Chapter Seventy-Nine: How Can You Be So Untrustworthy!
Fu Sheng staggered along, swaying through streets and alleys until he arrived at the door of a secluded bungalow. He paused for breath, fumbled in his pocket, and pulled out a sowhat rusty key. It was old, tied with a red cord that had frayed and faded to a blackish-red hue.
He unlocked the door and entered.
Inside was a small, dilapidated courtyard, no more than ten square ters and poorly lit. It resembled a lightwell more than a courtyard.
Fu Sheng turned to close the door. He stood in the yard catching his breath and, eventually unable to remain standing any longer, plopped down onto the ground.
"I’m getting old... Making money is hard, really putting my life on the line."
Fu Sheng sighed for a while and didn’t bother getting up. The May ground wasn’t that cold anyway. He fumbled in his pocket, pulled out a pack of Hongtashan cigarettes, tapped one out, and lit it. Taking a few puffs, he gazed blankly at the small well in the courtyard, now covered with an iron lid.
As a mber journeying through the dark Underground World... well, once upon a ti.
This place was his "safe house."
He felt his pocket again; luckily, his phone wasn’t broken. He picked it up and dialed a number.
"Hey... Yeah, I’m fine. Just calling to let you know, to check in. Everything went well today."
"Very well, indeed. No need to worry unnecessarily."
"What? Chestnut braised pork..."
"Hah, why are you making that when I’m not ho... Alright, alright, fine. You cook. If there are leftovers, just put them in the fridge. I can still have a few bites when I get back in a couple of days."
"Yeah, right. Just add half a spoonful of sugar when you finish the dish. Don’t add too much. Didn’t your physical at the beginning of the year show slightly high blood sugar?"
"Okay, okay, got it."
After hanging up, Fu Sheng glanced at the cigarette in his hand. The ash had grown quite long. He casually flicked it onto the ground and once again fell into a daze, staring at the well in the courtyard.
Unconsciously, his gaze seed to conjure an image from years past: a little boy in the courtyard, practicing a horse stance by the wall.
In the scene, there was also an old man with thinning hair, leaning back in a bamboo rocking chair. He held an enal tea mug in one hand and a bamboo stick in the other, squinting as he listened to a semiconductor radio.
Oh, right. In my mory, there was also a bicycle in the corner, with a yellow wooden box fastened to its rear seat.
That was the old man’s gear for selling popsicles as he navigated the streets and alleys.
The man pondered, then chuckled softly and murmured to himself.
"Fu Sheng... why bother saying anything at all."
---
Every young person harbors dreams in their childhood.
They dread of practicing peerless martial arts, a sword at their waist and fire in their heart.
Stepping outside, the world was their oyster.
---
Chen Nuo was eating noodles again.
This ti it wasn’t ran—circumstances didn’t permit.
After rummaging through the dilapidated auto repair shop for so ti, he found a cup of instant noodles. He soaked them in hot water from a thermos and covered the cup with a magazine for a few minutes.
After toiling all night, Chen Yanluo took his first bite of noodles with a contented sigh.
Four n lay side-by-side on the ground.
Perfect. A family should be all neat and tidy.
While Chen Yanluo was sighing contentedly, the four n on the ground were coughing up blood.
They coughed, each producing a bubble of blood, one after another. One of them already seed close to his final breath.
Chen Nuo paid them no mind. He leisurely finished his noodles, even taking a couple of sips of the soup. He then set down the plastic fork and, holding the noodle cup, walked over to the four n. Squatting down, he patted the first one.
"Alright, you four. Who’s the boss?"
"I am the boss," the first man on the left said in a low voice.
Then the others replied in turn.
"I’m second."
"Third."
"Fourth."
Chen Nuo smiled. Lucky there are only four. If there was a fifth, I’d actually be a bit confused.
"Who’s the Client? Are you willing to say?" Chen Nuo stared at the boss.
The boss shook his head. "I don’t know, I really don’t know!"
He paused, swallowing a mouthful of bloody saliva. "You know about the Octopus website, so you’re not an outsider. The Client’s identity is protected; how could we possibly know?"
