Use first and repay later: Advance the future cultivation fruits

Chapter 55: 55. Captain Xiao’s Intuition

“No problem.”

Zhao Jiayi slightly shook her head, appearing somewhat uneasy as she said, “I just stayed up all night watching TV shows, didn’t sleep much, now I’m just a bit tired.”

“Stayed up all night watching TV shows?” Lin Qing suddenly understood, as though he really believed her, “Then stay here and command the scene with me.”

“Lin lad.”

At this moment, Yuan Anping walked over, eyeing him oddly and asked, “Did you deal with all these people in the Underground Boxing Arena?”

“Yes.” Lin Qing nodded slightly, “I was just lucky, happened to have the upper hand.”

...

Zhao Jiayi couldn’t help but glance at him.

Yuan Anping clucked his tongue, half-smiling as he said, “This isn’t something that can be put down to luck.”

Even with an advantage, a normal Captain Level officer couldn’t take down this Underground Boxing Arena alone.

Even mastering three Combat Skills would be somewhat difficult.

But he knew everyone had secrets and saw no need to pry.

“By the way, General Captain.”

Lin Qing suddenly asked, “What about Chu Tianyao, the fugitive from Qinghu Island Prison?”

“He got away.” Yuan Anping shrugged helplessly, “He’s as strong as I am, the most I could do was chase him away.”

If it hadn’t been for seeing Yuan Anping neutralize the fugitive’s threat the moment he made a move, Lin Qing would have almost believed his bluster.

Yuan Anping had definitely hidden his true strength.

Lin Qing pretended not to know and merely sighed deliberately, “However, Chu Tianyao really being linked to Yuanhong Society is frightening. Perhaps my sister’s severe injury at his hands was also related to Yuanhong Society…”

“There’s a possibility.” Yuan Anping nodded slightly.

“I’ve drawn too much attention to myself today.”

Lin Qing glanced sideways at Zhao Jiayi and deliberately frowned, “I don’t know why but I got impulsive today, and single-handedly swept through Yuanhong Society’s Underground Boxing Arena. They probably hate me to the bone now, next… Chu Tianyao might be sent to kill me again.”

Hearing this, Zhao Jiayi was taken aback, then slowly lowered her head and bit her lip gently.

“That’s quite normal.”

Yuan Anping casually said, “But Yuanhong Society, after all, is an underground force, they wouldn’t dare go too far. Killing a high-profile Patrol Officer like you would lead Headquarters to dispatch someone for a thorough investigation, and Yuanhong Society wouldn’t be able to stay in Lin’an City anymore.”

Lin Qing sighed, “I hope so.”

He shook his head slightly, “But since Yuanhong Society could utilize Chu Tianyao, their connections must be substantial. If Xiao Peidong is indeed a mole for Yuanhong Society, the power behind him likely wants to push him to become a Captain. My showdown with him is inevitable; without dealing with me, he won’t rest…”

“That is a bit troublesome.”

Yuan Anping nodded slightly and didn’t say much more.

He always felt that Lin Qing was being unusually talkative today, somewhat like he was seeking sympathy on purpose, which he found a bit bothersome.

Meanwhile, Zhao Jiayi silently listened on the side, her gaze revealing a hint of contemplative thought.

…

Search assignments for each group were distributed to various sections of the Underground Boxing Arena, except that no team came to search the office area.

After pretending to search a couple of places, Xiao Peidong headed straight to Zhou Yang’s office.

Inside the vintage-style office.

Xiao Peidong quickly entered, closing the door behind him.

He knew, with Zhou Yang dead, that bottle of Super Sensing Liquid was certainly still hidden somewhere within this Underground Boxing Arena.

Although he did not know its exact location, it was most likely kept inside one of the two safes in a hidden compartment in this office.

He was quite familiar with some of Zhou Yang’s secrets.

“These two hidden compartments, I remember they use the same mechanism…”

Musing this, Xiao Peidong quickly walked up to a section of the office wall and, after hitting it repeatedly, managed to open the hidden compartment.

He carefully examined the safe inside the compartment and found that both the fingerprint and iris recognition had been canceled.

