A Client Walks In

"Handing out flyers?"

Zhao Xing'er blinked as she looked at the thick stack of promotional leaflets.

She'd thought that joining a Cultivation Firm meant hunting demons and protecting the people. But first thing that morning, Yue Wen had greeted her with a smile and assigned her first task: go out and hand out all these flyers.

The flyers were emblazoned with several lines of large print: "A brand-new team, quality service at affordable prices! Yue's Cultivation Firm, River City's own!"

Just looking at them was embarrassing.

"Wasn't I supposed to be an exorcism assistant?" she asked quietly.

"That's right." Yue Wen smiled. "But to exorcise anything, we need clients. Our firm's biggest problem right now is that we don't have any. If we want to grow and succeed, we have to get our name out there first. Keep it up, Zhao. I have faith in you."

"Okay." Zhao Xing'er could only nod. Clutching the flyers, she turned and walked out.

She seemed like a good girl: quiet and gentle, with a mild temper, Yue Wen thought, silently giving her the highest praise a boss could give an employee.

Easy to boss around.

He'd usually have to do all these odd jobs himself. Now that he had an assistant, he could leave all the flyers to Zhao Xing'er and save himself a lot of time.

He'd see how she did in a bit. If she proved dependable, he'd head out to get that half Black Gold Skull appraised and find out what materials he'd need to cultivate Chaos Dragon Gang.

Meanwhile, Zhao Xing'er walked to a street corner nearby, where more pedestrians passed by.

She stood there holding the flyers, clearly reluctant.

She was too embarrassed to stop people, but luckily, she was so pretty that she naturally drew everyone's attention. Many passersby came over on their own to talk to her and see what the flyers said.

After a while, just as passersby were taking flyers from her, the roar of an engine approached at high speed. A blue sports car pulled up in front of her with a vroom.

The window rolled down, and a young man with dyed red hair leaned out, grinning at her. "Hey, gorgeous. You're really pretty. Want to exchange contact info?"

"I'll pass," Zhao Xing'er said, shaking her head.

"You're handing out flyers?" The redhead looked her over again. "What do you do?"

"A Cultivation Firm," Zhao Xing'er replied.

"Haha, perfect." The redhead pulled out his phone. "I'll add you, then. I might have some work for you later."

"You can use the number on this." Zhao Xing'er held out a flyer. "It's our boss's number."

"Come on, I want your personal number." The redhead flashed her a cheeky grin.

"Really, no." Zhao Xing'er stood firm.

The redhead's expression suddenly darkened. "You trying to disrespect me? Do you even know who I—"

Zhao Xing'er looked back at him, expressionless. "Go get your car fixed first. We can talk after that."

"Get it fixed?" The redhead froze. "I just got this car. Why would I need to—"

"Hah!" Before he could finish speaking, Zhao Xing'er's brows suddenly drew together. Red light blazed in her eyes, and her features twisted for an instant. She bent her knees, twisted at the waist, pulled her right shoulder back, gathered her strength, and threw a punch!

A boom—

A blast of energy wrapped in red light erupted from her fist, swallowing the rear half of the sports car in an instant with a thunderous crash.

The redhead felt a chill run down the back of his head. His eyes twitched. When he looked up at the rearview mirror, all he could see was the crosswalk.

That punch had obliterated the entire rear half of his car!

Only the two front seats remained. Sports car seats were already low, and now he looked like he was sitting on a sofa with a steering wheel.

"You—you—you..." He stared at Zhao Xing'er in terror, unable to get the words out.

He'd seen her handing out flyers on the street. She looked so gentle and delicate, like an easy target.

He'd never imagined she was this ferocious!

She'd turned his sports car into a chaise longue fit for an empress.

"Don't want to get your car fixed?" Zhao Xing'er glanced at him again. "Then we can talk after you get back from the hospital."

"Mommy!"

The redhead let out a terrified whimper, grabbed the steering wheel, and ran off down the road, moving even faster than he had in the car.

Only after the shock of red hair had disappeared into the distance did Zhao Xing'er let out a deep breath and calm herself. She took out her phone and sent a message: "Bad news, bestie. I lost my temper again and punched a car."

"Haha, what's the big deal? Don't worry about it. How much was it? I'll reimburse you," came the quick reply.

