543 Fugitive Tracking (1)

31: AM, inside the hotel's st floor observation deck.

"Boom!"

After several hours of heavy rain outside, it not only did not gradually weaken, but increased in scale again. A flash of lightning accompanied by thunder struck directly at the rooftop of the hotel. Fortunately, the construction of the observation deck was very expensive, so there were complete lightning protection equipment. The powerful lightning was weakened by 90% of its power by these lightning protection equipment, and most of the energy was dispersed. Therefore, although this lightning was terrifying, it did not cause any damage except for briefly illuminating the entire observation deck.

Frank and Liz had seen many scenes and were naturally not frightened by the lightning and thunder. However, the creatures' instinctive reaction to the huge light and sound still made them stop briefly. It was during this stop that Frank and Liz discovered something familiar.

The two had been searching along the wheel tracks on the ramp and had now reached the inside of the observation deck. There should have been a locked door between the rooftop corridor and the observation deck, but the door was currently open. After inspection, Frank discovered that someone had used a gun to directly break the door lock.

Walking through the open door is the actual area of ​​the observation deck. Although it is not the peak tourist season here, most of the decorations have been dismantled and placed on the ground and covered with waterproof cloth to prevent damage. However, even without those decorations that need to be installed, the observation deck here is also very good. If it were not for the heavy rain, you can now see the night view of the entire city from the surrounding glass walls. But now Frank and Liz can only see some blurry lights covered by rain.

The lightning and thunder appeared just a few minutes after the two men walked into the observation deck. Attracted by the sound and light, they saw a hotel cleaning cart, which was placed near the large fountain in the center of the observation deck, only a few steps away from the fountain.

Frank and Liz did not see any more clues about Adenauer in the hotel's surveillance video. To be on the safe side, now is not the time to investigate the fountain. After all, Adenauer is likely still hiding in the observation deck, so if they want to continue the investigation, they must first ensure the safety of the observation deck.

Originally, the observation deck had been paved with luxurious stone, appearing quite spacious. But now, thanks to the decorative parts scattered across the floor, the entire area, except for the fountain and the entrance, resembled a maze. After all, there were so many decorative parts, of all sizes. Acting separately now would be foolish and unwise, especially after Frank had deduced Adenauer's skills based on clues from 2607. If he were truly hiding here, then given his marksmanship, if he spotted them, both of them would be in danger. Therefore, Frank and Liz had decided to act together.

Frank and Liz advanced cautiously through the maze-like area. Frank observed the ground, trying to find other people's footprints. After all, no one had been here for a long time, and the ground was quite dusty. But until now, Frank had found nothing. There were only his and Liz's footprints on the dusty ground.

Liz turned her back to Frank and walked backwards, watching the direction they entered the observation deck to prevent anyone from attacking from behind, but Liz did not find anything suspicious.

"There's a switch box here, probably controlling the power to the observation deck."

Five minutes later, Frank and Liz followed the maze-like road made of ground decoration parts and seemed to have reached the edge of the observation deck. At the bottom of a transparent staircase, Frank found a switch box with all the fuses in it intact. It seemed that the switch box should be able to be used normally. Frank greeted Liz, pressed the button inside the switch box and started it. Soon, the entire interior of the observation deck lit up.

"Welcome to Oak City. If you look to the right from here, you can see the Oak City Stadium. Oak City is famous for football..."

After the observation deck's lights were turned on, Frank and Liz turned off their tactical flashlights. To get a better view of the entire observation deck, they climbed the transparent staircase to the upper level. The space above the staircase was not large, probably only enough for three or four people. At the end of the staircase, there was something like a podium with a small console embedded in it. Frank tried it and pressed a button. A pre-recorded tour guide came out from the surrounding audio system. Liz was familiar with the voice; it belonged to a news anchor from Oak City. She was probably the one the hotel hired to record these things.

"It's a bit noisy, turn it off."

"Okay, what did you find?"

"Not yet. The lighting equipment on the observation deck illuminates every corner here. There's nowhere to hide."

"We'd better be careful. Maybe he's hiding somewhere secret."

After turning on the lighting of the observation deck, Frank and Liz returned to the central fountain and walked up the steps in front of the hotel cart to the fountain. The inside of the fountain was dry and there was no water. Someone had covered the pool with some dust cloths, but after observation, it was found that these dust cloths did not belong to the fountain, but were taken from other things around. Fountains of this size are generally equipped with matching dust panels, but the dust panels of the lowest pool of the fountain were not here. Liz touched Frank with her arm and told him her analysis.

"You check the fountain while I look for anything that's been built or covered with dust panels."

As soon as the dust cloth covering the pool was lifted, a bloody smell hit their noses. There were indeed several bodies in the dry pool of the fountain. According to the comparison with the surveillance video, these bodies were exactly the ones they were looking for, the guys living in 2607. Liz took out the forensic tool kit and did a simple test on the bodies to confirm their condition.

"The cause of death is simple: gunshot wounds to the head with an ordinary pistol. The wounds match up, and each person's neck was broken post-mortem, likely to ensure they were completely eliminated. The limbs showed signs of being violently broken and bent, likely to facilitate their insertion into the hotel cart. One of the bodies had a linear impact mark on the back of the head, likely from hitting something. This person might have been the one killed in the stairwell. Their head hit the steps behind them when they were killed."

"Headshotting and then breaking the neck is not a common tactic. Are there any similar methods?"

