Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Tang Qiu had been hiding for a few minutes before the hurried footsteps and cursing of the middle-aged man could be heard approaching from a distance.

Woken from a sound sleep, the middle-aged man was visibly irritable. He opened the car door, sat in the driver's seat, slammed the steering wheel hard, then started the engine and drove out of the area of self-built houses and onto the main road much faster than the previous night.

Perhaps tempted by the money, despite his bad attitude and occasional curses, the middle-aged man never slowed down. To avoid traffic lights, he even took two side roads, spending nearly 40 minutes to reach the destination.

It was a dilapidated warehouse area with rusted iron sheets and partially collapsed structures.

The middle-aged man, familiar with the terrain, navigated the potholed concrete road, turning left and right, and finally stopped in front of a relatively better-maintained warehouse.

It was now April 8th, 23:45, just four minutes before the middle-aged man's originally fated death.

Having barely parked the car, he jumped out. Instead of immediately entering the warehouse, he lit a cigarette, looked around to ensure nothing was amiss, then cursed as he walked around the front of the car.

Tang Qiu did not get out immediately. Instead, she sat on the seat, stood up on her hind legs, placed her front paws on the car window, and quietly observed the situation.

The middle-aged man hadn't walked far; he stopped a good distance from the warehouse and started shouting, "Damn it, where are you? You call me here but don't come out to greet me? Hiding inside doing what?"

As his words faded, another middle-aged man quickly ran out of the warehouse.

Compared to the stocky, not particularly tall middle-aged man, this one was much thinner, with a sharp face and a fawning, cowering smile. He ran over but kept a few steps away, bowing as if apologizing, "Brother Li, you're here. I was inside keeping the man who introduced the job company. I didn't hear the car. Really sorry, Brother Li."

The middle-aged man's expression softened slightly, but he still looked down on the thin man. "With your cowardly way of doing things, what good does your company do? In the end, it's still me who has to step in. Where's the man? Why isn't he out?"

The thin man kept his head down, his expression unreadable, and said timidly, "He's inside. He doesn't want to show his face, all wrapped up. He said for you to go in and see him."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man grew furious, threw his cigarette on the ground, and stamped it out, cursing, "Damn it, not much money but plenty of attitude. Let me see what kind of big shot this is, putting on airs in front of me." With that, he strode forward.

Tang Qiu's cold eyes followed the two men, but she still didn't move.

The middle-aged man paid no attention to the thin man, even spitting contemptuously as he passed him before continuing forward.

The middle-aged man didn't notice, but Tang Qiu saw it: after he walked past, the thin man suddenly looked up with a venomous expression. His hands, which had been in his pockets all along, were suddenly pulled out, and he seemed to be stretching something between them.

Under the dim light from the warehouse, Tang Qiu squinted to make it out—it was a thin piece of iron wire, or perhaps steel wire, glinting coldly in the light, revealing the long-held murderous intent in the thin man's heart.

The middle-aged man, completely unaware, kept striding toward the warehouse. But the thin man lunged forward, slipping the wire around his neck from behind. Face contorted with veins bulging, the thin man tightened his grip, ignoring the middle-aged man's scratching and clawing at his face.

Just as the middle-aged man's face turned purple and he was on the verge of death, Tang Qiu leaped out of the driver's open window. Using the van for cover, she shifted into human form, then dashed forward with a swift kick aimed at the thin man's head.

The thin man, clearly not expecting a third person in this desolate place, was caught off guard. Engaged in a life-or-death struggle, he hadn't heard any extra footsteps. The kick landed cleanly.

Quick as a flash, Tang Qiu struck again while the thin man was still dazed from the kick, knocking him unconscious.

With the thin man dealt with, only the target, the middle-aged man, remained.

Ignoring the text appearing on the system interface, Tang Qiu aimed another kick at the middle-aged man, who was now sitting on the ground, coughing violently.

Compared to the thin man, the middle-aged man was more agile. He rolled out of the way, dodging Tang Qiu's kick while scrambling backward, shouting urgently, "Wait! We can cooperate! You take the lion's share, I'll take a small cut! From now on, you're the boss—whatever you say, I'll never go against it!"

Half-dead from being choked, the middle-aged man's head was throbbing painfully, and his internal organs ached with every breath like torture. He pleaded for mercy while trying to buy time.

Tang Qiu's face, hidden behind a mask, showed no expression. She seemed not to hear him, landing another heavy kick to his vulnerable abdomen.

The middle-aged man was sent flying backward, crashing into a pile of debris. Uncontrollable groans of pain escaped his lips as he curled up, clutching his stomach. He struggled to speak, trying to bribe her with money.

"I have money," he begged. "Spare me! I'll give you all my money—hundreds of thousands! It's hidden in the van! I'll give it all to you!"