"Can you afford it?" Zhao Xing'er looked at the car. "It should be a new-model Blue Tiger Drive. Probably over a million."

The reply was just: "?"

Yue Wen had been sitting in the firm for a while. He was about to go check on Zhao Xing'er and take care of his own errands.

He'd just stood up when Zhao Xing'er came in, leading a downcast-looking middle-aged man. "Boss, we have a client."

"Oh?" Yue Wen's eyes lit up. "You've already found someone?"

Zhao Xing'er smiled gently. "This gentleman said he had something he wanted to ask about, so I brought him right over."

"Please, have a seat." Yue Wen hurried to welcome him in.

The man who entered looked to be about forty. He was a little thin, wearing a gray jacket. The sleeve on his right side hung empty; he was disabled. Stubble ringed his face, his eyes were dark, and his gaze was full of anxiety.

"Um..." The man sat down hesitantly. His first question was, "I heard from this young lady that your rates are pretty low?"

"That's right." Yue Wen nodded at once. "Our firm's all about affordable services for the public."

"I... I really can't afford much. I just became disabled in an accident, and I lost my job..." The man's voice was low. "Would five hundred yuan per case work?"

"Sure." Yue Wen agreed without hesitation. "The most important thing is solving your problem. Tell us what happened."

Zhao Xing'er listened from the side, her gaze shifting slightly as she looked at Yue Wen.

At five hundred yuan per job, split fifty-fifty, they'd each get 250. That wasn't enough to hire a cultivator, and might not even cover fuel if they had to travel far.

Yet Yue Wen was still willing to accept. That meant money wasn't what mattered to him.

The only possible reason was that he had a rare sense of chivalry in this day and age.

Otherwise, would he really have a hobby of fighting evil spirits?

In that moment, Yue Wen's humanity seemed to shine a little in her eyes.

"My son's gone missing," the man explained. "He'd been acting strange these past few days, locking himself in his room and refusing to come out. He said some kids had invited him to play a game. I've had a lot on my plate lately, so at first I didn't pay much attention. But this morning, I called him to eat and he didn't answer. I went into his room and found he'd vanished."

"Was there anything unusual in the room?" Yue Wen asked.

"No. He was fine the night before, then gone this morning. The doors and windows were all fine. I don't know how it happened..." He lowered his head in self-reproach. "I haven't been paying him enough attention."

"Don't be upset, sir. We'll do everything we can to find him," Zhao Xing'er said, trying to comfort him.

"If it was an evil spirit, it'd be pretty bold to sneak into someone's home and steal a child," Yue Wen mused. "I've rarely heard of anything like that."

"Actually... it might not have been an evil spirit." The man hesitated, then continued. "There's someone I suspect."

"Hmm?" Yue Wen looked at him. "Who?"

"My factory boss." Anger crept across the man's face as he brought him up. "A while ago, I was working at the factory when a machine malfunctioned and severed my arm. If I had enough money for surgery, I could hire a cultivator to reattach it. But he's been dragging his feet and refusing to pay my compensation."

"I don't dare sue him because he has underworld connections. He's often used shady methods to deal with his competitors. I thought if I begged him enough, he might pay what he owed me. Today was our last scheduled negotiation, and my son disappeared last night."

"I suspect he hired someone to use some kind of trick to kidnap my son and threaten me."

"That's possible," Yue Wen said, nodding.

Evil spirits that dared break into homes and steal children within the city were extremely rare.

In cities, demons hid in the shadows for fear of being discovered. Nightmares had their own patterns of behavior and didn't act arbitrarily.

Their methods might be undetectable to ordinary people, but once a disappearance was identified as the work of an evil spirit, the Supervision Bureau would get involved. At that point, things would become much more serious. Whether or not they managed to get the child back, the evil spirit would definitely be destroyed.

So in cases like this, human involvement was often more likely.

"We're meeting to negotiate tonight. Could you come with me and keep me safe? If my son really is in his hands, I don't care about the compensation anymore. I just want my boy back," the man said.

"Of course." Zhao Xing'er gently reassured him. "Don't worry. If they kidnapped your son to threaten you, they probably won't hurt him."

"Who knows what those people are capable of?" The man furrowed his brow. "Not a single one of these bosses is any good!"

Zhao Xing'er nodded. "That's true."

Yue Wen: "?"

Good morning!

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