Chapter 111: Exasperatingly Cautious

Su Qianqian drove to the construction site on her own.

After washing up, Lu Ye called Tang Qianyan: "Miss Tang, are you free?"

Tang Qianyan yawned and replied, "I only fell asleep less than two hours ago. What’s up?"

"Stop sleeping. I’m taking you out to make some money today!"

On the other end of the line, Tang Qianyan suddenly sat up in bed and laughed, "Sounds good, count me in!"

Lu Ye didn't have a car, so he had to ask Tang Qianyan to pick him up at the hotel. Her vehicle of choice was a pink Volkswagen Beetle. Anyone who saw this car would naturally assume the owner was a naive, sweet girl, never suspecting that the driver was actually the most feared top-tier assassin in the world.

While waiting for Tang Qianyan to arrive, Lu Ye had already organized a stack of documents. They contained the locations of all the Hongying Society’s strongholds, along with lists of associated personnel. Once he climbed into the passenger seat, he had her look over the files first. Since she had already wiped out many of these locations, they needed to filter out the remaining targets and clear them all out within the day.

As Tang Qianyan flipped through the pages, she used a red pen to cross out the addresses she had already cleared. Although Lu Ye knew she was highly efficient, he was still taken aback. He had compiled a list of 38 hideouts, but after she was done, there were fewer than ten left. What did this mean? Given that each Hongying Society stronghold averaged about a hundred members, it meant nearly three thousand members had already perished under Tang Qianyan’s flying daggers.

Tang Qianyan complained, "The Xu family canceled the bounty last night. I suspect they’ve run out of money to pay me."

Lu Ye pouted, "You’ve already made a fortune; what are you still complaining about?"

"I have to accompany my wife to Mingzhu City tomorrow, so I plan to finish the job today and report back." Tang Qianyan giggled, "We had a deal, remember? The bounty for your missions goes entirely to me."

Lu Ye nodded generously, "Yes, it’s all yours!"

After Li Bin’s downfall, his position had been taken over by the vice-president, Wang Tan. Wang Tan’s hideout was hidden on the outskirts of Qishan Park. The park was vast, but it was located in a remote and desolate area. Tang Qianyan had been too lazy to come looking for it, which was the only reason Wang Tan had managed to survive until now.

In the sky, three drones suddenly buzzed over the roof of the Beetle.

Tang Qianyan asked, "Are these your drones?"

Lu Ye shook his head, "I never use that stuff."

"Then they must be Wang Tan’s scouts. This guy is actually quite cautious!"

Wang Tan was indeed cautious—cautious to the point of being neurotic. Qishan Park used to be a mine, and Wang Tan had set up his lair in a pitch-black, gloomy mine shaft hundreds of meters underground. Every half hour, he would have his men launch three drones to survey the surrounding area. His favorite catchphrase was, "Better safe than sorry!" It was no wonder he had survived this long; he was a coward who sought only to avoid trouble rather than achieve greatness.

The drone pilot looked at the footage relayed back to the screens and warned, "President, the drones have spotted a car heading toward us."

Wang Tan jumped up, roaring, "Everyone to Level One Alert!"

"Pull the lever!"

"Seal the three iron gates and activate all the traps in the corridors!"

This mine shaft had been transformed into an impenetrable fortress by Wang Tan. The six-hundred-meter-long tunnel was riddled with countless traps, with a heavy iron door installed every two hundred meters. Perhaps even the U.S. President’s executive office didn't have such exaggerated security measures.

His subordinates hesitated, "President, it’s just a pink Beetle. It’s probably just a couple looking for a place to date at Qishan Park." They clearly thought Wang Tan was overreacting.

Wang Tan shouted, "What do you know? This is what I call being safe! The former president, Li Bin, wasn't careful, and look what happened to him! The Licheng branch wasn't careful, and they went down! And our Asia-Pacific executive—also not careful, and he fell too!"

