Plan

11:00 PM.

Seeing that the time was about right, Jiang Ran stood up to bid Lin Xiaorou farewell.

Lin Xiaorou walked Jiang Ran to the door with a hint of reluctance, asking softly, "Brother Jiang Ran, will you come again tomorrow?"

Jiang Ran was taken aback, teasing, "I will, but are you sure you can keep up?"

Lin Xiaorou nodded immediately upon hearing this, "I can."

Seeing this, Jiang Ran smiled and ruffled her hair just like when they were children, saying, "Alright, see you tomorrow then. Try your best to push yourself in the time we have left."

With that, Jiang Ran left.

Lin Xiaorou stared at his retreating figure until it vanished into the night, then closed the door, turned around, and called out toward the second floor, "Jiang Xiaoyu, you can come down now."

The words had barely left her lips.

Jiang Xiaoyu emerged from a room on the second floor, slowly descending the stairs while looking at Lin Xiaorou with interest, "You didn't progress this quickly when I was teaching you before."

Hearing this, Lin Xiaorou walked over to the sofa, threw herself onto it, and muttered, "I think I've caught a disease."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xiaoyu's brows furrowed slightly, "What disease?"

Lin Xiaorou replied, "The kind where I can only listen if a handsome guy is doing the teaching..."

Jiang Xiaoyu's face darkened immediately at these words.

However, Lin Xiaorou sat up right away, grinning, "Alright, alright, I'm just kidding."

She paused, her expression becoming more serious, "Jiang Xiaoyu, do you think... should I try to get a qualification for Brother Jiang Ran too?"

Jiang Xiaoyu's delicate brows knitted together upon hearing this.

She remained silent for a moment before saying softly, "Not yet. Let's wait a bit longer; the Safe Zone inside is still unstable..."

On the other side.

Jiang Ran returned home and took a shower.

He sat down at his desk, drying his hair.

He pulled up his Profession Panel and looked at the information displayed.

He hadn't expected such an unexpected bonus.

[Physics Lv.5 (12/500)]

[Congratulations, you have gained 2 Profession Points]

During the tutoring session just now, Jiang Ran hadn't actually focused on teaching any specific subject.

Yet, Physics had leveled up, granting him 2 Profession Points.

These points had come at just the right time.

Jiang Ran opened the Martial Monk panel and, without a moment's hesitation, poured both Profession Points directly into Buddha's Wrathful Vajra.

Since Level 3 represented a minor qualitative change.

As his trump card, Buddha's Wrathful Vajra naturally took priority over Golden Bell Shield and Eight-Step Cicada Chase.

[Core Profession Skill: Buddha's Wrathful Vajra Lv.2 → Lv.3 (9/300)]

The moment the upgrade completed.

Jiang Ran felt something deep within his body being triggered.

It was like a strengthening on the level of his will.

He closed his eyes to look inward and could see that deep within his consciousness, the Vajra Phantom was much more solid than before, the power within its glaring eyes even more intense.

The blood-colored energy swirling around the phantom showed signs of condensing into a blood-colored Buddha light.

"Level 3 Buddha's Wrathful Vajra..." Jiang Ran opened his eyes, a flicker of anticipation in them, "The duration has extended significantly, and both defense and strength have been greatly enhanced."

"That's enough."

Jiang Ran whispered to himself and closed the panel.

He then waited quietly for midnight to arrive.

During this wait, Jiang Ran surfed the internet as usual.

He checked various forums on Abyssal Void, and for the reality outside, he checked the Foundation.

Although the Federation had gradually lifted restrictions on information, they still deleted a lot of content, so the information on the Foundation was generally more reliable.

The pinned post was still about speculations regarding Myth Revival, but there were some new analytical posts below it.

Among them, a user with the ID Textual Research Addict had posted a long article:

Inferring the possible locations of ancient battlefields based on the distribution of Abyssal Void monsters.

"Based on the currently released monster intensity distribution maps for various cities, combined with the activity areas of Exotic Beasts recorded in ancient texts like Classic of Mountains and Seas and Huainanzi, a bold hypothesis can be made.

To a certain extent, Abyssal Void is very likely a reflection of the mythological geography of the real world during ancient times."

If this hypothesis holds true.

Then deep beneath the ground or within the depths of the structures in areas occupied by these powerful monsters.

There likely exist ancient relics, incomplete formations, or perhaps even more dangerous things that have been sealed away.

Those who have entered the Abyssal Void, if your strength is sufficient, you might as well thoroughly explore the surroundings and the underground after clearing out an area. You might just make an unexpected discovery."

Jiang Ran frowned as he finished reading.

This hypothesis... coincided perfectly with some of his previous conjectures.

The underground of the real world is the Earth's crust.

God knows what kind of things lie beneath the ground in the Abyssal Void.

Time slipped quietly toward midnight.

00:00:00.

Jiang Ran's vision blurred for a split second.

He opened his eyes again.

Before him was still that same conference room, the night deep and dark outside the window.

He immediately walked to the window and looked up toward the top of the distant skyscraper.

Under the moonlight, that Exotic Beasts known as Zhi, which resembled a fierce tiger, was still standing there, head tilted back in a long howl, its posture exactly the same as when Jiang Ran had left, as if time had never passed.

Jiang Ran took a deep breath, suppressing the sense of disorientation caused by the scene transition.

He turned, left the window, and headed toward the stairs.

Before coming in, Jiang Ran had already formulated a plan to deal with the Zhi.

The creature had a pack, so naturally, he couldn't just charge in head-on in front of so many Bone-Spike Cat Monster.

