"Alright, be careful out there," Jing Shu said.
Everyone knew Yang Yang was kind of useless. He couldn't lift anything, never carried luggage, and his ability was still a mystery. But since it was rated A+, even if he couldn't drag a full-grown man like Hao Yunlai around, he should at least be able to protect himself, right?
Jing Shu didn't waste time arguing. She grabbed Hao Yunlai and started moving, the fabric of his clothes rough against her palms.
"Hao Yunlai? You asleep? Can you hear me?" she called a few times, her voice low. There was no response. He had completely passed out, his chest rising and falling in a deep, heavy rhythm.
To keep her plan running smoothly, she stuffed him into a large black sack and began to drag him along. The plastic material crinkled and scraped against the glass floor. It saved her the trouble of carrying him and kept him from seeing anything he shouldn't. Besides, in his current state, he was just a fat lamb waiting for slaughter.
Other than the rich guy Qian Duoduo, this was the second time Jing Shu had seen a real luxury residence up close. Judging from the scale, this place seemed even fancier than him. It was a bit smaller; well, maybe not that small after all.
The estate's architecture was a wild mix. European-style buildings with ornate stone carvings stood next to high-tech towers. Sleek glass villas gleamed with a futuristic shine under the artificial lights. Each building had its own courtyard and walls, all connected by transparent tempered-glass walkways that felt like bridges over an abyss.
Overall, it was a hollow complex suspended above an underwater world. Jing Shu had no idea how the foundations worked, but what she really cared about was whether there were any hidden treasures below.
"Smells like money," she muttered. "My time is running out. I need to move fast."
Blue ground lights lined the edges of the walkway, casting a cool, eerie glow. They were bright enough to watch the sea creatures below fighting and tearing each other apart in the dark water.
The rich man's private territory wasn't exactly peaceful either. Noises echoed in the distance, the faint hum of machinery or the splash of water. Who knew if anyone had noticed their intrusion?
They had actually managed to sneak into the garden of a man said to have never once been assassinated successfully. After Hao Yunlai cleared the guards near the exit, no one else had come after them. Was this really supposed to be top-tier security?
She rubbed her nose, the scent of salt and ozone in the air. "Did Yang Yang exaggerate a bit? All that talk about thermal imaging within two kilometers; was that even real? If it's this easy, sneaking in feels kind of stupid."
Yang Yang soon vanished into the darkness, his silhouette blending into the shadows as he headed toward the tech building he had mentioned.
Jing Shu wasn't planning to leave empty-handed. She dragged the heavy sack containing Hao Yunlai in another direction. That spot looked promising, like a private treasure vault.
"Hmm? A bowling alley?" She sighed in disappointment and moved on to the next one. The polished wooden lanes were empty. No wonder no one was there. It was useless.
This one is an indoor golf range. She looked at the vast stretch of artificial turf.
She marked her route with a pen while half-jogging between buildings, the sack bumping against her heels. Ten minutes had passed and she had already checked over ten open rooms. Everything was spotless, clearly cleaned daily, yet not a single person was in sight. The whole place was eerily quiet and empty.
"Alright then, time for you guys to draw me a map," she muttered.
She summoned hundreds of poison bees. They were the second generation she had cultivated. Their genes were stronger and their stingers deadlier. They were twice the size of the originals. They worked as both honey gatherers and guards, though they made a lot of noise while flying. Their translucent wings created a low, vibrating drone. She had a control range of only about one kilometer. Anything farther and she would stop receiving their feedback.
That meant they would keep acting on orders, but she would have no idea what was happening to them.
Next, she released over thirty five-step snakes. They were much quieter as they slithered out, their scales dry against the glass. Since the ground here was made of glass and lined with bright lights, their camouflage wasn't great. Their dark patterns stood out against the blue glow. They could be exposed at any time. Still, since there didn't seem to be any guards left, it wasn't too risky.
Finally, she sent out Sulfuric Acid Ants. Tiny and quick, they were easy to overlook as they darted into the seams of the walkways. They could come in handy when things got tricky.
Once her small army was deployed, Jing Shu sat in a corner. She closed her eyes, collecting all the data flowing back to her from every direction. Bit by bit, a detailed map formed in her mind, a web of corridors and rooms.
But then, some of the bees and snakes started losing contact. The mental links simply snapped. Soon, even the Sulfuric Acid Ants began dropping out. That made her frown. These were her core scouts, and they hadn't sent any warning signals. They had just vanished mid-movement.
Puzzled, she dragged Hao Yunlai toward the area where most of the poison bees had disappeared. It was an unremarkable three-story villa. The building was eerily quiet. The front door was still wide open, a dark rectangle against the white stone. Inside, faint light revealed a lavish interior with glass display cases filling the hall.
Even from afar, she could make out a few of the items inside. There were maybe a dozen or so, all glittering under the recessed lighting. Jing Shu swallowed hard. "Holy shit, do rich people really just leave their treasures lying around like that?"
Some looked like jewelry, with gems catching the light. Others looked like bottled liquids in ornate vials, and a few she couldn't even identify. Anything locked in a glass case like that had to be worth a fortune.
Still, the open door didn't sit right with her. Wait; wasn't this the house where all the bees vanished?
She narrowed her eyes and ordered a few more bees to fly in. They barely crossed the threshold when a red flash sliced through the air. It was a thin, searing line that instantly chopped the bees into pieces. Those bees were barely bigger than fingernails, and they were cut clean in seconds. It was too brutal. Only then did she notice the floor littered with tiny corpses. It wasn't just bees but all kinds of insects, their bodies charred and bisected.
"So there were traps. No wonder they disappeared. Dying that fast, they didn't even have time to send a signal."
Jing Shu rested her chin in her hand, eyeing the villa. She sent in more of her first-generation bees to search for gaps in the light. She even dispatched Sulfuric Acid Ants to crawl through tiny crevices in the door frame. "Come on; there's no way modern tech is so advanced that not even a mosquito can get through."
She also tried tossing bits of iron and steel inside. She threw a small bolt and watched it cross the threshold. Without fail, within seconds, the red light sliced them into glowing pieces. The heat must have been insanely high. The metal hissed as it fell to the rug. No wonder there were no guards. Who would need them with a setup like this?
Jing Shu wanted to leave, but those glittering treasures kept pulling her gaze back. The light danced on the gold and the crystal. She hesitated, her teeth clenched. The temptation was gnawing at her.