Chapter 133: Gulf Building

Returning to the rented apartment in the suburbs, Hu Guozheng motioned that he had news. "There's word from Beast Wu, and it's about the vaccine."

"What did he say?" The two of them opened buckets of instant noodles, got everything ready, and poured in freshly boiled water. Within moments, a savory aroma filled the living room.

Hu Guozheng stuffed his mouth full of noodles, a stray strand hanging from his lips, and mumbled, "A month ago, Zeng Yilong proposed a deal to shake off the black and white forces hunting us down. That very deal is taking place tomorrow night inside the Bay View Building in Doumen."

"Is the information reliable?" Du Bin was extremely sensitive to betrayal. He knew Lin Xiuwu very well; after experiencing life and death and the incident with Li Ping, he did not completely trust anyone.

Hu Guozheng was different. He trusted Lin Xiuwu, especially since they had worked together longer than Du Bin had been around. "It should be true. You know Lin Xiuwu's connections as well as I do. Being able to dig this up is already pretty good."

"Alright then, we'll make our move tomorrow night." Afterward, the two finished their late-night snack and retreated to their respective rooms to sleep. The apartment had three bedrooms, two living rooms, and one kitchen, and Hu Guozheng was naturally already cohabiting with Shasha—something Du Bin had long since grown accustomed to.

Lying in bed, Du Bin tossed and turned, unable to find sleep. Whenever night fell, he longed for Ye Tang. Having finally found a clue related to the spatial rift, he dared not imagine whether Ye Tang had been pulled into a parallel world by that five-colored spatial passage. If she truly had, he had to find the spatial passage to cross over. Moreover, he had another objective: to find out whether the mastermind behind the scenes was also in that world. Thinking and pondering, he gradually drifted off to sleep.

Early the next morning, Du and Hu drove to the vicinity of the Bay View Building. Through daytime reconnaissance, they learned that the Bay View Building stood as a symbol of the Doumen economic zone. It was the headquarters of the Aurora Group under Mr. Li, covering a land area of 4.5 mu, with a gross floor area of 180,000 square meters. Rising forty floors high, the first ten floors were dedicated to commerce, while the eleventh floor and above served as corporate offices. The Bay View Building was connected across six distinct zones, and security personnel had been increased significantly compared to usual; patrolling guards could be seen almost everywhere.

Operations uniformly ceased at ten o'clock in the evening. As the crowds dispersed, the massive shopping mall gradually grew empty, leaving only security guards conducting routine patrols. At that moment, a Porsche appeared on the road and soon turned into the security checkpoint of the Bay View Building. The window rolled down, and the driver handed a black card to the guard. After confirmation, the barrier was raised, and the Porsche quickly drove into the Zone B underground parking garage.

"That must be the car." The two of them adjusted their seats to recline for better surveillance. They had waited quite a while before seeing the Porsche enter—if not for a clandestine deal, who would believe it?

"There are security cameras everywhere. It'll be hard to sneak in."

"No way, isn't your superpower lightning? You can perform magnetic field interference!"

"Ah, I haven't used my ability in so long, I almost forgot what I could do." Du Bin rubbed the back of his head with an embarrassed smile. Hu Guozheng gave him a sidelong glance and delivered a sharp knuckle rap to Du Bin's forehead. "Idiot."

***

Shortly after, the two of them skipped and hopped into the gardens. The Bay View Building was surrounded by gardens integrated from four different directions. Because the area was too vast, fences had not been erected; instead, security booths were placed along the perimeter roads of each garden. The two merely had to bypass a half-meter-wide hedge of shrubs to avoid the guards' line of sight and approach the Zone B building. Spotting a surveillance camera, they immediately scrambled to find a spot for cover. Du Bin concentrated his mind, continuously radiating magnetic fields outward. Electronic devices within a hundred-meter radius instantly lost function, and the two quickly bolted into the underground parking garage.

Once they left the range, the surveillance cameras resumed functioning. The guard in the security room noticed a few seconds of static snow on the screen, but assuming it was a glitch, he paid it no mind. The two made their way down the ramp further inside. Fortunately, the parking barrier arms were fully automatic, so no guards were stationed there. The second basement level was vast enough to accommodate a thousand compact cars, though at this moment, vehicles were parked only sparsely.

