The eyes of the people standing behind Parker bulged so much it looked like they would roll off their eye sockets at any moment. None of them had any idea why the gun suddenly dismantled itself. The guy who pulled out the gun in particular felt sweat dripping down his forehead bit by bit. He had never encountered something this strange since the day he joined the underworld. For a time, everyone was on high alert.
Parker waved his hand and smiled at Cillin. “Please excuse my subordinates’ foolishness. I hope we haven’t offended you.”
He didn’t see it, but he knew. Cillin had dismantled the gun at such high speed that none of them was able to see his movement.
Who was this guy? When did he appear in his domain?
At any rate, Parker had no intentions of probing Cillin more than was necessary and risk waking a sleeping tiger, especially not now. Cillin hadn’t displayed any hostility toward him so far, and he intended to keep it that way.
Parker didn’t freeze up just because he was in thought. Smiling, he motioned for the gunner to apologize to Cillin. Without hesitation, the gunner assumed a humble posture before withdrawing to the back. He wiped the sweat on his forehead only after he was out of sight, but he definitely wasn’t going to calm down anytime soon.
“It’s fine. As I said earlier, please ignore me and continue your conversation,” Cillin said uncaringly.
Parker faced toward Sha Rou after getting permission from Cillin. He didn’t know what was the relationship between the stranger and Sha Rou yet, so he forced a smile that was a lot more sincere than the one he usually wore and said in a quiet voice, “You’re the one who killed the three guys in the alley, right? They didn’t wear a mark, but just in case I wanted you to know that they’re related to the small bosses at Myriad Sea City. Also, don’t worry, you haven’t broken any rules or anything. Those fuckers got what they deserved for trying to cause trouble in my domain.”
Sha Rou let out a hidden sigh of relief when she heard the second half of his conversation. The big bosses of Myriad Sea City and Fox Wolf had been trying to recruit her into their gang for a long time, but she never agreed to any of them. She had made a couple of deals with both sides in private and assassinated some targets for them, but that was the extent of her relationship with both gangs. It was because she didn’t dare to get too involved with either gang, much less offend them. Earlier, she was worried that Parker might threaten her and force her to join their gang, but it seemed like that wasn’t the case, at least not now. The only question left was whether that was his intention from the beginning, or he changed his mind after Cillin’s display of power.
“Anyway, make sure you stay alert. As of late things have been rather noisy at Myriad Sea City, and the planetary government are keeping a close watch on everyone. Less action, more caution.”
“Got it. Thanks for informing me, boss,” Sha Rou said. Parker was one of the people she erred on the side of caution in her dealings.
“Okay. Now then, allow me to excuse myself.”
Parker rose to his feet, pulled his cloak around himself and left with his men. It was only after he went upstairs did he realize that his back was drenched in ice cold sweat. If he wasn’t wearing a cloak, his men would surely have realized that he wasn’t nearly as calm as he appeared to be.
Parker contacted someone on his communicator. “I want you to investigate this person.”
He tried to send an image of Cillin to the other person, but he quickly discovered that the security footages of the restaurant were all gone. In fact, not a single image of Cillin could be found anywhere.
After Parker left, Sha Rou went to a medicine shop first instead of leading Cillin to Shi Tang immediately. This was the real reason she came to the city; to restock on Shi Tang’s medicine.
“Aren’t you curious about my relationship with Fox Wolf?” Sha Rou asked.
“I looked into it briefly, but found no need to conduct an in-depth investigation.”
Cillin could actually see his old self—back when he was still a Shadow Hunter—in Sha Rou. If this was GAL, then Sha Rou would’ve been an excellent Hunter in a good Hunter regiment a long time ago. Unfortunately, she was born in the Mist Bodhisattva Empire.
Sha Rou’s questions regarding the stranger only grew as time passed. He was obviously very young, but something just didn’t feel right about him. He seemed harmless on the outside, but that couldn’t be further away from the truth. In fact, even the arrogant Parker hadn’t dared to do anything untoward against the young man, effectively dissuading her from hatching her own plans of resistance before they came to fruition. Oh well, anything is fine if this guy really can get big brother the treatment he needs.
They got into a flying public transport until they reached a certain stop. Then, Sha Rou made her way to a medicine shop like she had done this a hundred times already. The shop owner greeted her with a smile the moment he saw her. “Here to buy medicine again?”
“Yeah, the same last time, please.”
The shop owner recognized Sha Rou because she always purchased his medicine. However, Cillin was definitely an unfamiliar face. He examined him for a moment but quickly lost interest. He then beckoned a service robot to bring him the medicine Sha Rou ordered.
After the transaction was complete, Sha Rou wrapped the medicine in wrappings carefully before bidding the shop owner goodbye.