As he spoke, the second man suddenly interjected, "Boss, no need to be scared anymore. This guy never intended to let us live."
Chen Nuo narrowed his eyes at the second man.
The second man exhaled and said coldly, "You’ve seen our faces. Do you think you’d let us live?"
"True." Chen Nuo nodded. "I won’t lie to you; you won’t survive. Any last words?"
The second man’s eyes flickered, a fierce expression appearing on his face. "If you find the Client... you’re definitely going to cause trouble for them, right? When you get them, stab them a few tis for us four brothers!"
"Why?"
"He set us up! We all thought this job was easy! The other side didn’t ntion a top expert like you would be here! You took down all four of us by yourself... If we’d known about your skills, would we have co here just to die? That Client totally screwed us over!"
"...Fair point." Chen Nuo chuckled. "Alright, I promise."
"Alright then, nothing more to say! Living in this world, I’ve killed others; now I face my end, killed by another. It’s only fair!"
This second man indeed had so dignity. After speaking, he closed his eyes and awaited death.
---
Fu Sheng didn’t return to the hotel that evening. Instead, he hid in the small courtyard, sitting in a narrow, dimly lit room with no lights on, facing only a laptop.
His hands were still clumsy, typing with a hunt-and-peck thod.
Life Need Not Be So Troubleso: I’m injured and temporarily unable to move.
After a while, the Client replied.
Client: The task has been completed ahead of schedule. You can clock out now.
Fu Sheng was stunned for a few seconds.
Clock out?
After a few more seconds, the Client sent another ssage.
Client: There’s an address you should go to: XX Road, XX Number, XX Auto Repair. Inside are four bodies. Can you help take care of them?
Life Need Not Be So Troubleso: The opposition this ti? You dealt with them?
Client: Yeah. Take care of it, and I’ll add another twenty thousand.
Alright then. Good money, that makes things easy.
Life Need Not Be So Troubleso let out a breath.
---
Chen Nuo was squatting on the rooftop. Next to him was a twisted tree, and a cluster of branches drooped down, providing perfect cover.
The auto repair shop was quiet at night.
But suddenly, a bird flew onto the roof. It hopped around before eventually dropping to the ground. After a few more hops, it spread its wings and flew away.
Chen Nuo narrowed his eyes and suppressed his presence.
This was a Hwai.
It was sowhat novel to see a wild Hwai in the city.
A mont later, a figure vaulted over the wall and landed silently on the ground.
Fu Sheng, dressed in black and carrying a bundle on his back, tiptoed along the base of the wall into the parking lot.
Then he saw the four bodies, laid out side-by-side in the room.
Fu Sheng exhaled and whistled softly. A Hwai bird dropped from the sky, landing directly on his hand.
Fu Sheng took out so birdseed to feed it while continuing to whistle, varying the length and pitch of the notes.
After a few whistles, the Hwai bird stopped eating, chirped a few tis, and then flew away.
Fu Sheng seed to relax.
He moved the four bodies, one by one, next to a sewer by the lower parking lot and dug a pit. Then, he tossed down his bundle and began to take things out.
Who knows what sort of bottles and jars he pulled out? He poured sothing on the corpses, and they quickly started to smoke...
Chen Nuo watched from behind the tree branches on the rooftop.
Wow, corpse-dissolving powder? Such an old-fashioned, traditional thod?
Chuckling to himself, Chen Yanluo quietly left.
---
Back at the hotel, Chen Nuo first made a call to Li Yingwan.
The poor girl was already scared stiff, trembling, and had seemingly cried.
Fortunately, there were no serious injuries; both mother and daughter had only suffered so abrasions.
Jiang Yingzi, however, whom Fu Sheng had pulled under a car wheel to hide at the last second, had hurt her knee and taken a rather heavy fall.
But it was good that her life was spared.
With important foreign businesspeople involved in such an incident, the police were also mobilized.
The situation beca mysterious.
The van had suddenly gone out of control and hit people, yet no perpetrator could be found at the scene. After checking the license plate, the driver was located.
It turned out the driver had parked the van across the street and then gone to a massage parlor.
