Chapter One Hundred and One: The Disappearance Case in the Underground Cavern

“Xie Ling and Liu Xu have gone missing?”

Fang Tang stared at Xu Lin in astonishment.

Xu Lin's expression was grim. "When Su Mang went to their rooms to look for them, she discovered both had left. I tracked their phones, and their last signal disappeared in the market district."

Fang Tang turned to look at Liu Yiran. At that moment, Liu Yiran’s eyes were half-shut, and the confident solitude at the corners of his lips had vanished entirely.

Just moments ago, he had assured Fang Tang that he would protect the two women.

Now, with their disappearance, it was as if someone had slapped him hard across the face.

It wasn’t the humiliation that angered him most, but the inexplicable vanishing of his teammates.

Liu Yiran pinched his three fingers together and stood up. "Follow me."

"Where are we going?" Fang Tang asked.

Liu Yiran's lips curled with a chilling undertone. "The Underground Store."

...

Inside the Underground Store.

Liu Yiran led the group inside.

The octopus behind the counter perked up upon seeing customers. "Ho ho ho… Welcome to my humble shop! What can I do for you?"

Liu Yiran sat down at the counter, smiling at the octopus.

"I’m here to find someone."

The octopus replied, "Sir, our shop deals in all sorts of goods and information, but not in finding people. For that, you might try the Town Guard."

Liu Yiran said, "Octo, don’t try to play games with me. You know better than anyone what rotten things the Underground Store does. Today your people took my teammates. I don’t care what you’ve done before—right now, immediately, release them, or I’ll tear your store apart."

"Ho ho ho… Surely you jest, sir. My shop is legitimate—we never deal in illicit business."

The octopus waved its tentacles in a flustered attempt to explain.

Seeing it refuse to speak the truth, Liu Yiran’s smile deepened. He waved his hand carelessly. "Tamon, Xu Lin, tear it down!"

"Yes!" Xu Lin nodded. Together with Tamon, he drew his weapon.

Just as they were about to act, the octopus floated up.

---

"Underground rules: No one is allowed to use force in the shop. You wish to break the rules?" The octopus, emboldened by the regulations, faced Liu Yiran’s aggressive posture without fear.

Liu Yiran laughed. "No fighting inside, but outside is fair game, right?"

With that, Liu Yiran grabbed the octopus by its tentacle and dragged it out of the shop.

Corrosion began to spread, dry and decaying spots appearing on the octopus’s body.

Even under Liu Yiran’s pressure, the octopus remained unruffled. "Ho ho ho… Captain Liu, you’re a formidable explorer, respected even in DEF sector. Surely you wouldn’t slander my shop!"

"Slander?" Liu Yiran seemed to hear a joke and bent close to the octopus, saying slowly, "The filthy deeds of your Underground Store are well known. Is there any need for slander?"

"If you know what’s good for you, release my teammates, or I’ll tear your store apart."

A coldness unlike any before appeared on Liu Yiran’s face.

Only now did Fang Tang see this other side of his captain.

"Liu Yiran, what are you planning?"

As Liu Yiran and the octopus deadlocked, a car pulled up. From it stepped a young man with a stern face.

Liu Yiran glanced at him and spoke calmly, "My teammates were taken by the Underground Store."

The young man’s pupils contracted. Anger flared in his eyes, almost ablaze.

"Octo, is this true?"

The octopus replied, "Captain Leng, my shop is legitimate!"

"The Underground Store is anything but legitimate, and this octopus is even less so. Leng Shan, why not drag it to the Town Guard for questioning? Apply a few methods—let its true form taste the interrogation techniques of the Town Guard?"

Liu Yiran suggested with a cheerful smile.

Leng Shan nodded slightly. "I think that’s a good idea."

The octopus’s expression finally changed. It glared coldly at Liu Yiran and Leng Shan. "Do you two know what consequences await for laying hands on me?"

"No," Liu Yiran replied frankly, shaking his head. "But I do know what will happen to your Underground Store if anything happens to my teammates."

"Heh…" The octopus fell silent.

Leng Shan grabbed the octopus and threw it in the car, then said to Liu Yiran, "Come with me to Town Guard Headquarters."

"Alright!"

---

Liu Yiran nodded, produced a car, and waved to Fang Tang and the others. "Get in, we’re going together."

"What kind of monstrous crimes has this Underground Store committed?" Fang Tang voiced his doubts inside the car.

Su Mang smiled. "You’re spot on—the things the Underground Store does are indeed monstrous."

"Do you know why we forbid you from buying any more sequences from the Underground Store?" Xu Lin spoke, his gaze deep as he looked at Fang Tang.

"No…" Fang Tang shook his head.

Su Mang said, "How do you think the Underground Store gets its sequence abilities?"

Fang Tang hesitated. "…Could it be…?"

"Exactly!" Su Mang nodded. "Sequences are awakened from the bodies of evolved humans—they can’t be created out of thin air. To obtain a sequence, you have to take it from an evolver."

Fang Tang’s face darkened. "If a sequence is stripped away, does the person die?"

"What else did you think?" Xu Lin looked at Fang Tang with a hint of disdain. "That octopus possesses the ability to strip sequences from others. All the sequences sold at the Underground Store come from this method."

"Have you ever heard of the Town Guard? Years ago, the Town Guard was the strongest force in the Underground. Then something happened—their power collapsed, and they became what they are now."

Su Mang sighed and continued, "Back then, this octopus had just taken over the Underground Store and began selling sequences. There was a surge in missing persons, and the Town Guard quickly traced the problem to the store."

"They found solid evidence that could convict the octopus, but the Town Guard’s commander died under mysterious circumstances, followed by the mass deaths of senior officers. No one knows who was behind it."

"No one dared to provoke such a terrifying enemy, so nobody took up the mantle of the Town Guard. The new leaders shelved the missing persons case, ended surveillance of the Underground Store, and let it survive."

Xu Lin added, "Afterward, the Underground Store acted less blatantly, but people still kept disappearing. Xie Ling and Liu Xu’s sudden disappearance is why the captain suspected the store first."

Fang Tang listened in shock. He looked at his own sequences with a sudden sense of disgust.

No wonder the captain and others wouldn’t let him buy sequences from the Underground Store.

No trading, no harm!

Fang Tang sighed, gazed out the window, and his eyes flickered with a strange light.

If anything happened to Xie Ling and Liu Xu, he would tear down the Underground Store, no matter the cost.