NO.3
Pushing the door open, there was only a bearded young man on duty in the rather large small supermarket. The other person was playing with his mobile phone and just casually looked up at Lu Jia.
Lu Jia went into the toilet first.
There was a strange stench in the dim toilet. What was most disappointing was that there were only sitting toilets.
Well, it was expected.
...
After taking care of her personal needs, she walked out and boldly took some food and several bottles of water and planned to pay the bill.
The clerk reluctantly put down his mobile phone and unwillingly helped Lu Jia settle the bill.
However, Lu Jia subconsciously looked at the other person's screen and, realizing that the other person was playing a video on the phone, subconsciously asked, "Do you have Wi-Fi in the store?"
Her SIM card had been removed. She wasn't sure if connecting to Wi-Fi would be monitored.
Lu Jia wasn't sure, but she still decided to ask for the password first. Then she would go out and ask Mr. Phoenix, who always had a cold face, if it was okay.
Even if it wasn't okay now, after sending him away, she would always need to use the Internet.
It would be really headache without the Internet. Fortunately, Lu Jia had always been cautious and had the good habit of taking screenshots of important information. Especially since she was in an unfamiliar place, she had saved all the check-in information and other things related to the trip in her photo album.
Thinking of this, she turned her head and looked through the transparent glass window at Phoenix, who was outside helping her fill up the gas.
He was standing beside Lu Jia's rented compact car. While helping her fill up the gas, he was naturally looking around with his charming gray-blue eyes.
Mr. Phoenix was already tall enough, and standing beside Lu Jia's car at this time, he looked even more upright. That figure... cough, he was indeed a professional, which made her couldn't help but take a few more glances.
After paying the bill and getting the Wi-Fi password, Lu Jia was holding these things and preparing to load them into the car when Phoenix seemed to have finished filling up the gas and was walking quickly towards the small supermarket.
Lu Jia was delighted in her heart and immediately thought that the other person wasn't so cold and heartless after all. He must be coming in to help her carry the things.
However, to Lu Jia's surprise, the other person just stood outside the supermarket waiting quietly and gave her an urging glance through the glass door.
Lu Jia: "…?"
There was nothing she could do. Lu Jia could only angrily hold the bottles of water and food and walked out with difficulty.
Just after taking a few steps, on this quiet road, the sound of a vehicle passing by came from far to near. Lu Jia didn't think there was anything wrong at all and just thought it was normal.
Then, through the transparent glass door, Lu Jia saw that Mr. Phoenix paused slightly, turned his head towards the direction of the sound, and seemed to be identifying something by listening.
Almost in the next second, his brows immediately furrowed, and he decisively made a lip movement towards her, who was still a bit confused.
It seemed to be... asking her to leave quickly?
With that, Phoenix put his hand into the place where he kept his gun on his chest, stepped aside and backed away, and disappeared from Lu Jia's sight in the blink of an eye.
... What? It was just a passing vehicle. It couldn't be such a coincidence that it was here to look for him!
Lu Jia carelessly pushed the glass door open with her arm. Just as she was about to put the things into the car by herself, she saw a pitch-black Chevrolet SUV slowly stop beside her car. Although the car Lu Jia rented was also black, the size, performance, and value of the two were obviously not in the same league.
Thinking of Mr. Phoenix's previous behavior, she became a bit more vigilant. While throwing the food onto the passenger seat, she casually glanced over there.
Almost in the next second, the doors of the Chevrolet SUV opened, and two tall men in the same style of suits and black sunglasses got out.
It seemed... really suspicious.
"…I don't think he's around here. It's hundreds of kilometers away from his car, and he had such obvious blood on him. No one would dare to give him a ride, and he wouldn't take the risk of taking someone else's car."
"Dan, he's Casper Phoenix, and the bureau emphasized that we must find him before 'them'. Otherwise, even he will be in danger of losing his life…"
"They" was emphasized. Suddenly, the voice froze and stopped. One of them gave the other a look, and the two of them simultaneously looked at Lu Jia, who was standing aside arranging the "supplies".
