Rainfall and Reconnaissance

Rain began to fall.

Summer rains always arrived with a furious intensity, without warning.

Yet, they often departed as swiftly as they arrived.

For Li Yue and Alezno, this might prove to be a fortunate downpour.

“Hmph, a timely rain indeed.”

The rain had thinned the traffic considerably.

However, the sensation of her sun-protective clothing clinging wetly to her skin was undeniably unpleasant, and raindrops splattering against her helmet not only obscured her vision but also created an incessant, maddening din.

Li Yue sped along the rain-slicked highway on her beloved motorcycle. Despite her usual habits, she dared not exceed the speed limit this time; it would be an utter nuisance to be apprehended by traffic police before even locating the target.

Fortunately, the Holy Sword’s trajectory did not lead towards the city proper. Otherwise, a golden baseball bat soaring through the sky, if witnessed by too many, would surely grace tomorrow’s headlines.

Crucially, Li Yue would have no plausible explanation…

‘She couldn’t possibly tell people that the ‘thing’ was actually *her* thing, could she?’

While it was the outskirts, it wasn’t a desolate wilderness. It shared a commonality with the affluent district where the Mo family estate resided: spaciousness and a low building density.

This area, however, was markedly more desolate; she had encountered only a handful of vehicles during her entire journey.

This appeared to be a district of Tianyuan City whose development had been halted midway due to funding issues. In other words, it was rife with unfinished buildings (TL Note: ‘Lànwěilóu’ refers to an unfinished, abandoned building project, often due to financial issues.).

Residential complexes, shopping malls, office buildings—all stood as mere skeletal concrete frames, seemingly an all too fitting temporary stronghold for a kidnapping syndicate.

“Is the Demon Lord in there?”

Alezno, clad in a raincoat, clung to Li Yue’s waist from behind.

Li Yue replied, “It seems so… The Holy Sword truly can pinpoint Mo Linyu’s location.”

‘I have my own radar too, but it only tracks the Demon Lord.’

The torrential rain lashed down upon this concrete and rebar jungle. No lights were visible, no human figures stirred. A few cars were parked by the roadside, their owners’ whereabouts unknown.

Riding a motorcycle directly in would be far too conspicuous. Given they were professional kidnappers, sentries were a certainty; sneaking in stealthily was the only viable approach.

After circling once to ascertain the general direction, Li Yue parked her motorcycle behind a building just beyond the unfinished construction site.

She removed her motorcycle helmet, feeling the deluge battering her face. Having confirmed the building indicated by the Holy Sword, she stowed it back into the baseball bat bag on her back.

“Hmm, our luck seems to be holding.”

In Li Yue’s estimation, the rain could offer them a degree of cover.

Alezno, however, interjected, “Still, charging in without any reconnaissance would be reckless… Let me go in first to scout.”

“You, alone?”

“Moon, this is my job, after all.”

Alezno’s role in the squad was that of a scout, tasked with guiding the Hero’s party to bypass large Demon Lord Army forces, conducting stealthy forced marches, or launching surprise attacks before enemies could react.

Alezno had always excelled in this aspect of her work.

The reason, perhaps, lay in her almost transparent presence.

Consequently, after a brief moment of thought, Li Yue accepted her proposition.

“I’ll wait at the bus stop across the road. Once you’ve ensured Mo Linyu’s safety, send me a signal… If there are too many guards to approach her, signal me then too, and I’ll act as a decoy.”

“…Understood. I’ll follow your lead.”

Even for a professional kidnapping syndicate, their numbers wouldn’t be excessive. If Alezno could secure Mo Linyu, Li Yue might just be able to take down those thugs single-handedly.

When it came to fighting, she was always brimming with such confidence.

****

If the adversaries were professionals, then Alezno was no less so.

Her already faint footsteps were utterly drowned out by the heavy rain. Her petite figure, cloaked in a military-green raincoat, moved through the profound darkness of the night.

Though no longer an elf, her observational prowess in the dark remained formidable. ‘Su Luoli was a thief, after all; how could she possibly lay hands on anything valuable without keen eyesight?’

Alezno did not rashly enter the construction site. Instead, she scaled the external scaffolding of a nearby building, covertly observing the enemy’s deployment.

Her gaze pierced through the downpour, mentally sketching a map of the area.

This unfinished building consisted solely of floor slabs and frames, lacking walls on all sides, thus offering an unobstructed view.

It stood to reason that the kidnappers would exploit this advantage to set up sentry posts. Conversely, this also worked in Alezno’s favor, allowing her to precisely ascertain the sentries’ positions.

“As expected, there are lookouts: one fixed post, three patrolling sentries, and a few surveillance cameras.”

Li Yue had specifically warned her to be wary of the cameras. Even without Li Yue’s reminder, Su Luoli’s body seemed to instinctively evade the cameras—a thief’s muscle memory.

“The thing on their heads… I recall it being called… a night vision device?”

A professional team, with professional equipment to match.

Alezno, however, was not intimidated by this. Compared to her past life, when she often infiltrated behind the Demon Race’s front lines, such sparse sentries were riddled with glaring weaknesses to her.

Swiftly, she navigated over the building and then scaled the two-meter-high construction hoarding surrounding the site from a corner.

No matter how nimble Alezno’s movements, the steel hoarding inevitably produced some sound as she climbed over it. Yet, under the cover of the torrential rain, it failed to alert anyone.

Compared to the sheer size of the construction site, those few sentry posts were indeed insufficient.

She let out a quiet breath of relief, having successfully infiltrated.

Clutching her compound bow, she concealed herself in the building’s shadows, contemplating her next move and the Demon Lord’s whereabouts…

“A room without doors or windows… a basement?”

It could only be the basement; such a wide-open, unfinished building offered no other conceivable hiding place.

Yet, if not for Moon’s Holy Sword guiding her here, Alezno would have struggled to connect the bare, unfinished building with the room seen in the ransom video.

Hiding in such a location, it would normally be impossible to find them.

However, if the sentries above weren’t dealt with, escaping with the Demon Lord afterward would be impossible. There were likely many enemies in the basement as well, too many for her to handle alone.

In short, once the sentries were neutralized, Moon would also be able to act.

Alezno moved silently towards the stairs, ascending as quietly as a cat. Even without the rain, not a single sound would have been audible.

The fixed sentry on the highest floor of the unfinished building, a burly man in a suit wearing a night vision device, was focused on the construction site’s entrance and exit.

His night vision device restricted his field of view, and his attention was fixated below, leaving him completely oblivious to Alezno, who had crept up behind him.

She drew her bow, nocking an arrow.

‘But then she remembered Li Yue’s instruction: no killing…’

“On post, no anomalies.”

The sentry appeared to have just been checked on, making this the opportune moment to strike.

Alezno’s physique was insignificant compared to the burly man’s. Yet, wielding her bow with all her might against his vulnerable nape was sufficient to incapacitate him.

Catching the falling suited brute with her back, Alezno then relieved him of his night vision device and walkie-talkie.

She didn’t immediately put them on for use; she simply tucked them away.

And then…

From this pitch-dark top floor, she drew her bow, aimed, and released an arrow.

Sending Li Yue the signal to proceed.