Chapter 23: Clue I
Bang.
After a dull thud, a padded indoor wrestling ring saw Meng Dongdong being effortlessly thrown to the ground by a female coach with a shoulder throw.
She gasped heavily, frantically expelling the excess carbon dioxide building up in her body, but the sheer physical exhaustion made it impossible.
Lack of oxygen, discomfort, the urge to vomit.
All sorts of negative feelings surged.
“I can’t do this anymore.” Lying on the ground, Meng Dongdong struggled to speak.
“Close combat requires instantaneous explosive power, as well as the critical timing and angle of force,” the female coach said gently. “We don’t have much time, so per your father’s request, we’ll only focus on one technique. Mastering one technique thoroughly can be very effective in critical moments.”
“I understand,” Meng Dongdong nodded.
“Get up. I heard the opponent you’ll be facing is also a novice, so as long as you practice this move repeatedly, you should be able to take care of them easily,” the coach smiled.
Meng Dongdong gritted her teeth, knowing that if she wanted to survive, she had to train with all her might during this period.
She also began practicing firearms at the designated shooting range, deciding to take the opportunity to draw her gun and kill the other person once she entered a dead end.
After all, the natural physical differences between men and women were significant, and she had to compensate for this gap as much as possible.
“It’s good you understand. Let’s go again,” the female coach said, seeing Meng Dongdong stand up and stepping back to simulate a suitable distance.
Outside the room, behind the glass window, a slightly overweight middle-aged man with graying hair watched Meng Dongdong train inside with tender eyes.
“Boss,” a bald man approached him from behind.
“What is it?” The middle-aged man was Meng Dongdong’s father, Meng Mingcheng.
“Our people failed. We found one person, but the other’s information was tampered with, access blocked, and our hackers were warned by a stronger hacker,” the bald man reported in a low voice.
Meng Mingcheng fell silent.
“It seems there’s a lot more going on here.”
“So boss, what do we do?” the bald man asked, frowning.
“For now, we can’t find a stronger hacker in a short time. Since we can’t access the information, let’s secure the other things first. Bulletproof vests, helmets, quick energy replenishers,” Meng Mingcheng instructed.
“It’s already in the works. Also, do we need drones?” the bald man tentatively asked.
“Drones are powerful, but Dongdong can’t use them. Close-range combat is still about mastering firearms and fighting,” Meng Mingcheng clearly understood.
“Understood.”
“Go on, you’ve worked hard. After this, 10% shares of the club on your end.”
“Thank you, boss!” The bald man’s face lit up with joy, and he quickly responded.
“Do well. You’re my most trusted man, I won’t let you down!” Meng Mingcheng turned around, patting his shoulder.
The issue with hackers made it clear to him that the opposition might also have their support, so bulletproof vests and the likes might be available to them as well.
In this situation, regular firearms might not be effective; they needed something with more power. He wasn’t worried about them upgrading to stronger bulletproof vests. In this era where weapons far exceeded the capabilities of protection, the best bulletproof vests that ordinary people could endure could barely stop the weakest of handgun bullets.
Moreover, even with vests, bullets could still break bones through them.
As for equipment that could withstand higher caliber bullets, it was too heavy for ordinary people to bear.
*
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The Ruihuai plant base.
Inside a greenhouse, rows of rectangular shelves hung dense clusters of white wisteria.
The greenhouse was divided into three vertical rows.
The far right row was entirely white wisteria.
Between the three rows were passages for people to walk through.
At this moment, a girl in a yellow T-shirt and jeans, with twin ponytails, was slowly walking down the right passage with a black-haired ordinary young man.
“The boss is planning to buy a large amount at once, right? It was for building a private garden, if I recall? I must say, if you buy too little, it won’t have the impact of scale, and it won’t be as stunning.
If you could buy more than a hundred seedlings at once and plant them in one area, the impact when they bloom will be completely different. We had a customer who bought five hundred ten-year-old seedlings at once, and after they bloomed, that place became a popular photo spot.”
The girl continued to tirelessly promote the benefits of buying more.
Li Chengyi approached the white wisteria, reaching out his hand to gently touch a hanging cluster of flowers.
Hiss.
A cool breath quickly entered his hand.
‘Flower scale armor evolution progress: 2%’
‘3%’
‘5%’
‘7%’
A series of information flowed in, visible only to Li Chengyi, his right hand back continually lighting up with a faint purple glow.
While dealing with the girl’s sales pitch, he continued to touch the clusters of white wisteria, absorbing their essence.
The evolution percentage gradually increased, and soon it reached double digits.
The cool air flow kept entering his hand and occasionally surged throughout his body as it did initially.
But as the essence kept entering, the purple glow on his hand became brighter and more dazzling.
Soon, the evolution percentage reached 20%, but the girl was starting to get impatient. She had been talking for so long, nearly running out of saliva, yet this guy seemed indifferent, not at all like someone who was interested in buying.
