Su Tianqing had never seen what a bank vault looked like.
Neither before nor now, she had never seen one.
The only things she had seen were videos and photos circulating online; the two-meter-thick vault door and the indestructible reinforced concrete protective wall formed the strongest defense in the world, second only to military bunkers.
What was truly behind the vault door?
Harboring this anticipation, Su Tianqing looked at the Cat Girl and Cheshire Rabbit who were walking towards her, taking a remote detonator from their hands.
“Thermite cutting agent, plus four directional blasting bombs—good stuff we got from the arms dealer.”
Hellcat looked back at the vault door, which was about to bid them farewell, and said with a smile.
“Theoretically, these four bombs detonating simultaneously could blow a heavy locomotive into the sky. Using them to blow open a vault door like this certainly lives up to its design specifications.”
“...Are you sure you didn’t raid a regular army freighter?”
Fox Girl’s face was filled with horror.
Her original plan was to slowly cut it open using the cutting magic recorded in Inari’s Magic Book, but Hellcat and Cheshire Rabbit felt it wasn’t exciting enough, so they pulled out these heavy-duty weapons from under their skirts.
Looking at the detonator in her hand, Su Tianqing slightly calmed herself. The four of them hid in a safe place together and pressed the button.
“CRASH! BOOM!!!!”
Even with the soundproofing magic laid by the familiars, the earth-shattering roar still made everyone tremble with fear.
But when the heavy vault door completely collapsed, what appeared before the four of them was a brilliant color that was enough to blind their eyes:
Gold.
Heavily stacked gold bricks, neatly arranged.
A row of sturdy, built-in safes.
Everything that should appear in a vault was before them. The spectacular sight made even the most composed battle-maniac Hellcat slightly open her mouth, dumbfounded.
“...The underground vault of the Gang City Central Bank, storing over two thousand tons of gold.”
Murmuring a string of numbers, Su Tianqing’s face gradually revealed a joyful smile.
“So, what should we do next?”
“—Loot it clean!”
...
A dynamic rock song seemed to play in her ears.
Su Tianqing strolled alongside the shelves piled with gold bricks, her fingers brushing over the shining, cold metal. From her fingertips, she could feel what was hidden behind that icy touch:
Wealth, money, brilliance.
Gold possessed all the attributes of a precious metal; that weighty feel was irreplaceable by anything else.
And the demand to “loot it clean,” simple as it was, also made her companions feel an unprecedented joy:
Cheshire Rabbit’s magical space was in full swing. She laughed wildly as she stuffed gold into her own magical space.
Hellcat appeared much calmer, but when she picked up a huge gold brick weighing over twenty catties, Hellcat’s face was still overflowing with a joyful smile.
However, Su Tianqing herself had little interest in gold.
It certainly represented wealth, but compared to fun and serious business, this kind of wealth held no appeal.
“...Is this it?”
Xin Yuehu paced to the row of safes, looking at the dazzling array of cabinet door codes before her.
Twenty in a row, seven rows in total—a full one hundred and forty built-in safes were right in front of her. Without exception, they were all private safes belonging to VIP bank clients.
These cabinets held countless secrets,
Perhaps related to certain criminal organizations, or merely some seemingly unimportant confidential documents.
But in the middle of these cabinets, a secret related to Fei Yelan’s background was hidden.
“Doggy, which cabinet do you think holds that confidential document?”
Su Tianqing turned around, looking at the bewildered Gray Wolf Girl standing beside her.
Upon hearing the call, Fei Yelan was still somewhat at a loss.
Am I dreaming? the girl thought.
Breaking into this almost impenetrable bank vault, finding the location of the confidential document that might be related to her background, and now only needing to find it among these safes...
But with so many safes, how was she supposed to find it?
“If you feel like you have no clue, why not silently recite a number in your heart?”
“The first number you subconsciously blurt out might just guide you~”
Su Tianqing said with a smile.
Fei Yelan hesitated for a moment but still followed what Xin Yuehu said, silently reciting a string of numbers that came to her subconsciously.
“65.”
“Very good, then let’s open this No. 65 safe.”
Su Tianqing waved her hand casually.
Magic power penetrated the safe’s keyhole, easily disarming the sturdy anti-theft lock on the cabinet door, revealing its contents to the two of them.
...It was a stack of documents sealed in an archive bag, with a line of text printed on it:
【Hong Kong Hero Association Infrastructure Department • Confidential】
“It’s it! The Hero Association’s confidential document!”
Fei Yelan was overjoyed. She quickly took the document out of the cabinet and eagerly began to unseal and read it.
“We’re too lucky; we found it right away!”
“Hehe...luck, huh...”
Su Tianqing chuckled softly, unconcerned.
Luck?
This was not about luck at all; it was a matter of shooting the arrow first and then drawing the target.
Before the bank heist even began, the moment she saw the bank heist listed under Inari’s questline in the secret codex mission page, Su Tianqing understood this matter.
—No matter which number Gray Wolf chose, and no matter if that number was a needle in a haystack, she could hit it in one go.
This had nothing to do with luck at all!
“...What?”
Just as Su Tianqing was pondering how to explain it to Fei Yelan, a soft exclamation came from the Gray Wolf Girl’s side.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
Su Tianqing leaned closer, looking at the open infrastructure document in Gray Wolf’s hand.
“Is this document not right? Should we look again?”
“No, no, no, it’s the document for my resettlement apartment. My name is even on it.”
The little Gray Wolf pointed to the name of one of the apartment owners, which clearly read 【Fei Yelan】.
“This apartment building was temporarily built for refugees from the Jiulong Walled City Monster attack. It was originally planned to be demolished after the new buildings were completed, and the demolition plan for the resettlement housing had already been fully finalized back then.”
“But it was suddenly halted just as it was about to be implemented, and then sealed as a confidential document. The driving force behind all of this...why would it be...”
The Gray Wolf Girl looked at the name at the bottom of the page.
“...Magic Girl, 【Inari】.”
Su Tianqing murmured,
“Inari used her influence within the Hero Association to stop this demolition plan.”
“She didn’t want that apartment building to disappear, so why did she do that? What’s the meaning of all this?”
The two looked at each other and pondered for a long time, neither able to offer a clear explanation.
In any case, they should first take this document back and study it thoroughly before discussing anything further.
Su Tianqing turned around, looking at the entire vault, which was now empty.
Cheshire Rabbit lay happily on the last layer of gold bricks, grinning foolishly, while Hellcat calmly stuffed the last gold bricks into her magical space, though it looked completely full and couldn’t fit any more.
“Have you all taken everything you needed, everyone?” Su Tianqing asked her companions.
Rabbit and Hellcat got the gold, Gray Wolf got the confidential document containing the secret of her background, Ben Hu got a lot of fun—everyone was full of Gains.
“Then, next is the most exciting moment of this heist!”
“Get in our best and sturdiest car, and let’s make a grand escape!!”