IOU

Xie Xie turned his head, a red mark on his forehead, his expression suspicious. "You don't leave during the day, you leave at night, what are you planning to do?"

Yun Jingheng did not answer, his gaze passing over the alley entrance and landing on a shop on a street corner in the distance.

The shop had a small storefront with a wheel pattern on the signboard, the paint of which was peeling and looked quite old.

Gu Yue followed his gaze, raising an eyebrow slightly. "A car dealership?"

"Um."

Yun Jingheng withdrew his gaze, turned and leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets, his expression lazy. "From Shrek to Tiandou, it's 140 kilometers. Two days on foot, even a fast walk would take a day and a half. But if we drive—"

"Four hours," Gu Yue finished his sentence.

The two exchanged a glance, and the corners of their mouths curved into a smile simultaneously, as if they had exchanged some kind of secret signal.

Xie Xie looked at this person, then at that person, feeling that there was something between these two that he hadn't quite grasped. "You guys... you're not going to steal a car, are you?"

"How can you call that stealing?" Yun Jingheng asked with a serious expression.

"What's that called?"

"Borrow."

"What are you going to borrow? Do you even have any money?"

Yun Jingheng did not answer the question, but simply turned the bracelet on his wrist, the silver patterns flashing a cold light in the sunlight.

Xie Xie looked at the light and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

He remembered something.

When Yun Jingheng was counting the supplies, he reported a number that still hadn't come to his senses—ninety-seven Soul Guidance Bomb and one set of level-five fixed-position soul-guided missiles.

Who exactly is he planning to bomb with all this stuff?

Shrek City is bustling during the day.

The six of them spent the whole day wandering around the city. In Xu Xiaoyan's words, it was called "scouting the area," in Gu Yue's words, it was called "familiarizing themselves with the terrain," and in Yun Jingheng's words, it was called "waiting for nightfall."

Xie Xie felt that none of the three of them were telling the truth.

They're just killing time.

But I must say, killing time throughout the day was worthwhile.

Xu Xiaoyan found the locations of three public water taps, Tang Wulin figured out the shift change times for the city's defense patrols, Yuanen Yehui found out the road conditions on the official road in the direction of Tiandou, and Ye Xinglan even "casually" exchanged a more detailed area map from a street stall.

Gu Yue did nothing, staying three steps behind Yun Jingheng the whole time, quiet and still, like a shadow.

She's watching.

Look at the pedestrians on the street, look at the shop owners, look at everyone who passes by them.

She watched it for a whole day.

Then, as dusk approached, he walked to Yun Jingheng's side and whispered three words: "No problem."

There were no suspicious trackers, no ambushes, and no prior surveillance.

Yun Jingheng nodded.

Night falls.

The shop with the wheel sign in the Shrek City is already closed.

The roller shutter door was pulled down halfway, and the light inside was still on, its dim yellow light leaking out from the crack and cutting a narrow strip of light across the floor.

Yun Jingheng squatted in front of the roller shutter door, ran his fingers over the lock a couple of times, and then pulled out a thin, silver metal wire from his bracelet. It was barely thicker than a human hair.

Tang Wulin, watching from behind, was terrified. "You can pick locks?"

"I've studied it."

Yun Jingheng inserted the metal wire into the keyhole with light and precise movements, as if he were playing an extremely slow piece of music.

Where did you learn it?

"On TV."

"Television?!"

The metal wire turned half a circle in the keyhole, making a very soft "click".

Yun Jingheng pulled out the metal wire, and the roller shutter door popped open. He didn't let the door pop up completely, but only raised it to a height just high enough for a person to crawl through, then bent down and crawled inside.

Five people filed in.

The shop wasn't big; the front half was a display area with three cars parked there.

The two were ordinary civilian guided vehicles, with silver-gray bodies, streamlined designs, and some kind of logo engraved on their wheel rims.

The other car was parked at the very back, covered with a dust cloth, and it looked a size larger than the first two.

Yun Jingheng walked straight towards the vehicle covered with a cloth.

He lifted a corner of the dust cover, saw what was underneath, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"This one."

