Chapter 425: The All-Treasure Box's Pencil

After Peijie finished repenting, he had also cried; now he had hope in his heart and was not so afraid.

He lifted his sleeve to wipe his face, then Peijie began to ask: "Hei Tan, do you have any listening devices on you? Any contact devices or whatever?"

This is clearly a child who watches too much TV, his imagination follows the TV.

At home he had grown used to talking to that monkey Big Qi; now seeing Zheng Tan, Peijie still habitually spoke directly.

Anyone who has raised animals knows that many animals are not as stupid as people imagine; after prolonged contact with humans, they can still understand some words. That's how Peijie feels; he always thinks many animals can understand human speech, such as his monkey Big Qi, and also this black cat in front of him.

As Peijie was speaking, Zheng Tan's ear twitched, and he quickly darted from his spot to hide behind a wooden box in the corner.

Seeing this, Peijie stopped speaking; he knew someone must be coming from outside. His mind shifted, he looked at the red panda in the nearby cage that was scratching its fur, and reached out to pat it.

The curtain of the cloth shelter was suddenly lifted; if Zheng Tan hadn't heard the slight movement, Peijie's hearing would not have detected anyone approaching, so the visitor's action can be considered rather sudden.

The visitor lifted the curtain and glanced inside the cloth shelter; it wasn't large, and with the light coming in from the lifted curtain, a quick glance let him see the interior—there was no place to hide a person—so after looking, his gaze lingered on Peijie for a few seconds, he found nothing unusual, and his vigilance eased considerably.

He had heard a bit of movement over here and came to look; he didn't expect it to be that child teasing the red panda. A child, being locked up here without crying or fussing is already surprising; however, if they are overly obedient and cooperative, they instead arouse suspicion, so one stays on guard.

Now Peijie seemed somewhat irritatedly patting the nearby cage, likely he was losing his temper.

Peijie's behavior was originally intended to divert the visitor's attention so they wouldn't notice Zheng Tan; he didn't expect that his actions would actually lower the visitor's vigilance.

The visitor glanced at Peijie a few times, said "Keep it down," then lowered the curtain and left. This time he didn't deliberately soften his steps, so Peijie could hear his footsteps as he departed.

Peijie let out a breath of relief, and Zheng Tan also let out a breath of relief. The only one likely frightened was the red panda confined in the cage beside Peijie.

Peijie's earlier movement frightened the red panda that had been scratching its face so much that it leaned back sharply, then fell backward. Now it stares at Peijie's side, its claws no longer scratching fur.

Zheng Tan suspected the red panda had been scared silly, seeming even more dazed.

After that person left, Zheng Tan came out from behind the box in the corner.

Peijie's understanding of these people is limited; he doesn't even know how many there are in total, and there's still much more that Zheng Tan has learned that he doesn't know.

Zheng Tan's presence here serves two purposes: to check on Peijie's condition and state of mind, to confirm whether this child is safe; second, to give Peijie some hope and motivation to persevere. After all, he's just a child—even if his psychological endurance is strong, it has limits.

Now Peijie's mood has improved considerably, and Zheng Tan also doesn't intend to stay here all the time; he still wants to go out and scout the situation.

"Hey Hei Tan, sorry, when that person brought me here, he also took your box." Peijie said before Zheng Tan left.

Box?

Zheng Tan's steps halted.

The only box Peijie had ever taken was the All-Treasure Box that Hou Junyi gave Zheng Tan.

Why would the person who took Peijie also take Zheng Tan's box? Could it just have been a casual grab?

Zheng Tan didn't know.

After learning about Peijie's situation yesterday, no one paid attention to Zheng Tan's box anymore. Er Mao and the others wouldn't even think about what was inside that box; when they discussed things earlier they only mentioned it briefly, but couldn't find the box. Compared to Peijie's matter, the box was just a trivial thing, so later their attention shifted elsewhere and they didn't bother much about the box that remained unfound.

Now it appears the box was actually brought here by the person who took Peijie away.

Quietly leaving the cloth shelter, Zheng Tan listened to the movements from the tent side.

Those six people were still over there, apparently discussing something; the atmosphere wasn't good, and one of them had a short temper, shouting as if encountering something anger-inducing.

The person who went to the cloth shelter earlier did so to let Peijie hear more clearly, so he didn't use a very strong dialect when speaking; but now these six people are gathered together, speaking in dialectal tones, and although two of them speak somewhat better, when they talk fast Zheng Tan still can't make out what they're saying.

Zheng Tan took advantage of their discussion to go around behind the tent.

There are three tents; six people are in one of them, and Zheng Tan definitely cannot enter the tent occupied by someone, but the other two he can take a look at.

Last time I came there were only two tents; this extra one that has appeared may be related to the person who brought Peijie here, and the box is most likely placed inside this newly erected tent.

