How could there be anything this blissful in the world?
The evening breeze slipped through the branches overhead, rustling the leaves with a faint chill. But the scale meatballs in his mouth were piping hot, bursting with sweet, savory juices the moment he bit into them.
Bai Xiao felt that these were, without question, the best scale meatballs he had ever eaten.
In terms of flavor alone, they might not have matched the palace's exquisitely prepared dishes. But the freedom of crouching by the roadside with a paper bowl in hand, eating to his heart's content, was something no delicacy could ever replace.
He was free!
Even if only temporarily.
By now, Bai Xiao had completely immersed himself in the joy of food. He even drank the broth down to the last drop. A light sheen of sweat had formed on him by the end, and after finishing, he tilted his head back and let out a long breath, watching the mist slowly dissolve into the air.
I'm alive again.
He tossed the crumpled paper bowl into a trash bin. The softness in his expression vanished, and his eyes became calm once more.
He had eaten. He had gotten information. It was time to get to work.
That kindhearted vendor had just said this place was about to get dangerous. Bai Xiao was not actually curious about that part, but now he had the capital to wait and see. The Originium Art at his fingertips was stirring restlessly. He could feel an astonishing power hidden within it.
He wanted to test its quality.
Looking around, this seemed to be some kind of park. The surrounding trees were dense and lush, and the dim yellow streetlights were cut apart by layer upon layer of foliage, casting huge swathes of shadow.
It was, frankly, the perfect kind of place to do something shady.
And also a very easy place to hide.
Just as he was thinking that, footsteps suddenly echoed from not far away. Bai Xiao hurried behind a tree. A moment later, he saw two groups appear from different directions and begin facing off in the middle of the park.
A gang deal, maybe?
Both sides were dressed uniformly in black suits, their expressions hard and cold—not like ordinary street punks. The ridiculous part was that every single one of them was wearing sunglasses. Bai Xiao had no idea why these people were wearing shades in the middle of the night. Weren't they afraid of walking straight into a tree?
The two groups looked so identical they might as well have been copy-pasted, yet here they were, glaring each other down.
"Did you bring the goods?"
"I should be asking you that. Where's your stuff?"
"Hmph." One side's leader gave a slight smile and pulled out a travel bag from behind him. "It's right here."
The other side did the same and produced a travel bag of their own.
So it really was some dirty business.
And if they were up to no good, then Bai Xiao felt no moral burden whatsoever about ruining it. Jumping criminals in the middle of a deal counted as perfectly reasonable, didn't it?
One bag was the goods, the other was the money. Bai Xiao only needed the money. After all, he was still wearing pajamas. There was no way he could survive in this city like that, let alone complete the mission.
And if he failed, that was fine too. Even if he couldn't beat them, these people would definitely descend into chaos. They'd assume the other side was trying to double-cross them, which would make it easy enough for Bai Xiao to slip away.
It was a game, after all.
Might as well go for it.
Bai Xiao lowered his body and watched them closely.
What he did not notice was that, in the shadows some distance away, two other figures were hiding as well.
"Uncle Dong, they're about to make the exchange."
"...Don't rush. See that tree over there? We're not the only ones here."
After both sides had finished inspecting the contents of each other's bags, the deal was just about to go through when Bai Xiao suddenly stepped out from behind the tree, a branch in his hand.
His appearance startled everyone. They instinctively clutched their bags tighter, and the gang leader at the front nearly jumped out of his skin.
Even the people hidden in the shadows froze in surprise.
"Who the hell are you?!"
"Who I am isn't important." Bai Xiao smiled and lifted the branch in his hand. "What matters is this—would you mind handing those two bags over to me?"
He had never expected them to agree.
So the moment the words left his mouth, he acted according to his own rough understanding and unleashed the Originium Art he had just acquired—
Not at the gangsters, but at the tree beside them.
It couldn't be helped. This was his first time using it, and he didn't know how strong it was. If he accidentally killed someone, that would be bad.
Better to intimidate them first.
"Kid, you think you can hijack this deal with that lousy twig in your hand?"
The gang members burst into laughter, but Bai Xiao ignored the commotion around him and merely spoke in a soft voice.
