Kiana and the Captain's Bizarre Adventure

Chapter 357 Kiana: Outer Ring, I'm Back

The evening wind was cold as the sun set. Everyone inside the airship had been transferred to the helipad of the Balai Building, and blankets were thoughtfully provided for them.

Meanwhile, Billy, the only conscious person on the scene, was giving a statement, while Rita was inspecting the suitcase of Perlman, the culprit who had caused everyone on the airship to fall asleep.

Just as Billy described, there were indeed storage tanks containing high concentrations of numbing gas inside, and these tanks had been destroyed before they were opened.

Although the suitcase contained a gas canister, a suit, and a gas mask, unfortunately, the canister was damaged from the start, and opening the suitcase would instantly release all the gas inside.

Therefore, even if there were indeed gas masks inside that could protect against paralyzing gases, Perlman wouldn't have had time to retrieve them after being exposed to the gases at close range. This suggests that the other side never intended to help Perlman escape; they most likely planned to drive the airship into the cave and eliminate the threat permanently.

But logically speaking, Perlman and his company should only be involved in serious scandals of malicious assault. What reason would the people who helped Perlman escape have for coming up with this scheme that was ostensibly helping him escape but actually intended to kill him to cover it up?

Unfortunately, before Rita could figure it out, a group of people dressed as rebels emerged from the hole and pointed their weapons at the unsuspecting people on the ground.

"If you know what's good for you, just stand there and don't move, or I can't guarantee my gun won't go off accidentally!"

"You! You are despicable!" Seth angrily accused the rebels, but they remained unmoved. Instead, one of his men asked their leader in confusion, "Is it really worth fighting so hard for such a small amount of money?"

Indeed, the money they were given was no longer worth risking their lives for when Durandal and Rita appeared. As rebels, they knew very well that despite their current advantage of holding hostages, the two of them could easily take down everyone on their side if they were distracted.

Even so, the rebels still stood up. It wasn't because they had professional ethics, after all, if they did, why would they betray the army and become rebels?

Instead, a very real problem confronted them, which was—

"Shut up! If we can't confirm that that little dwarf Perlman has entered the Void, they won't give us a single penny of the remaining payment!"

Yes, it's a commission fee.

Sarah did indeed offer a very generous commission initially. However, only a small portion of the commission was given as a deposit before execution; the remainder would only be paid after they were certain that Perlman was completely trapped in the void and could not escape.

The remaining balance was indeed worth the risk; at worst, they'd just get beaten up and go to jail. It's said that the New Elidu prison recently underwent reforms, explicitly stating that subsidies must be delivered to every prisoner's bowl, so the prison food now seems to be comparable to military rations.

Thinking about it this way, getting arrested doesn't seem so bad. After all, the food standards of the rebels are practically the most flexible moral bottom line for humans. One meal might be okay, but if they don't give you swill and steamed buns for the next meal, that's already a good thing.

Of course, this cannot be blamed on the corruption of the rebel leaders. It is purely because in recent years, a large number of new members of the Kaslana family have joined the regular army, which has led to an epic increase in the combat power of the regular army, thus initiating a frenzied crackdown on the rebels.

This caused a sudden shortage of funds for the rebels. Many rebels either took on extra jobs to earn extra money to support themselves, like they did, or chose to give up resistance, be arrested, imprisoned, and receive government funding.

"Boss, tell me the truth, are you envious of the food the guys in prison get?"

Upon hearing his subordinate's soul-searching question, the rebel leader stiffened for a moment. Then he began to offer various excuses, saying that food from the state was still food, and eating there was still a way to support himself, and a gloating atmosphere immediately filled the air.

Seeing this, Durandal and Rita didn't waste any more words and quickly disarmed the rebels. Unfortunately, just as the two had tied up all the rebels, the airship behind them took off.

Durandal quickly grabbed his lance and threw it toward the airship's cockpit. The good news was that the lance did indeed hit the control panel, but the bad news was that the autopilot was not damaged. At this point, Perlman had already set the target and the airship was heading toward the designated location.

