Chapter 93: Fish, So Many Fish!

Jiang Yan’s ability to control objects with her mind is somewhat similar to expending mental energy.

After a whole day of hard labor and using her powers, she was completely exhausted. She just left the pile of jewelry and luxury watches out in the open, lifted her legs, and headed straight into the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Hua Bao had eaten so much its teeth hurt. Its eyes were bigger than its stomach, so it gave up on eating for now. Very sensibly, it carried all those jewelry boxes into the guest room next to Jiang Yan’s bedroom and stacked them up neatly.

Jiang Yan had given Hua Bao that guest room to live in.

But it had never actually stayed there. Every day, it just snuggled up on the white wool rug next to Jiang Yan’s big bed.

*

The next morning, Jiang Yan got up at the crack of dawn.

After quickly washing up and eating breakfast, she changed into a warm wetsuit and left her space.

As soon as she returned to the room she’d entered yesterday, she saw a fairly large open-top sightseeing boat parked below.

But all the seats on the boat had been removed, and it was piled high with items packed in waterproof bags.

More goods were still being sent down from the rooftop via pulleys and ropes. On the way back up, they’d send up some empty bags and packing straps.

She quickly took out her binoculars and scanned the area.

At the bow, several people were in charge of receiving and loading the goods.

As usual, there were two armed soldiers standing guard.

But she didn’t see Qi Mengnan, Song Qian, or Zhao Ziyi.

Jiang Yan watched for a few seconds before realizing what was going on.

Anming was an inland city, unlike coastal or riverside cities where boats were abundant.

There were some cargo boats, but they were all small, just enough for daily use in scenic areas.

So it made sense that they’d dismantled the biggest sightseeing boat to use for transporting goods.

Judging by the amount of cargo, Song Qian and the others must have stayed up all night, sweeping the entire building.

Not only did they clear it out, but they also had to collect and pack everything up, all in the pitch-dark night, using only flashlights.

The workload was easy to imagine.

Jiang Yan suddenly understood why they needed to have a soldier with them.

Also, since this building was isolated with no villages or shops nearby, ordinary people couldn’t get in, so they hadn’t left any supplies for the public.

The supply boat didn’t stay long before leaving.

Not long after, Song Qian and the other two appeared in Jiang Yan’s binoculars.

Unlike yesterday’s energetic selves, today all three looked exhausted.

Song Qian was driving the boat.

After boarding, Qi Mengnan didn’t even take off her life ring. She just leaned against the side of the boat, one hand holding the strap, the other cushioning her head, and fell asleep on her side.

Zhao Ziyi, also wearing a life ring, just lay down wherever, holding onto a rope, and fell asleep too.

Their way of sleeping was actually a bit dangerous, so Song Qian was driving the boat slowly.

Fortunately, the water was calm, and he kept the boat steady.

Watching them drift away, Jiang Yan finally relaxed. She didn’t care about the thick layer of dust on the sofa and plopped down.

She glanced up—the general manager’s office door was open.

The air conditioning maintenance hatch in the hallway had been broken open, so they’d probably doubled back.

The box of tissues that had been on the tea table was now gone.

Jiang Yan decided to wait until they were farther away before heading down herself, just to be extra safe.

Her gaze paused under the tea table—she thought she saw a hidden compartment.

She casually slid her hand to the side, and her eyes lit up.

There was quite a lot inside.

There was some expensive Ban Zhang and Bing Dao tea, as well as ordinary jasmine tea and little green mandarins, plus a big box of 30-year-old dried tangerine peel.

Apparently, the compartment was well-hidden, so the others hadn’t found it, leaving everything behind.

She didn’t know if the Ban Zhang and Bing Dao were real, but the tangerine peel was definitely good stuff. Jiang Yan simply put all of it into her space.

About ten minutes later, Jiang Yan finally got up.

The temperature outside had dropped again.

The sky was gray and overcast, with thick clouds threatening rain.

Jiang Yan suddenly realized that the window of opportunity this time might not last four days.

She needed to move as quickly as possible.

Not daring to waste time, she hurried down to the 13th floor.

She took out her inflatable boat and started paddling out.

When she reached the edge of the building, she checked the waterline, then jumped onto the boat.

Her plan today was to clear out all the jewelry stores outside the city center but within the fourth ring road.

The outer ring was much larger than the inner city, but there were fewer jewelry stores, and no luxury watch shops, so most of her time was spent traveling.

Unlike yesterday, when she could just swim from one small jewelry district to another in the city center, today’s route meant she had to return to the boat after each stop and travel to the next destination.

She even had to switch to a speedboat at times, making today much more tiring than yesterday.

On the way, she ran into a few other groups out searching for supplies in inflatable boats.

Everyone was wary and kept their distance.

Even if someone smiled and asked about supplies, nobody told the truth.

After all, if they couldn’t carry everything in one trip, they’d just hide it somewhere and come back for it later, like squirrels moving house.

By around six or seven in the evening, Jiang Yan had searched over 90% of the jewelry stores marked on her homemade treasure map.

She even stumbled upon several connected garden shops in an alley behind a tourist shopping street.

The seedlings inside had rotted after the heat and rain, but there were lots of unopened nursery fences—solid wood, PVC, metal, in white, blue, and green.

Jiang Yan took them all into her space.

The remaining less than 10% of jewelry stores were scattered in the suburbs, but she didn’t have the energy to go after them.

Also, starting around five or six, a light drizzle began to fall.

Not knowing if the rain would get heavier, she didn’t dare stray too far from the city.

Tonight, she planned to rest in an unfinished office building on the city’s edge near the bee base, isolated with nothing around.

The building belonged to the power company, just one tower, abandoned at 15 floors and never completed.

Next to it was a huge power plant, now completely submerged.

Jiang Yan climbed in through a window on the 13th floor.

Crouching by the window, she put away her speedboat and was about to head inside when she noticed dark shapes moving under the water.

A chill ran down her spine—she thought it was those mutant leeches.

But on closer look, it didn’t seem like it.

The shadows were slowly swimming upward.

After a few seconds, Jiang Yan finally saw clearly—they were fish.

A whole school of enormous fish!

Thank you to everyone who voted with monthly and recommendation tickets~

Tomorrow I’ll return home with a full haul, haha~

*

PS: I’ve been staying up so late I’m turning into a panda, hhhh. Starting tomorrow, updates will be at 21:00 instead of 00:01. Remember to check in, everyone! Mwah!"