Chapter 3027 A Leader Only Wants Results

As it turned out, a Hidden Map didn't guarantee good loot.

With Mercy serving as a powerful deterrent, and their targets sensible enough to understand the situation, their exploration proceeded with impressive efficiency.

As the candles on the Lower Level were lit one by one, this originally hidden location revealed its barren true colors.

Indeed, its layout was far from complex. The group headed straight down and quickly reached the bottom floor. Yet, throughout the entire descent, they hadn't seen a single ordinary burial item, let alone any precious grave goods.

There were no coffins and no bones. This rather spacious area was shockingly empty.

As for the lost cat, it was nowhere to be found. There wasn't a single trace of Old Man Henry.

"That cat seems to have pretty good luck."

Taking in the scene, the young couple wore complicated expressions.

After carefully inspecting every corner, the Long-Haired Man let out a sigh, seemingly quite happy for a certain black-and-white cat.

Their scheming had amounted to nothing, so disappointment was inevitable.

But at the same time, this outcome seemed to push them a step further away from a fatal disaster.

Indeed, anyone with a bit of jianghu experience would find it hard to believe that the "Mad Cat Gunner" had truly come just to look for a cat. Comparatively, the allure of wealth was a much more reasonable motive.

He had coerced everyone down here to search. If they had actually found something valuable, the fate of the volunteers would be hard to say.

As they had feared earlier, being sealed down here alongside the loot might have been the best-case scenario.

But now that they had found absolutely nothing, there seemed to be far less need for the "Mad Cat Gunner" to take such extreme measures and expose his true colors.

"It does look that way—so you were lying earlier?"

Fu Qian didn't look disappointed by the Long-Haired Man's words. He even nodded in agreement.

But immediately after, he abruptly shifted the conversation and pointed the spearhead at the Long-Haired Woman.

"Didn't you say you saw it come down with your own eyes?"

...

Instantly becoming the center of attention, the Long-Haired Woman clearly found it hard to refute.

She had indeed said it herself, and had even used that claim to argue her boyfriend into silence.

"Strange, I definitely saw it come down..."

However, her reaction wasn't too surprising. She quickly put on a confused expression, insisting she hadn't lied.

"But the layout down here is very simple. We couldn't have missed any spots."

Unfortunately, there was never a shortage of people willing to kick someone while they were down. The one who spoke wasn't Yuan Shan, who was struggling to hide her disappointment, but the Long-Haired Man with a doubtful look on his face.

"We didn't even double back, so it shouldn't have had a chance to slip out behind us."

As he looked around, his expression was perfectly natural, yet he smoothly pointed out two contradictory points in a row.

Having kept a low profile until now, it was obvious his mind was still turning fast.

Realizing the gunman beside him was absolutely no saint, the Long-Haired Man seemed to have abandoned any thoughts of a happy ending and prepared to look out for the bigger picture.

"True... how could this happen?"

In that moment, the Long-Haired Woman's gaze was like a knife, stabbing into her partner's face.

However, she wasn't stupid enough to deny the facts or openly reprimand him for abandoning her at the first sign of trouble.

She simply furrowed her brows tighter, muttering to herself in confusion, defending her eyewitness persona to the bitter end.

Although, under such "ironclad evidence," this persistence was incredibly flimsy.

"Interesting. So you're saying the cat evaporated after it came down?"

As expected, the Mad Cat Gunner looked displeased. As he glanced around, the Weapon in his hand bobbed up and down, looking as though it might send out a bullet at any moment.

Among them, the Long-Haired Woman was clearly under the most psychological pressure. After all, the scenario the gunman described was simply too absurd.

"That makes sense, actually. That cat does like coming and going like a ghost."

Yet, amidst her uncontrollable terror, things took a sudden turn for the better.

After a moment of deep thought, the Mad Cat Gunner actually agreed with the Long-Haired Woman's claim.

...

Such a thing was actually possible?

Breathing a little heavily, the Long-Haired Woman evidently felt that everything was somewhat surreal.

Unless that cat could vanish out of thin air, her story wouldn't hold up. Yet, had she actually encountered a cat that could disappear?

Was this guy actually crazy?

Though they didn't say it aloud, the young couple clearly weren't naive enough to easily accept such a coincidence. But if it wasn't a coincidence...

Their gazes tacitly fell on Fu Qian's face. The couple seemed to already be worrying about his mental health.

So the "mad" in Mad Cat Gunner wasn't referring to the cat?

This was absolutely not good news. A moody lunatic who couldn't distinguish fantasy from reality was currently holding all of their lives in his hands.

The life-threatening danger that had just somewhat dissipated was instantly revived with even greater intensity.

"Then does that mean there's no way for us to find it?"

By comparison, the Long-Haired Man had undoubtedly suffered a greater emotional whiplash.

Unable to help himself, he beat his girlfriend to the punch and voiced their current dilemma.

What was the point of this search if the cat kept coming and going like a ghost? It could completely strut right past their faces without them noticing.

Even as he spoke, he took a rare moment to observe the reactions of the two "passersby" from the corner of his eye.

Unsurprisingly, Yuan Shan and her companion were both used to Professor Fu's abstract operations; their emotions remained completely stable.

Had they already accepted their fate? This kind of cold, detached observation brought about top-tier psychological pressure.

The Long-Haired Man's expression grew increasingly rigid. He clearly assumed that these two had also been kidnapped by the lunatic and had long since witnessed his madness firsthand.

"Who said that? My person is still keeping watch upstairs."

Faced with his words, Fu Qian let out a scoff.

He was, of course, referring to Madam Three-Eyed. Throughout their entire search so far, they hadn't seen her follow them down.

As for why he knew she hadn't vanished and was still waiting up there?

The proof was simple: his inspiration hadn't even increased by 1.

And in Fu Qian's eyes, this state of affairs proved two things at once. First, there was definitely something down here. Second, that thing still hadn't been found.

This was also why he was willing to continue spending time here.

Unfortunately, missing its core premise, this logical reasoning couldn't inspire any confidence in the team members.

Instead, the superficial rigor born of its internal consistency only made him seem all the more deranged.

"I don't care what methods you use. Until you find it, no one is allowed to leave."

He wasn't even finished. Fu Qian blew across the muzzle of his gun and delivered that famous quote of absolute leadership—"I only want the result, I don't care about the process."

Naturally, he wasn't just toying with them out of sheer boredom. As mentioned before, he was trying to squeeze some value out of these two youths.

Madam Three-Eyed had pointed them here, but neither The Abyss nor its Covenanter, Old Man Henry, was anywhere to be seen.

Was there any way to explain both of these points at once?

There was. For example, Old Man Henry truly was here, but was in some special state that made him impossible to touch through ordinary means.

And if that was the case, did they have any extraordinary means?

They did.

Although they seemed to share some fate with the old man, Fu Qian had never expected the eyes of this young couple to discover anything.

On the contrary, it was the unique mental state they entered under extreme pressure that gave him something to look forward to.