“Can I see the meds?” Cillin asked suddenly after they exited the medicine shop.
Sha Rou thought for a moment before passing it to him. She didn’t think that Cillin would try to sabotage the meds because one, the meds weren’t worth much money, and two Cillin didn’t look like a poor person. It should hardly matter to him at all.
Cillin accepted the medicine bottle and gave it a sniff. A flash immediately passed through his eyes. Even the gray cat on his shoulders had frozen in mid-yawn.
Wheeze had accompanied Cillin on many journeys now, and while it couldn’t claim to be a master of much knowledge at all, it was definitely getting better and better at evaluating the value of certain commodities. In this case, it could tell that Sha Rou had paid the shop owner less than a bag of new-flavored fish biscuits’ worth of money, but the actual medicine she got… was easily worth more than 50 bags of fish biscuits!
The prices in the city was hardly inexpensive. Although it wasn’t as expensive as it was at the city center, the price difference was minor at best. Naturally, the prices of medicine was the same. So why was Sha Rou charged so much less than what the medicine was actually worth?
Cillin only needed a sniff to know what level of medicine it was. He proceeded to check every medicine Sha Rou bought before giving it back to her. He didn’t say anything.
“Is something wrong?” Sha Rou asked uncertainly. Cillin’s actions seemed odd, but she never noticed anything wrong with the medicines she bought. In fact, they were very effective. Without them, her big brother would’ve passed away a long time ago.
“It’s nothing. Is there anything else you need to do? If no, then let’s visit your big brother now,” Cillin said,
Sha Rou was still suspicious, but she didn’t press further. “Okay. I don’t have anything else to do for now.”
Sha Rou was planning to sell off the stuff she looted from the three men earlier, but after Parker gave her that warning she thought that it might be better if she took that warning to heart. She could make money after it was safe to do so.
Sha Rou didn’t notice that Cillin was tapping something on his communicator and sending the robots new instructions. The situation had turned out to be more complicated than he thought when he first arrived. No wonder Shi Tang was able to survive this long despite his condition. But who is this mysterious mastermind?
He didn’t bother asking Sha Rou or Shi Tang. There was zero chance they would know considering the troubles this mastermind went through to conceal their presence, so it was up to him to investigate this himself.
At the city entrance, Cillin got to relive the experience of a person of a lower class. The attendants looked like they couldn’t stand to provide them their services, and their gazes were especially disdainful when they looked at people who rode in trains instead of their own flying cars.
Sha Rou sneaked a glance at Cillin but noticed that the young man was completely unaffected by the gazes. She was impressed. It looked like all amazing people had the ability to remain calm on the outward no matter how they actually felt on the inside. For example, there were times she knew that Parker was scared out of his living wits, but she could never pick up a sign from his appearance. Sha Rou decided that she could stand to improve a lot more in this department.
The trains heading out of the city was really shitty. It was cramped, it was smelly, and people were arguing with each other and busting out the swear words everywhere. A huge majority of them were aliens. Some were slaves who were given leave to visit their relatives, and some were civilians who lived outside the cities.
A lot of them were pretty good fighters, and even if fighting wasn’t their specialty they usually had other advantages. However, they were very satisfied with their current lifestyle and had no intentions of changing it. Sure they were slaves, but if they were obedient, willing to put in the work and had the good fortune of serving a good master, their living standards could be better than even the average citizen inside the city.
In the compartment he was in, Cillin watched as an alien boasted about a “gem” his master gifted him. The people around him were clearly green with envy and greed. If the alien themselves didn’t look like a good fighter, they would’ve beaten their ass and claimed the “gem” for themselves already.
Wheeze shot the “gem” that wasn’t even bigger than its paw pad before closing its eyes. Inside its mind, it muttered: that thing isn’t even half as attractive as half a bag of fish biscuits.
When they exited the city, it was as if they had traveled to a different spacetime. The tall buildings and bustling cities they saw a moment ago faded away like mirages and were replaced by ruin-like structures.
Some of the people inside the compartment started howling when they saw their family’s residential areas. Most of them were slaves who hadn’t left the city for years at last.
There were people getting off the train at every stop, and those who could fly literally took to the air and flew toward their homes like they couldn’t wait even a second longer. Sha Rou seemed to be affected by their emotion as well as she grew visibly anxious the closer they got to their homes.
“Do you want me to take out the mice, Cillin?” Wheeze asked Cillin covertly.
“No, it’s fine. Let them follow.”
“Fine.” Wheeze kneaded its paws reluctantly. My claws are itching again.
Sha Rou rushed out of the train the second they arrived at the stop while Cillin followed leisurely behind her. He wasn’t worried that something would happen to Shi Tang because his robots were protecting him right this moment.