At this moment, the sky was gradually growing dark.

On a remote street located outside the outer ring road of the suburbs, near the city’s outermost edge, a black jeep was parked by the roadside.

The young man in the vehicle, wearing a hat and a mask, got out of the car.

Surveying his surroundings, Xiao He’s mood finally felt a little less oppressive.

Although this place was indeed somewhat remote, fortunately, the country’s population was massive. Even in such a location, there was still a relatively complete commercial area. It wasn’t as desolate as Xiao He had imagined. In fact, during this peak hour combining dinner time and the end of the workday, people riding electric scooters passed by on the road from time to time.

Looking at it this way, it was really just an ordinary street in a small county town.

Xiao He breathed a sigh of relief.

He had said so, after all. Being in the same city, the difference shouldn’t be that stark.

Xiao He closed the car door, picked up the key he had just obtained, and slowly walked towards the old residential building over there.

On the other side, someone squatting in a building across the street while eating suddenly put down their chopsticks.

“What’s wrong?”

Another person eating, holding their bowl, walked over and leaned against the window to look outside.

“Bro, I think I just saw a shady-looking guy enter that residential building over there. Could he be an accomplice of that guy?” the young man said, his face full of seriousness. “He was wearing a hat and a mask, couldn’t see his face at all.”

“Oh? How did he get here?”

The older man leaned out to look as well.

“He came by car.” The young man pointed to a spot. “That’s the car he drove over in.”

“Whoa, nice car.”

The man took a look and exclaimed in admiration, but then immediately put down his bowl and chopsticks, deep in thought. “Such a nice car appearing here is indeed a bit strange.”

Young man: “I heard from the traffic police team that someone’s been street racing on the neighboring streets at night recently. They’ve been staking it out for several days already. Could it be this guy?”

“Doesn’t seem like it. This guy drives an off-road jeep. At a glance, it’s not for racing.”

The older man was still more experienced. What kind of car these people drove, what kind of issues they might have, he could usually tell with a single glance.

“First, check the license plate number, see who this guy is, if he has a criminal record.”

The man said this, then picked up his bowl and chopsticks to resume eating. “Hold our position for now, wait until that guy over there returns. Keep calm, eat.”

“Oh, okay.”

So the young man also picked up his bowl and continued eating his dinner.

“403?”

Xiao He muttered the address on the property deed while looking up at the long, narrow, and dimly lit residential building hallway. He rolled his eyes somewhat irritably. “Luckily it’s not 404, otherwise I’d really start suspecting the System was doing it on purpose.”

He looked down at the somewhat messy sides of the hallway, waved his hand to brush away a hanging spider web, and then readjusted the mask on his face.

Even through the mask, Xiao He could still smell the slightly musty, dark, and decaying odor in the air, which seemed to be mixed with a faint smell of rot.

This rotten smell was like a mix of dead rats and fermented garbage, churning one’s stomach.

Xiao He waved his hand, trying to disperse the smell, then inserted the key and slowly opened the room—

Perhaps because he had mentally prepared himself in advance, lowering his expectations to the absolute minimum, when he saw the room fully furnished with a minimalist, fresh, homey decor style far exceeding that of ordinary old residential buildings, Xiao He actually found it quite charming in its own way.

However, Xiao He didn’t let his guard down. He entered the room, casually closed the door behind him, and then quickly walked around the room to confirm its safety.

Hmm, it seems the System didn’t lie about this point. This place was indeed very suitable as a hiding place for a criminal. Not only was the location remote, far from the hustle and bustle, but the basic interior decoration was also fully equipped, ready to move in immediately. Although it was a bit small, basically taking in the entire interior situation at a glance, didn’t that conversely prove the place had an extremely high level of safety?

And the interior decoration was actually quite nice.

The overall theme was a simple blue and white color scheme. Even the only large sofa was white, paired with a light blue checkered blanket. The shoe cabinet and coffee table also mixed blue and white, with some simple off-white decorations as transitions, looking very comfortable. It even came with modern home appliances. Besides the basic washing machine and dryer, there was even a projector and a robot vacuum cleaner. Even the bathroom was spotlessly clean, equipped with the latest model of smart toilet…

Even though he initially held a lot of prejudice against this place, after seeing the complete decoration and furniture, Xiao He couldn’t stay angry.

As everyone knows, buying a house is just the first step. The more troublesome parts that follow are the decoration and furnishing.

These things are what truly consume energy and time.

Now, he painlessly owned a house with a perfectly good interior. Overall, it was actually quite a good deal.

If it really came to it, he could still resell it or sublet it.

Xiao He believed that for such a house, no matter how bad the external conditions were or how remote the location, there would still be people willing to pay for it.

—After all, this was still Shanghai!!

Xiao He’s mood instantly brightened.

Although he had already bought the small villa he currently lived in during the Spring Festival, the feeling of something bought with money versus something bought with points was ultimately not quite the same.

He had lived in that small villa for over two years; it was more about habit. But this little house in front of him was something he “won” by opening a blind box from a “lottery,” giving it a somewhat novel feel.

To be honest, this System was finally starting to get it.

For this current house, he only spent two thousand points to get it. If he saved up more points later, could he exchange it for an even bigger house?

Xiao He recalled what the System had said earlier.

It matched properties based on the amount of remaining points!

So, if he directly used a million points to draw for a property…

Xiao He’s hand itching to spend money was getting restless.

Actually, skills and such were secondary now. The main thing was, opening a blind box felt really satisfying… Ahem, calm down! Don’t be manipulated by the System’s little tricks!

Forcing his emotions to shift, Xiao He focused his attention on the room again.

A few minutes later, he suddenly sensed something wasn’t quite right.

Walking over to the small semi-open kitchen, Xiao He’s gaze fell on the blue floral-patterned cloth hanging there, a puzzled expression on his face.

The next moment, he lifted the floral cloth.

Appearing before him was an entire wall of gleaming, shiny knives!

Xiao He: ?

He went to the bathroom, opened the cabinet above the sink, and discovered a fully stocked first aid kit and a large amount of disinfectant.

Then he checked the shoe cabinet. Inside were fully prepared shoe covers, head covers, gloves, and even disposable raincoats, all fully equipped.

Xiao He: …

Truly worthy of being a Criminal Base.

What these things were for was really hard to guess.

System, you’re really something else—

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep