22: Jin Bing, who took the blame, and Qiao Ya, who began to prepare

After the robbery.

Under the pressure of public opinion from the outside World.

The Police in Los Santos were like madmen.

Desperately searching for clues.

This… was a tough time for the gangs and underground forces hidden in Los Santos.

Even the corrupt Police who usually took bribes from gangs became exceptionally impartial these days.

No amount of pleading worked.

They just investigated, strictly investigating those gangs and underground forces.

This gradually caused resentment towards the bank robbers to rise within various large and small gangs.

In fact, some smaller gangs were fine, as they weren't targeted very severely.

But those powerful gangs were in big trouble.

Hell's Kitchen.

In a luxurious office, a large bald man, shaped like a ball, stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

This person was Kingpin.

The one who had previously sent people to rob Joa's Merryweather company's port warehouse.

Unlike before, when he was arrogant enough to send people to rob the port and even arrange things with the Police Department beforehand.

Now, Kingpin felt both aggrieved and angry.

“Los Santos Police Department, National Security Agency, CIA, FIB…”

Stroking his smooth bald head, Kingpin held a cigar between his fingers.

He looked with a grim expression at the Agents monitoring him downstairs.

After the bank robbery, Kingpin was the first person the Police suspected and came to visit.

Although he explained many times that he had nothing to do with the bank robbery.

The Police just didn't believe him.

It wasn't just the Police; Kingpin noticed that his subordinates seemed to look at him differently than usual.

It was a gaze mixed with awe and admiration.

“F*ck! These incompetent, useless, stupid, greedy Police!”

“Are You saying all the bad things in Los Santos are done by people I sent?”

He was inexplicably saddled with a huge scapegoat, and no matter how he explained, others wouldn't believe him.

Even his subordinates thought their boss had done such a thing.

The more Kingpin thought about it, the more frustrated he became; he was about to explode.

“Sh*t!!”

“Damn robbers!”

“Don't let me catch You!”

“If I catch You, I'll chop You into pieces and feed You to the dogs!”

……

“Ah… ah-choo!”

Los Santos Port.

Joa sneezed, then rubbed his nose.

He watched a cargo ship bound for East University slowly sail away.

“Who's talking about me?”

“Does Lorna miss me?”

“She's quite clingy. I just didn't bring her along, and she's secretly talking about me behind my back, hehe.”

He chuckled a little narcissistically.

Joa then took out his phone and dialed Li Hua's number.

Today was the agreed-upon delivery day.

Goods first, then money.

After all, 5 billion U.S. dollars is not a small sum; it requires time to operate and launder.

Only then can this money become absolutely clean and be deposited into Joa's account.

Generally speaking.

It's usually a hand-in-hand exchange of money and goods.

But with East University as a trading partner.

Joa naturally had a sense of trust in them. The East University in this World was extremely similar to the East University before he transmigrated, not the fictional East University in Marvel.

So he never considered the possibility of East University defaulting on payment.

Moreover, they wouldn't default. Which is more valuable: 50 tons of gold or the person who can steal this gold? Even a fool could figure that out.

“Hello?”

“The goods have already left the port.”

“Remember to notify them to receive it, don't let anything go wrong.”

“Mm-hmm, no rush, I trust You to handle things.”

“Alright then, I'll hang up now. Waiting for Your good news.”

After hanging up, Joa's face couldn't help but break into a smile.

His upward-curving lips were harder to suppress than an AK.

Just now on the phone, Li Hua told him that the 5 billion U.S. dollars would arrive in his account as early as the day after tomorrow.

At the latest, it wouldn't exceed three days.

“Phew! It's time to prepare.”

The gold had been sold, and the money was about to arrive.

Joa straightened his expression, stepped out of the port, and drove his Adventurer Banshee towards home.

On the way.

He pondered the site selection for the bunker and facility.

These past few days, he had flipped through the map of Los Santos several times, but hadn't found any particularly satisfactory location.

Bunkers, facilities—such underground research Bases certainly couldn't be placed within the Los Santos urban area.

But they also couldn't be too far away, otherwise, coming and going would be too inconvenient.

‘Phew, no time to pick anymore. I'll choose the Senora Desert, a few hundred kilometers north of Vinewood Hills.’

Back home, Joa, without a word, dragged a bewildered Polaris directly to the Senora Desert.

Joa and Polaris took turns driving, traveling for a full eight hours.

By the time they arrived, it was almost dark.

Getting out of the rented SUV.

Polaris looked around at the barren desert where not a blade of grass grew, and once again couldn't help but ask Joa, who seemed to be looking for something not far ahead.

“Joa, why did You bring me here?”

“Camping?”

“But this is too remote, isn't it?”

Their current location was several kilometers away from the nearest highway.

Polaris truly couldn't understand why Joa would bring her to such a desolate place where even animals were rarely seen.

Looking at the surrounding environment, Joa nodded with satisfaction.

Then, without turning his head, he responded with a smile.

“Don't worry, You'll know in a bit.”

‘system, right at my feet, materialize the facility.’

【Materializing…】

As these words appeared on the system panel.

A series of muffled thuds and slight vibrations came from the ground beneath Joa's feet.

“What's going on? An earthquake?”

Feeling the tremors from underground, Polaris frowned deeply.

Then, with a worried expression, she quickly scurried over to Joa's side.

“Joa, we should leave here first… right?!”

Before she finished speaking, Polaris saw the huge oval metal door beneath Joa's feet and her eyes instantly widened.

“What… what is this?”

“A missile silo?”

No, she clearly remembered not feeling any metal here just now.

Seeing Polaris's stunned expression, Joa smiled and tidied her slightly messy hair, explaining.

“This isn't a missile silo.”

“This is my secret Base.”

Upon hearing this, Polaris was even more surprised.

“A secret Base?”

“You have a secret Base? What's it for?”

Without further explanation, Joa pulled Polaris back to the edge of the facility's large door.

“Go inside and You'll see.”

With that, Joa squatted down and found the entrance control panel hidden underground.

He pressed the button.

The control panel rose.

Joa began to verify his fingerprint, iris, and voice print.

“Verification passed. The door is about to open. Please step back and maintain distance.”

An electronic warning sound came from the control panel.

Then, the facility's oval metal door split down the middle and flipped open upwards.

The door fully opened, and the elevator just rose up.

Looking at the astonished Polaris beside him, Joa's lips curled into a smile.

“Lorna, wake up.”

“Can You help me get the car over here, please?”

Coming back to her senses, Polaris stared with complex eyes at Joa, who was becoming increasingly mysterious.

With a soft sigh in her heart, Polaris, who was once again feeling anxious about gains and losses, raised her hand.

The next moment.

The SUV parked in the distance rose into the air and flew onto the facility's elevator.

Unable to bear the torment of her anxious emotions any longer.

Polaris then couldn't help but softly ask.

“Joa… You'll never leave me, right?”