Reward

Goddamn Empire!

Are you guys from the Shimada family or what?!

After opening his eyes, Huai Shi felt he had a whole bellyful of complaints to vent. Shouldn't defeating a powerful enemy at a time like this restore my health to full and give me two extra skill points?

He stared lifelessly at the dust on the ceiling.

Where am I?

Who am I?

Where am I going?

"Do you want to continue?"

Crow sounded as though she were suppressing a laugh.

He sighed, recalling the murderous intent he had once felt, as though he could still sense that watchful gaze spying on him from the shadows.

Just how many lifetimes of bad luck had he accumulated?

"Continue!"

He gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and sank into darkness once more.

Crow seemed to shake her head in pity. She took out her phone and added another line beneath the meme she had just made: Two meals will do.

And so, the beating continued.

The beating went on until the following afternoon. By the time Huai Shi could finally clear it without taking any damage, he felt like crying.

Red Glove really had it rough!

After refusing Crow's suggestion that he keep at it, he used the remaining electricity money Old Liu had paid to take a hot shower. He changed into the black suit he only wore for formal performances and prepared to leave.

"Not often I see you dressed this neatly," Crow teased. "Taking some young lady out?"

"...The funeral home."

Huai Shi sighed.

What young lady?

Today was the day Old Yang was being cremated. No matter what, he had to go.

The couple had always treated him well. Though the one who had mainly treated him well was Old Yang's wife, these days, how many people would give you a chance to support yourself when you were at the end of your rope and struggling the most?

Even if that bastard had screwed him over badly, he had still given him a hand in the end.

In a sense, Huai Shi had Old Yang to thank for allowing him to live with his dignity intact until now, without having to haul bricks, scavenge junk, or work under the table.

Besides, Old Yang might have been unreliable at times, but Huai Shi was no elite talent either. Over the years, they had conned and screwed each other over so much that they had practically gotten used to it.

Wasn't that what friends were like?

Now that Old Yang was leaving, Huai Shi had to see him off no matter what.

Though he hurried all the way there, by the time he reached the funeral home, the farewell ceremony was almost over.

Old Yang had been an agent his whole life. He had wide connections while alive, many friends, and quite a few local relatives. Now, the people who had come to see him off formed a vast sea of black.

Huai Shi silently followed at the back of the line. When it was his turn, he did not dare look too closely. After setting down the flowers in his hands, he avoided his sister-in-law's gaze, lowered his head, and retreated to the back again.

Although Old Yang had died in the church at Old Pond, the official cause of death was a car accident. After the funeral home's restoration work, even his utterly mangled face had recovered some of its former appearance. He looked as if he were merely asleep, carefree and untroubled, which somehow made Huai Shi uncomfortable.

That bastard had spent most of his life struggling for money. In the end, he had finally sold himself for a good price, gotten what he wanted, and died without a care in the world.

Huai Shi heard people on both sides of the gathering say that when they inventoried the estate, that guy really had left his wife a sizable sum of money—enough for her continued treatment.

After hearing a few remarks, Huai Shi moved farther away. He did not want to listen anymore.

Once the viewing was over, the body was sent to the back for cremation... To Huai Shi's surprise, though his sister-in-law's eyes were somewhat red, she never cried from beginning to end. Instead, she arranged Old Yang's final farewell in perfect order and saw him off with dignity.

How had that bastard ever married such a good wife?

Huai Shi's feelings grew ever more complicated.

Soon, the funeral ended. As the guests dispersed, Huai Shi received word from his sister-in-law, asking him to come to the back for a moment.

In the family lounge at the funeral home, after sending away everyone else who had nothing to do with the matter, the woman closed the door and took a thick envelope from her bag, handing it to him.

"...What is this supposed to mean?"

Huai Shi stared at the envelope on the table in astonishment. If it contained money, there had to be at least ten or twenty thousand in it.

"Take it. This is what Old Yang owed you."

She smiled as though ashamed. "Back then, he did all those things for my sake. When all is said and done, it should be your sister-in-law apologizing to you.

"Xiao Shi, you're a good kid. You never said anything even when you kept getting cheated out of money, but this debt can't stay unpaid forever. Now that he's gone, I thought I should at least let him leave with a clean slate.

"If you really want to make me feel better, then don't refuse anymore."

Huai Shi fell silent. He looked at the envelope on the table for a long time, then slowly shook his head.

"What debt is there to speak of?"

He said softly, "When I was younger and didn't understand things, I always felt that others being good to me was only natural, because someday I would repay them a hundredfold, a thousandfold.

"But after I grew up, I gradually came to understand that when those people helped me, how could they possibly have been expecting repayment from me someday?

"Even Old Yang would laugh at me if he heard that, right?

