Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

Chapter 936 - 804: Preparedness Prevents Trouble

Xiao Moshan’s worries were a bit unnecessary; trying to lie in ambush ahead was actually not that easy.The main problem was that no one knew which direction Youyou would run after being smuggled out.

And the ones doing this kind of thing were just a tiny handful of people inside the Military, who didn’t dare make a fuss—where were they supposed to get that many men?

Over an hour later, the off-road vehicle stopped. Another ten minutes passed, and a figure appeared strangely out of nowhere—it was the Paranoid.

Granny Jia’s nose twitched, her brows knitting slightly. "Can’t even bother to clean up properly after doing the job."

"Don’t mention it," the Paranoid tilted his head, answering gloomily, "turns out there was an A-level Poison Attribute..."

Back when they first drew up the extraction plan, Qu Jianlei had suggested it’d be best to have someone stay behind to provide covert protection.

Three Supremes moving as a team was certainly fine, and if someone really refused to give up, it’d be easier to scare the enemy off.

But Qu Jianlei felt that scaring off their pursuers was a bad option.

If the other side really was that disgusting type who goes back on their word, once they realized they couldn’t achieve their goal, they could very well fly into a shame-fueled rage and do something else.

For example, anonymously tipping off others in the Military. That would make it much harder for them to escape Star No. 3.

So better to leave someone in ambush; if pursuers showed up, just kill them outright.

The Paranoid volunteered to take the rear-guard job, shadowing the off-road vehicle to protect it in secret, and he indeed waited out the pursuers.

The pursuers were only three: an A-level Earth Attribute at peak, a B-level Wind Attribute, and, annoyingly, another A-level Poison Attribute.

The headcount wasn’t large, and the B-level Wind Attribute’s main role was just to handle speed, but there were two Mutated Attributes!

The other side figured this lineup was more than enough to stomp any possible rescue party.

The Paranoid didn’t hesitate in the slightest; he used his Spiritual Power to wipe out the three of them.

His first target, naturally, was the A-level Earth Attribute—this Attribute was enough to give most Awakened a headache.

However, very unfortunately, that was when he got hit by the A-level Poison Attribute’s counterattack.

Having lost his chance to sneak attack, the Poison Attribute’s Technique turned out to be seriously sinister, with a faint stench and extremely strong adhesion.

The Paranoid had already been working hard to strip away the abnormal aura, but he still couldn’t completely get rid of it in the short term.

"An A-level Poison Attribute..." Granny Jia was briefly dazed, then shook her head. "No wonder."

To be fair, the Paranoid’s ability to clear auras was definitely stronger than that of a typical Supreme, but against a Poison Attribute he was stuck.

In ordinary combat, what the Poison Attribute valued most was concealment; colorless and odorless toxins were their favorites.

But that restriction would limit how much of their Combat Power they could bring to bear.

So when things came down to a frontal clash, what they competed on was how intense and fast-acting the toxicity was; smell and color didn’t matter much.

Still, whether it was sneaking around or going head-on, Poison Attribute Awakened cared greatly about adhesion.

No matter how potent a toxin, to affect the human body it still needed a bit of time.

Qu Jianlei was a little worried. "This toxin... is it serious?"

He was a bit surprised at their luck—or lack thereof. He’d been roaming the Imperial territories for this long and had only ever seen C-level Poison Attributes, not even a B-level.

And now this: they’d run into an A-level Poison Attribute, and the Paranoid had actually taken a small hit.

The Paranoid replied carelessly, "Just ordinary poison, not some exclusive concoction. There aren’t many toxins that can bring down a Supreme."

Hearing this, Qu Jianlei nodded; that was indeed the case.

A Supreme wasn’t truly a Golden Core and hadn’t reached the "Golden Core Impermeable" state, but it wasn’t far off—normal poison was basically ineffective.

What Granny Jia was concerned about was: "How much longer until you can clear the aura? It might affect us entering the Star Port!"

"Truly despicable," Xiao Moshan couldn’t help muttering darkly, "even this supposed eight-hour window isn’t safe anymore!"

The initial agreement had been that once they took the person away, there would be an eight-hour safety period during which they could slip off Star No. 3.

But now that the other party had already started going back on their word, that promise obviously couldn’t be kept.

"Soon—give me another ten minutes, maybe a bit more," the Paranoid wasn’t all that bothered; after all, the gap in Cultivation Level between them was too big.

What he did care about was something else. "Boss, can we still go to the Star Port now?"

If they really couldn’t leave Star No. 3, that would be a huge problem; there were too many troops here, and a lot of Supremes as well.

Even someone as arrogant as him didn’t want to face a Celestial Net-like dragnet search here.

Qu Jianlei thought for a moment and asked, "Those three corpses..."

"All stored in the Storage Talismans," the Paranoid replied very crisply. "Their auras are wiped too, except for that disgusting poison."

Qu Jianlei spoke in a deep voice, "Then we continue on to the Star Port and get out of here as fast as possible."

Once he made his decision, naturally no one else had anything more to say.

