The Brothel

Having dealt with all the corpses, Lu Chen breathed a sigh of relief. He looked down at the blood staining his clothes and sighed.

"In the end, they still got dirty."

He felt the air growing heavier. The sun had been shining brightly, but in the blink of an eye, dark clouds covered the sky.

It was going to rain.

An unreadable look crossed Lu Chen's face.

Now, he would probably have to face the Green Bamboo Gang head-on.

Even an utter fool would know that the Green Bamboo Gang had sent three groups in succession, only for every one of them to meet with trouble. They were either dead or missing.

If that still failed to get their attention, the Green Bamboo Gang should have been wiped out long ago.

Sitting on a mound of dirt by the roadside, Lu Chen looked at the panel.

[Under the host's influence, the fates of Qian Gui and four others have changed]

[Fate Value settlement: 340]

Fate Value remaining: 582.

"System, allocate points!"

Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique, Organ Refining!

Fate Value -400.

Rumble!

A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.

Rain came pouring down.

A flood of memories about practicing the Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique also surged into Lu Chen's mind.

In those memories, he had immersed himself in the Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique for decades. At last, he had mastered it and reached the Organ Tempering Realm.

His body was changing.

Summer rain was warm. It struck his body and ran down his sleeves.

The bloodstains on the road were washed away.

The blood on Lu Chen's clothes ran down with the rain as well.

Inside him, a surging current of heat spread into his limbs and bones.

His muscles were being remade.

His skin grew tougher, and his bones became denser.

His abdomen also rumbled like thunder.

His internal organs were rapidly working. Blood pumped out of his heart, carrying nourishment through his vessels to all his organs.

The surging heat slowly tempered his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys. Every cell was like one soaking in spiritual liquid, madly absorbing the heat and growing stronger and tougher.

His entire abdomen felt warm.

Time slowly passed.

Lu Chen rose from the ground.

For a fleeting moment, he seemed to have grown a little taller.

He stretched his body, and his muscles and bones crackled.

"That feels good!"

He stretched out his arms and let out a long cry toward the sky.

Rain fell into his mouth. He laughed, turned around, and went home.

At the sight of the worried faces of Lu Ming and Lu Tang, the hostility left over from his recent killing vanished without a trace.

"It's raining. What are you standing outside for? Don't tell me I've raised you two into fools who don't know to run inside when it rains or eat when they're hungry!"

Lu Chen spoke jokingly.

Lu Tang burst into tears with a "Wah!"

She had seen the bloodstains on her brother.

No matter how hard the rain fell, it couldn't have washed all those stains away.

"Brother, are you all right? I'm so scared!"

Lu Tang was still a child, after all.

Lu Chen's heart softened. He rubbed Lu Tang's head and beckoned Lu Ming over as well.

Lu Ming didn't cry. He simply pressed his lips together, his eyes reddening, and lowered his head as he came to Lu Chen's side, his fists clenched.

"Brother, I'm so useless. I can't help you at all!"

"No, you're my little brother and sister. How could you be useless? All right, go eat. Neither of you has eaten yet, right? Don't go hungry, or little Tang really won't grow tall enough to find a husband!"

Lu Chen stroked Lu Tang's nose.

Lu Tang was so angry that a snot bubble came out of her nose, and she lightly thumped Lu Chen again.

"Hmph! I will grow tall!"

By the time the three of them finished eating, the rain had stopped.

Lu Chen changed his clothes and said to the two of them, "Go to Second Grandfather's house and play with Lu Wenke and Lu Wenzhang for a while. I'll be back tomorrow morning. Take those pastries I bought and share them with them. I'll teach you two to practice the saber then!"

With that, he rushed into the rain.

He didn't even take an umbrella.

Lu Tang and Lu Ming ran to the door and watched their brother's figure gradually disappear into the distance. After a moment of silence, they quietly went back inside and fetched the pastries. Lu Ming took a bag of pebbles, while Lu Tang took the books their brother had bought, and they headed to Second Grandfather's house.

Lu Chen, meanwhile, went to the county town.

The rain had just passed, and the sun had emerged again on the horizon, illuminating the surrounding clouds in a beautiful array of colors.

Lu Chen passed Xiao He by the town gate.

A few regular NPC fishermen were still fishing in their bamboo hats.

Lu Chen went into the streets, bought some lime to have on hand, then went to a smithy and ordered two sets of oversized breastplates from the blacksmith.

Armor was out of the question. If the blacksmith made that, his three generations of kin would all have to report to the underworld.

But forging a few iron plates was no problem.

All he had to do was make a few holes in the plates for tying cords and give them a slight curve to fit Lu Chen's build.

They were quick to make and very crude.

The smithy even had iron plates on hand. All the blacksmith had to do was cut them to the right size and punch a few holes in them with an iron chisel.

Lu Chen paid a deposit and asked the blacksmith to make another, better-fitting set separately. Then he left with the heavy "breastplates," which were still a little warm.

With one of these strapped to his front and another to his back, they were enough to guard against some arrows and ordinary slashes from blades.

