I know this novel is Q’s, but that didn’t make it not worth reading.
Chapter 18: Neighbourhood
What is this? This is like the typical saying of “forcing a good girl into prost.i.tution”. Cui Ming felt helpless, went to Room 702 and opened the locked door, eventually took daily necessities. He did as easy as his own home. As a person who had morals, he would not rely on other people giving him benefits. Cui Ming stuffed two fat chickens into Room 702’s refrigerator as payment for taking away property. Why was Cui Ming so bold? Because no one was at home. Why did he know no one was at home? Because on Room 702’s door, there were a lot of symbols.
This was not a high-end district. Security forces were not strong, but there were also some wealthy people that lived here. So thief gangs liked these places the most. Those gangs had begun to standardize their process: First off, they had a full-time member checking staff. Intel gathering like this was very hard, as the staff had to check several districts every day.
Modern-day gang theft didn’t begin with targeting a person, but searching around an area. Room 702’s door has two stars, which meant that Room 702’s master usually went home at two o’clock in the morning, one star and a half was colored black, indicating that after two o’clock on the weekend, the master slept deeply. From these symbols, Cui Ming a.n.a.lyzed: Room 702’s master is a single female, low property value, was a level 3 target: had a low defense, but also did not have too much of value for a thief.
In the first round, after a long time and a large number of checking, the information would be recorded on paper and the symbols would be erased. In the next one to three days, this area would suffer a large-scale burglary. After the mission succeeded, the gang would immediately evacuate out of Dawn City to avoid the investigation. At the same time, a new round of checking would start. The checking staff would investigate another area of Dawn City for at least ten days.
In Cui Ming’s childhood of wandering, burglary was one of the main business, so he was well aware of these symbols. After going out, Cui Ming pulled out the pen and drew a hook symbol on the Room 701’s and 702’s door. The hook symbol meant that people living in these two rooms already understood your tricks. Pride of thieves in modern times wasn"t loyalty, but to avoid provoking some low-value or unidentified people.
Cui Ming went back, thawed a fat chicken, turned on the gas stove, and made barbecue chicken. He had no way to grill it, as Room 702 only had a pot. Cui Ming also had the pride of thieves. In ancient times, there were two rules of burglary and robbery: One, not to take a victim’s life. Two, not to take away everything. Although, that was mainly for the next robbery.
The first rule: A person who was deceived once was able to be deceived again. This is the same as gambling psychology, people who were cheated, always thought that not all things were scams, and was overconfident with their intelligence. They thought that they couldn"t be cheated, only that they were unlucky.
So even if a customer was robbed on this road once, the next time he’d likely to choose this road, as long as he did not die. Cui Ming’s pilgrimage was “never take all the wool on a sheep"s body”, unless he is your enemy.
Cui Ming was a wise man, there was no doubt. But smart people sometimes made stupid mistake. Cui Ming had made a mistake, and that was by not being aware of the ident.i.ty of Room 702’s master, he exposed his familiarity with the gangs of thieves.
Two o’clock in the morning, one young woman wearing a leather shirt, leather pants, carrying a bag on her back, and wearing a leather hat, went into Room 702. When she was ready to open the door, she felt something was wrong. Taking a closer look, she found a symbol was added. Among theft gangs, this was a warning sign which meant “I am very familiar with your tricks, do not provoke me.”
The woman opened the door into the room, turned on the lights, put the bag on the bed, took off her gloves, and sat down thinking hard: The gang of thieves likely found out our ident.i.ty. No, if they had, there would be no sign, they would immediately leave the area. The present situation was that the gang just doubted my ident.i.ty. The woman picked up the phone on the table to call: “This is Evelyn, they are aware of us, prepare for an a.s.sault.”
So unfortunate, Evelyn thought to herself, opened the refrigerator, ready to take frozen drinks, suddenly she saw two big fat chickens. Evelyn froze for a long while: What did this mean? The theft gang found out that I am a policeman, and then bribed me? With just two chickens? Evelyn hurriedly called: “This is Evelyn, do not start an a.s.sault.”
Looking at the open fridge, Evelyn frowned. What did that mean? Removing the nonsense explanations such as “the eggs hatch in the refrigerator, grow up, kill themself, get cleaned and go back into the refrigerator”, there was only one explanation left: someone went into this room and put two chickens into the refrigerator. But this line of logic was completely unreasonable. Someone broke in, did not take the cash in the drawer, did not take the gold ring on the dresser, but rather put two chickens into the refrigerator…
As for the things that Cui Ming took: the salt, vinegar and toilet paper; Evelyn never used these. This was just a room she temporary rented to understand the theft gang’s checking progress and investigate the ident.i.ty of the checker.
Evelyn thought to herself all night without any results. At eight o’clock in the morning after she came out, she found the Room 701’s door also had “don’t mess with me” symbol, which gave her a sudden realization.
…
Meditate was for becoming familiar with the flow of aura, similar to Envelop. Envelop was feeling the Aura while Meditate was controlling the Aura, so cultivators could come out at any time. While in the Meditate state, Cui Ming felt some knocks at the door, and soon realized their dedication. He helplessly came out from Meditate state, stood up from the ground mat, and opened the front door.
It was a beautiful girl. If North Luna was a starry sky, then this girl was a shooting star. Just a looking at her eyes, Cui Ming was immediately on alert: This pair of eyes were full of offense and detection. Cui Ming subconsciously recognized: this woman is probably a police-woman.
A cultivator? Evelyn was surprised. Unlike the rookie Cui Ming, Evelyn could use Focus, so she clearly saw the faint Aura surrounded Cui Ming’s body. In fact, even if Cui Ming was experienced, without using Null, the Aura couldn’t be hidden.
The other side did not hide his own Aura, which meant he already knew her ident.i.ty. Evelyn could only openly ask: “May I come in?”
“Of course.” Cui Ming moved aside. His subconscious vigilance put Evelyn on alert as well.
Cui Ming closed the door. Evelyn acted as this was her own home, she went to the window, opened the curtains, and turned to see Cui Ming. She asked: “I am Evelyn, a Dawn City police officer. Who are you?”
Sure enough, a police woman. Cui Ming replied: “My name is Cui Ming.”
“Where are you from?”
“I am a citizen of Dawn City.”
Evelyn looked at Cui Ming, and said: “Do you know, according to the law of Dawn City, except for members of the Aura Alliance, other cultivators who enter the Dawn City must call the police department phone number 101 to report. Otherwise, you will be treated as a dangerous factor.”