Chapter 278 - 251 One Month
"This task submission and Yuan Force claiming process are really tedious, such a waste of time…"
After completing his task and collecting his money, Tao Yu returned to the street and realized it was late at night again, prompting him to yawn involuntarily.
One hundred and twenty thousand Yuan Force credited, finally giving Tao Yu some much-needed confidence.
"With this meager amount of Yuan Force on me, I’m always nervous, afraid I’ll need Yuan Force for healing or recovery at any time. Now I feel a lot more stable."
There was also a temporary hold on the ten thousand Yuan reward for the clue about the Heretic God Follower, which could be claimed after confirmation.
However, Tao Yu refrained from mentioning the part about collaborating against the Chaoyang Society.
Since it wouldn’t be useful to mention it due to the lack of information and clues.
He could bring it up to Lin Chao later on and let them prepare themselves.
"My parents must be asleep by now, not sure if they’re getting used to it."
Nonetheless, Tao Yu headed in the direction of home. There weren’t many people around the apartment building at this late hour, mostly decent families; two security guards gave him a look as he entered.
But Tao Yu had made quite a commotion moving in today, so they knew he was a resident and did not question him.
He swiped his card to enter the elevator, which hummed as it took him back to his own floor.
That’s when Tao Yu encountered a little surprise.
Though he hadn’t entered the house and no lights were on, Tao Yu could hear someone sitting in the living room, not sleeping. As he opened the door, he saw his third brother practicing Inner Strength in a cross-legged position.
Only upon hearing Tao Yu’s return did he open his eyes and asked in a subdued voice,
"Can’t sleep, everything okay?"
He hadn’t told their parents what Tao Yu had been up to, fearing they would worry, but he himself was anxious and unable to sleep.
"It went smoothly, I’ve caught the guy. Just that the task reporting was a bit cumbersome. Here, take these twenty thousand Yuan Force for emergencies at home."
Tao Yu handed over a magnetic card.
This left Tao Tong visibly shocked.
Holy shit!
In one day? Just stepping out and he caught one?
A bounty of one hundred and twenty thousand!
"Really caught him? Alive?"
"Caught alive. Your little brother is quite strong, you know."
Tao Yu smiled.
"So we don’t have to be so frugal anymore. I can just catch someone and all is taken care of."
Tao Tong hesitated for a moment, but considering how Tao Yu didn’t blink an eye at the huge expenditures to him for things like renting the house, if Tao Yu could really capture a wanted criminal that fast, then maybe twenty thousand really isn’t much to him.
This made Tao Tong feel like he was dreaming.
Since when could our Outer City family calculate our Yuan Force in tens of thousands?
In the end, he accepted it, saying,
"I’ll keep it safe."
"It’s not about keeping it safe, spend it if you need to. You should also speed up your own training. Don’t waste the early stages where strength increases rapidly; the stronger you are, the safer and more secure you’ll be."
Tao Yu advised once more, knowing his family would definitely be thrifty with the Yuan Force.
Truth be told, no matter what, the most reliable people were still family.
If they ever needed someone strong to represent them in the future, if his third brother’s strength was sufficient, he could step up as well.
"Starting tomorrow, I’ll teach you the Muscle Changing and Bone Forging Scripture. Get some good rest now."
Tao Yu stretched and returned to his room.
Three rooms: one for the parents, one for the third brother and his wife, one for Tao Yu, and Stone slept in the storage room, a perfect setup…
...
In a secluded street within the Inner City, seldom traversed by pedestrians.
Most of the shops along the street were closed, with various bizarre graffiti on many rolling gates and walls. The nearby trash cans overflowed, releasing a foul stench.
The few puddles on the ground contained dirty water that had congealed over time.
Pedestrians who had to pass hurried along, as if afraid to linger in this place.
This was a typical fourth-tier security area, often the site of gang members fighting over territory.
But today, two young figures sauntered leisurely through, standing out in the surroundings.
Not wearing the partner uniform, Tao Yu looked around and said to Lin Chao beside him,
"Goodness, this last one is hard to find, it’s been ten days already."
Capitalizing on the capture of Number Eleven and the resulting intelligence regarding the use of Heretic God Followers against the Chaoyang Society, Tao Yu had dragged Lin Chao into conscription.
Intuition was truly a useful talent! n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Especially when combined with Tao Yu’s own Meditation Technique, even the bounties they picked had some clues to start with.
Beyond Number Eleven, the subsequent captures went smoothly, although they didn’t wrap up in one day like before. Most were apprehended within three to four days, aided by information from the task hall.
Tao Yu chose targets worth tens of thousands. These crooks, the strongest of them being veterans at the mid-level partner rank, perhaps remained uncaptured due to a particular strong suit. But they always had weaknesses.
Despite being cunning with formidable hiding and survival skills, along with some desperate last-ditch efforts, they had their vulnerabilities.
