Carving a bird of prey like this is not something that can be casually taken away; it requires detailed planning.
First, you have to capture it, then transport it back via air freight, and then deal with various formalities afterward…
It seems really troublesome. For the three skills of flying, tracking, and long-distance vision, is it really worth it?
However, just like the black cat’s usefulness goes beyond just providing a boost, the eagle’s usefulness also goes beyond just a boost—the eagle itself is important.
This is a real flying bird of prey!
But in Zone 1, you can’t even use it; flying around the city for a while would bring the capture team.
Forget it, anyway, there’s no way to get it today. I’ll think about it later.
Like the brown bear, as long as they aren’t hunted, eagles like this generally don’t encounter danger.
Zone 26 isn’t an area plagued by poaching; it should be safe.
After thinking for a while, Xia Yu returned to his body after eight hours.
It was almost eight in the morning now.
Picking up his phone, Xia Yu saw a missed call from Yu Ningmeng.
It seemed the matter regarding Zhu Mei had reached a conclusion.
He redialed the number, and it was quickly answered.
“Were you sleeping?” Yu Ningmeng asked.
“Just woke up. How did things go?” Xia Yu sat up.
If the Yu family couldn’t get Zhu Mei into Zone 1, Xia Yu would have to figure out how to place her elsewhere.
“It’s possible. Zone 232 is our ally; she just needs to submit a refugee application.” Yu Ningmeng didn’t stop there—there was a cost involved, “Do you know about that medicine from Xu Youxiang?”
As soon as Yu Ningmeng mentioned the medicine, Xia Yu understood the price. He said, “I was also involved in that research. Just tell me directly.”
He voluntarily took partial responsibility.
“ALS—can you find a way to develop a medicine for it?” Yu Ningmeng asked hopefully.
ALS, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a muscular issue, just like Xu Youxiang’s condition.
Xia Yu rubbed his forehead; this would take him at least a few months of work.
“No good?” Yu Ningmeng sounded disappointed.
“I can’t guarantee it.” Even with his Level 6 pharmaceutical skills, Xia Yu couldn’t be certain he could cure this incurable disease.
“The other party only wants us to try—to at least halt or slow down the deterioration.” Yu Ningmeng said.
“In that case, there might still be hope.” Xia Yu replied.
“Don’t you need to consult with Xu Youxiang and Yin Shulan first?” According to the intelligence Yu Ningmeng had gathered, the main pharmaceutical researchers were Xu Youxiang and Yin Shulan; Xia Yu wasn’t even involved.
“I’ll give you an answer tonight.” Xia Yu couldn’t tell Yu Ningmeng that Yin Shulan and Xu Youxiang were both his alternate identities, so he decided to go along with the misunderstanding.
After hanging up, he let out a sigh of relief—at least Zhu Mei’s matter was resolved.
Getting out of bed, Xia Yu washed up and went downstairs to the dining area.
Zhu Mei and Hu Lianglu were having breakfast, while the other girls had already finished.
Xia Yu drank a bowl of porridge, grabbed a steamed bun, took a bite, and walked toward the window.
Outside, the sun was blazing, baking the beach. By noon, all traces of yesterday’s rain would vanish without a trace.
“What are we doing today?” Kong Hanyue asked, lying on the couch.
Everyone looked at Youxue.
Taking out her phone, Youxue checked her schedule and said, “Morning plans include shopping at the mall; in the afternoon, we’ll go to the countryside to experience the local culture and stay overnight.”
Liu Manman, also lying on the couch, lifted her head: “So are we leaving now?”
“Let’s go.” Kong Hanyue stood up. “I heard you can buy unique wood carvings here.”
Everyone went back to their rooms to pack their things. Taking this opportunity, Zhu Mei approached Xia Yu.
“Made your decision?” Xia Yu asked.
“I’ve decided to stay.” Zhu Mei said, clutching her chest.
“Why?” Xia Yu was a little surprised; he had thought Zhu Mei didn’t have much affection for her brother.
“Being alone isn’t fun.” Zhu Mei gave her reason.
Last night, she had a dream where she returned to her familiar village. She ran around the village, seeing the familiar trees and grasses, overjoyed.
But the joy quickly vanished. The village was empty—no villagers, no familiar faces like Weihua, and even the bear’s cave was empty, with no sign of the bear.
The village was peaceful and serene, exactly as it had always been, but in her dream, Zhu Mei couldn’t find the feelings she once had.
What she wanted wasn’t just a peaceful environment, but also her familiar family.
If she went to Zone 1, she would still be alone, just like in her dream.
After hearing Zhu Mei’s explanation, Xia Yu sighed: “I understand. I’ll rescue your brother.”
“He’s Ah Hua.” Zhu Mei corrected him. What she wanted most was Ah Hua, not that cheap younger brother.
