Starting Cultivation in Wasteland-Chapter 437 - 309: Passing Off Fish Eyes for Pearls

Chapter 437: Chapter 309: Passing Off Fish Eyes for Pearls

Qu Jianlei entered the core area, and it was even easier than last time, after all, he had left a back door.

The checks in the core area were indeed much stricter, but luckily, he was no longer a rookie entering the core area for the first time.

The patrols on the night of infiltration were very strict, he tried several times and found that there were basically no suitable opportunities.

If he had to take the risk, it wasn’t impossible, but he had a premonition that the outcome wouldn’t be good.

He patiently waited until daylight, with still many patrol teams of Star Pirates passing by, one team every ten minutes or so.

However, probably due to daylight, the patrol teams didn’t stop many people for checks, they had relaxed a bit.

Qu Jianlei patiently waited a while longer, realizing that daytime was also not very convenient for actions, even if the checks were slightly relaxed.

Most of the Star Pirates knew each other, even if they couldn’t call out names, at least they recognized faces to some extent.

In this situation... does he still have to risk going out at night?

As he was feeling helpless, a few hundred meters away on the highway, an off-road vehicle made a muffled noise and broke down directly.

Two Star Pirates got out of the car, opened the hood, and a puff of white smoke emerged.

Two Star Pirates said a few words with the people inside the car, and another two got out, one of whom seemed to be a B-level Warrior.

Of the four Star Pirates, three left the vehicle, leaving one with a handheld radio to call for assistance.

Soon, a motorcycle arrived with two people on it, carrying several differently sized tool bags on the back seat.

The motorcycle stopped next to the SUV, the two got off, roughly assessed the situation, and began disassembling with their tools.

At some point, another person walked over beside the three, wearing a typical dark blue Maintenance Master work uniform, carrying a tool bag.

This person looked at the car for a moment, didn’t speak, only occasionally shook his head, showing a dismissive attitude.

The two repairing the car didn’t know what he was there for and didn’t bother to ask, focusing on their work.

The Star Pirate watching the car also didn’t ask what he was doing there—thinking he probably was with the other two?

After all, in the core area, no one would dare steal their own car.

A patrol of Star Pirates came by, glanced at the broken-down vehicle, and left on their own, none stepped forward to question the four.

Someone muttered, "Is it a Garden Department infiltration car? This batch of cars is really no good."

The person next to him glanced at him, "Say less, you dare to talk nonsense about the Garden Department, you’re tired of living?"

Qu Jianlei overheard the conversation, a slight stir in his heart: This is actually a Garden Department car?

He had been here more than once, knowing that the Garden Department wasn’t a department for greening.

While the Star Pirates occasionally planted trees to improve the living environment, they didn’t go to the length of setting up a dedicated department for it.

The Garden Department was the espionage watchdog department, mainly targeting Wood Attribute, Earth Attribute, and Water Attribute, executing superpower identification and investigation.

As for side jobs, occasionally planting trees could happen, but that wasn’t their main focus.

Simply put, the Garden Department held considerable power among the Star Pirates, and if there was any suspicion, they would not hesitate to deal harshly even with their own.

The two maintenance workers continued repairing for a while, busy to the point of sweating profusely, tried the car a few times, but found it just wouldn’t start.

Seeing the hand of that maintenance worker resting on the hood disdainfully shaking his head, one of the workers got annoyed, "What the hell are you shaking your head for, as if you could fix it!"

"I didn’t say I could fix it," Qu Jianlei lightly coughed, "but, could it be a fault in the bypass control system?"

"Bypass control system?" The two maintenance workers’ eyes lit up and checked a bit longer.

"Darn it, it really is that, how did we not notice earlier?" one maintenance worker wailed, "We’ll have to tow it back for repairs."

The other maintenance worker looked at the Star Pirate guarding the car, "Are you going with us?"

"Not going," the Star Pirate shook his head and started walking away, "Hurry and fix it, can it be done by tonight?"

"Hard to say," Qu Jianlei replied solemnly, "even after it’s fixed, it needs to be tested, there could be potential fault points."

"It must be fixed by tomorrow morning," the Star Pirate ordered as he walked away.

Not long after, a tow truck arrived and lifted the SUV.

The two maintenance workers got on the motorcycle, while Qu Jianlei opened the door to the tow truck’s passenger seat and sat inside.

Until now, the maintenance workers hadn’t asked who he was, assuming he was with the Garden Department, and the tow truck driver certainly wouldn’t ask either.

In no time, the vehicle arrived at a repair workshop.

The fault with the SUV wasn’t difficult to repair, just needed some part replacements, the small tampering Qu Jianlei made only slightly damaged a chip.

Mostly, the maintenance workers had no space to operate on the highway, nor the parts, so it had to be towed back to the workshop.

After about forty minutes of clanging repairs, the SUV finally started up.

One of the maintenance workers had a good impression of Qu Jianlei—at least he came off as an expert, "Brother, aren’t you going to test the car?"

