Chapter 335: Borrowing a Technique Doesn't Count as Stealing

At one in the morning, He Jiaqing entered Xiao Zhenggong's villa.

There were over a dozen bodyguards on the first floor of the villa; not a single one noticed He Jiaqing.

He Jiaqing went to the second floor first — the second floor had guest rooms and a study. He walked a full circle, but found nothing.

He went up to the third floor, which had two bedrooms. He searched around once more, but still didn't find what he was looking for.

Something this precious couldn't possibly be kept on the first floor.

Where else could it be?

The basement?

He Jiaqing went into the basement. The first underground level was a wine cellar and a home theater — the item wasn't there.

There was also a second underground level.

The second underground level was a garage and a pump room. Passing by the pump room, He Jiaqing stopped in his tracks.

There was a hidden chamber.

A hidden chamber between the pump room and the garage.

He Jiaqing felt along the wall for a moment and found a brick.

This brick was very unusual. He Jiaqing's fingers could sense the brick's special texture; he knew there was a special mechanism inside it.

The hidden door was right here.

The mechanism wasn't hard to crack, but could there be a trap here?

That thing was right behind the door. Although it had been sealed, He Jiaqing could sense that overwhelming presence.

Rushing in so rashly was bound to be dangerous.

But for the famed general Zhao Xiaowan, taking one gamble was well worth it!

He Jiaqing rubbed the brick for a moment, and the mechanism was quickly broken.

The hidden door slowly opened, and a long spear, wrapped up tightly, stood in the center of the hidden chamber.

He Jiaqing approached the long spear carefully. He had heard of Zhao Xiaowan's methods — one moment of carelessness, and he could be gravely wounded.

"In the desolate master's house, who still comes to ask of words?" the long spear suddenly spoke.

He Jiaqing broke out in a cold sweat.

It being able to speak was normal.

He hadn't expected her to also recite poetry.

That was normal too — Zhao Xiaowan was not only a general, but also a woman of talent.

"Don't worry, I mean no harm."

According to the information he had gathered, after Zhao Xiaowan transformed into the long spear, she became both deaf and blind. Knowing full well she couldn't hear him, He Jiaqing still softly tried to soothe her.

This wasn't to soothe Zhao Xiaowan — it was to remind himself.

He must not let slip the slightest malice. Facing the foremost Wanderer Cultivator, any trace of malice would be fatal.

"Yesterday we met and shared a cup of wine; today my tongue commands ten thousand brave troops. The earth has no cracks, the sky has no road — who are you, and who am I?" The long spear spoke again, and its presence grew stronger with it.

He Jiaqing took half a step back — not only because of the presence, but also because he noticed a powerful seal around the long spear.

This seal wouldn't be easy to break. He Jiaqing had originally planned to take the long spear away from the villa, but now he changed his approach.

"I'll only borrow a little technique from you — just a little,

I just want to borrow the Flatland-Rising-Wind technique. I won't touch any of your other techniques,

Of course, if you're willing to lend me the Parted-Thousand-Miles technique, I'd be very grateful,

Your techniques will be weakened a little, but a loan is repaid — they'll recover in time."

He Jiaqing touched the long spear once, and the presence surged again.

He had gotten the technique. With no time to verify it, He Jiaqing immediately pulled back, turned, and left — only to see over a dozen bodyguards rushing into the basement.

That brick really did have something else hidden in it.

The bodyguards had come, so Xiao Zhenggong would surely return too.

This was no place to linger. He Jiaqing didn't want to fight the bodyguards either — his figure flashed, and in an instant he vanished without a trace.

By the time the bodyguards came to their senses, He Jiaqing was already outside the villa gates.

He had thought he could make a clean getaway, but Xiao Zhenggong suddenly came charging at him head-on and kicked at He Jiaqing.

Back this fast?

He Jiaqing dodged the kick with a sidestep, and Xiao Zhenggong's shoe flew off his foot.

He Jiaqing dodged the shoe as well. The shoe slammed into the steps, shattering the marble steps to pieces.

The shoelace flew off the shoe on its own and whipped He Jiaqing's back like a lash.

That one really hurt. He Jiaqing was sent staggering, and his figure vanished into the night.

Xiao Zhenggong chased two steps, but simply couldn't catch He Jiaqing. He turned and rushed into the basement.

Good — the long spear was still there.

Xiao Zhenggong looked at the group of bodyguards and cursed: "Useless trash!"

The bodyguards didn't dare speak — not because Xiao Zhenggong scared them, but because the long spear did.

A terrifying presence came at them like an army of thousands charging head-on, so frightening they couldn't open their mouths.

Xiao Zhenggong looked at the long spear and didn't dare approach it lightly either.

