Chapter 64: Fox-Style Fishing

"Ying-ying-ying!"

Ansheng darted through the terrain of Changping Mountain, swiftly running toward the Changping Mountain Pet Paradise.

However, upon reaching the pet paradise, a trace of hesitation appeared on Ansheng's face. After a brief moment of thought, he ultimately decided to head toward the crescent-shaped building.

"No... Chen Zhiyu treated me to a lavish feast, so I absolutely cannot cut off the power to her family's property."

"I'd better spend a little extra time and go to the control room to reboot the pet paradise's main server instead."

Although Ansheng was not an experienced criminal, he had spent a fair amount of his leisure time browsing through true crime commentaries on the TikTok platform. Consequently, he understood very well the importance of minimizing eyewitnesses when committing a deed.

There might be security guards inside the pet paradise. Ansheng's initial plan was to cut their power supply to create some chaos within the park, and then use the resulting confusion to go crocodile fishing.

Yet, upon arriving at the pet paradise and seeing the lights illuminated on the second, third, and fourth floors, a hint of hesitation arose in him.

The upper floors of the pet paradise housed breeding zones. Aside from various tropical pets, there were cold-water fish and small animals that required a constantly maintained low temperature.

Cutting the power to the pet paradise would be fine for a short while.

However, if it lasted too long, accidents might happen. Chen Zhiyu had treated him to a grand feast just at noon, and cutting off her family's electricity left Ansheng with a lingering sense of guilt.

Anyway, his sole objective was simply to locate the lair of that oversized crocodile.

The condition to fulfill Chen Zhiyu's wish was merely to make that suspected spirit-beast crocodile disappear. As for how to make that crocodile disappear, there were no rigid regulations.

Ansheng had originally prepared to punch the crocodile's snout askew and directly show it who the boss of Changping Mountain really was.

This mountain was under the protection of Lord Lucky Fox, and all creatures on the mountain, including the pet paradise, were the private property of Lucky Fox.

Yet, after hearing the conversation between Lin Ying and the Elder of the Lin Family tonight, Ansheng's perspective shifted slightly.

That crocodile...

Should be useful as a stepping stone for Lin Ying.

The Elder of the Lin Family had made it very clear that there were two reasons why the Lin family did not get involved with spirit beasts.

First, spirit beasts were extremely perilous. Without heavy weaponry equipped, ordinary people stood no chance against them.

Second, aside from pharmaceutical, livelihood, and maritime shipping businesses, it would actually be quite simple for the Lin family to engage in smuggling if they wished to. Therefore, once they began gathering intelligence on spirit beasts on a large scale in secret, it was highly likely to trigger misunderstandings and thus ruin the reputation of the Lin Family of the Xia Country.

The higher-ups might not have had any such intentions, but the Lin family had to make foolproof decisions; the Lin Family of the Xia Country could not afford any mistakes.

Those were the two main points in the Elder's words.

The Xia Country's Lin Family, to which Lin Ying belonged, did not possess the formidable martial vigor of other branches. For Lin Ying or her corporate group to investigate spirit beasts independently would be nothing short of a major safety hazard.

If one truly wished to safely come into contact with information regarding spirit beasts, it would be far better to act as an assistant to the authorities and contribute whatever modest effort one could.

The Elder clearly knew a great deal about spirit beasts and hidden intelligence. Since he advised Lin Ying to act in this manner, he certainly had his own logic and reasons.

Miss Lin Fu was a thoroughly tragic, good person.

Ansheng's attitude toward Lin Ying was quite simple: if he had the capability to help, he would; if not, there was nothing he could do.

After all... he raided Lin Ying's refrigerator day in and day out, stealing foreign hams and seafood, and constantly eating and taking things to the point where even Ansheng felt a bit embarrassed.

Furthermore!

Lin Ying was willing to let him play with her phone!

She was even willing to clear his online shopping cart!

Since she was such a good person, the fox naturally had to be a good fox!

………………

"Ying..."

Inside the monitoring room of the Changping Pet Paradise, Ansheng stood upright on his hind legs, leaning against the control console as he hummed a little tune, leisurely beginning to shut down the park's surveillance systems.

