852 Patrol 2 (1/2)
Pfoo…
Garen took a deep breath before exhaling it slowly.
”Come and look quickly, that's a Black Cloud Level Advanced Mech!!” the sound of joyful childish squeals echoed behind him suddenly.
”Hmm?”
Garen turned his head and looked at a group of passing school children on the road who were looking fervently at the gigantic Mechs here now. All of them were clearly fanatical Mech enthusiasts.
However, their initially enthusiastic expressions froze instantly when they saw him turn his head suddenly.
A few elementary school students who were carrying their bags took a few steps back when they were scared off by his ”fierce” face.
”So… So cool!! No wonder he's the man who can pilot the Black Cloud!!” said a little boy loudly while pointing at him.
”Little guys…” Garen opened his mouth and smile. However, his smile clearly made him look fiercer, vaguely making it seem as if he was sneering ferociously.
”Run, quick!!” the group of school children scattered and disappeared without a trace instantly.
Garen stroked his face wordlessly. No wonder Vera had shrunk so fearfully even though he had just said a few words to her. Apparently, he had grown an extremely deterrent face without even realizing.
”I should continue patrolling…” Garen exhaled and got into his cockpit again.
Time ticked by slowly. His Potential Points continued to accumulate but Garen did not plan on using them. His greatest problem now was his lack of a solid foundation. After completing his tasks every day, he would hone particular aspects of the Crouched Eagle Talon's Training Methods as well as the functions and means of response to their various Techniques.
His patrolling days passed day by day. Every day fell into the same old schedule and he would inspect the condition of his team members' tasks. In reality, Garen would just choose the patrol areas of a random team member to observe. He would be too lazy to visit the others. Therefore, most of his time was spent on the heavy platform by the river where he would rest and enjoy the cool breeze while breathing in the fresh air.
The elementary and junior high school students who passed by when they were either going to or leaving school daily would always give him a calming atmosphere.
As time passed, Garen's understanding of the Crouched Eagle Talon's abilities allowed him to catch up to the other advanced students in the Eagle's Nest quickly. The initial lack of foundation that was caused by his speedy upgrades was offset quickly.
More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
The weather gradually turned colder. Although the faint morning sunlight was still present, the temperature had definitely lowered. The sunlight could not be felt even when it was shining down on his body directly.
Garen stood beside the heavy platform as usual and gazed at the faraway scenery.
Beep beep, beep beep…
The noise of a ringing phone call could be sounded from his watch slowly.
He pressed it to answer the call.
”I've found some information about your little brother,” Celine's first words gave Garen a jolt. ”Nothing out of the ordinary. He was pulled aside by the big explosion by the river. Also, he may have been involved with the White Light Terrorist Organization so you'll need to be prepared.”
”In other words, both of these events are actually the same thing?” Garen furrowed his eyebrows.
”That may be the case. Although the superiors have released the ten of your patrol team members all over that region to capture the Red-White Mech, no one is actually expecting you to seize it. From the information I gathered, you just need to find an extremely dilapidated, pieced together black Mech to find the Forbidden Core.”
”Old black-colored Mech?” Garen repeated. ”What about my brother?”
”I'm unclear about the full situation, but I can give you an address I obtained from the information at the intelligence department. The other person's place of refuge is probably there.”
The information was transmitted over quickly. Garen opened it and glanced through while his gaze flickered.
”From the looks of it, it's very likely that this place is in the area where I'm stationed.”
”That's true. Although we don't know the reason behind it, it's true that the other person is currently fleeing towards your area,” said Celine certainly. ”You should be careful of your surrounding situation at all times.”
”Yeah.”
”Then will be all. I'll be here to assist you at any time. Call this number during critical moments.”
”Got it.”
After ending the call, Garen's mind became more solemn. He could now confirm that his little brother Baylon was related to this incident.
”If Lon was really involved in this, there should be an important reason why the culprit would be rushing over in this direction. They would probably be coming here to visit their parents or family. This reasoning is somewhat plausible. Except that… How would they be able to escape successfully in the situation that their tracks are exposed?”
Garen concluded that the other party definitely possessed exceptionally strong escape measures that other people did not know of.
He got into the Mech again. There was a sputtering noise before blue flames were released from the back of the Mech and it flew upwards slowly. He began his investigation along the fixed patrolling roadmap.
Time continued to pass slowly from mid-morning to noon. The place remained calm even after he ate his lunch. However, Garen sensed that something was amiss when he patrolled the fifth district.
The fifth district was filled with factories, warehouses, storehouses and the likes. There were few signs of human habitation while the area was full of tall ”alleys” that were formed by the spaces between factories. Cars could be seen passing through this area occasionally.
There were even fewer people to be seen during the late afternoon.
Garen landed on the heavy platform slowly. His extremely acute senses allowed him to detect that something was not quite right although he was still inside the Mech.
Garen furrowed his eyebrows slightly and began to use his senses to carefully distinguish the source of the abnormalities.
Tch!
He opened the cockpit and jumped right out before landing on the ground.
”It's shaking!”
Both of his eyes were narrowed.
”The ground is shaking…”
These tremors were extremely weak as the sensors could not detect them as well. However, Garen's exceptionally strong five senses allowed him to feel these things clearly. It seemed as if a heavy object was running around underground.
”It's a Mech!!” he figured out the answer immediately. ”The sewers!”