thefictionvixens Chapter 131 The Shadow of Cleveland
Chapter 131 The Shadow of Cleveland
Chapter 131: The Shadow of Cleveland
In the luxurious suite of the Vallac Hotel in Philadelphia, the morning sunlight streamed through the glass windows, casting warm dappled patterns on the floor.
Lin Yan sat cross-legged on the carpet, waved his hand, and a faint light flashed. A detailed map of the entire United States was taken out of his storage ring and spread out neatly next to the spot of light. The map was densely packed with cities and crisscrossed by transportation lines.
"Xiao Qi, come here." Lin Yan smiled and waved to the little puppy that was chasing his tail in circles.
Xiao Qi immediately ran over excitedly and affectionately rubbed her head against his knee.
"We've had enough of Philadelphia," Lin Yan said, rubbing its soft ears. "Where do we go next? Same as always, you choose."
As he spoke, he gently blindfolded Xiaoqi and lifted it above the map. "Xiaoqi, jump anywhere you like. Wherever your paws land, that's where we'll play!"
"Awoo!" Little Seven barked excitedly; it loved this kind of game the most. Sensing Lin Yan's hand loosen, it instinctively pushed off with its hind legs and pounced on the colorful map in a joyful "dog pounce."
"Splat!"
Its little paws pressed firmly onto a single spot.
Lin Yan looked down and saw that Xiao Qi's paw pads were covering the name of a city in northern Ohio, on the shore of Lake Erie—Cleveland.
"Cleveland?" Lin Yan raised an eyebrow. "'Forest City'? Good. I heard rock music is just starting to take off there. It wouldn't hurt to check it out. Besides, it's an industrial hub in the Great Lakes region. Maybe we can find some interesting 'materials'." He thought of the Golden Core puppets in his space scavenging resources around the world. Perhaps they could find something in Cleveland's industrial system.
"Alright! We'll do as Xiaoqi says and go to Cleveland!" Lin Yan picked up Xiaoqi, who was still curiously patting the map with its paws, and lifted it high in the air. Xiaoqi barked happily, its tail wagging like a little windmill.
After enjoying a hearty breakfast at the hotel, Lin Yan checked out. He carried Xiao Qi into an empty fire escape. Scanning the area with his divine sense to confirm there were no security cameras or pedestrians, he took out an invisibility talisman and gently patted it onto himself and Xiao Qi. In a flash, their figures vanished into thin air.
"Let's go, Xiao Qi, let's keep a low profile this time." Lin Yan's voice rang out in the empty corridor.
"Singing—"
The Star Sword appeared silently. Lin Yan, his figure concealed, stepped onto the sword and transformed into an invisible streak of light, speeding towards Cleveland in the due west-northwest direction. After the previous "radar incident," he didn't want to provoke the US air defense system again. After all, teasing someone once was fun, but doing it too often could bring unnecessary trouble.
The straight-line flight distance from Philadelphia to Cleveland is approximately 550 kilometers. Lin Yan maintained his speed of 1000 kilometers per hour as usual. The journey took about 33 minutes.
This time was very short for sword flight. Lin Yan leisurely flew over the rolling hills of Pennsylvania and the foothills of the Appalachian Plateau, below which lay vast farmlands and scattered towns in the summer of 1959. In less than the time it takes to finish a class, the vast blue-grey surface of Lake Erie came into view, and the silhouette of a massive industrial city with its towering chimneys appeared ahead.
We've arrived in Cleveland.
Lin Yan landed quietly on the roof of a secluded warehouse on the edge of the city, removing his invisibility talisman. He looked down at the city, famous for its manufacturing and heavy industry, where the air seemed to be faintly filled with the smell of steel and machine oil.
"Xiaoqi, look, this is our new playground."
On the morning of August 3, 1959, a light mist hung over Cleveland's public square. Lin Yan, holding Xiao Qi, who had transformed into a small white puppy, stood in the center of the square, looking around. The square featured a statue of Cleveland's founder and a "Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Memorial." In the southwest corner stood the 52-story, 234-meter-tall Terminus Tower. Although it was only eight o'clock in the morning, the city's streetcars were already clanging, and workers in overalls were hurrying to their factories.
"Brother, that tall building is glowing!" Xiao Qi said to Lin Yan with her divine sense, pointing her little paws to the top of the Terminar Building—the rising sun was shining on its facade.
Lin Yan smiled and ruffled Xiao Qi's hair: "That's an office building, full of business people busy making money. But we won't look at those today, brother will take you to a better place."
He carried Xiaoqi and walked east along Euclid Street. The row houses on both sides of the street formed a unified neighborhood, and the architectural style of the Buzár school was still clearly visible. About twenty minutes later, they arrived at the Cleveland Museum of Art, located in the university district.
The museum's white Georgian marble building gleamed in the sunlight. Xiao Qi, curious, tried to pounce on the stone lion statue at the entrance, but Lin Yan gently held her back. "Be quiet here," he whispered, "Let's see what treasures they have in their collection."
Lin Yan paused for a moment before a Southern Song Dynasty Longquan ware plum vase, sensing the faint fluctuations of spiritual energy emanating from it—these artifacts, having endured for thousands of years, always seemed to absorb some of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Xiao Qi, hidden in her clothes, was more interested in a huge tapestry depicting the myth of Perseus.
"These are all good things, it's a pity they're far from their homeland." Lin Yan sighed inwardly and left the museum with Xiao Qi.