After buying some things from a shop selling leather and cloth and using them to strap the breastplates to his body, Lu Chen moved around a little. They were all right—not as ill-fitting as he had imagined.

They wouldn't hinder his movements.

Nothing looked particularly unusual from the outside, either.

With all his preparations complete, he took all his equipment and arrived at the largest brothel in Shahu County.

The Jade Pavilion.

The Green Bamboo Gang's flagship whorehouse.

"My, young master, you look a little unfamiliar. How handsome! I haven't seen you before. Come on in!"

The girl at the entrance wore heavy makeup and held a handkerchief. She smelled strongly of powder and perfume, and her eyes were sharp. When she spotted Lu Chen lingering at the brothel's entrance, her eyes immediately lit up, and she hurried forward with a coy laugh to take hold of him.

Lu Chen felt a little awkward. He really was a novice in this regard.

Back on Earth, he had only ever gone for foot baths and massages—the respectable kind.

Work had left his back aching, and he had thought a massage might help, only for it to hurt even more afterward.

He had never openly visited a place like this before.

He had to admit, he was a little curious and excited.

It was lively inside, with people drinking and singing, and a fragrant breeze filling the air.

The madam was a woman of mature charm, with a few wrinkles visible at the corners of her eyes.

When she saw Lu Chen, she covered her mouth and smiled. "Honored guest, is this your first time at our Jade Pavilion? Are you here for a drink, or..."

Lu Chen cleared his throat. His skin still wasn't thick enough. "First, bring me a table of dishes and find me a younger girl. A pretty one, not the kind who wears heavy makeup."

With that, he took out a silver ingot worth ten taels.

That should be enough for a night with a prostitute.

At that moment, in another private room, a young master dressed in fine clothes was drinking with several other young men. He happened to glance down and seemed to notice something. A trace of confusion flashed in his eyes, but the young men at his table soon drew his attention back, and he continued running his hands over the person beside him.

The madam grew even more enthusiastic at the sight of the money. She took the silver, whisked her hand away, and it was impossible to tell where she had hidden it.

She lightly tapped Lu Chen's arm with her round fan and laughed coquettishly. "Oh, young master, every girl at our Jade Pavilion is prettier than the last. Rest assured!"

She led him to a private room, and Lu Chen soon met his "technician."

The wine and food arrived quickly as well.

The technician was indeed beautiful, and her service was good too. Seeing that Lu Chen was a little reserved, she giggled, gently took his hand, and placed it directly on her body.

Lu Chen wasn't one to put on airs either. At first, he had simply been unaccustomed to it. The technician herself didn't mind, and he was the one paying, so shouldn't he touch enough to get his money's worth?

Still, he hadn't forgotten why he had come.

According to Qian Gui, Wang Bao was a regular at the Jade Pavilion. Out of thirty days in a month, he spent twenty-seven or twenty-eight here, but he never stayed overnight.

With so much happening to the Green Bamboo Gang these past few days, Wang Bao was even more full of anger. Naturally, he had to come here to cool off.

As Lu Chen discreetly observed the brothel, he chatted with "Xiao Taohong" beside him, casually fishing for information and gradually steering the conversation toward Wang Bao.

While Lu Chen touched Xiao Taohong and plied her with wine, her cheeks turned crimson, and she gradually let slip information about Wang Bao in the course of their conversation.

"Master Bao should still be resting in the Heaven room today. He didn't seem to be in a very good mood when he came this afternoon, and we were a little scared watching him."

Xiao Taohong sat in Lu Chen's lap, feeling a little uncomfortable.

Damn it, what decent person comes to a whorehouse with a big iron plate strapped to his body!

It's digging right into me.

"Young master, how about we stop touching for now and take a break?"

Xiao Taohong was getting a little tipsy. Lu Chen had given her a bit too much to drink and was even better than she was at coaxing people to drink. For a moment, it was hard to tell who was the client and who was the girl.

At any other time, Lu Chen wouldn't have minded at all. It was his generation's bounden duty to support the high-quality development of the service industry.

But not today.

From where he sat, he happened to have a view of the Heaven-Class Room.

At that moment, its door opened, and a middle-aged man with his chest half-bared walked out, an arm around a girl in a pink dress as he laughed and walked along.

The man was easy to recognize: powerfully built, with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, and nearly 1.9 meters tall.

Half of his left eyebrow was missing, and he had a scar on his brow ridge.

According to Qian Gui, someone had cut him there. Later, the person who had wounded him was chopped into mincemeat.

An idea occurred to Lu Chen, and he pretended he urgently needed to piss.

"Miss Taohong, go on to the bed first. I need to piss. Where's the latrine?"

Xiao Taohong pointed him in the right direction, then climbed unsteadily onto the bed, her figure alluring and seductive.

Lu Chen's young, vigorous body had a slight natural reaction as well.

He coughed and hurried toward the latrine, but halfway there, he turned back and headed in the direction Wang Bao had gone.

On the way, however, someone suddenly stopped him.

"Well, if it isn't that stinking fishmonger! I fucking thought I'd seen wrong, but it really is you! Looks like I went too easy on you that day. You've actually got the strength to visit a brothel?"