Ensuring that all cameras were deactivated, Ansheng ran up to the second floor, picked up a brick, and smashed a windowpane to create an immensely loud commotion before scampering away like a fox.

"Sister Zhiyu... I'm sorry!"

"Don't worry, though. From now on, whenever I have free time, I'll pester Ah Qing to bring me here to spend money..."

"If worst comes to worst, I'll pay you back with my body and let you pet my fur for free."

Mutinously mumbling to himself, Ansheng bolted out of the building and headed straight up the slopes of Changping Mountain.

However, there wasn't a single ghost of a person inside the pet paradise. Although the second, third, and fourth floors kept their lights on, those lights were primarily heat lamps or indicator lights on specialized equipment.

Throughout the entire pet paradise, only Chen Zhiyu was enduring the cold winds on the rooftop, armed with a compound bow and a shotgun.

Naturally, Ansheng was unaware of any of that. By now, he had already returned to Changping Mountain, swiftly weaving through the forest to capture the wild boar he had spotted earlier.

"Ying-ying-ying!"

Upon returning to the mountain, Ansheng did not forget to drop by Lin Ying's side to greet her, casting a glance all around to ensure no wild animals were approaching her.

Aside from being a good person, Lin Ying...

Was also tied to Driver Xiao Lin's livelihood.

"Why did you come back?" A hint of puzzlement flickered across Lin Ying's invariably calm face.

[I cut their power to prep a fishing spot. It wasn't convenient to carry the bait earlier.]

Ansheng scribbled the next sentence onto his phone screen, then turned and dashed back into the dense woods. Standing on his hind legs, he hoisted a massive wild boar—which had already passed out with its four hooves pointing toward the sky—and hauled it back toward the Changping Pet Paradise at the base of the mountain.

Lin Ying was momentarily stunned, a strange expression surfacing on her usually tranquil cheeks.

When she had passed out from hunger... when Lord Lucky Fox had carried her off to eat...

Could it be that he had used the exact same method?

Lord Lucky Fox was truly far too practiced at this.

In fact, Lin Ying's guess was spot on. Ansheng had indeed carried her in that exact manner before.

Because if Lin Ying faced downward, Ansheng would bump his head while dragging her, and her front side was entirely soft, making it completely impossible to exert force. Ansheng had instead supported her back with one hand and her waist with the other, folding Lin Ying up like a foldable screen smartphone to transport her.

"Ying-ying."

Ansheng tossed the wild boar over the electric fence, gathered his strength, and leaped across to the other side himself.

"Go! My sacred bait!"

"Strike true on the first cast!"

With a mighty heave, Ansheng hurled the wild boar straight into the river.

Startled awake, the wild boar regained its senses, grunting loudly as it swam back toward the riverbank at an astonishing speed.

Wild boars knew how to swim!

And their speed was ridiculously fast.

"Off with you!"

Ansheng delivered a punch to the wild boar, hoisted it up again, and tossed it right back into the river.

Ansheng's face beamed with absolute confidence. This particular wild boar was the very one he had meticulously calculated to be the gamest of them all.

The boar's musk mixed with such a massive disturbance would perfectly simulate the effect of a wild animal accidentally falling into the water.

That way, if the crocodile happened to be downstream, it would undoubtedly be lured over.

And if it wasn't...

Well, that would just be the normal result of an empty-handed fishing trip.

Anglers would spend tens of thousands on equipment and still fail to catch fish; since he didn't even have a fishing rod, wasn't it entirely normal that he couldn't catch a crocodile?

"Ying!"

Swimming back once more, the wild boar wore an expression of grief and indignation upon catching sight of Lord Lucky Fox.

"Whoosh—"

Before Ansheng could toss it into the river again, the massive wild boar spun around, took a short running start, and hurled itself into the water on its own accord.

Only...

The scene that unfolded next left Ansheng dumbfounded.

The two-hundred-pound wild boar possessed exceptional jumping power, plunging into the river channel like a depth charge.

As the wild boar crashed down into the water, it collided squarely—without a fraction of deviation—with a shadow that resembled a lone leaf drifting in the current.

A dark shadow had been quietly and silently trailing along the embankment of the river channel all this time, completely unnoticed.

Its target.

Was obviously the little fox standing by the riverbank!