As for his secret income, most of it had been bestowed on him over the years by Jiang Cheng or earned through small businesses in collaboration with the gang.
Afterwards, he divided the money into several parts, the last of which he hid in a secret room underneath this residential building.
All this information had been verified by the inner voice of Hua Jian. Therefore, Fang Ze directed One Two Three to start heading toward that secret room.
They entered the apartment building and smoothly arrived at the door on the first floor.
Mei slipped through the door gap, then transformed back into human form and opened the door from the inside.
In fact, the opening of this door was connected to an alarm device that Hua Jian carried to avoid being unaware if someone inadvertently entered the room.
However, the alarm device had been missing since Hua Jian was attacked. Fang Ze suspected it was probably handled by the contact person as well. So it was no longer important.
Opening the door, they entered the room.
One Two Three also transformed back from a Green Wood Fox into human form.
Then the two, under Fang Ze's direction, made their way to the kitchen.
Inside the kitchen was a standard upright cabinet; One Two Three opened the lower cabinets, which were filled with bowls and dishes without anything unusual.
They then opened the drawers above. Still, there was no anomaly.
After that, they opened them with a rhythm, top-bottom, bottom-bottom, top-bottom-top, but still no changes occurred!
Just then, Mei seemed to have received a directive from Fang Ze.
Suddenly, she extended her arms, producing two black daggers from her hands, and without hesitation, she plunged them into the cabinet door!
A piercing scream was heard.
The cabinet began to tremble nonstop as black blood seeped from the wound.
After a moment, the cabinet door trembled open on its own, the bowls and dishes inside vanished, replaced by a passageway.
One Two Three looked at the cabinet as if it were foolish, then jumped in first. Meanwhile, Mei stood above, holding the daggers, backing up the group.
Following the passage, One Two Three quickly arrived at the secret room.
The room was very narrow and had nothing else but a safe.
But as soon as they entered the room, One Two Three couldn't maintain its human form anymore and reverted to the state of a Green Wood Fox, even the vines on its body drooped.
This was also the reason why Fang Ze hadn't let Mei go alone: Hua Jian, deeply influenced by "Gou Dao," was truly meticulous in his actions.
To safely hide his last assets, he had not only set up a special Disaster Creature, the Cabinet Monster, as a checkpoint but also specifically placed a legal ban.
This way, other Awakeners and Transcendent Creatures couldn't use Awakening Abilities to transfer or steal his assets.
As for Mei, since her essence was a mass of shadow, once close to the legal ban, she couldn't maintain her form and thus was unable to retrieve the cash.
After overcoming these two most troublesome checkpoints, the rest became easy.
Under Fang Ze's direction, One Two Three easily entered the safe's code and took out the cash of one million Lini that Hua Jian had stored inside.
Then, it returned to the passage and climbed up.
Seeing it climb up, Mei swiftly dealt two slashes, finishing off the Cabinet Monster, leaving behind a pool of black blood, then pulled out the pre-prepared Space Folding Bag.
She placed the one million cash into the Space Folding Bag, and One Two Three, once again in the form of a Green Wood Fox, exited the temporary residence with Mei and returned to Fang Ze's side.
With this, the "money extraction" plan was completed to perfection.
The reason they didn't act personally and instead had others do it was still all for safety.
Although Fang Ze was not certain whether the Security Bureau or the Shadow Organization would trace the clues to Hua Jian's secret residence,
he believed being cautious was always best.
As long as he had not been to the scene, many things actually still had room for negotiation.
After handling all this, Fang Ze then took the Space Folding Bag to two different banks and, under the odd gaze of the tellers, withdrew all the cash that Director Pang and the Security Bureau had given him.
Having done all this, Fang Ze returned home with his bountiful gains and embarked on his frenzied journey of improvement.
With the experience from last time's Skin Tempering, this time, upgrading was incredibly simple for Fang Ze!
Apart from the still unbearable pain and the terrifying expense that felt like money flowing like water, Fang Ze felt everything was going exceedingly smoothly.
And he did not know, whether because last time he had broken through to Skin Tempering, the costs and stakes were particularly high.
Additionally, Fang Ze had made a breakthrough himself before.
This time, the cost for the remaining five levels was actually just a little more than twice the price of the first Skin Tempering: 1 million Lini.
Now, Fang Ze could indeed be considered wealthy!
Thus, after quickly using high-interest loans to fully temper his seven layers of Skin Membrane, he did not hesitate to pay off the 1 million Lini loan!
After this, he only had 1.3 million Lini left in his hand.
Fang Ze did the math and thought... considering the rules of high-interest loans and the increasing effects of borrowing, the money he had should only be enough to break through to the Bone Tempering stage.
The remaining, the 800,000 Lini Bai Zhi promised in resources, probably wouldn't be enough to fully perfect Bone Tempering.
Moreover, would just perfecting Bone Tempering allow him to break through to a high-level Awakener?
To be honest, Fang Ze was a bit uncertain in his heart.
He knew the strength of his own abilities. It was simply a beast that devoured resources!
He started to wonder if he could gather some money from someplace else?
Maybe... sell the information on the Flower Morning Festival?
Fang Ze still remembered Hua Jian mentioning that the information he had uncovered about the Flower Morning Festival was very valuable.
Perhaps this could be sold for some money?
As for whether selling it would inadvertently create new competitors...
Fang Ze thought... as long as he could control the big fool and keep the most crucial secrets, perhaps... he might gain some allies in the process?
Indeed... the big fool Fang Ze was thinking of was the Rejuvenation Society.
"I wonder how much the Rejuvenation Society would be willing to pay for the information on the Flower Morning Festival," he mused, stroking his chin.
After a moment, Fang Ze pulled his thoughts back, deciding not to think further for the moment.
Thinking too much now was pointless. Whether or not to sell the information would depend on the expenses needed for his Bone Tempering breakthrough after tonight's lesson with Qing Ya.
Fang Ze had not forgotten that Qing Ya had told him yesterday: the training methods for the Bone Tempering phase had changed significantly from the earlier stages. It was not only more difficult but would also require some auxiliary tools...
Facing these unknown costs, Fang Ze thought it was better to experience it firsthand tonight rather than speculate any further.
With this thought, Fang Ze, having perfected his Skin Tempering, looked at the blood and sweat covering his body, got up, went to the bathroom to take a bath, rest for a bit, and then head to the training center to find Qing Ya for the evening's lesson...
Just like that, the afternoon quickly passed by.
At a little past 7 p.m., after dinner, Fang Ze went to the Practice Field at the agreed time...