Chapter 147: Labor Fee

Lu Mi extended his right hand and accurately caught the severed finger.

Feeling the weight of the finger and the temperature that hadn't yet faded, he was both surprised and shocked inside:

He had anticipated what kind of protection Mr. K might provide, but he never expected the other party to directly tear off a finger, throw it to him, and say it could provide help at a critical moment!

This is too outrageous, right?

Not to mention what effect a severed finger can have, isn't Mr. K afraid that I'll use his flesh and blood to do something?

In the occult, one's own flesh and blood are quite important. Once they fall into the hands of someone with ill intentions, they might bring very serious consequences.

No one wants to encounter a terrifying curse for no reason!

Considering that Mr. K is powerful, not an occult illiterate, and can even act as a "Notary," Lu Mi suspected that he had a way to avoid the various influences brought by detached flesh and blood, which is why he dared to tear off his finger and hand it to others.

Moreover, this severed finger clearly had miraculous aspects.

I wonder if giving this finger a cut with "Fallen Mercury" and drawing blood could swap the fate of "encountering the Monsuri ghost" to Mr. K... As the prank king of Cordu Village, Lu Mi always had some whimsical ideas.

He suppressed the urge, withdrew his gaze from the severed finger, and cast it toward Mr. K again.

At this time, Mr. K had already grown a new finger that looked slightly damp, with tender skin and a whitish color.

"Thank you." Lu Mi said in a low voice and put the severed finger into the pocket of his gray-blue worker overalls.

Mr. K nodded gently:

"You can leave now; don't forget our agreement."

"There's one more thing." Lu Mi took out that diamond necklace, "Can you help me see if it's real or fake? I need to exchange it for a sum of money."

Having already owed Mr. K a favor, he didn't care about owing a little more.

What if I can't pay it back? If I can't pay it back, I'll sell myself to the organization behind Mr. K!

This was exactly Lu Mi's purpose.

Mr. K had the waiter who led Lu Mi into the underground take that diamond necklace and flip through it in his hand.

Vaguely, Lu Mi seemed to see a hint of golden light seeping out from the shadow of Mr. K's hood.

After a few seconds, Mr. K put the diamond necklace back into the waiter's palm:

"Fake. The workmanship is quite fine; it's worth 50 Jin Bang."

"Alright." Lu Mi didn't hide his helplessness and turned to say, "Also, I need a set of identification documents."

An important reason why he had been living in the "Golden Chicken Hotel" was that they didn't check for identification documents.

Getting Mr. K's affirmative reply, on the way back to the Honest Market District after leaving 19 Sheer Street and taking a public carriage, Lu Mi sometimes thought about how to join a gang without attracting suspicion, sometimes guessed what effect that severed finger could have, and sometimes thought about what method could make those pawnshops pay more for the fake diamond necklace, at least giving 30 Jin Bang...

Amidst various thoughts, Lu Mi gradually had an idea.

At the same time, he intended to find a safe house in the Honest Market District and the Botanical Garden District respectively before the afternoon, the kind that didn't require identification documents.

"I currently have 850 Jin Bang and 24 Kopecks on me. Deducting the 400 Jin Bang balance not yet paid to the intelligence peddler Anthony Reed, the remaining 450 Jin Bang is enough to rent two or three safe houses..." Lu Mi seriously calculated how many assets he still had.

He pursed his lips, feeling it necessary to first put Mr. K's severed finger in the "Golden Chicken Hotel" before going to rent a house.

…………

Before three o'clock in the afternoon, Lu Mi found a room that didn't require identification documents on White Coat Street in the Honest Market District and Slate Street in the Botanical Garden District respectively.

Of course, the rent had a certain premium. The former was not much better than Room 207 in the "Golden Chicken Hotel," but it cost 6 Jin Bang per week. The latter was quite similar to the apartment rented by Ao Si Ta Te Lu Er, with neighbors all being workers in the factories to the south, costing 10 Jin Bang per week.

Lu Mi paid the rent for four weeks at once, but didn't get any discount.

Returning to the "Golden Chicken Hotel," he read "Men's Aesthetics" for a while, used cosmetics to soften his own sharp edges, added shadows in some places, and trimmed his eyebrows.

After a busy period, Lu Mi completed his initial disguise, which made him look like an ordinary man of twenty-four or twenty-five with a bit of dangerous temperament.

Combing his gold-and-black hair, he put on his dark blue duckbill cap, took Mr. K's severed finger, and walked all the way to the front of the Breeze Ballroom on Market Avenue.

He didn't enter directly like other guests, stopped between that earthy yellow building and the white spherical statue composed of countless skulls, and said to the two gang members guarding the door:

"I want to see Baron Brignell."

Not waiting for those two gang members to curse back, he preemptively added:

"Tell the Baron it's Xia Er, whom he met last time; he should be very happy to see me again."

The two gang members looked at each other, ultimately not daring to delay Baron Brignell's business, and one of them went into the ballroom.

In less than five minutes, that gang member came out and said to Lu Mi:

"The Baron wants you to go to the place where you met last time."

