CHAPTER 25
Sheng Qing changed into the clean clothes that Meng Yunxi had bought for her and was eating breakfast while carefully studying the map.
How can I get to the lower city area quickly?
He is still being pursued. Although the threat of the locator is gone, the gun barrel on his wrist has almost recovered.
But during the day, with so many people and cameras everywhere, it's difficult to move around.
Sheng Qing remained cautious and decided to set off at night, using the power of earth elements to travel through the underground passage to the lower city.
After studying the map and route for a while, Sheng Qing lay down on the bed fully clothed to conserve his energy.
When he woke up, it was already sunset. Fully armed, Sheng Qing left the hotel and randomly found a small tavern on a street corner and went inside.
If you're looking for news, a small pub is the best place to go.
As the conversation flowed, Sheng Qing gradually cleared her mind.
This seems to be a world composed of humans and cats. Contrary to Sheng Qing's common knowledge, here, cats hold a much higher status than humans.
Or rather, quite the opposite: the cats living in the upper city have a supreme status and reputation, while the humans living in the lower city can only make a living by selling their physical labor.
In the past two months, the cat-controlled government has launched a cat-modification surgery program and has been heavily promoting it in the downtown area.
Every human in the Lower City will have one free cat-like transformation surgery after passing the government's rating.
If you're lucky, you'll be transformed from a lowly human into a noble cat-person.
In terms of life and work, they will be relocated from the harsh environment of the lower district to the more livable and spacious upper district and take up glamorous jobs.
Sheng Qing happened to be that lucky one; her talent rating was A, one in a million, and her future was bright.
If cat-like appearances were really that good, would ordinary people even have a chance?
Sheng Qing felt that there must be a big conspiracy behind this, but she was obviously not in a position to get involved at the moment.
Perhaps she should have obediently gone for the second remodeling surgery back then; maybe she could have gotten a glimpse of the truth then.
Now that he's on the wanted list, this path is blocked.
However, Meng Yunxi should still have a chance. Sigh, no wonder she was able to become the team leader in such a short time with only 50% cat-like transformation.
But being in the human camp shouldn't be bad either. With these thoughts in mind, Sheng Qing left the tavern.
Taking advantage of the absence of others, he casually found a secluded spot, summoned the power of the earth element, and sank into the soil.
Sheng Qing appeared in a place filled with dilapidated buildings, with the surrounding architecture clearly different from that of the Upper City.
There aren't many cameras here, no cat-like people patrolling, and even ordinary people are rarely seen.
It's like a remote town where all the young people have gone to work in the city, leaving only the elderly behind.
How can we quickly find the Qin siblings?
At this moment, Sheng Qing was in high spirits and full of confidence.
With your thoughts wandering, why not take a bold step?
"Where does the highest-ranking official in your area live?" Sheng Qing asked a passerby casually.
"I...I have no money." The man, who looked to be around forty years old, clutched his non-existent wallet tightly with a bitter and resentful expression.
“I’m a good person,” Sheng Qing sighed. “I just asked for directions.”
"Over there." The man breathed a sigh of relief, pointed in the distance towards the upper city area, and muttered to himself about how he had run into another person asking for directions.
Sheng Qing squinted and carefully examined the brightly lit detached villa.
Someone who can live in such a nice house in the downtown area must not be a good person.
"Thanks." Before Sheng Qing finished speaking, she had already left the man far behind.
Twenty minutes later, Sheng Qing, panting heavily, stopped about three hundred meters away from the mansion. In the distance, he could see security guards patrolling around the mansion.
After observing from a hidden spot for an hour, Sheng Qing finally found a place where he could sneak in.
Taking advantage of the handover between the two groups, Sheng Qing summoned the power of the wood element and quickly entered the villa.
Avoiding the lights, Sheng Qing stealthily made his way to a room that looked like the master bedroom.
Wait quietly until the door is pushed open from the outside.
A portly middle-aged man turned on the light and appeared in the doorway.
"Who are you?" the man asked warily.
"Who I am is not important." Sheng Qing leaned against the window and smiled. "I just need your help with a small matter."
"What is it?" The man frowned, glancing at the door that Sheng Qing had thrown at him and then closed.
“It’s simple, just help me send a message.” Sheng Qing summoned the power of the water element and guided the words “Victoria” to be written on the floor.
"You, you're all in cahoots?" The man looked frightened and explained in a hoarse voice, "I've said everything I need to say, what more do you want?"
What's the meaning?
"A brother and sister?" Sheng Qing asked suspiciously.
The man nodded vigorously.
It was like a blind cat finding a dead mouse; Sheng Qing was overjoyed.
"As expected of Sister Sheng Qing, she actually thought of the same thing as us." They successfully reunited with the Qin siblings.
The three of them were sitting openly in the living room, exchanging information.
It turns out that the thirteen members of Team Zero were forced to split up and fall into different areas after entering the secret realm. The Qin siblings and two other members of the team fell into the lower city.
As if by unspoken agreement, the four men all chose to target the highest-ranking official in the area in order to obtain firsthand information as quickly as possible.
After the four met up, they decided to split into two groups. Two of them went to the hospital in the upper district through Qiu Zhizhan, the owner of the house, and underwent surgery that same day. They have now made contact with Meng Yunxi and others.
