When Daniel said this, everyone else agreed that he had a point. Daniel sat cross-legged on the deck and suggested, "Since we've paid already, why don't we go take a look inside the cargo hold?"
This idea was very tempting, and the military academy students were most fond of firearms and blades, so they eagerly pushed open the door to the cargo hold and went inside.
The cargo hold was massive, with rows of locked doors along the sides, and a cold draft hit them as soon as they entered.
Chloe surveyed the architecture and said, "The floors and ceilings here are made of special alloy that's fireproof and waterproof. Even if an ion cannon attacked, the damage wouldn't be too severe."
Daniel excitedly asked, "That awesome? It must cost a fortune!"
Chloe casually replied, "Not bad, a few million per square meter. My family's manor is also built with this alloy."
Everyone else: "......"
Daniel took the initiative to walk over to Qin Huaibei and put his arm around his shoulder. "Good buddy, want to race and see who can get to the end of the corridor first?"
Qin Huaibei readily nodded in agreement. "Good idea."
As soon as he finished speaking, the two of them raced forward at top speed, leaving Chloe and Anderson behind.
Chloe clicked her tongue. "Those two are really restless."
She slowly walked down the dimly-lit corridor with Anderson following behind her.
After adjusting for a while, the lingering dizziness had reduced significantly. At least she didn't need Anderson's support to walk freely anymore.
The deeper they went, the stronger the icy feeling unique to weapons became.
Chloe sensed something and stopped in her tracks.
By this time, they had reached the end of the corridor. Qin Huaibei and Daniel were sitting on the floor catching their breath. The two of them had run too fast in this unfamiliar ship and were now gasping for air.
When they saw Chloe arrive, they only weakly lifted their hands in greeting.
Chloe ignored them and reached out to push on the door that the two men were leaning against.
It didn't budge.
"This door is locked," Anderson reminded from behind.
Chloe tilted her head, then turned around and asked, "Did you bring my hair clip?"
When Qin Huaibei and Daniel heard this, they were puzzled.
"What's a hair clip?"
Chloe took a black hair clip from Anderson and casually explained, "It's for clipping your hair. You guys don't need it."
Qin Huaibei and Daniel looked at each other confusedly.
They didn't need something like that. Could Anderson actually use it?
Which grown man would keep a hair clip in his pocket?
No one could answer their question. Anderson was too lazy to respond and Chloe was wholeheartedly focused on picking the lock with the hair clip.
Qin Huaibei was shocked. "Hey, what are you doing picking the lock?"
"I sensed a familiar aura inside," Chloe seriously replied.
"But this isn't our ship! Isn't picking the lock going too far?" Qin Huaibei felt somewhat exasperated.
He felt that he shouldn't have gone out to play with Chloe in the first place.
He should have known that given her behavior back at the military academy, she would only become more outrageous outside.
Most importantly, aside from himself, the other two didn't think there was anything wrong with Chloe's actions at all!
There was no need to mention Anderson. He could pass Chloe a knife expressionlessly even if she was committing murder. As for Daniel, he was simply dumb.
Daniel squeezed next to Chloe eagerly. "Can you get it open? Is the hair clip that useful? Can you teach me how to use it later?"
Chloe: "Watch closely. Picking locks requires some skill too. You have to bend the tip of the clip and apply some clever force..."
"This one broke. Anderson, do you have another one?"
Anderson handed her another hair clip.
Qin Huaibei: "......"
Damn these thieves!
He resigned himself and got up to stand by the side and watch Chloe pick the lock.
Where there's a will there's a way. With a "squeak", the door opened.
Chloe's eyes lit up excitedly and she hurried inside.
The room inside was very dim. As Chloe entered, she found an oil lamp by the door. After thinking for a bit, she conjured a wisp of blue flames from her fingertips and lit the lamp.
The yellow light illuminated a small part of the room.
They discovered that this still quite spacious room only contained one thing inside.
It was a large saber emitting a freezing aura. An enormous pigeon-blood red ruby was embedded in its hilt. For some reason, all four of them could sense an ominous feel from it.
Anderson was the first to speak. "This seems to be..."
Chloe's eyes glinted with interest. She lifted a hand to interrupt Anderson's words and said, "This blade isn't bad. Let's steal it."
As she spoke, she walked forward and grasped the hilt.
The red gem flashed, seemingly trying to resist as its restrictions were triggered.
But in the next moment, it sensed a familiar aura and instantly calmed down, docilely allowing Chloe to hold it.
The corners of Chloe's lips turned up into a somewhat wicked smile.
Qin Huaibei thought that picking the lock was already going overboard, but he didn't expect that Chloe actually wanted to steal things too!
He completely panicked. "What are you doing?! You must be joking right?!"
Chloe looked at him nonchalantly with her head tilted. "I'm not joking. Anyway, the lock's been picked already so it would be quite a pity to not take something as we leave."
As she spoke, she carried the saber over her shoulder and headed towards the door.
Anderson closely followed behind her.
Qin Huaibei didn't know what to do anymore. His classmate was about to commit theft before his very eyes, yet as the only sober one on the scene, he was completely helpless.
He grabbed Daniel's arm. "You don't see anything wrong with this?"
Daniel licked his chapped lips and smiled. "What's the issue? She wants it so she takes it! She's totally calm about it so why are you panicking?"
After he finished speaking, he left the room.
Qin Huaibei stood there stunned. So was he the only normal one here?!
He dazedly caught up with Chloe, but when he stepped out of the room, he must have triggered some mechanism. In an instant, the entire cargo hold lit up with red lights accompanied by a piercing alarm.
They had been discovered!
That was Qin Huaibei's first thought.
Before his brain could react, his body was already in motion.
Qin Huaibei rushed forward swiftly to grab Chloe's arm and ran straight ahead.
They were done for. Chloe had been caught stealing!
He looked back and saw that Anderson and Daniel were still standing in place. He became instantly furious.
"What are you standing around for? Run!"
If they waited until the ship's crew arrived and caught Chloe, then everything would be too late!
The alarm grew increasingly urgent and the sound of chaotic footsteps could be heard from outside the cargo hold.
They would definitely be caught if they exited now. Qin Huaibei's mind raced as he pulled out a hair clip and tried picking the lock like how Chloe did earlier.
Soon, the door clicked open.
He pushed Chloe inside, then gave Anderson and Daniel a kick to send them in. He nimbly darted in himself and carefully shut the door, locking it from inside.
He then quickly surveyed their surroundings before trying to shove Chloe into that large box in the room.
Chloe was still holding onto that saber. As Qin Huaibei stuffed her into the cabinet, she had some difficulty breathing.
She blocked Qin Huaibei's attempt to close the box and struggled to meet his eyes. She sincerely said:
"Actually...my father had promised that he would gift me this blade."
Upon hearing this, Qin Huaibei instantly froze.
Chloe pushed open the box and stood up, her voice a little guilty.
"I was just joking about stealing things to scare you. Please don't be angry."