“Boss, if you’re worried about the survival rate, you could buy older seedlings. We have eight-year, ten-year, and even twenty-year-old white wisteria seedlings, though they’re a bit more expensive.”
“I’ll take a general look first, and then decide,” Li Chengyi nodded seriously. “I’m wondering, can these blooming vines be transplanted directly?”
“Of course not, but we use cutting technology, which has the same effect as transplanting the whole tree. Although there’s still a survival rate impact, our latest automatic care devices allow even those with no gardening experience to easily take care of them. If you buy now, ten sets or more get a discount.”
Li Chengyi continued to ask various questions while touching clusters of white wisteria, sensing the evolution rate rapidly increasing. His anticipation grew.
‘51%’
‘55%’
‘58%’
At this point, the evolution percentage had reached the fifties. To Li Chengyi’s delight, the white wisteria here, at the back of the shelves, provided much more evolution progress than those at the front.
“These white wisteria are different from those at the front, aren’t they?” he asked softly.
“Yes, these are all fifteen-year-old or older trees, so their prices are higher,” the girl replied.
“I see.” Li Chengyi kept reaching out, unable to touch some that were too high, but he could reach most of them.
The rate of evolution was accelerating.
He pondered.
Maintaining and evolving the flower scale armor by growing his own flowers was too slow. After discovering the correlation between the essence and the age of the flowers, he realized the best approach was to directly take over an existing flower base.
Money, it always came down to money.
As time went by, the girl took Li Chengyi for a complete tour, touching all the white wisterias, until the evolution rate finally reached 100.
Li Chengyi then reluctantly left.
By then, the flower scale armor had completed its basic evolution. What was left was the evil intent.
‘The way to absorb evil intent is to change the thoughts of those who harbor it towards me until their evil intent completely disappears. But how do I determine if someone has evil intent towards me?’
With this question, Li Chengyi, ignoring the girl’s suggestion to buy some flowers, left under her almost collapsing gaze, and without looking back, ran off, quickly catching a cab back to the city.
Although Sindra pays daily wages, earning only a little over six hundred a day, he hadn’t saved much, especially since he had nowhere to plant the flowers.
Now that the evolution was complete, only the evil intent was missing to fully evolve the flower scale armor.
Yet, finding this evil intent proved challenging for Li Chengyi. Despite trying various observations and attempts while undergoing training, aside from occasionally encountering some inexplicable increase in evil intent on the streets, there were no significant changes.
Time passed day by day.
He gradually adapted to the training at Hongjin Company.
Endurance, sprinting, firearm use, dodging, and basic combat saw significant improvements.
Of course, he was still far from what the teachers considered qualified, but at least he had some foundation.
Especially being able to identify the model of an opponent’s firearm, whether it was automatic, and the number of bullets, which was very meaningful.
Memorizing hard facts, along with detailed explanations of various handguns’ features, gave Li Chengyi some reassurance.
As time passed over a month, finally, news came from Sindra regarding the dead corner he described, finding its match in reality.
Finding the real-world counterpart was key to figuring out how to leave for good.
Li Chengyi rushed to the company as soon as he heard the news.
Knock, knock, knock.
Inside the office with floor-to-ceiling windows, Sindra held a cup of green tea, the steam blurring his vision slightly.
Hearing the knock, he slightly turned and looked towards the door.
“Come in.”
Click.
Li Chengyi entered, wearing a black sports outfit, its fabric reflecting light and adorned with a golden snake-like logo on the chest, the thin material zipped halfway down.
“Boss, are you sure about the information?”
He couldn’t help but ask immediately upon entering.
After all, this related to whether he could truly escape the dead corner, making it a high priority for him.
“I’ve spent quite a bit, pulling strings and searching various cities, to finally get a clue,” Sindra said softly.
He turned around, taking out the small gadget resembling a flashlight from last time, turning it on towards the wall.
Click, and the image projected on the wall.
An old, color photo of an underground parking lot from an oblique angle appeared on the wall.
Pale white lighting, long and horizontal lamps divided the parking lot into two areas.
The black, slightly reflective floor faintly showed white parking lines.
The ceiling was also black.
On both sides of the walls were red maintenance doors at intervals.
“This is it!!” The moment Li Chengyi saw the photo, a tingling sensation surged through his heart, making his face numb.
“It’s identical! The parking lot I entered, exactly the same!”
“The parking lines on the ground, the color of the ceiling, the different lamps, and the small doors on the side walls, the load-bearing stone columns.”
“Then it’s settled!” Sindra’s spirits lifted. “This parking lot is called the Grius Parking Lot.”
“Grius.”
“Yes, our people only found this information and haven’t located the parking lot itself,” Sindra took a sip from his teacup.
“Why?” Li Chengyi asked, puzzled. “Now that we know the name, with today’s information technology, it shouldn’t be impossible to find the place, right?”
“Because,” Sindra paused, “this parking lot was completely buried over eighty years ago due to an earthquake.”
(End of Chapter)