Tang Qiu paid no attention. Under the middle-aged man's terrified gaze, she knocked him down with another powerful kick.

To ensure he wasn't faking unconsciousness, Tang Qiu delivered a few extra kicks, confirming he was truly out cold. Then she rummaged through the debris, found some sturdy ropes, and tied him up securely.

After binding the middle-aged man, she didn't forget the thin man, tying them both up like dumplings. Only then did she straighten up, satisfied, and clap her hands.

The system interface appeared promptly, offering congratulations.

"Congratulations, host. Another successful operation."

Tang Qiu stretched her stiff lower back and shoulders, then hopped into the driver's seat of the van, saying to the system, "Show me the settlement for that operation. I was busy and didn't get a chance to read it."

The system cooperatively displayed the text again.

"You provided assistance to Li Jianzhang at 23:48 on April 8th. Your intervention has moderately impacted Li Jianzhang's fate: you have advanced his imprisonment and postponed his death. You have received 1 Universal Attribute Point.

You have significantly impacted Zhao Jianzhong's fate: you have advanced his death. You have received 1 Universal Attribute Point."

Scanning the lines quickly, Tang Qiu frowned. She didn't understand. She saved the target, so why only a moderate impact? And the thin man—why was his death advanced? Did the target kill him after being released from prison?

But why would the target go to prison while the thin man didn't, and instead died sooner?

Tang Qiu couldn't immediately make sense of the logic, so she directly asked the system, "My operation was successful, so why these results? Only universal attribute points, no basic attribute points? And one is even a significant impact. Isn't there something wrong?"

The system replied.

"This settlement is based on your actions up to this point. If you take further actions, it will be recalculated."

Tang Qiu's frown deepened. "My operation is over. What did I miss?"

A black cursor flashed, and lines of text appeared on the system interface.

"If you take no further action, your target will escape from the ropes and then kill the other person."

Tang Qiu instinctively looked at the two still unconscious men. She didn't believe it. She had tied them tightly. How could he easily escape? Unless the middle-aged man was carrying a weapon.

Thinking of this, Tang Qiu got out of the van again, walked over to the middle-aged man, and conducted a thorough search. To her surprise, she found nothing.

It seemed the middle-aged man was confident in the thin man's fighting ability, or perhaps he had left in such a hurry that he only had cigarettes, a lighter, a phone, and some cash on him—no sharp objects.

How, then, could the middle-aged man have escaped?

Tang Qiu examined the ropes on him again, even pulling hard. She confirmed the ropes, though old, were still strong. She herself couldn't break free in a short time.

She recalled everything that had happened, carefully reviewing the events. Then she sensed something and slowly shifted her gaze from the middle-aged man to the cluttered pile of debris behind him.

After a moment of thought, she checked her gloves, hat, and wig, then found a long, thin stick and began searching through the debris.

In a few minutes, she found a knife and a rusty machete, the blade stained with dark, suspicious-looking spots that might be dried blood.

She threw the weapons on the ground and kicked the middle-aged man. No wonder he had been desperately crawling toward this spot while begging for mercy—he had backup plans.

Remembering how the man, while pretending to plead, had been buying time to kill her, Tang Qiu felt a surge of killing intent. She kicked him many more times, even as he groaned in his unconscious state, blood covering his face, until she vented some of her anger.

If it weren't for the desire for attribute points and the fact that this world was a lawful society, she would have simply killed him and been done with it.

Looking at the knife beside him, Tang Qiu felt tempted, but ultimately reason prevailed, and her heated mind gradually cooled.

Unless absolutely necessary, she couldn't kill. She didn't yet have the means to completely evade police investigation. She wanted to live a normal life using her original identity. She couldn't kill.

After taking a few deep breaths, Tang Qiu completely calmed down. She crouched down, casually tossed the dagger and knife farther out of reach, picked up the middle-aged man's phone, pried open his eyelids to use face unlock, and then used the same method to get the thin man's phone.

The system seemed curious and suddenly popped up to ask Tang Qiu.

"What are you planning to do?" "Call the police," Tang Qiu said briefly.

After two seconds, new settlement information appeared on the system interface.

You provided assistance to Li Jianzhang at 11:48 PM on April 8th. You have significantly affected Li Jianzhang's fate. You hastened his imprisonment, you delayed his death. You have gained 1 basic attribute point. You have successfully unlocked the special prize pool.

You pulled from the special prize pool. You obtained Premium item: Schrödinger's Knife, and Common item: Fate's Prophetic Eye (one-time use).

You spotted Zhao Jianzhong. Using Fate's Prophetic Eye… Failed.

You have moderately affected Zhao Jianzhong's fate. You hastened his imprisonment, you hastened his death. You have gained 1 universal attribute point.

Now Tang Qiu was satisfied. She turned around and kicked the middle-aged man again, then used his phone to call the police.