"Hey… girl, FBI."
Lu Jia's movement froze. Subconsciously, she glanced at the back seat of the car. After finding that Mr. Phoenix hadn't left any traces in her car and only her mobile phone without the SIM card was lying quietly in the back row, she breathed a slight sigh of relief and pretended to be startled, then turned to look at the two other FBI agents who had appeared.
"…What?!"
"Excuse me, during your drive, did you see a suspicious man who looked rather disheveled, over six feet tall, and had a strong build? He's very dangerous. If you have any clues, please be sure to tell us."
Lu Jia quickly scanned the other person's identification. After confirming that it wasn't much different from the one shown to her by Phoenix, she showed them a look of fear and nervousness. "No, what's the matter? Is it a serial killer?"
The two of them looked at each other, and then the taller black agent said, "No, but we need to know his whereabouts."
Lu Jia breathed a sigh of relief. While thinking, she looked away. "I see. I'm just here to play. I didn't pay special attention. I don't think so."
She had watched an American TV show called "Lie to me" about micro-expressions before. The male lead in it once said that staring straight at the other person's eyes when lying was actually a sign of lying, while looking away was a sign of recalling.
Even so, Lu Jia's heart was still beating fast, and her body was still trembling a bit. This was the second time in her life that she had met FBI agents, and she was actually lying for the first FBI agent she met. And that tall and burly black agent was staring at her tightly and asked in a tone full of strong suspicion.
"Are you traveling alone…?"
"Yeah, my friend stood me up, so I'm the only one…"
—Wait, repeating the former's words was also one of the signs of having something to hide.
Thinking of this, Lu Jia suddenly shuddered. She immediately shut up and just shrugged her shoulders stiffly at them. "You know how it is."
As she said this, she didn't know when a cold sweat had broken out on her back. She finally realized that she might have thought it was too simple before.
Just a look from the other person made her want to tell the truth. What if they found out that she was lying later? Would they lock her up?
It was the first time in her life that she had encountered such a thing. Suddenly, her mind went blank, and she even started to regret it.
Lu Jia actually didn't have to go to such lengths for someone who had abandoned her.
"—Dan, you don't need to waste your efforts. Asians have always been a model minority. ② I think she really doesn't know. Why don't we go and ask the clerk inside? After all, there's only this one gas station on this road."
The other tall and thin curly-haired white agent interrupted the black agent named Dan and looked at Lu Jia with a dismissive look, then pointed at the clerk inside the supermarket.
Lu Jia's previous panic dissipated a little because of that sentence just now. However... Although it could be considered as a compliment, she always felt a bit uncomfortable, feeling that there was obvious arrogance and superiority in the other person's words.
"Okay."
Dan sighed helplessly. But before leaving, he looked Lu Jia up and down again, confirmed that there was really nothing suspicious about her, and then walked into the store.
"Jingle bell—"
Seeing that person walk away, Lu Jia finally breathed a sigh of relief. But just as she raised her head, she happened to meet the arrogant gaze of the white agent.
"You don't seem to be feeling well."
Lu Jia held her breath again. Suddenly, she understood why Mr. Phoenix had asked her to leave quickly. Because these people were one more difficult to deal with than the other. Ordinary people would easily give themselves away when suddenly facing such professional agents.
"I'm just... I've been driving for too long and I'm a bit tired. By the way, do the person you're looking for have any other characteristics? Maybe I can help you pay attention."
"Oh... girl, I think forget it."
The man thought for a moment and then showed a worried expression as he looked her up and down. "It's not safe to be alone here. You'd better protect yourself first."
"…I'm not as weak as you think. I'll be 22 years old soon!"
Probably not expecting Lu Jia to refute, the white agent seemed a bit surprised. But in the end, he just added a sentence like coaxing a child, perfunctorily saying, "Okay... okay."
"If you really meet him—"
"My advice is that he's very good at lying. Be careful not to be deceived."