Chapter 1542
But he was already in Astronia, what could she do?
She took a deep breath, and all her words coalesced into one simple message.
[Stay safe.]
[Maja, don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can. I've just arrived and I'm not sure of the situation here.
I'm worried about being tracked, so I'll switch my phone on sporadically. If you can't reach me, don't
panic, I'll update you every three days.]
The more he said, the more he feared Maja would be upset, so he added three words.
[Is that okay?]
What else could Maja do? She knew all too well that his swift action was because Augus was in dire
straits.
And considering Cynthia's condition, it was imperative to investigate the research facility as soon as
possible.
[Okay.]
Seeing her reply with a single word, Ian knew she must be angry, and his heart clenched.
He was never good at using emojis when chatting, but now he painstakingly chose a few that
represented kisses. This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.
Even if Maja was fuming, those emojis would extinguish her rage.
Having calmed Maja down, Ian promptly turned off his phone.
Two hours later, his man returned.
"Sir, that hospital has a camera every three steps. If it were just a normal hospital, there would be no
need for such security."
It wasn't just unnecessary; in a place where medical facilities were lacking, cameras were usually
installed only in very important locations.
The hospital's excessive surveillance screamed that something fishy was going on.
"Any other findings?"
"Yes, the bodies donated by volunteers should be marked for medical research, but this hospital had no
such detailed labels. Plus, I pretended to be a patient and accidentally stumbled into the morgue, only
to be escorted out by armed guards."
The morgue, the place where dead bodies are kept.
"Also, the main officials here seem to have perfectly normal families, but digging deeper, we found all
their identities were bought."
Buying identities was a practice most common in underground fight rings.
So-called bought identities exploit loopholes in local population checks, creating several non-existent
people in the census. These identities are then sold, with the fight rings pushing dozens each year.
For instance, a hitman wanted by an international coalition could buy an identity, alter his appearance,
and live on with his new persona.
These new identities didn't come cheap, as they had to fool the surveillance systems, often costing
over a million dollars each.
That these doctors had bought identities indicated they were hiding something.
Ian's man had discovered this so quickly because the fight ring kept a record of every identity sold, and
these men had eidetic memories.
Upon seeing the doctors' information, they recognized the identities as ones previously sold by the ring.
Ian compiled the information and, comparing it with the map, confirmed the hospital was indeed
collaborating with the research facility.
His finger landed on another spot on the map.
"At first light, disguise yourselves as refugees and scope out this location, but be careful not to catch
any diseases."
But the map indicated that this so-called philanthropist was actually an insider at the research facility.
The enemy had marked these two points on purpose, perhaps the breakthrough lay within them.
Ian dared not share this map with others, fearing it was a trap laid out in advance.
Draмaոovеls.cом
If he told the Sanders family and they suffered huge losses, how would he ever marry into the Sanders
family?
Dylan and Beck already disliked him; he needed to earn their approval, and the best way was to
reconnoiter the area himself.
"Once you're inside, don't act rashly, just observe the staff movement."
"Yes, sir."
Ian nodded, letting his men go rest.