Chapter 158: Long Cheng’s Request

Long Cheng gave himself a new face: pale purple eyes, light red long hair, and a messy face that made people not want to look at it at all. Cripple glanced at Long Cheng with a grim expression, but never felt like daring to look at him more. He just silently watched Long Cheng’s hand sink into the counter, with faint green smoke rising from the edges of his palm.

“Lin Qi!”

After a long while, Cripple finally called out softly.

Lin Qi spread his hands. He looked at Cripple with pity; it wasn’t that he intended to threaten Cripple today, but it seemed Long Cheng suddenly became very interested in this news? Besides, even if Lin Qi had intended to threaten Cripple, so what? Once Uncle Bar and Aunt Lili returned to the Imperial Capital, it would be time for the Iron Fist Brotherhood to develop their own strength and unite the Underworld of the Imperial Capital.

When that time came, Cripple would either submit or be destroyed—there would be no other choice.

So Lin Qi also looked at Long Cheng’s hand, surrounded by green smoke, and stayed silent.

Cripple’s face twitched violently, and the few maids beside him cautiously moved far away. The few burly men in the tavern noticed the commotion here, but first, Lin Qi had a fierce reputation; second, Long Cheng’s hand sinking into the counter was truly shocking. None of them dared to step forward and say a word.

These thugs, who usually roamed freely in the Dock District, exchanged glances like frightened quails. In the middle of winter, few had spare money to spend at Cripple’s Tavern. If there had been hundreds of thugs here, perhaps they would have dared to challenge Long Cheng. But now there were only seven or eight of them, and the terrifying image of Jiang Yong rubbing a gold bar like it was mud was still fresh in their minds. How could they recklessly step forward?

Cripple swallowed his saliva hard and called out softly again, “Lin Qi!”

Lin Qi sighed. He took out a gold note with a face value of two hundred gold coins from his sleeve and slowly pushed it toward Cripple. “Uncle Cripple, that Jiang Yong’s hand is really valuable. You should know, I like his hand, I like the silk clothes he wears, I like the gold, silver, and jewelry he might be carrying. Why can’t you do me this small favor? At most, I’ll give you a share!”

Long Cheng sighed softly and said quietly, “That really is a valuable hand!”

Lin Qi shot a quick glance at Long Cheng. He hadn’t told Long Cheng about Jiang Yong’s situation; today, he had just casually brought Long Cheng to Cripple’s Tavern to gather information and use Long Cheng as a tool. But judging by Long Cheng’s tone, he definitely knew Jiang Yong—he definitely knew that hand of Jiang Yong’s!

Letting out a light laugh, Lin Qi added another two hundred gold coin note. He said calmly, “Uncle Cripple, if you refuse to sell me information, you’d be breaking your own rule. Isn’t Cripple’s Tavern supposed to be a place for selling information? Damn it, if you won’t sell me the information, are you trying to keep it all for yourself?”

Cripple gave a bitter smile and shook his head, picking up the two gold notes. He thought for a moment, lowered his head, and sighed, “Alright, alright, I really should provide you with the relevant information. After all, it’s the rule I set myself. If you succeed, I want ten percent of the profit. Little Lin Qi, I want ten percent!”

Lin Qi smiled and nodded. “Fine, ten percent it is. But you have to tell me where they are.”

Cripple took out a yellowed piece of paper from under the counter, dipped his finger in liquor, and quickly drew a map on it.

“They left a few days ago. They’re in The Hunchback’s territory—you know, the most complicated part of Spider Alley in his area. They got a small house there. They stay inside all day, and all their food and supplies are brought in by two hired male servants. Let me say it again—if you really get something from them, I want ten percent!”

Lin Qi memorized the rough map in his mind, nodded, clicked his tongue with a crisp sound, and happily jumped up, laughing, “Alright, Uncle Cripple, may your business thrive! It’s strange, though—why aren’t they staying with you anymore?”

Cripple spread his hands and made a funny face, twisting his mouth. “Who knows? Maybe they’re planning to work with The Hunchback? Who knows?”

Lin Qi shrugged, patted Long Cheng’s arm, and the two of them walked out of the tavern one after the other.

Cripple muttered complaints from behind, “Damn it, you should pay for my counter! This is a treasure left by my great-great-grandfather. Good heavens, you made such a big hole in it!”

Lin Qi ignored Cripple’s words. The two of them walked out of Cripple’s Tavern and went a long way down the street before Lin Qi finally asked, “Do you know Jiang Yong? Tsk, I think you must. That guy is so mysterious. Aha, I don’t believe there could be two Celestial Knights from The East coming to the Western side at the same time. You two couldn’t have planned to elope together, could you?”

Long Cheng almost spat out blood. He gritted his teeth and growled in a low voice, “Me, elope with that dead eunuch? Damn it, do you believe I’ll send you to the palace to keep him company? Damn it, he’s my enemy. He was sent by that bastard I was gambling against. Heh, trying to ruin my plans?”

He slapped Lin Qi hard and snorted, “Help me out, will you? I can give you all these treasures I have!”

Lin Qi was stunned for a moment, his hand already reaching for the large bundle on Long Cheng’s shoulder. As he lifted the bundle off Long Cheng’s shoulder, he smiled and said, “Well, that depends. If it’s too difficult, I can’t help you. You know I don’t like to get myself into trouble. Hmm, I’ll keep these treasures for you for now. I’ll cover all your expenses in the Imperial Capital. Five hundred thousand gold coins should be enough for you to live luxuriously for a year. Look, you don’t really need this many good things.”

While lifting the bundle, Lin Qi took off his boot. By the time he finished speaking, he had stuffed the large bundle into his ankle chain.

Satisfied, he looked at Long Cheng and grinned, “Alright, now we can talk business. Dear Long Cheng, what is it that you need my help with?”

Long Cheng rolled his eyes at Lin Qi, let out a heavy breath, shook his head, and sighed, “You greedy guy… Fine, money is just an external thing. Help me kill Jiang Yong and his people, and I won’t ask for a single copper coin back. Help me kill Jiang Yong, and you don’t need to worry about anything else.”

Lin Qi froze for a moment, then immediately turned to leave. Long Cheng grabbed him and asked angrily, “Where are you going? Are you really that disloyal?”

Lin Qi glared at Long Cheng and snapped, “Idiot, we need to hurry and pick up the boxes and gold bars we threw away earlier and dump them all into Jiang Yong’s yard!”

Long Cheng suddenly understood and quickly started running as well.