Nightmare Assault

When Jiang Cheng realised Chen Xiaomeng was looking at him, he suddenly covered his chest, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Chen Xiaomeng started. She didn’t want to have any interaction with this pervert outside of the mission, so she changed the subject, “Where do you think the record copy will be stored?”

“The police station,” Jiang Cheng answered easily.

“Do you mean to go to the police station to steal stuff?” Chen Xiaomeng raised her brow. This was clearly not a wise choice. The police weren’t familiar with them, so they wouldn’t lend them the copy for no reason. It might cause a misunderstanding.

“Then… We can try the town’s files centre.” Jiang Cheng scratched his chin. “A town of this size should have one. They should have another copy, but it might not be as detailed as the one at the police station.”

“Okay.” Chen Xiaomeng nodded. “We don’t have much time left. I suggest we split up. You can go to the files centre to look up the woman, while I’ll head to An Ping Ann. When you figure out more about the woman, we will meet up.”

“Don’t even think about it.” Jiang Cheng adjusted his posture and narrowed his eyes. “Even though An Ping Inn sounds more dangerous, don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking. Before I return with the files, you will not enter the inn. Instead, you’ll stay near it in the pretext of keeping watch over it.”

Chen Xiaomeng, who was exposed, looked innocent. However, internally, she was cursing Jiang Cheng. It was almost impossible to take advantage of this man. “That’s what you’d do!” Chen Xiaomeng said indignantly, “Then, what do you suggest we do?”

Jiang Cheng leaned over to whisper, “How about we swap?”

Chen Xiaomeng rejected it without a thought, “Do you think I’m dumb? No.” Then, she added, “Because you are too shameless and cunning.” After a long discussion, the despicable pair finally reached a gentleman’s agreement. They… would not split up. Furthermore, they had to ensure the other party was within one’s field of sight. After all, one could easily end the mission by triggering a key clue near the end of the mission.

Neither of them had a good night’s sleep. Chen Xiaomeng was too uncomfortable due to the cold and the moisture. Jiang Cheng was kicked several times by Chen Xiaomeng due to his loud snoring.

In the end, neither slept. Jiang Cheng walked around within a limited range. He worked his numb limbs and pulled out a matchbox from his pocket. Then, he took out a roll of cigarette from his other pocket. Chen Xiaomeng’s eyes glowed. She recognised this as a present from the town’s elder to Bei Qian.

With a hiss, the roll was lit.

Chen Xiaomeng stared at him. Before she could say anything, Jiang Cheng’s dissatisfied voice began, “Are you going to control my smoking habits too?” Chen Xiaomeng suddenly forgot what she wanted to say.

The sky lit up blurrily. A cockerel’s hooting came from the town, followed by barking. The town slowly came alive. A few men, carrying baskets and dressed in cotton clothes, appeared at the edge of the town.

“We’re too conspicuous with our current appearance.” Chen Xiaomeng hid behind a lush bush and looked around. Jiang Cheng was behind her.

Jiang Cheng thought about it. “We’ll enter the town and see if there are any laundry lines nearby. We’ll borrow some of the clothes.”

“Okay.”

Things went smoother than they expected. Just as they reached the town’s edge, they saw a door open and quickly hid. The person who walked out was a lady around 40, looking sleepy. She carried a wooden basin. She placed it on the ground, took out the clothes and hung them on the simple clothesline in front of the door. After that, she yawned, returned home and closed the door.

After waiting for half a minute, Jiang Cheng darted out, snatched the washed clothes and returned to the bush. Ignoring Chen Xiaomeng, he directly changed before her. With the change of clothes, the two looked completely different from before. Thankfully, both of their shoes were dark in colour and were stained in mud. Those didn’t need to be changed.

Then, it was time for official business.

Little Ravine Village’s villagers should have noticed their disappearance by then. They had around four to five hours. Jiang Cheng was assigned the job of asking around about the files centres.

He went to pick some wildflowers and munched on them. Then, he slathered the juices over his face. Just like that, a handsome man became an overworked and tired local farmer.

Chen Xiaomeng resisted the disgust in her heart and did the same. Thankfully, An Ping Town was more open than Little Ravine Village. There were occasional merchants who would come to town to purchase local supplies. Therefore, it was not strange to find new faces in town once in a while.

Jiang Cheng chose a man who owned an oil store and came back with the news. An Ping Town had a local topography centre. It was about a 20-minute walk due east.

As they departed, Chen Xiaomeng commented worriedly, “We’ll probably end up with nothing. Normally, local topography centres will only record nearby geographical changes and not civil cases like the missing woman case at Little Ravine Village.”

“That might not be the case.” Jiang Cheng was optimistic, “That might just be a name. The place might store general files.” He added, “This is not our era. The categorisation of work and records won’t be that precise.”

Chen Xiaomeng silently agreed with him, but she still chided him, “I’m surprised someone like you would know so much.”

“This is nothing.” Jiang Cheng puffed up his chest. “If you are rich enough to register for a VIP membership at my workplace, I’ll show you even more things that I know of.”