The cafe on the second floor? Lu Mi smiled, put his hands in his pockets, walked slowly into the Breeze Ballroom, walked up the stairs, and saw Baron Brignell holding a peach wood pipe.

This gentleman was wearing a black formal suit made of fine wool, with a half-high silk top hat placed by his side, a sparkling ring on his left palm, and a full four gang thugs protecting him from behind.

"Sit." Baron Brignell swept his brown eyes and pointed to the seat opposite the table with a smile.

Lu Mi walked over generously, sat down, and looked at Baron Brignell's deeply lined face and naturally slightly curly brown hair:

"Good afternoon, we meet again."

Baron Brignell tapped the bottom of his peach wood pipe and asked with a smile:

"Is there anything?"

Lu Mi took out Charlie's fake diamond necklace and said calmly:

"I'm a bit short of money recently and want to mortgage this necklace to you. It's worth 1,500 Jin Bang; you give me 1,000."

Baron Brignell turned his head and said to his subordinate:

"Find someone to appraise it."

"Yes, Baron." A gang thug with obvious bruises remaining on his forehead walked out of the cafe.

Baron Brignell looked at Lu Mi again and nodded with satisfaction:

"Not bad. Your makeup technique has improved significantly. Although there are still many flaws, compared to before, you are no longer so easy to be recognized at a glance."

"Thank you for your suggestion." Lu Mi laughed, "'Men's Aesthetics' is a good magazine."

The two chatted about valueless topics until the gang thug who had just left the cafe brought up a man in his forties wearing a formal suit, a bow tie, and carrying a toolbox.

After some appraisal, the man walked to Baron Brignell's side, placed the necklace on the table, and said in a lowered voice:

"It's fake."

Swish, all the gang thugs present drew their revolvers.

Baron Brignell curled his lips and looked at Lu Mi, finding that this kid was calm, as if he hadn't heard the jeweler's words and hadn't seen the actions of several thugs.

Baron Brignell's smile remained unchanged, and he nodded to the appraiser:

"You go back first."

"Yes, Baron." That jewelry appraiser left the cafe in a nervous panic.

Only then did Baron Brignell put down his peach wood pipe, rubbed the diamond ring on his left hand, and asked Lu Mi with a smile:

"Did you know this necklace was fake?"

Lu Mi also revealed a smile:

"I knew."

Before his voice fell, those revolvers were aimed at him.

Baron Brignell saw that Lu Mi was unmoved and asked curiously again:

"Then did you know that I could find someone to appraise the authenticity of diamonds?"

Lu Mi answered with his smile unchanged:

"I knew."

Baron Brignell's eyes narrowed slightly:

"Since you knew, why did you dare to bring a fake necklace to borrow 1,000 Jin Bang?

"Why do you think I would give it to you?"

Lu Mi stood up slowly, ignored those revolvers ready to fire, and placed his hands on the edge of the table.

He leaned his body slightly lower, looked down at Baron Brignell opposite him, and curled his lips:

"Because Ma Ge of the Poison Thorn Gang was killed by me."

The smile on Baron Brignell's face froze instantly.

His pupils dilated instinctively, as if he wanted to see the appearance of the person in front of him more clearly.

The four gang thugs pointing their pistols at Lu Mi were also stunned, all opening their eyes wide.

As the rivals of the Poison Thorn Gang, they knew better than anyone how strong Ma Ge was!

At this time, Lu Mi raised his head, and his emotionless gaze slowly swept across the faces of those thugs.

Every gang member he looked at subconsciously had the urge to avoid his gaze, so much so that their arms reacted, and the muzzles of their guns moved away from him one after another.

Baron Brignell quickly returned to normal and turned back to say to the four thugs:

"Put away your pistols! Haven't I taught you how to treat guests?"

After teaching his subordinates a lesson, he asked Lu Mi with some curiosity:

"How did you kill Ma Ge?"

"I gave him a knife, the kind with poison, but I don't know where he escaped to before he died." Lu Mi answered lightly.

This coincided with the preliminary intelligence Baron Brignell had received. He narrowed his eyes and asked with a smile:

"Do you know what it means to take my 1,000 Jin Bang?"

Lu Mi laughed indifferently:

"I know."

…………

"Golden Chicken Hotel," Room 504.

Charlie saw Lu Mi outside the door and asked quite excitedly:

"Was it appraised as real or fake?"

"Fake, worth at most 50 Jin Bang." Lu Mi said casually while walking into the room.

He discovered that Charlie had already torn off Su Shanna Ma Disi's portrait, leaving only the paper marks after sticking it.

Charlie had been mentally prepared. Although disappointed, it wasn't serious, and he smiled self-deprecatingly:

"At least it's worth 50 Jin Bang; finding a kind-hearted pawnshop should be able to mortgage it for 20."

Lu Mi glanced at him and laughed:

"But I sold that fake necklace for 1,000 Jin Bang."

"Ah?" Charlie was almost stunned.

Lu Mi took out that thick stack of banknotes and said with a smile:

"The fake necklace is yours, worth 50 Jin Bang, so I can only give you this much. The rest is my labor fee, no problem, right?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 148 =====