Volume 15 Gray Fog Forest Chapter 742: The "Lumberjack" Team
"John, Anthony... these are very common names. Don't they have surnames?" Ke Lan scratched his head... If the names John and Anthony were directly entered into the archive, there would probably be tens of thousands of people with the same name. Even if we only look for those who have served in the military and are of the right age, there would probably be around a thousand or eight hundred.
What's more, these people may also use aliases.
"No last names... They have always kept their affairs very secret. I know the names, experiences and family situations of everyone in the logging team. Only the four 'elders' have their identities kept secret."
"If their identities are not made public, how can their families get compensation if they die?" Ivan asked.
"Each of them has an unnamed savings account. If something happens to one of them, the rest of them have to deposit money into the account regularly every month...After my father disappeared and I was elected as the new leader of the team, Uncle John and Uncle Anthony told me about this."
"Humph, by making it so mysterious, aren't they afraid of being mistaken by the Security Bureau as a spy planted on the Ark by a heretical sect?" Thirty-Three said.
"The secrets involved in this matter are far more serious than having any connection with a heretical sect... If you have any connection with a heretical sect, the most likely people to be offended are from the Security Bureau, but if this matter is exposed, I'm afraid we will have to face the ship directly..." Ke Lan quickly glanced at Mo Jue and changed the topic, "I'm afraid we will have to face the gang above directly."
"That's true... Although I still don't know what is in the Gray Mist Forest, since you act so serious, it must be a big and difficult problem." Sanshisan nodded in agreement - he had not known Ke Lan for long, and he only recently learned about the existence of the Undead Crew. It took him two whole nights just to digest this information. Until now, Sanshisan often maintained his previous mindset when thinking about problems, and excluded such an abrupt existence as the "Undead Crew".
"The security level of those accounts is the highest level. Just to maintain these accounts, we need to pay a considerable amount of 'maintenance fees' to the bank every year. Even the Security Bureau finds it difficult to track the flow of funds." Mo Jue added.
“Heh…this thing called account security level is actually a cover-up made up by those financial institutions, specifically used to cheat those stupid people with a lot of money. What you spend your money on is just psychological comfort…Don’t even mention the money that flows through commercial banks and has clear and traceable accounts. Even those things in the black market that are directly traded with fixed-quota circulation cards or barter can be detected by the Security Bureau…A lot of the time, these guys just choose to turn a blind eye.” Ke Lan waved her hand and said.
Ke Lan wasn't sure whether the Security Bureau could find out these things, but the Undead Crew was sure that they could.
If she could get these accounts, Ke Lan would be able to find the families of these four people, but this could only be done on the Ark, so this clue was currently of no value.
"What exactly is my father investigating? What is in the center of the Gray Mist Forest? Is it a relic or something else?" Mo Jue glanced at Ke Lan, and then his eyes swept over Sanshisan, Asano Akira, Ivan, and Ze Luo. "I have already followed you here. If you want me to continue to lead you deeper, you have to at least tell me what you are looking for, right?"
"There is a relic in the center of the Gray Mist Forest." Ke Lan nodded, "But I am not sure whether this relic really exists, because no one has ever seen it with their own eyes. And your father, when he was serving in the Air Force Fleet, once accepted a mission, the goal of which was to destroy the relic with a warship."
"Destroy the ruins? Why?" Mo Jue was stunned. "If there are ruins, shouldn't we send out exploration teams and ruins hunters? Why send out warships?"
"Unfortunately, this is exactly what I want to know..." Ke Lan said.
"Then my father's mission..."
"It failed. The fleet of five warships, including a heavy cruiser, was attacked frantically by a large number of flying native creatures that flew out of the Gray Mist Forest after crossing the red line. Two warships crashed in the Gray Mist Forest, and the remaining three warships were severely damaged and had to abandon their mission and withdraw from this airspace. Your father was serving on these three warships at the time."
"Why...I never heard of this when I was serving in the Air Force Fleet?" Mo Jue asked in astonishment.
"Because this mission is top secret," Ke Lan replied, "Those who participated in the mission will be sent to the front line with the highest ...your father, however, was lucky enough to escape due to his injuries and confusion in his identity files."
Mo Jue's mouth opened slightly in surprise, and she stuttered, "So, my father is so persistent in exploring the Gray Mist Forest because of this?"
"I think so." Ke Lan nodded, "But the information I have collected is very limited. I have no idea what your father saw or knew during that operation... If it was just a failed mission, he would not choose to continue to risk his life after recovering from his injury."
The "risking one's life" in Ke Lan's words actually has a double meaning - the first one refers to the danger of the Gray Mist Forest itself, and the second one refers to the fact that , it will inevitably bring about fatal disaster.
"My father never told me..."
"I have one more thing I'm confused about, and I want you to explain it to me." Ke Lan patted Mo Jue's shoulder, who looked a little dazed ? These two should be superior to you in terms of qualifications, experience and ability. What's more, they and your father have a 'common secret'. If I were one of them, after you made the decision to 'stop exploring deeper into the Gray Mist Forest and only cut down the Mist Trees 200 meters away from the red line', I would definitely stand up and oppose it."
Ke Lan paused, then continued, "After all, the original purpose of forming this team was not to cut down the mist trees."
"Because they gave up later... After several years, the exploration depth only reached 500 meters, and there were only two of them left out of the five people... Uncle John and Uncle Anthony had a brief conversation with me about this matter. They said they were tired and didn't want to pursue the secret anymore." Mo Jue said.
"They decided to keep this secret to themselves and live their lives in peace, right?" Thirty-three interrupted. "To be honest, although I don't like this decision, from their perspective, this is a wise choice."
"By the way, other people haven't noticed anything unusual over the years?" When talking about other people, Ke Lan subconsciously turned around and looked towards Danning.
But he suddenly discovered that Danning was missing!
