Starting Cultivation in Wasteland-Chapter 639 - 509: The Trap

Little Lake was complaining, but his actions were not slow, and soon he had gathered some intelligence.

"The foodie's watch number was used yesterday; it made a call from another planet, so it's likely not on Star No. 4."

"The sheath's watch number was last used the day before Xiang Xue was abducted, likely for arranging related matters."

"At that time, his location was... huh, a fake address? But it doesn't matter; the real address should be near the Customs Enforcement Division."

"Customs Enforcement Division..." Qu Jianlei's mouth twitched; indeed, like a persistent ghost.

But on second thought, everyone knows that the more dangerous the place, the safer it is. Their choice seems right.

"Can you analyze the numbers they called?"

"They are all unregistered," Little Lake replied gloomily, "but wait... this one's interesting."

After four or five seconds, he spoke again, "An unregistered number frequently contacts a fixed military refueling station."

Qu Jianlei's mouth twitched again upon hearing this, and he raised his hand to touch his forehead, "The military..."

To be honest, the Imperial Military is really annoying; their power is just too great, even more troublesome than the Customs Enforcement Division and the Cleaners.

The only thing he ever lost and hasn't gotten back was due to being restricted by the military in the Third War Zone.

If it weren't for an old friend on Zarif Star helping, he wouldn't know how to leave.

Just as he was feeling troubled, his radio suddenly sounded, and Camille's voice came through.

She had already locked onto Comet's location, currently in a repair shop.

As for how the location was locked, Qu Jianlei did not ask, and she didn't say.

She didn't even mention whether he needed assistance—she sensed that Panda clearly wanted to draw a boundary.

The Cleaners were proud; providing information for free was due to a prior promise.

Qu Jianlei put away Baofeng and didn't use a car, taking half an hour to sneak his way to the location.

This was a standard small car repair shop, with a front store and back yard, covering over 5000 square meters, and even had a test track.

From about 500 meters away from the repair shop, Qu Jianlei cautiously released his perception to sense the situation inside the shop.

At around 200 meters, he stopped: the amount of surveillance and alarm equipment here was just too much.

The concealed surveillance was not excessive, but the key was that many cameras were installed in the yard, seemingly to analyze vehicle performance.

But upon careful thought, it was obvious that the surveillance angles far exceeded that scope and could also monitor outside.

This layout wouldn't be noticeable without careful observation, and to an average person, the repair shop would seem very normal.

Qu Jianlei carefully analyzed and found no route for close approach.

A bit tricky! From analyzing the setup, he deduced that this was likely a Cyan Blade Commerce Association safe house; the defenses certainly wouldn't be weak.

Trying to approach unknowingly wouldn't be easy.

The safest method was to release poison, but since there was no wind, he could only use Wind Attribute Techniques.

However, he hadn't forgotten that among the people who abducted Xiang Xue, one was Wind Attribute A-level.

Another option was to wait like a stalker, choosing a nearby high building to monitor the comings and goings patiently.

Qu Jianlei was not a person lacking patience; his work at the academy was also complete, so he could afford the time.

But who could guarantee there were no hidden passages in the repair shop? When Xiang Xue was abducted, the opponent used tunnels to escape.

Thinking it over, Qu Jianlei set his eyes on a transformer 500 meters away, quietly approached, and tampered with it.

Then he returned to his lurking spot, waiting quietly.

Five minutes later, the transformer sparked, followed by a loud bang, with sparks jumping around, short-circuiting it.

The repair shop had its power source and backup power, so it wasn't greatly affected.

However, taking advantage of the electromagnetic disturbance for a few seconds, Qu Jianlei instantly amplified his perception to sense the inside situation.

Then he involuntarily inhaled sharply; oh dear, there were three A-levels hidden in the three directions in the courtyard.

One was Fire Attribute, presumptively Comet; another was Gold Attribute, and most importantly, there was a Wind Attribute.

Was this a trap? Qu Jianlei couldn't help but guess this way.

The chance of Camille setting him up wasn't high, but if the opponent even deceived the Cleaners, it wouldn't be surprising, would it?

The change in the transformer 500 meters away alerted the people in the repair shop, and someone walked out to check.

The person who came out was an elderly woman in her sixties or seventies, stout enough to run horses on her arm, C-level Water Attribute.

She was wearing a coat, standing there, staring at the tripped transformer for about half a minute.

Then she turned back inside, fetched a night vision device to continue watching, observed for about another minute, and then shook her head and went back in.

To an outsider, this was a perfectly normal reaction from a Night Watcher.

But Qu Jianlei remained unmoved, continuing his stakeout, blending entirely into the pitch-black night.

About two minutes later, a slight smile appeared on his lips: finally couldn't resist, huh?

