Chapter 907: The Thief and the Instigator

Xia Qing didn't rush in to investigate what was on the other side of the wall. She pushed her cart and kept browsing, picked half a cart of goods, paid, boxed and sealed them, placed them on the comprehensive service counter on the second floor of the mall, and gave the delivery address: "Deliver to the Green Dragon Squad."

In the outer city, civilians rarely bought supplies in bulk, because any supplies that couldn't be hidden in their clothes simply couldn't be brought home safely. Although the public order in the inner city was somewhat better, carrying large quantities of supplies around outside was still risking one's life. Therefore, the large malls or supermarkets in the inner city offered home delivery service.

"Alright, please wait a moment." The clerk weighed the goods, registered Xia Qing's personal information, then quoted the shipping fee: "8 points."

The Green Dragon Squad's base was in the outer city near the inner city, so the shipping fee was relatively cheaper.

Xia Qing, who used to earn only 5 points a day from working herself to the bone, now handed over her ID badge without blinking to swipe away 8 points, then picked up her newly bought grey-white briefcase and headed for the restroom on the second floor.

Although this was Xia Qing's first time browsing this mall, she had been here countless times before, because she was the one who built it. The shelves, shops, and partition walls inside the mall could be changed at will, but the load-bearing walls, restrooms, and fire exits couldn't be changed—all of these were etched in Xia Qing's mind.

So she clearly knew that the sound she had just heard in the supermarket had come from the storage room of the second-floor restroom. It was daytime, and the person hiding inside couldn't avoid all the surveillance cameras to move safely, so there was no need to rush.

As for whether this person was the magnetic-sense evolver who had gone missing from the planting center, she'd know once she rescued them. If it was, she would take the person back to the Ninth Planting Center!

The cleaning staff wiping the restroom sink saw the gold badge pinned to Xia Qing's chest. A flash of jealousy and malice flickered in their eyes before they quickly lowered their head and pretended to work hard.

Xia Qing washed her hands first before entering the restroom, putting on plenty of airs with the bearing of a high-level evolver.

Squatting in a toilet stall, Xia Qing closed her eyes and used her hearing to catch the subtle sounds around her.

The splashing water next door stopped, and the sounds outside became clearer—the cleaning staff by the outer sink cursing the unfair world, someone walking briskly in the restroom, a child being beaten and scolded… With her eyes closed, Xia Qing searched bit by bit for her target.

Got it!

She heard the faint sound of airflow from inside the storage room, blowing a plastic bag!

The frequency and force indicated that the person bound and confined in the storage room was still inside. They were unconscious or asleep, and the plastic bag in front of their face was vibrating rhythmically with their breathing.

Xia Qing took out her phone, and using her body as cover, sent a message to Yang Jin. Seeing Yang Jin's reply, Xia Qing was stunned for a moment, pressed her lips together, and smiled silently.

The person hidden in the restroom was indeed the magnetic-sense evolver who had gone missing last night. He was already under protection. The reason no rescue had been carried out was that they didn't want to alert the enemy.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

Not only inside the mall, but the bait and the fishermen throughout the entire safe zone had already been caught in the net spread by the safe zone authorities and the Green Dragon Squad.

Why, when everything had already fallen into the net, hadn't they closed it yet?

Xia Qing didn't ask, but she figured there were two reasons: first, they were waiting for the fishermen to transfer the magnetic-sense evolver so they could catch their entire chain of contacts at once and wipe them out together; second, the base authorities also wanted to use this opportunity to find and utilize the magnetic-sense evolvers hidden within the safe zone.

"Buzz."

Yang Jin sent another message: I didn't tell you in advance for two reasons: first, I didn't get a chance on the vehicle; second, I knew you definitely wouldn't expose yourself. The one in the storage room—you can't take them with you. You can try to争取 one of the others.

Xia Qing couldn't help smiling again. Of course she wouldn't expose herself, but Yang Jin truly lived up to being the not-related-by-blood-but-same-viciousness elder brother of the Vicious Wolf—too sharp.

Disappointed about not being able to bring the person back to her own turf?

Xia Qing admitted she was a little, but she was more happy than anything.

