Chapter 200 - 196: Taking Action Early

Words : 1328 Updated : Sep 23rd, 2025

Chapter 200: Chapter 196: Taking Action Early The sewage treatment plant was all automated machinery; there were only two people on duty in the security room at night. It didn’t take Ling Chen much time to easily bypass the surveillance and infiltrate the interior of the sewage plant. Finding the sewage pipe that led directly to the target factory, Ling Chen put on night vision goggles, adjusted the signal of his headset, and then crawled into the sewage pipe. The diameter of the pipe was half a meter long, just enough to accommodate an adult. However, the pipe emitted a pungent stench, and its inside was coated with sticky filth, which was very disgusting. Fortunately, Ling Chen was prepared in advance, wearing a mask and gloves, and moved slowly along the sewage pipe. This pipe was over four hundred meters long, and he could only crawl on hands and knees, carrying tools on his back, which was very laborious. It was undoubtedly a serious test of his stamina. More than ten minutes passed, Ling Chen exhaled deeply and lay down to rest. After regaining some strength, he continued on his way. After roughly half an hour in total, he finally reached the end of the sewage pipe. There was no exit from the pipe, it was all sealed. Ling Chen took off the backpack he was carrying, took out the welding tools he had prepared in advance, and started to burn through the top of the pipe. A moment later, a square exit was burnt into the sewage pipe. Climbing out of the pipe, Ling Chen looked around to make sure no one was in the vicinity before sealing the opening of the pipe to avoid detection. At the moment, his location was a storage room, with goods piled messily all around. After changing out of his foul-smelling clothes, he approached the door and listened intently. Hearing no movement outside, he gently opened the door and poked his head out. Outside the storage room was a spacious corridor. With no one else around, Ling Chen quickly moved towards the end of the corridor. However, just as he was about to reach the corner, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from around the corner. His gaze swept around, and he quickly stepped into the nearby room and rushed inside. The door had just closed when the footsteps passed by outside. Ling Chen breathed a sigh of relief, put on his night vision goggles, and looked around the room. It was a bedroom, with someone lying on the bed against the wall, deep in sleep and unaware of Ling Chen’s presence. He walked gently to the beside of the bed, taking a glance, and a look of surprise momentarily crossed his face. The person lying on the bed turned out to be a woman, probably around thirty years old, with a pretty face. However, her only flaw was on her left ear; her left ear had been cut off and replaced with an artificial ear. Moreover, and more importantly, the woman had yellow skin and was very likely to be a Huaxia person. While Ling Chen pondered, a sudden ringtone startled him. He turned his head to look and saw that it was the woman’s phone by her pillow. Seeing that the woman was awakened by the ringtone, Ling Chen quickly bent down and hid under the head of the bed to avoid being seen. The woman answered the call; Ling Chen didn’t know what was said on the other end, but the woman responded in English with a simple "Understood" before hanging up. Immediately after, sounds came from the bed as the woman got dressed and headed for the door. When the bedroom door opened, Ling Chen noticed that two men, unknown when they had arrived, were outside the room. The men were very respectful in front of the woman, indicating that her identity was likely not simple. After watching the woman leave, Ling Chen stood up and began to search the room, hoping to find some useful intelligence. However, regrettably, the only items in the bedroom were some change of clothes and female toiletries. Leaving the bedroom, Ling Chen crept carefully along the corridors in search of the hostages. The factory had three floors in total, and he was currently on the first. After some investigation, he found that the first floor housed the employees’ quarters, and the security was not particularly tight. Soon, he located the elevator and the emergency exit leading to the second floor. However, there was personnel stationed outside both the elevator and the emergency exit—it was clearly impossible for him to bypass these guards and sneak into the second floor without making a sound. He couldn’t afford to spook anyone before the operation began. According to his original plan, he had intended to disguise himself as a factory employee and blend in, but to his dismay, all the employees were Caucasian, which made his own facial features too easily recognizable. As he was pondering his options, the elevator doors slid open, and the woman with the defective left ear walked out, surrounded by several men in suits. Soon after, she conferred with the people beside her for a moment before heading off to a room by herself. Ling Chen hesitated for a bit, then followed the woman after she had walked some distance. The security of the factory was too stringent, making it difficult to act, but the identity of the woman was not unimportant; she might provide a breakthrough. Before long, daylight began to break outside the factory. Ling Chen lay underneath the woman’s bed, eyes closed, using the time to rest and gather strength for the operation in the evening. "Ling Chen, respond if you receive this." Pang Jiulin’s voice came through the earpiece at that moment. Ling Chen didn’t dare to give a verbal response, afraid that the woman would hear, so he just lightly pressed the talk button. With Jiulin’s experience, he would naturally understand what it meant. Glancing at the time, it was already 9 AM, and the woman finally got out of bed. Ling Chen, lying under the bed, turned his head and saw the woman undress completely, throwing her clothes and underwear to the floor. Ling Chen inwardly expressed regret; the bed obstructed his view so he could only see parts of her body below the knees; he could only use his imagination for the rest. After watching the woman finish freshening up and leaving the room, Ling Chen finally had time to contact Pang Jiulin to report the situation on his side. After listening to his plan, Jiulin said, "Do as you see fit, time it right, don’t start too early to avoid alerting anyone." "Understood." From morning to afternoon, the woman came back to the room twice, and Ling Chen remained hidden under the bed without making a sound. Until the evening, with one hour left until Jiulin’s operation, Ling Chen crawled out from beneath the bed, walked behind the bedroom door, and waited patiently. More than ten minutes passed, and a series of footsteps finally approached from outside the door. Following that, the door was pushed open from the outside, and the woman walked straight in. As the door closed, Ling Chen surged forward, choking the woman from behind and covering her mouth, ignoring her struggle, and whispering sharply, "Be quiet if you want to live." After a few attempts, the woman felt Ling Chen’s overwhelming strength and gave up resisting. Seeing this, Ling Chen pulled out a dagger, held it against the woman’s neck, and warned, "I’d advise against alerting anyone outside. Otherwise, I can assure you that my knife is faster than your scream." After saying that, he released the hand that was pressing firmly over her mouth. "Who are you?" the woman asked coldly. At this time, she seemed to have regained her composure, no longer as panicked as before.

Chapter 200 - 196: Taking Action Early

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