Ding Nan tightened his belt in the dark corner of the woodshed beside the inn’s latrine.
He hadn’t just finished using the restroom. He simply found a secluded spot to tidy up. After all, the only place in this inn with access to clean water was the water pump next to the woodshed.
But the real reason for cinching his belt was to adjust the position of his money pouch.
His money pouch was tucked into the inner pocket on his chest and stomach area. Tightening his belt prevented the pouch from slipping out unnoticed.
After all, pickpockets were everywhere in this cultivation world. Some nimble-fingered thieves could swipe someone’s money pouch without a trace.
Back when he first transmigrated, he’d kept his money pouch in his sleeve or hanging at his waist, and it was easily stolen by pickpockets.
So later, he kept his money in a chest pocket and always maintained distance from others.
As someone who valued frugality as a virtue, he’d held onto these good habits for years and never had a pickpocket succeed since.
“This… what is it?” he noticed, besides the ink-colored rounded Wushi tablet on his chest, there was also a black stone necklace.
The rhombus-shaped black stone on the necklace had been polished smooth, looking a lot like those black glass pendants you’d see at street stalls back in his previous life.
Ding Nan stared at the black stone necklace on his chest. He had a strange feeling about it. A faint spiritual qi emanated from it, and he could vaguely see the edge of a formation at its center.
This black stone necklace was clearly a magical artifact.
Ding Nan remembered that Luo Yao had never given him anything like this. If this thing really were from Luo Yao, given her somewhat yandere personality, it would definitely have a tracker installed.
So why hadn’t she found him all this time?
Seen this way, this black stone necklace must have been given by Xian Yuyan.
“I’ll ask about what this black stone necklace does later,” Ding Nan said.
After that, Ding Nan bought a coarse flour steamed cake to fill his stomach at the inn and strolled out.
On the streets, traffic was bustling.
Wancheng lived up to being a major city in Zhongzhou. People came and went, vendors’ shouts filled the air, and there were dedicated roads for vehicles and walkways. Just this one feature was enough to put Qingquan City to shame.
Fortunately, Ding Nan was a transmigrator, not a local who had never stepped out of his hometown, so he wasn’t too shocked.
He wasn’t even particularly interested in the goods sold in the city.
As a student who had endured the beatings of the land of the dragon’s unique compulsory education, he understood market dynamics. Before “realizing women were more interesting than games,” his geography teacher had drilled into him the concepts of roads and labor forces.
While the cultivation world had more fighting and killing, generally speaking, travel expenses still existed.
Although there were plenty of good goods in the city, they certainly weren’t cheap. To get good things for a low price, the best way was to go to the place of production to buy them.
The goods in Wancheng were dazzling, and the shops were varied. It was clearly a consumption-oriented place, not a production-oriented city.
Unfortunately, he was in a hurry to buy change of clothes right now.
He wandered through the alleys, walking from the south side of the marketplace to the east side, and finally found the area where ready-made clothes shops were clustered.
After carefully comparing prices, he chose the cheapest shop.
Ding Nan walked into the ready-made clothes shop and immediately raised his hand to stop the shopkeeper’s sales pitch. He tucked himself into the most inconspicuous corner of the store, picking through the cheap, low-quality ready-made clothes.
The shopkeeper could tell at a glance that Ding Nan was someone who valued thrift. Although the fabric of his clothes looked average, the stitching was exquisite, clearly the work of some skilled craftsman — made by Luo Yao. The shopkeeper nodded and returned to his counter.
Before long, Ding Nan skillfully picked out three ready-made clothes in black, gray, and brown. He brought them to the counter.
He calmly paid the spirit stones, then left the shop with his new clothes in hand.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Got a good haul this time.”
Ding Nan stood at the shop entrance, planning to get lunch. As he stood at the alley entrance, looking left and right, wondering which direction to take, he heard two people talking.
They were right next to Ding Nan.
Ding Nan followed the sound and saw two men, one thin and one short, carrying a sack together. They walked into an alley right in front of Ding Nan, heading to the dark side.
Then they set the sack down.
Around here, people selling clothes or fabric sometimes used such large sacks to hold things.
At first glance, they seemed no different from other buyers here for fabric. But Ding Nan noticed that the sack seemed to twist.
Ding Nan’s expression shifted slightly.
He could tell these two were likely human traffickers.
Also, he was surprised they hadn’t noticed him, a living person standing right here. They’d carried the sack into the alley right in front of him and even let him watch for so long.
“Anyway, let’s hurry…” the short man with a face like it had been flattened said, suddenly noticing Ding Nan standing at the alley entrance. His pupils contracted sharply.
Ding Nan was lost in thought, wondering why this had happened. But the moment he was noticed, he also saw the short man and the thin man staring at him.
Ding Nan clicked his tongue and turned to leave.
Private fights weren’t allowed inside the city.
And anyone bold enough to kidnap someone in broad daylight within the city’s marketplace either had the guts of a bear and the heart of a leopard, or they were connected to the local underworld, which was why they dared to do such things.
After all, this was a cultivation world where anyone could carry weapons out the door. It wasn’t safe.
Ding Nan was unfamiliar with Wancheng and didn’t want to provoke any local powers.
Besides, since the place was relatively prosperous, basic order should be maintained.
So, Ding Nan decided to report it.
This area was close to the marketplace, and there were often patrol officers, or rather, police.
As luck would have it, there was a patrol officer nearby maintaining order.
Ding Nan jogged over to the officer.
“Officer, there are human traffickers in that alley over there,” he said, pointing to where he’d come from.
“What? Where?”
The patrol officer, a stubbly man holding a long spear and looking rather thuggish, glanced toward the alley.
He saw the thin man carrying the sack around a corner.
“You. Show me the way and identify them,” the patrol officer said, patting Ding Nan’s shoulder.
Ding Nan hesitated. Honestly, he didn’t want to get too involved in this kind of thing, but he had no choice. He’d been spotted, and a patrol officer was still an official with considerable authority over a commoner like him.
So he nodded and led the way for this officer, who didn’t look all that trustworthy.
They quickly caught up with the two traffickers.
They arrived at a dead-end alley.
“So it’s those beasts from the Yihe Association,” the patrol officer cursed.
‘Hey, you’re a pretty decent officer,’ Ding Nan thought to himself.
However, when the two traffickers turned around, Ding Nan didn’t see panic on their faces. Instead, they looked delighted.
Not good! Ding Nan was alarmed.
Behind him, the air hummed faintly, and spiritual qi rippled.