Chapter 146: A Cat with a Treasure Chest?

As the inflatable boat approached the shopping center near their residential complex, Sun Jingtao’s somber mood had completely faded.

“Xiao Ye, do we have our speed yet?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s about six kilometers per hour, Tao-ge. You and Zhao-ge just try to keep it steady at that pace,” Ye Qing replied, then immediately gave directions:

“Turn right, thirty degrees, and keep going for another three minutes.”

“Okay.” Sun Jingtao nodded, and Zhao Pengfei paused his rowing for a moment.

When it came to controlling angles and such, Zhao Pengfei was clueless—he was just the muscle. As for the boat’s overall direction and navigation, that was Sun Jingtao’s job.

This was a plan they’d just worked out and refined after a few short test runs.

The buildings they were heading to were right by the first ring road.

If it weren’t for the torrential rain, it would have been easy to find them with just their eyes and a general sense of direction.

But with the dense curtain of rain blocking their view, they had no choice but to rely on these clumsy methods.

On the hand-drawn map Sun Jingtao had made, he’d picked out a few major landmarks. Most of them he’d passed during city marathons and night runs, so he had a rough idea of the distances between them.

Once they had their speed and estimated distance, and then locked in their heading and timing, their navigation accuracy improved quite a bit.

It just took a lot of brainpower.

Of the four, Ye Qing—the youngest, still in college—was the sharpest, so the heavy mental lifting naturally fell to him.

As for Jiang Yan, she held another map and a compass, responsible for making on-the-fly corrections.

No matter how good Sun Jingtao was at controlling speed and direction, he wasn’t a machine—there would always be some margin of error.

With Jiang Yan handling corrections, their accuracy improved noticeably.

Ye Qing also had to do the mental calculations, so the binoculars for keeping watch were handed to Jiang Yan as well.

At this moment, Huabao had already been let out by Jiang Yan, though it was currently wrapped around her wrist in the form of a transparent vine, its big, toothy head watching the compass in her hand.

Jiang Yan actually had access to more precise coordinates and data, but she obviously couldn’t take out the theodolite. Besides, Ye Qing’s methods were scientific enough, so she didn’t say anything more.

When it came to identifying buildings with water levels nearly reaching the rooftops, she was the best at it.

After all, with Huabao constantly reminding her, it was hard to go wrong.

After about an hour, their inflatable boat was less than two kilometers from their target building.

They could already see the outlines of the buildings in the distance.

Sun Jingtao and Zhao Pengfei were drenched in sweat.

The sweat and rain on their faces mixed together, making it impossible to tell which was which.

Ye Qing and Jiang Yan had offered to switch places with them, but the two men refused.

As they rowed, Zhao Pengfei suddenly wiped the rain from his face and said,

“Hey, Sun Jingtao, is it just me, or is there more water pooling inside the boat?”

“There is. The drain hole might be clogged.” Sun Jingtao glanced at the automatic drain on the side of the boat, then checked the drain valve.

All four of them felt a sinking feeling.

This was not good news.

If the drain hole was blocked, it wouldn’t take long for the rainwater to fill the boat and sink it.

“We should’ve tied Jiang Yan’s inflatable boat behind us as a backup,” Zhao Pengfei muttered, frowning.

“It’s fine. A clogged drain isn’t a big deal—we can fix it,” Sun Jingtao said, checking his multifunction sports watch before suggesting, “Jiang Yan, it’s still early. Why don’t we find a place nearby to take a break?”

“Okay.” Jiang Yan nodded—she’d been thinking the same thing.

She pointed to a dark red steel-structured building not far away. “How about that multi-story parking garage over there?”

The parking garage had thirty floors, with high ceilings, and at this point, nearly half of it was still above water.

“Alright.” Sun Jingtao nodded, steering the boat toward the parking structure.

The entrance was on the first floor. Luckily, it was made of steel, with just some metal railings outside and no glass curtain walls, so they could dock the boat right at the edge.

To check the drain, Sun Jingtao and Zhao Pengfei picked a wide spot and hauled the boat up.

On this floor, there were still a few cars parked.

To be safe, they carried the boat behind a champagne-colored van.

Taking off their rain hoods and glasses, the group slumped to the ground, panting.

Sun Jingtao and Zhao Pengfei’s hair was completely soaked, plastered to their heads.

Their faces were flushed red.

“Drink some water first,” Ye Qing said, pulling out some honey ginger water from his backpack.

A cup for Jiang Yan.

The other three men didn’t mind sharing, and they all took a drink.

After hydrating, Sun Jingtao quickly found the problem with the drain.

It was clogged with some floating debris.

Looking at the grayish, rotting, sticky gunk Sun Jingtao pulled out, Jiang Yan almost threw up the honey water she’d just drunk.

They’d come across some heavily decomposed corpses along the way.

It was obvious what that stuff was.

“How about we rest for an hour?” Jiang Yan suggested, eyeing the parked cars and suddenly getting an idea.

“Yeah.” The other three nodded in agreement.

“Okay, Zhao-ge, Tao-ge, I’ll stand guard. After you eat something, you two should get some shut-eye,” Ye Qing said, pulling out some chocolate and biscuits.

“Sounds good.” Sun Jingtao and Zhao Pengfei didn’t argue.

Jiang Yan opened her backpack and took out some beef jerky. “I found some of this at home.”

The three men, all meat lovers, immediately perked up.

It was like their strength came rushing back.

The beef jerky had originally been nicely packaged, but to avoid suspicion, Jiang Yan had just tossed it into a random ziplock bag.

“Jiang Yan, you’re just like Doraemon,” Ye Qing said sincerely.

Zhao Pengfei grabbed a piece and started chewing, looking puzzled. “What’s a Doraemon?”

Sun Jingtao punched him playfully and teased,

“Old Zhao, you don’t watch cartoons, but your kid does! It’s an anime character—just imagine a robot cat with a treasure chest full of gadgets!”

“My kid—” Zhao Pengfei choked up, his wolfing down of food suddenly coming to a halt.

Only then did Sun Jingtao remember that Zhao Pengfei’s child had been taken by Ma Longbiao’s gang.

When he was younger, Zhao Pengfei had been a bit of a delinquent—drinking, gambling, hanging out like a street punk.

Sometimes, when he got drunk, he’d beat people up indiscriminately.

His wife eventually got scared and left him, leaving him alone with his son.

From then on, he swore to turn over a new leaf and be a good father.

Relying on his martial arts background, he found work as a martial arts coach.

As for the apartment in Qianshuiwan, he’d rented it with another family so his son could go to school nearby.

“Sorry.”

Sun Jingtao reached out and patted him on the shoulder, apologizing."