The two hugged the shadows along the edge to avoid cameras and spent a few minutes finally locating the Porsche. They headed upward via the fire escape stairs. "Hey, do you even know which floor they're trading on?"

"How would I know?" Hu Guozheng shrugged, spreading his hands.

"Damn it, you're not planning to search floor by floor, are you? By the time we finish, they'll have already left." Du Bin was slightly speechless.

Hu Guozheng chuckled. "I told you you're an idiot. Why wouldn't you catch someone and ask?"

Thinking that made sense, just as they were about to step out from the stairwell, Du Bin's phone suddenly received an email. He opened it to find a message from Helen, stating that Tong Xiaoguo had just been captured by the Tiger Fang Gang of Doumen and was presumably being brought into the Bay View Building. Du Bin found this rather strange, so he replied asking why she would be taken to the Bay View Building. Within moments, a reply came back, leaving him somewhat perplexed.

Seeing his expression, Hu Guozheng asked, "What is it?"

"The top five floors of the Bay View Building are the stronghold of the Tiger Fang Gang, and no one is allowed to enter. Tong Xiaoguo suffered Zeng Yilong's retaliation because of Qin Ling's miscarriage and was just captured up there. Helen, the boss of the Snake Gang, hopes we'll go rescue her."

Hu Guozheng sat down on the stairs and stretched lazily. "Oh, in that case, we're just saving someone while we're at it. That's fine, then."

"It is fine, but that's not what I'm worried about." Du Bin leaned against the wall, cupping his chin with a serious expression.

"Then what is it? If you're worried about those enhanced individuals—well, back when only I could use powers, your concern was understandable. Now that your powers are restored, I don't need to be distracted protecting you all the time. What else is there to fear?"

"I'm not worried about the enhanced humans. What worries me is that there might be superpowered individuals up there. Remember after our escape when our vehicle overturned? Zeng Yilong had several bodyguards with him, didn't he?"

***

"Yeah. Do you think something's fishy?" Hu Guozheng thought for a moment and nodded.

"One of the men hunting me down was an esper who wielded wind power," Du Bin recounted his experience at the time. "If Tong Xiaoguo hadn't saved me in the nick of time, I probably would have been sliced into a pile of minced meat by countless wind blades."

At the mention of minced meat, Hu Guozheng shuddered. "It can't be that terrifying!"

Just then, a security guard came into the stairwell to inspect, and the two immediately bolted out into the first floor of the shopping mall. Looking at the elevators, Hu Guozheng dug his heels in and declared under no circumstances would he take the stairs again—it took way too much courage to climb all those floors in one go. With no other choice, Du Bin had to agree. Exposure was inevitable now anyway. Using his magnetic field to disrupt the surveillance, the two of them boarded an elevator straight to the top floor. However, this elevator had no buttons for the thirty-fifth floor and above, suggesting that section required a dedicated elevator.

"Fatty, find the dedicated elevator." The two searched everywhere. Spotting a security patrol, Du Bin jammed the cameras with magnetic interference and rushed out. Before the guards could react, one was struck heavily in the stomach and dropped to the floor, groaning in agonizing pain as if he had been hit by a slab of iron.

Dragging the guard into a blind spot, Hu Guozheng grabbed him by the throat. "How do you get to the top floor of the Bay View Building?"

Panicked, the guards stammered, "There... there are five elevators in the Zone B parking garage, and one of them is a dedicated elevator. You need a black card to activate it, otherwise the elevator won't run."

"How do we get the black card?" Du Bin asked.

Terrified that these men might actually kill him—the punch earlier had thoroughly cowed them—the guard spilled the truth. "I remember the head of security has a black card, but I don't know if it's the one that activates the elevator."

"Where is he?"

Swallowing hard, the guard continued, "In the security monitoring office."

"Take us there." Hu Guozheng released his grip and shoved him forward. Following the two guards, they quickly arrived at the security room. Upon seeing two strangers, several other security guards grabbed batons and rushed forward. Against ordinary people, Hu Guozheng didn't need to use his powers; relying purely on his physical strength, he wove swiftly through them, knocking them down one by one with a single punch each.