Chapter Fifteen: Knives

Wu’an District was quite a bit farther from her home; a bus ride would be measured in hours. A taxi would be fast, but Shiyue didn’t want to waste the money. Besides, her dad drove the night shift, and she felt she might run into him if she took a cab.

“Beep. Student Card.”

Head lowered, Shiyue scurried straight to the window seat at the very back of the bus. She stared heavily at the shifting lights and shadows outside the window, her heartbeat accelerating bit by bit.

After listening to her father recount how he was beaten, she had secretly resolved to take revenge. With the experience of killing eight people last time, Shiyue was certain that dealing with a few punks in Xu’an District would be a piece of cake. However, she needed to learn from her mistakes; this time, she absolutely would not act empty-handed. She needed tools. Not kitchen knives, fruit knives, bricks, or stools—she needed real killing instruments.

The bus arrived. Shiyue shouldered her snakeskin bag and got off. As soon as she stepped off, she saw a crowd gathering on the roadside, watching something. Some were even taking photos and videos with their phones.

She leaned in to look. A man in a suit was punching and kicking another man, cursing as he struck. Several other men dressed similarly surrounded them. Although only one person was doing the hitting, the victim didn’t dare fight back at all; he just curled up like a hedgehog, shielding his head, shuddering with every punch he took.

Looking closely, Shiyue noticed that these men—including the one being beaten—had their faces plastered with makeup. Under the night lights, they looked as pale as paper.

After watching for a while, Shiyue understood what was happening.

These men were male hosts from a nearby KTV. The one being beaten was a newcomer who didn’t understand the rules; he had given a rich female patron an attitude, upsetting the customer, so the team leader had dragged him out to teach him a lesson.

The leader punched him violently, and when his knuckles got sore, he started kicking the man’s backside, swearing nonstop. After thoroughly “educating” his errant junior colleague, the leader squatted on the ground, tilting his head like a kindergarten teacher asking a question.

“Do you know what you did wrong?”

“I know.”

“Where did you go wrong?”

“I shouldn’t have lost my temper with the guest. The guests are our providers, our bread and butter.”

“Tsk, you still don’t get it.”

The leader rubbed his chin as if in thought, then suddenly grabbed the man’s belt. “Take it off.” Swish, he undid the belt and yanked the man’s trousers all the way down, leaving him in only a pair of grey boxer briefs. The man dared not resist the entire time.

“You take yourself too seriously! Think hard about what your actual job is.”

He hoisted the man up and patted the dust off him. “Didn’t you want dignity? Do you still want it now? Do you have any dignity? If you know you’re wrong, pull up your pants and come back with me to apologize. She isn’t just a guest; she is your master. In a moment, no matter how excessive her demands are, you will serve her properly, or you can pack up and get the hell out.”

The man meekly followed behind his butt. Passersby laughed occasionally; this sort of thing seemed commonplace in the Wu’an District area. It was Shiyue’s first time seeing something like this—a broadened horizon, of sorts.

Although she possessed power, Shiyue didn’t want to do anything extraneous. She still had to find the so-called “black market” to buy murder weapons. She remembered where the gang that injured her father was located—the abandoned brewery next to the shantytown in Xu’an District. Shiyue had found it easily by searching those keywords online.

“Black market, black market… where is there a black market?”

She said she was looking for a black market, but Shiyue walked along the road checking every shop—malls, restaurants, hotels, entertainment clubs—yet she didn’t see anything that looked remotely like a black market. Not that she knew what one was supposed to look like. After looking left and right for ages, she finally saw a shop with heavy curtains hanging down. It looked mysterious, and she couldn’t tell what was inside. Shiyue strode up, lifted the curtain, and immediately asked, “Hello, do you have things that can kill people?”

The clerk’s eyes widened slightly. He nodded and took a box of emergency contraceptives off the shelf.

“No… I mean like… the kind that really kills people… the genuine article…”

A flicker of realization passed through the clerk’s eyes. He bent down and pulled several boxes of condoms from the glass cabinet. “This is the extra-thick model, this is the ultra-thin, and this one is…”

Shiyue silently backed out.

Maybe she needed to use slang or code words. If she had known, she would have asked those scavengers for details. Now she was in an awkward position.