Qu Jianlei waved his hand, "You test it first, run a few laps around the workshop."

He sighed as he spoke, "To be honest, this batch of infiltration cars is really giving people a headache."

"Haha," another maintenance worker chuckled, "Your garden department should just get a new batch of vehicles."

Qu Jianlei took out a pack of cigarettes, offered a few, lit one for himself, and leisurely spoke, "Get new vehicles? Haha."

The tone was unmistakable—"I have a story, but I’m not telling."

One of the maintenance workers lit a cigarette, took a puff, and asked, "What’s your name, brother?"

Qu Jianlei pretended not to hear, watching the off-road vehicle circle around, frowning slightly, "Feels like the exhaust is still a bit unstable?"

"That’s just how this vehicle is," the maintenance worker responded indifferently, "This is considered stable." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

After the test drive was completed, the driver got out of the car, "All right, no problem, it’s been fixed, sign here."

"I need to try it on the road," Qu Jianlei said seriously, "At this critical moment, we can’t have it breaking down again."

The repair shop personnel also knew a big battle was imminent; no one refuted, just watched him drive away from the repair shop.

For Qu Jianlei, the familiarity among the star thieves was originally a bad thing, but now it seemed it could also be a good thing.

At least the off-road vehicle he drove was from the garden department, and quite a few star thieves were aware of it.

And with the garden department’s infamous reputation, no one would dare to mess with him unprovoked.

He drove around all morning, only getting stopped by one patrol team.

Not sure whether these star thieves didn’t recognize the potential vehicle or for some other reason, he did get stopped.

However, Qu Jianlei responded straightforwardly, "Just fixed the garden department’s vehicle, taking it for a test drive to eliminate any hazards."

Seeing the maintenance worker outfit on him, the patrol team didn’t bother asking about his identity.

As for his somewhat unfamiliar face... that’s normal; star thieves rarely deal with technical roles.

The maintenance badge that Qu Jianlei secretly swiped ended up unused.

Then he drove around for most of the day, covering everywhere he could.

It must be said, the influence of the powerful departments is indeed considerable.

Even groups like star thieves, with weak organizational discipline, knew not to stir up trouble.

The most dangerous moment was when he approached the prisoner of war camp; the guard stopped him directly, not allowing him near, but didn’t ask further questions.

Legitimately, when he approached the control center, there wasn’t much obstruction.

Even though this was the core of the core region, it was also a key investigation area for the garden department, appearing frequently in the surrounding area.

After driving around for most of the day, Qu Jianlei confirmed everything he needed to and began outlining various contingency plans in his mind.

On his way back to return the vehicle, he surprisingly saw Youyou again, still patrolling with that team.

He had half a mind to greet her, but thought better of it—she was already quite ostracized in the star thief group, why make more trouble for her?

Nevertheless, he deliberately slowed the car down a bit.

As they closed in on each other, possibly because he kept staring at her, Youyou seemed to sense something and turned her head to look over.

Spotting Qu Jianlei, Youyou was slightly taken aback: How did he come in with his real appearance?

Seeing the faint smile at the corners of his mouth, Youyou looked away, pretending to glance around casually, though her heart was racing.

But her momentary surprise was noticed by a fellow star thief.

The star thief glanced at the off-road vehicle, coughed softly, and spoke with a laugh, "That’s a garden department vehicle, you interested in checking it out?"

Youyou continued to look around expressionlessly, but curiosity rose in her heart: How did he get involved with the garden department?

Qu Jianlei drove back to the repair shop, jumped out of the car, and casually remarked, "There are a few spots that still have minor issues..."

He clearly refused to sign off and also pointed out some areas with potential hazards.

Some of these issues indeed existed, while others were concocted by him.

Finally, Qu Jianlei suggested, "You’d better work overtime tonight; contact someone to pick up the car tomorrow."

Then he watched them repair the car, occasionally wandering around the shop, having a smoke here and there.

When no one was looking, he discreetly slipped the badge under a machine, tying up loose ends.

He stalled until it was almost dark, then used dinner as an excuse to walk out of the factory.

Noticing he was leaving, a maintenance worker tried to step forward and ask him for contact details, but someone else pulled him back.

After Qu Jianlei left, this person grumbled, "Without contact information, how do we claim the car?"

"Just contact the handheld device from this morning," the other person gave him a glance, "Aren’t you afraid he’ll keep finding faults?"

This person paused, then nodded thoughtfully, "True, fellow tradesmen are rivals; if he opens his mouth, we’ll be busy again."

At this moment, Qu Jianlei hadn’t gone far, sensing the conversation inside, a trace of a smile appeared on his lips.

Today’s events really went smoothly, and judging by everyone’s reactions, it seemed he wouldn’t be exposed.

Just after dark, inspections in the core area weren’t too strict; it was the peak of shift changes and dinner time.

Qu Jianlei changed into a new set of clothes and, blending into the bustling crowd, soon arrived at the Star Evening Bar.