After descending the stairs a few steps, Shang Jianyao suddenly exclaimed, "Oops!"

"What's wrong?" Jiang Baimian asked, turning her head. "You can talk now."

Shang Jianyao clapped his right fist into his left palm with a "pah" sound:

"We forgot there was still a question to ask Ester!"

Reminded by him, Jiang Baimian immediately remembered that Ester was also involved in another matter:

The goods that Smith's "Rootless" team sent to the ice and snow ruins came partly from Ester!

In other words, even if he wasn't the cargo owner suspected of collaborating with the Eighth Research Institute, he should have seen that person, or know some clues.

And the latter two scenarios were more likely, after all, Ester only provided a portion of the supplies, and was easily found by Gitis, which was inconsistent with the caution of massive memory deletion.

Jiang Baimian immediately turned around and said to Sandro on the other side:

"Please take us back up to see Mr. Ester again. We just forgot a crucial question, which directly affects whether Mr. Ester's regret can be compensated."

She deliberately exaggerated the second half of her sentence, forcefully connecting it, to avoid being rejected by Sandro, which would require extra effort.

In fact, upon closer inspection, there was nothing wrong with what she said:

That batch of goods involved the Eighth Research Institute, and Koninmis was guarded by people from the Eighth Research Institute. Whether the former could be thoroughly investigated would indeed affect the "Old Task Force's" exploration in Koninmis, and the "Old Task Force's" exploration in Koninmis undoubtedly directly related to whether Ester's regret could be compensated.

The reason Jiang Baimian had forgotten to ask about the goods earlier was because she was deeply engrossed in thinking about the term "Son of a Ruling God."

Because it was Jiang Baimian who was speaking, not Shang Jianyao, Sandro pondered for a few seconds and said:

"Okay."

He was constantly wary of the influence of Shang Jianyao's words.

Turning around, Sandro led Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao back to the fourth floor.

He didn't go directly to Ester's room, but stopped at the last guard post, explained the situation, and asked a colleague to report to the boss on his behalf.

The guard walked a few steps to the outside of the solarium and knocked three times with a curled finger.

There was no response.

He knocked three more times.

Still no response.

Knock, knock, knock!

He knocked three more times, adding some force.

Finally, a slightly deep and weary voice came from inside the solarium:

"What is it?"

Hearing Ester's response, Shang Jianyao breathed a sigh of relief and said to himself happily:

"Good, good, nothing happened.

"I thought there would be a coincidence, and the key witness would die on the spot, brutally silenced."

These words drew sideways glances from Sandro and several guards, some even with a hint of anger.

If you can't speak properly, then don't speak... Jiang Baimian muttered.

Frankly speaking, she had also been a little worried about that.

In the entertainment materials of the Old World, similar situations often occurred – the protagonist team finally found a clue, identified a key witness, but by some twist of fate, they were a step late, and the key witness was silenced by the murderer.

After the guard who knocked on the door repeated Sandro's words, Ester was silent for a moment and said:

"Let them in."

The weariness in his tone made Jiang Baimian feel like she was disturbing a patient.

Inside the solarium, Ester seemed to have adjusted his posture. He was currently leaning slightly against the back of the deck chair, with a blanket covering his lower body.

He looked at Jiang Baimian and said:

"Same as before, you ask."

Jiang Baimian politely asked:

"Mr. Ester, have you recently provided a batch of goods to Smith's 'Wayfarer' merchant group?"

Ester showed a look of sudden realization:

"That batch of goods that mysteriously disappeared in the ice field?"

"Yes." Jiang Baimian nodded, and Shang Jianyao made the same gesture.

Ester smiled slightly and said:

"I did provide some supplies to the 'Wayfarer' merchant group, but it only accounted for a very small portion of that batch of goods."

"What were the supplies, who bought them, and who asked you to hand them over to the 'Wayfarer' merchant group?" Jiang Baimian asked in one breath.

She deliberately acted as if the "Old Task Force" had never suspected that Ester was the real cargo owner, lest Ester really was, and instead aroused the other party's vigilance, and something unexpected might happen on the spot.

In short, first get some answers, then analyze their truth, and finally consider whether to suddenly attack and forcefully befriend him.

Ester smiled and asked:

"Why should I answer these questions for you?

"What kind of reward can you provide this time?"

He emphasized the word "reward" to indicate that it wasn't a matter of money.

"What do you want?" Jiang Baimian didn't have much understanding of Ester and couldn't analyze where the weakness of the other party's humanity lay.

