Chapter 203: Veteran Extraordinary
The people currently feasting and meeting with Vice Gang Leader Lin beneath the rockery were from the Inner City Huang Family.
Third Master Huang, the Huang Family Patriarch's third brother, had come to discuss something with two of the younger generation and a Guest.
Tang Wen shot back, "And what's with the women? If you're here for a secret meeting, why bring them along? Is it your habit to kill them after one night?"
With the Huang Family, it wouldn't be out of character.
Lin Yu shook his head. "Those women are probably from Baihua Tower.
It's an establishment the Huang Family secretly controls.
The secret chamber under the rockery has three levels.
The second level is where they conduct their business.
The first is for drinking and entertainment. Those women don't know what my grandfather and the others are discussing.
They're just here for entertainment."
Tang Wen was noncommittal.
"Where does your family keep its treasury?"
"You!"
"There's a share in it for you if I find it."
"Hurry up. We don't have much time." Tang Wen glanced up at the sky.
Lin Yu crept to the window and peeked outside. The courtyard was completely empty. There wasn't a soul in sight, not even a ghost of a shadow.
A chill ran down his spine. He took half a step back, his mind struggling to process what was happening.
"Stop looking. You can't see me."
Tang Wen moved around continuously, his voice seeming to drift from different locations.
Startled, Lin Yu flinched and hesitantly named a courtyard.
Unwilling to take any chances, Tang Wen said, "Good! Now you can go lie down."
With a grim expression, Lin Yu lay back on the bed.
The phantom of the dark Nine-Story Tower appeared.
He passed out.
Before losing consciousness, he understood Tang Wen's plan.
'He's making sure I can't expose him.'
'By dawn, the robbery will be a done deal.'
'And my status as a traitor to the family will be sealed!'
Tang Wen went to the courtyard Lin Yu had mentioned, but his senses suddenly blared a warning.
'There's an expert here.'
'At least Peak Extraordinary Level.'
He had no intention of a direct confrontation.
He retreated at once.
Instead, he headed for the courtyard where Vice Gang Leader Lin lived.
'One, two... six. Hmm, and two more hidden sentries on the bed.'
'Eight women, all of them Martial Artists.'
Tang Wen could understand.
After all, even though Old Man Lin was getting on in years...
...he was still at the Sixth Grade Gangwu Realm.
'If he wants a satisfying brawl and can't find an opponent of the same level, or even an Extraordinary, he has to settle for a group of Martial Artists to make up the numbers!'
'The sense of conquest must be off the charts!'
'That old geezer.'
Tang Wen waited in the courtyard for less than half an hour.
Two women emerged from the room, hand in hand.
They seemed to be heading for the latrine.
While the door was still open, he slipped inside Vice Gang Leader Lin's bedroom.
The true value of the Moon Traveling Clothes...
...was not just its ability to conceal the wearer's body, but also to muffle their footsteps and hide their tracks.
Back when Li Zi was tracking Tang Wen, she had burst into a sprint after the Sand Wolf.
Yet, she'd left no tracks on the soft sand.
Facing a group of Female Martial Artists—some sitting in chairs, some lounging on the bed, some in Meditation, and others eating snacks...
...Tang Wen carefully moved to the far end of the room. Behind a folding screen was an enormous, rectangular bed.
To be precise, it was a steel bed.
Aside from the mattress and quilts, the frame itself was made of stainless steel.
Sweeping the area with his Spiritual Power, Tang Wen discovered a hidden compartment under the bed.
His Spiritual Power, like an invisible tentacle, lifted the floor panel, revealing a small briefcase.
The case looked dusty and unremarkable.
Fortunately, Tang Wen had a good eye for such things. The moment he touched it, he could tell the material was the hide of some hairless Extraordinary Magical Beast.
He unfastened the latch. Inside, colorful gemstones glittered with a dazzling light.
Beneath the gems were silver notes and several stacks of golden leaves.
'Just the sort of thing you'd pack for a quick getaway,' he thought.
'It's certainly convenient to carry.'
After replacing the floor panel, he carried the case back to his own courtyard and hid it.
The whole endeavor had taken a considerable amount of time.
