The Plan

It was eleven at night.

When it was about time, Jiang Ran finally got up to say goodbye to Lin Xiaorou.

Lin Xiaorou walked Jiang Ran to the door, reluctant to let him go. In a soft voice, she asked, "Brother Jiang Ran, are you coming again tomorrow?"

Jiang Ran was taken aback, then teased her. "I will, but are you sure you can keep this up?"

Lin Xiaorou immediately nodded. "I can."

Seeing that, Jiang Ran smiled and, like he had when they were kids, ruffled her hair. "All right. See you tomorrow. Let's try to make some progress while we still have time."

With that, Jiang Ran left.

Lin Xiaorou watched him until his figure disappeared into the night. Only then did she close the door and turn toward the second floor. "Xiaoyu, you can come down now."

As soon as she said it,

Jiang Xiaoyu came out of a room on the second floor and slowly walked downstairs, eyeing Lin Xiaorou with interest. "You never improved this quickly when I was the one teaching you."

Lin Xiaorou walked over to the sofa and flopped down, muttering, "I think I must have some kind of illness."

Jiang Xiaoyu's brows knitted slightly. "What kind of illness?"

Lin Xiaorou replied, "The kind where I can only pay attention if a handsome guy is teaching me..."

Jiang Xiaoyu's expression darkened at once.

But Lin Xiaorou quickly sat up and grinned. "Okay, okay, I'm just kidding."

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

Jiang Xiaoyu's brows drew together slightly.

She was silent for a while before replying softly, "Not yet. Let's wait a little longer. The Safe Zone inside is still unstable..."

Meanwhile,

Jiang Ran went home and took a shower.

Then he sat down at his desk, towel in hand, drying his hair.

He opened the Profession Panel and looked over the information.

He hadn't expected an unexpected bonus.

[Physics Lv.5 (12/500)]

[Congratulations! You have gained 2 Profession Points.]

During the lesson, Jiang Ran hadn't focused on teaching any particular subject.

Even so, his Physics level had increased, earning him 2 Profession Points.

The points had come at just the right time.

Jiang Ran opened the Martial Monk panel and, with almost no hesitation, spent both Profession Points on Buddha's Wrathful Vajra.

If level 3 marked a minor qualitative leap,

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

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

The instant the upgrade was complete,

Jiang Ran felt something deep within him stir.

It was like... a strengthening of his will.

He closed his eyes and looked inward. Deep in his consciousness, the Vajra Phantom had grown much more solid than before, and the power in its furious gaze was even greater.

The blood-red energy coiling around the phantom seemed on the verge of condensing into a blood-red Buddha's radiance.

"Buddha's Wrathful Vajra at level 3..." Jiang Ran opened his eyes, a note of anticipation in them. "Its duration has increased quite a bit, and its defense and power have greatly improved."

"That'll do."

Jiang Ran murmured to himself and closed the panel.

Then he waited quietly for midnight.

While he waited, Jiang Ran browsed the internet as usual.

In the Abyssal Void, he checked the various forums; in the real world, he checked the Foundation.

The Federation was gradually easing its restrictions on information, but the authorities still deleted a lot of posts. The information on the Foundation's site was more reliable.

The pinned post was still about theories on Myth Revival, but a few new analysis posts had appeared beneath it.

One user, Textual Research Addict, had posted a long article:

Deducing the Possible Locations of Ancient Battlefields from the Distribution of Abyssal Void Monsters

"Based on the publicly available maps of monster strength across various cities, and the regions where the Classic of Mountains and Seas and Huainanzi record Exotic Beasts as active, we can make a bold conjecture.

"To some extent, the Abyssal Void may reflect the mythical geography of the real world in ancient times.

"If this conjecture is correct,

"then beneath the ground or deep within buildings in areas occupied by powerful monsters,

"there may be ancient relics, damaged formations, or even more dangerous things sealed away.

"To everyone entering the Abyssal Void: if you're strong enough, after clearing an area, explore the surroundings and underground carefully. You might make an unexpected discovery."

After reading it, Jiang Ran frowned slightly.

This theory... matched some of his own earlier guesses.

The real world's underground was the earth's crust.

Who knew what was underground in the Abyssal Void?

Time slipped toward midnight.

00:00:00.

Jiang Ran's vision blurred for a moment.

When he opened his eyes again,

he was still in the same conference room, with the night hanging dark beyond the windows.

He immediately walked to the window and looked up at the top of the distant building.

In the moonlight, the Exotic Beast Zhi, shaped like a fierce tiger, still stood there, head raised in a long howl. Its posture was exactly the same as when Jiang Ran had left, as if no time had passed at all.

Jiang Ran took a deep breath, suppressing the disorientation caused by the sudden change of scene.

He turned away from the window and headed for the stairs.

Before entering, Jiang Ran had already made a plan to deal with Zhi.