Xiao Moshan and Youyou had no standing to question him, and Granny Jia and the Paranoid, besides trusting him, were relying on their own strength as well.

After all, a Supreme could survive alone in space for a while; even if they were captured, the Imperial side wouldn’t easily execute a Supreme.

The six of them entered the Star Port without much trouble, then launched the Armed Merchant Ship, smoothly lifted off, and left Star No. 3.

They had flown hundreds of thousands of kilometers away before the Paranoid finally spoke up and asked, "Boss, where did you get this intel?"

"There was no intel," Qu Jianlei shook his head and answered flatly. "I’m betting the pursuers hold very high rank."

"That’s right," Granny Jia understood as well; this bit of cause and effect really wasn’t hard to guess.

"Even if they succeed, they might not inform anyone else. That gives us a very useful time gap."

The Paranoid muttered under his breath, "But there’s still a gambling element in it, in the end."

"But it’s worth it," Granny Jia replied without hesitation. "If we keep waiting and miss the opportunity, that’s the truly idiotic move."

The Paranoid was left speechless by her, and finally just snorted, "I was just shooting the breeze, why take it so seriously?"

What Qu Jianlei didn’t know was that his guess and the truth... were worlds apart!

The few people who had taken Youyou out actually belonged to the "Current Manager" camp.

They bribed the regulators and deliberately created a loophole in the guarding, a "neglect" on the procedural side.

Then they took her out in exchange for a huge profit, while at the same time leaving no one’s fault traceable.

There was a certain risk involved, but if you want to make money, how could you not take risks?

The people involved would definitely be punished to some extent, but compared to thick stacks of Silver Notes, what did that punishment amount to?

Of course, there was no way just a few of them could pocket such a huge sum; all the key joints still had to be greased.

Generally speaking, all sorts of shady manipulations usually weren’t used on major felons.

Youyou carried a pile of charges, and she was tied to no small powers; this wasn’t easy money, and most people were unwilling to take that risk.

But, as rotten luck would have it, she’d already been locked up for ten years with no verdict yet, which meant this case smelled funny.

For the guards, exactly what kind of "funny" didn’t matter; the key point was: ten years detained, still no decision!

For people in their line of work, being too lax is clearly inappropriate, but being too strict isn’t right either—which leaves room for "oversight."

If this person escaped, the consequences would of course be serious; but then again... if the consequences weren’t serious, why would anyone pay three million?

For them, making small change on the side wasn’t hard, but chances to earn this kind of big money were extremely rare.

Everything up and down the chain had already been greased, and then someone came knocking, saying they wanted to go after the woman who was being extracted.

The operators naturally didn’t care. We just deliver the person out; if you want to follow the trail up the vine, that’s your business.

Still, this kind of thing ultimately affects their reputation, and they worried whether it might involve the Divine Text Association or the like.

After probing around, the operators learned that it was actually just someone who’d heard that a fortune was being paid for this woman and got a bit green with envy.

Youyou had been detained for ten years; who knows how many times she’d been interrogated, and her social ties had been combed through thoroughly.

Her information was crystal clear in everyone’s eyes, so who would be willing to spend several million to get her out?

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t even about "willing" or not; among Youyou’s friends, those who could even come up with that kind of money were few and far between!

If someone had both the money and the will, they wouldn’t have just watched her waste away ten years of Time!

Analyzing it this way, the people rescuing her were very likely newly rich upstarts!

And even if they weren’t upstarts, if they were willing to burn that kind of cash... guess how much more they had on hand?

So strictly speaking, the operators and the pursuers were not the same group.

The operators only took the money they were supposed to, and once they confirmed the payment, they just sent out a signal and walked away.

The pursuers, knowing the other side really had money, would of course keep dogging their heels.

In reality, though, the operators knew exactly who the pursuers were—people from their own system.

Those guys simply had more means at their disposal and naturally dared to covet more profit.

Precisely because of this, once they saw Qu Jianlei and the others leave, someone actually felt the urge to go after them.

—If others can rob them, why can’t I?

Later, those three gave chase; someone still couldn’t swallow it and launched a high-altitude drone to watch from afar.

If this kind of voyeuristic behavior were discovered, it would be asking for trouble, so the drone flew very high and very far.

The drone had no emotional fluctuations, so the Paranoid overlooked it, and his entire killing process was recorded crystal clear.

The people who’d just planned to watch some fun were instantly dumbstruck, unable to even utter a word.

After a long while someone finally muttered, "Damn, lucky we’re just hired help... the other side is brutal as hell."

"Whether they’re brutal isn’t the point," someone else said, frowning. "The problem now is, what do we do?"

The crowd fell silent again at that, and in the end no one knew who said, "Anyway, we can’t report it."

They really had no way to report it; otherwise, their own little operation would be exposed.

With consequences this severe, even if they wanted to return their ill-gotten gains, it was too late!

Besides, this was money they’d earned with their skills—why should they give it back?

Worse still, they recognized one of the men—he should be the Military’s great hope, the future Earth Attribute Supreme, the "Groundhog"!