After playing all day, Flandre fell into a sweet sleep, leaning against Beatrice's lap. Meanwhile, Beatrice was holding a small notebook, recording the license plate numbers and the frequency of large vehicles entering and leaving the town today.
Indeed, she had chosen this spot not only for its beautiful scenery but also because it was not far from the town's main gate. Not only could she see the gate by looking down, but she could also see most of the town. While Flandre was playing in the afternoon, she had been silently noting down the models and license plates of the vehicles coming and going. She had circled a few of them.
The next day, Beatrice led Flandre along the road. As the two of them picked out various items, Beatrice sized up the surrounding buildings.
"Are you looking for something, Sister?" Flandre asked, noticing Beatrice's absent-mindedness.
Someone nearby heard their conversation and pricked up their ears.
"Oh, this area is quite good. I think it's suitable for investment, so I'm planning to get some money from the old man to give it a try."
These were Beatrice's honest thoughts. Although she hadn't found her target yet, judging by the foot traffic and location over the past few days, the development prospects here were very good. The only downside was that fixed locations were vulnerable to Catastrophes. There was no way around that, unless she could get the old man to acquire a mobile plate and hire a group of Civil Engineering Casters to move this entire area onto it.
But getting a mobile plate just for a scenic area would be far too extravagant. The Swire Family would never approve of such a plan. So she could only settle for the next best thing and choose to invest locally. As long as they didn't encounter a Catastrophe, they would break even in five years without any problems.
Although her running off to become an operator at the Guard Department showed she had little interest in business, members of the Swire Family were born with a keen business sense.
The person who had been eavesdropping relaxed after hearing this. By now, Beatrice and Flandre had already walked far away.
"Sister, that man selling small gifts on your right just now had a problem." Flandre suddenly spoke up after they were a good distance away.
"Who?"
"That one with yellow hair and drooping ears selling gifts. You were picking things out at his stall for a long time just now, but you didn't buy anything."
As soon as Flandre said this, Beatrice immediately recalled him. "What's wrong with him?"
"Just now, when I asked if you were looking for something, he was very calm at first, but his heartbeat sped up a lot when he heard that. After hearing you talk about investment, his heartbeat slowed back down."
Flandre told Beatrice about the man's condition. Beatrice's green eyes flashed. She then picked up Flandre and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Mwah~ Little Flandre, you've been a huge help!"
She thought to herself that it was no wonder she hadn't discovered anything since coming here; it turned out this was an entire industry chain. In other words, many people in the entire village might be involved in smuggling activities. She just didn't know where their main warehouse and source of goods were.
Actually, Beatrice found it somewhat incomprehensible. With such a beautiful sea of flowers, they could have lived a comfortable and worry-free life just by relying on the tourism industry. Why did they have to risk doing such illegal things?
The two of them walked a large circle around the area. Beatrice took a bunch of photos with a camera she had bought from a local shop before finally heading back to their lodgings with a pile of things. After entering the room, Beatrice first checked her belongings. Finding they hadn't been rummaged through, she picked up a small device and walked around the room.
A few seconds later, the light on the device suddenly flickered in a corner of the living room. Beatrice's pupils constricted. She looked around and eventually found a small listening device in a flower pot. The bug was very well hidden; if she hadn't checked intentionally, she wouldn't have found it at all.
Fortunately, the two of them hadn't discussed her work here yesterday, and after checking today, they successfully found the other party's device. She then checked the rest of the place. Luckily, the other party probably didn't suspect them much, so there was only this one in the hall, which allowed Beatrice to breathe a sigh of relief.
However, she still gave Flandre a look and pointed upstairs. On the rooftop terrace, Beatrice and Flandre sat on a beach chair. They had already checked this place for listening devices, and even if someone were watching, they wouldn't be able to hear their conversation.
"There's a bug in the house. Little Flandre, don't talk about anything related to our work once we're inside. Don't mention Old Chen, Hoshiguma, or the Guard Department."
After Beatrice gave her the reminder, Flandre nodded and promised not to talk about such things in the house.
