CBS no. 138

Chapter 2

Dark Street

Translated by Alice of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Jinyu woke up in the early morning, frozen.

As he dazedly tried to look around him, all the sleepiness was suddenly gone in a blink. Jinyu panicked and jumped off the ground, speechlessly stared at the construction machines on the side. His fingers trembled.

"Hey, kid, wake up."

Jinyu followed the very familiar voice, fingers trembling once more.

Yesterday, the old man was clearly dressed in rags, sitting on a rocking chair, looking like an old-fashioned codger. But right now, he was dressed in an exquisite Tang-styled clothing while holding an old cane that seemed to be made of sandalwood. He looked just like an old mast from a wealthy and powerful family.

"...So were you just playing a simulation yesterday, sir?" Jinyu swallowed his saliva, no longer as shameless as yesterday.

"Looks like we still have some fate," the old man hooted with laughter. "That house was where I started to make my fortune from the bottom up. Even if I already have a grandson to inherit my wealth and expand my fortune, I always hesitated to tear down this shabby inn. Last night was its last day, I was going to reminisce about the past alone but who knew that it'd still welcome one last guest. It had its happy ending." The old man lamented at the empty lot. Then, he turned his head to Jinyu and smiled. "Meeting you has put me in a good mood, therefore, I will give you a purple crystal coin for you to start your business. Hehe, seeing how brazen you were yesterday, this old man knows you'll become a big shot in the future."

Having said this, the old man nodded once at Jinyu, then one of his bodyguards threw a purple crystal coin at Jinyu. As Jinyu hurriedly fumbled to catch the coin, the old man conveniently disappeared amongst the crowd and into the towering Dragon's Gate Inn.

Suddenly noticing that the old man was gone, Jinyu felt extremely anxious. He opened his mouth and waved around, "Hey–! That's a bit too stingy now, old man! What can a single purple crystal coin do? But rest assured, I, Jinyu, am a gentleman who always pays his debt. Within a year I will pay you back a thousand purple crystal coins!! What do you say about giving me more? Then I'll pay you back a thousand times more!!"

"Grandpa."

"Okay, let's go back. After today, I will truly retire."

"Yes." The young boy leaned forward to support the old man, walking into the hotel without looking back.

Not until the gate of the Dragon Gate Hotel was completely closed did Jinyu finally regain his spirit and let out a big sigh.

Looking at the old man's grand gesture, Jinyu reckoned he would never able to reach that in his entire life. But he was not the least bit jealous, because wealth could only bring misfortune, modest life was where peace dwells. For Jinyu, who was able to escape from the place where he could die at any moment to this very safe place, as long as he had food and shelter, he was satisfied.

Jinyu cheered himself up and headed toward the Public Square he heard about yesterday. At the square, there were two kinds of public information screens, one showed job recruitment and one showed expedition quests. On the screen, it said that every citizen could find jobs and quests that meet their requirements. Thus, Jinyu was full of excitement, until he saw the contents on the screen.

What are those string of numbers on the top?! Why did all the recruitments have those numbers on it?!

Since Jinyu's IQ was definitely not low, maybe even slightly higher than most people, so after reading it again, he was absolutely certain that the damn number with crosses and circles was similar to his world, the citizen ID number!!

When Jinyu had confirmed his guess, he was downed in pain and disappointment. His future of becoming a beast's babysitter or a beast's psychologist, his dream of having a modest life ah! Gone, reduced to pieces!!

Jinyu was quite aware of the danger of being a 'black household' in a different world. It meant that he won't be able to receive any protection from the government, or he won't be able to rightfully search for jobs, and that there was an eighty percent chance he might have to join the underworld.

Well, in a place like this, where almost everyone was a hunter, outlaws were probably very few, but there was no guarantee that a single crime syndicate wouldn't exist. After all, humans had their bad habits, even if their genes had mutated, the bad habits were ingrained even deeper.

Jinyu let out a big sigh as he weakly sat on the stone bench in a daze. The sign of people and beasts rushing to get the job and their happy shouting contrasted the bleakness of his heart.

"What a tragedy ...this is too unfortunate..."

Just as Jinyu couldn't help but contemplate on his life, suddenly a discussion from behind grabbed his attention.

"Tsk. This month's trade board [1] doesn't have a single good thing. I already spent three months looking for the light horse feathers! And as expected, all the goods here are rip-offs." A guy with fiery hair, temper like a raging fire, screeched indignantly.

"Psh, wasn't this something we knew of early on? If you were going to try to find treasure in the public square, you might as well as have gone to the Hunter's Association or the Explorer's Association to look. Even though their prices are expensive, they definitely won't try to scam newbies like the public square does."

"The issue is that the old man already manages those to places. Ah, it's already difficult enough to get a light horse's feather. As soon as I came here someone bought it off at a high price. Really, what could I do?! Should I have fought pack? That pack of people was ruthless, how could I have survived!" The fiery-haired boy gloomily said.

"If this is the case, why don't you just go to Anjie (the black street) to look?" The tall boy tsked. Suddenly, as if a thought struck him, the tall boy said in a hushed voice, "My cousin is a student at the Hunters School, did you know? He once accidentally overheard the training instructor. The instructor mentioned Anjie is filled with good stuff. Apparently even all of the Hunter's Association and Explorer's Association good stuff comes from there. Although status can't protect you on Anjie but, for you, it shouldn't be a problem."

As soon as the redhead heard the two words 'Anjie' his expression changed ever so slightly before he laughed bitterly, shaking his head. "You really suggested Anjie...That place really isn't as simple as you think. Even if I waited for a year, I still wouldn't go. In my opinion, one's strength can't match a fourth-level Hunter or a fifth level Explorer, Anjie is hell."

Just then, not far from the two boys, Jinyu vanished without a trace. Even before the redhead boy spoke, Jinyu wanted to race towards Anjie like a bloody chicken and started a new exploration involving Anjie.

If only Jinyu could have waited a few more seconds to hear the redhead's last few words, maybe he would not have charged off to Anjie.

But we cannot underestimate how extreme people's appetites are. Even though Jinyu was not born a glutton, but having spent a month in hell, all he could think of was gouging himself on food. To the newly voracious Jinyu, nothing was more attractive than a place where only his strength mattered and his identification was a second thought.

So, to Jinyu, who ran for three hours, and saw a huge black crystal used to make the street door and saw the two words "Anjie" written in a wild, messy scrawl, only felt as though he was finally going to be satisfied.

So, Jinyu, brimming with hope, stepped into Anjie without a bit of hesitation.

So, after Jinyu entered Anjie and the drawings came to his view, he was tragically reminded that as the ancestor of demi-humans and new humans, he was really weak in a place where there more exotic beasts and mutant superhuman ...wasn't he?!