The fingerprint and iris recognition could only be canceled after opening the safe.

Xiao Peidong promptly opened the safe and saw a huge pile of Outer World Coins placed inside.

However, he didn’t care about the money since it would all be confiscated; after exiting later, he would pass through a metal detector and couldn’t take even a single coin.

“All this money in here…”

Xiao Peidong pondered, “The identification lock canceled?”

He wasn’t surprised.

Zhou Yang was planning to flee, naturally intent on erasing all iris and fingerprint data records. That was basic protocol.

Perhaps she had just opened the safe and erased the records when she had to rush to confront Lin Qing, never to return?

This seemed a reasonable guess.

“The Super Sensing Liquid is not in this safe, then it must be in another hidden one…”

Xiao Peidong quickly opened another hidden compartment, revealing the safe within.

“Hmm?”

Upon inspection, Xiao Peidong slightly furrowed his brow.

Because…

This safe also did not require fingerprint or facial recognition to unlock; it could be opened directly.

That felt somewhat off to him.

Even if preparing to flee, shouldn’t it be done one step at a time?

Trained from a young age by the organization, he was highly cautious. Before seizing any benefits, he would carefully consider whether it might be a trap.

Like now.

This deviation from normal habits made him detect something unusual.

But for some reason, Xiao Peidong had a strong intuition—

The item he sought was likely inside this safe.

Maybe, under the pressing circumstances, Zhou Yang thought she might not escape, so she decided to delete the records and disable the recognition locks first?

Perhaps, this was done to wait for his search, to prevent him from being unable to bypass the fingerprint and iris recognition.

After all, although he and Zhou Yang didn’t always get along, they were essentially on the same side and often collaborated.

Moreover, Lin Qing seemed as if she had just finished a fight, sitting there resting, obviously not having had the chance to search this office yet.

“Right, it’s very likely.”@@novelbin@@

The more Xiao Peidong thought about it, the more it made sense. His eyes heatedly fixated on the unprotected safe, “The Super Sensing Liquid should be inside…”

If he could get the Super Sensing Liquid, he had a great chance of mastering the Original Sunrise Training Method before the job assessment on the twentieth of next month!

At that time, he could be absolutely confident in being elected Captain.

Mastering two Combat Skills later would even progress him to Patrol Chief, and he might even aim for the position of Lin’an City General Captain, truly attaining freedom!

Ambition, freedom, and intuition made Xiao Peidong hesitate briefly before he reached out and pressed the button to open the safe door.

Who wouldn’t trust their own instincts?

“Hiss!!”

The moment the safe door opened, a fierce purple poison gas burst forth, accompanied by a high-pressure airflow that harshly hit Xiao Peidong’s face!

Xiao Peidong reacted instantly, but with the poison gas jetting at nearly a hundred meters per second, how could he, not adept in speed, possibly dodge in time?

The poison gas surged toward him, even infiltrating his skin!

“This… is Purple Vine 004!”

Xiao Peidong was horrified, immediately realizing this was a neurotoxin he had encountered during anti-poison experiments!

He quickly stepped back, holding his breath, covering his mouth and nose. Taking advantage of the swift depletion of the poison gas, he immediately waved his hand to disperse the purple mist, not caring that the poison was seeping through his skin, swiftly turning his attention to the safe.

This must be one of Zhou Yang’s defensive measures!

If he could obtain the Super Sensing Liquid, even being poisoned would be worth it!

After all, having undergone anti-poison gene modification, the Purple Vine 004 toxin wouldn’t kill him; it would only weaken him for a while.

What he hadn’t noticed was that the purple poison mist, which should have dispersed into the air, was quietly gathering towards him.

However—

“Hmm?”

Xiao Peidong blinked in astonishment, staring at the empty interior of the safe, his eyes filled with disbelief: “How could it be empty?”

A surge of indescribable anger and frustration burst from within him. The rush of blood to the brain combined with the infiltration of neurotoxins darkened his vision, and he fainted.

…

Zhao Jiayi crouched in a corner below the boxing arena, pretending to check her phone, while muttering under her breath.

“This is logical, what you need is inside… This is logical, what you need is inside…”