Xiao Lin himself was curious about the mysterious mixed-race individual and looked forward to the upcoming meeting. He arrived at Hammerhead’s residence soon enough and it turned out to be an unusually simple wooden double-storey house. Few people came in and out, but those who walked through the gate were dressed quite luxuriantly.
“The people who come here are all rich. That’s Gold City for you. Wealthy people can be found in any corner,” Ibeiya spoke in a somewhat disdainful manner.
According to Ibeiya, Hammerhead was one of the few people who could make high-level spatial equipment. More importantly, he charged a reasonable sum and was well-received by many. His popularity in the city gradually began increasing, contrary to the usual unwelcome treatment accorded to orcs in many places.
Hammerhead was different, and the other half of his bloodline was what made his status very special. Gold City might look like a place with law and order, but the truth was that anyone who had enough strength or power could still do as they pleased there. However, no locals dared to provoke Hammerhead, because none of them knew when his mysterious father might show up.
Xiao Lin pushed the door open and entered, only to see that the furnishings inside the house were simpler than expected. He got a little curious: if Hammerhead really was as skilled as Ibeiya claimed, it was unlikely that he would be that poor. Of course, it was also possible that Hammerhead was a very hardworking and thrifty person.
The reception room was on the first floor and there were only a few faded leather benches there. About four or five people were standing nearby and chattering in Normese. One of them who blocked the stairs leading to the second floor was a 14-year-old teen boy. He was smiling and apologizing profusely while bowing to the crowd.
Xiao Lin had a rough idea of their conversation. The boy was likely an apprentice accepted by Hammerhead and his master was currently serving a certain client, which made it temporarily inconvenient for them to see other people again.
“What a joke! I came all the way here and he’s ignoring me? He knows who I am! ”
“I’ve been waiting for about two or three days in a row now. I’m curious who that customer is!”
“Damn orc! Do you think you can look down on us just because you have that bit of skill?”
“Dirty blood is still flowing in your bones!”
…
These four or five people seemed to come from rather important backgrounds and they had been waiting here for a long time. There was impatience, irritability, and even anger in their tone, while repugnant adjectives began to pepper their sentences.
The poor apprentice boy could only do his best to apologize for everything, but as the scolding gradually increased, it was inevitable that two strong men decided to take action and tried forcefully breaking into the second floor.
The apprentice did not have enough power to resist, as he had little strength. He struggled to no avail, and his innocent yet flustered gaze scanned throughout the room, only to be met with indifference and ridicule. Finally, his gaze landed on Xiao Lin and Ibeiya, who had just entered the door.
Xiao Lin observed for a moment and roughly figured out the cause of the matter. He could not help but frown secretly. If he fought there, his spatial equipment would be busted in no time, so he cleared his throat and spoke Normese to Ibeiya next to him, “Speaking of which, I just came from Dawn City and heard something really interesting from a friend of mine. He told me he had an orc son that lived in Gold City. Do you think he’s kidding?”
The noise in the room disappeared instantly and the man who grabbed the apprentice’s collar was startled. He loosened his grip and sized Xiao Lin up with an unfriendly gaze before saying blankly, “Excuse me, who are you?”
“My identity isn’t something that the likes of you are able to find out!” Xiao Lin snickered a few times before switching right back to fluent Chinese.
The group of people immediately had a surprised look on their face. Colonizers were privileged and untouchable to the natives, and that has proven to be the consensus in that city. Even though they could not confirm Xiao Lin’s identity and barely understood his Chinese, they hesitated to do anything because Xiao Lin’s Chinese had too high a standard and was impossible for the locals to replicate.
Once they calmed themselves down some more, they remembered that Hammerhead was also half-colonist. An ugly expression appeared briefly on their faces and they decided not to take any more risks for fear of provoking a potential powerful enemy. They murmured a couple of incomprehensible sentences and proceeded to leave.
“Thank you!” The apprentice boy bowed again. On that occasion, he actually spoke in Chinese, but his Chinese pronunciation was far worse than Ibeiya’s. After all, not everyone possessed the foreign language talent of Rosa Kingdom.
“I’m here to look for Hammerhead and make an order for spatial equipment, but he seems to be busy? ” Xiao Lin hesitated.
“I’ll help you talk to him.” His impression of Xiao Lin had soared after the latter came to his aid, and he trotted right up to the second floor. A low voice came from upstairs, and he went back down again. He smiled and said, “Master invited you up.”
The second floor was divided into three areas. A tall man was sitting next to the stove in the largest room. After seeing Xiao Lin and Ibeiya coming, he merely nodded to them and pointed to the thick leather chair next to him, motioning them to sit down temporarily.
Aside from them, there was another stranger in the room, who was probably the guest mentioned by the apprentice earlier. Xiao Lin actually felt a little embarrassed because Hammerhead seemed busy, but since the other party said nothing, Xiao Lin decided to wait for a while with Ibeiya. In his curiosity, he began to scrutinize that mixed-race individual.
Hammerhead’s figure was much taller than that of ordinary Earthlings. Although his entire body was covered in clothing, his swollen muscles were still clearly visible. That strong body was no doubt inherited from the orcs, but his appearance was that of a typical Oriental-earthling character with dark black pupils, though his skin was dark brown.
His looks were fairly modest, which prompted Xiao Lin to feel that that human-orc offspring was not as horrible looking as he thought, at least in terms of their genetic appearance.
Hammerhead glanced briefly at Xiao Lin for a while before withdrawing it, as if he was not interested in them. However, Xiao Lin soon sensed another gaze that seemed to have been absent before then.
It came from another stranger sitting next to Hammerhead. It was a man covered completely in a gray robe. Even his ears and hair were wrapped in it, revealing only an unusually handsome and fair face. Xiao Lin could not help but think that the gray-robed man’s face fitted the description of a gigolo to a tee.
Xiao Lin did not mind it that much at first, but he soon had a slight frown after a couple of minutes. The man in gray glanced casually at him when he came in, but the other party’s gaze seemed to be watching him even more intently.
The handsome face was expressionless, but his gaze was so sharp that it made Xiao Lin feel uncomfortable. He suddenly understood that such a look was similar to the gaze of a predator locking in on its prey. Did the man have any intentions of hunting him?
