As Xiaoyun and Yueyue both stood in complete silence, they could hear the clunking sound getting louder and louder until it suddenly stopped.
The storage unit was pitch black. No light, no sounds. Nothing seed to be happening as the two of them waited.
It was almost as if all the noises the two had heard earlier were an illusion.
But as they continued waiting in silence, they soon noticed sothing appearing just a few steps away from them.
A small, angular telescope erged from one of the floor drains, its lens reflecting the faintest hints of light.
Soon, a young man erged from underground, lifting the manhole cover and the entire nearby concrete tiles aside.
He was still holding the flashlight with his mouth, and his backpack and his telescope strapped to his shoulder.
"Woof, woof."
The man suddenly made a little dog sound, seemingly waiting for so sort of response. But after nothing happened, he finally resud moving again.
With zero hesitation, the man imdiately headed towards the at section, where a bunch of similar-looking beef cans were stacked on top of each other.
His hand started shoving more and more into his backpack. His face looked a little nervous, as if he was worried soone might catch him at any ti.
After his backpack was full, the fear in his eyes disappeared. The man looked satisfied with his haul as he began heading towards the manhole cover again.
"Freeze!"
Yueyue revealed herself right around the corner of the manhole cover, forcing the man to co to a complete stop as a gun was pointed right at his head.
"Unit Xuanren, the suspect had been caught. You all may co in and detain the suspect. Over."
As she called for backup over the walkie-talkie, Xiaoyun chose to remain invisible, as there was no point in revealing himself.
"Sir, I-I fucked up. Please don’t report to the police. I-I’ll return everything I had stolen from here."
"I’m not the one who decides that, you save it for the judge... Don’t resist, unless you want to test if my gun has live rounds or not."
The man fell into silence as Yueyue quickly put him into handcuffs, not resisting a single bit, as if he had admitted defeat.
After just a minute of waiting, an entire team of agents busted through the doors, their hands ard with rifles.
"Director! Where are you at!"
"Over here!"
As the agents approached Yueyue, their eyes were shocked as they could see that the tiles around the manhole cover were put aside in one singular piece.
"You guys can take him to the station. One of you guys go check where this tunnel leads to, and I want a report on this by tomorrow."
"Yes, sir!"
Two agents quickly walked the thief out of the storage unit as the other solo agents started going down the tunnel to check the situation underneath.
"You aren’t going to do anything?" Xiaoyun quietly asked as he stood right next to Yueyue, his invisible cloak still on.
"I already did the hardest part of the job... Xiaoyun, can I have a little request?" Yueyue suddenly asked.
"What is it?"
"If you let give these cloaks out over to my agents, I wouldn’t need to do all of this myself——"
"Not in a million years. Didn’t I already tell you the answer is no? Why are you asking it again?"
"It’s just... The cloak is perfect for catching criminals and investigating corruption. But I only have one pair for myself."
"You know the danger all of us would face if a rogue agent got their hand on one of these."
Yueyue fell into silence for a second. She already knew the response Xiaoyun was going to give.
Yet she just couldn’t help but ask about it again. Her mind felt determined that she needed to convince him sohow to lift the restriction.
"What if they are trustworthy?"
"I never gave this to Renqin. And I’m not planning to change any ti soon. Maybe when the public learns of it, then I’ll let you guys use it."
"So never."
Seeing her looking a little sad, Xiaoyun’s heart softened. Still, he wasn’t about to change his mind over it.
"How about this. If another organization uses this kind of technology against us, then I’ll give you an unlimited supply to your agents."
"Deal."
"Director! The tunnel just leads to the manhole drain a block from here. They seem to have dug it for a long ti now."
As the agent yelled out loud, Yueyue quickly headed over to the hole to lend her agent a hand to climb back out.
"Good job... You should probably go ho and take a shower first. We can et up later and discuss this case."
Seeing Yueyue resisting the urge to pinch her nose, Xiaoyun almost laughed out loud as the agent started to realize the sll.
"Oops! Sorry!"
The agent quickly ran out towards the exit, leaving Yueyue with the massive hole on the floor as she looked over to the blank air next to her.
"Xiaoyun, can you help put this lid back over?"
"Sure."
---
After Yueyue and all of her agents had left, the guards soon ca back from their temporary breaks as they patrolled the buildings.
When they saw Xiaoyun erging from within one of the storage units in a semi-truck, they were a little confused.
None of them questioned it, letting him drive out past the gate as they helped open it with their own special ID cards.
By the ti the semi-truck returned, it was already an hour later.
"Hey, can you guys help unload the semi-truck... You guys want any gift or anything?" Xiaoyun asked as he started reaching inside his backpack.
"N-No, sir! We don’t need anything."
Seeing them all rejecting his offer, he didn’t press them any further as he left the semi-truck for them to deal with.
With everything done and dusted, Xiaoyun headed back towards his SUV, only to find several new cars parked next to his that weren’t there earlier.
Seeing the number plates on the back, they were all governnt-issued cars. He didn’t think too much about it as he hopped back into his own car.
After driving for a few minutes out of the storage unit, he soon arrived at the logistics building’s parking lot.
Exiting his car, he quickly passed through all the security before stopping right before Houqin’s office.
"Co in."
The mont he opened the door, Xiaoyun was a little shocked as two old couples were standing right next to the door.
They looked almost to be in their seventies, their backs unable to stand upright fully, and their head filled with white hair.
"Houqin, who are these two people?"
"Sorry. They are my parent... They just wanted to visit the place I worked at. Mom, Dad, this is the governor."
"The governor?"
The two of them quickly examined Xiaoyun’s head down to his shoe, before the old man spoke his first sentence.
"Your governor is this young?"
"Junyu! Watch your mouth." The old woman warned as she elbowed the old man, forcing him to bow down a little.
"Sorry, sorry. I didn’t an to be rude. I’m just surprised Luoping is being run by soone this young."
"It’s fine. I get that a lot. You don’t have to apologize for it. I would have the sa reaction if I were you."
Xiaoyun paused for a second, then continued.
"People like your daughter are the real workers who are making the town function properly. I’m just a leader chosen by the people."
The old man’s face quickly shifted as it went from the initial shock to caution, almost as if he was looking at a savvy businessman.
"No need to be so humble. I know what my daughter is capable of. Mr.Governor, I’m very happy to see you today."
"Thank you. I hope you enjoy your stay at Luoping... Houqin, do you have anything else to report to for today?"
Houqin froze up for a second as she didn’t expect him to call her up all of a sudden. But she quickly recovered as she shook her head.
"There’s nothing else to report on until tomorrow. I already told the staff what to do for the upcoming mobilization order."
"Great. Then you can have your day off early today. Go enjoy an afternoon snack with your parents."
She wanted to reject the dismissal, but seeing Xiaoyun’s face looking determined, she nodded in agreent as she quickly signaled her parent to leave the room.
"What was she thinking? Bringing her parent to a military office for a visit?"
Xiaoyun felt her security awareness was nonexistent, especially considering her parent were coming from Changsha.
There was way too much sensitive information lying around, and it wasn’t just in Houqin’s office, either.
He could vividly rember seeing supply listings and movent plans right outside the desks of several workers.
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