Chapter 90: 90, Surround and capture Ren Xiaosu

For reasons unknown, Luo Xinyu suddenly felt that this calm-faced Qingzhen, standing outside the cage, was far more ferocious than the experimental subject within.

And yet... how did this involve the Huo Tong Company?

"Shine a strong light on him," Qingzhen continued.

Someone immediately directed a searchlight at the experimental subject’s face, and the subject, as if terrified of the light, instinctively raised its arm to shield its eyes.

Qingzhen frowned. "It fears light, yet why has it emerged during the day? Has it evolved again... or is something peculiar drawing it out, compelling it to venture forth despite the glare?"

At that moment, someone beside him spoke calmly: "There are two possibilities for its fear of light—one, the remnants of its human consciousness cannot bear its current form; two, the genetic editing has awakened primal instincts."

"This can wait," Qingzhen nodded. "Ask Xu Man on the radio—have you found those three? I suspect they slipped through your net during the capture of the experimental subjects."

This Qingzhen had already deduced when Ren Xiaosu and the others had breached the quarantine.

Now, Qingzhen desperately wanted to locate Ren Xiaosu and the others, for he sought to know whether one of them had lured the experimental subjects into daytime activity.

...

Ren Xiaosu was then wandering through a vast mall, its structure miraculously intact despite the earthquake, though its interior lay in ruins.

The outer walls stood firm, but the furnishings within were shattered—many ceilings had collapsed, counters lay in disarray, their surfaces coated in a thick layer of dust, perhaps ten centimeters deep.

Items that could not withstand the erosion of time had all decayed and crumbled.

It was in this mall that Ren Xiaosu finally beheld gold and silver jewelry!

The precious metals had oxidized entirely; the silver ornaments on the counters had turned black, their true luster visible only where they were snapped apart.

Gold, too, had tarnished—the yellow metal in the mall bore red speckles from prolonged contact with iron fragments fallen from the ceiling, yet its value remained undiminished.

He had no interest in silver; in this age, silver held little worth.

Ren Xiaosu could carry only so much—he must seize the most valuable items.

This was where the storage space proved its merit: how much gold could fit within a cubic meter? Before, he had fretted over upgrading his storage capacity, but now he need not worry—the gold here might sustain him, Yan Liuyuan, and Xiaoyu for decades in comfort.

Most of the mall’s gold was in the form of jewelry, and to conserve space, Ren Xiaosu crushed gold bracelets and necklaces into a tangled mass, stuffing them into the palace. Brute strength, after all, allowed one to bend the world to their will.

Yet even so, his storage space remained riddled with gaps, a source of great regret.

In the end, he stripped off his coat, wrapping a portion of the gold within it.

In the mall, he also spotted diamonds, but in this era, diamonds had lost their value. Master Zhang of the academy had once said that diamonds were once exorbitant, but their abundance had merely been inflated by hype.

Now, in an age where people prioritized food over gems, diamonds had naturally depreciated.

Suddenly, Ren Xiaosu heard the rhythmic footsteps of Qingshi’s operatives outside. He furrowed his brow—they had come.

He understood clearly: his presence, along with Xu Xianchu and Yang Xiaojin’s, could not be concealed from Qingshi. Since Liu Bu had been captured, he would surely expose their whereabouts.

At that moment, Ren Xiaosu lingered in the mall, clutching a bundle of gold wrapped in his coat, while his storage space was packed to the brim.

Regardless of whether Xu Xianchu and Yang Xiaojin had achieved their goals, Ren Xiaosu had already returned in triumph.

Perhaps they sought the secret of the transcendents and the world’s evolution, but Ren Xiaosu now found the mystery utterly uninteresting—if the city’s foot baths were still open, he might have cared...

Thus, Ren Xiaosu’s thoughts turned to seizing gold and fleeing.

But as he prepared to leave, the orderly footsteps of Qingshi’s combat units echoed outside. He furrowed his brow and retreated deeper into the mall.

It seemed Liu Bu’s capture had already alerted Qingshi to their presence, yet Ren Xiaosu felt no panic. The mall was vast, and he believed even if the operatives searched, they would struggle to find him.

Moreover, this ravaged city was immense, its buildings countless—if Qingshi’s thousands of operatives scoured the entire city without rest, it would take ten days and a half-month to comb through it all.

Qingshi’s Xu Man led a combat squad through the dusty streets, ever-ready for battle. According to Liu Bu, Xu Xianchu and Yang Xiaojin were relatively dangerous, especially Xu Xianchu, who had reached a C-level threat rating.

As for Ren Xiaosu, their assessment was unanimous: a common refugee, strong and skilled in killing, but not particularly threatening.

It was not that Xu Man and Qingzhen were arrogant—it was that Liu Bu himself did not know Ren Xiaosu’s true capabilities.

Xu Man, a seasoned soldier, understood that if Ren Xiaosu relied solely on brute strength, he would crumble before firearms.

Ren Xiaosu hid behind a rusted metal frame, ensuring he remained in shadow and unseen.

He watched Xu Man’s squad slowly pass through the shattered entrance, and he exhaled in relief.

At that moment, after rounding a corner, Xu Man halted and turned to his soldiers: "The arrangement of items in this building differs from my memory—someone has been here. They may still be inside!"

Little did Ren Xiaosu know that Qingshi harbored such terrifying operatives, ones with minds as sharp as a hair and memories as vivid as a painting!

In truth, Ren Xiaosu had barely disturbed the outer counters—just a few at most—but even this had been detected by Xu Man.

...

Not sure what to say—asking for a recommendation ticket.