Chapter 478.


    <strong>Chapter 478. Heading to the Peak: The Ascent. (1/5)</strong>


    <span style="font-weight:400">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 walkter I arrived at a sereneke surrounded by towering mountains that formed a concave valley popted with dense colorful foliage lining them.


    <span style="font-weight:400">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 mostfortable 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 firece a short distance away from theke.


    <span style="font-weight:400">It was already prettyte 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 theke.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Closer to us, along the left side of theke were tall, dark green, conical pine trees. Interspersed between the pine trees and along the banks of theke, golden patches of tall grass could be seen.


    <span style="font-weight:400">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.


    <span style="font-weight:400">As I drew closer to Rosa’s side I noticed the reflection depicted upon the surface of theke 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 theke, only about a foot deep, nearest to us were a few stonesrge enough to stand on.


    <span style="font-weight:400">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.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Taken in by the view, I stopped in ce and took in a long breath of the fresh mountainous air of the region.


    <span style="font-weight:400">I naturally didn’t miss the chance to snap a picture of Rosa with the view behind her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">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.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Sorry.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s fine, I’m not mad or anything.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around her from behind.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She nuzzled her cheek up against my chest and asked, “Did things go well on your end with Dawn and her mom?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah. Things worked out. What about you? How’d things go for you?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Heheh, are you curious?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Of course I am. You went to help Wisteria out with her assignment, right?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Naturally. We got the dirt we needed and I’ve already gotten word from Master that the client seems satisfied with what oue wille of it.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“How’d you two pull that off without getting caught though?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Exin. Just what have you been up to?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hmmm~ so you really don’t know?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No, I don’t. I’mpletely clueless here. I’m not omnipotent after all.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well, to start off, why do you think I borrowed your motorcycle yesterday instead of using Dawn’s pickup truck?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Could it be that you used it inside the underground tunnels?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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 n 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.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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 sessfully incapacitated them. We changed into their clothes and did our best to make ourselves look like them.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“After that, we interrogated them and found out about theyout beyond that hidden wall and whether there were any security systems in ce. 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 outpletely undetected despite being more prepared with the intel we squeezed out of them.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I see. So what’d you end up doing then?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I really hope you at the very least removed the tes.“


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ah…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What do you mean, ‘ah?’”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Heheh, I’m obviously kidding. Do you think I’m that much of an amateur?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Haaaah.” I breathed out a sigh of relief.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rosa giggled mischievously and asked teasingly, “Heheheh, Did your heart skip a beat?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, it did actually. Please don’t joke about those sorts of things. Considering the tes 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 surveince footage during your escape.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No duh.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So? What happened from there?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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 cking off around a table with nothing better to do ying 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.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Rosa…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It may have worked out this time, but please don’t do something risky like that again without my knowledge.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Aww, are you worried about me?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Of course I am. I trust your skills, but things can go horribly wrong when you’re ying such a dangerous high-risk game.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Mmm. Yeah.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No. It was impossible.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Why?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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 rm 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 rm off.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Hearing her recollection of events, I was sweating. I would have never gone through with a n as risky as this.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You really are insane.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, yeah. I’m insanely in love with you.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So… I assume you have the footage with you, right?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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.”