I Need a Vehicle

[Caged Bird Observation Log] Eight hundred and twenty days of continuous observation and covert manipulation, spanning nearly three years. The observation had begun on June 10, 2028. Around that date, Tinghai's high school entrance examination had basically concluded, marking a distinct turning point when a massive wave of middle schoolers graduated and began their vacation. It was also the exact time Major Luo had completed his ritual at Yuanmeng Middle School and abandoned the site. Back then, Fang Xiaoxia had just graduated from Yuanmeng Middle School and taken that graduation photo with her mysterious female classmate. At that very same moment, "Fang Xiaoyan" came into being. And it was then that Luo Si, disguised as "Teacher Sun," had resigned from his teaching post. ...The loop was closed. Disparate fragments scattered across that identical point in time now resonated with one another across the years! The heavy fog cleared in an instant. All the intricate, tangled threads ultimately converged on the very same person! Tomorrow, September 9, the Major needed to take someone into his grasp, so that he could complete his Ascension to Sainthood before September 10. And September 9 happened to be a certain person's birthday. "It really is you, Fang Xiaoxia..." Bai Zhou's heart sank. The faint suspicion he had desperately hoped was false had ultimately come true. That ordinary, happy-go-lucky, down-on-her-luck girl who seemed to have nothing going for her besides her pretty face— She was their chosen Caged Bird. It was unbelievable. In the end, he had misjudged her. Neither Bai Zhou nor Crow had been able to detect anything unusual about Fang Xiaoxia. Yet something about her was undeniably special. Special enough that the Major had gone to immense trouble to orchestrate so much around her, exerting covert influence and guidance just to keep her safe and compliant. Just like the folk of Wancheng, kept like livestock by the Blood Worship Cult. No wonder the Major had shown such great interest in the Wancheng affair. Right then, Bai Zhou inexplicably thought of Longluo Private High School. He had only known that the school uniform Fang Xiaoxia wore bore the letters "LL" on the back, but he had never known where she actually went to school. But... LL? Wasn't that the abbreviation for "Longluo"? Abbreviating institutional names seemed to be a popular naming habit among the people of Tinghai. Bai Zhou had seen it before, just like FZDC. Could it be that Fang Xiaoxia was a student at Longluo Private High School, perhaps even in "Sun Zhizhou's" very class? —It felt even more like Wancheng now. Yet unlike in Wancheng, Major Luo's subordinates never dared to intervene directly in Fang Xiaoxia's life or leave any traces in her daily existence, almost as if they were ensuring the purity of a sacrificial offering... This led Bai Zhou into deep contemplation. In the eyes of Major Luo and his faction, what exactly was Fang Xiaoxia? Or rather, what could Fang Xiaoxia bring to them? "Penning, observing..." A jarring sense of contradiction welled up in Bai Zhou's mind. Major Luo had clearly placed no noticeable surveillance or protection around Fang Xiaoxia; otherwise, Bai Zhou's black cat form would not have failed to notice it, and Crow certainly would not have missed it! By the same token, Fang Xiaoxia wouldn't have run into a bear roaming the streets when she ran away from home in the dead of night. Evidently, this "penning" was closer to free-range herding. Like tending sheep. Yet even a shepherd had sheepdogs. Since Major Luo valued Fang Xiaoxia so highly, how could he possibly be so careless about her safety? Neither monitoring nor protecting her, merely doing something sly and covert... Exerting negative influences? Bai Zhou could not understand. It was as if they were deliberately weakening her, trying to ruin and hollow Fang Xiaoxia out. Like a caged lion—people didn't fear it coming to harm; they only feared it escaping to devour them... This bizarre intuition surfaced in Bai Zhou's mind. Yet... Fang Xiaoxia? A lion? The girl's giggly, self-deprecating figure, always drooping her head with that pathetic lack of confidence, flashed through his mind. More like a lapdog. People in Tinghai all seemed to use social media apps where they picked screen