The subordinate nodded subserviently, "Yes, yes, I'll go do it immediately!" Arguing with Wang Tan any further would only lead to a headache.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Three heavy iron gates slammed down, completely sealing the only access point to the mine. Wang Tan finally felt a sense of relief. Even if it wasn't just a Beetle, but a tank, it wouldn't necessarily be able to break through!

"We’re safe now, boys. Let’s toast to our invincible fortress!"

...

*Screech!*

Tang Qianyan parked the Beetle at the edge of the large pit and got out. The original mine pit had been transformed into an ecological park with lush trees, resembling a primitive forest. The entrance to the abandoned mine was hidden somewhere at the bottom, making it incredibly difficult to find.

Tang Qianyan asked, "Shall we go down?"

Lu Ye shook his head, "No, that would be a waste of time."

Tang Qianyan asked curiously, "Then what are you planning to do?"

Lu Ye pulled out his phone, switched to the God Shield Bureau’s internal operating system, and aimed the camera at the mine pit below. On his screen, the live view gradually transformed into a structural diagram, allowing him to see through the entire internal structure of the mountain!

"Found it. The mine entrance is directly beneath that public restroom."

"Damn, their defensive facilities are absolutely ridiculous!"

The triple-layered, nuke-proof iron doors, along with the poison gas and countless hidden crossbow traps, were laid bare under Lu Ye’s scan. If Lu Ye and Tang Qianyan had just charged in blindly... no matter how skilled they were, they would have likely perished on the spot! This Wang Tan was truly, maddeningly cautious.

Tang Qianyan leaned over to take a look and shivered, "Good grief! Thank goodness I was too lazy to come here and find them myself."

"Little brother, what do we do now?"

Just getting through those three doors would be difficult enough, not to mention the overwhelming amount of hidden weapons.

Lu Ye didn't answer but continued to scan the surrounding terrain. Suddenly, he spotted something. The septic tank of the public restroom was right next to a vertical pipe. Following the path, it appeared to be a ventilation shaft connected to the mine, which had been forgotten and abandoned along with the mine itself. When the park was built, the planners hadn't realized there was a ventilation shaft right next to the new public restroom.

An idea struck Lu Ye!

He took out his phone and called Xu Zhaocai, "Young Master Xu, I need a favor."

"Brother Lu, what is it?"

Lu Ye said, "I need to borrow an excavator from you."

Hearing the word "excavator," Xu Zhaocai trembled, "It’s not for your wife to practice on again, is it?"

Lu Ye laughed, "No, I really need it for serious business. I’m at Qishan Park. How long will it take to get one here?"

Hearing it was for real work, Xu Zhaocai relaxed, "I’m actually right near Qishan Park. Wait ten minutes, Brother Lu, I’ll bring the excavator over myself."

"Great!"

...

Deep underground.

Wang Tan was sipping red wine while keeping a close eye on the drone footage. "Did you see that? That man and woman are acting suspiciously. Do they look like a couple on a date? They definitely have ill intentions; they’re almost certainly scouting our stronghold."

The others in the underground bunker had also noticed that Lu Ye and Tang Qianyan were searching for something.

Wang Tan ordered, "Fly the drones closer to them. I want to see their faces clearly!"

"Yes!"

The pilot lowered the altitude of the drones and moved them slowly toward Lu Ye and Tang Qianyan, snapping several close-ups of their faces. Tang Qianyan flicked her wrist, throwing three flying daggers, and shot down all three drones instantly!

However, high-definition photos of their faces had already been saved and were displayed on the bunker’s large screen.

Wang Tan exclaimed, "That pretty boy is the Y6 special envoy!"

"And the woman?"

Wang Tan said with a trembling voice, "That’s the top assassin, Tang Qianyan."

"Hiss! It’s actually them?"

His subordinates felt a surge of relief, "It’s a good thing President Wang activated the Level One Alert early so we could get into defensive mode. Otherwise, if those two had charged in together, our hundred-plus men wouldn't have been able to stop them."

The impenetrable triple iron gates and the countless traps were their greatest source of confidence. But, before they could even finish celebrating, a strange, ominous sound began to echo from above...