Upon hearing Chen Fei's words, Pu Aihua's eyes immediately dimmed, and he cried out in a loud, despairing wail.
"I am innocent, I am innocent, unjustly accused, such injustice..."
However, the two men in black suits from the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not hesitate to escort him out of the hangar, fearing that if they delayed, something untoward might occur.
As Chen Fei watched Old Piao being taken away, his cart remained there; he felt someone pat his shoulder. Turning around, he saw the mechanic, Xiao Ming, shake his head slightly without saying a word, and then he left with a crowbar in hand.
Big Brother Xiao was not good at comforting others; he was not the type to speak eloquently or incessantly. He preferred expressing his thoughts in this manner.
It contained two meanings: one was understanding the friendship between Chen Fei and Pu Aihua. After all, Chen had just arrived, and Piao had been the first to connect with him, with many interactions since. Now that trouble had arisen, it was natural to feel sympathetic.
The other was hoping that Chen Fei would remain calm and not rashly get involved. For Pu Aihua, like a drowning man, was already in disarray. Any misstep not only wouldn't help but might also drag him down.
If this businessman were truly faultless or even wronged, the innocent will prove their innocence, and those muddied will remain muddled. The Ministry of Internal Affairs would surely give him an explanation and return him to his post if he was innocent.
Even though the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not have a good reputation within the company, even disliked by many, cases of wrongful accusations were extremely rare. Once the arrest and interrogation phase was reached, there usually was solid evidence.
Otherwise, if the Ministry of Internal Affairs were to act arbitrarily without checks, the atmosphere in such a large corporate conglomerate would always be anxious and wholly disordered.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp!"
Unaware of any of this, the fledgling continued to cheerfully roll around in its nest.
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Suddenly, personnel from the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the headquarters of the corporate conglomerate arriving at the Aircrew Base 911 did not just take canteen assistant Pu Aihua. The businessman was not the first or the last; there were other group's employees, such as those from the control tower, storerooms, even security staff, totaling up to seven or eight people.
Many were terrified to go to and from work, fearing that at any moment they too could be handcuffed and dragged away from their posts.
As people were continually arrested, the Aircrew Base 911 inevitably plunged into a state of anxiety, filled with unease and even affecting normal operations, with frequent incidents occurring.
The executive manager, Morris Morgan, whose head was as big as a bucket, had no choice but to order the group leaders of each department to stabilize the workforce, commanding all employees not to engage in any rash actions, to wait for the investigation by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to conclude, so as not to cause any uncontrollable situations.
With the mechanic, Xiao Ming, in charge of the mechanic team and the mechanics being men of few words, focused only on their tasks, it actually became the quietest unit within the base. This allowed Chen Fei, who was initially somewhat uneasy, to feel more at ease as well.
Guns and dogs made the hunting more fruitful, and with a mortar at hand, they freely roamed the mountains.
This group wasn't just hunting; it was more akin to a massacre, with even the most dangerous wolves and leopards in the mountains staying well away.
Big Bear boasted proudly of their gains from the days spent hunting in the wilderness, his arm just healed enough to handle a gun. For perspective, another pilot, "Braised Sauce" Jack Brown, was still wheelchair-bound, needing at least another month before he could walk.
One wolf, a dozen wild chickens, two rams — all hung upside down, bled out, eviscerated, then treated with coarse salt and Sichuan peppercorn, prepared to be dried or smoked, serving as an additional dish for the coming period.
If they decided to switch to barbecue, it would be equally excellent.
Unfortunately, there were no rabbits; the mountain bunnies were trickier than foxes, darting into burrows at the slightest rustle, only catchable by eagles and old foxes, or perhaps only with tear gas or cloud bombs to flush them out.
Using tear gas was one thing, but cloud bombs... resorting to such drastic measures for a rabbit, as if cloud bombs were cheap, was utterly insane!
Might as well use a Forbidden Curse, raze a mountain, and get everything.
Now, having received news that the four "Big Mouth Monsters" had been repaired, this group finally returned after wreaking havoc far and wide.
"No need, I'm just going to visit a fellow villager nearby, not far, and return a gun!"
Chen Fei patted the Type 95 automatic rifle slung behind him, his pocket filled with two magazines loaded with bullets.
Shen Fei's school wasn't far from Aircrew Base, just a three and a half-hour walk. If he quickened his pace, he could reduce the time even more.
Major Chekhov, warm-hearted, asked, "Are you sure that's safe?"
After all, they had gone through dragon-slaying together, a bond forged in the heat of battle.
"Absolutely no problem; I also have signal flares."
Chen Fei then pulled out three "Small Batons" issued by the security team for self-defense, a standard twin set for going out.
Just twist off the cap at one end of the "Small Baton," pull out the safety pin, aim at the sky, and press the launch button. Three seconds later, three red signal flares would shoot into the air, reaching a height of about 80 meters, each firing a wireless signal every five seconds for 12 hours.
These could be received by land-based antennas and search helicopters to pinpoint and initiate a fully committed rescue operation immediately.
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