Moreover, Perlman cleverly changed the flight direction away from the hollow of the Balai Building, so the group could not jump directly into the airship through the roof of the Balai Building to arrest him.

After watching helplessly as the other party left, Durandal could only sigh and then contact the police department to urge them to issue a warrant for Perlman's arrest as soon as possible, especially in the outer ring.

After all, it's not hard to tell from the direction Perlman left that he clearly wanted to escape to the outer ring road, a place where the police couldn't easily reach.

And so the events surrounding the Balai Building came to an end. Zhu Yuan and others were rewarded for their meritorious service in capturing the Mountain Lion Gang. As for the Perlman prison break, due to its involvement with the rebels and the somewhat complicated identity of Ryan, Rita only gave vague and official statements at the press conference.

As for Ryan, under the cover of Ai-chan and Durandal, she was simply taken a statement and released. On the other hand, the Cunning Rabbit House had a member suspected of entering the Void without reporting, but was credited with helping to capture the rebels.

Therefore, they were only ordered to suspend business for a week for rectification, and of course, they were also fined.

Zhe still remembers how heartbroken Nicole was when she took the fine out of her savings, even though Nicole and her friends could easily earn that amount back by doing just a few commissions.

New Ellito then enjoyed a period of peace and tranquility, during which Zhe helped Qingyi solve a case involving the disappearance of Bangbu.

During this time, due to the damage to Ies, it was unable to support Zhe in taking Qingyi away from the void. In desperation, he had no choice but to risk trying to connect Qingyi with Ies.

These two connections successfully synchronized Qingyi and Zhe, who was connected to H.D.D., but this also completely exposed Zhe Ling's identity to Qingyi.

However, the other party did not seem to intend to arrest them directly. During a routine patrol, they treated the two as just an ordinary brother and sister who ran a video store together.

Both sides tacitly avoided mentioning that incident or Phaethon's identity. Of course, besides Qingyi, Zhe, Ling, and the others also had an unforgettable time with Grace and Kleida from Baizhi Heavy Industry, as well as Lycaen, Lina, and Ellen from Victoria Housekeeping.

Zhe and Ling would not forget anything about Perlman, but they hadn't had much contact with the outer ring area. They only knew that unlike the city, where they had begun to fully utilize ether energy, the outer ring area still used natural fuels such as oil and natural gas.

Furthermore, the strong unity among the people in the outer ring makes it difficult for various forces within the city to extend their influence into the outer ring, making it a lawless zone in a sense, with local gangs maintaining order there.

Therefore, if you want to move around freely in the outer ring road area, it's best to have someone with connections there to take you in.

So during this time, Nicole was trying to use Billy's past experience in the outer ring to build connections there, while the police department was applying for off-site assistance.

After all, Kiana had lived in the outer ring for a period of time, so the police department believed that letting Kiana go there might not cause too much stress to the people there.

There's nothing we can do about it; the conflict between the inner and outer ring roads has been going on for a long time. Especially since the Fire Hell Ride, a major celebration on the outer ring road with great symbolic significance, is coming up soon, sending the security bureau into the outer ring road in a big way at that time would probably provoke the dissatisfaction of the other side's overlord.

The so-called overlord is the person who rules the outer ring. Because the outer ring is vast and sparsely populated, all the transportation of materials needs to be carried out by transport teams riding motorcycles and other vehicles.

Thus, various types of transport teams, or motorcycle gangs, were born. They each occupied different transport routes, and therefore often fought for profits, which eventually gave the city's energy companies an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

In addition, the fire lake inside the cave was about to go out. It was only by risking their lives that several young people used a specially made [ignition stone] to reignite the fire lake, thus saving the energy source on which the outer ring depended for survival and preventing the city's energy company from annexing the outer ring.

Since then, the bravest of those young people, who personally threw the flint into the lake of fire, established the motorcycle club alliance and became the first champion. From then on, this event called Fire Hell Ride was added to the outer ring.