This incident proved that after removing the two great scourges of Tang Zhengrong and the Sufeng Squad, Hui-3 Safe Zone had truly become much "safer."

Walking out from the inner room, Xia Qing passed by the cleaning staff resting by the storage room door, washed her hands slowly, and standing before the large clear mirror she hadn't looked into in many years, tidied her somewhat messy short hair a few times. After once again confirming that Tang Huai and the Broken-Waist Wolf had been blinded, she shook the water off her hands, picked up her briefcase, and left the restroom.

This time, Xia Qing was much more relaxed.

She wandered to the small accessories area on the first floor, browsing stall by stall. This time her goal wasn't to look for the "bait and fishermen" here, but to find the official oriole.

In the end, she guessed the oriole was among the soldiers patrolling the mall with guns, or behind the cameras that were everywhere in the mall.

Just as she stuffed a hair tie that would make a perfect collar for Little Feimao into her briefcase, Xia Qing received a call from Tang Huai.

"Sister Qing, where are you? Want to come with me to pick up Huo Zhun and the others?"

Xia Qing answered calmly, "At the Baiye Mall in the inner city."

"Got it, I'll wait for you at the east gate of Baiye Mall in ten minutes." Tang Huai hung up cheerfully.

Since there was a free ride available, there was no need to waste points having the mall deliver the goods. Xia Qing climbed back up to the second floor, retrieved her box from the service counter, and headed downstairs.

When she carried the box with both hands, it not only covered the gold badge on her chest, but also left the pockets on both sides of her protective suit unprotected. The thieves prowling the mall for targets began to gather around Xia Qing.

Xia Qing remained expressionless, carrying the box down the stairs. A young woman with a child of about four or five was going up; as they passed Xia Qing, the small child raised a hand, and the large razor blade held in its palm swiftly sliced across the pocket of Xia Qing's suit where her phone was.

Finding that the sharp blade hadn't been able to cut through the target's clothing, the child hadn't even made the next move before Xia Qing had grabbed it by the neck and lifted it up.

"What are you doing! Let go of my child! Somebody help! Somebody help! Murder—!" The woman only stood to the side screaming. There was no fear or urgency in her voice, and she didn't step forward to save the child.

"Help!! Help…"

Meeting Xia Qing's expressionless face and icy eyes, the loudly crying-for-help child was so frightened it lost its voice. Its thin little arms, no thicker than a cornstalk, dropped down, and the bloodstained razor blade in its hand clattered onto the stairs with a crisp, pleasant sound.

This child was too small and too thin to tell whether it was a boy or a girl. The reason Xia Qing had grabbed it by the neck was that the clothes on this child looked decent enough, but tore at the slightest pull.

This kind of situation—Xia Qing had seen it too many times while living in the safe zone. If you tore the child's clothes, you'd be extorted.

The child in her palm was light as a feather, only a few jin heavier than Daigua the monkey, its face thin to the bone with only a pair of big eyes, brimming with terror.

"Oh my, look at this child—how many days has it been without a meal?" Someone in the gathering crowd let out a soft sigh. Someone chimed in, and the woman cried even louder.

Seeing that Xia Qing wasn't scolding anyone and wasn't reacting, the onlookers immediately grew bolder and began chattering: "Children born after the catastrophe are so pitiful—they've never even had one full meal."

"Let it go, the child was only doing it for a bite to eat."

"Exactly, and you're carrying such a big box—"

Before this person could finish speaking, they saw Xia Qing throw the child down, screamed in fright, and scrambled backward, terrified that they might be the next one thrown.

The ordinary soldiers below caught the child, and looked up at the high-level evolver standing on the stairs. The first-floor hall fell deathly silent; only the child Xia Qing had thrown down couldn't stop coughing violently. The body exposed through the torn clothing bore even more scars than its arms.

"Thief." Xia Qing stated calmly.

The cleanly dressed, plump-faced woman saw things going badly and was just about to run when Xia Qing grabbed her by the neck. Terrified, she begged loudly for mercy: "Spare me, spare me, please—!"

"Thud!"

Xia Qing threw the person down the stairs, her voice cold: "Instigator."