The business van circled the base once, but they could not find any flaws. In the end, it could only pull over by the roadside to discuss their options.
It was ten at night. There were hardly any pedestrians left on the remote street, yet the target base remained brightly lit and heavily guarded.
Yong'an City was crawling with gangs of every size. The place before them was the Black Tiger Gang's headquarters.
Not only were the three entrances heavily guarded, but several surveillance cameras provided full coverage. Getting inside would not be easy.
Ying Xiaoxiao switched on the communications device and displayed a photo of their target.
"Tonight's target is a bracelet. Hmm, it should be something valuable? Anyway, the pay is pretty good."
The bracelet was not large, but its surface was carved with extremely intricate golden patterns. Blue ripples seemed to flow faintly across it, as though they were some kind of mysterious rune.
Sha Tu was well traveled and immediately recognized that the bracelet was extraordinary.
"This should be a product of alien civilization. No wonder the Public Security Bureau is interested in it."
"Uncle Sha, can you understand this thing?" Baozi asked with a face full of admiration.
Sha Tu shook his head. "Of course I can't. If I could, I'd be rich. It's precisely because I can't understand it that it's a product of alien civilization."
Although that answer was shameless, it was not entirely without reason.
Void Rifts, Spirit Domains... they were all evidence of links to other planes. Alien technology appearing was not particularly strange. Anyway, whenever they encountered something they could not understand, they could just blame alien technology.
When in doubt, blame alien civilization.
Having confirmed the target, it was time to plan the operation.
"The usual rule: we roll the dice to decide who handles the stealth mission." Ying Xiaoxiao took out a die and lightly tossed it down the van's aisle.
The die rolled twice across the floor before finally stopping on three.
"I'm three. Next—"
"Wait, wait! Why are you deciding a stealth mission by rolling dice?" Xu Jiang reached out and stopped Ying Xiaoxiao.
Such an absurd decision, and no one here objected? What the hell was this? Was this how they normally carried out missions?
Baozi helplessly shrugged at the side. "Can't be helped. None of us are good at infiltration, so we can only rely on luck."
Hearing Baozi's explanation, Xu Jiang instantly got a headache.
Indeed, for missions like robbery, infiltration was the best approach. It could prevent the target item from being moved.
And the key to infiltration was disabling all surveillance.
Team 17 had the ability to create Trojans, but they had to infiltrate the internal network to hack it. That was precisely what none of them was good at.
"So you're relying on luck? Betting that they're blind? Have you ever actually succeeded before?"
"Yes. Baozi succeeded by pretending to be a delivery guy. Xiao Zhen also succeeded by just walking right in."
Xu Jiang glanced at Baozi, who had already pulled out a delivery uniform and was preparing to disguise himself as someone delivering late-night snacks.
As for Xiao Zhen, the little girl was quite calm. She held Xiao Youling by the hand like a balloon, probably relying entirely on acting cute to blend in.
For a moment, Xu Jiang felt like running away. Team 17's mortality rate was probably even higher than he had expected!
While he hesitated, Qianji spoke up.
"General, are we preparing to conduct an infiltration operation? Qianji requests deployment!"
Even the mech was joining the fun at a time like this. But if she deployed, didn't that mean he would deploy too?
Didn't she see how much heavy firepower the other side had set up? If the infiltration failed, they would be riddled with bullets on the spot. For a mere robbery mission, he did not want to risk his life.
However, Xu Jiang had still underestimated a mech's self-discipline. Qianji would never let go of any opportunity to train.
Congratulations. Admiral Qianji has entered an inspired state and temporarily comprehended the skill: Reconnaissance Sense lv1. If the infiltration mission is completed, the skill will be permanently retained. If it fails, the skill will disappear. Reconnaissance Sense lv1: Can sense the detection range of mechanical units.
She had entered an inspired state again. Qianji truly was a strong, self-improving woman who never forgot to improve herself no matter the circumstances.
Looking at Reconnaissance Sense's description, it was rather brief, but the words "overpowered" might as well have been slapped across his face.
It was only level 1 now, yet it could already sense the detection range of mechanical units. If it reached level 10, it would probably gain even more powerful functions. He absolutely could not let this chance slip away.
Gritting his teeth, Xu Jiang stopped the people rolling dice.
"Stop arguing. I'm the newcomer, so I'll go." Xu Jiang voluntarily took on the mission, leaving everyone stunned.
Ying Xiaoxiao lowered her head and thought for a while, looking somewhat troubled. "Your combat strength isn't high. This mission is too dangerous for you. We said this was a welcome party for you. We can't let anything happen to you."
So... this really was a welcome party?
Xu Jiang looked at Ying Xiaoxiao, finding her difficult to understand.
What normal person treated a robbery as a welcome party? Clearly, she just wanted to rob someone and had casually found an excuse.
But judging by her expression now, she did not seem to be faking it. She truly was impossible to figure out.
Forget it. He would finish the mission first.
Xu Jiang said firmly, "Don't worry. I have a skill similar to stealth. I should be able to evade the surveillance detection."
Hearing Xu Jiang's explanation, everyone finally relaxed. They told him to go without worry, promising that if anything happened, they would rush over to rescue him immediately. Xu Jiang rolled his eyes at every last one of them.
"Then it's settled. Give me the Trojan program, and I'll connect to the internal network." Xu Jiang held out his hand to Sha Tu for the USB drive.
But Sha Tu shrugged helplessly. "What I'm actually good at is only cybernetic technology. Making prosthetic limbs is no problem, but Trojan viruses and the like? I don't know how."
"What? You don't know how? Then who does?" Xu Jiang felt like he had been played.
They had spent all that time discussing an infiltration plan, talking about hacking the other side's defense system, and now he was saying he could not do it? Then how were they supposed to infiltrate?
Poke... poke...
A small hand lightly prodded Xu Jiang. It was Xiao Zhen, the mascot-like little girl.
There was still little expression on Xiao Zhen's adorable face as she softly said, "I can make the Trojan."
"You can?" Xu Jiang was stunned. Wasn't she a Mystic Master? She was a hacker on the side too?
Xiao Zhen nodded seriously and demonstrated on the spot.
Her fair little hands formed a cupping gesture before her chest. From her palms, faint blue power turned into threads and gradually gathered into a ball of light.
"Imagining." Xiao Zhen murmured softly.
The ball slowly expanded until it reached half a meter in diameter, then stopped. It shifted shape once more, formed into a body, and finally solidified.
Xu Jiang: ...
"A Trojan? You call this thing a Trojan?" Xu Jiang could not help but complain.
Xiao Zhen raised her head, blinking her big, adorable eyes at him. "Isn't this... a Trojan?"
"Th-this... yes, that's right. This is a Trojan."
No wonder there were rumors outside that Team 17 was a bunch of lunatics. Even such an adorable little girl was not quite normal.
Although he had never studied hacking, he had seen plenty of it in movies.
Things like Trojan viruses were stored on USB drives, inserted into other people's computers, and used to attack their systems.
But what was before him now was a wooden horse half a meter long and wide.
Once solidified, its material was no different from wood. Its horse head was lifelike, seemingly grinning at him. Its four hooves were replaced by curved bases, and when placed on the ground, it could even rock back and forth.
This was a genuine wooden horse.
"This toy can disable the surveillance?"
"Of course it can. As long as you use it to touch one of the cameras, Xiao Zhen can disable every camera in the entire base," Baozi quickly added from the side.
No wonder they said they were not good at infiltration. Carrying such a huge wooden horse toy, it would be hard not to get spotted.
Xu Jiang looked at the brightly lit Black Tiger Gang base and could only hope that Qianji's new skill would come through.
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