43: Chapter 43 Fellow Travelers

The final door opened, revealing pitch-black darkness within.

Xing Yaoyan stepped in slowly, scanning her surroundings.

Thanks to a wolf's excellent night vision, she could clearly see the layout of the place without using Power Of Will for illumination.

There were over a dozen pedestals on the floor, each topped with a glass dome of varying sizes.

Through the glass domes, Xing Yaoyan discovered all sorts of items placed within.

The most conspicuous one was in the very center. A pale blue bead lay quietly upon red silk, appearing beautiful and elegant.

"Is this the monster core of a Rank 3 Ice-Breaking Wolf... It really makes a wolf's mouth water..."

The wisps of Demonic Power radiating from the monster core caused Xing Yaoyan's saliva to secrete rapidly.

Although the craving in her Bloodline remained intense, she was, after all, a Star Beast who had seen the world and would not lose her mind over this.

If I could even resist Hu Wang's Rank 7 monster core, how could I not resist a mere Rank 3 one like you?

"Little Xiao Yan, I've already attached a wisp of my consciousness to you. Just walk around for a bit, and I'll alert you once I sense it."

Hu Wang's voice trembled slightly.

Anyone about to obtain an immense Treasure Trove would naturally be excited, even if the treasure originally belonged to them in the first place.

Xing Yaoyan moved according to Hu Wang's instructions.

In her heart, star crystals were still more important than so-called monster cores or spirit nuclei.

As for why she felt nothing toward that giant star crystal on the Awakening stage earlier, Xing Yaoyan expressed:

As a veteran connoisseur, she could tell a fake from the real deal at a single glance.

"Yes... that's it! Right here!"

As she passed a certain pedestal, Hu Wang's voice instantly became excited.

Xing Yaoyan looked down into the glass dome on the pedestal. Inside was a small tray piled with almost identical small crystals.

"These are memory crystals," Hu Wang's voice came at the right time.

"Senior, you hid the backup plan you left for yourself in these crystals? They look very ordinary to me."

"What I used is naturally no ordinary memory crystal, but a super memory crystal I specifically developed and improved. One of these has the storage capacity of tens of thousands of ordinary memory crystals."

"However, to prevent people with ulterior motives from stealing and analyzing it, I specifically designed its appearance to be identical to an ordinary memory crystal..."

Upon hearing Xing Yaoyan dare to question his ability, Hu Wang immediately began a non-stop lecture about his research achievements.

"Alright, alright, stop. Why don't you find your super memory crystal from this pile first, Senior? We can talk about the rest when we get back."

Xing Yaoyan quickly interrupted Hu Wang.

Knowing this old fox's personality, if she really let him speak, he could certainly talk for three days and three nights.

"That couldn't be simpler. My super memory crystal has a unique password module. With just a slight thought, it will respond to my call."

As soon as Hu Wang finished speaking, one of the many memory crystals on the tray, near the edge, suddenly began to flicker. Though the light was faint, it was extremely conspicuous in the darkness.

"Now for this glass dome... Eh? Senior, you're so fast. You opened it for me before I even finished speaking."

The glass dome suddenly popped open. Xing Yaoyan, who had been worrying about how to take the memory crystal without making a scene, was instantly overjoyed.

"What glass dome? I didn't do anything..."

Xing Yaoyan was instantly startled. Thinking she had accidentally triggered some mechanism, she prepared to grab the item and leave in the window before the Enforcers arrived.

Then, her paw felt as if it had touched something in the air.

She fixed her gaze in the direction in front of her paw.

Well, there was nothing.

Xing Yaoyan made a tentative grabbing motion, only to discover to her surprise that the transparent object she had just touched had performed the corresponding action with her.

!

Holy crap! It's a ghost!

Xing Yaoyan no longer cared about exposure. She deactivated her concealed state, and all her Power Of Will instantly surged at full capacity. The golden light on her body immediately illuminated the previously pitch-black room.

All fear stems from a lack of firepower. Bold evil spirit, watch me perform a physical exorcism on you!

Her golden claws carried a massive momentum as they lashed out fiercely forward.

Clang!

It was the sound of an impact against metal.

“Damn, these cops have gotten smarter!”

A voice that sounded both familiar and strange rang out in the room.

Then, Xing Yaoyan saw a portion of the space in front of her distort slightly. A person wearing black tight-fitting clothes slowly appeared, wearing a smiley-face mask on his face, though his physique indicated he was a man.

“Hi~ Are you a police dog on patrol? Let's talk this out. I'm just here to pick something up...”

The man raised his hands, which were covered in black gloves. The smiley-face mask made it impossible to see his expression.

“What police dog? Your Grandpa here is a wolf, okay!”

Although she complained inwardly, Xing Yaoyan didn't speak, simply staring at him warily.

She understood in her heart that this masked man likely had the same designs on this tray of items as she did. For now, she could only wait and see.

She would keep an eye on this guy first, then figure out how to quickly take away Hu Wang's memory crystal.

They remained at a standoff for a while.

Neither the human nor the wolf moved.

“Um... Lord Police Dog, it's not great for us to just be stuck here staring at each other. How about I perform a magic trick for you, and then you just treat me like a fart and let me go?”

The man was the first to break the deadlock. With a slight movement of his hands raised above his head, he instantly pulled a playing card out of thin air.

Xing Yaoyan was slightly stunned. She didn't sense any spatial fluctuations, which meant the masked man had truly produced the playing card through sleight of hand.

“How's that? This empty-handed card trick is pretty cool, right? Not enough? I can do more!”

He tossed the card in his hand aside and instantly produced a second card, then tossed it and produced a third...

Xing Yaoyan watched as one playing card after another appeared from his hand and was tossed away; her eyes were almost dazzled.

“How bored is this guy? To come steal something and bring so many playing cards.”

She blinked.

And in that very instant, the man suddenly raised his foot and stomped hard on the edge of the tray, sending all the memory crystals flying into the air.

Under Xing Yaoyan's stunned gaze, he waved his hand and swept all the memory crystals into the spatial ring on his hand.

“Damn it! You punk, you played me!”

Realizing what had happened, Xing Yaoyan could no longer hold back and cursed out loud.

“You really thought I couldn't tell you're a person of the same path as me? Also, this is called outsmarting, baby~”

The man chuckled and snapped his fingers.

In the next moment, the playing cards scattered on the floor suddenly exploded, and a nauseating mist instantly filled the entire room.

“By the way, my dear White Wolf lady, the cops in Youfeng City don't keep police dogs~”