The reason he was able to solo the Spider Matriarch last time was because those small spiders happened to be away for a while; it was pure luck.

This time, to create a one-on-one situation, he would have to create the opportunity himself.

But before that, some preparations were needed.

Jiang Ran left through the back door, his figure moving rapidly through the night, heading straight toward the sports equipment store he had visited before.

Half an hour later, he arrived at the shop entrance.

Jiang Ran checked the lock and found no signs that it had been opened again.

It seemed no one else had come to this shop.

He easily pried the lock open and slipped inside.

The interior remained exactly as it had been when he left last time.

Jiang Ran didn't even glance at the bows hanging on the walls, heading straight for the storage room in the back.

Before going to the club today.

Jiang Ran had taken the time to visit this shop, originally intending to ask the owner to custom-make a compound bow.

However, after chatting for a bit, the man had mysteriously told him that there was a Two-Stone Bow in the shop that a previous customer had ordered, but since the customer had moved abroad, the bow had been left there ever since.

A Two-Stone Bow—what kind of concept was that?

In ancient times, one stone was roughly 60 kilograms, so two stones were equivalent to 120 kilograms, or about 264 pounds.

Jiang Ran had never seen anyone draw such a bow before.

But with his current physical fitness, it shouldn't be a problem.

With this bow in hand, even if he couldn't injure that Exotic Beasts, he should at least be able to harass it.

Jiang Ran found the long, carbon-fiber bow case in the corner of the storage room.

He opened it.

A pitch-black recurve bow lay silently inside.

Jiang Ran gripped the handle; it felt heavy in his hand, with an excellent texture.

He then quietly circulated his blood energy into his arms, his muscles bulging slightly.

Hum...

The bowstring was slowly drawn back until it formed a full moon.

Then, he carefully and slowly released the string.

"Good bow."

Jiang Ran nodded in satisfaction, slung the bow over his back, took two quivers of specialized heavy arrows to store in his Heavenly Net Pouch, and turned to leave the shop.

With the bow and arrows in hand, he still needed a car.

A sports car fast enough for the job.

And as for the wealthy district nearby, having worked so many Profession in the past, Jiang Ran knew it all too well.

One hour later.

Inside the underground parking garage of a villa complex.

Jiang Ran looked at the Porsche 911 Turbo S convertible before him and nodded in satisfaction.

"This one is nice."

He walked to the car door, pulling a thin wire and a small magnet from his pocket.

These were little tricks he had learned back when he was an apprentice at an auto repair shop; combined with his Lockpicking skill, they were more than enough to handle this type of door lock.

Thirty seconds later, the door clicked open.

Jiang Ran sat in the driver's seat. He didn't have a key, but his fingers fumbled beneath the steering wheel for a moment until he found the wiring harness, where he skillfully bridged two wires.

Vroom...

The engine let out a low growl before settling into a steady hum.

This was a craft he had picked up while working at a used car dealership, though he never expected it to come in handy here.

The sports car slowly rolled out of the parking garage and onto the empty street.

Jiang Ran checked the time: 1:20 AM.

There was just one last thing to do.

Before going to court death, he had to drop off the monster carcass he had promised Wang Zhenguo at the designated location.

Jiang Ran floored the gas pedal.

The Porsche shot out of the parking garage and onto the deserted street.

The roar of the engine echoed through the dead city, sounding exceptionally jarring.

Meanwhile, at the edge of the Safe Zone.

Wang Zhenguo was walking toward the agreed-upon handover point with Xia Xuan and his team.

"Sorry to trouble you, Captain Xia, for coming out with me so late," Wang Zhenguo said with a smile to Xia Xuan beside him.

Xia Xuan waved a hand. "It's nothing. We were heading out for a mission anyway; it's on the way."

Behind him followed Zou Yue and three other team members, all fully armed with automatic rifles slung at their waists, tactical vests packed with magazines, and even a few hand grenades.

Wang Zhenguo nodded and was just about to say something...

VROOM!!!

The roar of a sports car engine suddenly erupted from the street in the distance, rapidly approaching.

Hearing this, Xia Xuan immediately raised a hand. "Alert! Prepare to receive civilians!"

Ever since the Safe Zone was established, many people had driven cars to flee toward it, so Xia Xuan and his team were used to it.

However, whenever these people arrived...

They were often followed by a horde of monsters, so they had to be on guard in advance.

Wang Zhenguo's expression turned sour. "Did it have to be right at this moment!?"

He had an appointment with Jiang Ran today to hand over the monster carcass.

To play it safe, he had gone to great lengths to wait for someone to be heading this way, only to run into this.

However, when the silhouette of the sports car appeared around the street corner, and they saw the figure in the driver's seat wearing a black hoodie and a mask...

Wang Zhenguo couldn't help but freeze.

Even Xia Xuan and his team were stunned.

"That is..." Zou Yue murmured.

One of the team members who had seen Jiang Ran before couldn't help but whisper, "Is this big shot... being this flashy now!?"

As they spoke, Jiang Ran's Porsche sped past them, performed a beautiful drift, and parked precisely in front of the warehouse shutter door that Wang Zhenguo had mentioned.

Jiang Ran got out, pulled up the shutter door, went inside, and came back out in less than ten seconds.

After getting back into the car, he didn't leave immediately but instead slowly drove up to Xia Xuan and his team and stopped.

He rolled down the window, his gaze landing on Xia Xuan and the team members.

A hint of interest flashed in Jiang Ran's eyes as he asked:

"Any interest in making a trade?"