“Ah Hua is still alive?” Xia Yu was astonished. “What about Wei?”
“I don’t know.” Zhu Mei lowered her head.
Not knowing meant the odds were against him.
Xia Yu also felt a bit down; he had quite liked that man.
As he was silent, Zhu Mei, realizing that not rescuing her brother might seem bad, added, “Please rescue my younger brother too.”
“Okay.” Xia Yu nodded. Saving one person or two made no difference.
“Really?” Seeing how readily Xia Yu agreed, Zhu Mei couldn’t believe it.
After failing to offer herself last night, she had thought this matter was impossible, yet now she succeeded without offering herself.
She was still worried—maybe Xia Yu wanted to continue last night’s transaction, just that it wasn’t convenient in the villa. She looked up and said, “I can do it anywhere.”
It took Xia Yu two seconds to figure out what Zhu Mei meant. He patted her head and said, “No need for that. I already told you, someone asked me to take care of you. Once they’re rescued, you can just come with me.”
Zhu Mei nodded. She actually really wanted to go to the peaceful Zone 1, especially if she could bring Ah Hua along—it would be a dream come true.
It would be even better if Xiongxiong were still around.
Grabbing the pendant around her neck, Zhu Mei’s cheerful mood sank again.
Noticing her sadness, Xia Yu placed his hand on her head, silently comforting her.
This gesture suddenly felt familiar to Zhu Mei.
Xiongxiong also liked to pat her head like this, placing his paw on her head.
For a moment, Zhu Mei felt as if Xia Yu had turned into the brown bear.
She shook her head, trying to dispel this ridiculous illusion, but then remembered a suspicious point.
She looked at Xia Yu and thought: How did he know about Ah Hua? Why did he ask about Wei?
Knowing about Ah Hua wasn’t strange—after leaving the mountains, Ah Hua had been with her. But Wei died in the mountains, and she had only mentioned him a few times; few people knew about him.
Wait, when he heard that Ah Hua was alive, he showed surprise and immediately asked about Wei, proving he knew about the two before they left the mountains, not after.
After the palace burned down, she, Wei, and Ah Hua hid in the mountains; only a few guards knew about this. But if it was a soldier who told him, they wouldn’t have used the nicknames Ah Hua and Ah Wei, but rather Li Wei and Li Hua.
It was only after entering the mountains that Li Wei and Li Hua changed their names to Ah Wei and Ah Hua.
In other words, Xia Yu obtained information about her while she was in the mountains. But there was no signal in the mountains, making communication with the outside world impossible.
The more Zhu Mei thought about it, the stranger it seemed. She also recalled Xia Yu saying someone had asked him to take care of her. In the mountains, she had no other family besides Ah Wei, Ah Hua, and Xiongxiong. From the previous conversation, it was clear Ah Wei and Ah Hua weren’t the ones. Could it possibly be Xiongxiong who asked?
She was just about to ask Xia Yu, but seeing the women coming downstairs, she had to suppress her doubts.
After everyone gathered, Xia Yu made an excuse about meeting an online friend and left the group. With two bodyguards and three security guards, plus everyone speaking fluent Mandarin, Xia Yu believed the women wouldn’t encounter any trouble.
Since Zhu Mei was still being hunted, she stayed home. Xia Yu and Kong Hanyue split into two groups. The girls went to the largest mall in Zone 26, while Xia Yu headed to the counterfeit street.
Since he had promised Zhu Mei, he had to act. He planned to start by gathering information.
As the name suggests, the counterfeit street was a place crowded with fake goods. There were few tourists there, but many locals.
For Xia Yu, disguising himself as a local was no challenge at all—East Asians’ appearances had no obvious differences, and Xia Yu also had the skill of language proficiency, speaking the local dialect of Zone 26 perfectly.
Entering a teahouse, he chose a window seat and watched the activity downstairs, planning to target a female employee from Gray Reef Company and use the game opportunity to enter her body for investigation. If everything went smoothly, he might even use her body directly to carry out a rescue operation.
His plan didn’t go smoothly. Sitting on the second floor of the teahouse all morning, changing his outerwear a few times to pretend to be different people without leaving his seat, he never saw a suitable target.
Gray Reef Company’s base was that large warehouse, and he hadn’t seen any women coming or going.
Sighing, Xia Yu could only give up on observation and find another method.
Picking up the teacup in front of him, he slowly drank, preparing to leave after finishing.
Because he no longer needed to focus on the street, his hearing became sharper, and he overheard the conversation at the neighboring table.
“Still haven’t found that woman?” a sharp male voice asked.
“No. Either she’s hiding in a tourist’s room, or she’s been detained by someone from Zone 1.” Another hoarse male voice replied.