"For me, when I was at my hardest point, Old Yang gave me a hand. That's enough. Nothing else matters, and there is no such thing as you owing me or me owing you."

He slowly pushed the envelope back across the table and said seriously, "So even if there is the slightest portion in here that belongs to me, then please treat it as the humble repayment that someone you helped can offer."

His sister-in-law was silent for a long time and did not say anything else about refusing.

She merely lowered her head, wiped her nose, and forced a smile. "If Old Yang were still alive, he would certainly be ashamed to hear you say that."

No, that guy would definitely be smug as hell.

He would neatly pocket the money, stuff it into his wife's bag, then beam at Huai Shi and tell him that he was the one who refused it, so it was too late to regret it now. Then he would say he was taking his wife out for a nice dinner tonight.

How had a scumbag like that married such a good wife?

Huai Shi sighed.

.

Huai Shi did not follow along for the rest of the funeral. Attending one farewell ceremony was painful enough; there was no need to grieve for Old Yang twice.

Besides, he really did not want to see his sister-in-law cry.

After saying goodbye, he prepared to head home.

Unlike when he had rushed there by taxi, he chose the bus on the way back to save money. He still had to transfer twice and cross the entire city before reaching his home on the other side of New Sea.

They said things would be more convenient once the subway opened, but New Sea's subway had supposedly been under construction ever since Huai Shi was born. It had been dug for so long, yet there was still no sign of it.

Besides, New Sea was only a midsized city. There were only so many people coming and going within it. Traffic got a little congested during rush hour, but the idea that the city could not function without a subway was just too absurd.

Over time, nobody held out any hope anymore.

During the long wait, he finally opened the WeChat account he had neglected for ages to see whether anything had happened.

Thanks to the constant pressure of poverty, his social circle was painfully sparse. He had only one or two acquaintances, and they all knew his situation, so nobody had bothered him with random nonsense all summer.

Aside from the class WeChat group, which had now become a mobile gaming group, there were practically no messages.

Huai Shi scrolled up and found that apart from daily messages about teaming up in mobile games and treating people to meals, there were only notices about the adjusted schedule for piano room assignments after school started, along with a pile of stupid memes.

And sadly, Huai Shi discovered that the photo of him standing in front of the host club had already been turned into a meme...

"Could you people act like human beings for once?!"

Huai Shi flew into a rage. Then he dug up the photos of every bastard in the group who had been spamming his meme, added panda-head faces to them one by one, and sent them all into the chat.

Amid the meme battle with his idiot online friends, his movements suddenly froze. He sensed a malicious gaze from the back of the bus resting on him.

Whether it was because Crow had said his perceptiveness would increase during his developmental stage, or because he had grown accustomed to the feeling of Death Sense activating, Huai Shi had become increasingly sensitive to the hostility of others.

He still could not read minds, but after being stared at for the whole ride, the nape of his neck felt as though caterpillars were crawling over it, making his entire body tense.

Using the bus window as a mirror, he vaguely saw a man in a baseball cap at the back, seemingly huddled over and asleep. Yet that malicious gaze was clearly coming from him.

When Huai Shi saw him seemingly take out his phone and send some kind of message, he abruptly stood up and darted off the bus the moment it reached a stop.

Just as he had expected, after freezing for a moment, the man followed after him without drawing attention to himself.

In the bustling downtown pedestrian street, amid the traffic and crowds, the man strolled along leisurely as though out for a walk. He even stopped to buy a pack of cigarettes, but from beginning to end, he stayed close behind Huai Shi and never let him leave his field of vision.

Looking at the man's strange expression, lecherous gaze, and the pectorals practically bursting from his chest, Huai Shi suddenly shuddered. His ass clenched as an alarming thought flashed through his mind:

Holy shit, is he some perverted gay?

After wandering around for ten minutes, Huai Shi could be certain that the bastard behind him was following him.

Otherwise, even a coincidence could not be so coincidental that they entered the same public restroom.

Pretending nothing had happened, Huai Shi began to pick up his pace through the crowded pedestrian street. After passing through two malls, turning down several streets, and entering the civic square in the old district, he continued onward.

The person following him turned left and right all the way, never letting Huai Shi escape his sight. But after rounding a corner, he found that Huai Shi had vanished from the street.

As he looked around in astonishment, he saw the youth behind a glass door. Huai Shi took five yuan from his pocket, haggled with the auntie at the counter for ages, and shamelessly exchanged it for a wristband.

Then he walked through the door behind the lobby.

The stalker froze, then looked up in astonishment and saw the sign above the storefront.

Spring Bathhouse.

I'm flying home today. Let me rest tomorrow, and starting the day after tomorrow, I'll work hard to restore two updates a day, with a guaranteed minimum of five thousand words daily. Sorry to have kept everyone waiting so long.