"You're finally taking the bait!"
Hearing the man call out to him, Ning Wangshu smiled inwardly.
He stopped and turned to look at him, feigning suspicion. "Manager Zhang, is something the matter?"
Manager Zhang gave an awkward smile and hurriedly said, "Young Brother, about what happened just now... I'm truly sorry. I spoke out of turn because of my own ignorance. I hope you won't take offense."
"By the way, my name is Zhang Yong. May I ask what I should call you?"
Watching the man act so deferentially, Ning Wangshu smiled faintly. "You're too kind, Manager Zhang. My surname is Ning. Ning Wangshu."
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"If there's nothing else, Manager Zhang, I'll be on my way..."
"Wait, wait!"
Zhang Yong hurried to stop him, then put on another ingratiating smile. "Brother Ning, you said just now that if I don't resolve the problem at my construction site, someone will eventually die."
"I was wondering if I could trouble you to help me take care of it?"
After a pause, he added flatteringly, "You dealt with that Evil Spirit so easily just now. With your abilities, I'm sure resolving the problem at my construction site will be a piece of cake!"
Ning Wangshu smiled mildly. "It really wouldn't be difficult for me. But why should I help you?"
He gave the other man a knowing, half-amused look.
Zhang Yong looked a little embarrassed, but he understood what Ning Wangshu meant. There was no such thing as a free lunch.
He hastily smiled and said, "Don't worry, Brother Ning. If you can resolve this problem for me, I'll make it worth your while!"
Ning Wangshu couldn't be bothered to beat around the bush. He held up one finger. "One million! For one million, I'll eliminate the threat for you!"
"One million?"
Zhang Yong was taken aback. He hadn't expected someone who looked barely over twenty to ask for a million right off the bat. He hesitated.
Although Ning Wangshu was only eighteen by Earth's reckoning, he had actually lived for more than nine thousand years. His appearance had naturally remained as it was in his youth.
Still, his overall air made him seem more like a man in his early twenties than someone who was eighteen or nineteen.
"What, you think it's too expensive? In that case, forget it..."
Ning Wangshu started to walk away.
Seeing this, Zhang Yong hurriedly called out, "Wait, Brother Ning! Don't be in such a hurry. A million it is!"
Zhang Yong smiled bitterly. A million was no small sum, and parting with it stung a little. But compared with the trouble at his construction site... it was nothing.
Besides, agreeing to Ning Wangshu's terms was his only option.
Ning Wangshu glanced at him and said with a faint smile, "Manager Zhang, don't think I'm asking too much. If I didn't happen to need some money right now, a mere million wouldn't be enough to get me involved. Heh, even if you added one or two zeros, I might not give it a second look..."
"Yes, yes."
Zhang Yong could only nod along. "Well... Brother Ning, please help me resolve the problem at the site as soon as possible. I'll transfer the money to your account shortly. Just give me your account number..."
Ning Wangshu waved a hand. "Have someone bring the cash over instead. I don't have a bank card at the moment."
"That works too! Please wait a little, Brother Ning. I'll have the company's finance department go get the money..."
Zhang Yong didn't waste any time. He immediately called the finance department.
After hanging up, he looked at Ning Wangshu again. "Brother Ning, so... can you take care of the problem at my construction site now?"
Ning Wangshu smiled and nodded. "Sure."
He instinctively wanted to take out a piece of Spirit Jade from his Storage Ring and craft a Jade Talisman on the spot to give Zhang Yong.
But then he reconsidered. Spiritual Qi was so thin on Earth that cultivation resources of all kinds were probably scarce. A piece of Spirit Jade might not be much to him,
but he preferred not to waste it when he didn't have to. Besides, the problem here didn't require anything that complicated.
What's more, a mere million wouldn't even cover the value of that piece of Spirit Jade. If he sold it as ordinary jade, it would probably fetch more than that.
Ning Wangshu glanced around. "Do you have any paper?"
"Paper? Wangshu, what kind do you need?" He Mingyuan asked from nearby.
"Anything will do. It doesn't matter."
"All right. Wait a moment. I'll get some for you..."
He Mingyuan answered and quickly took a notebook from a nearby cabinet. "Wangshu, will this do?"
Ning Wangshu took a look and nodded with a smile. "It'll do."
He took the notebook, opened it to a blank page, then raised a finger. A glimmer of spiritual light appeared at his fingertip, and he quickly drew a Talisman on the paper, using his finger as a brush.
Then he did the same thing again, drawing four in total.
He tore them all out, handed them to Zhang Yong, and said, "Manager Zhang, stick these four Talismans somewhere in the east, west, south, and north. The exact spots don't matter."
"Leave the rest to them. The problem here will be completely resolved within three days at most, and this won't happen again."
Watching Ning Wangshu's actions had left Zhang Yong utterly baffled. He couldn't understand how drawing a few strokes on paper with a finger—without a pen or ink—could mean the Talismans were finished.
Still, he quickly took the sheets and examined them.
But the pages were completely blank. There was nothing on them, let alone any Talismans. Zhang Yong furrowed his brow and looked at Ning Wangshu hesitantly. His expression was growing unpleasant.
"Brother Ning, this... there's nothing on these! Where are the Talismans you mentioned? They just look like blank sheets of paper..." His tone was beginning to turn sour.
Ning Wangshu knew exactly what he was thinking: that he might be pulling a fast one.
So he said calmly, "If you trust me, do as I said and put these four Talismans up at the east, west, south, and north."
"If you don't trust me, that's fine too. Just give them back to me."
"But I'll make one thing clear. I happen to need some money right now, so these four Talismans cost one million because you're hiring me today."
"If you don't trust me and someone dies at your site, or if you change your mind later and come looking for me again... heh, I might not feel like helping you then."
"And there's no way the price would still be a mere million. Even if you offered ten or a hundred times that, it would depend on my mood..."
His younger sister, Ning Ruoxuan, was still an ordinary mortal. And the two of them would need money for college soon. Otherwise, money held no real use or meaning for Ning Wangshu.
Zhang Yong hesitated again.
He did suspect Ning Wangshu might be fooling him. The sheets in his hands looked like nothing but blank paper. Where were these supposed Talismans?
Yet Ning Wangshu's words made him reluctant to hand them back.
He especially remembered the extraordinary things Ning Wangshu had done earlier, flicking a finger to destroy that Paper figure Evil Spirit.
He had also clearly seen the mysterious light at Ning Wangshu's fingertip as he drew on the pages. With abilities like his, surely he wouldn't deceive him over something like this.
So Zhang Yong gritted his teeth and said, "All right! Brother Ning, I'll trust you this time!"
"Mm."
Ning Wangshu nodded, then asked, "When will your money arrive?"
"Probably a little while longer. A million in cash is no small sum, and it'll take time to withdraw it from the bank," Zhang Yong said.
"Fine. Tell your people to hurry. I have something to do at noon..."
Ning Wangshu glanced at the time on the gold watch Zhang Yong was wearing. It was already a little past eleven in the morning.