At the ti of the accident, soone could testify that the driver was definitely not at the scene—his hour of service wasn’t even up yet!
After inspecting the vehicle, the conclusion was... the vehicle had started unexpectedly, and no one knew how it had suddenly lurched into motion!
A misfire, perhaps?
Even the officials found this conclusion hard to swallow. How were they to explain this to the foreign investors?
Jiang Yingzi had a vague guess about what happened but claid she knew nothing.
The woman was smart; based on her daughter’s strange behavior these past two days and what happened tonight, she understood.
It must have been Chen Nuo protecting them!
Jiang Yingzi was well aware of the youth’s miraculous abilities, so she couldn’t let the police get involved with him.
With the foreign investors unaware and the accident remaining a mystery, the officials were left scratching their heads.
It would be treated as an unsolved case.
However, as a side effect, the massage parlor was raided and shut down!
---
After giving Li Yingwan so instructions, Chen Nuo hung up and threw away the SIM card.
They were all unregistered "burner phones" bought from the mobile phone market—back then, SIM cards didn’t require real-na registration.
He also told Li Yingwan that he had resolved the situation and instructed her not to contact him for the next few days. Then, Chen Nuo ended the call.
On the table in front of him lay a black octopus-thed USB flash drive—confiscated from one of those four brothers.
This USB drive had actually been found on the second brother.
Clearly, among those four brothers, the second one was the true leader.
Yes, judging from his deanor before death, he indeed had the air of a leader.
Chen Nuo booted up his computer, plugged in the USB drive, and logged into the Octopus website.
ID: Jack
Well, fitting for a group of four car repair brothers. The na suits them!
Chen Nuo first checked the account balance: $880,000.
Not bad. This account has $880,000. He’d spent $500,000 to hire Life Need Not Be So Troubleso, so this was a net profit of nearly $400,000.
He clicked on ’Tasks’. As expected, it was the mission to assassinate Jiang Yingzi, with a reward of $500,000, processed through the Octopus website’s official transaction system.
The money was held by the website and couldn’t be accessed yet.
The task deadline was 30 days, with more than twenty days remaining.
The private ssage inbox, as usual, was empty.
However, there was a temporary contact nad "Client."
Chen Nuo thought for a mont and began to type.
Jack: The task is tricky. The target has expert protection, making it more difficult than expected.
A mont later, the Client replied.
Client: What do you an?
Jack: Increase the paynt!
Client: That’s against the rules.
Jack: Then cancel the commission and find soone else.
After a while, the Client replied.
Client: Are you confident?
Chen Nuo laughed. Then he typed:
Jack: With enough money, confidence is guaranteed.
A few seconds passed.
Client: A published task’s reward cannot be changed. After you complete it, the money will be transferred to you directly through the site.
Chen Nuo continued to laugh.
Jack: Do you take for a fool? What if you don’t pay up after the job is done?
Client: What do you propose?
Jack: Pay half upfront!
After a while, DING! A pleasant system notification sounded.
System Notification: Your account has received an anonymous transfer of $250,000. Current account balance: $1,130,000.
Chen Nuo sighed. What a great sponsor!
$1,130,000 US Dollars, which, at the current exchange rate, was over ten million Huaxia Currency.
The Octopus Monster website truly is a fantastic tool for raking in cash!
With a gentle click, he transferred the entire balance, all $1,130,000, to Ardent Pyromaniac.
At that mont, the Client left another ssage: I’ve verified the information. The mission target was indeed in a car accident tonight, but she didn’t die! Now that you’ve received the advance paynt, I hope you’ll put more effort into completing the task!
Chen Nuo’s eyes narrowed. The news sure travels fast... There must be soone keeping a close watch on Jiang Yingzi.
Using the Jack ID, he casually replied: Don’t worry, I always keep my word!
---
He logged out, unplugged the USB drive, and plugged in Ardent Pyromaniac’s USB drive to log in again.
As soon as he was online, he received the transfer notification: $1.13 million.
Then ca a ssage from Life Need Not Be So Troubleso: It’s handled. You can close the task now. Pleasure doing business!
Chen Nuo smiled. Quite efficient, he thought.
