Having already decided on my next plan, I begin the first step, waiting. If I want to go and watch the auction then I'll need to find a way to sneak away without being noticed. Although I think she already knows my plans, Lia hasn't said anything so I don't need to worry about her. But I'm not sure about Yue, after what Aurelia said, she's probably a little suspicious. I need a way to get Yue to leave the room, and I think I know just what to do.
I have Lia bring over some dry snacks for us to eat and what comes with dry snacks, water. As we play pointless card games while munching on whatever Lia dragged out from Dai Jiang's kitchen, I pushed Yue to drink some water every few minutes. She can certainly hold it, considering how much water Yue's had, but eventually, after an hour and forty minutes, Yue finally gets up.
"I'll be right back, I need to take care of something real quick. Lia, can you keep an eye on her?"
"That's what I've been doing this whole time, I'm always watching Cory."
"Alright, I don't think I'll be long," Yue says as she heads towards the bathroom.
Seeing my chance I make a move for the exit. As I move into the simple elevator I shift into my Dragon form and shink down to as small as I can go and as the door is closing, I hear Lia telling me to be careful.
***A few moments later in Dai Jiang's lounge***
As Yue opens the door she immediately realises someone is missing.
"Where is she? I thought you were watching her?"
"I was watching her and I still am watching her."
"You know that I didn't mean it literally, we were supposed to keep her here so she wouldn't get catch the attention of the Imperial Guard."
"I went over her plan and it didn't seem like the risk of getting caught was very high so I thought I'd let her have some fun."
"Let's hear it then, if I don't feel like it's safe then I'm going down to bring her back," Yue says as she crosses her arms and takes a seat.
"It's like this..."
******
As the door to Dai Jiang's elevator opens, I immediately jump up and crash through the ceiling, landing in the space between floors. From here I can move around as I please and with exception of Lia and Aurelia, I don't think anyone will find me here. It's been some time since the start of the auction, I just hope not too much has been sold yet. Now I just need to find out how to actually get to the auction hall.
It's dark and the ceiling is very low. There are some solid areas that seem to correspond with the walls of the floors above and beneath me. For most people, only a smaller than average person would be able to fit their way through here and even then, there are many places thought they couldn't fit through. But thanks to my Size Modification, these extra small and tight spaces aren't much of a problem.
Traversing through the maze like area proved to be a slight difficulty but it wasn't too hard for me to find my way as I only need to listen to the loud voices. But the only problem is with all the twist and turns, the amount of time I'm wasting is far too much, and I haven't even factored in all the dead ends.
Although I'm not too sure on the time, after what feels like a couple of hours, I finally get to what I think is the auction hall. But listening to the voices below, I hear what I assume is the auctioneer begin the closing act as the final time has been sold. Damn it, I wasted too much time getting lost in the maze.
Unfortunately, I can't stay here and regret since I need to stay on the move. If I'm in one place up here for too long then my scales will eventually burn through the flooring and I'll come falling down, and that's one of the last things I need happening... but how do I find my way back?
With a bit of trial and error, I find a path to take after a few minutes and soon I think I find my way to where the exchange is taking place. Listening in on the conversation, I hear some familiar voices, seems like Aurelia and Wanjing are getting the money from Dai Jiang. Since it's them in there, maybe I can just drill a hole in the ground and go back with them.
But just before I break the flooring, I hear some light shifting and whispering not too far away from me. If not for my enhanced senses, I probably wouldn't have noticed. If someone other than me is hanging around up here at this moment, then it might be someone from the Imperial Guard. Slithering over to the source I find a wall between us, but it isn't enough to prevent me from listening to the conversation on the other side.
"I've sent word to the operations headquarters, that we've confirmed the location of the targets. The fools never expected there to be someone hiding in the ceiling."
"Lieutenant, couldn't we just raid the Treasury? We know they partake in illegal dealings and we've confirmed that the Treasury is harbouring the criminals we're looking for."
"I know you're a new recruit but did you not learn anything at the military academy? Listen, unless there is a real good reason, don't provoke the Treasury too much. There are reasons behind our actions for this operation and I know you've been briefed on the details of the plan. Since the information has been sent let's just get out of here before we get caught."
As I hear them leaving I think about trying to kill them here, but I stop as Lia contacts me through the Soul Connection, telling me to stop and just return to Dai Jiang's place. Assuming she has something in mind, I let the two on the other side of the wall go without interfering and try to find my way back... I think I'm lost again.