Chapter 70 – Killing an Annoying Guy Really Isn’t Hard at All

An empty street. A shadowy alley. A spark in the night-the last ember of a cigarette about to burn out.

The man smoking on the street in the middle of the night was named Dazhuang.

Dazhuang had been working as a black-market “guide” for two and a half years, and this was the first time his client had turned out to be a young girl in the prime of her youth.

“Hey, little miss.” Dazhuang tossed his cigarette butt to the ground and crushed it under his foot. “I’m not hearing things, am I? You want to go to the black market???”

By the light of his phone, Dazhuang looked the girl in front of him up and down.

This girl… didn’t look like some delinquent chick, either.

She was tall, fair-skinned, and extremely pretty, enough to instantly remind Dazhuang of the school beauty he’d once had a crush on back in high school.

If some little punk girl had come looking for him, Dazhuang would have understood. But the girl in front of him didn’t look like the type who would go to the black market no matter how he looked at her.

“I want to go to the black market,” Zhao Xinning repeated.

This time, Dazhuang heard her clearly. “All right.”

As a professional “guide,” Dazhuang quoted his fee.

Zhao Xinning paid without hesitation.

Following procedure, Dazhuang asked, “Little miss, what are you planning to buy?”

“Why do you want to know what I’m buying?”

“Don’t be nervous,” Dazhuang explained. “Us guides know the black market like the back of our hand. If you tell me what you want to buy, I can point you toward the right places.”

A “guide” was only responsible for bringing clients into the black market. They wouldn’t accompany them the whole way as tour guides.

But they could provide information on relevant vendors inside the black market, making it easier for clients to buy what they wanted and preventing them from wandering around aimlessly like headless flies.

“Don’t worry. We’re professionals,” Dazhuang said. “Absolute confidentiality. Of course, this is a paid service.”

“If you don’t want to spend the money, that’s fine too. Once you’re inside the black market, you can take your time looking on your own.”

Zhao Xinning chose to pay. She had to buy what she needed quickly and return to the hotel.

If Lin Xi woke up and found her gone, it would be hard to explain.

Zhao Xinning stated what she needed, and Dazhuang listened with his jaw practically on the floor.

A listening device? A gun? Sleepy Black Tea? Soft rope for tying someone up without hurting them???

This girl’s shopping list was anything but ordinary.

Professional as Dazhuang was, he was absolutely firm about not asking questions he shouldn’t ask.

The customer was god.

“Little miss, remember this…” Dazhuang began reciting which places in the black market sold the items she wanted.

A few minutes later, Dazhuang finished. Zhao Xinning memorized everything after hearing it once.

“Follow me,” Dazhuang said.

Zhao Xinning followed behind him as they wound through streets and alleys, turning left and right again and again.

The black market was one of Z City’s key crack-down targets, so it was usually hidden away in secluded corners.

And its location wasn’t fixed. It moved often, firing one shot and changing places, so to speak. That was why “guides” had real value.

After they had walked for quite a while, Dazhuang pointed at the dim alley ahead and said, “Go through this alley, and it’ll be just up ahead.”

“Thank you.” Without the slightest hesitation, Zhao Xinning stepped into the dark, sinister alley.

“Wait.” Dazhuang called out to her.

“I’ve already paid the service fee,” Zhao Xinning said, thinking Dazhuang was trying to raise the price at the last minute.

“That’s not it.” Dazhuang lit another cigarette and took a drag. “Little miss, the black market isn’t the kind of place a girl like you should be going into.”

“You should go back, wash up, and sleep. Don’t be late for school tomorrow morning,” Dazhuang said half-jokingly.

This girl reminded him of the school beauty he’d had a crush on in high school, so there was a touch of goodwill in his attempt to dissuade her.

After hearing him out, Zhao Xinning turned her head and kept walking.

“I’m only here to buy something. Also, tomorrow is Sunday. There’s no school.”

…

Using the vendor information Dazhuang had provided, Zhao Xinning successfully found her target shop.