So, he's the only one who's ended up being hunted down like this?
Still too incompetent, Sheng Qing is ashamed.
"Actually, the cat-like transformation surgery only happened in the last few months," Qin Feiyu said in a low voice.
"Qiu Zhizhan has a gifted older sister, Qiu Zhishui, who achieved 100% cat transformation in just fifteen days. It is said that she was chosen and taken away by a big shot."
"That big shot even promised to let Qiu Zhizhan move into the Upper City, but he insisted on staying here and being a local tyrant."
"It's said that the big shot will be hosting a banquet in the Upper District soon. Maybe we can find out some inside information."
Qin Feiyu and Qin Feiyan, one after the other, gave a general account of the whole incident.
"What does 'take away' mean?" Sheng Qing caught the key word.
The Qin siblings exchanged a glance and smiled.
"As expected of Sister Sheng Qing, she saw the problem at a glance."
Stop keeping me in suspense.
“We all guessed that, in addition to the Upper Town and Lower Town, there should be a special area for important people to live in.”
"But so far, we have thoroughly explored the entire lower city area and found no special passage."
"So that special passage is most likely located in the Upper City?"
“That’s right.” The Qin siblings nodded in unison.
"I don't know who it is, or what their purpose is, to want to turn all humans into cats."
"Cats are cute as they are, but to pay the price of human extinction is too high."
"It's not worth it at all."
All three shook their heads.
"However, there are still some clear-headed people among us, such as Du Huiru, who insisted on not undergoing the modification surgery."
"Not only that, they also traveled around the Shangcheng and Xiacheng districts to collect negative examples and publicly oppose and advocate against them."
"He's a big shot. He's been assassinated several times by killers sent by the Upper City, yet he still dares to show his face in public."
“We’ve even been her bodyguards several times; she has quite a few supporters,” Qin Feiyu said proudly.
Being hunted down for this reason is quite prestigious!
Unlike myself, who was hunted down simply because I didn't want to have a second surgery.
Huh? Isn't this a ready-made example of negative publicity?
On the surface, the government and major media outlets are promoting cat-like transformation surgery based on the premise of respecting individual wishes.
Nowadays, simply because the postoperative feline-like data is not ideal, patients are forced to undergo a second surgery regardless of their personal wishes.
After being refused by the patient, they restricted the patient's personal freedom and monitored the patient.
After the patient finally managed to escape, a great deal of manpower and resources were spent hunting him down.
They even plan to introduce a cat-like transformation bill in the near future to force people to make a choice.
Can something good be a cat-like surgery that needs to be enforced through legislation?
Not to mention the aftereffects of the cat-like surgery, which weakens humanity, it will inevitably turn them into tools that only obey orders in the long run.
Not to mention the cat-like modifications performed during the surgery, which included devices with location tracking capabilities and the potential for remotely controlled explosions.
Of course, this explosive function is just Sheng Qing's guess, but how the cat-headed people will prove whether it exists or not is not within Sheng Qing's concern.
If, under such circumstances, people still insist on having the surgery, then there's nothing more to say.
Sheng Qing explained his thoughts in detail.
The Qin siblings remained silent for a long time after hearing this, and then they both clapped.
"As expected of Sheng Qing, the one chosen by the captain!"
Sheng Qing smiled sheepishly and said, "I discovered the effect of the cat transformation surgery on elemental manipulation by accident."
The abnormality was actually discovered by observing the flow of energy throughout the body.
"If that locator really has the ability to remotely control the explosion, wouldn't you be in great danger?"
"If someone really died in the explosion because of this, then the cat-people will be even harder to explain." Sheng Qing smiled confidently again.
But to avoid worrying the Qin siblings, he still showed the scar on his left wrist and said, "Don't worry, I had it removed a long time ago."
"Where is the captain?"
"He also noticed this problem."
The Qin siblings breathed a sigh of relief.
"When should we go see Ms. Du Huiru?"
The Qin siblings were very efficient; that very night, they dragged Sheng Qing to the foot of Du Huiru's unremarkable building in the lower district.
Because the elevator was old and in disrepair, Sheng Qing and his two companions had to climb 12 floors before they finally met Du Huiru.
Because of her open-minded family, Du Huiru, who was unmarried and childless, had not yet had the chance to suffer from the torment of her family or children.
Coupled with her naturally youthful baby face, she looks like she's under thirty.
When Sheng Qing heard Qin Feiyu gossiping that she was almost forty, she was stunned.
Upon hearing Sheng Qing's idea, Du Huiru's eyes lit up and she became radiant.
"We need to make this information public as soon as possible." Du Huiru grasped Sheng Qing's hands and asked expectantly, "Would you like to come with me?"
"I'm willing." Sheng Qing answered, then regretted it a little, adding guiltily, "But I haven't seen any big occasions, and I'm not good at saying polite things."
"I thought you were worried about your safety?" Du Huiru smiled and comforted her, "I'll take care of the explanation. I'll come up with it tonight. All you need to do is show up."
“No problem.” Sheng Qing nodded emphatically.
“Then we’ll give a presentation in the Lower District tomorrow morning, and then go to the Upper District in the afternoon.” Du Huiru’s face showed a bright expectation for the future.
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