CHAPTER 302: CHAPTER 209: THE BACKER BECOMES A MOUNTAIN ON MY SHOULDERS

After dinner, Qi Yun went to the kitchen to prepare his medicinal soup.

Since the day of going to South Africa, he hadn’t taken his medicine for more than twenty days. Although he felt no obvious change in his body, the "Inner Canon of Huangdi" said this formula should be taken daily. So if he could, he would definitely prefer to have a bowl every day.

Zhao Qing came in after tidying up the dishes and saw him putting herbs into the casserole, she tried to dissuade him, "Why don’t... why don’t you drink this tomorrow instead..."

Qi Yun suspiciously turned his head to look at her, "Hmm? What’s the matter?"

Zhao Qing put down the dishes, clutched the towel in her hands, showed a somewhat awkward expression, and finally gave Qi Yun a fierce glare before turning to leave.

What did that mean? Qi Yun scratched his head, a bit puzzled.

...

Elsewhere, inside a very ordinary residential building.

Old Ghost was tied to a chair, his head drooping, with quite a bit of blood on his face. His bent posture seemed unnatural.

In the adjacent living room, two young men were sitting on small stools by the coffee table, eating boxed meals.

Just then, there was a sudden knocking at the door, and the two young men immediately sat up straight, alert.

When they heard the knocking pattern was three long and two short, they relaxed, and one of them, with a crew cut, got up to open the door.

Standing outside was a slightly overweight middle-aged man. The young man who opened the door said nothing, moved aside to let him in, and then locked the door again.

"How’s he doing? Has he talked?" the middle-aged man asked, putting a plastic bag full of cigarettes and drinks like Red Bull on the coffee table.

The crew-cut shook his head and replied, "No, this guy’s pretty tight-lipped. It’s been from the day before yesterday until now, not a single word."

The middle-aged man’s brows furrowed upon hearing this. He tapped the ash from his cigarette into a water bottle and said, "It’s fine, if he’s willing to keep quiet, you can accompany him patiently, but take care not to overdo it and accidentally kill him."

The crew-cut wiped his mouth, "Understood, we’ll be careful."

The middle-aged man nodded and stepped towards the bedroom inside.

The light in the bedroom was brighter than in the day; not only was there a lamp overhead, but there was also a bright incandescent light aimed directly into Old Ghost’s eyes.

The middle-aged man came closer, raised his hand to brush aside Old Ghost’s hair that was covering his face, but halfway through, he seemed to find the long unwashed hair dirty.

So he withdrew his hand, took out a lighter from his pocket, and used it to move Old Ghost’s hair aside.

Under the light, Old Ghost looked utterly weary, struggling to open his eyelids, even worse off than a gaming café guru who just pulled an all-nighter.

"Can we talk?" the middle-aged man asked.

Only silence answered him, as if Old Ghost hadn’t heard.

The middle-aged man wasn’t annoyed, he took a puff of his cigarette, and slowly said, "It’s meaningless to keep quiet like this; since we could find you, you should know why."

Old Ghost remained silent.

"Heh-heh." The middle-aged man sneered, "To be honest, I’ve seen plenty more stubborn than you, but in the end, they talked obediently."

"I know folks like you value loyalty, but what era is this? Can loyalty feed you? While you’re suffering here, others might be indulging in fine dining outside."

"You should know who you’re messing with; if you don’t want to talk, no one can save you."

"But if you tell me everything, I won’t trouble you, and can let you go right away. You and I, we’re essentially just doing jobs for others; there’s no need for us to make it hard for each other. Consider it."

Upon saying this, the middle-aged man put away his lighter and turned to leave.

In the living room, he tossed the cigarette butt into the water bottle, saying calmly, "I’m leaving now, notify me if there’s any news."

"Yes." The two youths stood up and replied.

The middle-aged man waved his hand, adding a reminder, "Remember what I told you, this matter must be kept absolutely confidential, don’t tell anyone."

The two young men immediately responded, "Got it."

Only then did the middle-aged man nod satisfactorily and head out.