Besides periodically dropping flint into the Burning Crystal Lake, another purpose of the mission is to elect a new overlord. Therefore, on such an important day, it is indeed inappropriate for the Public Security Bureau, as the representative of the city government, to appear on a large scale outside the outer ring road.

Most importantly, Durandal had previously contacted the current overlord Pompey in private. Pompey agreed to support Durandal in a large-scale search for Perlman in the outer ring, but on the condition that Pompey help hold back the insects in the city during the Fire Riding and not interfere with the Fire Riding in any way; otherwise, there would be no point in discussing anything.

Yulandal agreed because he discovered that the energy companies coveting the Outer Rings were actually connected to TOPS and the Praise Society. Even if Pompey hadn't said anything, Yulandal would have found a way to suppress them. Since he could gain the favor of the Outer Rings overlord at the same time, it was naturally the best thing.

So when Kiana came to find Tetsuya and the others with the application, Rin was shocked. As for why Tetsuya wasn't there, it was because Billy had taken Tetsuya to find the motorcycle gang he met on the outer ring earlier.

Judging by the time, it should be about time to meet the other party by now. Just then, Billy rushed in looking flustered. After seeing Kiana, he was stunned for a moment and then hurriedly told her about Tetsuya's current situation.

In short, Billy was attacked while leading Jet through the Void. Although he had the support of Billy's companion, the Son of Calydon, in the outer ring, Jet was still affected and suffered some injuries and passed out. He is currently receiving treatment in Wildfire Town, where the Son of Calydon is located.

Upon hearing this news, Ling felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She instantly collapsed to her knees, completely exhausted. Fortunately, Billy quickly added that Zhe had only suffered minor injuries and was simply shaken, which was why he fainted on the spot. He was not in any danger to his life.

Hearing this, Ling perked up, picked up her car keys, and prepared to drive to the outer ring road, leaving Kiana and Billy looking at each other in bewilderment.

"I didn't expect it would be you who led them to the outer ring and even sought help from Caesar and the others. But that makes sense, you're the only one in their network who knows anyone in the outer ring," Kiana said.

“Isn’t it you we still have?” Billy said in a deep voice.

"That's why I'm here, but it seems you beat me to it."

"After all, this is Boss Nicole's order. To be honest, if I could, I wouldn't really want to go back to the outer ring."

"That's what you say, but haven't you never forgotten your experience on the outer ring road?"

Kiana then stepped forward, patted Billy on the shoulder, and gave him a meaningful look at the pattern on the back of his jacket before urging him to get in the car quickly.

When Ling arrived, she found the scene somewhat chaotic. From a blonde girl in a ponytail muttering incoherently to the dark green woman, it was clear that the woman had done something inappropriate with Zhe, which was why the blonde girl was pointing her finger at her and yelling at her.

Seeing this, Ling ignored the chaotic scene and rushed to Zhe's side, who had just woken up and was still a little dazed. She reached out and held his hand with concern, and asked him about his physical condition.

Kiana, on the other hand, happily greeted the group led by the woman in dark green. After playing around for a while, Tetsuya and Rin learned the names of these people through Kiana's introduction.

The green-haired woman in the black leather jacket and double-horned headdress is named Caesar, the current leader of the sons of Calydon. The blonde girl holding a baseball bat and accompanied by three pig-like creatures is named Lucy. On the other side, the energetic girl holding a flamethrower is Bernice, and the one lazily resting there is Pai Pai, the only truck driver in their group.

Of course, there was also the only male among them, a dark-haired man wearing sunglasses named Wright, the undefeated champion and son of Calydon.

The so-called "ever-victorious champion" is actually the duel agent of the leader of each motorcycle tribe. Usually, when there is an irreconcilable conflict between two motorcycle tribes that needs to be resolved by force, the leaders of both sides will send out their respective "ever-victorious champions" to engage in a one-on-one duel.

Generally speaking, a victorious general represents the leader's prestige, so the basic conflict is resolved after the two sides have decided the winner. If not, then the final decision must be made by the overlord.

Since it was already late, Caesar arranged for everyone to rest after they introduced themselves.