Two silent unmanned drones appeared, only the size of soybeans, gray-black, practically invisible at night.

The drone flew straight towards the transformer, then hovered up and down, left and right, presumably checking for the fault.

However, although the circuit had tripped and the flames had been extinguished, the thick smoke generated by the burn was still billowing.

The drone's visibility was not good, and thermal imaging was ineffective, so it circled around several times.

Qu Jianlei couldn't help but shake his head: The Cyan Blade Commerce Association was indeed cautious, but—they still harbored some luck.

If it were him, he would have retreated immediately upon sensing something amiss, as for the cause of the transformer's burning... does it really matter?

But in the next moment, he realized that the Cyan Blade Commerce Association was far stronger than his solitary self.

Their power was so vast that even with caution, they wouldn't flee at the slightest sign of trouble.

He had a thought and silently called on Little Lake, "Can you infiltrate their drone control system?"

Qu Jianlei didn't know how powerful the equipment in the repair shop was, but using a wired connection to infiltrate would be too risky.

Using a wireless signal to silently infiltrate the opposing system would be much more feasible.

"No problem," Big Head Butterfly rotated in his mind, "But your hardware is a bit poor, huh."

"I will reach Golden Core sooner or later!" Qu Jianlei replied discontentedly, "Just wait until then... Get to work!"

Little Lake's capabilities were true to its word; after ten seconds, it indicated, "Entered the system."

"But it's only the drone control terminal, no video or audio collector... huh, it actually connected to the smart terminal?"

The drone was controlled by a Modified Warrior and a regular person, capable of signal collection and analysis at the control terminal.

However, today they made a fatal mistake, which was connecting the drone control terminal to the smart terminal.

In theory, this operation wasn't wrong; the smart terminal could analyze the signal better.

But encountering Little Lake, this powerful AI, resulted in complete disaster.

Through the smart terminal, it infiltrated the repair shop's network, taking about half a minute for safety's sake.

"Nine people detected!" Little Lake identified the count.

But regrettably, it couldn't discern the opponent's Cultivation Level, even if audio and video were shared with Qu Jianlei, it wasn't useful.

Qu Jianlei analyzed and made a major discovery, "There's a surveillance blind spot!"

The monitoring network initially had no blind spots, probably because it was inconvenient to set up too many cameras, some cameras were rotatable.

During the camera's sweeping movements, brief visual blind spots would appear.

"Nicely done," Qu Jianlei praised Little Lake and quickly analyzed the optimal path and infiltration timing.

"Check if my analysis is correct?"

"Such simple calculation, and you're asking me?" Little Lake was indeed a bit arrogant, "The error is within permissible limits."

Not the optimal solution? Qu Jianlei's mouth twitched, but he didn't bother arguing; he wasn't an AI, so roughly correct was fine.

In the next moment, his body like a cat swiftly leapt forward, silently darting out.

Just as he approached the repair shop and was about to leap over the wall, he suddenly felt a warning, "Not good, it's a trap!"

Such a cautious and complete monitoring system, how could there be a sudden loophole, accepting a certain degree of error?

However, he realized a bit too late, and in the next moment, a thumb-thick bolt of lightning struck him squarely.

His body instantly stiffened, outmaneuvered despite his strength, he had to admit defeat.

In the next moment, a gentle breeze swept in, binding his body,

Immediately after, a shadow quietly flipped over the wall, raising a hand to grab him, chuckling softly.

"Always felt something was off, so there's a little mouse here!"

But in the next moment, this person's body suddenly trembled, a low growl escaping his throat, "It's the wind..."

The one coming to capture him was the A-level Wind Attribute Warrior; his Wind Binding Technique wasn't the strongest but excelled in convenience and subtlety.

Relying on his Body Technique, he wanted to capture someone instantly, but didn't expect that the little mouse which should have been rigid actually assimilated the Wind Binding Technique.

He reacted instantly, realizing that the opponent was also Wind Attribute; otherwise, they could only break free, not assimilate.

As for why the intruder, being of Wind Attribute, could withstand a Thunder Dragon strike… he couldn't afford to think about it.

In the next moment, a bright knife light flashed, causing his massive head to fly.

Before falling into darkness, his last thought was, "I was careless..."

Seeing him die instantly, the B-level Warrior who unleashed the Thunder Dragon was dumbfounded, "How is this possible?"

The sound of the Electromagnetic Technique attack was too loud; he deliberately toned down the Technique's power, but…the Thunder Dragon really hit the target!

Unless you wore Armor, shouldn't you at least stiffen a bit?

But he was very sure; the opponent wasn't wearing Armor; otherwise, elemental fluctuations wouldn't escape his Wind Attribute perception!

In that brief moment of distraction, the shadow had already climbed over the wall, appearing like a ghost beside him.

Another bright knife light sliced through the dark night...