Chapter 172 Hunter Team

Chapter 172 Hunter Team

Large-denomination bills flying everywhere looked like a rain of money.

Alison casually grabbed one, looked at it, and handed it to Oliver. "Pretty new condition, must be from recent years."

Oliver took the bill and carelessly set it aside, one hand in his pocket, saying calmly. "There should be more than this."

Sure enough, they discovered large amounts of hidden cash in the fabric sofa in the first-floor living room, on the ceiling of the second-floor master bedroom, in the wall cavity between two adjacent guest rooms, and in secret compartments of furniture in the third-floor study and art studio.

The front yard and back garden showed signs of digging. Taylor led people to turn over the soil but found nothing. However, Susan accidentally kicked over a flowerpot, and when it shattered, it revealed a bundle of gold wrapped in thick plastic.

All the money and gold were gathered together in one pile - quite a spectacular sight.

Yet Alison frowned, "Is this all?"

Hearing Alison's words, Lowell thought to himself - was Alison getting too carried away? They'd found so much money, wasn't that enough!

Then he noticed everyone else also looked serious. Only he was greedily staring at the pile of money. To avoid embarrassing himself further, Lowell said goodbye to Alison.

His help was limited anyway. Alison didn't try to keep him and waved him off.

After leaving the villa, Lowell desperately wanted to talk to someone. He called Chloe. When Chloe learned she'd not only missed out on a house but also a fortune, she beat her chest and cried out in grief.

Inside the villa.

Oliver took a phone call. After hanging up, he said. "That man killed himself."

"He was a professional hitman?" Alison's eyes widened slightly. "What was his goal? To destroy this money?"

"The man was wearing a silver token necklace belonging to an international assassin organization called 'Heaven's Blade.' His purpose is still unclear." Oliver said, "Here's some good news that's not really good news. Isaac was arrested and brought back to the police station. He admitted he found some money in the front yard and garden, and came to dig every night. Afraid the house would be sold, he deliberately created the haunting illusion."

Alison asked. "Who hired those streamers?"

Oliver spread his hands. "The employer contacted them online, overseas identity, can't be traced."

Alison crossed her arms and paced in circles. After two rounds, she stopped and asked. "Did you catch the person who hacked the communication channel? I have a feeling the person who hacked the channel and the one who hired the streamers are the same group, and they're not connected to the bomber assassin."

The two groups had completely different styles - the first group just wanted to stop them from approaching the villa.

Oliver added, "Oscar should catch them soon."

Oscar didn't disappoint. After another twenty minutes, Alison and Oliver received an address from him - a hotel in the old district.

Oliver and Alison drove over and arrived in ten minutes.

Oscar was in a large suite facing the street. Hearing footsteps, he rushed to the hallway to greet them, saying apologetically. "Mr. West, Alison, I was a step too late. This group has already left."

Oliver waved his hand, indicating it was fine, and asked. "Do you know who they are?"

Oscar was somewhat excited. "Yes! It's the Hunter Team from Aurora Syndicate!"

Alison and Oliver exchanged surprised looks.

Aurora Syndicate originally started as a group formed by people who hated Thomas Holdings. Later, more and more people joined, members became increasingly scattered, and it turned into an alliance of small groups with varying numbers and abilities.

Teams like White Fox were mid-level in strength. People like Charlie who usually acted alone but were temporarily gathered for a common purpose were called "Skirmishers" within Aurora Syndicate. Hunter Team was the strongest in Aurora Syndicate, with a reputation even bigger than Aurora Syndicate itself.

Hunter Team had been active at the border for years, cooperating with border police several times to crack down on trafficking and smuggling operations. Their standing among local people was as high as the government's.

"They actually came here." Oliver rubbed his temples and called Bradley.

Hunter Team had plenty of weapons and used aggressive methods. With Thomas Holdings headquarters in Westfield, who knew what might happen next. He needed to remind Bradley to strengthen the city's security.

While Oliver was on the phone, Alison walked around the room.

The room was messy. Bedding was rolled into a ball, pillows were some on the bed, some on the floor. The closet door was open, hangers held several half-wet bathrobes, and several pairs of disposable slippers were scattered together.

By the street-facing window was a long table with unfinished food on it. Clearly this group had left in a hurry.

Alison picked up an A4 paper from under the table - it was actually a layout plan of the villa.

So Hunter Team's target really was that house, but did they want the money?

Alison noticed the layout plan marked a basement under the first-floor kitchen, something even Lowell's real estate company didn't know about.

She immediately photographed the layout plan and sent it to the work group. After Oliver finished his call, they checked the room once more, then returned to the villa.

The kitchen floor had already been smashed open. Below was an abandoned cellar full of broken appliances and household items.

At first, seeing the dusty, moldy-smelling things inside, everyone was disappointed. But soon they took apart an old bulky desktop computer and found a stack of bills hidden inside.

This money was issued over ten years ago. Everyone worked together to check everything in the cellar. Looking at the countless bills, Alison's expression was quite disappointed.

"Nothing, there's no evidence pointing to where this money came from." She muttered to herself, "How can there be nothing but money?"

Everyone gradually lost motivation. Even eating during breaks wasn't enjoyable.

Taylor said bluntly. "If it's all legitimate inheritance and not dirty money, doesn't that mean we've been busy all day just to give money to Freya and Marshall!"

He angrily chewed his food forcefully. The others didn't speak up, but they felt the same way.

Oliver thought Hunter Team must know something. He was considering whether to relax security and see if Hunter Team would sneak into the villa looking for something.

This method was a bit clumsy, but at least it was a method.

Alison sat facing Oliver. Seeing him distracted, she urged him to eat quickly, "Oliver, I want to check the study again."

The study had quite a few books. They'd all been checked - very ordinary, nothing hidden. If anything seemed strange, it was that over half of the three to four hundred books were about food and recipes.

Alison had only heard that Dorian liked beautiful women and art pieces, never that Dorian liked food. Plus many of those books had yellowed edges and bookworms. With Dorian's personality, he could have thrown away these useless books, yet they'd been kept in this house year after year.

"Let's go, I'll go with you." Oliver had no appetite. Seeing Alison had finished eating, he put down his barely touched meal box.

"Picky eater again." Alison muttered. Oliver smiled at her ingratiatingly.

At the study, Alison dove into the pile of books. After two hours, she finally discovered a strange "food diary."