Chapter 767
Chapter 767
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 767
>Chapter Title: Woman
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“Li Huowang?” A roar sounded as a black heavy motorcycle pulled up beside Li Huowang.
Li Huowang looked at the tattooed man in front of him, this guy named Ba Shengqing. The tattoos on his face didn’t leave a great impression.
Even as that thought crossed his mind, Li Huowang still extended his hand toward him. After all, it was hard to say if they’d cross paths in the future. “Pleased to meet you.”
But facing Li Huowang’s outstretched hand, Ba Shengqing didn’t reach out. Instead, his gaze drifted toward Yang Na.
Li Huowang’s brow furrowed instantly. He pushed off lightly with his right foot against the ground, blocking the man’s line of sight. “What did you want with Qingwang Lai just now?”
Ba Shengqing didn’t take the bait. He switched topics instead. “You’ve been meddling in all this recent stuff?”
The other man wasn’t answering his question, so Li Huowang had no intention of answering his. He just stared at him with hostile eyes.
“You shouldn’t be getting involved in this.” Clearly, Ba Shengqing knew something.
“Heh, you make it sound like I can stay out of it if I don’t get involved.”
“It’s not like I went looking to stick my nose in. They came after me first. If you don’t know what I’ve been through, you’d better not jump to giving me advice.”
With a twist of his wrist, Ba Shengqing’s motorcycle let out a thunderous roar. “Come on. My sister wants to meet you.”
“Your sister?” Li Huowang didn’t catch on right away. Where had this sister come from? He was meeting this guy for the first time, yet he was acting like they were old pals.
Ba Shengqing didn’t respond. He just revved the motorcycle and drove forward.
As Li Huowang hesitated, Yang Na spoke up beside him. “Huowang, don’t go. This guy looks like bad news.”
“I know, but...” Li Huowang couldn’t voice what was on his mind. There was a faint, inexplicable sense of familiarity in his gaze, something he’d never felt before.
“Let’s go check it out. He handled that truck, so what’s a little motorcycle to worry about?” Li Huowang hopped on his shared bike.
He didn’t fully trust the guy either. If the motorcycle headed toward some deserted spot, he’d turn right around.
To Li Huowang’s surprise, though, Ba Shengqing didn’t go anywhere remote. He drove straight into a bustling pedestrian street.
On the second floor of a shop on the pedestrian street, Li Huowang spotted Ba Shengqing’s tattoo parlor: Blood Society Fire.
Weird name for a guy, weird name for a shop.
As Li Huowang hesitated over whether to bring Yang Na into this sketchy place, she pulled out her phone from her bag.
“Huowang, if you’re going, I won’t stop you. I’ll stay across the street on the second floor, recording video and keeping watch. If anything goes wrong, I’ll call the cops right away and get Qingwang Lai over here.”
“Got it.” Feeling the reassuring weight of the military knife on his back, Li Huowang relaxed a bit and headed for the stairs nearby.
Ba Shengqing’s shop looked no different from any ordinary tattoo parlor. It was filled floor to ceiling with photos of tattoos—big and small—like sheets of human skin turned into artwork.
At the back of the shop, a partitioned-off area curtained with black cloth buzzed with the sound of tattooing.
Ba Shengqing tossed his motorcycle keys onto the counter without so much as glancing at Li Huowang and headed straight for the partition.
The buzzing stopped for a few seconds, then started up again. Someone emerged from the partition—not Ba Shengqing, but a woman with a cigarette dangling from her lips.
A skinny woman with thorns tattooed across her neck and face, just like Ba Shengqing, but mirrored—his on the left, hers on the right.
Unlike his shaved head, her tattoos crept up the left side of her scalp, while long gray-dyed hair covered the rest.
She had a brow piercing on her left eyebrow, her ears crammed with all sorts of earrings—clearly a lot of piercings. Her eyeshadow and lips were dark, and she was dressed head to toe in black.
Without all that, she’d actually have been pretty attractive.
Seeing the faint resemblance in their features, Li Huowang figured this was the sister Ba Shengqing had mentioned.
As Li Huowang sized her up, she sized him up too. Neither spoke for a moment.
Li Huowang was certain they’d never met, but like Ba Shengqing, she gave him that same inexplicable flicker of familiarity.
“You Ba Shengqing’s sister? I heard you wanted to see me? Do you know me? Have we met before?”
She plucked the cigarette from her lips with two black-nailed fingers and blew a cloud of white smoke right in Li Huowang’s face. “Fuck, the way you say that, it’s like you’re trying to hit on me.”
The faint familiarity vanished in an instant. Her actions and tone rubbed Li Huowang the wrong way.
“Something you need? If not, I’ll be going.” As Li Huowang turned, she blocked his path.
Before she could speak, Li Huowang’s military knife was already at her throat.
Feeling the cold metal, her attitude finally turned serious. She put the cigarette back in her mouth and pinched the blade with two fingers, pulling it away from her neck. “Don’t trust Qingwang Lai too much. He’s no good.”
Li Huowang felt nothing. He wasn’t an idiot who’d believe whatever a stranger said. So far, at least, Qingwang Lai hadn’t done anything against him.
And as she’d spoken, Li Huowang had caught a clear glimpse of her tongue—split down the middle like a snake’s.
You couldn’t judge a book by its cover, but her first impression was just awful.
“Thanks for the heads-up. Is that why you had your brother drag me here? Message received, thanks.” Li Huowang sheathed his knife and prepared to leave.
“Here’s a tip for you: Qian Fu and Qingwang Lai are in bed together. If he did anything before, Qingwang Lai was the one pulling the strings.”
Li Huowang glanced at Yang Na across the way and stopped in his tracks. “You dragged me here for this? To sow discord?”
“Sit.” The woman knocked on the table cluttered with tattoo designs, tossed her spent cigarette into the ashtray, and lit a fresh one.
“I bet Qingwang Lai’s fed you some lines about projections, parallel worlds, and shit like that. Don’t buy it. He’s nuts, you know? Got problems up here.” She jabbed a finger at her temple.
“I don’t care if he’s nuts or not. Whether he is doesn’t stop us from teaming up against the enemy. You two siblings, on the other hand...”
Li Huowang glanced toward the buzzing partition. “You two just sit on your asses doing nothing, reaping the benefits.”
“Fuck, how do you know I’ve done nothing? You just met us today. You think you know us that well?”
Seeing Li Huowang look away, the woman swung her feet up onto the table. “Don’t follow Qingwang Lai’s path. He’ll lead you straight into a ditch.”
“Since everyone’s got their own ideas, they should walk their own roads. Forcing everyone together just backfires. As long as you stick to your own path, any difficulty can be overcome.”
Li Huowang didn’t quite follow what she was saying. He sensed she was about to launch into explaining her entire worldview.
(End of chapter)