names... For no concrete reason, Bai Zhou felt Fang Xiaoxia's handle ought to be "Lonely Puppy." Cute, but pitiable. He meant no insult, of course—after all, Bai Zhou was a cat himself. Still, the reality remained. Both Crow and Bai Zhou had probed Fang Xiaoxia countless times. Within that girl's body, there was not the slightest trace of awakened spirituality. She truly was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, an ordinary mortal, utterly ignorant of the mystical world. As the old fog dispersed, new clouds of mystery rose in his heart, and Bai Zhou's thoughts drifted back and forth within them. Puzzle filled his gaze, but an overwhelming urgency weighed on his chest. More and more truths were surfacing, and more and more clues were falling into place, yet as Bai Zhou drew closer to the heart of this conspiracy, he was also drawing closer to danger. The time left to him was truly running out. "When will the bird in the cage take flight?" Below, Deputy Director Liu let out a faint sigh. "You people have handled things capably, after all." "It seems the Caged Bird will soon be returning home." "The bird returns to its nest, and wayfarers return home... The hour grows late; I should be on my way as well." Deputy Director Liu prepared to take his leave. As he turned around, the alloy skeleton "Liu Zhen" turned in perfect synchronization. "May everything go smoothly for us," the frail, hunched Deputy Director Liu said with his back to Luo Jiu. "No..." Luo Jiu remained deferential, yet he shook his head while nodding. At this moment, his gaze burned with an unusual fervor: "Not for us—may Father's Ascension to Sainthood be a resounding success!" "...Very well." Seeing this, Deputy Director Liu seemed slightly taken aback, falling silent for a moment before speaking. Then, Deputy Director Liu pushed the door open and left, followed by the waiting secretary, who stepped forward to lead the way. *Creak, clank.* The alloy skeleton matched his stride, the deeply folded brain beneath the metal skull wobbling slightly, evoking the image of pig brains swaying in a bubbling hotpot. *Clink, clink.* Watching Deputy Director Liu's departing silhouette, Luo Jiu rattled the small bottle in his hand, the deferential, fawning smile still plastered across his face. Yet the moment Deputy Director Liu vanished from sight, the smile vanished without a trace. His wide mouth pressed flat in deep thought, transforming him into a completely different person. Tossing the small bottle of "calcium tablets" casually into a drawer, Luo Jiu looked down at the few tablets resting in his palm and popped them into his mouth. His purplish-red tongue licked his lips, his sharp teeth crunching noisily as he quickly chewed the tablets to powder, his eyes narrowing in satisfaction. "Not bad... Very pure milk flavor." Shaking his head, he turned back toward the pile of scrap paper behind him and sighed. "The Caged Bird will never take flight again." "Pity it's not my job to reel in the net... I have to stay buried here, serving out my prison sentence." Muttering under his breath, he opened his gaping maw, snatched up a stack of documents, and shoved them straight inside. *Crunch! Munch! Crunch! Munch!* The sound echoed again. Sharp teeth gnashed, his tongue churned, and shreds of paper flew in all directions. The human shredder was back in operation. Up in the corner of the ceiling, concealed in the pitch-black nook of the ventilation duct, Bai Zhou glanced back and forth between Deputy Director Liu's receding figure outside the door and Luo Jiu down below. Deputy Director Liu had simply walked off with "Liu Zhen." Should he follow? Though Liu walked with trembling, mechanical, and stiff motions, looking as though he had suffered devastating injuries... Seeing how deferential a Titled Extraordinary like Luo Jiu was toward him, Bai Zhou knew that the current Deputy Director Liu might be even more terrifying than before. At the very least, back in the minor secret realm of Yuanmeng Middle School, those three Titled Extraordinaries, including the Sword of Winter, had never shown this level of awe toward him! Bai Zhou hated the thought of doing nothing while Deputy Director Liu took "Liu Zhen" away, but he also understood priorities... The most urgent matter was the "Caged Bird" the Major was about to reel in! Even more, he knew what he could do and what he must avoid, refusing to throw himself blindly into unfathomable peril. If he were the type to let hot-headed impulse govern his brain, back at Branch 36 of the Special Control Bureau when Adjutant Han was handing out money in the cafeteria... he would have already been arrested and shot by Major Luo on the grave charge of taking two extra steamed buns. —Yet it did not matter. Bai Zhou cast one last lingering glance in the direction where Deputy Director Liu had disappeared. The space there was already empty. *We will meet again.