After making all the arrangements, he jumped into the sewer, and perhaps because of his rapid advancement in strength, this time it only took him a little over four hours to reach his destination.
"It's not even three o'clock yet, plenty of time..." Li Ming waited listlessly, not knowing why, the words "University of Science and Technology" kept surfacing in his mind.
Silver Grey Star was remote and had its limitations, which could be seen from all aspects.
Apart from the sniper rifle Li Changhai had hidden, he had not seen any items of E-grade, or even anything that might be E-grade, to date.
"University of Science and Technology, huh..."
Soon, a streak of white crossed the sky, and the familiar shuttle-shaped craft slowly descended, Li Ming wasn't sure if there had been a change in the delivery personnel, but at least the attire was the same.
After proving his identity and handing over the goods, the procedure was straightforward; the packaging this time was much more refined, completely wrapped in a black metal case and surprisingly small in volume, only the size of a fist.
After seeing the other person off, Li Ming returned to the sewer, eager to open the metal case, and the purple gleam of Zircon Crystal Alloy appeared before him.
Distinct in its edges, Li Ming at first glance wouldn't even have thought it was an alloy material, but rather some kind of crystal, with a transparency of at least 60%.
This raised concerns in his mind, but after placing his finger on it, the familiar feeling flooded in, and he was reassured.
The smaller the volume, the shorter the time it took to draw out metal energy, the numbers jumped continuously, and this time it only took half an hour to absorb most of the alloy material,
"1103 points?" Li Ming was astonished, his total metal energy had reached 1103 points.
Subtracting what he had before, this time he gained over 900 points of metal energy, far exceeding Li Ming's expectations.
It's normal for each kind of metal material to contain different amounts of metal energy, and to have some errors was to be expected; this time, he struck lucky without any effort.
Feeling pleased, he made his way back home along the route he'd come.
Having reached home by nine in the morning, he certainly couldn't get to work at the normal time, so he had to take a day off.
Having recently been on a field job, it was easy to get leave approved.
Having dealt with these odds and ends, he eagerly opened the display case.
The heavy sniper rifle was still splendid to behold, and now, with his newfound wealth, 770 points of metal energy poured out, immersing the entire rifle.
Soon, the nearly 2-meter-long big guy disappeared from his hands.
However, the next moment his face changed, a deluge of information like a tide flooded in, forcefully cramming itself into his mind.
He felt darkness before his eyes, the world spinning around him, and with a thud, he hit the ground, his mind under siege.
The amount of information this time was not comparable to the previous beginner or intermediate levels; it was vast and complex.
He felt as if he had truly become an assassin, hunting for his prey in the interstellar expanse over more than a decade, lurking cautiously, striking with a lethal blow.
Tracking, hiding, Concealing Breath, flaws in metal detectors, how to evade infrared detection devices, how to interfere with sonic scanners...
As expected of the intermediate level, the experience this time was utterly different; assassinations were not about stealthily approaching and then stabbing to finish the job but a synthesis of various detailed skills.
This shortcut saved him ten years of hard training!
"That figure, it looks like Li Changhai..." Li Ming took a deep breath, understanding the effects of the Controlled Objects even more thoroughly, likely related to the experiences of the person who had previously used them.
He then tried to reattach the scope, merging the two items back into one, occupying a Control Bar, but the scope's ability to enhance was no longer accessible.
However, the sniper rifle's augmentation returned to 200%.
The method of judgment was quite peculiar.
As for the abilities, he didn't need to test them; a super-enhanced version of the pneumatic hammer, charging in just one second, could receive an augmentation of 200% in both strength and speed.
"Hmm… as for the pneumatic hammer, it should be recoverable..." With the mechanical hammer appearing in Li Ming's hand, he then tried to absorb it, and indeed, it could be absorbed.
After some more time, the pneumatic hammer completely disappeared, "Control" combined with evolution, cumulatively expended 44 points, while he absorbed 30 points back in return, some of which was not metal.
"Being able to recover 70% is still acceptable," Li Ming was quite satisfied, having played a significant role in taking down Pang Wenlong with the pneumatic hammer.
After taking control of this heavy sniper rifle, it was not just a direct increase to his own strength, but also the removal of a potential risk.
If this thing were left here and one day it got exposed by accident, the loss would outweigh the gain.
He then absorbed the dagger he got from Ma Wu, and with the Assassination Skill, he no longer needed basic combat.
He still had 372 points of metal energy left, with five Controlled Objects, regularly placed in the Control Bar, which were the four-armed machine tool, the heavy sniper rifle, and the Tiger Claw Prosthetic.
The remaining two were a detector specifically for development and a blast shield.
His overall strength had stepped up to another level; if he faced Pang Wenlong again, he should be able to deal with him in an encounter.
The image of Scar-faced Tiger flashed through his mind, hmm... no rush, he needed to be cautious.
To upgrade his four-armed lathe, which provided the greatest enhancement to his strength, he still needed 530 points of metal energy, which meant a few more days of saving up.
Li Ming calculated, "The legitimate money I can use totals over twenty-eight thousand, and even if I spent it all at the scrapyard, it would take over a dozen days to deplete."
"I'll first buy two developmental agents. All enhancements of Controlled Objects are based on my own strength, and I can't neglect the development of the gene seed."
"As for the Black Hole Network side of things..." Thinking, he opened up the Black Hole Network, only to find a message from Red Rose--
"Zhang Hu asked me to investigate Li Ming."
Li Ming's eyes narrowed slightly, "He asks you to investigate, why doesn't he do it himself?"
Shortly after, Red Rose replied: "Zhang Hu is up to his ears in trouble right now, too tied up to do it himself, so he could only ask me."
"Only two people have been involved with those goods, one is him, the other is Pang Wenlong, and if there's no explanation, he's going to be in big trouble."
"Is there any more information? Who is the informant providing the information?"
Li Ming did not reply immediately. Zhang Hu's troubles were expected, but the fact that he hadn't given up on the investigation was enough to prove that he was still very suspicious of him.
[Ma Wu also knew about the human trafficking, and the person who killed him might have learned something because of it]
This was another train of thought; he hadn't focused too much on him probably because his level of suspicion wasn't that high.
"There are indeed some speculations within the City Defense Force."
"Oh, let's hear them."
"Five thousand"— to shave off even a little bit was something.
"You've fallen into the money pit, haven't you!" Red Rose cursed before making a transfer.
"The injuries on Pang Wenlong's body can be confirmed as caused by the standard-issue prosthetics of the Fierce Tiger Gang. The City Defense believes it to be internal strife within their ranks, a setup, a frame-up," Li Ming spun a tale.
"An inside job? Are you sure it's the Tiger Claw's doing?" Red Rose immediately perked up, not expecting Li Ming to play such an effective role so quickly.
It was me who did it, so of course, I know.
Other news of the day had already leaked out quite a bit, but this matter was still somewhat of a secret within the City Defense, and not many had seen Pang Wenlong's complete body.
"Confirmed," Li Ming replied succinctly and firmly.
An emoji of red lips blowing a kiss followed by a sentence,
"Good little brother, come over to your sister's place when you have time and let me sit with you."