"It will not sting your eyes."
His wrist dipped slightly as he casually swung the branch. The gangsters saw only a streak of flowing golden light shoot forth and strike the tree nearby.
The golden glow touched the trunk—
And there was no sound at all.
Not even a single leaf fell.
That only made the gang laugh harder.
"Did somebody hire a clown? Not gonna lie, this is actually kind of funny!"
The bald leader walked over, pointed at his own chest, and sneered. "Looks flashy enough. Come on, hit me right here. Let grandpa see what else you can do."
The laughter from his men rang out even louder. Some of them even ignored Bai Xiao entirely and resumed the exchange.
But Bai Xiao simply stood there, staring at the tree, as though waiting for something.
He could still feel that power. That single strike had drained nearly all the strength from his body. There was no way all it did was flash once.
"What are you looking at? Your stupid stick couldn't even knock down a leaf!"
The bald brute advanced step by step, a cruel grin on his face.
Before his sentence had even fully landed—
A faint crack sounded in the air, as crisp as the first sheet of ice splitting in winter.
The laughter cut off instantly.
The bald man frowned and turned his head, only to see a crack suddenly appear across the trunk. It spread like a living thread of gold, racing outward until it covered the entire body of the tree.
Time seemed to freeze for a second.
Then the tree let out a series of groaning crashes and slowly began to tilt. At the break in the trunk, strands of wood fiber snapped one by one with harsh tearing sounds.
The crown of the tree came crashing down with a howling rush of wind, nearly swallowing the entire group of gangsters beneath it.
Boom—!
The giant tree slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash, and the dust kicked up in its wake surged outward like a tidal wave. The gangsters who had been laughing moments ago were thrown into disarray by the blast of air—some stumbled to the ground, others stood frozen in shock.
As the dust settled a little, the bald brute slowly turned his head and stared at the massive trunk lying less than half a meter from his toes. His throat bobbed visibly.
Bai Xiao stood quietly where he was. The branch in his hand had crumbled apart as well, nearly turning into splinters. Truth be told, he had been startled too. When the tree came down, dirt had exploded everywhere, and he had gotten a mouthful of it.
But now was absolutely not the time to show weakness.
He looked at the bald man, who was already scared witless, and smiled faintly.
"You were the one who told me to aim for your chest, right? Stay right there. I'll go find another branch."
Bai Xiao turned to leave, but before he could even take a step, someone threw himself at his leg. Looking down, he saw that it was the bald man, now crying miserably with snot and tears all over his face, babbling about how he had elderly parents above and children below, and how hard it was to support a family.
People in the underworld really were experts at begging for mercy.
As for Bai Xiao, only he knew how bitter the truth was. That one move had consumed an enormous amount of energy—basically the same as fighting Vina all night long. His legs were already going a little weak.
Still, he held himself together.
"Now then. I want the bags you're holding. Any objections?"
"No, no objections at all! How could there be any objections? Hey, you! Didn't you hear what my big brother said? Hurry up and bring the bags over!"
At this point, the bald man's fawning attitude had reached the absolute extreme. No need to say more—Bai Xiao's move had been terrifying. A tree thick enough for one person to wrap their arms around had been blasted cleanly into two sections. If that had hit a human body, wouldn't it have blown them into chunks?
Though he had no idea why this terrifying master wanted the brine recipe, if the man wanted it, then all he had to do was hand it over.
Bai Xiao was quite satisfied as well. Once he had both bags in hand, he intended to leave. He had almost no strength left now and needed to find somewhere to rest as quickly as possible.
But at that moment, an old voice came from deep within the woods.
"You've got some nerve. Mr. Lin already made it clear—your Brine Gang and the Char Siu Gang are each to mind your own business and not pull any nonsense. So what exactly is going on here?"
Bai Xiao's vigilance rose instantly. He turned toward the source of the voice and saw an utterly ordinary-looking old man stepping out of the shadows. Behind him followed a young man with a blank expression and patches of pale discoloration on his face.
When Bai Xiao saw him, his eyes narrowed.
It was the very vendor who had just given him the scale meatballs.
Looks like his identity wasn't simple either.
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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