novelraw Chapter 74: Unexpected Situation, Entering the Nightingale
Chapter 74: Unexpected Situation, Entering the Nightingale
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Mie Mie carried Yu Yuan as they galloped wildly through the sewers.
Perhaps because there was less wool for cushioning, Yu Yuan felt today's journey was particularly bumpy.
By the time he reached the Landmark Hotel again, his buttocks had gone somewhat numb.
The current time was 7:35 PM, still some time before Nightingale would open, so he planned to gather supplies at the Landmark Hotel first.
This time his target was clear—the 19th floor of the Landmark Hotel, which housed the hotel's fitness and entertainment center.
Yu Yuan had originally intended to go up there yesterday, but dismantling the car had taken too much time.
When he pushed open the manhole cover, the sky had already darkened. Yu Yuan felt that nightfall was coming increasingly early, and the weather seemed to be turning colder as well.
Following yesterday's route, he quickly entered the Landmark Hotel and took the stairwell to the 19th-floor fitness and entertainment center.
The fitness and entertainment center had clearly been looted too—flowerpots, chairs, dumbbells, and barbells were scattered everywhere across the floor. Torn clothing and dried blood suggested how brutal the situation must have been back then.Yu Yuan first conducted a general inspection of the fitness and entertainment center as usual.
After confirming there was no danger in the gym, entertainment area, esports room, and gambling zone,
he came to the floor-to-ceiling windows of the gym. No fewer than twenty treadmills were neatly arranged here.
Only then did he realize how expansive the view from the Landmark Hotel truly was—the massive floor-to-ceiling windows offered a complete nighttime view of Golden Orchid Avenue.
Although it was pitch black outside, under the moonlight, one could still discern how prosperous Golden Orchid Avenue had been before the wasteland era.
Some treadmills had already been damaged by others. Because they were close to the floor-to-ceiling windows, Yu Yuan didn't turn on his flashlight. Instead, relying on the Dim Light Vision from his Neighborhood Rat title and the faint moonlight, he quickly selected treadmills in good condition.
He soon found three suitable treadmills. He tried listing the treadmills directly on Taotao Hole, but as expected, it was completely impossible to list them.
There was no other way—he could only list them on Taotao Hole after dismantling the treadmills.
With yesterday's experience dismantling cars, Yu Yuan found dismantling the treadmills much smoother today.
First, he unscrewed the bolts on the frame, removed the running board and treadbelt, then proceeded with the motor, transmission screw, control panel, electronic controller, display screen...
He listed each component on Taotao Hole as soon as he removed it.
Dismantling the first treadmill was quite slow, and combined with the lack of light, it took over an hour to completely dismantle.
But the second one went much faster, taking only forty-some minutes.
Just as Yu Yuan was preparing to dismantle the third treadmill in one go, his peripheral vision suddenly noticed activity on the street below.
"Hmm? That's..."
Yu Yuan immediately turned to look and saw three cars driving from distant Golden Orchid Avenue toward this direction.
"They're coming from District 4!"
He had already taken out his binoculars. As his view zoomed in, Yu Yuan soon saw the three cars finally turn into the Opera Building.
Blocked by the building, the cars disappeared from sight.
However, Yu Yuan's heart sank with a thud.
He opened the virtual map and quickly traced along District 14, following the direction the three cars had come from—from District 14 into District 4, then District 5, and finally District 1.
The identity of the arrivals was already quite clear.
—Black Shield Police Department.
Only they would dare to travel so openly at night, and besides, District 4 wasn't far from District 1 anyway.
But who exactly had come?
The first person that came to Yu Yuan's mind was Loris.
He checked the time—10:05 PM.
"I hope they leave quickly!"
Yu Yuan didn't want any additional factors affecting his carefully laid plans.
Thinking this, his movements became even quicker, while his gaze occasionally drifted toward Nightingale's location.
By the time the third treadmill was completely dismantled and listed by Yu Yuan on Taotao Hole, it was already 10:30 PM.
Taking out his binoculars to look toward Nightingale, he still didn't see any sign of the three cars leaving.
Yu Yuan felt somewhat hesitant too.
According to plan, he should be preparing to go to Nightingale now, but with Black Shield Police Department personnel there, he wasn't keen on taking the risk.
After some thought, Yu Yuan reached a decision.
"Wait one more hour. If those people still haven't left after another hour, I'll have to go to Nightingale to confirm the situation."
With his mind made up, Yu Yuan stopped agonizing and left the gym for the adjacent entertainment center.
His target was the esports gaming room. Generator optimization still required collecting some wires, and other electronic components would also be very useful—for example, CPU chips would be materials for making the Spirit Collector later.
Gathering these supplies was relatively straightforward. He collected all the power cords from the entire esports area, completely dismantled all the computer mainframes, and placed all electronic components into the Magician's Ring.
In less than an hour, Yu Yuan left the Landmark Hotel.
This time, however, he didn't enter the sewers. Instead, pretending to be an ordinary scavenger, he carried a cross-body bag and walked toward Nightingale.
After approaching the Opera Building, he didn't go directly inside but hid beside a wall corner.
Yu Yuan took out his binoculars to observe the situation at the Opera Building, his brow slightly furrowed.
"Strange, where did they go? Did they enter the underground parking lot?"
From the outside, Nightingale's situation tonight didn't seem any different from yesterday's.
Just as Yu Yuan was about to brace himself and go in to check, a beam of light suddenly appeared at one corner of the Opera Building.
Yu Yuan immediately pulled his body back behind the wall and saw three wasteland combat vehicles armed to the teeth slowly emerging from underground, leaving the Opera Building. After entering Golden Orchid Avenue, they quickly headed in the direction of District 4.
"So they really went to the underground parking lot." Regardless, the departure of the Black Shield Police Department allowed Yu Yuan to relax.
Not wanting to delay any further, and seeing that it was almost midnight, he needed to hurry with his main task.
Looking around left and right, he hunched over and quickly walked toward the Opera Building.
As soon as he approached the Opera Building, light shining through the door cracks fell on Yu Yuan, and his body tensed slightly.
He faintly sensed a thread of threat. Feigning nonchalance, he continued forward, but his peripheral vision scanned the nearby shadowy corners and several windows on the second floor—likely Nightingale's security personnel.
Pretending not to have noticed anything, Yu Yuan walked straight toward the main door.
Yesterday, Yu Yuan had already extracted details about entering Nightingale from that scavenger.
So when he pushed open the slightly ajar door and saw two women wearing maid outfits, he deliberately displayed some nervousness and caution, but his gaze toward the two maids showed undisguised desire.
The maids were clearly accustomed to this sort of situation.
Two burly men appeared behind Yu Yuan holding weapons. One of them looked Yu Yuan up and down, then raised an eyebrow and asked:
"Hey, haven't seen you before! Who referred you here?"