If Ester insisted on the "Old Task Force" speaking for themselves, she planned to start with some medical potions and biological agents invented by "Pangu Biology," after all, Ester was old and his body didn't seem to be in good condition, and also, Shang Jianyao's father's team had exchanged information for similar items.

Although the "White Knights" were also very strong in the corresponding field, and Ester had money and a certain status, so it wouldn't be difficult to obtain certain potions, but the things from "Pangu Biology" still had their own characteristics. Sometimes, foreign monks do indeed chant scriptures better.

Of course, this would expose the identity of the "Old Task Force" to a certain extent.

Ester seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, and his eyes were a little unfocused.

After a while, he said seriously:

"My request is that after you obtain the information you want on these two matters, you immediately leave Gesterborg, without staying for a second longer, and without interfering in anything.

"Of course, if you go to Koninmis after leaving Gesterborg, that would be even better."

This request... He couldn't possibly know that our team would cause a lot of trouble wherever we go, brewing no small storms, and want to send us away as soon as possible for the sake of safety, right? Jiang Baimian felt a little strange, but agreed indifferently:

"No problem."

The "Old Task Force" came to Gesterborg to investigate the situation of Shang Jianyao's father's team and the personnel hidden by the Eighth Research Institute!

Without waiting for Ester to speak, Jiang Baimian added:

"But during the process of our investigation of these two matters, if someone provokes us or something comes to us, we can't sacrifice ourselves just to escape."

The meaning of her sentence was that we would focus on our own investigation and not meddle in other people's affairs, and leave as soon as we completed the task. Other than that, nothing could be guaranteed.

Ester was silent for a while, then nodded and said:

"Okay.

"I believe your promise. At least so far, you have behaved quite trustworthy, and the corresponding intelligence doesn't really have much to do with me. Telling you won't affect anything."

He went on to say:

"Smith should have told you that in the matter of the missing goods, the relevant personnel all have memory loss. There are Awakened among you, so you certainly know what that means.

"I am no exception. My part of the memory has also been erased."

Speaking of this, Ester showed a slight smile:

"However, this is not contradictory to the fact that I still clearly know the relevant details."

Did he find a way to circumvent the influence of "memory deletion," or rather, was it indeed deleted at the time, but later recovered that part of the memory through some means? Jiang Baimian tried to understand the hidden meaning of Ester's words.

She felt that if Shang Jianyao could speak, he would definitely ask "Why can you" at this time, but the other party would undoubtedly not answer.

Ester continued:

"I provided some rare metals to the 'Wayfarer' merchant group.

"The person who paid for the goods and entrusted me to do this was Mor."

"Mor? That intelligence merchant?" Jiang Baimian had been frequently mentioning these names recently.

Ester nodded:

"Yes.

"As for where he got the money from and why he bought such a batch of goods, I don't know the answer and don't want to know. I'm just a merchant. I got a suitable asking price and received enough money for the goods, so I provided the goods."

"Understood." Jiang Baimian nodded slightly.

Based on Ester's answer, she had not found any signs of lying so far.

However, she had always been cautious and wouldn't believe so easily, but she didn't plan to gain Ester's "friendship" now and make him unreserved, after all, the other party was obviously wary of Shang Jianyao's "mind implantation."

Moreover, Ester was mysterious and should also have some trump cards himself. If they really forcefully "befriended" him, it was hard to say what the final outcome would be.

Prudence was paramount. Jiang Baimian planned to "visit" the intelligence merchant Mor first and decide whether to return to Ester's place based on his feedback.

At that time, it should be a secret infiltration to complete the control unexpectedly.

After bidding farewell to Ester for the second time, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao returned to their jeep under Sandro's surveillance, and Bai Chen drove the vehicle out of the parking space.

"Son of a Ruling God?" After listening to the team leader's narration, Long Yuehong frowned and repeated the term.

Shang Jianyao immediately laughed:

"What's so strange about that?

"Some Ruling Gods have incarnate bodies, so it's normal to have several human sons."

"So, it seems that it was really the Son of a Ruling God who protected Koninmis, so that it didn't suffer a devastating blow when the Old World was destroyed..." Long Yuehong felt that the logic was relatively smooth.

Shang Jianyao glanced at him:

"Wasn't 'Zhuang Sheng's' hometown, Linhai Village, and Taicheng and Dajiang City, where he studied, also destroyed?

"He is a genuine Ruling God, not some Son of a Ruling God."