Time passed, little by little.
The guests below the seventh floor had already started the cruise party.
And above the seventh floor.
Naturally, it was...
The auction was about to begin.
Taking advantage of Ming Zheng's recent collision with Young Master Wang, and then being "caught in the act on deck" by Young Master Zheng, with Young Master Zheng returning to his room with his companion.
The two of them infiltrated the eighth floor together.
However...
Ming Zheng's target was directly on Ming Chuyan.
Through her previous peeping from the shadows.
That rich merchant from Xia Guo had taken over the auction matters and then handed them over to Ming Chuyan to be in charge.
In other words...
Ming Chuyan would definitely have access to the auction items.
This meant that by following Ming Chuyan, one could find out where the personnel from the international research institutions were being held.
As expected.
With half an hour left until the auction countdown.
Ming Chuyan, who had been on the eighth floor, finally made a move.
And he...
He went directly to the ninth floor.
Ming Zheng was already in the room, using her wristwatch, a mini-computer, to breach the laser defenses on the ninth floor.
She and Mo Qingchuan also successfully reached the ninth floor.
Upon seeing the ninth floor.
Both Ming Zheng and Mo Qingchuan couldn't help but gasp.
No wonder the ninth floor was so heavily guarded.
Because...
The ninth floor was where the auction items were stored!
The ninth floor was very spacious.
There were at least twenty rooms or more.
The door to each room was a high-tech product.
As Ming Chuyan walked with a group of bodyguards.
It could be seen that these were not rooms, but vaults!
All the auction items were neatly arranged, categorized, and placed in each vault.
They were packed to the brim.
One could imagine that even the national treasury wasn't this wealthy!
It was simply insane!
No wonder they could be the richest!
Ming Chuyan first walked around some of the vaults.
According to the list in his hand, he took out the required auction items and placed them in iron boxes in the middle of the bodyguards following behind him.
Then, he took the iron boxes and boarded a huge, luxurious elevator in the center of the ninth floor to send the auction items to the basement.
Ming Zheng, hidden in the shadows, watched the numbers on the elevator.
It seemed...
This auction was being held in the cruise ship's basement.
The elevator clearly only went directly to the basement.
Opening the elevator was a very complicated process.
It required various permissions and verification.
Ming Chuyan had replaced the rich merchant from Xia Guo and was responsible for this batch of auction items.
It showed that the merchant truly trusted Ming Chuyan.
Ming Chuyan left with his bodyguards.
The ninth floor returned to darkness.
Ming Zheng and Mo Qingchuan did not act immediately.
The ninth floor was a vault area.
Every corner was filled with surveillance cameras.
If they moved even slightly.
They were likely to be caught by the cameras.
The size of the wristwatch was limited after all.
The operating space was also limited.
This was where the wealth of the major international tycoons was accumulated, wealth that could rival a nation's.
The equipment in every aspect must have been top-notch.
Ming Zheng could not guarantee that she could control the surrounding laser equipment and hack into all the surveillance systems in a short period.
They had to find the room where the personnel of the international research institutions were being held first.
Then, they could proceed to hack into the surveillance system in that room.
This was the simplest and safest method.
Ming Zheng constructed a topographical map in her mind of the vaults Ming Chuyan had just walked through and the types of auction items in them.
Based on the categories and the locations of the vaults, she deduced the preferences of the person who arranged these auction items.
From this, she could infer the vault where the "person" was being held.
Just as Ming Zheng was copying the topography of all the vaults into her mind, painstakingly sifting through them to identify the vaults most likely to be holding the researchers.
The elevator slowly ascended back.
Ming Chuyan walked out with a team of bodyguards.
They went directly to the next vault.
One after another.
And the opened vaults were almost exactly as Ming Zheng had deduced in her mind regarding the auction items.
Finally.
Ming Chuyan stopped at the door of a vault in the farthest corner.
Ming Zheng, hidden in the shadows, leaned forward slightly.
From her angle, she could only see half of the door from the side.
And that vault.
It was one of the vaults she had deduced might be holding the researchers.
"Mr. Ming."
A bodyguard behind him spoke in standard international language.
The gun he held was pointed in front of Ming Chuyan: "The list Mr. Kelson gave you does not include the auction items in this vault."
The muzzle of the gun was aimed at Ming Chuyan.
Ming Chuyan's eyes beneath his gold-rimmed glasses narrowed slightly.
He glanced at the tip of the gun.
He stepped back a bit and calmly looked at the bodyguard: "This vault holds the most noteworthy auction items tonight. As the person in charge of tonight's auction items, it is my duty to inspect the quality of each item. Are there any problems?"
The bodyguard thought for a few seconds.
He felt that what he said made sense.
Then, he silently moved the gun away.
After all, their entire team was with him, what problems could arise?
Ming Chuyan opened the door to the vault.
As soon as the door opened.
One could hear the piercing screams from inside.
Interspersed with curses in many languages.
And the sound of people crying softly.
Ming Zheng and Mo Qingchuan in the shadows exchanged a look.
As expected...
The people they were looking for were inside!
It sounded like...
It wasn't just the people they were looking for inside.
There were also many people from other countries.
Ming Zheng narrowed her dark eyes, raised her wrist, and immediately transmitted the topography she had just depicted in her mind to the computer.
On the small screen of her wristwatch, code continuously scrolled.
Ming Zheng locked onto the vault.
Hacking in!
Ming Zheng's slender fingers tapped on the small screen.
Her eyes were deep and solemn, filled with unyielding determination.
Mo Qingchuan glanced at the girl's serious profile. Her eyes, like the vast starry sky, blinked not even once as she stared at the small wristwatch, as if lighting up thousands of stars.
He slightly curved his lips.
This was the Ming Zheng he knew.
The Ming Zheng who stood at the pinnacle of the Mo family, looking down on all beings.
The Ming Zheng who charged forward bravely, working for the country, and for the causes she believed were meaningful.
Two minutes later.
Ming Zheng tapped the confirm button.
The screen flickered.
Soon, the scene inside the vault appeared.
She had successfully hacked into the vault's database and synchronized all the surveillance footage to her wristwatch.
The wristwatch screen was small.
But it did not affect the 360-degree, no-blind-spot clarity of the surveillance.
The two of them could clearly see the scene inside the vault.
Inside the vault.
There were rows and rows of iron cages.
Each cage held one person.
There were people from various countries.
And they were all individuals who had made outstanding contributions in certain fields internationally.
Ming Zheng glanced around.
There were about seventeen iron cages here.
Only seven faces were Xia Guo people.
One elderly man, wearing a white lab coat, had a totem on his chest that was the Xia Guo flag.
He leaned against a corner of the iron cage, his face somewhat pale, with many wounds on it.
It was evident he had suffered considerable hardship.
The six adjacent cages were also occupied by Xia Guo people wearing white lab coats.