Chapter 365: Fourth World: Shrimp or Shrimps

Wen Qinxi climbed up and slid into the vent as well. He put back the vent cover securing it in place while saying, "No, the plural of shrimp is shrimp. Right Ting-ge?"

"How am I supposed to know, I am allergic to seafood," replied Ting-ge through the earpiece while rolling his eyes at these two who were arguing about such trivial matters at a crucial moment.

"Definitely shrimp. Shrimps kinda sounds wrong," said Casio before modifying his voice to sound funny, "Oh, look at those red juicy shrimps... Nah definitely shrimp."

The two people crawled through the crammed vent which warrants silence but Li Meimei didn't like being wrong so she said, "Fine then what's the plural for money or better yet, is it people or peoples? Casio, you need to fuckin go back to school."

Feeling wronged Casio's tone was harbouring grievance while saying, "Hey, why didn't you say it to Xin-ge? He thinks the same way I do."

"Everyone ssshhh, we can discuss this later....," said Wen Qinxi in a whisper but of course, he was also competitive so he said after a long silence, "And yes, I and Casio are right. Mie-Jie needs to go back to school."

"Hahaha... there you have it. The boss has spoken," said Casio feeling pretty good about himself.

"Bunch of assholes," cursed Li Meimei in a low whisper before turning left into a much bigger vent.

Wen Qinxi chuckled lightly before pausing his actions. In front of them were crisscrossed laser beams preventing them from advancing further. If they so much as coughed on it, it would trigger the alarm and they would have bullets fired into the vent within five seconds. Wen Qinxi gestured for her to keep silent and began to fiddle with the wall of the vent seeking out the position of the photodetector.

In under a minute he screwed with it tricking it into thinking the circuit was still intact. The red lasers suddenly vanished but the alarm wasn't tripped. Pleased with his mechanic skills, Wen Qinxi smiled and crossed over the threshold. Li Meimei couldn't stop singing praises as they reached the vent cover directly above the entrance of the vault.

"Your turn," said Wen Qinxi while hacking the camera surveillance making it replay in a loop for the security office.

Li Meimei attached a pulley on the top of the vent roof while saying, "You better not fucking drop me, gege." She secured her harness before opening up the vent. Nervous, she exhaled deeply before slipping out of the vent with Su Xin lowering her down.

As soon as she reached the ground, Wen Qinxi received a message on his phone that had him sweating bullets. Who else could it be other than Qie Ranzhe? He had excused himself saying he was going to party with Ting-ge and the crew but of course, that was a lie. Now Qie Ranzhe was asking for his whereabouts.

DaddyRan: Baby, it's late.

DaddyRan: Tell me where you are so I can pick you up.

Wen Qinxi was about to type out a response when Li Meimei whispered to him while tugging the rope in a panic. "Gege, someone is coming. Pull me up. Pull me up," while jumping up and down waving her hands around like a frantic lunatic.

"Shit," swore Wen Qinxi putting his phone in his pocket before grabbing the rope to pull her up, "so fuckin heavy."

"Who are you calling heavy?" she retorted as she re-entered the vent. The two scrambled to put back the vent cover sweating like pigs. It was because of this reason a screw slipped out of Li Meimei's hand as it obeyed the force of gravity falling to the ground below.

Unfortunately for them, it was just at that time that a man with a scar across his face entered the passageway heading for the vault. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck,' swore Wen Qinxi internally with his blood running cold. If that screw attracts the man's attention then they are both dead. He was about to tell Li Meimei to initiate the escape plan but the man merely looked around at the sound of a screw hitting the ground.

The two people in the vent held their breaths hoping scarface doesn't see the screw rolling at his feet. For a moment they thought they were out of luck but the man didn't investigate further opening the vault with ease before entering. He didn't stay in there for long though exiting empty-handed.

Wen Qinxi heaved a sigh of relief once the man was gone but it was at that moment that he received another message from Qie Ranzhe making him rub his forehead in frustration.

DaddyRan: Replying late?

DaddyRan: You owe me a punishment once you get back.

Wen Qinxi didn't want to guess what sort of punishment Qie Ranzhe would come up with so he urged Li Meimei to carry on so they could leave this place as soon as possible otherwise the punishments might accumulate.

He replied to Qie Ranzhe's message and jumped out of the vent. As soon as Li Meimei opened the vault, Wen Qinxi grabbed hold of the fire extinguisher and removed the safety pin as they entered a thief's paradise.

Wen Qinxi aimed the nozzle of the fire extinguisher at the heat sensor in the vault before searching around for anything that closely resembled files or documents. The longer he stayed in the vault searching the more his heart sank. This didn't make sense. He was fairly certain he would find the black material here. He couldn't be wrong.

While Wen Qinxi was scratching his head trying to figure out where it could be, Li Meimei was looting like a bandit grabbing all those pretty things and shoving them inside her pockets.

"Gege, do you think this is pretty?" she said holding up an expensive necklace with pink diamonds. Wen Qinxi just glanced at her and carried on looking. He had no time to be entertaining this little piggy.

Li Meimei pouted while mumbling, "You are no fun... Wah! What tha," she said when another sliding door opened when she touched the shelf by mistake.

The two people stared fixedly at a safe within a safe revealed after the door slid open. This had to be it. It made sense because all the diamond in this vault were of lesser value than that information so of course, there would be greater security.

"Mei-er, can you break into it?" asked Wen Qinxi dazedly.

Li Meimei cracked her knuckles and said, "Of course," with a glint of excitement in her eyes. It was time to make her ancestors proud.