Xie Xie leaned closer to take a look and gasped.

It was an off-road soul-guided vehicle, six-wheel drive, with a dark, muted green paint job, blast-proof windows, and a mounting base for Soul Guidance Cannon on the roof.

The dashboard features three Soul Power output dials, indicating that it has three independent soul guidance engines—front-drive, rear-drive, and all-drive—which can be switched freely.

Xie Xie lowered his voice and shouted, "You stole this car?!"

"Borrow it," Yun Jingheng corrected.

"Can I borrow this car?!"

"Anything not prohibited by law is permitted."

Xie Xie turned to look at the three women, hoping they could say something to stop this madman.

Gu Yue had already gotten into the passenger seat and was studying the buttons on the dashboard without even looking up. "This car is pretty good. With full Soul Power, it can go up to 800 kilometers. That's enough for us to go the whole way."

Xie Xie closed his eyes.

Yun Jingheng took a piece of paper out of his bracelet and laid it on the hood.

The paper was top-quality Xuan paper, with gold trim on the edges; it was clearly not ordinary.

He then took out a writing brush, an ink stick, and an inkstone from his bracelet.

Xie Xie's eyelids twitched. "You even brought the Four Treasures of the Study?"

"In case."

"What 'what ifs' are you preparing for? Are you going to write your will on the way?"

Ye Xinglan continued, "And... why a calligraphy brush?"

"Doesn't it look more formal?"

Ye Xinglan covered her forehead, "Formal my foot..."

Yun Jingheng began grinding ink on his own.

His movements were unhurried, the ink stick spinning on the inkstone, making a soft friction sound.

The shop was quiet, with only the sound of ink sticks being ground and the soft crunching of candy made by Xu Xiaoyan.

The ink is ready.

Yun Jingheng picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and began to write with a suspended wrist.

His handwriting surprised everyone—it wasn't the immature handwriting of a teenager, but a seasoned and sharp running script, with each stroke carrying strength, horizontal strokes as sharp as a knife and vertical strokes as engraved as a sword.

Gu Yue leaned out of the passenger seat and watched him carefully write the entire IOU, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"With this IOU, you can enter the Sea God Pavilion to find the Sea God Pavilion Master and pay for this carriage."

Signed: Yun Jingheng.

There was no date, no seal, and no guarantor.

This simple line of text was written on a sheet of rice paper with gold foil trim.

Xie Xie stared at the IOU for five seconds, his expression shifting from confusion to shock, and then to an incredulous sense of absurdity. "You think the boss would accept this?"

"Whether he acknowledges it or not, the IOU is here anyway."

"How is what we're doing any different from what robbers do?"

Ye Xinglan sighed, "At least we have culture."

"Get in the car."

All six people squeezed into the military off-road vehicle.

The interior space is even larger than it looks from the outside. Six people can sit comfortably without feeling cramped, and there's even extra space in the back to store supplies.

Yun Jingheng sat in the driver's seat, gripped the steering wheel with both hands, and took a deep breath.

Then his hand stopped.

The six people remained silent for three seconds.

"... Can you drive?" Tang Wulin's voice came cautiously from the back seat.

Yun Jingheng did not answer and began to study the dashboard.

"You can't drive?!" Xie Xie's voice had changed.

"Meeting."

Yun Jingheng's tone was very serious, "I've read the instruction manual."

"You've read the instruction manual?! You don't have a driver's license?!"

"Yes, it's illustrated and very clearly written."

Xie Xie felt his blood pressure rising at an uncontrollable rate.

Gu Yue remained calm; she had already fastened her seatbelt and placed her hands on her knees, her posture elegant.

"Left foot on clutch, right foot on accelerator and brake, shift gears, release handbrake, accelerate."

She recited the driving steps in a tone as if reading a recipe.

"I know, I'm studying the principles."

Ye Xinglan gritted her teeth and said, "Isn't now the time to study this?"

Shen Yi watched the six people drive away in their jeep and sighed slightly. He then turned to look at Yun Ming beside Cai Yue'er.

Yun Ming, on the other hand, was looking at the IOU.

"Hmm... this handwriting is good."