The CEO of the First Panda Bank was walking in circles anxiously at the side of an abandoned building three blocks away from the First Panda Bank. There were two Panda police guards armed to the teeth protecting him and they saluted Captain Bai when both of them saw him.
"Captain, no sign of any intruders coming from the secret passage." The panda police guard informed Captain Bai before they were ordered to be at ease.
"Took you long enough." CEO Scabba took out his pocket watch and pushed up his monocle. "I have been waiting here for ages. Are You sure your team can apprehend these jackals?" The rat stuffed his pocket watch back into his pocket before he jumped up onto one of the panda guards. He asked the guard to support him while he wrote the passcode on the wall of the abandoned building with his claws.
"This is the passage to the First Panda Bank?" Se Lang was mystified by this weird way of hiding a secret passage to the most secure bank.
"Yes, the abandoned building was a ruse, it has 24 hours of non-standardised monitoring. There are pressure pads and heat sensor monitoring, and there are even hidden security bots." Captain Bai said as he entered the room with his shotgun pointing forwards despite already affirming it was safe.
"Clueless homeless people will usually stay here. They can open the door to this abandoned building without the passcode but the passcode is needed to open a secret level hidden in the basement." Scabba the rat jumped off the Panda guard's paw and walked along with the cultivators.
"The secret passage will lead you straight to the vault room," Scabba commented,
"That is the stupidest passageway I have ever heard of. If the robbers knew about this route, they will surely enter from the abandoned building." Xue Ping the Puma replied with a shake of her head.
"Then they are the stupid ones. If the passageway detects anything that looks and feels like money or gold, the passageway system will automatically open the hidden lead valves and highly radioactive sources will be emitted through the valves. They will die horribly in the passageway." Scabba chuckled at the ingenious design of the secret passage.
"Then wouldn't we die? I believe some of us have wallets on us." Deng Long felt cold sweat start forming on his body when he heard Scabba.
"As long as I cast this inscription on your hand, you will not be affected by it. The duration is long enough for you to reach the Bank's vault." Scabba took a wand out and cast a mass spell to both Foxtrot teams.
"Then what about the way back?" Shi Hui the Swan asked.
"The way back? You are joking, right? Come back from the front door of the bank once you get rid of those damn jackals." Scabba said in an annoyed tone after putting his wand away and led them to the secret basement level.
Both Foxtrot teams looked at Captain Bai and he agreed with Scabba. The cultivators were here to fight and not to back down. Why did they have a sudden sense of dread when CEO Scabba commented.
"Let's get going! The more time we dally, the more time the jackals have to fulfil their mission." Lee An said and he went through the secret basement level.
"One last question: does the passage lead to inside the vault or outside the vault?" Jia Ying the Stag asked for clarification's sake.
"Of course, outside the vault!" However, Scabba seemed to be a little unsure of his answer, but only Lee An managed to catch a glimpse of it before he entered the basement.
"Surely my imagination but guys, I think we should be careful." Lee An spoke in a low voice after everyone entered the secret passage, except for CEO Scabba and Captain Bai.
"Why? What's wrong Dear?" Xue Ping questioned him softly.
"I felt a bad vibe coming from that CEO guy. This heist might not be as simple as we think." Lee An explained.
"Well, it is already complicated enough with a VIP hostage in their hands. Anyways, let's hurry, we do not want to fail this mission." Se Lang answered and they picked their pace up.
When both teams reached the end of the passage, there was a button and a trapdoor right underneath them. Se Lang pressed on the button and the trapdoor opened without any problem. All seven of them jumped down and realised the CEO was either wrong or had lied to them regarding their destination.
They were in the vault itself and they could hear drilling noises from the other side of the vault door. One more thing that surprised them was that the vault room was emptied out with a note on a trolley.
"Hai Guys! We meet once more! Mr Gentlebear strikes yet again! Am I such a kind soul to CEO Scabba? He called me the moment the silent alarm tripped off and asked me to take care of his valuables. Actually, who am I kidding? I was the one who tripped the silent alarm before I left. Do not say I am not Gentlebearly enough to leave you the most precious item in this vault room!" Yue Wen read it out loud.
"Who is this Gentlebear? And does that mean we have lost before we started?" Deng Long was a little confused at this change of development.
"I think it is part of Boss Jin's elaborate plan to promote a future dungeon. The same thing happened in the Zombie Dungeon Instance that I was in as well. All the gold and riches disappeared and he left us a key. However, this time round, he did not leave anything for us" Yue Wen explained.
"So does that mean we have to find this Gentlebear guy?" Lee An looked around for any clue of intrusion and so did the rest of the makeshift police squad but all they found was a glass sealed box with a feather inside it.
"Captain, the vault was swept clean by some gentlebear, oh, he left behind a dull looking feather." Being the leader of Foxtrot A, Se Lang reported back to Captain to ask for some guidance.
"Change of objectives, protect the feather at all costs. Eliminate the robbers and rescue our VIP. I will relay the information to CEO Scabba." Captain Bai ordered the teams in a stern booming voice.
"Wow, Captain Bai changed his directive immediately. It was as if this was expected." Deng Long the Wombat thought about it and wondered if there was any conspiracy involved in this heist. Suddenly, the drilling from the vault door got even louder.
"Do we have eyes on the top floor?" Xue Ping asked Yue Wen, since she was their replacement for Jing Ru.
"I am trying to contact Jing Ru the Giraffe, but she is not responding to her calls." Jia Ying replied instead of Yue Wen.
"This is because I am fairly occupied." Finally, a response came through the transmission channel. Jing Ru was indeed busy…with an opponent standing on the same rooftop as her.