"No, at least not in any of the cases we've handled or learned about. What have you discovered?"

"There's a small door about ten meters away from us that's been blocked. The thing blocking the door is the original protective plate of the fountain pool."

"Go over and have a look."

The corpse wouldn't run away anyway (not here), so there was no need to watch it. Frank and Liz raised their pistols and walked cautiously towards the small door. After arriving at the door, Frank moved the protective plate blocking the door, nodded at Liz, meaning for her to be prepared, then turned the doorknob and slammed the door open.

"Safety."

However, behind the door was just an empty storage room with nothing inside. Liz guarded the door while Frank walked into the storage room to see if there was anything special, but he found nothing.

"Zi."

At this moment, the lights on the observation deck were suddenly turned off. Liz immediately leaned against the wall and raised her pistol to the front. Frank also immediately left the empty storage room and returned to Liz.

The two exchanged glances, and Liz immediately pointed her gun at the entrance to the observation deck, while Frank aimed his gun at the switch box. The observation deck had only one exit; anyone leaving had to go through it. The bright light coming from the stairwell outside the observation deck confirmed that it wasn't a power problem at the hotel; someone had deliberately turned off the lights in the observation deck. The person who had turned off the lights must be at the switch box, which was some distance from the exit. It was impossible to turn off the switch box and leave through the door faster than Frank and Liz.

The two of them immediately rushed to the door and closed the door of the observation deck again. The door lock had been broken by the gun and could not be completely locked. So under the cover of Liz, Frank moved some heavy objects to block the door. In this way, even if someone could bypass him and Liz, they would definitely make a lot of noise when going out, thus providing an early warning to the two of them.

After blocking the door, Frank and Liz went back to the switch box. They observed that someone had removed and damaged the five fuses inside. Their remains lay on the ground, seemingly stepped on. While the fuses weren't impenetrable, crushing them with a single step would have required considerable strength. Adenauer's size should have been enough to do that. Frank was now even more certain that the Adenauer who had killed resident 2607 was the one who had damaged the fuses, and he was currently in the observation deck.

"Boom!"

"Over there by the door!"

Not long after the two arrived at the switch box, Frank heard a sound coming from the direction of the door, so he immediately rushed back with Liz. When they were about to reach the door, Frank did see a figure standing in front of the door, so he immediately raised his pistol.

"Adenauer!"

The figure didn't turn around, so Frank continued forward, slowly approaching the figure's position.

"Put your hands on your head and don't do anything rash!"

The other party did not respond, so Frank continued to approach, extending his left hand forward and retracting his right hand a little to prevent the other party from suddenly grabbing the gun.

At that moment, the figure's arm suddenly rose up. Frank immediately fired, hitting the figure, but the figure fell to the ground and immediately broke in two. Frank aimed his flashlight and saw that the person he had just shot was actually a mannequin in the observation deck. Its arm seemed to be connected to something, reflecting the flashlight.

“Liz!!”

Frank immediately realized something was wrong, turned around, and began to call Liz who was covering behind him. Although Liz didn't know the situation, she realized that Frank might have been fooled, so she immediately rushed towards Frank, turned around after landing, and looked around with the muzzle of her gun. Frank also ran over immediately, providing cover while pulling Liz up.

"Are you two filming a TV show? Why are you making such a fuss? You just got fooled a little bit."

A strange voice suddenly rang in the ears of the two men. They were about to turn their guns towards the direction of the sound, but before they could do so, as soon as they turned their heads, they both felt something cold metal pressing against their temples, causing them to stop what they were doing.

"Put the flashlight on the ground."

With the help of the flashlight, Frank and Liz could confirm that there were two submachine guns pointing at their heads. At such a close distance, the two had no chance or possibility of counterattack, so they had to do what the other party said. So they slowly put the flashlight in their hands on the ground, but deliberately pointed it in the direction of that person.

"Now throw the magazine on the ground, where the flashlight can see it... Good, then eject the gun."

"Ding."

"Ding."

"Throw the gun away."

"when."

"Boom."

"Now throw out the dagger on your waist."

"I don't have any on my waist..."

"I'm not talking about you, but this lady."

"Dang Cang."

"And the legs."

"How did you..."

"On the leg."

"Dang Cang."

"Take off your shoes."

"You have some bad taste..."

"Don't think I don't know there's something hidden in your shoes."

The owner of the voice pointed a gun at Liz's forehead. Liz had no choice but to take off her boots and throw them on the ground. As a result, when the boots hit the ground, a three-centimeter sharp blade popped out from the toe of the shoe.

"Now take the handcuffs he has and cuff his left hand to your right ankle."

"What are you..."

"Do not talk nonsense."

"Ka-leng."

"Then take out your own handcuffs and cuff your own right hand to his."

Frank and Liz were not only in a very funny state, but also very difficult to move. Frank could only lie in front of Liz's legs, and Liz could only twist her body. In this state, let alone running, they couldn't even stand up. And because of the angle, even if the handcuff key was placed next to them, they would have to struggle to get it.

After the two men locked themselves in this strange position under duress, the man who threatened them stopped pointing his gun at them. After stealing the handcuff keys from the two men, he reassembled the weapons they had thrown on the ground and inserted them into his own waistband. After that, the man hit each of them with the butt of the gun. The blows were not severe, but enough to knock them unconscious for a while.

Before passing out, Frank saw the man bending down to pick up the flashlight. It was Adenauer on the wanted poster.