LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 478.
Chapter 478. Heading to the Peak: The Ascent. (1/5)
After I left the hospital I headed west and drove about three hours outside of the city down winding roads through hilly and rocky terrains before I eventually parked my motorcycle up in a lot and made the rest of the journey on foot. A half-hour walk later I arrived at a serene lake surrounded by towering mountains that formed a concave valley populated with dense colorful foliage lining them.
What awaited me there was not only a breathtaking view but a red-haired girl with her back to me in the usual casual clothes she felt most comfortable in. She’d beaten me here and was taking in the view on her own. She’d already pitched our tent and set up a fireplace a short distance away from the lake.
It was already pretty late in the day and getting dark. The sun could be seen peeking out from behind a giant copper-colored mountain in the distance towering over the center of the lake.
Closer to us, along the left side of the lake were tall, dark green, conical pine trees. Interspersed between the pine trees and along the banks of the lake, golden patches of tall grass could be seen.
Along the right bank riding up the mountains far into the distance were trees lime green to yellow in color. They were bushier and more oval-shaped. It was impossible to tell from where I stood exactly what type of trees they were with how densely packed together they appeared. There was likely a good variety ranging from spruce, fir, oak, willow, cottonwood, and aspen.
As I drew closer to Rosa’s side I noticed the reflection depicted upon the surface of the lake devoid of a single ripple, perfectly at rest as if frozen in time, tranquil, at peace. Sticking out from the undisturbed surface of the shallow region of the lake, only about a foot deep, nearest to us were a few stones large enough to stand on.
Beyond those stones, like a picture captured in water, a scenic view of the copper mountain, green-golden trees, and blue sky as it gradually transitioned to orange. It felt as though time truly had stopped for us in this single instant in our lives.
Taken in by the view, I stopped in place and took in a long breath of the fresh mountainous air of the region.
I naturally didn’t miss the chance to snap a picture of Rosa with the view behind her.
As soon as I lowered my phone and looked back up at her, she tilted her head, peeked over her shoulder, and said with a smile, “Jeez, it’s about time you got here. I was starting to wonder whether you’d keep me waiting all night.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine, I’m not mad or anything.”
I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around her from behind.
She nuzzled her cheek up against my chest and asked, “Did things go well on your end with Dawn and her mom?”
“Yeah. Things worked out. What about you? How’d things go for you?”
“Heheh, are you curious?”
“Of course I am. You went to help Wisteria out with her assignment, right?”
“Naturally. We got the dirt we needed and I’ve already gotten word from Master that the client seems satisfied with what outcome will come of it.”
“How’d you two pull that off without getting caught though?”
“Heheh, without getting caught? As if that’s possible when I don’t have all the tools I need with me. We totally got busted. We weren’t even trying to not get busted though. We went in fully aware we’d be discovered.”
“Wait, what do you mean? How? And isn’t that bad? They’re just going to pack up their goods and move to a different location.”
“Yeah, they already did today. That’s what we were busy with today. We got the evidence yesterday and today we were just tailing them to where they were relocating to next.”
“Explain. Just what have you been up to?”
“Hmmm~ so you really don’t know?”
“No, I don’t. I’m completely clueless here. I’m not omnipotent after all.”
“Well, to start off, why do you think I borrowed your motorcycle yesterday instead of using Dawn’s pickup truck?”
“Why? Hmm…” I did find it a little weird, but if I consider that she went in fully intending to get caught, a possibility entered my mind.
“Could it be that you used it inside the underground tunnels?”
“Ding ding ding, we’ve got a winner. That’s correct. We were able to get it in through the hole in the wall. We naturally wouldn’t be able to get Dawn’s pickup truck inside the tunnels let alone through the hole in the wall. The plan was pretty simple, regardless of whether we screwed up or not we’d use it as our emergency getaway vehicle. We just kept the engine off and moved it around in neutral so we wouldn’t be heard initially.”
“We staked out the entrance to the underground tunnels and waited for someone to enter or leave. When two people exited together, we snuck up on them from behind and successfully incapacitated them. We changed into their clothes and did our best to make ourselves look like them.”
“After that, we interrogated them and found out about the layout beyond that hidden wall and whether there were any security systems in place. All I can say is… it’s a good thing you didn’t go in there blind. Both of you would have definitely been caught if you didn’t know what you were getting into. There was no way to get in and out completely undetected despite being more prepared with the intel we squeezed out of them.”
“I see. So what’d you end up doing then?”
“I went in alone and had Master wait right outside the secret passage inside the tunnels with your motorcycle. If there were any signs of someone approaching while I was still inside, it was her job to keep them busy.”
“I really hope you at the very least removed the plates.“
“Ah…”
“What do you mean, ‘ah?’”
“Heheh, I’m obviously kidding. Do you think I’m that much of an amateur?”
“Haaaah.” I breathed out a sigh of relief.
Rosa giggled mischievously and asked teasingly, “Heheheh, Did your heart skip a beat?”
“Yes, it did actually. Please don’t joke about those sorts of things. Considering the plates aren’t local ones it’d make it extremely easy for us to be caught if anyone caught a glimpse of it or it was captured on surveillance footage during your escape.”
“No duh.”
“So? What happened from there?”
“Using the information I pried out from the two we interrogated, I infiltrated and made my way to the storage room where they kept the goods. The second I opened the door, I walked in silently amidst a group of four inside slacking off around a table with nothing better to do playing poker. The second I entered they asked me if I forgot something. It really scared the crap out of me, but I didn’t say a word and just nodded.”
“Rosa…”
“What?”
“You’re… absolutely insane. You know that? Seriously, you’ve got to have some major balls of steel to go and pull something like this.”
“Hehehe, it was like super thrilling, you know. My heart was beating out of control like crazy. One misstep and I could have blown everything right there.”
“It may have worked out this time, but please don’t do something risky like that again without my knowledge.”
“Aww, are you worried about me?”
“Of course I am. I trust your skills, but things can go horribly wrong when you’re playing such a dangerous high-risk game.”
“Mmm. Yeah.”
“You said there was no way for you to escape without being caught, but from the sounds of it so far, you could have, couldn’t you?”
“No. It was impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because the objective was to record and document proof. The goods were exactly what you thought they were and they were kept in freezers. They had passcodes to open them up. If you forcibly opened them without the passcodes, an alarm would go off. The only one who knew the passcodes was the doctor and he wasn’t around. With no other choice, I forcibly broke one open while those four were still in the room with me intentionally setting the alarm off.”
Hearing her recollection of events, I was sweating. I would have never gone through with a plan as risky as this.
“You really are insane.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m insanely in love with you.”
“So… I assume you have the footage with you, right?”
“Yep, I preemptively took out my phone and started recording before I broke open the freezer to get the contents on video. Take a look for yourself, I got everything.”