Tang Qian, male, forty-one years old, of the Swarm.
A Mid-Continent mercenary, Gold Medal salesman for Didi Beatings, rental yojimbo on the Wild Gathering with an approval rating of only forty-one percent, runner-up in the Northern Thousand Islands' 14th Big Eater Competition, Silver Card member of the Red Phoenix Nightclub... and even, a Sovereign Chosen of the Swarm.
Aliases: Tom, Jerry, Smith, Nakanojo, John Wang, Honest Chen, Yu Qiang, and so forth.
Switching names for every job was purely standard practice.
Combat capability: unknown. Slack off against the weak, lie flat against the strong; bearing all his ancestors upon his person, a textbook exemplar of "when one man is fed, the whole family doesn't hunger."
Unlike the terrifying aura of a peak Asura with three heads and six arms, Old Tom was currently still in a one-head, two-arm state. Completely clueless and wearing an utterly baffled look, he had yet to figure out the situation.
What happened? Where's the enemy? Who the fuck am I?
How had the target his employer hired him to protect ended up butchered and dead on the floor, bleeding everywhere, in the time it took to take a dump?
Even more unexpected was running into an old acquaintance in this godforsaken place called Quancheng...
—What the hell are you guys doing?!
In shock, he looked at the corpse on the floor, then at Ji Jue, and back at the corpse.
Ji Xue crouched slightly in vigilance, hands resting on the dual daggers behind her back, her expression growing cold.
Yet Ji Jue's hand came down on her shoulder.
He patted it, gesturing for her to rest well and leave this to him.
He stood up from the chair.
Old Tom finally seemed to react.
He let out a sigh of relief.
"Hey, Ji Jue?!"
He grinned in delight, beaming from ear to ear. "It really is you! Long time no—"
Boom!
A scarlet deluge surged, wrapping around a spear that materialized out of thin air.
The storm shrieked, the blood-wind roared—charge!
Sweet rain after a long drought, meeting an old friend in a faraway land.
A joyous occasion!
—Why not lead with a spear thrust from behind, just out of respect?!
Instantly, the spearhead tore through the air, plunging nearly hilt-deep into the quicksilver iron wall that had risen from the ground in secret preparation. In a single ambush strike, it shattered three quicksilver iron walls like splitting bamboo; the dozens of tough, overlapping layers in each wall were pierced into utter ruins!
Behind the fissured iron wall, Ji Jue tilted his head. The spearhead barely grazed past his ear.
Just an inch away...
This bastard really was an authentic Swarm. When he fought, he was like a rabid dog, not holding back in the slightest!
"Heartbreaking," Ji Jue sighed. "I thought our friendship could at least last until we finished greeting each other."
"Haven't I already greeted you?"
Without a thought, Tang Qian tilted his head, dodging Ji Xue's accelerated slash. His right hand drew a hand-axe, shattering the bullet Lou Feng fired from outside the bank behind him. His left hand drew the longsword at his waist, sweeping horizontally and severing the obstructive iron wall clean in two.
The lingering force didn't fade, sweeping behind him to force the charging Ji Xue back.
In her accelerated time, Ji Xue couldn't even brake in time; she leaped backward like a pole-vaulter, escaping the fate of being cut in two at the waist, cold sweat drenching her back.
So fast, so strong.
It was practically as if he had eyes on the back of his head.
With a single attack, parrying and striking in fluid synergy... If Ji Liu were here, brother-sister teamwork, two-on-one, maybe they'd stand a chance!
And then, she saw muscles bulge on Tang Qian's back. Two arms sprouted out of thin air, clutching a flail and a javelin. Charging forward, he smashed through layer upon layer of obstructive iron walls like crushing dry weeds, shredded countless flexible threads reaching toward him, and pressed the pursuit... Asura!
This was probably unwinnable!
Tong Shan couldn't pull away right now. Ji Liu and Jiang Xuan were too far, and even Little Niuma wasn't around.
One might ask: how could Ji Jue, a mere Embers, fight this?
The answer was: fight what? Just surrender!
This bastard Tang Qian was still using only normal attacks and skills—he hadn't even used a blessing yet!
Boom!
Crushing the spikes that suddenly erupted from the floor beneath his feet, Tang Qian charged forward once more. The javelin left his hand, piercing through defenses, grazing past Ji Jue's head, and nailing into the wall, punching through four layers before vanishing.
A relentless onslaught!
If possible, he really didn't want to fight an old friend. If Ji Jue had turned and fled, he might have put on an act and pretended he couldn't catch up.
