Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 818: Chapter 62: Friday Without the Lord (4)

Mr. Ofi does his work casually and doesn’t always maintain his stern image.

In fact, in the office, taking off the suit, loosening the tie, and rolling up his sleeves make him more comfortable.

At 7:40 p.m., Mr. Ofi, who has finished experimenting with a new type of listening equipment, still hasn’t left his workplace and has opted to work overtime.

There were some unresolved issues from the news conference with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the afternoon. Moreover, according to intelligence, a group of foreign agents have infiltrated the borders with unclear intentions.

“Sir, we’ve unexpectedly captured a few people!”

Suddenly, the secretary burst into Mr. Ofi’s office, looking extremely anxious. Mr. Ofi knew something serious must have happened, and his face immediately turned solemn, “Who did you capture?”

“It’s people from the U.S. Federal Investigation, two men and one woman!” the secretary said earnestly.

“What’s going on?” Mr. Ofi immediately realized the seriousness of the situation.

“Sir, you instructed me to thoroughly investigate the guest list from the hostage incident at the theater. I compared the surveillance footage at the main entrance with the guest list, and found quite a few individuals who didn’t match.” The secretary quickly explained, “They were planning to take the 4 p.m. train to leave. Luckily, our people arrived in time… but during the pursuit, one got away.”

“Did these people say anything?” Mr. Ofi quickly asked.

The secretary shook his head and said, “These guys are very tight-lipped, not saying anything, only demanding that we treat them according to humanitarianism. I’m considering whether we should use the truth serum on them.”

“Go ahead.” Mr. Ofi decisively said, “You go prepare it, make sure to interrogate them as quickly as possible. I’ll be there right away! Also, the guest list needs to be checked again, I don’t want to miss anything!”

“Yes!” The secretary immediately left the room.

Mr. Ofi rubbed his forehead. The hostage incident at the theater that day, the deeper the investigation, the more things were uncovered, it was just like an abyss.

He took a sip of coffee to perk up, planning to head to the interrogation room right away, but suddenly remembered something, so he made a phone call back home.

“Hello, it’s me, Bara… Has Louis come back yet?”

“Dr. Ferenc brought Louis back home in the afternoon. He’s being very good, writing his reflections on today’s visit to the technology museum in his room. I’m keeping him company.”

“Thank you, Bara.” Mr. Ofi nodded, then suddenly asked, “What about him? Is he not at home?”

Mr. Ofi’s relationship with his father, Dr. Ferenc, was not good, something Bara, as the housemaid, was well aware of. So, she didn’t mind Mr. Ofi using ‘he’ as a reference.

“Oh, the Doctor went out after dinner upon hearing of another memorial gathering at the theater, wanting to go see it.”

“Alright… that’s all.” Mr. Ofi said calmly, “Please keep an eye on Louis more tonight, I might come home very late or possibly not at all.”

“No problem, I can work overtime.” Bara quickly agreed, and then sighed, “Mr. Ofi, I really suggest, perhaps you should find another wife, this home still lacks a lady of the house.”

“Bara.”

“I’m listening, what’s the matter?”

“Thank you.”

After speaking, Mr. Ofi hung up the phone directly, then loosened the sleeves he had rolled up, buttoned them, and put back his tie, then took the suit jacket off the rack and put it on.

When he was leaving the office, Mr. Ofi suddenly turned over the photo frame on the desk… it was a photo of him and his late wife.

…

…

Second Cousin tapped his left fingers on his right elbow a few times, suddenly furrowing his brows and checking the time.

It hadn’t been ten minutes yet, but he suddenly had a premonition, feeling that something might happen. At this moment, a woman was about to walk into the nearby ladies’ restroom.

Without saying a word, Second Cousin placed his hand on the woman’s shoulder, coldly stating, “It’s under maintenance, go elsewhere.”

The woman replied reluctantly, “Who are you? There’s no maintenance sign here, why can’t I go in?”

Second Cousin squinted his eyes slightly, “I said, you can’t go in.”

The fierce gaze, along with the fingers pressed firmly on the woman’s shoulder, immediately frightened her. She retreated continuously, and after turning around, fled the area in panic, not daring to look back.

Second Cousin glanced around and then darted into the ladies’ restroom — inside, a woman was putting on makeup in front of the sink. She screamed upon seeing a fierce-looking man enter.

Second Cousin decided to lift his shirt directly, exposing the gun tucked in his belt, shouting, “Shut up, then get out!”

Frightened, the woman stuck to the wall, slid past Second Cousin, and then ran swiftly away. Second Cousin quickly moved over to the handicap stall, pounding on the door, “Come out, time’s up! Get moving!”

But there was no response from within.

Second Cousin furrowed his brows, not planning to wait any longer, he kicked the door open directly! To his anger, there was no one inside, Caroline had disappeared!

Handcuffs were still dangling from the side handrail, showing no signs of being opened. But Second Cousin found a bottle of medical rectal lubricant on the toilet.

Sticky liquid remained on the cuffs…

Second Cousin immediately understood how Caroline had unfastened the handcuffs!

“SHIT!” He punched the door frame nearby in anger, but quickly realized, he had been guarding outside the whole time and hadn’t seen Caroline come out. This restroom couldn’t be exited from the inside! So she must still be here!

Just then, Second Cousin suddenly felt darkness in front of his eyes!

Something was placed over his head — it was likely a bucket — the kind used for mopping with water!

He quickly realized this was Caroline attacking him!

But this stall was quite narrow, despite being designed for disabled use, it wasn’t very spacious! Second Cousin only felt his back being fiercely kicked, causing him to crash into the sink.

Second Cousin pressed both hands on the sink, supporting himself, ready to draw the gun from his belt, but suddenly a huge weight of the unbearable heaviness fell upon him!

