Villains
Late at night.
Chen Ling and 【Yang Xiao】 walked shoulder to shoulder out the main doors of the airport.
"Why did we come out? Didn't the airline arrange a special shuttle bus to take us to 【Gusu】?" 【Yang Xiao】 asked doubtfully as he looked at the quiet roads around them.
Due to the flight being forcefully diverted, the airline had compensated every passenger. However, Chen Ling didn't take the shuttle bus they arranged, instead directly bringing 【Yang Xiao】 away. At this hour, there were hardly any vehicles or pedestrians at the airport entrance. Only a few taxis and ride-hailing cars were waiting off to the side, and beyond that was just the pitch-black night.
"The shuttle bus is too slow." Chen Ling said calmly, "Although we've temporarily stalled the 【Sky Wolf】, with his strength, escaping will be a breeze for him... He'll catch up to us sooner or later, so every minute and every second right now is extremely precious and cannot be wasted."
"There are no flights or high-speed rails at this hour. If we don't take the shuttle bus, how else can we get to 【Gusu】?"
"I'll drive."
【Yang Xiao】 froze for a moment. "Where are we getting a car?"
The driver, who had been dozing, immediately rolled down the window upon seeing someone. With sleep-hazy eyes, he asked, "Where to?"
"I'll transfer you 300,000. Lend me your car for two days."
"...What the hell???"
Three minutes later.
Chen Ling buckled his seatbelt and floored the accelerator. The yellow taxi roared as it shot forward like a whistling arrow!
At the desolate airport entrance, only the taxi driver remained, sitting blankly by the roadside. Staring at the extra 300,000 balance on his card, his hands were trembling nonstop...
After a long while, he shakily dialed a number and muttered as if in a dream:
"Mom, I struck it rich~!"
...
Vroom——!
The yellow taxi swept across the road like lightning.
The whistling wind wildly poured into the car. 【Yang Xiao】 had to crank the handle for a long time before the window slowly closed tight. His hair had already been blown into a messy bird's nest.
"300,000 just to borrow it for a few days?" 【Yang Xiao】 couldn't help but say, "Even if this car were brand new, it wouldn't be worth 300,000, right?"
"It doesn't matter. Money in this era is just a number to you and me. Let's just consider it robbing the rich to feed the poor."
Chen Ling spoke without the slightest concern.
Chen Ling's foot pressed harder and harder on the accelerator. The engine's hum sounded like a roaring beast. As the needle on the dashboard steadily climbed, 【Yang Xiao】 subconsciously gripped the door handle tightly.
"Are you speeding?"
"Yes, but the speed cameras won't catch us."
"...Hacking accounts, robbing money, fare evasion, hijacking, carjacking, speeding... Why do I feel like we're the villains here?"
"To be precise, it's striking down illegal transactions, earning a reasonable commission, protecting passenger safety, expanding the second-hand car market, and... well... speeding is speeding. Compared to the lives of the 【Nine Monarchs】, what do a few speeding tickets matter?"
【Yang Xiao】: ...
With Chen Ling's current observational prowess and reaction speed, even driving at high speeds posed no safety risks. He rested one hand by the window and steered with the other, galloping along the highway in the dark night. At this speed, they would definitely reach 【Gusu】 within an hour and a half.
"Speaking of which, what's the deal with that guy on the plane?" 【Yang Xiao】 asked doubtfully. "I thought you said the 【Fourteen Divine Paths】 only exist in the future."
"No, the 【Divine Path】s are the concrete manifestations of 'professions' in human civilization. From the moment human civilization was born, they existed." Chen Ling replied unhurriedly, "For example, 【Ying Fu】 and 【Bai Qi】 found their 【Divine Path】s in ancient eras, and after their deaths, they became part of the 【Divine Dao Ancient Repository】... So theoretically speaking, there should also be 【Divine Path Possessor】s in this era, it's just that their numbers are extremely small."
Chen Ling pulled his flip phone out of his pocket and handed it to 【Yang Xiao】 in the passenger seat. "Take a look at the video in the photo album."
Although puzzled, 【Yang Xiao】 flipped open the phone.
The first thing that entered his vision was a selfie of Chen Ling making a peace sign, set as the wallpaper. 【Yang Xiao】's expression suddenly became somewhat bizarre.
"You usually like using your own selfies as wallpapers?"
"...No, that was just an accident."
【Yang Xiao】 opened the photo album. There was only one video inside. The footage showed a 【Casino】 abroad. A figure in a floral shirt won a bet against another man, and the next moment, the man began to visibly age, exactly as if his life force had been drained away by something.
If it were in the past, 【Yang Xiao】 would definitely have thought this video was edited. But after personally experiencing some things, his cognition had already changed.
"The person in the video is also a 【Divine Path Possessor】?"
"En." Chen Ling said thoughtfully, "Exactly as I said, the 【Divine Path】s are the concrete manifestations of 'professions'. The characteristics of 'professions' vary across different eras. So perhaps in our era, there are also 【Divine Path】s that belong specifically to this era...
But under the rapid development of material civilization, the spiritual civilization brought about by 'professions' is constantly flattening. People are losing the spirit of their professions, or rather, their professional 【Faith】. They are gradually deteriorating into mechanized tools... Such a spiritual civilization cannot gain the recognition of the 【Divine Path】s, which is why there are so few 【Divine Path Possessor】s in this era.
Conversely, after the 【Red Star】 passed and humanity's material civilization began to regress, spiritual civilization was gradually rebuilt amidst the disasters. That's why in the era of the 【Nine Great Realms】, there are far more 【Divine Path Possessor】s than there are now."
【Yang Xiao】 thought seriously for a long time and roughly understood Chen Ling's reasoning.
"According to what you're saying, that 【Sky Wolf】 on the plane should be considered extremely rare, right?"
"Exactly... He must have experienced things that ordinary people cannot, and coupled with his own extraordinary innate talent, he was able to step onto this 【Divine Path】." Chen Ling's eyes narrowed slightly. "In this era, the fact that there aren't many 【Divine Path Possessor】s means that the 【Emperor】's power is severely restricted... That's a good thing for us."
"It's a pity we have no way of accessing information about that 【Sky Wolf】." 【Yang Xiao】 sighed. "If we could understand a little more, we might be able to grasp his weaknesses, and we wouldn't be so passive."
These words served as a reminder to Chen Ling, and his eyes lit up slightly.
That's right, this era was different from the era of the 【Nine Great Realms】. In this society where information networks were everywhere, everyone would leave traces, more or less... And there was one place that might store exactly what they wanted to see.
"Who said we have no way of accessing his information?" Chen Ling smiled slightly. "Don't forget, that guy... should still be at the public security bureau right now, undergoing interrogation."
"You want to hack into the public..." 【Yang Xiao】 stopped halfway and didn't finish his sentence.
"No, just conveniently copying a file."
Chen Ling reached out and tapped on the flip phone. An electronic file automatically began downloading, and within a few short seconds, the download was complete.
【Yang Xiao】 looked at the secret file on the phone, which should have been locked within a local area network, and smiled bitterly.
"Very well... We really have become the villains now."