The shop seemed to have only just opened. There were only two people inside: a middle-aged owner and a young employee.

The young employee had dyed yellow hair and a shark tattooed on his arm. When he saw that the customer who had come in was a pretty girl, he immediately went up to greet her.

“Hello there, little miss. What are you looking to buy?”

Zhao Xinning glanced around casually. Behind the glass counters, all kinds of guns were displayed in a dazzling array.

“A gun,” Zhao Xinning said. “One that can blow a person to pieces with a single shot.”

“You got it,” Yellow Hair answered at once.

Then he went behind the counter and took out a modified firearm. “This ‘Meat Grinder’ will do exactly what you need.”

“It may look like an ordinary gun, but the materials it’s made from are anything but ordinary.”

“It’s built with bone spikes from a ‘Spine Shadow.’ You know what a Spine Shadow is, right? That’s a Level Two disaster. The strength of its bone spikes is no joke.”

“Those special materials give this gun special firepower.”

On the black market, all kinds of products made from Dark Realm monsters circulated freely.

Using monster parts to craft weapons and all sorts of strange items was incredibly common.

“Not only is it powerful, it’s especially light too. Go on, feel the weight.”

Yellow Hair handed the gun to Zhao Xinning. Zhao Xinning decided this was the one.

“Add a box of bullets. How much in total?”

Yellow Hair smiled instead. “Little miss, are you sure you know how to use it? Want big brother to teach you?”

“No need.” Zhao Xinning still had other things to buy. She had no time to waste here.

“You sure you don’t need it?” Yellow Hair chuckled as he came over to Zhao Xinning’s side.

“Little miss, I know why you’re here buying this thing. You must want revenge for a family member killed by a Dark Realm monster. Am I right?”

Yellow Hair guessed that because this wasn’t the first time he’d received a customer like Zhao Xinning.

“Dark Realm Disaster incidents have been frequent lately. Just the day before yesterday, I had a girl about your age come in to buy a weapon. She wanted to kill a Dark Realm monster and avenge her little brother.”

“Guess what? She had no idea how to use it.”

“So I taught her hands-on-” Yellow Hair emphasized the words “hands-on” with a leering smile, then said, “Absolutely free of charge.”

“I don’t need it.” Zhao Xinning asked again, “How much?”

Yellow Hair still refused to give up, enthusiastically pushing his “free lesson.”

Zhao Xinning said it plainly. “I’m not going to let you take advantage of me like that girl you mentioned.”

Yellow Hair froze for a moment. “Now that’s not very nice of you to say.” He stared at Zhao Xinning. “I’m not selling this gun anymore.”

“Not selling?” Zhao Xinning glanced at the middle-aged man on the other side of the counter, then looked back. “What, are you the owner?”

Yellow Hair let out a chuckle.

“Fine, then.” Zhao Xinning put the things down. “It’s not like you’re the only shop around.”

“Stop right there.” Yellow Hair’s formerly friendly tone changed completely. “You slandered me by saying I wanted to take advantage of you, so I’ll give you two choices. One, apologize to me. Two, heh heh… let me actually take advantage of you.”

He thought Zhao Xinning, who looked like a little white rabbit, would be frightened into obediently doing as he said. Unexpectedly, Zhao Xinning said, “I choose three. I leave.”

“You’re not leaving.” Yellow Hair moved one step faster and shut the door.

Zhao Xinning took half a step back. “What do you want?”

“Heh heh heh. What do you think?” Yellow Hair pressed closer, step by step.

Zhao Xinning raised her hand and swung it.

Yellow Hair’s eyes went wide. In agony, he clutched his throat and looked at Zhao Xinning’s right hand.

In her right hand was a small knife, stained with blood.

“See? I told you carrying a small knife for self-defense was the right call.” That voice rang out inside Zhao Xinning’s mind. “Now you understand, don’t you? Killing an annoying piece of trash isn’t hard at all.”