The long spear would have to be moved.

He'd finally gotten into the archive room and had only read two pages before that damned thief ruined everything tonight.

Who the hell is this damned thief? Let me catch him, and I'll tear him to pieces.

……

He Jiaqing ran along the road, feeling that his speed was no faster than before.

Did he borrow the wrong technique?

That shouldn't be the case.

What he had borrowed was a basic technique; the travel cultivator's basic techniques were only Plain Wind and Qu Ji Qiji Bixiong.

Xiao Zhenggong had suddenly appeared just now, and He Jiaqing had not made any advance prediction.

This proved that Qu Ji Qiji Bixiong had not been borrowed, and now it seemed Plain Wind had not been borrowed either.

What was the reason for this?

……

Yuezhou City, Chengyun Road.

Qin Minghui rushed to the Ruirong Textile Factory.

This factory had been abandoned for many years; weeds grew thick around the perimeter wall.

The parents of the two children were crying heartbreakingly at the gate, desperately trying to rush into the factory, but were held back by the police.

Qin Minghui showed his credentials and asked about the situation: the two children were still inside the factory grounds, their fate unknown.

The surrounding roads had been sealed off, but no one was sure whether the unknown creature inside would come out.

A witness said the unknown creature was a snake, lying on the ground, taller than a person, with two large fangs bigger than a cleaver.

A cleaver?

Qin Minghui imagined the shape of a cleaver — it didn't quite seem like a snake's fang.

The witness was a beggar who had originally planned to sleep one night in the textile factory. Two children came in and were brawling inside, and the two sides even had some verbal altercation.

During the quarrel, this giant snake appeared. The beggar immediately fled; the two children ran slowly and were coiled into the factory building by the giant snake.

Based on this description, the odds of these two children being alive were very low.

A police officer asked Qin Minghui: "Do you want us to dispatch search and rescue personnel?"

Qin Minghui disagreed: "They're not professionals; don't approach the aberrant."

A police officer asked: "Are you a professional?"

A police officer beside him had looked at Qin Minghui's credentials and said: "He's a trainee."

"I suggest you still wait for your captain to come."

Captain Chen Changrui was not in Yuezhou; he was on his way back.

The nearest other team members were still over twenty minutes' drive away.

Boom!

A plume of green smoke rose inside the factory building, as if it was about to collapse.

A collapse wouldn't matter; what everyone worried about most was the aberrant suddenly bursting out.

Qin Minghui said: "Everyone be ready to evacuate; I'll go in first and check the situation."

The police officer advised: "I'll say the same thing — best to wait for your captain to arrive, or at least wait for a full team member."

"I am a Dark Star Bureau agent; it is my duty. Please cooperate with me."

Qin Minghui crossed the cordon, gun in hand, and carefully walked toward the factory building. When he reached the factory door, he didn't rush in; instead he took the outdoor stairs up to the second floor of the factory.

The door panel on the second floor had been removed; entering from here could avoid the sound of opening a door.

In a factory building like this, the first floor generally went straight up to the roof, and the second floor was generally the operating platform for special equipment. Standing on the second floor, one could clearly see the situation on the first floor.

These were all cases Qin Minghui had learned during his traineeship. Just as expected, the second floor was indeed a ring-shaped platform attached to the equipment.

Standing on the platform, Qin Minghui saw a corpulent creature on the first floor, writhing beside a knitting machine, its body wrapped in all manner of colorful, nearly rotten yarn.

Qin Minghui steadied his breathing and tried to suppress his heartbeat.

This was his first time seeing an aberrant in the field. He was very nervous; the creature's size also far exceeded his understanding of living things.

By visual estimation, Qin Minghui made a rough judgment: the creature was about six meters long and roughly two meters in diameter.

Although it was elongated, judging by this proportion, it probably wasn't a snake — it was shorter and thicker than a snake's build.

This aberrant was overall white, with regularly distributed black spots, and sparse hairs.

The monster climbed onto another row of knitting machines. This time, Qin Minghui was certain this thing was not a snake, because it had legs — short, thick legs, not densely packed, but quite numerous, more than ten.

The monster turned its body, and Qin Minghui saw its "face."

It did have a pair of large tusks, but these were not snake fangs.

These were insect mandibles!

This was a silkworm — apart from its enormous size, its other features were extremely similar to the domestic silkworms Qin Minghui had seen as a child.

Through observation and comparison with the cases he had studied, Qin Minghui made a preliminary judgment.

This type of aberrant belonged to the larval stage of insects. It currently showed no human characteristics and basically acted on instinct; under normal circumstances it was a relatively primitive aberrant.

A primitive aberrant wouldn't be very intelligent. Like domestic silkworms, before they moth, their eyesight also wouldn't be very good, and their combat ability should not be strong.