But Tang Wen couldn't rest yet.
With two hours still left before dawn...
...he made his way to a lawless zone in the city, near a garbage recycling station.
This so-called lawless zone was the border where the territories of the three major powers—the Black Water Gang, the Boat Gang, and the Giant Rock Martial Arts Hall—met.
Ever since open brawls and killings fell out of fashion in Ganshan City...
...these few streets had been simultaneously abandoned by all three factions.
The residents here performed the city's most unsavory jobs: clearing drainage ditches, cleaning latrines, handling garbage, and the like.
As Tang Wen arrived, he carefully stepped around one puddle of Black Water after another.
He dodged unidentifiable, long, black-and-yellow objects.
His pace slowed to a crawl.
He finally managed to sneak inside the scrap recycling station.
The conditions inside were even worse.
Fifteen minutes later, Tang Wen stood at the entrance to a scrap-wood shack, deciding it would be better to leave by climbing over the wall.
"Who are you looking for?"
A raspy, ancient voice spoke.
Tang Wen's heart sank.
From the darkness, a pair of eyes seemed to glow.
The speaker was an old man on a bed.
Unsure of the Moon Traveling Clothes' effectiveness, Tang Wen looked down at himself.
He confirmed that there were no flaws in his concealment.
And yet, bizarrely, the old man had clearly spotted him.
That penetrating gaze was fixed precisely on the spot where he stood.
Leaving nothing to chance, Tang Wen pushed off his toes and shot back more than ten meters.
SQUELCH.
He had stepped on something, squashing it flat.
But the sound and motion were completely suppressed.
The Moon Traveling Clothes had concealed it all.
"Seeing as you're wearing those clothes and managed to find this place, that little girl must have sent you, hmm?"
'Little girl?'
'Li Zi.'
'She never told me the Watcher here was a veteran Extraordinary!'
'She really deserves a spanking for this.'
'I'll give her a hundred spanks when I get back!'
'The kind you can hear.'
"So, what are you here for?"
An old man with a messy shock of gray hair now stood at the doorway of the scrap-wood shack.
He had a Hooked Nose and triangular eyes; he did not look like someone to be trifled with.
His eyes once again locked onto Tang Wen's precise location.
'The limitations of Invisibility are just too great. You really can't underestimate anyone.'
Tang Wen sighed to himself.
The old man could definitely see through his Moon Traveling Clothes.
He could already feel it—the wind across the entire sky had stopped.
The filthy scrap yard had fallen deathly silent.
'A top-tier Extraordinary from the Wind Division.'
"You must be Elder Li? Xiaobai sends her regards to your enemies!"
The first part was an address, the second was the countersign.
Elder Li's face was impassive, betraying no emotion. "It seems you haven't done anything to that little girl, then."
Tang Wen replied directly, "You could say we're on the same side."
"The same side? Do you also have a grudge against the Huang Family?"
'So that's how it is.'
'Looks like this Elder Li isn't from the Thief Sect.'
Tang Wen said, "We'll inevitably cross paths with them sooner or later."
"I see. You came for the Stone Slab."
"That's right."
"It's over there, by the wall. Go find it yourself."
Seeing that Tang Wen had no intention of revealing his face,
the old man didn't press the issue. He pointed toward a lean-to and turned back into his shack.
'This...?'
'The Contemplation Method for the Night Secret Technique, Instant Step...'
'...is being kept in a pigsty?!'
Tang Wen's expression was a sight to behold.
'Aren't you afraid that a passing Extraordinary might sweep the area with their Spiritual Power, notice something is off, and just take it?'
'Well...'
'...a typical Extraordinary probably wouldn't be very interested in a pigsty.'
'But what if you get one with... peculiar tastes?'
'What then?'
Without getting any closer, Tang Wen swept the area from afar with his Spiritual Power.
He found nothing.
He tried again, sweeping the area meticulously, with intense focus.
Still nothing.
'What the...?'
He glanced back at the scrap-wood shack.
He didn't think the old man was the type to play such a joke.
So, suppressing his disgust, he approached the pigsty.
'This pig...?'
'Something seems off about it!'