17 Man-Catchers

Even on Blue Star, martial arts training was a grueling, exhausting affair.

Fueled by immense enthusiasm, Lu Li had sweated buckets as he trained all day.

By the second day, though, his body was so sore that moving a finger brought a stabbing pain that lingered for ages. He'd nearly been unable to get out of bed.

Oddly enough, his mind was exceptionally sharp.

It was only five in the morning, yet Lu Li felt no drowsiness at all. His thoughts were racing.

He closed his eyes and visualized the Pine Stillness Diagram. It took just one minute to succeed, and he could even keep the image suspended in his Sea of Consciousness without it fading—barely.

Clearly, his mental strength had grown again.

Lu Li couldn't help sighing with feeling. "If only training in Martial Arts were this easy."

Unlike the grueling work of martial arts training, Spirit Refinement only required lighting a stick of incense and pouring his mental energy into the treasure while inhaling its fragrance.

The two were worlds apart in difficulty.

Suppressing the stabbing pain, Lu Li stood and walked out of his room with a strange gait.

Sunlight filled the courtyard, and birds chirped.

Xiao Cha had already started practicing her forms.

The set she was practicing today was different from usual. Her movements were expansive and forceful, her slender arms lashing out one after another like whips, the sounds of them cutting through the air running together.

Sometimes, when her movements grew broad, a glimpse of her fair, rosy waist showed, along with the faint outline of her sexy ab muscles.

When she saw Lu Li approach, Xiao Cha smiled, showing her porcelain-white canine teeth.

"Well, look who showed up! I thought you wouldn't be able to stick with it~"

"How could I let Master Xiao Cha's teaching go to waste?"

He replied with a smile, then rounded his arms and assumed his stance to practice.

"Lu Li, what country did you come back from?"

"Mexico."

"Oh, I've heard of it. It's a country on the American continent. Why did you come back?"

"To travel."

During their breaks, the two would chat a little.

Lu Li was increasingly convinced that the two worlds were remarkably alike. They even had all the same countries.

After a few rounds of practice, Lu Li was about to ask why he hadn't seen Wan Qing.

As if they shared the same thoughts, Wan Qing appeared at the medical clinic's entrance the very next moment, carrying a bag of herbs.

A dozen or so children trailed behind her, each dragging a large bundle of herbs as well.

Curious, Lu Li asked, "What's going on?"

"Wan Qing took a job processing medicinal herbs. She's brought Tong Shao and the others along to teach them a trade they can use to earn a living," Xiao Cha replied.

Tong Shao was the little beggar they'd encountered on the street earlier.

Under Wan Qing's guidance, the gaunt, sallow children sorted the herbs, each of them learning with great concentration.

But the sun was merciless. Wan Qing's cheeks were flushed from the heat, and sweat glistened as it ran down her smooth neck.

Unwilling to see the young woman suffer, Lu Li frowned. "Why take a job like this in such scorching weather?"

Xiao Cha scratched her head. "Wan Qing just wants to earn a little more money... She can't keep taking advantage of you forever."

"Ah, there's no need to be so formal."

Lu Li immediately understood what was going on and headed toward Wan Qing.

The children saw him coming and, far from showing the innocence one might expect, all lowered their heads in fear.

Only the little girl with her hair tied into two sprouting tufts—Tong Shao—dared to look him over.

Lu Li smiled warmly, then said, "Miss Wan Qing, I have enough money saved to support my training. You don't need to work yourself so hard."

Wan Qing tucked a damp strand of hair behind her ear and replied softly, "I already owe Young Master Lu so much. Please let me help however I can."

Lu Li didn't want to reject her kindness, so he tried another tack. "Then spend more of your energy on training. I'll still need to ask you about anything I don't understand."

"Mm, I'll keep that in mind." Wan Qing smiled and nodded.

Lu Li nodded once and turned away, going back to his martial arts practice.

As soon as he'd left, Tong Shao started chattering.

"Sister Wan Qing, who's that? Is he your sweetheart? He's so handsome, and he treats you so well..."

Wan Qing ruffled her little head, smiling without answering.

After that, Tong Shao kept sneaking glances toward Lu Li with her big, bright eyes.

When it was time to rest, she even eagerly brought him a jar of water.

"Thank you."

Lu Li thanked her politely, then took the jar and drank.

Seeing how gentle he was, Tong Shao blinked her innocent big eyes and rattled off a string of questions.

"My name's Tong Shao~ What's yours~ You're so fair~ Are you a young master from a rich family?"

"I'm Lu Li. Just an ordinary person."

The lively, adorable girl made Lu Li want to reach out and pinch one of her sprouting tufts of hair...

But she was very wary. Clutching her hair, she ran off.

Xiao Cha laughed from the side. "That little girl's as quick as a monkey, and she's got quite a mouth on her. Still, she seems to like you."

A faint smile touched Lu Li's lips. He suddenly felt that life in this peaceful otherworld wasn't so bad.

But just then, two burly men suddenly entered the medical clinic.

They wore tight-fitting clothes and had thick beards. They were powerfully built, yet their expressions were vicious. When they looked at people, they were like hungry wolves.

The children immediately looked terrified. Even the liveliest of them, Tong Shao, curled up into a ball.

Xiao Cha sprang forward and pointed at them, shouting, "Wang Wen! Wang Wu! You two human traffickers dare come here? Are you looking to die?!"

Human traffickers were also known as man-catchers.

The two brothers had come calling, and they stared at the children—and at Wan Qing—with naked greed!

Their manner and bearing were no different from the gangsters in Mexico. It was as if all those who preyed on the weak in the world wore the same sickening face.

Lu Li silently stepped up beside Xiao Cha.

Wang Wen put on a false smile. "Officer Luo, calm down. You haven't reached the Organ Refining stage yet. If you kill someone, you'll pay with your life~"

"Then I'll drag you down with me, you beast! At least you'll stop preying on children!"

Xiao Cha's pretty face was icy. She swept a hand across her waist and pulled out a Nine-Section Whip!

Her arm snapped out, and the whip rose like a silver dragon, cracking through the air with a thunderous CRACK!

Wang Wen's face twitched, and a flicker of wariness crossed it. But he quickly hid it, then spoke without a hint of fear. "Just so Officer Luo knows, we're here this time on official business, representing the Tooth Brokerage!"

Wang Wen pulled a sheet of paper from his robes and continued, "The Gear Factory is hiring child laborers. Any of these little beggars want to go?"

Man-catchers occasionally did work similar to labor recruitment.

Xiao Cha took the paper with a cold expression and looked it over. It really was a job advertisement: child laborers only, no wages, but food and lodging provided.

Hiring child laborers was perfectly normal these days. Some children entered factories at five or six.

But Xiao Cha didn't trust the men in front of her.

She crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it at Wang Wen's face, then sneered. "If they want to go, I'll have them apply at the match factory themselves. You can get lost."

The two brothers had watched Xiao Cha take and read the paper, and a hint of delight had appeared on their faces.

Wang Wen still pretended to be indignant. "Officer Luo, that's not very decent of you..."

"Not decent? Better than letting you drag them into some hellhole of a brothel." Xiao Cha's voice was cold. "Keep doing this kind of vile work, and one day someone might dig up your ancestors' graves."

At those words, Wang Wu, who'd been silent until now, turned vicious. His hand moved toward his waist.

Wang Wen grabbed his younger brother and held him back, then said with a faint smile, "All right, Officer Luo, we'll let you get back to it. There'll be other chances for us to meet."

The two turned to leave, but before he went, Wang Wu stared straight at Wan Qing for a long moment.