Tang Qiu didn't want to expose her voice, so she used the text-to-speech function on the thin man's phone.

As the call was connected, Tang Qiu played the voice recording without waiting for the dispatcher to speak.

"Help! Someone's trying to kill me. I'm in an abandoned warehouse in the old industrial area on the outskirts. He's about to find me. Please save me."

Ignoring whatever the dispatcher said, Tang Qiu played that message three times. After confirming that the police could find the two still-unconscious men through the address in the message, she hung up and casually threw the phone on the ground.

After quickly cleaning up the scene and making sure to erase all footprints, Tang Qiu jumped into the van, turned the key, and drove away.

Although this operation had a few hiccups, it was completed smoothly enough, and she had obtained a premium item, so Tang Qiu was in a good mood.

Unfortunately, her good mood didn't last long. Just as she drove to the edge of the city center, less than two kilometers away from the planned surveillance blind spot where she intended to abandon the van and switch to walking, she turned a corner and found a DUI checkpoint ahead.

The red and blue lights were especially noticeable in the dark of night. At a glance, there were four or five police cars, and at least a dozen officers were standing roadside running the DUI check.

Tang Qiu's heart skipped a beat. She cursed her luck under her breath. It was almost 2 a.m., not even a weekend, and they were checking for drunk driving at this hour.

There was no way she could go through. Looking at her current appearance—hat and mask, rubber gloves on her hands to avoid leaving fingerprints—she looked extremely suspicious. Moreover, she didn't have a driver's license. Going through would be walking right into a trap.

She glanced at the road conditions. The lane she was in was slightly congested due to the DUI check, but the opposite lane was completely clear, even empty.

Tang Qiu made a sharp left, swerved into the oncoming lane to turn around, then floored the accelerator and took off at full throttle.

As she sped away, she glanced in the mirror. As expected, seeing a potential DUI fugitive, the traffic police quickly gave chase with three police cars.

Tang Qiu sighed inwardly at her bad luck but wasn't nervous. She was just buying time. Once the item's cooldown ended, she could escape safely and cleanly.

Leading three police cars on a high-speed chase through the late-night streets, Tang Qiu saw there were about ten minutes left on the item cooldown. She decisively drove to a park entrance she knew well, where the terrain was tricky and full of surveillance blind spots, then abandoned the car and fled.

She ran as fast as she could, entering the park gate before the police could stop the car.

Instead of taking the faster paved path, Tang Qiu plunged into the dense woods, using the trees and darkness as cover to quickly dart deeper.

When the police followed her figure into the woods, they only saw a distant, swaying shadow deep in the trees.

Several officers cursed and stubbornly pursued into the woods. They didn't notice that as they chased, the footprints left by the figure ahead were being covered one by one.

Running out of the woods, Tang Qiu, without slowing down, nimbly scrambled up a rock garden. The rock garden's uneven terrain had more blind spots for both vision and surveillance. While counting down the item cooldown, Tang Qiu skillfully found a hollow on the back slope, completely surrounded by dense shrubs. Confirming that the police were still tens of meters away and hadn't caught up, she immediately used the item and turned into a sleek black-and-white tabby cat.

Stretching her body and hopping in place to get used to her limbs again, Tang Qiu made a few leaps onto a nearby pavilion. She lay on the cool stone bench, slowly flicking her tail, watching as several officers rushed up with angry faces, then looked around in confusion.

The system seemed puzzled by Tang Qiu's actions and suddenly popped up.

"Host, why aren't you leaving? What are you looking at?"

Tang Qiu's attention was caught by the words on the system screen. She instinctively licked her paw, then, realizing what she had done, lifted her head in disdain before replying in her mind: "I'm looking at my past."

The system was even more confused.

"What?"

Tang Qiu didn't bother responding anymore. This chase suddenly reminded her of the past. During the apocalypse, she was hunted like a cornered beast and forced to flee again and again.

At first, she just hid and ran fast enough to shake off all pursuers and escape.

After it happened many times, she realized hiding was useless. Only by killing the enemies behind her could she erase all traces of herself; otherwise, every time she escaped, more enemies would chase her, capture her, and try to tame her.

She hadn't killed in a long time, and Tang Qiu felt a strange nostalgia. In the past, when facing enemies, she would wipe them out completely, but tonight she had wanted to kill yet held back.

Instinctively sharpening her claws on the stone bench, Tang Qiu analyzed in her mind: although the middle-aged man had blood on his hands, his combat ability was not high. She had already called the police, and there were weapons at the scene suspected to be stained with blood. Even if the man wasn't sentenced to death, by the time he got out, she would definitely be strong enough to crush him with a flick of her finger.

Confirming that the middle-aged man truly posed no threat to her, Tang Qiu stood down the alert. She was safe, and she would continue to survive safely.