Chapter 420 - Do You Hate The Rain? (1/2)

The 01 Guerillas went on a month-and-a-half-long vacation after rescuing Leah. Semiprime sent the video recording in an encrypted email to Edward, but eventually, it came to nothing. Edward never responded.

To avoid Black Nest’s hounding, the group came to a little town in southwestern France. Waldo had an uncle who lived here. With no heirs, he left the house to his nephew.

Waldo had mentioned this before, but no one took him seriously. It all changed when they arrived at the place, amazed by just how ma.s.sive the house really was. For the guest rooms alone, there were six of them! The fine palace could easily accommodate all of them and then some more. There was also a huge courtyard planted with a variety of flowers and plants, complemented by a small sparkling pond at the back.

Philip pushed open the windows and admired the picturesque view. “Why would you live in your mother’s attic when you have a place like this?” he asked.

“Erm… that’s because there’s no one here to cook for me, and there are no takeaway services either…” Waldo answered candidly.

“That’s true.”

“I mean, the taxes for houses like this are over the top… SO, I rent it out for half of the year during the peak seasons, but the money is barely enough to pay for the taxes and maintenance. It just makes me want to sell it,” Waldo grumbled.

“Don’t be in such a hurry to sell it. I’ve always wanted to own a place with a view like this, a little piece of heaven I can retire to when I’m old. After I’ve saved enough money and my daughter’s gone to college, you can sell it to me,” Ponytail said.

“Ugh… I don’t know if I can wait until then. There’s a whole lot of games on Steam just waiting for me to buy,” Waldo answered nonchalantly.

“Anyway, make yourself at home, but leave the room with the best WIFI signal to me,” Waldo said as he threw himself onto the couch and ripped into a bag of chips.

“This guy is hopeless…”

The 01 team did a quick cleaning around the house; then, Semiprime drove to a supermarket at the town center to stock up on some food and daily necessities. They did not spend much of the money they earned from the casino, only using enough for their expenses and saving the rest for the operation. Initially, the group only planned to stay here for a few days, hoping that Edward would reply within that time. They would then hurry over to rescue him. n.o.body would expect that they would be here a lot longer than initially planned.

As was his habit, Zhang Heng did not waste whatever time he had, learning electronic control systems from Ponytail. He even had Waldo and Philip teach him how to hack into an account and bypa.s.s the network’s security defense systems.

Zhang Heng didn’t come into contact with either of the three men in the parallel quest.

At that time, Ponytail and Edward died, Philip emigrated to Hong Kong, whereas Waldo had taken refuge within Black Nest.

It was actually difficult to blame the latter two. Aside from Philip, who had gotten tired of fighting, Waldo also sent 01 a great deal of secret information while working for Black Nest, greatly helping 01 avoid a ton of unwanted trouble. When Black Nest came to know about it, they let the matter slide, seeing how skilled he was and all. However, he was no longer allowed access to cla.s.sified information and was only allowed to provide technical advice.

Including Leah, there were a total of six people in the building. If the mission failed, it would be really hard to imagine how drastically different the direction each would take in twelve years.

Leah found an old guitar lying about in the yard’s storage room. It had a missing string, though. She wiped the instrument clean and carried it in her arms. “Is there anything you’d like to hear?” she asked the lot.

“I don’t know… what about ‘La Ma.r.s.eillaise’?” Waldo suggested. Philip frowned. “Why would anyone want to listen to the national anthem after dinner?”

“Because I can’t think of anything else, and everyone has heard it before. It’s really popular, you know?”

“So, she’ll be playing the guitar, and we’ll all have to stand upright and put on a solemn face?”

“How about Joe Da.s.sin’s Les Champs-Élysées? I’m sure everyone’s heard of it too,” Leah plucked the strings twice, “It’s one of my favorites, and there are only five strings left. Just enjoy the music. Alright, enough talk. Let’s begin…”

She cleared her throat and began:

“I was walking down the avenue; my heart opened to strangers,

I wanted to say h.e.l.lo to anyone at all, anyone, maybe you,