Chapter 246: A Fruitless Trip

"Wow, there really is one."

The man in black robes was greatly shocked.

The woman in white robes looked the man in black robes up and down. "Didn’t you come out from here? How could you not know about this?"

"How would I know? Back then... I was just a test subject... Besides, there really wasn’t a basement level at first. It was probably added after we were locked up."

The more the man in black robes spoke, the lower his voice became.

The woman in white rolled her eyes and entered the elevator with Lin Yun.

Let’s go back to the time when Bai Yu had come to find her.

Bai Yu had said that she knew Lin Yun was an outsider and that Lin Yun was the one who had gone to rescue the two outsiders, which was why she had helped open the cell doors on the second basement level. Lin Yun had been startled. She had no idea how she had been exposed. She had already taken on a random NPC identity before she met Bai Yu.

Bai Yu had smiled. "Don’t be afraid. Your identity was determined through divination by the human race. I didn’t know you were an outsider at first. If the humans hadn’t told me, I might have just thought you were an ordinary sika deer. The human race has divined the identities of several outsiders, but some of them don’t seem to be in the Western Continent, so they could only come to you. First, to express our gratitude, and second, to ask for your help. Perhaps you already know about the grudges between the humans, and even the other races, and the three giant rat tribes. We want to investigate what the giant rat tribe is up to. The giant rat tribe certainly doesn’t just want to become the lords of Monster City. Perhaps there are other things behind this that we don’t know about, such as the increasing number of monsters. I came to the Western Continent to sell gems because of this. They were worried that I had something to do with the humans, so they kept targeting me. I had no choice but to keep a low profile until they believed that I was just a merchant who made money by selling gems."

Hearing Bai Yu say this, Lin Yun had not quite believed it. But the system told her that everything Bai Yu said was true, and it detected no signs of lying. That made Lin Yun believe her. And so today’s action had come about.

Still, Lin Yun did not know who these black-robed people were. She only knew that they were the people who had been imprisoned on the second floor of the giant rat tribe’s dungeon. She had been shocked to find that these people were actually in cahoots with Bai Yu. She had been even more shocked to discover that these people had been test subjects from the research institute. However, she did not ask any more questions about their identities. Curiosity killed the cat, so she would not ask.

They arrived at the basement level. They cautiously stepped out of the elevator and carefully observed the situation. However, there was no one there, and after checking, they found that many things were missing. They then went down to the second basement level, but unfortunately the second basement level required a password and an iris scan, so they could not go down. They had no choice but to return to the first basement level to look for anything left behind.

Lin Yun looked at the empty cabinets. "Did they take everything away?"

"Oh no! It must be because the people in the dungeon were rescued, and they were afraid of being discovered, so they moved everything ahead of time. No wonder the research institute was so lax at night. It turns out the important things had already been moved! Those despicable, shameless giant rats! They deserve to die!"

Bai Yu was cursing and swearing, completely unlike the gentle, graceful person Lin Yun had met at first. She then frowned. "Since there’s nothing left, let’s hurry up and leave. There’s no point in staying any longer."

"Let’s go!"

Everyone was in a bad mood after making a wasted trip. If the giant rat tribe knew about this, they would probably laugh at their stupidity.

But where could the giant rat tribe possibly have moved the things? It seemed there was nowhere in Monster City where they could continue their research, right? Moreover, according to those men in black robes, the research institute had never given up on its experiments and still had test subjects. So where could they have taken the test subjects? It was a pity they could not go down to the second or third basement level. It would have been great if they could have gone down and taken a look.

As soon as they returned to the ground floor, they bumped into researchers coming back from outside. Lin Yun quickly grabbed the others and hid them in a corner.

"This patrol team is getting lazier and lazier."

"Why should we care what they do? Who can get in at night anyway?"

"That’s true. Let’s go down to the second basement level to work. I bet those guys on duty last night are already completely drunk."

"Who knows? Anyway, the giant rat tribe has been busy capturing people these past few days and hasn’t had time to deal with us. We were the ones who moved those things down there, weren’t we?"

"That’s true. As long as it looks acceptable on the surface, that’s fine."

The newly arrived researchers headed straight for the elevator. Lin Yun and the others stayed in the corner.

"How about we go up and catch them? Then we can go down to the second basement level?"

Lin Yun blinked. "Isn’t that a bit inappropriate? If we capture them, wouldn’t it make us even more vulnerable?"

Bai Yu sighed. This was really difficult. Would they really return empty-handed today?

"It’s all your fault, you bunch of good-for-nothings." Bai Yu glared at the men in black robes.

The men in black robes exchanged a glance and said nothing.

Unable to access the second basement level, the group had no choice but to leave the research institute. Before leaving, Lin Yun had the Ghost Vine break off a few more vines and leave them behind to keep watch. The Ghost Vine was now at level four and had already acquired some minor abilities.

...

By the time she got back to the shop, it was already past six in the morning, and it was light. However, Lin Yun was in no hurry to open the door. She planned to take a nap and talk to him after she woke up.

When she opened the door again, it was already 1 p.m.

"Hey, why are you only opening at this hour? Is this right? Yesterday was one thing, but why are you so late today too?"

Kong Ling swaggered in, fanning himself with a fan.

Lin Yun looked up and said, "The items are over there. A total of 200 gold coins."

Kong Ling’s eyes lit up. He quickly ran over to check, then tossed a money bag onto the table with satisfaction.

"Did you go thieving last night? Your dark circles are so bad!"

"Ugh, it was too late yesterday, so I didn’t go home. I slept at the shop." Lin Yun, bored, bothered Sang Biao, who was dozing on the table. Sang Biao raised his head, somewhat speechless. Youyou was great in every way, except that she loved to bother cats. He lifted his paw to move her hand away, then licked his ruffled fur and lay back down to continue his nap.

"Don’t you think your pet dislikes you?" Kong Ling pointed at Sang Biao. He had seen Sang Biao’s expression just now, and it was a bit funny.

Lin Yun rolled her eyes. "Mind your own business!"

Kong Ling was not angry. He found a seat and sat down. This place was nice, and he would stay for a while.

Soon, customers began to arrive. Lin Yun’s vegetables and fruits sold well, so naturally people were willing to buy them.