CHAPTER 470: CHAPTER 282: HUMAN HUNT_1

"Why choose me?" Dean interrupted Cheston En. "You just said Anthony chose me?"

It was no secret within the FBI that Anthony took students under his wing.

Cheston En had been an FBI trainee under Anthony and was among the first to know about it.

And here lay the problem!

Cheston En had used the word ’choose’ to describe it!

This indicated that Anthony had intended to take on a successor before meeting Dean, rather than it being a spur-of-the-moment decision after seeing him.

The implications of this were entirely different!

Seeing Dean’s significant reaction, Cheston En, who had previously hung his head, lifted it again, looking at Dean with some confusion. "Agent Dean, don’t you know?"

He licked his lips, which had turned somewhat white from nerves.

"Normal trainees usually wouldn’t be involved in operations against dangerous organizations like the Lucifer Organization. We were students specially selected by Mr. Anthony, and that operation was also treated by Mr. Anthony as an assessment for us. For us newcomers, Mr. Anthony held a status within the FBI that went beyond a typical senior agent. It was an opportunity. But in the end, Mr. Anthony astonishingly chose you, an outsider.

And so it was. Afterwards, some of the surviving trainees secretly reported Mr. Anthony’s irregular actions. I heard that because of that, he was even forced to take a leave of absence."

Upon hearing this, many fragments suddenly flashed through Dean’s mind: Anthony was originally in a semi-retired state; the reason he re-entered the front lines was to chase down the Lucifer Game Organization and avenge his previous successor. He had seemed very urgent in teaching me. After being suspended, he had prepared to begin personal instruction, but during this process, Anthony encountered that demoness girl who had killed his own father—Carol. Afterwards, using the excuse of taking Carol back to the Commonwealth for training, he stopped my education and never returned to the United States Federation. Ultimately, Anthony disappeared mysteriously during a treasure hunt in the vast deserts of Africa...

Dean had never suspected these things before. But today, Cheston En’s offhand remark had linked together several details Dean had previously overlooked, culminating in an indescribable yet unsettling feeling.

Had Mentor Anthony truly disappeared?

After pondering for a while, Dean shook his head. He knew too little. It seemed he had never genuinely sought to deeply understand Mentor Anthony.

Meanwhile, Cheston En, seeing Dean fall back into contemplation after hearing his words, twisted his hands together nervously over his crisp suit, wondering if he had misspoken.

As Cheston En’s mind raced with anxious thoughts, Dean clapped his hands, changing the subject. "Alright, Cheston En, what’s past is past. No matter what grudges you hold against the Lucifer Organization, I don’t care. What we should think about now is which case to choose next."

"But that invitation..."

Cheston En, relieved that Dean did not press further, pointed toward the invitation Dean had thrown into the trash can. "Agent Dean, the Lucifer Organization is the most mysterious illegal group in the United States. Shouldn’t we report this to headquarters?"

"Headquarters?" Dean scoffed with disdain. "Sometimes you act very clever, but at other times, you turn out to be quite foolish. Have you forgotten the feedback we received from the headquarters’ operations department after submitting reports?"

Cheston En hesitated. "Cases concerning the Lucifer Organization have always been handled by a dedicated team. The headquarters’ feedback is actually normal, but the key point is that just the two of us alone probably can’t handle the threat posed by the Lucifer Organization."

"Whether the FBI headquarters has a mole or not, you must understand—if we report this and the Lucifer Organization decides to make us part of their game, what do you think they will do?" Dean realized that Cheston En wasn’t that old after all and had to patiently explain, "The two of us are nothing but tiny insects in the eyes of those big shots. If we report this, we might not receive protection but instead become bait. Even if the FBI offers us protection, how long can they actually protect us? Cheston En, don’t tell me you don’t have a family!"

Faced with this series of questions, Cheston En’s lips parted, but it ended with a powerless sigh. "Understood, Agent Dean."

Seeing this, Dean nodded in satisfaction. "We have more than two months until September 9th. Before then, focus on the case. I’ll activate my own connections to try to collect as much information as possible."

He really wouldn’t have had the patience to go through this verbal barrage and reassurance with Cheston En if it wasn’t for the hope of having one more human shield when the time came.

Leaving the hotel, Dean and Cheston En drove to the FBI’s Las Vegas office.

The FBI’s internal webpage had network access restrictions. To obtain new case information, they had to use the office’s computers to perform searches and submit applications.

Compared to the Los Angeles office, the FBI operations team here was in a much sorrier state. A dilapidated old building, its mold-streaked walls a faded mix of white and green, and a damp small room filled with the heavy scent of body odor. A few disheveled male staff members huddled together, engrossed in the horse-racing channel on a battered television, their gambling tickets clutched tight in their hands, proving their active participation. If Dean hadn’t made calls in advance to confirm their identities, he might have doubted he was in the right place.

A somewhat younger employee welcomed Dean and Cheston En. He took them to a computer and, after a lengthy boot-up and password entry, hurried back to the battered television to re-immerse himself in the supposed "good office atmosphere."

As for the purpose of Dean and Cheston En’s visit, these supposed intelligence support elites of the United States Federation couldn’t care less.

"Cheston En, were your past colleagues like this too?" Dean casually entered his employee credentials on the glitchy computer and asked offhandedly.

Cheston En nodded. "Pretty much. Outsiders think we’re imposing, but that’s just the impression movies give them. The majority of ordinary FBI employees, without any other income, might not even make as much in a month as some undocumented workers. Under those circumstances, if management were any stricter, everyone would have quit long ago. A little over three thousand US Dollars before tax per month—who’d bother being so dedicated?"

While the computer interface was still buffering, Cheston En shared some inside information he knew with Dean. These employees generally serve the FBI for a certain number of years before moving into other departments or taking on roles like corporate consultants or specialized brokers, often receiving much better treatment. This was one of the reasons why some employees who hadn’t made it big kept sticking it out.

After a short wait, the worn-out computer Dean was using finally displayed the FBI’s case data search archive. He quickly entered "Las Vegas" into the search bar. A multitude of old cases refreshed before their eyes.

After thinking briefly, Dean tried entering another keyword into the second column of the search bar: "Hunting."

The dozens of entries before them were pared down to just two: *Human Hunt* and *The Disappearance of Jane*.