Just as he touched the door handle, he suddenly turned back and said, "That light in his room still isn’t bright enough, he’s dozing off. Xiaobing, go buy another lamp later, a brighter one."

...

At Golden Collar Villa, inside the study.

Qi Yun lit a cigarette, with an invigorated look on his face. After a two-hour intense session, he didn’t feel the slightest fatigue, but rather somewhat eager for more.

He walked to the window, looking at the moonlight outside, again pondering over Old Ghost’s situation.

Although he had paid for the other’s services, if that man was captured, Qi Yun felt no guilt. After all, the price asked was high, reflecting the task’s difficulty and risk.

However, Qi Yun admired Old Ghost’s skills and had planned to recruit him; unexpectedly, this incident happened shortly after.

On another note, if he could rescue Old Ghost, it might reduce his own exposure risk, acting as a form of self-preservation.

"Hmm, let’s see if there are any findings in today’s system intelligence..."

[Current intelligence points: 35]

After visiting Changbai Mountain and then South Africa, he hadn’t checked the intelligence messages much, now accumulating 35 intelligence points, enough to enhance green intelligence once.

[Today’s Intelligence 1 (Red): Zhou Wenbin is currently deliberately cutting off contact with Big Hair, and suggesting to his subordinates to sabotage him, causing funds in multiple projects in Birds’ Market to fail to return, nearing collapse.]

Seeing this intelligence message, Qi Yun’s mouth curled into a smile, looks like the ledger was starting to work; the former patron of Big Hair had now become a big burden on him.

This can be considered revenge for the grievance from before.

[Today’s Intelligence 2 (Red): Under pressure from upper levels, the cases of Tomb Raider Hu Dashan and three others have concluded; the Procuratorate will file a public lawsuit to the New District Intermediate People’s Court tomorrow. Hu Dashan has not revealed the whereabouts of the eight precious artifacts.]

He didn’t spill it, meaning they must still be buried under the culvert, right?

[Today’s Intelligence 3 (Blue): At this moment, in the greenery outside Golden Collar Villa, a homeless man who hasn’t eaten for two days is sleeping. This man is the thirteenth generation descendant of a traditional Chinese medicine family.]

"A homeless man?" Qi Yun was a little stunned.

To his knowledge, traditional Chinese medicine currently earns more than Western medicine, with prescriptions easily costing several hundred yuan, sometimes even thousands. And on top of that, you’d still have to say thank you.

How could he end up as a homeless man?

Also, why is this man rated as blue intelligence?

Zhong Rui, after all, came from Tilanqiao Advanced Study College, and was only rated red intelligence back then.

Could this man be more valuable than Zhong Rui?

Thinking this, Qi Yun went to the desk, extinguished his cigarette, and since he wasn’t quite sleepy yet, he planned to go out to take a look, and perhaps have two barbecue skewers of kidney.

At the doorway, he put on his jacket and quietly left home.

Just a couple of steps out, Chen Wei silently followed him at some point, "Heading out?"

Qi Yun shook his head at him, "I am just going to the neighborhood entrance, take a rest, no need to follow."

However, Chen Wei was unmoved; when it came to Qi Yun’s personal safety, he had considerable autonomy, which was an agreement made between the two initially.

Seeing this, Qi Yun couldn’t be bothered to argue, and turned towards the neighborhood entrance.

Fifty meters from the main entrance was a strip of greenery.

The Golden Collar Villa area is considered a high-end neighborhood, usually seldom visited by homeless people, and Qi Yun easily spotted a dark figure under a tree.

The man wore a dirty jacket, with "Jiajia Supermarket" printed on the back, and was curled up into a ball.

Although it’s spring now, strictly speaking, Jiang Province only has summer and winter, so the night temperature’s still a bit chilly, sleeping like this on the lawn overnight could easily make one sick.

Qi Yun approached and turned off his flashlight, squatting down to pat the guy’s arm, "Hey, buddy."

The man drowsily opened his eyes, turning his head to look at Qi Yun, "Huh? Is sleeping not allowed here? I’ll leave now."

Saying this, he got up from the lawn, picked up his only possession—a large Coke bottle filled with boiled water, ready to leave.