Caroline mercilessly kicked him in the crotch from behind!

Legend has it that the pain factor from injury to this area can rival the pains of childbirth for women… Second Cousin directly clutched his groin, collapsing in agony — the bucket still covered his head.

Clatter.

The handgun somehow fell to the ground, sliding out.

Caroline jolted in shock, instinctively picking up the gun, and pointing it at Second Cousin. Her hands trembling, unable to hold steady… she dared not shoot.

She rushed out in a hurry.

Caroline had just rushed out into the corridor when she noticed that all the people around were looking at her — amidst her panic, she was holding a gun in her hand, and the crowd stared at her in terror, some even crouching down in fear.

“Bitch! Don’t even think about running!!”

‘Second Cousin’ had already dashed out, his expression twisted, angrily charging at Caroline. However, due to an injury, his running posture was somewhat awkward.

Caroline didn’t have time to care; she lowered her head and, clutching the gun, dashed out of the hospital doors.

…

…

“Make way, make way… thank you, thank you.”

When Dr. Ferenc arrived, the funeral service had only just begun. They had invited a Priest, holding a Bible and the cross. After the host concluded their speech, it was the Priest’s turn to speak.

Dr. Ferenc eventually squeezed to the front of the crowd, took off his hat, and listened with his head bowed.

The Priest’s voice rang out slowly.

Originally, Dr. Ferenc was listening intently, but at this moment, he was bothered by the hushed discussions of two men beside him.

“Really, my brother-in-law works in the police department. He told me, before their people arrived, those bandits were already unconscious, and all the guns were mysteriously disassembled. And it’s said those bandits had a powerful bomb, but it was detonated, miraculously lacking any power…”

“Did you… did you hear a strange voice at the time?”

“Respected guest, do you need anything?” a man suddenly whispered quietly.

The other person’s gaze slightly narrowed, “You… you heard it too? I, I thought it was a hallucination.”

“No, I truly heard it… at that time, there was something… something invisible… in the dark…”

“I, I think I heard it too… and I agreed… at first, I just thought it was my own fear causing a hallucination…” This is the voice of a third man.

“My wife has been mentioning this thing to me these past two days…” The fourth voice chimed in.

Dr. Ferenc furrowed his brows, it seemed, gradually, more and more people began discussing something that happened that day — he could only piece together a rough idea from the fragments he heard.

The vast majority of them heard the same voice, as if a call from the depths of their hearts.

The voice told everyone the same thing.

Some agreed, some didn’t, but the result was — their common wish was granted, and everyone was safe.

Then, at the end of the hostage case, there were several bizarre incidents. The bandits collectively fell unconscious in an instant, the guns were inexplicably disassembled, and the explosive bomb didn’t have its original power.

The discussions seemed to be getting a bit out of control.

The funeral service, originally tinged with a strange atmosphere, was enveloped in the silence, surrounded by people dressed in black, holding candles.

It seemed shrouded in mystery.

A mysterious feeling quietly crept in.

Dr. Ferenc increasingly sensed something was off… many people here seemed to be in a peculiar mental state. They appeared to be controlled by their own speculations and the inexplicable things before them, leading to a sense of reverence for some divine event.

Women held their children close, occasionally joining the discussions. The men sometimes fell silent, sometimes attempted to explain things, but were often unable to validate their viewpoints.

Some seemed to quietly leave, not intending to participate in this suddenly altered funeral service.

The Priest noticed that some situation had arisen at the funeral service, so he cleared his throat and solemnly said, “Please remain quiet.”

Only then did the crowd settle down.

“Really… I really heard it…”

But it seemed… it wasn’t completely calm; they continued to speak quietly.

Dr. Ferenc shook his head, feeling a bit inclined to leave. As a scientist, he really couldn’t agree with those supporting mysticism.

In any case, he had already laid flowers and observed a moment of silence.

“Thank the Lord for His mercy, allowing us to receive aid amidst disaster…” The Priest seemed to also wish to conclude this awkwardly atmospheric funeral service soon, and thus quickened his pace.

Dr. Ferenc had already turned around when suddenly, a male voice rang out from the crowd, carrying a bit of hoarseness, mixed with a touch of disdain.

“God can’t save us. He only creates humans and ignores them after that.”

“Who!” The Priest suddenly reacted as if he had been stepped on the tail, his face suddenly turned grim, “Who is blaspheming!”

“I…”

The voice of the speaking man emerged again from the crowd — the crowd began to part, tracing the source of the voice, creating a direct path to the front.

A man wearing a somewhat loose suit… a masked figure, raised his left hand at this moment and spoke slowly, “…It was me.”

The mask was of the carnival variety commonly seen, giving the impression that it was bought casually from a street vendor.

This strange man, seeing the crowd had made way, swaggered forward directly, coming right up to the Priest.

“Sir, do you have something to say?” The Priest maintained his composure… even though this guy seemed to harbor ill intentions.

This masked man looked around… he was none other than Bucky, abandoned here by the Maid without concern.

Bucky felt very desperate too, what could he do… There were police officers maintaining order around the funeral service.

If it were before, it wouldn’t be a problem — the key issue was, his current identity was that of a fugitive, it was really okay for him to boldly and openly appear in front of police officers?

Luckily, he found a store selling carnival masks — in Rio, this carnival city, finding such masks was really too easy.

Even so, Bucky’s heart was pounding wildly, who knew if these cops might come over directly to pull off his mask and then balabala, and then would there be any ‘then’ for himself?

There had to be someone watching… that black-hearted Maid!

Bucky gritted his teeth, suddenly snatched the Bible from the Priest’s hand, and loudly declared, “I’m not targeting you, I’m saying your faith is garbage!”