NOVEL NEXT 156: Smooooth Extraction
Unaware of the drama happening outside the warehouse, Lin Songmei had rushed into the warehouse through the now blasted open double doors. With Han Youhong, Cai Yufei, and Liu Liping trailing just a few steps behind her, they had destroyed the locks and bars trapping the various disciples.
Nodding towards some of the disciples who were thanking her, Songmei paused for a moment, expanding her terminal to send a quick message to the inner disciples to come onto the scene.
With most of the disciples uninjured, Songmei was glad. Out of everything possible, Songmei, for the most part, only saw ripped up clothes and injured egos. Scanning the room, Songmei’s eyes landed on a girl sitting in the corner, nursing a bandaged ankle.
Jogging over, Songmei strengthened her body with Qi, hoisting her up. “Are you okay? Anything we’re missing?”
“Our spatial storage rings and our terminals.” The girl clung to Songmei, murmuring a “Thank you.”
“Of course, it’s our job.” Songmei looked around the room. “Where are all your terminals and spatial storage rings? Are they still in the warehouse?”
The inside of the warehouse seemed bare. For the most part, the entire interior was filled with sizable cages. Though Songmei was pretty sure the cages were meant to hold larger beasts and the like, they had been repurposed to hold groups of people.
However, their sheer size meant there wasn’t much room for anything else. Helpful bins labeled “Terminals” and “Spatial Storage Rings?” None. Boxes? None. Staircase to a different level? Also none.
As far as Songmei could tell, there wasn’t anything but cages.
“I’m pretty sure they’re in the neighboring warehouse,” The girl pointed out as they made their way out of the warehouse. “It’s where they store the food they gave us as well.”
“I... see...” Songmei put the girl down just outside the doors. “The other disciples and I will go look for your stuff, but sit tight here, okay? We have a bunch of inner disciples coming to pick all the injured up.”
With the girl hobbling off to rejoin her friends, Songmei turned to look for Mingqing. Having seen Mingqing run into the warehouse earlier, Songmei spun on her heel, flinching and taking a few steps back as Mingqing was already right behind her. “H... Hi!”
“Hi!” Mingqing laughed and followed Songmei as Songmei walked towards a nearby warehouse. “What’s up?”
“We gotta break into this one as well,” Songmei pointed towards the rescued disciples now being carried off by the inner disciples. “Apparently all their terminals and spatial storage rings are in here.”
Letting out an “Ahhh,” of enlightenment, Mingqing walked forward, slashing the lock and door with a heavy strike. Waving for some of the others to join them, Mingqing cracked the now busted door open. “After you, Songmei.”
“Thank you?” Songmei mused, slipping in through the door after Taigang began running over.
Leaving the door open behind them, Songmei and Mingqing took a few slow steps and entered the warehouse. What greeted them was a sight of grandeur. Not in the traditional sense, maybe, but grandeur nonetheless.
With boxes stacked high, the warehouse was filled to the brim with unmarked and marked crates of all shapes and sizes. Meandering over to one side, Songmei cracked a crate open. “It’s full of food, as expected.”
“Wait why is it expected,” Taigang’s voice interjected as he slipped through the door and entered the warehouse. “Wow, that's a lot of boxes though.”
“We’re stealing... well... ‘accidentally destroying’ them all.” Songmei pointed to the stacks on stacks. “There should be a metal box somewhere in here. It should be full of the captured disciples’ terminals. Metal because the signal’s been blocked. Then, there should be a box full of spatial storage rings. The rest are full of food.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back, I’m calling over Youhong, he has an extra large spatial storage ring.” Taigang bolted, running back outside while shouting, “I’ll be right back!”
“Alright. Let’s just start. No need to wait for them.” Mingqing jogged forward, beginning to store piles of boxes. “We won’t be able to store the box full of spatial storage rings.”
Joining Mingqing, Songmei only looked up as Youhong and Taigang returned, Taigang giving a brief explanation before they too began working. With progress hastening by leaps and bounds after Youhong joined in, the four of them managed to empty close to half the warehouse in a couple of minutes. Yet, with Youhong finding the box full of spatial storage rings, the four of them stopped.
“Alright, Taigang, you grab the box full of spatial storage rings. Just hand it off to an inner disciple.” Youhong handed the box over with an “umph” escaping Taigang’s lips. “We’re going to destroy a few boxes to give an illusion of accidental destruction.”
With Taigang leaving, the three of them followed him out. Glancing over at the neighboring warehouse, all three of them shrugged before turning back to the supply warehouse they had just ransacked.
The others had the situation under complete control. Without anything to say, all Songmei could think was “good on them!”
“So attack from the outside, pierce the front and just destroy some of the boxes?” Mingqing asked Youhong, who seemed to have a good idea on how to do it.
Sending a few Qi slashes through the wall and into the warehouse, Youhong grinned. “Yeah, just like how I did it. Don’t do too many though, we want to keep most of the food under the first layer intact. We also should get back over to the main battlefield even if it looks stable for now. Reinforcements for the other side should be arriving in just a couple of minutes.”
With Youhong advising them to also use neutral Qi attacks, to keep it just a little more anonymous, Songmei and Mingqing followed suit. Mingqing, similar to Youhong, waved her sword around without too much thought, sending Qi slash after Qi slash in through the warehouse’s front.
Hearing the warehouse creaking due to its new open floor plan, Songmei backed a few steps away, sending a few Qi arrows into the warehouse as well.
Even if she was using crystal arrows, Songmei wasn’t too bothered. Following each arrow’s trajectory with her activated eyes, Songmei squinted as they came to a stop. Lodged in place after puncturing a few boxes, Songmei snapped them out of tangibility, letting the arrows return to their original form as formless Qi.
It was a little bit of an inefficient use of Qi, but Songmei had enough Qi to waste just a little here.
Finishing their little bonus warehouse escapade, Songmei, Mingqing, and Youhong jogged back over to where the rescued disciples and inner disciples were running off. Coming to a stop next to the other direct disciples, Songmei pat Liying on the back. “So, ready for the hard part?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be...” Liying shook her head, tapping her spear against the ground as a few figures came running from the heart of Pride’s district.