* *Tomorrow night!* Bai Zhou silently declared in his heart, as if making a solemn vow to himself. Tomorrow night, at midnight, at Longluo Private High School. There, before Major Luo's very eyes, this Deputy Director Liu would take possession of "Liu Zhen." This was intelligence Bai Zhou already held in his hands. There was still a full day left. "That is enough!" Bai Zhou's eyes turned profound. "You will not have another chance to desecrate Big Brother Liu's remains..." Back at Branch 36 of the Special Control Bureau, he had been a bird in a cage, a fish in a net. Merely surviving had taken everything he had, leaving no room for anything else. But now, he was no longer that helpless, inexperienced youth from Wancheng. He was a Rank 4 Destined [Adventurer], and he had an ally who was a Rank 5 Destined—an ally through whom he might draw in even more aid. If he couldn't do what he wanted when it mattered... what had been the point of walking this mystical pathway? —Even if Rank 4 wasn't enough, it still didn't matter. With his Intent Seed advanced to the third stage, Bai Zhou was only a single step away from becoming a Rank 5 Destined. Although that final step could trap countless people, and no one dared predict when they might cross that threshold... Bai Zhou couldn't guarantee it either. —Yet in the Sun Temple of Troy, he still had an unredeemed reward waiting from passing the trials! "It will be enough." With that resolve, Bai Zhou's mind grew tranquil, and he slowly pulled back his gaze. One bite at a time, one piece at a time; Major Luo's assembled toy had to be taken apart and smashed to pieces step by step. Amidst the tangled web of threads, Bai Zhou pinpointed what he needed most right now, and what was most practically feasible— Stop Major Luo from obtaining the Caged Bird! Though he did not yet know what made Fang Xiaoxia so unique, Bai Zhou knew with certainty that he could not allow Major Luo to succeed. Once Major Luo obtained that final puzzle piece and carried out his so-called "Ascension to Sainthood," no one could predict what horrors would unfold. Having made up his mind, the black cat quietly retreated, retracing his steps through the labyrinthine ventilation ducts. Soon, he left the third basement level and returned to the second. Looking down, he saw complete chaos below. Machinery of all kinds had been disassembled and packed up, the din of carts rolling and crates thudding filling the air. The job applicants Bai Zhou had seen earlier had already been put straight to work, tackling the late-night shift with boundless enthusiasm. Rolling up their sleeves, workers carried three massive parcels each, the bulging veins on their forearms making the Red Spider tattoos look all the more vivid. From Bai Zhou's estimate, the orderly evacuation of this place appeared to be more than half finished. Yet when Bai Zhou returned to the first basement level, the colossal factory floor was still operating normally. People came and went, machines hummed, and the roar of industry thundered without pause. The anthill was on the verge of collapse, yet the ants toiling away within its cycle worked with feverish devotion, completely oblivious that today was any different from yesterday. A chilling draft blew through the vents, ruffling the black cat's fur. Perhaps soon that big-mouthed Luo Jiu would notice a few documents were missing, or perhaps he wouldn't. None of that mattered anymore. Shortly after, from an air vent in the B1 level of the Hongzi Security Group building, a small black cat's head stealthily poked out. Taking in the relatively fresh outside air, Bai Zhou's immediate thought was to swiftly recall every little detail of his time with Fang Xiaoxia over the past few days. When she had mentioned her class reunion, Fang Xiaoxia seemed to have mentioned the approximate address... He remembered! Bai Zhou's eyes lit up. *Clack...