Inside a fish shop in the northern district of Lingwu Outer City.
A man in his forties, his long hair covered by a red headscarf and his body clad in slick, gleaming leather, wielded a cleaver as he scaled and gutted fish—the whole works.
His arms were dark and thick with powerful muscle. After cleaning a huge black carp, he wrapped it in yellow paper, handed it to the customer before him, accepted the silver, and said, "Please come again."
It was still the depths of winter. The heavy snow, which had stopped for quite some time, had fallen again for two consecutive days, and the weather was bitterly cold.
Of course, the disaster brought by this snowfall was far less severe than before, but it still caused a certain degree of disruption.
Many businesses had no choice but to close temporarily. At a time like this, there were not many places with fish catches, much less shops still open for business—only three or five.
As the saying went, things were precious when scarce. There were many mouths to feed, while fish catches had dwindled, so business was naturally booming. A long dragon-like queue stood before the counter, and customers buying fish, shrimp, crabs, and other fresh seafood came in an endless stream.
The owner of this fish shop worked from morning until night. Apart from a brief mealtime, he hardly stopped for a moment. He was calm and diligent like a machine, clearly unlike an ordinary man.
Afraid that his clothes would be soaked through, he had deliberately worn striking leather in this freezing weather to keep out the water. Yet he acted as though nothing was wrong. It was clear that he possessed some skill, though exactly how strong he was remained unknown.
The man bribed by the