The First Order

It took seven days for Ren Xiaosu to return to the black market. No one knew where he had been during that time.

But when he was checking in to the hotel, Ren Xiaosu was surprised to see someone wearing a Pyro Company logo on his chest walk out from the elevator and leave the hotel.

Honestly speaking, Ren Xiaosu nearly started a fight right there in the hotel when he saw that small flame on the other party’s chest. After all, Ren Xiaosu had subconsciously deemed the Pyro Company as his enemy after such a long time. However, Ren Xiaosu managed to get ahold of himself. After all, this was the black market.

He went upstairs and entered his room. After a while, Zhou Yingxue came knocking on his door. Ren Xiaosu looked at Zhou Yingxue with an ambiguous smile and said, “You didn’t leave after seeing all that money?”

Zhou Yingxue curled her lips and did not answer the question. She wrote down an account number for Ren Xiaosu and said, “Master, your 80% share has been deposited into this account.”

“Mhm.” Ren Xiaosu nodded and took the piece of paper from her. “I won’t exploit you either. You can deduct any expenses incurred from this account while carrying out the missions. After all, your mother is still sick. By the way, do you have enough for her medical bills?”

“If I say that I don’t have enough, are you gonna give me another 10%?” Zhou Yingxue stared blankly at Ren Xiaosu.

Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “If you don’t have enough money, I’ll take you to accomplish more missions.”

“Then forget it.” Zhou Yingxue sat down on the couch and muttered, “I still want to rest for a while longer.”

“By the way, I saw someone from the Pyro Company in the hotel lobby earlier. How’d they get into the black market?” Ren Xiaosu wondered, “And they even wear their logo around so blatantly?”

Puzzled, Zhou Yingxue looked at Ren Xiaosu. “Shouldn’t that be very normal?”

“Normal?” Ren Xiaosu was stunned. “Shouldn’t the Pyro Company be hated by everyone?”

“Only supernatural beings think that way.” Zhou Yingxue said, “The Pyro Company doesn’t capture normal people, and they’ve only been going after supernatural beings in recent years. As they usually carry out their operations in secret. Many supernatural beings don’t even know about it.”

“But the Pyro Company is also very tyrannical in their ways. Doesn’t that irk people?”

“Of course it does! But aren’t all consortiums the same?” Zhou Yingxue said, “Moreover, the Pyro Company has quite a few strongholds under their control and is such a dominant power as well. Other than the Anjing House and the Saboteurs, no one would really want to offend them.”

Ren Xiaosu suddenly realized it was his previous experience in the Southwest that gave him a negative impression of the Pyro Company. It was mainly because Yang Xiaojin wanted to attack the Pyro Company that he subconsciously placed them on his blacklist.

He finally realized there wasn’t much of a difference between the Pyro Company and the other consortiums in most people’s eyes.

Zhou Yingxue said, “Besides, the Pyro Company has always regarded this black market as a hub. I heard the Pyro Company’s on good terms with the Qinghe Group, and it seems the relationship between the two founders was great. Therefore, the Pyro Company has always been an ally of Luoyang City all these years. Furthermore, the Pyro Company has never gone after any supernatural beings within the Qinghe Group’s territory before. As such, a lot of supernatural beings came here to the black market to avoid the Pyro Company’s attempts at capturing them.”

“Aren’t they afraid that the Pyro Company will make a move once they leave the black market?” Ren Xiaosu wondered.

“It seems that the Pyro Company has really not resorted to something like that in the black market before,” Zhou Yingxue answered.

“What’s the relationship between the Pyro Company and the Qinghe Group?” Ren Xiaosu was a little puzzled.

However, none of this seemed to have much to do with him. He would still kill the members of the Pyro Company if he encountered them in the wilderness anyway. After all, the Pyro Company had attacked him on more than one occasion.

Ren Xiaosu cast a sidelong glance at Zhou Yingxue. “What’ve you been up to in the black market the past few days? You didn’t go out to show off, right?”

“No.” Zhou Yingxue said, “I’m not the sort of person who likes attention.”

Yet Ren Xiaosu saw the large, new diamond ring on Zhou Yingxue’s right index finger she had just bought and the jade bracelet on her wrist.

Ren Xiaosu smiled and said, “You didn’t go to the casino?”

“No.” Zhou Yingxue shook her head. “My father went into heavy debt because of gambling, and if it weren’t for that, my mother would’ve had enough money to treat her illness when she fell seriously sick. When she passed away…”

Zhou Yingxue stopped abruptly mid-sentence and the room fell silent.

Ren Xiaosu stared blankly at Zhou Yingxue. “Don’t speak yet. Let me think it through. Back when we were at Stronghold 88, you said that you wanted to go home to save your mother. Then, when I encountered you again later, you said that you wanted to make enough money for your mother’s treatment. But now, you’re saying that your mother has passed away…”

“I misspoke…”

Ren Xiaosu said with a dark expression, “Do I look gullible to you?”

Zhou Yingxue quickly squatted down next to Ren Xiaosu and started massaging his legs. “Master, wasn’t it only because I was afraid you would kill me? What else could I have said? What’s the matter with a weak girl like me telling some lies to others….”

Ren Xiaosu looked up at the ceiling in a speechless manner. Indeed, no one in this world could be trusted anymore. Back then, he had thought Zhou Yingxue was quite a filial person, so he let her off.

Ren Xiaosu had never met his parents before nor mentioned it to anyone. But that did not mean he did not miss them or find it regretful. Therefore, when Zhou Yingxue mentioned she wanted to save her mother and pay off her medical bills, his heart softened.

However, only now did he realize Zhou fucking Yingxue could lie without batting an eyelid! So this was what a spy was like!

But what else could he do now? Should he kill Zhou Yingxue? He did not have to go that far, right? After all, she had been addressing him as her master for quite a while.

Ren Xiaosu stared at Zhou Yingxue. He even suspected she had deliberately misspoken so she could lay out all her cards on the table as she was sure that he would not do anything to her.

Ren Xiaosu asked angrily, “What else have you lied about, huh?”

“Nothing else.” Zhou Yingxue quickly shook her head.

Just as Ren Xiaosu was about to say something, Zhou Yingxue’s cell phone off to the side suddenly lit up. A new text message had come in. “Escort Mission: Provide protection for a female singer from Stronghold 62 for the duration of her concert tour spanning 37 strongholds. The employer requests that the mission be entrusted to a female superhuman. To all interested female superhumans, please sign up and verify your gender by taking a selfie. The reward is 2 million yuan.”

Ren Xiaosu was surprised. This was the first time he had seen an escort mission be issued. He asked Zhou Yingxue, “Have you seen a mission like this before?”

“Yes,” Zhou Yingxue nodded. “The previous one was to protect the Zhou Consortium’s Zhou Shiji. But the strange thing is that escort missions are usually requested by an employer, yet there are no employers when it comes to assassination missions. It feels like the targets in the assassination missions are people the Anjing House themselves want dead.”

This mission gave him a sense of déjà vu, and anticipation suddenly filled him. Was this female singer a member of the Saboteurs as well? If so, couldn’t he find Yang Xiaojin this time?