He could not expose the details of the mission to Winnie, but looking at how the circumstances had evolved, he had no choice but to speak up.
“This is a twist of fate. Initially, I was supposed to lead my team here to back up my soldier, but he was sacrificed in an accident. However, he had stayed here and worked hard for three years, so we could not easily give up the achievements he had exchanged with his life. As a result, I carried out an order given to me to remain here temporarily despite the danger. I’ve rarely revealed myself when I participated in the local raids in recent years and have never been targeted by any drug cartels. Still, I cannot entirely exclude the possibility that Zyon may recognize my appearance, so he’s a massive liability to me. My death is insignificant if he exposes me, but the bigger concern will be the interruption of the trail of clues my soldier had acquired with much difficulty. We’ll need to restart our operation from scratch again if that happens. That means more sacrifices to be made and more blood to be spilled. Every year, many narcotics officers suffer horrible deaths at the hands of drug dealers, which is something none of us wish to happen.”
“I understand.” Winnie suddenly began regarding Christopher with much more respect after knowing he decided to remain in his position despite being aware of how much danger he was putting himself in. “Then, what do you plan to do now?”
He furrowed his brows while cleaning the bloodstained gun around his waist before placing it on the table. “Under such circumstances, my only option is to eliminate Zyon first.”
She nodded. “He deserves to die. When he escaped from Avenport, he blew up a huge cargo ship, causing three people to die in the explosion and nine to be gravely injured. One of the people who died was a policeman. After all the crimes he committed, the only punishment that awaits him upon his capture will be execution by shooting.”
“Yes.” He pursed his lips. “Everyone here is involved in at least one murder case, perhaps even more. All of them escape to this place because they committed heinous crimes in their respective countries. All the people here are ruthless and despicable. You shouldn’t have come here.”
“I know, but there’s something I must do.” Winnie gazed at Christopher and knitted her brows. “There’s something else I need to ask you.”
“Go ahead.”
“I assume you know that Yulissa is not dead? Did you turn her into your informant?”
He glanced at her and hesitated briefly before answering, “I cannot tell you that.”
She opened her mouth to retort but was able to put herself in his shoes on second thought. “Okay. Let me put my question in a different way. Will she betray you?”
Christopher understood Winnie had realized the fact that Yulissa was still alive.
He pinched between his brows and uttered with uncertainty, “I can only tell you I know what I’m doing.”
“Okay.” Winnie nodded. “I understand. It’s fine as long as you know what you’re doing. Although you cannot voluntarily divulge information about her to me, I have some details to share with you. This thing I’m about to do is related to Yulissa, and if my plan is somehow conflicting with yours, I hope you’ll tell me what to do because I don’t want to ruin the plan you’re risking your lives to execute.”
He ruffled his hair in frustration. “All the things you want to do are no different from courting death. What other matters do you have that you must accomplish?”
“You mentioned Professor White when you talked about the drug formulation earlier, and you also said the two other drug lords are vying for the formulation. Is Professor White the only person who can produce the drugs here?”
“He’s certainly not the only person who can do that, but Professor White has the newest formulation. Do you know the significance of this newest formulation? That means these drug lords will be able to produce drugs with the highest purity using the least cost. This is a matter related to maximizing their profit yield.”
“Newest formulation…” Winnie nodded. “I got it. What I’m trying to ask is that you’ve been here for a long time, and based on the information and intelligence you have, do you know about someone who had just escaped here from Erihal not long ago and may also possess a kind of new formulation?”
“Erihal? Are you saying he has Adrunian facial features? There aren’t many people with Adruniuan facial features here because most of them are from Southeast Aploth.”
She shook her head. “I’m not sure. I don’t know what that person looks like, nor do I know that person’s gender. I only know that they have a new formulation, and I must locate them.”
Taking in Winnie’s adamant demeanor, Christopher could not help but allow a curious expression to form on his face. “Winnie, who exactly are you?”
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