Spy-x-War Showdown
Chapter 283 - 282 Wasteful and Slow

Chapter 283: Chapter 282 Wasteful and Slow

Yang Yi, Xiao Ran, Zhang Yong, Brian, and Paul, all five of them headed to Mannheim, Germany, to locate the hacker they needed.

Why dispatch five men for the task? Because this wasn’t merely a hiring situation—it was more likely to be a kidnapping.

Taking a plane was the quickest option, so Yang Yi and the others decided to fly to Mannheim. Their flight was scheduled to depart at 10:20 AM, and they arrived at the airport by 8:30 AM.

They had all been feeling tired lately, both mentally and physically, so taking public transport was unanimously agreed upon. However, by 9:30 AM, Yang Yi began to feel that deciding to take public transport in Paris might have been a mistake.

"What’s wrong with people?"

Brian was the first to notice something amiss, as he saw passengers around him becoming increasingly irritable, some loudly complaining, others appearing utterly despondent, but most were simply resigned to their fate.

When the airport announcement started, Brian stood up, a look of shock on his face, "A strike? You’ve got to be kidding me. I got up at 7 AM, rode the subway for forty minutes, waited at the airport for an hour, and now they’re telling me all flights are grounded due to a strike? Fuck!"

Turning to Paul, Brian continued with a lack of confidence, "Is it because I’ve been in jail too long? Have I really fallen out of sync with the world, or have the French gone fucking nuts?"

With an innocent expression, Paul replied, "I haven’t really been keeping up with the news from France lately."

Xiao Ran snapped his fingers and said, "Settle down. You’re just out of touch with the world. The French are busy—they take three months of vacations a year, then strike for another six months. They strike when they’re content and when they’re not. We’ve just stumbled upon a routine French affair. Okay, let’s find another way to Germany. They won’t be back to work until they’ve had their fill."

Brian’s face was etched with gloom as he exclaimed loudly, "The French..."

Yang Yi stood up, sighed, and said, "We’ll take the train."

Catching a taxi away from the airport was hard because all the passengers needed to leave, so Yang Yi and his team had no choice but to leave by train, heading to Paris East Station where there were direct trains to Mannheim.

After more than two hours, they arrived at the train station by 12:30 PM, and then, to their dismay, found that the train station was also on strike.

"Why a strike? Why! Why!"

Brian was on the verge of exploding, as anyone would be enraged after having their entire morning wasted without even embarking on their journey.

"Because the airports are striking, the train stations naturally join in. It’s the only way everyone can negotiate better terms," Xiao Ran explained in a tone suggesting their ignorance and waved his hand dismissively, "Don’t waste any more time. Let’s go back. Driving there will be faster anyway."

Brian raised a finger and gestured at Xiao Ran, finally lowering his hand resignedly and said in a sullen tone, "No more public transport in France. Let’s head home."

An entire morning and the lunch hour were wasted, since everyone needed to eat. It wasn’t until 2:30 PM that Yang Yi and his group were finally able to set off properly.

They ended up driving after all, and surprisingly, covering the six to seven hundred kilometers from Paris to Mannheim was still fastest by car.

Their plans to reach Mannheim by midday were completely ruined. When Yang Yi and his team finally arrived in Mannheim, it was past midnight.

As their car finally entered the city limits of Mannheim, Yang Yi, looking exhausted, said, "Maybe we should find a place to rest for the night and look for the hacker tomorrow."

Brian immediately shouted, "No! The night’s perfect. He might not be at home during the day, and at night... Damn it, I don’t want to make excuses anymore. I’ve had enough today. We better find that hacker fast and take him with us. That’s it!"

Brian fell silent, sullenly puffing up. Yang Yi spread his hands and said, "Do we really have to kidnap him? Can’t we find a more peaceful way, like maybe hiring someone to help, huh?"

Brian muttered grumpily, "Let’s find the guy first. The address."

Yang Yi recited the address, and Paul immediately drove towards the location.

Yang Yi felt that just going ahead and kidnapping someone was really bad. At the very least, there should be a detailed plan, like first finding out who exactly they were looking for before making any moves. After all, they only had an address and didn’t know which of them was the hacker they were looking for.

Fortunately, the address turned out to be a residential community, which made searching a lot more convenient.

Around 1 AM, Zhang Yong drove to their destination.

A two-story building, with one of the second-floor windows lit.

"Hackers are typically night owls, and I don’t think this one will be an exception. If I’m not mistaken, the person still having their lights on at 1 AM is likely to be our hacker. But now it’s 1 AM—should we just knock on the door?"

Yang Yi said with a hint of helplessness, then pointed to the lit window from inside the car and continued, "Maybe we should visit tomorrow. This is a family house; a family resides here. We can’t kidnap a German citizen from within because I don’t want to harm his relatives. That would make us terrorists."

Brian exhaled and then impatiently said, "I hate the French. We wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble. My limited life has been wasted by the French."

Zhang Yong laughed, "Well, the French, always romantic and slow."

Paul said in a stern voice, "Boss, calm down."

Brian was always feeling a strong sense of urgency, and the reason was simple. He had spent many years in jail. He was getting old, and he was desperate to find his love but had to first resolve Yang Yi’s issues. Now, his time was being wasted.

So, Brian was both hurried and angry.

After taking a few deep breaths, Brian slowly said, "I’m calm now. My decision is to go up there, find the hacker, and once we’re sure he is the hacker, ask if he’s willing to come with us. If he’s not, then we take him. If he has a family, it’s easily resolved because I can take him away without making any noise."

After speaking, Brian tilted his head towards Paul and said, "Let’s go."

Paul nodded, then opened the car door and stepped out, with Brian following suit. Then he said to Yang Yi, "You guys wait in the car."

After instructing Yang Yi, Brian and Paul turned and walked away, while Yang Yi quickly followed suit, getting ready to exit the car. At that moment, Zhang Yong whispered, "Don’t go. Can’t those two old hands handle such a small matter? Don’t worry about them."

Yang Yi whispered back, "I’m not worried about them; I’m worried about the hacker. So, I’d better go check it out myself."