“Hey, little sister, what are you looking for?”

A guy with hair dyed yellow suddenly patted her shoulder. He had one hand in his pocket and looked like he was just passing by to chat. “I’ve seen you circling around here for a while.” He pointed to the nearby shops. “Are you trying to buy something?”

Shiyue cast a confused look at him. “I’m looking for the black market.”

“Black…? Ha, hahahaha…”

Yellow Hair clutched his belly and burst out laughing. He wanted to say something but couldn’t help laughing again. Under Shiyue’s gaze, the guy stood there laughing for half a minute. Finally done, he rubbed his face and said:

“You are so cute, friend! You’re looking for the black market, right? Tell you what, tell me what you want to buy, and I’ll take you to find it—”

“I want to buy weapons. They must be very convenient for killing people… Hmm, cold weapons [melee weapons] take priority.”

Shiyue thought a lot in that instant. Comparing firearms and melee weapons, she first ruled out firearms because she had never used them, and if a gun ran out of bullets, she’d have to buy more. She didn’t want to get entangled here again.

Melee weapons included knives, swords, bows, staffs, spears… Generally speaking, a knife had the best versatility.

Yellow Hair nodded. “Okay, no problem. Follow me.”

“…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Where are you taking me?”

Yellow Hair gave a wry smile and waved his hand. “Just on this street. You see people everywhere. Don’t trust me?”

“I trust you. Let’s go.”

Shiyue kept one hand in her pocket and carried the sack with the other, quietly following behind him. Yellow Hair crossed a road, turned two corners, and finally stopped in front of a small convenience store next to an alley. Seeing that it wasn’t far from the main street, Shiyue didn’t suspect anything and quickly caught up. The dusty sign above the door read “Youyuan Tobacco & Liquor.” Inside, the display consisted of snacks, bottled water, cigarettes, and the like—none of the things Shiyue was expecting. It was exactly the same as every other shop she had seen along the way.

“Is it really here?”

“What illegal shop puts the word ‘Illegal’ on its signboard? I guarantee they have the goods you want here.” Yellow Hair chuckled, spun around, and skipped to a spot not far behind Shiyue. “Actually, this whole area is full of places like this. It’s just that average people don’t know the way in. This kind of business is only for acquaintances, hehe.”

With that, he shouted into the store, “Old Wang, we got a live one!”

As soon as the words fell, a man with a completely bald head poked his head out from behind the counter—presumably the shopkeeper. He spotted Shiyue immediately and teased Yellow Hair, “You brought this one? Hahaha, what kind of dogshit luck is that? Another pretty girl? How’d you hook her?”

“No~ This girl says she wants to buy weapons. For killing. Haha, you have those, right?”

“Killing… Hahaha. Yeah, yeah, yeah! I’ll get the goods for you, hahahaha…”

The shopkeeper laughed in place for nearly half a minute too, then, still chuckling, slowly ambled into the small storage room. His figure disappeared behind the pitch-black door for a moment before he returned holding a dagger, which he casually tossed onto the counter.

“How does this look?”

A dagger? It was a bit short, but it would do.

Shiyue reached out to grab it, but the shopkeeper suddenly reached out as well. The innate “bullet time” inside her body saved her life; otherwise, she would have been restrained by him.

In the split second she retracted her hand, she suddenly reached out again and snatched the dagger. At the same time, Yellow Hair behind her made his move. He lowered his head and charged toward her back. The distance was too close; Shiyue had to drop the sack. utilizing bullet time again, she executed a beautifully angled roll, passing right under him.

In an instant, a bloody gash appeared on Yellow Hair’s right heel. Meanwhile, Shiyue’s other hand had emerged from her pocket, gripping a fruit knife now stained with blood.

Clang. The dagger’s sheath hit the floor. Shiyue held a knife in each hand.

The shopkeeper and Yellow Hair looked at Shiyue simultaneously, their eyes full of disbelief. For a moment, they didn’t know what to do.

“It seems you still don’t believe me.” Shiyue stared at the two men, her gaze turning cold. “Then let me explain.”

With that, Shiyue hunched her body, kicked off the ground, and charged straight at the two men, the glint of her blades leading the way.