Around noon, they arrived at the shores of Lake Erie. The lake water was azure, a summer breeze was blowing, and in the distance were the silhouettes of a bustling port and cranes. Lin Yan found a Western restaurant called The Burnham Restaurant by the lake and sat down with Xiao Qi at a window seat.
He ordered a grilled lake fish and a salad, and also asked for an extra roast beef for Xiaoqi. After the waiter left, Xiaoqi eagerly asked through her divine sense, "Brother, when is the meat coming?"
"Little glutton," Lin Yan chuckled, looking out at the lake view. White sails dotted the lake, creating a striking contrast with the chimneys of the distant industrial area. This city, just as described in the search results of his previous life, was in the early stages of transitioning from an old industrial city to a service-oriented one; beneath the calm surface, undercurrents surged.
In the afternoon, Lin Yan and Xiao Qi arrived at Rockefeller Park, donated by the elder Rockefeller. The park covers 273 acres and combines landscapes and sculptures, including the Shakespeare Garden built in 1916. Xiao Qi rolled around happily on the lawn, while Lin Yan sat on a bench, his divine sense quietly spreading out and covering the entire park.
He "saw" several men in trench coats scattered throughout the park, seemingly relaxed, but their heartbeats and breathing were unusually steady—they were trained. Their attention seemed to be focused on a black Chevrolet sedan at the edge of the park, inside which sat a serious-looking middle-aged man.
"Interesting." Lin Yan's lips curled slightly. He didn't want to meddle, but his intuition told him that something was about to happen.
At 5:30 PM, the park was gradually emptying out of visitors. The door of the black Chevrolet opened, and a middle-aged man got out, seemingly wanting to take a walk for some fresh air. Just then, a carefully staged "accident" occurred!
An old Ford that was driving slowly suddenly accelerated and crashed hard into the rear of the Chevrolet!
With a loud bang, fragments flew everywhere.
Almost simultaneously, the seemingly "leisurely" men in trench coats in the park moved! They rapidly approached the middle-aged man from different directions, their hands reaching for his armpits. This wasn't a robbery; it was a professional and efficient cover-up.
The middle-aged man reacted with lightning speed, rolling forward the instant of impact to avoid a fatal blow, but his forehead was already slashed open, bleeding profusely. He reached into his pocket for his gun, but an assassin was already close in, the silenced pistol in his hand gleaming coldly.
Lin Yan's divine sense clearly captured the assassin pulling the trigger, and he also "heard" the middle-aged man's desperate heartbeat: "The evidence... must not fall into their hands..."
At the critical moment, Lin Yan subtly moved his mind, and a small pebble, enveloped in true essence, shot out at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye!
"laugh!"
The assassin's silenced pistol went astray at the last moment; the bullet grazed the middle-aged man's ear and hit the ground.
Lin Yan appeared beside the middle-aged man like a ghost, picking up the curiously looking Xiao Qi with one hand and grabbing the middle-aged man by the back of his collar with the other.
"Walk!"
He gave a low shout, and with a few flashes, he disappeared into the dense bushes of the park, leaving several assassins stunned to face the empty scene.
Lin Yan set the still-shaken middle-aged man down behind a secluded thicket in Rockefeller Park. He quickly slapped a concealment talisman on the man to ward off any potential tracking.
"Who...who are you?" The middle-aged man panted, looking warily at the Eastern boy in front of him and the seemingly overly calm white dog in his arms.
"To the passerby, my name is Lin Yan," Lin Yan said calmly. "Why did they kill you?"
The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, looking into Lin Yan's clear and deep eyes, feeling a strange sense of trust. He gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, "My name is Arthur Coleman, a federal prosecutor. I'm investigating a case... involving local politicians, businessmen, and even high-ranking union officials. They're using the port's advantages to smuggle arms to South America."
He struggled to pull a miniature film roll from his inner pocket: "This is crucial evidence... proving they not only smuggled goods, but also used this dirty money to corrupt the entire judicial and legislative system. I was supposed to meet my informant tonight..."
Lin Yan took the film reel and, with a slight probe of his divine sense, sensed the complex flow of information contained within. He immediately realized that this was no ordinary corruption case; the network behind it was likely intricate and complex, and the adversaries were those "respectable people" hidden beneath suits and ties, more covert and dangerous than the New York gangsters.
"It's not just the gang chasing you, is it?" Lin Yan asked.
Arthur Coleman's face showed a hint of bitterness: "Among the people I saw were faces in police uniforms... I can't go to the police station, I can't even trust the local FBI office. This network... is deeper than I imagined."
Just then, Xiao Qi suddenly pricked up her ears and looked warily toward the park entrance. She used her divine sense to say to Lin Yan, "Brother, a lot of unpleasant smells are coming, they smell like iron."
Lin Yan's divine sense had already detected that at least six cars were blocking several exits of the park, and dozens of armed men were forming a search formation. Some of them had the same aura as the assassin from before, but most of them exuded the aura of public authority, mixed with intense malice.
Beneath the cloak of law, the killing machine has already begun.
Lin Yan looked at the injured but determined prosecutor in front of him, then at Xiao Qi, who was eager to try in his arms, and a smile that was a mixture of helplessness and excitement appeared on his face.
"It seems the waters of Cleveland are even muddier than I imagined... Mr. Arthur Coleman, I think we need to discuss the terms of our cooperation."