"Our target this time is a genius cultivator named Meixiu. This is what she looks like." Mister Johnson showed them a picture of Meixiu.
One of the cultivators immediately whistled, "Whoa, what a beauty."
"She's not only beautiful, she's also a cultivation genius. Don't underestimate her, or you might regret it." Mister Johnson said.
And he continued, "According to the Cultivators' Association, Meixiu claimed to be at the ninth level of Spirit Apprentice. If this is true, she has one of if not the highest cultivation in the city."
"Ninth level? No wonder why you called four of us to kidnap a single girl. However, even if she has a high cultivation base, it won't matter if she doesn't know how to utilize it properly. I highly doubt she'll cause any trouble for us, or are you underestimating us, huh?"
"Scorpion is right, Johnson. So what if she's at the ninth level? She's still within Spirit Apprentice. The difference between each level as a Spirit Apprentice isn't that vast. Even if we have a lower cultivation base, our combat experience will make up for it," said another person there.
"She's just a little girl. I doubt we'll face any troubles when dealing with her. In fact, I can even take her by myself."
Hearing their confident voice, Mister Johnson said, "Since you're all so confident, I won't bother going into the details. Just bear in mind that you're not allowed to hurt her too badly. The Chairman of the Cultivators' Association has a great interest in this girl. If you hurt her— or even worse, damage her cultivation talents, you'll have to bear responsibility."
"What? The Chairman of the Cultivators' Association is also in on this? Just what is so special about this girl beside her cultivation talents?" One of them asked.
"Our job isn't to ask questions. Just do whatever you are being paid to do." Mister Johnson said.
He then placed a map on the table and pointed at the clear red dot on the map.
"This is her whereabouts, but it's an apartment, and we don't know which room she is living in exactly, so we'll have to knock on every single door until we find her."
"What a pain in the ass… But we're getting good money for such an easy job so I won't complain… too much."
"When do we carry out this mission?"
"As soon as possible," said Mister Johnson.
"Alright. We'll start right now."
Sometime later, the four hired cultivators left the briefing room and made their way to their destination.
Once they arrived, they changed their clothes, wearing uniforms meant for carriers, disguising themselves as someone who makes deliveries.
"There are 27 floors in this apartment, and it will take forever if we go through it one floor at a time, so let's split up into a group of two. One group will check the even-numbered floors while the other group searches the odd-numbered floors. If we find Meixiu, immediately contact the other group."
The other three nodded.
"According to Johnson, Meixiu is living with only one other person— a cripple, so she should be the only one answering the door."
Once they decided on their groups, they entered the apartment and started knocking on doors.
"Hello! You have a delivery!"
"I don't remember buying anything online…" Some old lady answered the door a moment later.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I must have made a mistake."
When someone that wasn't Meixiu answered the door, they would move onto the next door.
If someone doesn't answer the door, they would note it down so that they could try again later.
The four cultivators proceeded to knock on doors for the entire morning.
First floor… Second floor… Third floor…
Ninth floor… tenth floor…
Thirteenth floor… the fourteenth floor…
Meanwhile, inside 17F on the 17th floor, Meixiu silently absorbed the spiritual energy inside her room.
For the past week, she has done nothing but improve her cultivation base.
As for Yuan, he would continue practicing his Flying Daggers technique.
Suddenly, somebody knocked on the door, but it was not their door— it was the door closest to the elevator.
"Hello! Delivery!"
Hearing this noise, Meixiu opened her eyes and stopped cultivating.
She then stood up and walked to Yuan's room and said to him in a low voice, "They're here."
"What now?"
"Let's just pretend we're not here for as long as possible."
"Okay."
Thus, they ignored the banging on the doors and the man shouting delivery.
The knocking on the door continued for another minute until it stopped.
However, the knocking returned a few moments later, but it was still not their door.
This continued until the knocking eventually reached their door.
"Hello! Delivery!"
"..."
A minute later, the knocking stopped.
Once all of the doors on their floor had been knocked on, the cultivators went to the next floor.
At the end of the day, the four cultivators returned to the car.
"No luck, huh?"
"What now?"
"Well, we have narrowed down the rooms. We will revisit the doors that didn't answer today again tomorrow, and we will continue this until we narrow the choices enough. Once there are less than 10 rooms, we will force our way into these rooms and see for ourselves."
"Sounds good."
They left the apartment shortly after and wouldn't return until the following day.
The next day, they returned to the apartment and started knocking on doors again, but they only visited those that didn't answer them yesterday.
By the end of the day, they narrowed the choices by half.
"Only 21 left now."
They lowered that number to 15 the next day, then 11, and finally down to 7 on the fourth day.
"Meixiu must be in one of these seven rooms. There is one room on the 7th floor, one on the 9th floor, two on the 17th floor, one on the 21st floor, and the last two on the 25th floor. Let's work our way up tomorrow and get it done by the end of the day."
"Understood."