But in front of Tao Yu, it was still useless.
Only once did he encounter an opponent capable of self-destructing due to mechanical augmentation. Tao Yu utilized "Innate Time Control," forcibly knocked him out with a Spirit Stinger, and combined with the killing intent of Big Dipper and Fist Intention, completely eradicated his consciousness, turning him into a vegetative person still possessing bodily life activities.
However, when Tao Yu brought this individual to claim the bounty, he almost scared the person on duty and the staff into collectively fleeing, which left Tao Yu rather speechless.
Fortunately, the handover went smoothly in the end.
It’s no wonder that the difficulty of the mission wasn’t high, the location was marked, but no one accepted it—probably because everyone was worried about the self-explosion.
It’s just that although the first few captures went smoothly, this last one, worth 180,000, with the highest bounty amount, stubbornly took Tao Yu a full ten days, which was a bit of a loss.
But having spent so much time, it would be frustrating not to catch him.
"This is really strange, wasn’t the Abyss escape route already blocked? How can she still be so good at hiding?"
Tao Yu was getting annoyed as he hadn’t felt any depletion of his spiritual power from using "Meditation Technique."
Originally, this individual was supposed to be the easiest to catch because the intelligence indicated that the Abyss end had already blocked her escape route.
And precisely because of this, coupled with the fear that the individual might go berserk after being in the present world for too long, causing destruction, the bounty was set at 180,000.
If she really threw caution to the wind and went on a killing spree, the loss would definitely be much more than 180,000.
Lin Chao couldn’t help but express his exasperation to Tao Yu,
"Do you think it’s possible that after you caught four people similar to her in a row, she got scared?"
These bounties that accumulate to over a hundred thousand certainly did not involve any simple characters, nor were they easy to deal with.
Sessions with a high bounty like this would definitely interest senior partners.
Being able to remain at large until now, of course, they had some skills.
It was normal for the last one to be scared after the previous four were caught within half a month.
"I’ve heard that it’s not just her; other bounties have also become tougher to complete, and even the number of crazies caught at night in the Inner City has decreased."
Lin Chao carefully chose his words.
Although he had been dragged by Tao Yu for almost a month as a conscript, he was actually very grateful to Tao Yu, who had obtained the vaccine from Panda and given it to Lin Xue first.
If Lin Xue could pass on her own, there would be no problem; if she couldn’t get through the willpower assessment, it would be used directly as a safety net.
Because of this safety net function, the vaccine was truly expensive.
For if it was not used, one could sell it again after the event, and since it was scarce on the market, it was tough to get hold of.
Most of the time, one would need to pay a premium.
"Let’s call it a day then, I’m hungry, let’s go find Goudan."
"Alright, let’s buy some groceries on the way; we can’t always be mooching off him."
Still, Lin Chao had an overwhelming sense of justice. Since his return, Goudan, with his cooking skill chip, had become the main provider of Tao Yu’s daily meals.
And it must be said, the meals were tastier than those of an average small restaurant outside, plus they were made with freshly bought Yuan Force ingredients. Truly splendid.
"He went on a mission to fill the scene today, don’t know if he’s finished with it yet."
As neighbors, Tao Yu heard him mention this off-handedly.
In general, Goudan’s tasks were mainly stable and safe. With his status as a mid-tier partner and not-weak abilities, he often completed a few-thousand reward missions in several days, earning tens of thousands per month.
The past few days were no different, serving as one of the many people hired to bolster the scene, with additional subsidies if fighting was required.
But just as Tao Yu was about to casually check in with him through his wristwatch radio channel, suddenly, he felt a decrease in his spiritual power.
This made Tao Yu’s eyes shine slightly, and he stopped what he was doing.
"Wait, there’s something going on, keep searching."
Tao Yu’s words gave Lin Chao a similar sense of urgency,
"It seems like it, should indeed be around here..."
Lin Chao looked around. They were on a sparsely populated street, with the shops on both sides closed, and the neon lights above flickering sparsely.
"Which direction do you think is better?"
Tao Yu began to purposely feed spiritual power towards Lin Chao.
"Over there,"
Lin Chao pointed in a direction with his hand.
"Alright."
With a light tap of his feet, Tao Yu floated away, appearing graceful yet moving extremely fast.
As he activated his movement, Tao Yu quietly commanded,
"Annan, come out. I’ve found you..."
The voice echoed, seeming to penetrate the entire street.
But even with such a disturbance, not a single person dared to peek out; instead, the sound of windows closing could be heard.
And in the next instant, Tao Yu’s eyes lit up slightly as he looked up toward the rooftop of a building.
He had found his target!
"Ladder Cloud Climbing!"
With consecutive pushes against the walls, Tao Yu ascended rapidly, touching several windowsills, and soon reached the rooftop...
What do you think?
Total Responses: 0