In the dead of night, when all was silent, Ling Tian, clad in a black outfit and a green fish-head mask, moved like a gecko along the outer wall of the stairs, instantly scaling to the top floor.
The rooftop, though locked from the inside, posed no challenge to Ling Tian.
He produced a wire and, in less than five seconds, picked the lock on the rooftop door, gaining entry.
Ling Tian swaggered into the building, the green fish-head mask concealing his face, exuding an air of utter fearlessness.
He even approached the cameras he spotted, striking a pose.
After a brief sweep of the interior, Ling Tian discovered the house's secret: the study was noticeably smaller than it should have been, clearly indicating a hidden space.
Ling Tian fiddled with something in the study, and a cabinet slid open to the sides, revealing the door to a safe.
Ling Tian, too impatient to crack the safe, simply walked up, ripped off the camera outside the safe, and with a flash of thought, everything inside the safe was gone!
Having accomplished his task, Ling Tian dusted off his hands and left.
In the burn unit of Jiangshan Central Hospital, Bai Guanghai watched his son, swathed in burn dressings and moaning on the bed, with a surge of frustration.
This son was a constant source of worry. Bai Guanghai had even learned that his son had colluded with Jin Peng to hire assassins to kill Ling Tian.
This act, in Bai Guanghai's eyes, was a grave insult!
However, even a tiger doesn't eat its cubs. Bai Haotian had indeed had a rough year. First, his arm was crippled by Ling Tian, then he was possessed by a蛊 (gu) worm, costing him years of his life.
And now, he had suffered extensive burns all over his body, even his face, leaving him disfigured!
Even Bai Guanghai found himself unable to reprimand his unfilial son.
Just then, Bai Guanghai's phone rang.
He answered, his face contorting in alarm. He abandoned his son and, with a few trusted confidantes, drove back home.
It turned out that earlier, the family's housekeeper, waking up for a midnight bathroom break, felt a chilling draft. Upon investigating upstairs, she discovered the rooftop door ajar.
The housekeeper, who checked doors and windows every night, knew this was unusual.
She summoned the household bodyguards, who then reviewed the surveillance footage. What they saw shocked them: a figure in a green fish-head mask was leisurely moving around the house!
It was obvious something had gone wrong. They immediately notified Bai Guanghai.
Upon returning home and seeing the bizarre footage, Bai Guanghai's blood pressure shot up.
When he entered the study and saw the moved cabinet, his heart leaped into his throat.
Behind the cabinet lay the safe, and its contents were of immense importance to the Bai family.
He then examined the safe door more closely and finally breathed a sigh of relief, as he found no trace of it being tampered with.
Besides multiple mechanical and electronic locks, Bai Guanghai had also made subtle marks in various hidden corners of the safe door.
Since these marks were untouched, it meant the contents of the safe should be safe.
He dismissed his subordinates, entered the password, used the fingerprint scanner, then took out a key and inserted it into the safe, and finally turned the knob on the mechanical fingerprint lock.
"Click!"
Finally, after much effort, the safe door swung open. The moment it opened, Bai Guanghai spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground.
A few minutes later, Bai Guanghai's subordinates, sensing something was amiss, rushed in. They were stunned by what they saw inside the safe.
The entire safe was still lined with shelves, but the items that should have been on them were nowhere to be found!
This vault contained tens of millions of US dollars, millions of dollars worth of various precious gems, and a large amount of securities and stock certificates.
Especially significant was that, to avoid liquidation, he had used a substantial portion of his assets to purchase many bearer securities, whose value alone amounted to billions.
Yet, now, all of it was gone!
Among the missing items were also numerous securities, certificates, and property deeds. While these might not have had immediate value when taken out, their loss could severely impact the normal operations of the Bai family's businesses.
It could be said that the losses incurred by Ling Tian from what he took from the Bai family this time were many times greater than what he had taken from the Jin family.
Ling Tian returned home and slept soundly. He woke up at noon and resumed his cultivation of the Fierce Sun Art.
After finishing his practice, Ling Tian reappeared at Misty Rain Pavilion, handing over the securities, jewelry, and diamonds he had acquired from the Bai family for processing.
After the proceeds were handled, Misty Rain Pavilion kept a portion, and the rest was transferred to the Ice Heaven Charity Fund account.
Ling Tian estimated his earnings from this venture to be at least over a billion.
This was the hard-earned fortune of the Bai family over the years, now all contributing to charitable causes.
...
At Jiangzhou University, Wang Bingxia lived a diligent and routine life. To graduate early, she attended extra classes every day.
After her evening classes, she would head home after 8 PM. Of course, her most anticipated time was the hour-long video chat with Ling Tian after she got home.
However, on this particular day, Wang Bingxia did not attend her evening class. Her good friend and roommate, Du Yuanyuan, was celebrating her birthday.
Although Wang Bingxia had moved out on her own in the second semester of her freshman year, she had lived in the dorms when she first entered university, and the sisters from her dorm still maintained a good relationship.
So, they went to a seafood buffet restaurant near the school and booked a private room.
A total of five people attended the birthday banquet: Wang Bingxia, Du Yuanyuan, and three other friends, along with a young man named Xu Zihui, Du Yuanyuan's boyfriend.
This young man was reportedly from a wealthy family, and he was paying for the birthday feast.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, they toasted and chatted, celebrating Du Yuanyuan's birthday and lamenting how quickly time had passed, with their university life nearing its end in the blink of an eye.
The meal was filled with a harmonious atmosphere. Xu Zihui even brought a bottle of imported red wine, and after decanting it, everyone had two glasses.
Wang Bingxia, hailing from a prominent family, had naturally received training in wine tasting. She found the wine to be quite good.
However, about an hour later, Wang Bingxia felt her face flushing, and her head began to spin. She wasn't the only one; the other girls also exhibited similar symptoms, appearing quite tipsy.