But this stubborn bastard was infuriatingly headstrong—he didn't even consider retreating!
Then there was no helping it...
To catch the bandits, catch the chief first; in a team fight, kill the crowd-controller first!
Besides, others might not know how dangerous Ji Jue was, but as a former teammate, he knew damn well—as long as this guy could still draw breath, he was a grave threat!
"Sorry! We're close, but that's how we Swarm are—we recognize money, not friendship."
The flail smashed the Metallic Quality's barrier; the longsword severed the Form of Utmost Resilience's bindings. The spear drove straight through the center, aiming right at Ji Jue's face, holding nothing back.
"Is that so? Then that's..."
Ji Jue sighed with regret, deeply disappointed:
"—just wonderful."
Sudden, dead silence.
The howling spear ground to an abrupt halt, braking perilously in midair.
More precisely, it stopped right in front of Ji Jue's raised right hand.
Between his index and middle fingers, as if conjured by magic, an ancient gold coin appeared.
The treasure left behind by the Eternal Empire showed the weathering of time, yet still shone bright. The delicately carved profile of the Emperor stood regal and lifelike.
The wind from the spear whistled forward, brushing against the coin.
Hum—
The crisp chime was extraordinarily pleasing to the ear.
Tang Qian's eyes widened—near-mint condition, a true rarity!
"Since you're being so direct, I won't pretend to be a gentleman either."
The warm smile vanished from Ji Jue's face, replaced by an arrogant tilt of his head, as if looking down from on high.
Sentiment?
What sentiment is there to talk about?
"Speak."
He tossed the coin up and down in his fingers, drawing Tang Qian's gaze up and down in sync. "How much per time?"
"Bullshit!" Tang Qian flew into a rage. "Who do you think I am? I am a dignified Swarm! Wealth cannot corrupt me, force cannot bend me! You think a random broken gold coin from who knows where can tempt me? What a joke!"
"That's fine. Talking with 'Fourth Granduncle' works just as well."
Ji Jue said calmly, utterly unfazed by his evasive posturing. "A few days ago, my fencing partner told me there was some fool on the market buying up Eternal Empire gold coins in bulk, still buying even at several times the markup.
"And so, I went back and reviewed our past footage..."
Stop posing!
I know your little desires inside and out!
Tang Qian's face twitched. He wanted to keep acting, but the voice echoing in his ears became the hundred-thousand-ton straw that broke the camel's back:
"Coins like this? I have two chests at home. At least."
As he spoke, right before Tang Qian's eyes, Ji Jue drew his gun, racked the slide, ejected a round, and tossed it over.
Baffling.
Yet when the bullet landed in Tang Qian's hand, it was unnaturally heavy.
This weight was like... Fuck, gold?
Ji Jue added, "The spares get made into armor-piercing bullets. If you don't want them, I can melt this one down later and give you two to play with. How about that?"
Tang Qian froze in place.
For a long time.
He swallowed dryly.
Reason and conscience fought inside him. Conscience said: Why the fuck are you hesitating? Kill him and it's all yours! Reason said: What the fuck is the Evil Transmutation Cult anyway? Low pay, endless trouble. Are you crazy, staying loyal to such a doomed sinking ship? Jump ship now, or are you waiting to die?
As for hesitation or struggle over betraying his employer?
Sorry, not a shred.
There was no helping it. Even if wealth could not corrupt, Ji Jue was simply too wealthy!
Being a little corrupted was inevitable.
Faced with a company executive paying a sudden visit to his home, and that hand stroking over black stockings so much it nearly rubbed up fuzz, for the sake of Fourth Granduncle's wish, Tang Qian could only...
Enjoy himself first!
"What kind of person do you take me for?!" he rebuked loudly. "The Evil Transmutation Cult—they are my dearest friends and beloved kin!"
"Twenty coins. Not one more," Ji Jue said coldly, unmoved. "If not, we fight. Let's see if you can take on six at once!"
Tang Qian shook his head decisively: "At least thirty-five!"
"Deal."
Without a second's hesitation, Ji Jue nodded. That, in turn, made Tang Qian's heart ache faintly... Fuck, I bid too low!
Right after, he saw Ji Jue flick his wrist.
The gold coin was tossed over.
Heavy in hand, that familiar weight and familiar texture, combined with an unfamiliar, pristine state of preservation, nearly brought tears of moved emotion to his eyes.
Yet just as his face flushed and his heart pounded, wanting more, Ji Jue remained motionless where he stood.
