Chapter 37: The Best Price for Family

The Spear Inn, at the counter,

“You were robbed by the Hot Thief yesterday?”

Old One-eye said, greatly astonished.

“Yeah, that little thief was slicker than an eel—he slipped right out of my grip,” Zhou Yun muttered, drinking the crimson liquid in his cup.

A lower nest thief had escaped from his hands,

which left Zhou Yun frustrated.

Though Leina’s mind was flawed, her psychic ability still had some merit,

and Zhou Yun could match her in combat yet still failed to catch a thief,

suggesting the lower nest of Asford might be getting overly competitive.

“What shocks me is that you actually caught the Hot Thief red-handed.”

Old One-eye’s tone remained full of astonishment:

“Some say the Hot Thief possesses a form of precognition.”

“He can sense in advance when victims will return home, when theft will go undetected.”

“No one has ever seen the Hot Thief in the act of stealing—victims are left only with iron doors melted clean through.”

Zhou Yun frowned at this.

The Hot Thief’s precognition sounded quite powerful,

able to precisely avoid danger and choose the perfect time to strike,

at least sounding more reliable than Leina’s unreliable prophetic dreams.

Zhou Yun glanced at the winged figure in the white light and asked:

“Oi! Buddy,”

“Any findings? Is it chaos corruption?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” the winged figure in the white light replied, his tone uncertain.

“Not sure.” That answer was deeply suggestive.

Zhou Yun rubbed his chin and temporarily set the puzzle aside.

He didn’t want to play cat-and-mouse.

Zhou Yun turned to Old One-eye and tapped the table: “What did your superiors say?”

“It can be done,” Old One-eye nodded.

Before Zhou Yun could ask the price, Old One-eye changed the subject:

“My superior can provide you with two access passes to the upper nest.”

“These passes will be very useful—more useful than you imagine.”

“Go straight to the checkpoint gate; the PDF there will hand them to you.”

Hearing this, Zhou Yun’s brow twitched slightly.

PDF—the Planetary Defense Force will hand us the passes?

Zhou Yun sized up Old One-eye.

His superior must be high-ranking indeed.

A sudden guess flashed through Zhou Yun’s mind, but he kept it silent.

“What’s the catch?” Zhou Yun tapped the table.

“He wants to meet you—in the upper nest,” Old One-eye said flatly.

“Does he have that much nerve?”

Zhou Yun couldn’t help laughing:

“Aren’t you afraid I’m a servant of the Worm of the Underworld?”

When Zhou Yun uttered the name “Worm of the Underworld,”

he noticed Old One-eye’s body stiffen slightly,

as if the name carried some curse,

and after a deep breath, he continued: “You even know that?”

Old One-eye leaned closer to Zhou Yun, lowering his voice:

“Don’t speak its name aloud—the Worm of the Underworld will hear.”

Zhou Yun’s eye twitched slightly—he confirmed his suspicion.

Old One-eye was a man of Viceroy Augustus Flax.

“I was wondering if you were an Inquisition spy—turns out you’re the Viceroy’s man.”

“...Yes, I was once a guard in the Viceroy’s palace in the upper nest.”

Old One-eye nodded gently, stroking his single eye:

“But I was an unfit guard. Under the Viceroy’s command, we sought to kill the Worm of the Underworld.”

“Yet when we faced it—back then it was still young—we still trembled.”

“At that moment, I saw a monster embodying every evil of the mortal world—we all shuddered.”

Old One-eye sighed.

His eyes seemed to reflect the terrifying form of the Worm of the Underworld,

the young Gene-Stealer chieftain crouched within the palace, extending its claws.

“That single instant of trembling—the Worm of the Underworld used its claws to take my eye, then fled through the pipes into the lower nest.”

“Everything I am now is my past mistake—I betrayed all the Emperor taught me, letting loose a blasphemous alien.”

“The Viceroy gave me a chance to atone. Almost all of our original guards descended into the lower nest to hunt the Worm of the Underworld.”

“But my old comrades have since been mostly eradicated—I am one of the few survivors.”

Old One-eye fell silent,

as if the fear of the past had swallowed him again.

Zhou Yun watched Old One-eye, waiting for him to speak.

“I know you also have conflict with the Worm of the Underworld.”

Old One-eye suddenly smiled:

“Heh—even if you had no conflict, just knowing what the Worm of the Underworld is would be enough.”

“We can cooperate, Zhou Yun,” he said. “The Viceroy wishes to discuss cooperation with you.”

“We both want to fight the Worm of the Underworld, don’t we?”

“These passes are the beginning of our cooperation.”

“How much? How much for two passes?” Zhou Yun waved his hand.

Old One-eye blinked in surprise.

“The Viceroy doesn’t care about such petty money,” he said.

“No good. Name a price!” Zhou Yun said firmly.

Old One-eye paused, then signaled a price.

“Nope. Add more. Make it higher!”

“These are two passes to the upper nest—you can’t sell them cheap!”

Zhou Yun declared solemnly.

Old One-eye hesitated, then signaled a higher price.

“Two legitimate, compliant passes to the upper nest.”

Zhou Yun gestured a price to Leina—twice what Old One-eye had offered.

Leina stared, astonished, unable to believe Zhou Yun’s price for the two upper nest passes.

“Two upper nest passes... are legitimately compliant?”

Leina’s gaze wavered, as if she couldn’t believe it:

“But this price—”

Her tone was hesitant.

“Don’t rush. This price took me hours of haggling to secure.”

“The best deal for family.”

Zhou Yun pointed at the price on the table, his expression earnest.

He himself felt a twinge of doubt:

he had no clear idea of the actual price of upper nest passes,

and doubling it to sell to Leina at 100% profit—was that too steep?

“Your haggling skills are insane!”

Leina exclaimed in disbelief:

“Even smugglers charge me less than this!”

“Are these passes even reliable?”

Hearing Leina’s hesitant words, Zhou Yun’s eye twitched—he felt a pang of regret.

Damn, I should’ve charged more!

“Cough, cough, cough.”

Zhou Yun quickly cleared his throat and said:

“I’m talking about the price of a single pass.”

“Since there are two of us, it doubles!”

The doubt in Leina’s eyes vanished at once, and a smile appeared on her face,

she said cheerfully: “That’s more like it.”

Join the group, why won’t any of you join the group!





(End of Chapter)