When those people were arguing fiercely, Zheng Tan seized an opening and slipped into the newly erected tent.

Fortunately, Zheng Tan's guess was correct; the box was placed inside here. As soon as he entered and glanced around, he spotted it.

However, the box bore several obvious scratches, as if made by a sharp metal object, especially around the combination lock; besides the scratches there were also some impact marks. It's clear that after taking the box, that person tried to open it, but Zheng Tan didn't expect Hou Junyi's All-Treasure Box to be so durable.

In fact, when they captured Peijie they noticed the box he was carrying; these people had some discernment, good eyesight, and could tell at a glance that the box's material was out of the ordinary, so they thought there might be something valuable inside and casually took it. The box is somewhat heavy for a child, but for these people this weight is nothing. Yet that person didn't expect that after bringing the box over, they would hack and smash it, still failing to open it; they had originally planned to try other methods, but got delayed by some matters, and now they don't have time to open the box. This also gave Zheng Tan an opportunity.

After listening to the outside movements and confirming those six people were still in their tent over there, Zheng Tan quickly dialed the combination and opened the box.

Zheng Tan had studied the box's contents when he had free time; inside are several compartments that lay out in a gradient when opened. The top layers hold some small tools such as a compass, band-aids, a whistle, etc.; one layer also contains a palm-sized flat medicine box holding various medicines.

There are many items, Zheng Tan doesn't need most of them; however, when he previously accompanied the Jiao Family to escort Jiao Yuan to the capital, Hou Junyi told him about some of the items and their uses in the All-Treasure Box. Zheng Tan doesn't remember them all, but what stands out in his memory is the thing placed in the bottommost box.

In the lowest layer, Zheng Tan took out the inner box and opened it to have a look.

Inside the box lay a metallic object resembling a mechanical pencil; beside the "mechanical pencil" was a slender cylindrical tube, which at first glance someone unfamiliar might assume holds the mechanical pencil's lead.

Both ends of the cylinder can be opened, inside are some granular substances.

This mechanical pencil functions as a launcher, while the cylinder contains specially made bullets. According to Hou Junyi, the pointed "bullets" are tranquilizer darts, the flat-headed ones are electric shock bullets, the latter being more than twice the size of the former, so there are fewer of them in quantity.

Zheng Tan counted: five tranquilizer bullets and two electric shock bullets.

The person who brought the box over certainly never imagined that this box, which to him seemed likely to hold valuables, would instead become a powerful tool for Zheng Tan; he had originally planned to profit greatly afterward, but this is actually a self-destructive act.

Zheng Tan looked at the "pencil" and "refill" in his hand, not knowing how effective this pencil and the two types of "bullets" were.

This device was made by Hou Junyi's grandfather; it's been three years since Hou Junyi gave the box. During that summer, Zheng Tan went to Fang Mengmeng's home in the capital and ran into Hou Junyi, who told him that the kid now has a new All-Treasure Box, with all its tools etc. fully upgraded, and this special mechanical pencil has been improved through several generations; the one given to Zheng Tan in his box is relatively primitive.

Compared to Hou Junyi's current equipment, Zheng Tan's is definitely far inferior, but in his view it's already a very good emergency tool, and having it lets Zheng Tan be on guard.

Anything given to Hou Junyi certainly wouldn't be too dangerous or uncontrollable, so the effects of these two kinds of "bullets" are definitely limited, not lethal, making them more suitable for defense and some emergency situations.

The box contains too many items, plus some interesting little gadgets; unfortunately Zheng Tan can't take them all, and the box itself is too bulky for him to carry steadily away, so he can only bring a few things.

He placed the "pencil" and "refill" aside, Zheng Tan then closed and locked the box again, and took the pencil and refill to look for a chance to leave.

An ordinary person could hold these two items with one hand, but Zheng Tan needs both hands; since his hands are occupied holding things, he can only walk on his two legs.

Zheng Tan wanted to first test this "pencil"; he also had a rough idea in mind, but when testing, to avoid making noise and startling the snake, he moved a bit farther away.

Feeling the distance was about right, Zheng Tan climbed a tree, where he was relatively safer.

After fumbling for a while, Zheng Tan then twisted open the front third of the "pencil", inserted a pointed bullet, and screwed the pencil back together.

He looked around.

On the tree ahead there was a blue-gray feathered bird chirping away; Zheng Tan aimed the pencil's tip at that unfortunate bird.

Without a sight, he could only rely on feel; Zheng Tan's first attempt lacked confidence, but fortunately that bird's size is about the same as a campus gray magpie, and it's not too far away.

Zheng Tan held a "pen" in one hand, and with the other hand pressed the button at the tip of the pen.

After the soft click of the button being pressed, the bird fell from the branch, landing on the shrubbery below, without even a chirp. (To be continued...)