Client: Very well.
Life Need Not Be So Troubleso: Then please make the paynt. The agreed additional $120,000. That’s $100,000 for catching the assassins and $20,000 for handling the bodies. Please transfer it directly.
Client: Okay, transferring now. Please check your account.
---
Fu Sheng sat in front of the computer, taking a breath of relief after seeing the latest ssage.
Perfect. Once I get the money, I can still make it ho for supper. Chestnut braised pork, that sounds delicious.
DING! A system notification sounded.
System Notification: Your account has received an anonymous transfer of $12. Current account balance: $10,012.
What the hell?!
Fu Sheng was stunned!
He froze for a full five seconds, then rubbed his eyes hard.
He said $120,000, not $12!
He started typing furiously!
He abandoned his usual hunt-and-peck thod, typing frantically:
Life Need Not Be So Troubleso: The amount is wrong! It’s $120,000! Not $12! Did you miss a few zeros?
Client: No mistake. I said 120,000, but I didn’t specify the currency.
Life Need Not Be So Troubleso: But it can’t be just $12!
Client: The currency is Vietnase Dong. 120,000 Dong is about $11.67. I rounded it up for you.
Rounded up? I should really thank you for that! Why Vietnase Dong, damn it?! Why?!
Fu Sheng was so angry his Inner Breath almost went haywire, threatening a qi deviation. He started cursing as he typed!
Life Need Not Be So Troubleso: How can you be so dishonest?! What the hell is this about Vietnase Dong!
After sending it, he suddenly realized...
System Notification: ssage failed to send. Contact does not exist.
F*ck!!
He hurriedly checked the task status.
[Task Status: Completed]
System Notification: Your account has received an official site transfer of $500,000. Current account balance: $510,012.
Fu Sheng stood there stunned for a few seconds, his heart filled with both annoyance and relief.
Thank goodness. The site’s official system is reliable. The task was completed, and the $500,000 was automatically credited to his account. $500,000... At least he got that. Damn it! That bastard swindled him out of $120,000! Vietnase Dong? Why not Zimbabwean dollars while you’re at it?!
After calming down for a while, Fu Sheng slowly composed himself.
Still, $500,000 US Dollars were genuinely in hand. That was so consolation.
He lit a cigarette, picked up the phone, and dialed.
"Work’s done. I’ll be ho in a bit. Yes, yes, the money’s in hand, don’t worry. Let’s have sothing nice tonight. I’ll buy a roast chicken on the way. I’ll see if that cooked-food shop outside our complex is still open."
---
Chen Yanluo finished the transfer and logged out.
$120,000... As if I’d really give him that much.
Chen Yanluo had killed the four assassins himself.
This Fu Sheng was just a decoy, hired by Chen Nuo to attract the assassins’ attention.
Giving him $12 was generous enough. Converted to Huaxia Currency, that’s almost a hundred. Enough to buy so ribs for a nice soup. Wouldn’t that be good?
However... this Fu Sheng is quite an interesting character...
---
「Hong Kong.」
Niveer, her hair tied in a ponytail, sat in a hotel room. Various docunts and files lay scattered in a ss across the table in front of her.
The girl stood up, walked to the window, and after taking a few deep breaths, she barely managed to suppress her irritable mood.
She had been in Hong Kong for almost a week.
Her father had been a British noble, and since Hong Kong was previously a British colony, the Devonshire Family still had old friends there.
Relying on her father’s old friends, she had been investigating for almost a week, and the result...
Out of Hong Kong’s seven million people, there were 1,413 individuals nad ’Chen Yang’.
This ’Yang’ could correspond to various Chinese characters with the sa pronunciation, such as those aning ’poplar,’ ’sun,’ ’center,’ or ’look up,’ among others.
A total of 1,413 people.
Of these, 976 were male.
And males aged between fifteen and twenty-five numbered 143.
The files for these 143 individuals were lying on Niveer’s desk.
That annoying guy wasn’t among them at all!
"n really are all liars!!"
The girl muttered angrily.
She angrily grabbed her phone. "Book a flight! I’m going to Kathmandu!"
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