The apartment that He Kao rented had already been searched by him more than once, leaving nothing unchecked, not even a pair of shorts. He also thoroughly searched He Kao's family home, the three-story small building with a courtyard in Pugang Town, Jiangbei District, from inside out.
While searching that small building, Qian Guran felt something was amiss, further confirming his suspicions. Although his identity is that of a sorcerer, his academic degree is genuine; he truly is a PhD holder from the Chunhua University School of Architecture.
That small building was absolutely specially designed, unlike any other house around. The area was originally called Puhu Village, and it was only in recent years that it became Pugang Town, which the Old Qiyuan People still consider the countryside.
When people in the countryside build houses, no one would hire a design institute to draw plans. They don't even have a concept of design fees. They just provide some general requirements, and the construction teams handle it all.
The foremen have a lot of ready-made designs, copied from somewhere or from previous projects, which they offer for the house owner to choose from. So, it's common to see that in the countryside, the self-built houses only have a few patterns in one area, with not much variation.
However, the design of that three-story small building had each functional area arranged very reasonably, and the building materials even exceeded national standards. For a mere three-story building, it was evidently unnecessary.
Especially on the third floor, there was an odd little room, with its entrance inside a large room but no windows, its walls were bare without even a lamp, and the sturdiness of its walls even surpassed that of ordinary load-bearing walls in a building.
It was a secret room that didn't look like a secret room. Could it be a private vault? Unfortunately, it wasn't fully furnished yet.
Qian Guran suspected that it was a node for the Hidden Moth to come and go, so it was made to be as secretive as possible. Once the door was closed, no one would know what he did inside, whether he disappeared or reappeared.
Another point that made Qian Guran want to criticize was that the first-floor living room was piled with a large amount of easily ignitable and explosive hazardous items, like the fireworks and firecrackers used during the New Year celebrations.
What was the intention here? Even if the building was robust, one shouldn't blow it up themselves, and storing such things without permission, as long as the quantity is large, is illegal!
Of course, Qian Guran did not report it, but when searching the house, he couldn't help but proceed with caution.
With three floors upwards and a front and back yard, he even checked the soil in the yard. Despite having the ability to extend his perception, ensuring there was nothing overlooked wasn't something that could be completed in a day.
During the last check, which was about three days ago, Qian Guran suddenly discovered that someone seemed to have been here as well. There were some new traces that weren't present the last time.
Either He Kao had returned using the Hidden Moth's abilities, or someone else had also targeted the place for the same purpose, which made Qian Guran feel a bit of urgency.
But as an old Jianghu person, one must remain calm. If the Hidden Moth Object could be obtained, it would be best, but even if it couldn't be obtained, there would be no loss. He had to be certain before taking action and make sure to do things cleanly.
Otherwise, even if he acquired the object, it wouldn't be easy to escape. Being watched by someone would be even more troublesome. There are indeed more extraordinary people in the world than just him…
While mentally preparing himself, Qian Guran noticed that He Kao finally got up from the toilet, washed up, went to bed, and fell asleep without any anomalies, the pendant still worn and not taken off.
Qian Guran also noticed a habitual action of He Kao, which was to hold the pendant in his hand before going to sleep and twirl it around.
At around two o'clock, Qian Guran confirmed that He Kao was asleep. He seemed to be sleeping soundly. Using Qi Observation Skill to distinguish whether a person is soundly asleep, lightly asleep, or just resting with closed eyes isn't difficult.
He clearly just advised himself to stay calm, yet at this moment, he emerged almost involuntarily.
There were surveillance cameras in the hallway, but Qian Guran had already tampered with them. He silently approached the door of apartment 0912. It was an electronic lock that could accept password input or card swipe.
The room card was held by the manager, and the resident also had one. After moving in, they would generally set their own password. After a long period of secret observation, Qian Guran already knew the password and had a copy of the room card. He had entered the room many times.
At this moment, he was using the proximity card, because the beeping sound of entering the password was relatively loud and would sound six times consecutively, while swiping the card would only make a simple unlocking sound.
Normally, there should have been a voice prompt saying "the door is open," but this function had been conveniently disabled by him. Generally, as long as it doesn't affect regular use, no one would pay attention.
The lock opened, and Qian Guran gently pushed down the door handle and then slowly lifted it back up, trying not to make any sound... when suddenly his expression changed, and he quickly slipped back into his own apartment.
In his sleep, He Kao suddenly awoke and instinctively felt for the pendant on his chest. He thought he just heard the door lock being unlocked, but he wasn't sure, as if it was a hallucination.
He opened his eyes and the room wasn't all that dark since he had forgotten to close the curtains before sleeping, and the light pollution in modern big cities at night is really severe.
Just then, he heard the sound of the door being locked, this time for real! Could it be that the door wasn't properly locked before sleeping? In this situation, any slight disturbance, such as the wind blowing, might cause the door to lock on its own.
But He Kao remembered clearly that he had indeed locked the door, so he immediately got off the bed, walked to the door barefoot, and peered through the peephole into the hallway outside. He saw nothing and in the dim light, he could only hear the thumping of his own heartbeat.
Similarly, standing behind his own apartment door, Qian Guran frowned tightly. Could He Kao be as sharp as a leopard, being so alert even while sleeping? Was it such a faint sound that startled him?