The Shopping Mall Is a Gu-Raising Ground
Bang!
The glass wall on the first floor shattered under Jiang Yiming's kick. He stepped over the shards and strode inside.
The mall had security guards patrolling at night, but they were just going through the motions and would never put in any real effort.
He had already sent Ghost Face to scout ahead. Three security guards were playing Fight the Landlord in the security office on the third floor. To keep them from getting in the way, the Ghost-Faced Spider had already poisoned them into unconsciousness.
Over the past few days, Jiang Yiming had gained some understanding of his Gu worms' venom. The venom the Ghost-Faced Spider had used just now wasn't lethal, but it would keep the guards unconscious for at least three hours.
Eight glass doors blocked the way to the underground supermarket. Every one of them fell victim to Jiang Yiming's ruthless hands and was smashed to bits.
When he reached the fresh food section, he stopped and released all his Gu worms with a wave of his hand. Pointing at the freezers ahead, he said two words in a casual tone.
"Eat up."
All the Primordial Gu immediately swarmed forward, a dark mass like an army of marching ants.
Red Tail and Ghost Face went ahead and opened all the freezers before returning to Jiang Yiming's side.
As Yellow Rank Gu worms, they hardly needed to eat.
"Good little ones. Go cultivate!"
Jiang Yiming stroked each of them on the head with a finger, then put them into the Yellow Gu Lotus Platform to cultivate.
"Those two little ones have ordinary talent, but they're the easiest to work with. I wonder if there's a way to improve their talent..."
While he was thinking, the Primordial Gu worms he had just released had already seized every freezer, like wild horses freed from their reins.
Steaks, abalone, squid, prawns...
The Gu worms were now feasting freely on things Jiang Yiming himself couldn't bear to buy, wasting an awful lot!
Although these fresh food freezers had nothing to do with the mall's owner and belonged to small business owners renting space there, the mall collected enormous rents and would have to bear most of the responsibility for the losses.
So the one who would ultimately suffer the greatest loss was still the owner, Tu Ming.
As for the small business owners' losses, Jiang Yiming had already thought of a way to make it up to them. Once he had dealt with Tu Ming, he would naturally compensate them.
In less than two hours, nearly all the meat in the freezers had been devoured. Only heavily seasoned meats, such as chicken strips and meat-and-gristle skewers, remained.
Gu worms couldn't eat heavily seasoned food.
The meat in the Red Tail freezer hadn't been enough to raise the five or six hundred Primordial Gu to level five.
Seeing that everything they could eat was gone, Jiang Yiming finally recalled all his Gu worms and left the mall under cover of darkness.
Back in his rented room, the broken bed boards were still lying on the floor.
Jiang Yiming no longer needed to sleep. He could restore his energy simply by cultivating the Essence Absorption and Qi Intake Art.
A bed was no longer essential to him, so he had never bothered buying a new one.
He plopped down on the cracked bed boards and began cultivating again.
The weariness in his body slowly faded. It worked even better than sleep.
Watching Red Tail, Ghost Face and the others cultivating with all their might inside the Yellow Gu Lotus Platform, Jiang Yiming was filled with fighting spirit too and didn't dare slack off in the slightest!
By morning, he had refined some more Gu Essential Essence, and there was a little more Gu Essence in his qi sea.
"Less than seventy percent of the Gu Essential Essence in my qi sea remains. I need to hurry up and refine Gu to replenish it!"
The relationship between Gu Essential Essence and Gu Essence was like that between spirit stones and spiritual qi. Only after refining spirit stones into spiritual qi could one count it as one's own.
Jiang Yiming wasn't in some remote mountain wilderness. The Gu Essence here was so thin that it was practically nonexistent.
So he could only rely on Gu Essential Essence to cultivate!
Only by constantly refining Gu and storing more Gu Essential Essence could he ensure he could keep cultivating!
A beam of sunlight shone through the window.
Jiang Yiming opened his eyes and stood up from the collapsed bed boards. After washing up, he headed out.
On his way to buy breakfast, he heard people discussing the Rainbow Shopping Mall from time to time.
"That thief was really bold! He actually dared to smash the doors of the Rainbow Shopping Mall!"
"Isn't that the truth? I'd say he's tired of living. He didn't even bother finding out who owns the Rainbow Shopping Mall now!"
"The previous owner didn't have much influence. If they caught the thief, he'd probably only be sentenced according to the usual criminal laws. But what a shame... the current owner has a lot of influence. That thief will probably spend the rest of his life in prison."
Jiang Yiming paid no attention to their discussions. This was only the beginning!
At noon, while the Rainbow Shopping Mall was dominating the local headlines, Tu Ming finally arrived at the mall.
By then, the police had taken samples and photographs and sealed off only the key areas. The other floors had already reopened as usual.
With a dark expression, Tu Ming went to his office accompanied by the general manager.
The moment the door closed, he began to roar.
"We pay you such a high salary, and it all went into a dog's belly!"
"How the hell do you do your job?! The supermarket was wrecked, and the guards you hired were sleeping like logs!"
The general manager kept his head down, not daring to get a word in.
Tu Ming slammed his hand down hard on the desk. "I don't mean to criticize you, but tell me, what the hell happened to the surveillance cameras?! They worked fine normally, but at the critical moment they all mysteriously lost power at once! You're a fucking mole, aren't you?!"
"No, no, no... I'm absolutely loyal to you!" At the word "mole," the general manager hurried to explain.
"Loyal?" Tu Ming glared at him. "How much is loyalty worth? What I want is competence! If you can't resolve this within three days, pack your things and get lost! Do you hear me?!"
The general manager hurriedly nodded and swore, "I'll cooperate fully with the police and drag that maniac out!"
"Can't you understand plain human speech?!" Tu Ming roared again. "I want results within three days, not that sort of empty, high-sounding nonsense!"
The general manager had only said he would cooperate fully with the police; he hadn't dared say outright that he would get results within three days.
Empty words like that might fool someone else, but there was no way they would fool Tu Ming.
Just as Tu Ming was flying into a rage, someone suddenly knocked on the office door.
The general manager was baffled. What blind fool is that? Knocking at a time like this—isn't that pouring oil on the fire and making things worse for me?
The knocking interrupted Tu Ming, and sure enough, the anger on his face grew even fiercer!
Knock, knock, knock!
The pig-brain outside actually knocked again.
"Who is it?!" Unable to take it any longer, Tu Ming shouted and motioned for the general manager to open the door.
Click!
The lock opened. The general manager turned the handle and pulled the door open.
When Tu Ming saw the person standing outside, the anger vanished from his face in an instant! It was replaced by a gentleness as soft as a lamb.
The general manager was also stunned by the girl's looks, but what surprised him even more was how quickly Tu Ming's expression had changed!
The boss really is an old lecher! The moment he sees a beauty, he puts on that ridiculous face! the manager grumbled inwardly.
Little did he know that Tu Ming had once splurged hundreds of thousands in a single night just to get involved with a beauty.
As far as Tu Ming was concerned, yesterday's losses at the mall didn't mean shit.
If he could get his hands on the girl in front of him with her distinctive air, he could accept even greater losses.