Chapter 248
Over the next few days, Pei Zhengnian became increasingly busy, almost to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep.
He was like a wound-up machine, running day and night without stopping. His eyes were often bloodshot, and he was surrounded by a tense and sharp aura.
He shuttled between his office, the archives, and various secret meeting locations.
The confirmed list of names in his hands grew longer and longer.
At first, there were only a few vague names and suspicious clues, like beads scattered on the ground.
Relying on his extraordinary perseverance and meticulous thinking, Pei Zhengnian picked up these beads one by one and strung them together with an invisible thread.
The ink on the list grew darker, the names multiplied, and the network of relationships behind them gradually became clear.
Through the system, Shen Nanchu occasionally gave Pei Zhengnian some help.
Her assistance was always just right, like a timely rain that silently nourished everything.
Sometimes, it was a deliberately obscured communication frequency captured by the system, which revealed key information after enhanced analysis.
Sometimes, it was an accidental encounter with a hidden meeting.
Sometimes, it was even just a prompt reminding Pei Zhengnian to pay attention to an easily overlooked time node or location discrepancy.
These fragmented pieces of information were precisely delivered to Pei Zhengnian through Shen Nanchu's hands.
Pei Zhengnian was already exceptionally capable, and with the guidance of these crucial inspirations, his thoughts were suddenly enlightened, and his progress was rapid.
He quickly sorted out the most critical threads in the intricate maze, thoroughly identifying the specific individuals who were colluding with Pei Zhengwei.
Behind every name represented a betrayal and a potential threat.
Everything was ready, all the puzzle pieces were in place, all the groundwork had been laid, just waiting for the east wind to blow.
That east wind was the trading time chosen by Pei Zhengwei himself, which he believed to be foolproof.
A silence like the calm before a storm enveloped the hearts of those in the know.
Soon, the time Pei Zhengwei had agreed upon with the others was approaching.
Pei Zhengnian's side had already made comprehensive preparations.
The plan had been deduced countless times. Every link had considered various possibilities, and everyone participating in the operation knew their responsibilities and contingency plans.
The system was even more thrilled.
It practically jumped for joy in Shen Nanchu's mind, its data streams surging at an unprecedented speed, simulating various devouring schemes and energy absorption efficiencies.
Host! Energy! Massive energy! Right before our eyes!
It kept muttering, its desire almost materializing.
Shen Nanchu, however, remained calm.
Early in the morning, when the sky was just getting light and the whole city was still immersed in its final sleep, Shen Nanchu left the house.
She wore a neat set of dark clothes. Her movements were as agile as a night-prowling cat, silently blending into the pre-dawn mist.
Pei Zhengnian had not returned last night. He stayed up all night at the command post, carrying out the final deployments and confirmations.
Snatching Jiang Shuyi's system was not that simple.
After all, it had been bound to Jiang Shuyi for a long time and possessed certain self-protection mechanisms and stress responses. Forcibly detaching it would likely trigger unpredictable consequences, or even cause the system to self-destruct.
Pei Zhengnian was the male lead of this world, so he naturally carried a bit of a male lead halo. This was the invisible luck bestowed upon him by the rules of the world.
The rule fluctuations and energy conflicts generated by the confrontation between the male lead and the female lead would weaken the defensive capabilities of Jiang Shuyi's system to the greatest extent, creating the most perfect opportunity to snatch it.
Only then could Shen Nanchu and her system take advantage of the situation and deliver the crucial strike of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
A hazy early morning.
The light was still ambiguous, and the distant scenery was shrouded in a thin veil of mist.
An abandoned factory in the suburbs of Beijing.
The huge, rust-mottled factory building looked like a silent steel behemoth, crawling in the wild grass.
The air was filled with the smell of rust, decaying dust, and a hint of damp mold. It was so quiet that one could hear the rustling of the wind blowing through the weeds.
Jiang Shuyi sat in Pei Zhengwei's car, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes. Her heart was still beating wildly, feeling uneasy. Her right eyelid had been twitching non-stop since she left the house. She always felt that a huge crisis was hidden behind this excessive smoothness.
Pei Zhengwei, on the other hand, looked jubilant and determined to win.
He even hummed an out-of-tune little tune, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel from time to time.
In his eyes, wealth and freedom were already close at hand, within reach.
Today, in addition to stealing a few expensive artifacts from the Cultural Relics Bureau, they also had other even more valuable artifacts and confidential documents.
These were the bargaining chips they used in exchange for a future life of luxury. Every item was priceless, and every item was enough to doom them eternally.
Jiang Shuyi expressed her concerns to Pei Zhengwei, Pei Zhengwei, I just feel like something is wrong. It's too quiet... Could it be...
Pei Zhengwei didn't care at all and interrupted Jiang Shuyi extremely perfunctorily, What could be wrong? The plan is flawless! Don't scare yourself.
He didn't even bother to use more words to comfort her, feeling it was completely redundant.
Pei Zhengwei felt that once this job was done, he would take the money and fly far away, leaving China to enjoy his world of pleasure.
As for what happened to Jiang Shuyi, whether she lived or died, or whether she got caught, what did it matter to him! She was just a tool he used, and naturally, she should be thrown away when he was done.
He even thought maliciously that if she was caught, it would just buy him a little more time.
Jiang Shuyi didn't know these cold, ruthless, and even malicious thoughts in Pei Zhengwei's mind. Although her heart was still shrouded in enormous unease, seeing Pei Zhengwei so certain, she didn't say anything more.
She could only rely more on her own system for help.
She communicated with the system in her mind once again, asking anxiously, System, scan the surroundings again! Are you sure there is really no one lying in ambush?
The system responded mechanically, Scan complete. Everything is normal.
Little did they know that long before they arrived, the surroundings had already been silently shielded by Shen Nanchu's system using higher-dimensional permissions and energy.
An invisible information barrier enveloped the area, distorting normal detection waves.
Jiang Shuyi's system level was far lower than Shen Nanchu's system. Its detection signals were like a clay ox entering the sea, completely unable to penetrate this barrier, and naturally, it couldn't discover Pei Zhengnian and the others who had long been lying in ambush, lurking in the shadows like hunting leopards.
Pei Zhengwei and Jiang Shuyi were waiting for people.
Pei Zhengnian was waiting for both sides.
Shen Nanchu was waiting for a three-way melee.
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
Every act of this silent drama had long been written in the script of fate.
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