Chapter 61: Huang Lingzhao's Plan

When the first ray of morning sunlight shone through the bedroom window, Lin Xiao lazily stretched his limbs and stood up from the computer desk.

Having played *GTA* all night, it somehow reflected the two things he wanted to do most right now: drive, and rob!

It was time to buy a car. In the past, he spent most of his time cooped up in his shop, and even when he occasionally went out, taking the bus was enough.

But now he was certain that there must be Jin Baolai's spies lingering around his small shop.

Zhang Kui had not returned all night; it was impossible for Jin Baolai not to have people keeping an eye on him.

Under these circumstances, continuing to travel on foot was tantamount to exposing himself right inside a surveillance net.

Thus, he set a goal for himself: find time to buy a car and get a driver's license.

The vintage wall clock pointed to half past six.

Lin Xiao glanced at his main body sound asleep on the bed, deciding to let his exhausted physical form rest for a little longer.

The phantom clone walked tiptoe toward the front hall and began morning preparations.

The moment the rolling shutter rattled upward, that familiar bright yellow figure in the morning mist immediately turned her head to look.

There stood Huang Lingzhao, looking as pretty as a picture right at the entrance. Such a graceful young lady instantly brought joy to anyone who saw her, and what was even more delightful was that the notebook she never used to part with was missing today!

Right now, she looked even more energetic than at any time in the past.

Lin Xiao gazed at the young girl before him. Although they had parted ways just seven or eight hours ago, the sensation and warmth of that light kiss she had left on his cheek before leaving seemed to linger without fading.

Yet Lin Xiao also knew that the person before him was already a different individual.

In what tone should he greet her?

Just as Lin Xiao was hesitating, Huang Lingzhao took the initiative and smiled, saying:

"Good morning, Lin Xiao!"

This most ordinary greeting warmed Lin Xiao's heart.

This was their fifth meeting, and she was finally able to recognize him like a normal person and greet him naturally.

To ordinary people, this was a trivial matter, but to her, it was an advance that spanned thousands of mountains and rivers.

"Good morning, Xiao-Zhao," Lin Xiao greeted back with a smile.

Xiao... Xiao-Zhao?

Huang Lingzhao was clearly startled. Aside from her adoptive father, Yue Chongguang, almost no one ever called her that.

Would it seem a bit too intimate?

Yet there was not a trace of resistance in her heart.

In Lin Xiao's view, he shared Huang Lingzhao's uniquely precious supernatural ability, and next, the two of them would have to face the formidable enemy Jin Baolai together.

Through these days of contact, he had come to understand the young girl before him quite well, and had fully accepted her as a partner fighting back-to-back with him.

Therefore, he uttered this "Xiao-Zhao" with genuine sincerity and absolute naturalness.

This sincerity seemed to infect Huang Lingzhao.

She broke into a smile, extended her right hand, and the silver bracelet on her wrist shimmered slightly: "From now on, I look forward to your guidance!"

As they shook hands, Huang Lingzhao was slightly taken aback: why wasn't there a bracelet on his wrist?

Their hands gave a gentle shake before separating immediately, and Lin Xiao led her into the shop.

The two walked side by side into the consultation room used for crafting equipment. Lin Xiao familiarly poured a glass of plain water and placed it in front of her.

Seeing this, Huang Lingzhao was stunned once more: pouring a glass of water only for her—where was his?

However, she did not ask any further questions and simply began looking around the consultation room, feeling a faint sense of familiarity in her heart.

Through the memory scenarios within the bracelet, she clearly sensed that "yesterday's self" had completed a tier-five transcendental piece of equipment here and spent the most wonderful time of her life.

Those unfamiliar feelings of accomplishment and joy were currently resonating within her chest through those memories.

"My adoptive father told me about what happened last night," Huang Lingzhao sat down in the chair, holding the water glass in both hands. "Thank you for taking the risk to help."

Lin Xiao shook his head: "No need to thank me. Completely defeating Jin Baolai is also for my own safety. I am not helping you; I am doing it for myself."

Huang Lingzhao nodded, took a cowhide document folder out of her canvas bag, and untied the cotton string wrapped around it.

"These are the materials I compiled." She spread the documents out.

Every single document was densely covered with annotations and sticky notes of various colors.

"The ones with red sticky notes are materials related to the forces behind Jin Baolai. I've compiled a list of the benefactors who have specifically helped him over the years. Although their special care for him might just be the result of a transaction, this list has been categorized by suspicion level."

"The ones with blue sticky notes are about the businesses owned by Jin Baolai. The materials contain specific operational information I investigated; obviously, the revenue from these businesses cannot support Jin Baolai's massive family fortune."

"The green labels are materials concerning Jin Baolai's twelve most capable subordinates and their respective areas of responsibility. However, this part of the information is incomplete, and I haven't finished collecting it all yet."

Lin Xiao took the thick stack of documents, his fingertips quickly flipping through the pages, making a rustling sound.

His gaze swept rapidly across the text like a scanner—thanks to his memory superpower, he didn't need to memorize deliberately; he just needed to "archive" this information in his mind like a video.

If needed in the future, he could retrieve his memories at any time for precise reference.

His attention was primarily focused on two crucial sections:

A list of political and business figures marked as "suspected protective umbrellas."

Another was the detailed archive of the twelve core subordinates, accompanied by analyses of some of their supernatural abilities.

Although Huang Lingzhao's materials were incomplete, her clearly structured categories and detailed notes were already invaluable.

When he turned to the introductions of the abilities of those twelve subordinates, Lin Xiao's fingers suddenly paused—the top five were actually all tier-three supernatural beings.

This meant that at least five of them were significantly superior to Zhang Kui in terms of ability strength, reaching the same tier-level as Yang Shubuh's "Illusion."

Among them, the leader was even specially annotated by Huang Lingzhao with a red pen: "Suspected tier-five supernatural being!"

Holding this paper list, Lin Xiao felt an incomparable weight as immense pressure surged toward him.

Zhang Kui was already powerful, yet there were still five others who could easily handle him.

Lin Xiao knew that these five would pose a fatal threat to him.

But an arrow drawn from the bow cannot be called back; he did not retreat because of this, but merely reminded himself to be extremely cautious.

Lin Xiao returned the perused materials to Huang Lingzhao, looked up, and asked, "According to your original plan, where were you planning to start?"

"Missing persons!" Huang Lingzhao produced a list: "There have been a total of 189 similar missing persons reports in the past five years, all of which eventually became unsolved cases."

Seemingly recalling her own past experiences, her voice grew somewhat low: "I picked out 19 cases among them with relatively obvious traces. If we can follow the clues and find the experimental camp, we might be able to obtain ironclad evidence and completely overthrow Jin Baolai!"

"With your help, we will definitely achieve results!" she said, full of anticipation.

Yet Lin Xiao shook his head: "Pardon my bluntness, but I'm afraid we can't do it that way."

Huang Lingzhao asked in surprise: "Is there something wrong with my approach?"

Of course, there was nothing wrong with this approach; to a certain extent, it was even the most effective investigative method.

Precisely because it was too effective, it wouldn't work.

This was a method almost anyone could think of as a first reaction.

So how could Jin Baolai possibly fail to make any preparations against it?

Lin Xiao could guarantee that surrounding the clues of the missing persons and the experimental camp, Jin Baolai must have set up layers of defenses and traps.

If he and Huang Lingzhao rushed into it blindly, they would probably only end up shattered to pieces.