After sorting her thoughts, Jing Shu said,
"I get it. Let's say I've got 100 HP. Before, if I recovered 20 HP from 60, it'd just fill the bar back to 80. But this new thing doesn't just heal me—it raises the max too, like turning a 100 HP bar into 120, right?"
Yang Yang nodded, giving her a thumbs-up. "Exactly. So now you get how insanely rich this guy is, right?"
Jing Shu nodded in understanding. Anyone who held the tech and formula to literally extend human lifespan—of course he'd be rich.
"Not just rich," Zhen Nantian said calmly. "More like 'richer than a nation' kind of rich."
Yang Yang nodded again. "Yeah. Imagine how many assassins and thieves have tried to kill this man. But not a single one ever succeeded. That's why I said this mission's the hardest one yet. This tycoon isn't just heavily armed, he's got tons of experience dealing with robbery and assassination attempts. The biggest problem is, we don't even know his personal info—age, face, anything. Hell, we're not even sure he actually lives here."
That last bit made even Jing Shu feel the pressure. Sounded like a nightmare mission already. But then again, they were here to steal something, not to kill the man. Whether he was home or not didn't really matter.
"Anyway," Yang Yang continued, "this tycoon's a believer in Jesus."
A faint smirk tugged at his lips. "Every week, he holds a mass at his manor. He always invites priests and nuns to come preach. During that time, most of his servants and bodyguards join the ceremony. Some people think the tycoon hides among them, while others say it's all a smokescreen and he's not even there."
He took a breath and kept walking as he explained, "Plenty of folks have tried to use that time to sneak in, mooch something, or even assassinate him. None of them ever made it back. Some say it's a trap, that the tycoon wants people to come, so he can catch them all in one go. Whatever the truth is, the moment before the priest starts the mass is our best window to move."
Yang Yang was panting a little now as he led the group along. "The tycoon's place is huge, but it's covered in defense systems. He's got an anti-flight field and a two-kilometer-wide infrared thermal imaging network. Doesn't matter if it's day or night, no matter what kind of camouflage you wear—if your body gives off heat, it'll spot you instantly, with zero blind spots. That's why ninety percent of intruders who try to go in from the front never make it. Ground and air are both no-go."
Tank's eyes lit up. "Wait, so... are we digging a tunnel again?"
"Idiot," Snake Spirit sneered. "If you thought of it, don't you think others have too?"
Sure enough, Yang Yang shook his head. "Tunneling's impossible. Before the apocalypse, this tycoon spent hundreds of billions building a reinforced glass undersea world beneath his mansion. It connects to the nearby canal. He basically turned the ground under his property into a real underwater viewing paradise. To protect it, he spent another fortune on maintenance and defense systems. Not to mention the security and traps. You couldn't even blow it up if you tried, that place could withstand explosives."
"Then how the hell do we get in?" someone asked.
Yang Yang pointed toward the distant canal. "His undersea world connects to the canal, so technically we can swim in. But that place's full of the deadliest creatures on Earth—man-eating sharks, piranhas, and sea snakes like Belcher's! People who've tried going in all got poisoned or torn apart before they even made it halfway. Their corpses usually float out the next day.
Supposedly, no guards watch the entrance," Yang Yang added. "The tycoon once said that if anyone can swim through his undersea world alive, he welcomes them to visit. Only one guy ever made it—some lucky Indian dude—but even he got 'a surprise' waiting at the exit. The tycoon collects corpses there almost every day."
Everyone went dead silent, a chill creeping up their spines.
Trying to cross that undersea world sounded like suicide. But how the hell did all those venomous creatures even coexist peacefully?
"Apparently," Yang Yang said, "every six months he releases new poisonous species in there."
Jing Shu couldn't help thinking, "Great, a three-five-seven fish rotation system. Feed every three days, change water every five, swap fish every seven."
Wait—what the hell was the point of that?
Yang Yang finally stopped and spread the map open. "Alright, here's the plan. Ling Ling and Tank, you'll set up here for sniping. Snake Spirit and Monkey, take this route, act when you see an opening or wait for my signal. Zhen Nantian, you'll stay by the main gate. The priest's group will arrive in an hour for the mass, that's your time to create chaos. As for Hao Yunlai, Mirror, and me, we'll go through the undersea canal route straight to the tycoon's mansion."
As he spoke, Yang Yang handed out diving gear and oxygen tanks.
Jing Shu and the other two quickly suited up. But right before they entered the water, she asked, "So... do we actually have a plan? Like, how exactly are we supposed to get past all those poisonous creatures and reach his place alive?"
Yang Yang pointed at Hao Yunlai. "We rely on him."
"Huh?"
He shrugged. "Just follow him. If he feels something's dangerous, we don't go that way. Simple, right?"
That actually... made a scary kind of sense.
"But what if everywhere feels dangerous to him?" she pressed.
Hao Yunlai, who'd been silent all this time, finally spoke softly. "Don't worry. Heaven always leaves a path."
Jing Shu wasn't sure if she should feel reassured or not. Their diving suits were ordinary—no bite protection at all. What if a shark showed up? They couldn't use guns underwater, either; one shot, a bit of blood, and the whole canal would go berserk. Poisoning the water might work in theory, but how much poison would it take to kill off even a fraction of the piranhas here? Besides, this undersea world had running water.
Before she could finish her train of thought, they were already underwater, descending toward the canal. Soon they found the narrow entrance—a tight hole that only allowed one person through at a time.
Blowing it open wasn't an option either. That ruthless tycoon had said it himself: though the undersea world was connected as one, he could instantly seal it off into thousands of massive, independent fish tanks.
And of course, it was all under surveillance.
Jing Shu felt her IQ taking a hit. So the guy literally knew when people were invading? And what, he probably enjoyed watching them die like some sick zoo exhibit?
Great. They weren't sneaking into a fortress—they were walking straight into a show for his entertainment.