It had a pack, so he couldn't just charge in and fight it head-on with all those Bone-Spike Cat Monsters watching.

Last time, he'd been able to fight the Spider Matriarch alone because the little spiders had happened to leave for a while. It had been pure luck.

This time, the only way to create a one-on-one situation was to make the opportunity himself.

But before that, he needed to make some preparations.

Jiang Ran left through the back door, moving quickly through the night toward the sporting goods store he'd visited last time.

Half an hour later, he reached the storefront.

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

It seemed no one else had been to the store.

He picked the lock with ease and slipped inside.

The store was still just as he'd left it.

Jiang Ran didn't even look at the bows hanging on either side of the walls. He went straight to the storage room in back.

Before going to the club that day,

Jiang Ran had stopped by the store. He'd originally planned to ask the owner to make him a compound bow.

But after talking for a couple of minutes, the owner had mysteriously told him there was a Two-Stone Bow in the shop, custom-made for a previous customer who had later gone abroad. The bow had been left behind.

What did a Two-Stone Bow mean?

In ancient times, one shi was about 60 kilograms. Two shi was about 120 kilograms, or roughly 264 pounds.

Jiang Ran had never seen anyone draw one before.

But with his current physical strength, he didn't think it would be a problem.

With this bow, even if he couldn't injure the Exotic Beast, he should at least be able to harass it.

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

He opened it.

A pitch-black recurve bow lay inside.

Jiang Ran gripped the bow. It felt heavy in his hand, with excellent craftsmanship.

Then he quietly sent his qi and blood surging into his arms, his muscles swelling slightly.

Whirr...

He slowly drew the bowstring until the bow was fully drawn.

Then he carefully let the string back.

"Good bow."

Jiang Ran nodded in satisfaction, slung it over his back, and took two quivers of specially made heavy arrows, putting them in the Heavenly Net Pouch before leaving the store.

He had the bow and arrows. Now he still needed a car.

A fast sports car.

Jiang Ran knew this wealthy neighborhood very well, thanks to all the jobs he'd done before.

An hour later,

in the underground parking garage of a villa complex,

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

"This one's nice."

He walked to the driver's door and took a thin piece of wire and a small magnet out of his pocket.

He'd learned the trick when he was an auto-repair apprentice. Combined with his lock-picking skill, it was more than enough to handle this kind of lock.

Thirty seconds later, the door opened.

Jiang Ran got into the driver's seat. He had no key, but he felt around under the steering wheel, found the wiring harness, and expertly connected two wires.

Whirr...

The engine growled, then started smoothly.

He'd learned the trick while working at a used-car dealership. He hadn't expected it to come in handy here.

The coupe drove slowly out of the parking garage and onto the deserted street.

Jiang Ran glanced at the time. It was 1:20 a.m.

There was only one last thing to do.

Before he went out to tempt fate, he needed to leave the monster corpse he'd promised Wang Zhenguo at the designated spot.

Jiang Ran pressed the accelerator.

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

The engine's roar echoed through the silent city, especially jarring.

Meanwhile, at the edge of the Safe Zone,

Wang Zhenguo was walking toward the agreed meeting point with Xia Xuan and the others.

"Sorry for the trouble, Captain Xia. You're coming all this way with me so late at night," Wang Zhenguo said with a smile.

Xia Xuan waved a hand. "It's fine. We were heading out on a mission anyway, so it's on the way."

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

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

Vroooom!!!

The roar of a sports car suddenly came from a distant street, rapidly approaching.

Xia Xuan immediately raised a hand. "Stay alert! Get ready to escort civilians!"

Ever since the Safe Zone had been established, plenty of people had driven toward it in a desperate attempt to escape. Xia Xuan and his team were used to it.

The problem was, whenever these people showed up,

they were often followed by a horde of monsters, so the team had to be ready.

Wang Zhenguo looked a little grim. "Did this really have to happen right now!?"

He'd arranged to collect the monster corpse from Jiang Ran that day.

For safety's sake, he'd finally managed to get someone going in the same direction, only to run into this.

But when the sports car appeared around the corner, and he saw the figure in the driver's seat, wearing a black hoodie and a mask...

Wang Zhenguo couldn't help staring in surprise.

Xia Xuan and the others were just as stunned.

"Is that..." Zou Yue murmured.

One of the team members who had seen Jiang Ran couldn't help exclaiming, "Is this big shot really showing off like this now!?"

As they spoke, Jiang Ran's Porsche sped past them, pulled off a beautiful drift, and stopped precisely in front of the warehouse's rolling shutter door, right where Wang Zhenguo had said.

Jiang Ran got out, lifted the rolling shutter, and went inside. Less than ten seconds later, he came back out.

After getting back into the car, he didn't leave right away. Instead, he slowly drove over and stopped in front of Xia Xuan and the others.

He rolled down the window and looked at Xia Xuan and his team.

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

"Would you be interested in making a deal?"