Ever since Ren Xiaosu completed the mission to assassinate Zhang Cengran, he did not leave his yard for two days straight. He even planted five Potato Shooters in the yard to prevent anyone from sneaking up on him.
But to Ren Xiaosu’s surprise, everything seemed normal even after he caught the paper crane. The other party still deposited the reward money into his anonymous account, while further missions were still systematically sent to him as usual. Nothing had changed at all.
Ren Xiaosu suddenly felt a little pained about the five gratitude tokens he had spent. He even thought of setting up a stall in town to start selling potatoes.
Honestly speaking, Ren Xiaosu would definitely lead a very good life wherever he went, and neither would he need to do any farming. He could just plant a few Potato Shooters in his own yard, and it would not only prevent thieves, but he would also have potatoes to sell every day. He would have no worries about having no money to spend.
The reason why he could sleep with peace of mind every day was due to the existence of the Potato Shooters. Even though they might be weak, supernatural beings would still grimace in pain if they were not careful. As for the average person, needless to say, their bones would at the minimum break if they got hit.
Ren Xiaosu unfolded the second paper crane in the yard, but there was nothing written on it. This disappointed him a little.
The supernatural being who controlled the paper cranes probably did not care about losing one or two of them, right?
As he unfolded it, he was also paying attention to how the paper crane was folded. After all, he wanted to see if the paper crane would come back to “life” if he refolded it again.
When he finally felt that he understood how it was folded, he encountered a common issue faced by all craftsmen:
The eyes: “Alright, I got it!”
The brain: “No, you don’t!”
When Ren Xiaosu reached the tavern, the storyteller was sitting calmly in his chair and relating the story of Qing Zhen’s encirclement operation of the Experimentals to the customers. No one knew where this news had come from, but it was said the Qing Consortium had already driven the Experimentals out of the strongholds in the south. The former residents of the Li Consortium’s strongholds were even praising how good of a person Qing Zhen was, as though they had already forgotten that he was actually the biggest winner of the war in the Southwest.
However, the Experimentals still remained a potential threat. That was because no one knew where they would move to after taking refuge in the mountains.
At this moment, Ms. Xiaolu was sitting in Ren Xiaosu’s usual spot. When she saw Ren Xiaosu, she waved happily at him and asked, “Where have you been to the past two days?”
“I was just sleeping and lazing around at home,” Ren Xiaosu explained with a smile.
“Oh.” Xiaolu did not probe further. She had a new red hairband securing her braided hair at the back of her head. “Grandpa is telling a new story today that he just heard about. He said that there’s also many people escaping the Southwest. However, those escapees are much worse off than the Zong Consortium’s escapees. Their journey of escape hasn’t been smooth at all, and many of them were killed by wild animals that roam the mountains. Apparently, some people ran into the Experimentals, and only a few of them survived the encounter.”
When he heard about the Experimentals again after such a long time, Ren Xiaosu recalled how threatening they were in his encounter with them back in the Jing Mountains. He felt that Qing Zhen had at least handled this matter correctly.
Regardless of the war, they would have to deal with these unreasonable creatures first.
Then Ren Xiaosu asked, “Xiaolu, do you know how to fold a paper crane?”
Xiaolu’s dainty face turned red in embarrassment. “Who would take the initiative to ask for paper cranes from a girl? Shameless!”
After saying that, Xiaolu ran out to the backyard of the tavern with her pigtail swinging behind her.
Ren Xiaosu was speechless.
When the storyteller heard their conversation at the side, he was furious. How dare this young man try to flirt with his granddaughter in front of him!
Ren Xiaosu felt helpless. He truly wanted to learn how to fold paper cranes. Didn’t they say that all girls knew how to fold them?
With that thought in mind, he felt that the supernatural being who could control the paper cranes was quite like a young woman.
However, Ren Xiaosu felt he had to go out to find a place to lie low for a bit during this period. After stealing so many cell phones, even a fool could probably guess that something must have happened to those D-rank hitmen at Stronghold 61.
Moreover, he could not help but to go into hiding after intercepting two of the paper cranes in succession. Otherwise, who was he going to seek justice from if they came down to attack him?
Ren Xiaosu bade the storyteller farewell. When the old man heard he was leaving, he looked quite happy.
But when Ren Xiaosu said he would still be back after some time, the old man’s smile immediately disappeared.
After all, Stronghold 61 was the nearest stronghold in the Central Plains from the Northwest.
Ren Xiaosu went home and changed into a set of clothes he did not usually put on. Then he headed straight out of town with his head kept low.
Just as he was about to walk out of town, he suddenly saw a girl wearing a cap and dressed in a neat combat uniform walking towards him. Ren Xiaosu subconsciously wanted to call out Yang Xiaojin’s name as he got extremely excited at that moment.
But he immediately realized that something was off. The other party was not a girl, but a woman. Judging from her figure and appearance, she was a mature woman who was about eight years older than Yang Xiaojin. She was probably around 28 years old.
Furthermore, Yang Xiaojin usually only donned sports outfits and rarely wore the combat uniform of the military. Although the cap that Yang Xiaojin usually wore was not brightly colored, it was not dark-colored either. But the cap this woman had on was simply black in color.
What left Ren Xiaosu a little puzzled was that he felt a strange sense of familiarity from the woman. Perhaps she had a certain demeanor that was similar to Yang Xiaojin. But upon careful observation, Ren Xiaosu realized there was a difference. This woman’s demeanor was far more rational and cold than Yang Xiaojin. It was like she had seen the ugly side of the world.
Ren Xiaosu walked past her with his head lowered and quickly left the Stronghold 61 town. He felt that if he didn’t leave now, he might be targeted.
After Ren Xiaosu left, the woman turned around and looked suspiciously at his back. But she quickly turned around again and continued on her way.
She came to the outside of the shack where Zhang Cengran had been killed. By now, the corpse in the shack had already been removed and buried by the townspeople under the orders of the town administrator.
The woman frowned as she looked up at the electric pole the paper crane had previously been sitting on. No one knew what she was thinking.
Then she lowered her head and took out a cell phone similar to the one Ren Xiaosu had and sent out a text. “From now on, forward all information regarding 1583850’s missions to me directly.”
“Yes, Boss.”
1583850 was referring to Ren Xiaosu’s anonymous account number.
The woman walked towards the tavern where Ren Xiaosu often hung out at. It might have been a coincidence or maybe she went there on purpose, but she happened to sit at the window where Ren Xiaosu usually sat.
As soon as she entered the place, the storyteller, who was sitting in a chair in the middle of the tavern, suddenly said with a smile, “If y’all want to hear about the aftermath, please join me at the next session.”
After he said that, the storyteller called Xiaolu over and said, “Let’s go back home. I’m tired today.”
The woman wearing the black cap also got up and left. She walked to the door of the storyteller’s house with a sense of familiarity. The storyteller smiled at Xiaolu and said, “My dear, please go and buy a bottle of soy sauce. We don’t have any left at home.”
Xiaolu did not say anything. She just turned around and went out the door.
The woman looked at the storyteller and asked, “Did anyone strange recently appear in town?”
The storyteller smiled as he shook his head. “No.”
…
