Inside the Order’s contact point, Zhou Ming stated his request to the Begonian.
The old man leaning on a cane pulled out a card reader, bluntly sizing up Zhou Ming, who was completely concealed.
“Cash is fine too. Pay up, ten thousand. If someone picks up the job, the association will contact you.”
‘Paid to work? Never seen such a rip-off!’
Reluctantly swiping his card to pay, Zhou Ming asked:
“How will you contact me? I don’t want to give you my contact info.”
“No need. Someone is recruiting right now.”
‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have doubted your efficiency.’
“Do you want to go now, or buy some gear from the shop first? Cold weapons, some life-saving items. Of course, you can also pay us to protect you.”
‘I never expected my first real understanding of the Order would be like this.’
‘Please give me back the mysterious, evil, cold image of the Order.’
His mouth twitching, Zhou Ming pressed the pistol at his waist—he had brought it along when he went to find Gadelia this morning. After all, he still trusted the security that firearms provided.
Even though his ability blade could also be used as a gun.
“Let’s go now!”
The old man led Zhou Ming deeper into the antique shop. Gadelia said goodbye to Zhou Ming and left.
Deep inside the antique shop, all kinds of goods were piled up, leaving only a narrow path wide enough for one person. Entering the inner space, Zhou Ming saw several mahjong machines, a burly man bare-chested, a middle-aged woman with a cigarette in her mouth…
All sorts of people who fit the description of gray-zone drifters sat around playing mahjong, crude and vulgar language ringing out incessantly.
The old man slammed his cane hard against the floor. Zhou Ming felt a harsh low hum in his ears, his head aching.
“An Kang! I found you a teammate!”
The old man barked, then turned around and bowed apologetically to Zhou Ming.
“Sorry, esteemed guest, I scared you.”
Following the old man’s shout, a shifty-eyed man reluctantly got up from the mahjong table and quickly walked over.
“Gao Rongsheng, you don’t have to be like this! I was just making some money!”
“Is that so? Then don’t come tomorrow. A few days ago, orders came down from above. As for gambling, please find another place. This place is just for poor souls to relax and have fun; it can’t handle gambling.”
“Misunderstanding, misunderstanding! Don’t! I’m just relaxing and having fun too. No gambling, no gambling.”
Seeing Gao Rongsheng bring up the organization’s orders, An Kang quickly explained. This was his only little hobby; he couldn’t afford to stop playing just because he was dissatisfied with Gao Rongsheng’s actions.
Money could be set aside, but mahjong could not be skipped.
“Alright, let’s get to business!”
Gao Rongsheng slammed his cane again, a faint rumble echoed once more. Then he motioned for Zhou Ming and An Kang to follow him, leaving the room with mahjong machines and entering a secluded room.
“Tell this young man about your mission.”
He turned to glance at Zhou Ming, who wore a cloak. An Kang nodded.
“It’s just a routine mission to eliminate ability beasts. Nothing much to say.”
“Tell this young man about your mission.”
“By the way, Gao Rongsheng, you only recruited him alone? Will that work? Don’t get me killed.”
“What, not good enough? If you’re scared, spend money to hire protection.”
Clicking his tongue and licking his cracked lips, An Kang’s eyes rolled around.
“Alright, one person it is! I’ll give this young man a bigger cut.”
“One share, how about it?”
An Kang asked Zhou Ming.
Nodding to agree with An Kang’s suggestion, Zhou Ming then asked:
“When do we leave?”
“Young man, you’re really straightforward, I like it! Then I can’t keep you waiting. Let’s go now, I’ll drive!”
“Hey! Young man, you’re still wearing that shabby cloak? We’ll be going into the mountains later. That cloak won’t be easy to move in!”
While driving, An Kang tried to chat with Zhou Ming and pry for information.
Hearing An Kang’s words, Zhou Ming pretended to think, then pulled back his cloak, revealing his masked face.
“Didn’t expect you to be so strict about personal privacy, young man.”
An Kang gave a dry laugh and tried to continue the conversation.
“Has no one told you that you’re too noisy?!”
Zhou Ming coldly cut him off. In fact, Zhou Ming was even more nervous than An Kang. He was just a young man, completely clueless about gray-zone matters. It was already impressive that he could stay calm.
This wasn’t like before, when he was desperate to save someone and could act on pure passion and focus.
The car exited the highway and entered a rugged mountain road. After driving for a while, An Kang stopped.
“Our mission is to patrol this mountain and eliminate any ability beasts that appear.”
“Don’t go over there.”
An Kang pointed at the small hill about a hundred meters high in front of them and the surrounding rolling hills, saying to Zhou Ming:
“By the way, that area isn’t ours.”
“Why?”
“That’s a forest farm leased by a local tycoon. If you want to get beaten up and then have to pay a sum of money, go ahead.”
“Last time someone teamed up with me and ran into that forest farm to steal. The tycoon’s thugs beat him until he was paraplegic from the neck down. He had to pay a fortune to be spared.”
An Kang explained the reason in a teasing tone.
“No one cares?”
An Kang looked at Zhou Ming like he was an idiot, paused for a moment, then sighed.
“Call the cops? They’d come after you first. Besides, that tycoon is one of the two big mountains in Yu City. He’s connected in both underworld and officialdom. Who would dare to provoke him?”
“Young man, you’re way too green! I’m not lying to you—how many people like us who walk the gray zone do you think are clean?”
“Then who is the other big mountain?”
“Who else could it be? The Order, of course!”
Without another word, An Kang called Zhou Ming to go up the mountain and patrol.
“The officials are the blue sky. Can they even be compared?!”
Without another word, An Kang called Zhou Ming to go up the mountain and patrol. He took hiking poles out of the car and kindly handed one to Zhou Ming.
“The officials are the blue sky. Can they even be compared?!”
“Thanks.”
Shoving some drinks into his backpack, An Kang turned and saw Zhou Ming empty-handed, couldn’t help saying:
“Pretty confident, young man! At least a Dust Resistance level ability user, right?”
Because of An Kang’s earlier actions, Zhou Ming’s impression of him had improved slightly, and his guard had lowered a bit. So Zhou Ming revealed the pistol at his waist and shook it at An Kang.
“Young man, you’re loaded!”
“You could buy one too if you wanted, right? Gao Rongsheng’s antique shop always sells them.”
“That’s not cheap. With that money, I’d rather have a few days of fun.”
Taking the hiking pole An Kang handed him, Zhou Ming tucked his pistol back into his waistband, nodded at An Kang, and headed up the mountain.
“Split up?”
“Of course we stick together. If we really run into ability beasts, we can protect each other.”
An Kang walked along the mountain path very familiarly, leading Zhou Ming as they began their patrol.
After almost an hour of walking, Zhou Ming hadn’t encountered a single ability beast.
‘Can I really encounter ability beasts and improve my strength here?’
Zhou Ming felt like Gadelia had tricked him. This job was completely not worth the pay; it felt like giving money away.
His guard gradually relaxed, and Zhou Ming started to regret it.
‘I urgently need to improve my strength. I can’t waste time!’
Whoosh!
Something extremely fast suddenly entered the range of Zhou Ming’s ability’s environmental perception.
Hundreds of tiny, sharp wooden spikes shot toward Zhou Ming and An Kang at incredible speed.
Rushing forward, he pushed An Kang to the ground, dodging the attack. Zhou Ming immediately fired an air bullet in the direction the spikes came from.
Bang!
Only the sound of the air bullet hitting tree bark.
Zhou Ming turned to look into the dense woods. Aside from the startled birds taking flight from the loud noise, there was nothing else.