“I guess that’s why some of our brothers disguised themselves as drain cleaners, going to check those tourists.” The sharp-voiced man was proud of his deduction.
“The most likely scenario is that she was detained by someone from Zone 1.”
“If it’s Zone 1, we’re out of luck. If we make a move, Gray Reef might be eliminated too. Why would they detain her?”
“The brothers who chased her said she’s even more beautiful than Ning Qiuer.” The hoarse voice took a sip of tea.
“Even more beautiful than Ning Qiuer? If that’s the case, I’d detain her too. Hehehe.” The sharp-voiced man let out an ear-piercing laugh.
The two continued discussing Ning Qiuer for a while. Xia Yu took a sip of tea, surprised that he could still hear Ning Qiuer’s name in Zone 26—how popular had that girl been back then?
After five minutes of talking about female celebrities, the two finally returned to their original topic.
“What about the others besides that woman?” the sharp voice asked.
“They’ve been sent off. They should be almost at Zone 232 by now.” The hoarse voice answered. “Originally, I was supposed to go, but when I saw the people being loaded onto the car were those caught two nights ago, I immediately feigned illness and ran off.”
“Right, Zone 232 is a terrible place. Life comes first.” The sharp voice agreed.
After finishing their tea, the two stood up and went downstairs.
Xia Yu also stood and followed them from behind.
Xia Yu had assumed Gray Reef Company would wait until they captured Zhu Mei before sending everyone together, but he hadn’t expected them to immediately send Ah Hua and the others to Zone 232.
They must have felt that Zhu Mei had been detained and was unrecoverable, so they gave up.
The car was almost at Zone 232. At this point, chasing after it would be too late. Should he go to Zone 232 to rescue them?
No, he couldn’t let them reach Zone 232.
Zone 232 and Zone 26 were two completely different worlds. Zone 26 had few firearms, at most handguns, while Zone 232 was in chaos, with firearms everywhere, and even rocket launchers wouldn’t be surprising. He was still just flesh and blood, unable to withstand heavy firepower.
Although he could use a substitute body, that substitute was still a person, and he couldn’t just send them to their deaths—they could resist and kick him out of their body.
What should he do? Ask Yu Ningmeng to inform the border guards of Zone 26 to stop the car?
Xia Yu felt the Yu family probably didn’t have that kind of influence, and once the people were in the hands of the military in Zone 26, they wouldn’t be released easily.
More importantly, the border might not be able to stop Gray Reef Company’s people, given how vast the border was.
Forget it, he would deal with it as it came.
First, he would kidnap the hoarse-voiced man. As a driver, he might know the vehicle’s route.
With this in mind, Xia Yu put on a mask, confirmed there were no cameras around, and rushed out to snatch the hoarse-voiced man’s phone and ran.
Caught off guard at being robbed on their own turf, the hoarse-voiced man and the sharp-voiced man hesitated for a moment, but Xia Yu slowed down slightly, allowing them to catch up.
He led them to a secluded alley and stopped.
The hoarse-voiced man and the sharp-voiced man followed and stopped too, leaning on their knees, panting heavily.
Unlike Xia Yu, who had the endurance skill, they were just ordinary people.
After resting for ten seconds, they stood up and surrounded Xia Yu with clenched fists.
Their faces wore cold smirks as they charged toward Xia Yu with punches.
Used to conflicts, their martial skills were fairly good, but against Xia Yu, they were completely outmatched.
Dodging the hoarse-voiced man’s punch, Xia Yu seized his belt and flipped him onto the ground. Then, anticipating the sharp-voiced man’s move, Xia Yu raised his leg to block the man’s path, watching as he rammed his own kidney into it.
Both groaned on the ground.
Approaching the hoarse-voiced man, Xia Yu grabbed his face and asked, “Which road is the car heading to Zone 232 taking—the one carrying the ‘princess’?”
The hoarse-voiced man didn’t answer immediately.
Xia Yu took out a gun from his pocket.
It was the security guard’s gun, given to him yesterday morning when he went out to find Zhu Mei, and he hadn’t returned it.
Seeing the gun in front of him, the hoarse-voiced man was on the verge of tears.
Why didn’t you pull that out earlier! I foolishly tried to fight hand-to-hand! I got thrown around for nothing, and my back hurts like hell!
“Talk.” Xia Yu tapped the hoarse-voiced man’s head with the gun barrel.
“The 11th Avenue.” The man obediently answered.
“11th? I’ll give you three seconds to change your answer, or else if my people can’t find the car, you’re done for.”
“It really is the 11th. The car is a silver minivan, with license plate number…” The hoarse-voiced man revealed everything.
Xia Yu’s face lit up with joy. If it was the 11th Avenue, things wouldn’t be so complicated.
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