Chapter 41: Chapter 40: X, You’re Not Playing by the Rules
In one day, all three families’ houses were put up for sale.
As soon as a buyer was found for the paper mill owned by He Sheng and Liu Jin, they could set off for Shanghai.
He Xiaotian’s family had a few relatives in Z County.
But their relationships were distant; they only visited to exchange pleasantries during the holidays.
The rest of the year, they had almost no contact.
They had discussed this one evening.
The discussion went nowhere.
First, these people had been rooted in Z County for generations. Telling them to move? What a joke.
Second, even if they obediently moved to Shanghai, how would they make a living?
Besides, these relatives were living pretty comfortable lives.
After the busy farming season, they’d run small businesses and do quite well for themselves.
To go work in a big city and be exploited by others, all because of some potential danger? ’Are they out of their minds?’
Moreover, He Xiaotian and his family couldn’t just tell them everything. If one of them had a big mouth and caused a city-wide panic, it would be a huge mess.
While talking with his mom, Wang Mei, he suddenly realized his own life was rather tragic.
Before high school, both his paternal and maternal grandparents had all passed away one after another.
What surprised He Xiaotian, however, was that his uncle was an orphan?
He’d honestly never known that before.
His uncle, Liu Jin, had fallen in love with his aunt in college, then gave up the glamour of the big city to come to a backwater place like Z County.
But things had turned out pretty well. The paper mill he started with his dad had been a smooth success, and their business was booming.
’It just goes to show that things could always be worse.’
The next evening, He Xiaotian went to a crayfish food stall on the food street.
This time, Zhao Lei and Zhou Yun weren’t there. Only the man with the studded earring came.
He was carrying a black briefcase and sat quietly on a small stool, peeling crayfish.
He was happily alternating between mouthfuls of crayfish meat and gulps of beer.
"Sit."
Seeing He Xiaotian arrive, the man with the studded earring pointed to the small stool next to the table.
"Do you think they’re happy right now?"
"???"
He Xiaotian could tell with half a brain that this guy was laying the groundwork for a recruitment pitch.
Then, before the man with the studded earring could answer his own question, He Xiaotian spoke up.
"Are you about to say that the only reason these people can leisurely eat at food stalls, drink beer, and shoot the shit is because people like you are secretly working hard behind the scenes?And then you’ll talk about the hardships of your missions and your dead teammates? I suggest you save your breath. I’m just a lucky guy among ordinary people who happened to gain the power to fight evil spirits.You want a small fry like me to selflessly devote myself, to risk my life for them. I’m very sorry, but I absolutely can’t do that. Besides my parents, there’s no one in this world worth me giving my life to protect.You can call me cold-blooded and selfish. But you’d better do it in your head. Don’t say it out loud. I’m not a very forgiving person. Also, I brought my hammers today. They’re in the back seat and the trunk."
The man with the studded earring was dumbfounded. ’You’re not following the script at all!’
"Forget it, forget it. To each their own. You can’t force it. Here’s the one million you wanted. Count it when you get back to your car. I’ll leave after I finish this plate of crayfish." As he spoke, he handed the black briefcase to He Xiaotian.
"For two complete kappa corpses."
The two of them looked just like they were in the middle of a gangster deal from a movie. Passersby glanced at them as if they were idiots.
Two grown men. One was ostentatiously wearing a diamond-studded earring.
The other was wearing a long-sleeved outfit and a face mask.
’Aren’t you hot?’
「Three days passed in the blink of an eye.」
The paper mill had been sold to another local tycoon.
Of course, outside the county, this tycoon would only be considered moderately wealthy.
The price, naturally, was quite a bit lower than its actual value.
But right now, time was money.
His dad and uncle were surprisingly philosophical about it.
The world had changed. It wasn’t worth sighing over a bit of money.
The two families split the ten-odd million. Even in Shanghai, as long as they didn’t live a life of constant luxury, it would be enough to last a lifetime.
「Early on the third day, they ate breakfast and set off for Shanghai by car.」
Why not take a plane?
Are you kidding? There was no way He Xiaotian’s two giant iron hammers would make it through security.
So, the six of them took two cars and drove on the highway to Shanghai.
The journey was tense, but they made it without any real danger.
He Xiaotian encountered a few supernatural incidents, but he didn’t act rashly.
After all, he had his family with him. If his recklessness got them involved, it wouldn’t be worth the risk.
Travel-worn, it took them a full three days to finally arrive.
Aside from He Xiaotian, who was still full of energy thanks to his martial arts training, the other five were all exhausted.
They found a hotel, checked into three adjoining rooms, and immediately went to rest.
He Xiaotian, however, went to a real estate agency to look for a place to rent.
Safety?
In broad daylight, those hidden ghouls and goblins wouldn’t dare to come out and cause trouble so brazenly.
He needed two places. One larger one, at least a three-bedroom.
And another smaller one; a one-bedroom apartment would be enough.
The large one would be for his parents, aunt, and uncle. The small one would be for himself.
Ideally, they would be across the hall from each other, making it convenient for him to look after them no matter what happened.
He Xiaotian was really bending over backward for his family.
But his parents had raised him for twenty years. What was a little effort like this in comparison?
It wasn’t until the afternoon that he finally found a suitable place.
But the price was steep—a shocking thirty thousand a month.
And the listing prominently featured the phrase "Excellent Security."
The one-bedroom across the hall was ten thousand.
How much had his rent in Shanghai been before?
’Four thousand? Or was it six?’
Damn it, even with the world turned upside down, real estate is still the most profitable business!
In fact, what He Xiaotian didn’t know was that as the frequency of supernatural incidents gradually increased...
...housing prices were being driven up again by some unscrupulous developers.
They were all desperately searching for people with extraordinary abilities, precisely so they could keep raising their property values.
Ordinary people at the time were completely baffled. Rising housing prices were expected...
...but why so drastically?
Those living in tiny "snail houses" weren’t hit too hard; the price hikes weren’t as absurd for them.
If things got really bad, they could always just move to the suburbs.
The places He Xiaotian chose were fully furnished rentals, so naturally, the price wasn’t cheap.
Furniture, appliances, and renovations were all included. They were move-in ready.
He then followed the agent to meet the owner.
During the meeting, the owner kept hinting at how safe the place was.
He said the residential complex’s head of security was very capable and that there hadn’t been any strange incidents there in the past six months.
In short, he did everything he could to stop He Xiaotian from haggling.
After an hour of haggling, they agreed on a 10% discount for a six-month lease.
After signing the contract and making the payment, he immediately returned to the hotel.
His parents, aunt, and uncle, waking up from their nap, were utterly baffled.
’We just took a short nap, and you’ve already rented an apartment?’
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