* A little while later, an inconspicuous security guard clocked out and walked out of the brightly lit Hongzi Security Group building. The city center was bustling with life, crowds surging, traffic flowing like a river, neon lights gleaming across the towering skyscrapers. The nondescript guard lifted his head, gazing up at the nearby neon sign that read "Tinghai Welcomes You." Wiping a hand across his face, he revealed Bai Zhou's features. Right now, it was 7:03 PM. Roughly a dozen minutes had passed since the "Nine Dragons of the Luo Family" parted ways. The timing was neither too early nor too late. According to Bai Zhou's estimate, Fang Xiaoxia had likely already arrived at the reunion venue. And the team sent to capture her was almost certainly on the road. "I have to find Fang Xiaoxia as fast as possible..." A heavy weight pressed on Bai Zhou's chest. Fortunately, the Hongzi Security Group building sat right in the heart of downtown Tinghai. In a sense, this was the area of Tinghai that Bai Zhou was most familiar with. It was also the place that had left the deepest impression on him. The inconspicuous guard stepped into a street-corner blind spot outside camera range, swiftly making his way next door to the security group's building— To the Curiosity Sundries Shop. Unsurprisingly, the Curiosity Sundries Shop remained closed. Directly beneath it lay the 24-hour operation of the Black Box Special Control Bureau's Branch 36, but Bai Zhou had no intention of throwing himself into the lion's den. Yet with time pressing so urgently, Bai Zhou realized that whether he relied on his two human legs or the four paws of the [Life-Stealing Spirit Cat]—he would almost certainly be too late. "I need a tool," Bai Zhou said gravely. "A vehicle." Bai Zhou set off, heading to a quiet corner across from the Curiosity Sundries Shop. There stood an ordinary, padlocked garage. Coated in dust with peeling walls, the modest garage looked as though it had been abandoned for some time. *Click, clack...* Standing nonchalantly before the entrance, his back blocking the view of passing pedestrians, Bai Zhou picked the lock in a couple of quick motions. *Rumble...* The shutter door slid upward. Bai Zhou slipped inside and pulled the shutter down low behind him. Then, with a *snap*, he flipped the light switch. What met his eyes looked nothing like an abandoned garage. Though small, it had every amenity imaginable—wardrobes, bookcases, and storage chests. Opening one large wardrobe, he found it packed with pristine white suits, black suits, tailcoats, woolen overcoats, Special Control Bureau staff uniforms, and more... Beside it stood a full-length dressing mirror. Another wardrobe was filled with luxury watches of various makes—Patek Philippe, Rolex, Richard Mille... A dazzling array, completely outfitted. Even scarves filled an entire large chest in every style imaginable; beside it sat several briefcases, and when he popped one open, it was stuffed to the brim with federal banknotes. —Bai Zhou was familiar with everything here, so his gaze quickly shifted to the center of the garage. A pale yellow "swan" caught the eye, arching its proud neck with elegant, sleek curves and gorgeous coloring. Behind the brilliant butterfly doors, resting quietly on the black Alcantara faux-suede seat, lay a set of keys, evoking a vivid memory of its owner tossing them there with casual ease. Under the dim overhead light, this elegant, pale yellow swan was the true protagonist of the room. And it was the objective of Bai Zhou's visit— A Maserati MC20 supercar powered by a fifth-generation Nettuno engine. The vehicle left behind by Big Brother Liu Zhen. From the moment it was built, this supercar was billed as the pinnacle of speed, continually updated and enduring over the years. With it, one would never have to worry about arriving late anywhere... because Big Brother Liu had said it could outrun time itself. "Let's put that to the test." Bai Zhou hoped that was true. Because the youth was about to take it onto the streets, racing ahead of the vicious pack of wolves to pick up that girl attending her class reunion.