Suddenly, Tang Qian's heart hung suspended in midair, neither rising nor falling.
Growing more and more anxious.
"Where's the rest?!"
"Down payment first."
Ji Jue wore an expression that plainly said 'I'm stringing you along.' "Have Tong Shan write you an IOU for the rest. The goods are all with his younger sister. Who carries that much Eternal Empire junk when they go out?"
Tang Qian frowned. "Then it has to be forty!"
"Thirty."
Ji Jue swung his bargaining axe down hard. "Trust me, or trust the Evil Transmutation Cult. Pick one."
He said, "Trust me and stop fighting, and everything's negotiable. If you don't, we keep fighting, and consider that coin a gift from a friend. But whether the Evil Transmutation Cult wins or loses, you'll never be able to show your face in the Federation again.
"The Tong family and the Security Bureau won't let you off. Oh, outside there's someone from the Lou family, and behind you is the Ji family."
"We already agreed, how can you haggle down?!" Tang Qian panicked. "Why five less?!"
"Does helping you launder your record come for free?"
Ji Jue rolled his eyes. "I haven't even charged you for equipment wear and tear yet!"
Saying so, he raised his hand, dividing the quicksilver before him into two: "See that? A perfectly good piece of equipment, chopped into two half-finished products by you. Did I say anything about that?!"
"Now you're just talking nonsense!"
Amidst the repeated tug-of-war and probing, a trace of gravity finally surfaced beneath Tang Qian's smile: "You want me to turn traitor for a single coin? What happens to my reputation if word gets out?
"If the Evil Transmutation Cult pays more, am I supposed to stab you guys in the back too?!"
To this, Ji Jue didn't answer.
He merely tilted his head and spoke into the open communication channel: "Plant, did you hear that?"
No one replied.
Only the buzzing hum and shrill whistle of psychokinesis. From the direction of the underground vault, a black speck suddenly shot forth like a falling star.
Still testing at a time like this?
Tang Qian sneered disdainfully. With a slight tilt of his head, he dodged the black speck's trajectory. Yet as it flew past his shoulder, his shifting gaze landed on it, and it was as if his eyes were superglued to it.
He couldn't tear them away.
The speck landed in Ji Jue's hand.
Between those two fingers was a pitch-black card, bearing only a dim logo and, in the bottom right corner, a row of digits denoting a serial number.
In an instant, Tang Qian's gaze turned sweet as honey, gentle as water, glowing with understated charm and flirtatious grace.
If he were wearing a dress, he might well have fluttered his burly frame right into Ji Jue's embrace.
A Perpetual Bank VIP card!
A status symbol held only by clients with total assets exceeding ten billion, or who had purchased more than five hundred million in wealth management products from the bank!
He knew this all too well!
If you asked him who was strongest or most badass after all his years as a mercenary, he might shake his head and say he didn't know. But if you asked who was rich, you were asking the right man!
"I can be persuaded! Absolutely persuaded!"
Tang Qian gripped Ji Jue's hand tightly, tears welling in his eyes. "Ever since I came to this shitty place, I've only worked as a bodyguard. I haven't touched a single dirty deed!
"Give me a chance, Brother Ji! I want to forsake darkness and step into the light!"
Saying so, his burly frame trembled once, then again, shaking off the dust and even the Vile Folly corruption clinging to him, revealing a pure, flawless aura of Sovereign Virtue—a chosen favorite of the Swarm.
"Smith has drifted for half a lifetime, lamenting only that he never met an enlightened lord! If milord does not disdain me, Smith is willing to honor you as foster father!"
Ji Jue was exasperated: "Isn't your fucking surname Tang?!"
"If the pay is good, I can take the surname Tong along with you guys!"
Speechless.
Filial, truly filial!
This was an authentic display of earth-shattering filial piety, folks.
Yet the folks—the ancestors—seemed to have long grown used to it, not even bothering to pay attention. If they were awake, they might even nod in approval.
What was the big deal?
It was just changing a surname. It wasn't like he hadn't done it before. Besides, getting paid for it wasn't shameful.
Since things had been said to this point, dragging it out any longer would be impolite.
Ji Jue turned around without hesitation, his finger snapping out like a gun toward the direction of the underground vault, pointing at that priest: "Ten million. Kill him."
"Yes, Foster Father!"
A blood-wind erupted.
Without a second thought, Old Tom sped off like lightning!
Only Ji Jue remained frozen in place, having not yet caught up.
That fast?
Chapter 218