Of course, this was only a preliminary judgment. Captain Chen had once said that in Puluo Province there was a type of aberrant called Madame Suoe, also in the form of an insect larva. This type of aberrant was not primitive — it was highly intelligent and very strong in combat, able to easily annihilate a fully armed squad of a hundred.

Qin Minghui did not act rashly. Being able to lock down the monster's position, he had already exceeded his mission; what he needed to do now was quietly wait for support.

Wail~

Crying!

Qin Minghui started, and looked toward the corner of the factory building.

Something was moving over there.

It was two bundles of yarn — Qin Minghui had initially thought they were spindles on the knitting machine.

He listened carefully to the crying; it should be a child's.

The children were still alive!

They were trapped inside the silk-ball!

Qin Minghui gripped his pistol tightly. The situation had grown complicated.

What was this silkworm doing, keeping the child inside the silk-ball?

Qin Minghui recalled the habits of silkworms. The creature should eat leaves; it had no habit of hunting with silk.

Looking at how its own body was also wrapped in all kinds of silk threads—could it be that it was practicing spinning a cocoon?

Silkworms don't eat before spinning a cocoon. That was the most optimistic guess Qin Minghui could make.

Of course, this was a strange creature, so one couldn't completely apply ordinary silkworm logic to it.

After waiting more than ten minutes, the silkworm kept wrapping itself in silk threads, seemingly with no other intention.

A message came through on the phone—colleagues had already arrived near the factory.

Qin Minghui had just let out a breath of relief when he saw the enormous silkworm wriggling toward the corner of the factory building and lunging at the two children in the silk.

It used its three pairs of short, thick legs to seize the struggling child, raised half its body, and bared a pair of fangs.

The posture was exactly the same as when a silkworm nibbles mulberry leaves.

Without a moment's hesitation, Qin Minghui raised his pistol, aimed at the bug, and fired ten shots in a row, emptying the magazine.

The handgun specially designed by the Dark Star Bureau for Fighters was extremely powerful, and its accuracy could be effectively boosted through a Fighter's control.

All ten shots hit the "silkworm's" head. One could tell the silkworm was in great pain.

It hurt as if it had been flicked on the forehead ten times.

The silkworm dropped the child in its grasp and, following instinct, charged at Qin Minghui, who had just fired.

The second-floor platform collapsed. Qin Minghui first shot straight up on the spot, slammed into the roof, and then crashed back down to the ground.

This wasn't something you could learn from textbooks or case studies, nor something you could practice on a training ground.

It was a bit like a roller coaster, except that right now he had no protective gear whatsoever.

The instant he hit the ground, Qin Minghui felt his five viscera and six bowels had all shifted out of place.

The pistol had fallen some distance away.

Qin Minghui wanted to pick the pistol back up, but he couldn't stand.

The enormous "silkworm" was wriggling toward him.

Qin Minghui picked up an iron pipe from the ground and hurled it at the "silkworm."

As a Fighter, he could land the iron pipe squarely on the silkworm's head.

But he hadn't advanced to a higher tier, and his strength wasn't enough—the iron pipe failed to wound the silkworm.

The silkworm swept its body around, wrapped Qin Minghui up, and squeezed hard. Qin Minghui's vision blurred.

Crack-crack~

His bones creaked and groaned.

Qin Minghui held on with everything his Fighter's gift could muster, but in the blink of an eye he reached his limit.

The two children were crying.

Qin Minghui shouted toward the children with great effort: "Run!"

A slightly older child broke free of the silk threads, tried to flee, but was tripped by the silk again.

The other child only knew how to cry, without even the courage to stand up.

The silkworm spread its short, thick insect legs toward Qin Minghui.

Qin Minghui clawed and tore at the silkworm's body with his fingernails—this was the only counterattack he could manage.

Bang! Bang!

Two gunshots rang out in quick succession.

A slender figure charged into the factory building.

Dengpao had arrived!

He fired several shots at the "silkworm." The enraged silkworm released Qin Minghui, turned, and coiled itself around Dengpao, wrapping him within its body.

Sliiick!

"Dengpao" burrowed out from inside the silkworm's body, swapped magazines, and kept firing.

The "silkworm" turned and coiled again, and Dengpao broke free once more.

After Zhou Xuan-ing for more than ten minutes, Tang Yuan charged into the workshop, pen in hand, reached the "silkworm's" side, and flung out a huge splash of ink.

The ink transformed into countless characters.

Dengpao shouted: "Run!"

Before the words had even faded, characters large and small, friend and foe alike, began attacking everyone present.

PS: Tang Yuan, real name You Xuehan, is the team's secretary.

(End of chapter)