Over the next few days, the two of them visited most parts of the village. Through observation and Flandre's help, Beatrice identified several highly suspicious locations. As for them, their information had indeed been noticed. However, because Beatrice spent money lavishly and the two of them truly acted like tourists outside—and the bug only recorded them talking about which food was good or which scenery was beautiful—the eavesdroppers simply recorded them as unimportant tourists.
So even when they approached certain sensitive areas in the following days, they were ignored. Having confirmed the information and intelligence, Beatrice decided to return to the city to prepare for the sting operation.
The two of them packed their things in the room, loaded their items, and prepared to drive away. As the car reached the village entrance, another vehicle drove toward them. Beatrice glanced at the people in the car, and her heart skipped a beat. She recognized both the driver and the person sitting next to him.
The person in the passenger seat was one of the sellers she had met at the frozen goods warehouse before. And the driver was someone she had caught for brawling in the plaza.
Sure enough, after passing each other, the two men began talking about Beatrice, who was driving. The one in the passenger seat complained that she looked like a rich lady but only bought one or two things every time she spent forever picking them out in the shop.
"What rich lady? She's a damn cop! Remember that time I got hauled in for fighting? This woman was the one who did it," the driver spoke with irritation.
"A cop?" Instantly, the person in the passenger seat became alert. This was the location of their main smuggling warehouse. What was a cop doing here all of a sudden?
The driver also realized something was wrong, and the two of them quickly drove into the village. The people in the village turned pale when they heard that the Feline woman who had been hanging around for several days and had even approached the core area multiple times was actually a cop.
"Could she just be here for tourism?" someone asked.
"A cop who has been to our sales points, happens to show up here, and hangs around for several days... one thing might be a coincidence, but a whole string of coincidences definitely means there's a problem. Don't forget, smuggling isn't the only thing we're doing. If we get uprooted, we're all finished."
"Then what should we do?"
"Contact our people in the city and the guys out in the wilds to block them. We'll follow from behind quickly. Whether they really came for fun or noticed something and came over, we can't let them go."
The others nodded in agreement. After all, they weren't just involved in smuggling; they also did things like robbery and murder. Once exposed, even if they weren't hanged, they would be sent to the mines for the rest of their lives. Those who dared to do such things were naturally all desperate criminals.
To them, killing a person or two was nothing, as long as they weren't exposed. As for a dead police officer, it was normal to encounter various dangers in the wilds occasionally. As long as it was handled properly, others would just see it as an accident.
Once the decision was made, they immediately arranged the operation. At this moment, groups of people from Lungmen and the wilds began to converge on the only road from the village to Lungmen.
Meanwhile, Beatrice was flooring the gas pedal, trying to return to Lungmen as quickly as possible. As a woman's seventh sense, she vaguely sensed that something was wrong. Although Flandre's strength could protect her, she hoped to resolve this matter through her own abilities and the law rather than letting Flandre intervene.
After all, Flandre called her "Sister." What kind of sister would want to rely on her younger sister to solve trouble when she encountered it?
However, the other party's methods were faster than she had imagined. In less than half an hour, she noticed cars closing in from both sides. Fortunately, just as she had told Chen before, her car was modified. Its speed wouldn't drop too much even on wilderness roads. At most, there would be some bumping at high speeds. This bumping was not uncomfortable for Flandre; instead, it made her stand up happily.
"Careful, don't get bounced out." Beatrice, sensing something was wrong, increased her speed even more. She needed to concentrate on driving now and couldn't look after Flandre beside her.
"Damn, we've been spotted!"
Beatrice's acceleration was naturally seen by the other party. Knowing their group had been discovered, those people instantly bared their fangs. Some of them took out hand crossbows and accelerated from the flanks, attempting to get close and shoot the two in the car.
Flandre wasn't intimidated at all. She turned around and waved her hands arrogantly at the chasing vehicles. Although Beatrice had pushed her speed to the limit, the other party's cars were also modified, and they were off-road vehicles specifically suited for wilderness operations.
So the distance between the two sides grew closer and closer...
"Sister Beatrice, focus on driving. I'll deal with these guys!" Flandre expressed that how could a car chase not involve some tools? This wasn't Road Rash.
"Swoosh, swoosh!" After getting close, the passenger in one of the cars grinned and aimed a hand crossbow at the two of them, then pulled the trigger...