novelFinessed
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640 Finessed
Italy, on the outskirts of Naples, a black Mercedes drove slowly along a curved, flat road into a small town near the hills.
Horns, who was holding the steering wheel, looked at the rundown streets on the sides of the road. His eyebrows began to furrow.
"Are we in the wrong place?"
"There's no way..." The assistant sitting shotgun repeatedly looked at the document in his hand. He said in an uncertain tone, "Both the shipping information and the Italian Ministry of Commerce points to here."
Horns didn't say anything, but he was getting more and more suspicious.
Honestly, this didn't look like a place for industrial prosperity. Even if someone didn't build a factory near a railway or near the sea, they would at least build it in a relatively densely populated area. Even the most stupid business owner wouldn't open a factory in the middle of nowhere.
The road started to get shorter and shorter.
The car could barely fit on the road.
The two got out of the car and walked along the country road for around fifty meters. They arrived at a rundown street near the community market. The people living here were mostly farmers or retired elderly. Other than a few children playing around in the alleyways, there wasn't a single sign of youth.
Horns arrived at a brick cottage with his assistant. He stopped, looked around, and raised his eyebrows.
"This is the factory?"
His assistant was also at a loss, and he took out the document again.
An old Italian man wearing a braided hat noticed the two strange foreigners standing at the doorsteps. He walked out of his house and looked at the two men suspiciously.
"Who are you guys?"
"Horns, this is my colleague. My apologies for bothering you. I'm looking for a company called AI Industry. To my understanding, this is the address." Horns said with a friendly smile on his face, which made him look a bit more approachable.
"AI Industry?" The old Italian didn't buy it. He frowned and looked suspiciously at Horns. He said, "I've lived here for many years, and I've never heard of AI Industry. There are no factories nearby."
The moment Horns heard this, he made eye contact with his assistant.
Everything made sense now.
The other party forged their identity. Not only did they deceive the Italian government and Siemens, they even deceived German customs, as well as the EU Import and Export Committee!
He remembered the ongoing controllable fusion technology exchange between the EU and China and couldn't help but break out in cold sweat.
Everything else on the list wasn't important, but if the two machine tools ended up in China's docks, the US would undoubtedly lose leverage over the negotiations.
The two machines couldn't end up in the hands of China, no matter what!
Horns looked at the old man and made a desperate final attempt. He took a deep breath and asked, "Is there anyone near here called Saatche Farbile?"
The batch of equipment only recently arrived in Italy. If it was to sneak out of European waters, it would take a while.
The only clue he had, other than the fact that the other party had an experienced computer hacker, was this name.
As long as he could find Saatche Farbile, he could solve this case!
The old Italian man frowned and shook his head.
"I haven't heard of him before."
Five seconds of silence passed by.
Horns took a deep breath. He was about to thank the old man and walk back to his car when an old woman suddenly jumped into the conversation.
"You guys know Farbile?"
The moment Horns heard this, he immediately asked with excitement, "Of course, I'm his friend, may I..."
"You're his friend? Perfect, wait a second."
The old woman turned around and went inside her house.
After a while, he saw the old woman walk out while holding a large parcel.
"A few days ago, a parcel was sent here. The recipient's name is Saatche Farbile. I don't know this person at all, and no one on this street has this name. I was wondering if the delivery man sent it to the wrong address, but I triple checked the address, and it's correct... Since you're his friend, can you pass this parcel to him?"
"Thank you... I'll give it to him."
Horns restrained the excitement in his heart and took the parcel from the elderly woman. He immediately got back into the car with his assistant.
He was about to open the parcel when he suddenly stopped.
His assistant was confused.
"Sir?"
Horns paused for a second and looked at his assistant.
"I need you to do something."
The assistant hesitated and asked, "What?"
Horns handed him the parcel and spoke in a serious manner.
"Open it."
The assistant instantly realized what was going on, and his face turned blue.
Even though he wanted to refuse, he still followed orders and took the package. He walked to the side of the road and carefully began to open it.
Fortunately, nothing happened.
There weren't any explosives in the parcel, nothing that was dangerous.
The assistant looked at the envelope lying inside the parcel and sighed. He took the envelope out of the parcel.
"Sir, there's a letter in here."
He opened the letter and pulled out a piece of paper.
However, when the assistant read the letter, it was like he made eye contact with Medusa and froze.
Horns noticed his assistant's face and thought that there was an important clue written in the letter. He quickly walked over there and grabbed the letter.
"What is it..."
It was almost like Horns had a stroke as he stood there motionlessly.
A string of random symbols was written in the letter.
[âTMa(^∇^*)]
Horns: "... ???"
| ← Ch. 0639 | Ch. 0641 → |