The Guest

"Gold coins, gold coins, lovely gold coins!" Lin Qi sprawled over the piles of gold coins, utterly intoxicated, and shouted almost hysterically, "Lovely gold coins, my little darlings, my sweethearts, what lovely gold coins! Oh, oh, another small part of my life's ideal has been realized!"

Enzo and Cripple twisted their mouths at the same time.

Lin Qi had described his life's ideal to them countless times: after he died, his tomb would be filled with gold, and he would lie comfortably in an ocean of gold, sleeping forever. For gold, he could do almost anything!

With a light cough, Cripple slapped the square table hard.

"Six high-quality Stabbing Swords, three gold coins apiece."

Cripple's voice was solemn, filled with an absolute majesty that brooked no argument.

Lin Qi angrily raised his head. He glanced at the dozen-odd gold coins glittering on the table and roared furiously, "Uncle Cripple, is this a black shop? At this quality, with Stabbing Swords this fine, the material alone costs more than three gold coins! Ten gold coins apiece, or I'll find someone else!"

Cripple shouted even louder, "Damn you, ten gold coins? Why don't you just go rob someone? Three gold coins—my profit is already razor-thin. You should know what kind of business we do. If the Empire were buying these Stabbing Swords, they'd absolutely be worth the price you named, but we're dealing in goods that can't see the light of day!"

Lin Qi swiftly picked up the gold coins from the table one by one. No one saw what he did; the moment a coin reached his palm, it vanished without a trace. This uncanny skill left Cripple and Enzo gaping in amazement. What astonishing natural talent did it take to possess such dexterity?

In the blink of an eye, Lin Qi had pocketed all eighteen gold coins and one silver coin. He planted both hands on the square table and glared furiously at Cripple as he roared, "Yes, dear Uncle Cripple, we're dealing in goods that can't see the light of day, so lowering the price is only right. But the price you offered is outrageous! That price doesn't merely insult these six supreme Stabbing Swords—it insults me!"

Bulging his eyes as wide as he could, Lin Qi bellowed, "Do you think I stayed awake in the dead of night, trekked more than ten li through the darkness to this godforsaken place, just for a paltry eighteen gold coins? I'm a man who does big business! I couldn't possibly go through all that hardship for a paltry eighteen gold coins!"

Cripple snorted. "A paltry eighteen gold coins?" Lin Qi was the kind of bastard who would crack someone's skull for a single copper coin. Cripple had known him for three years; he understood what sort of creature the boy was even better than Lin Qi's father—Blackbeard, Cripple's old friend. Forget eighteen gold coins—he could trek hundreds of li through the night for eighteen coppers.

Three gold coins per Stabbing Sword was indeed a little low, but then again, think of the bottle of liquor Lin Qi had just drunk!

Cripple's heart turned utterly cold and merciless. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Three gold coins apiece. No room for negotiation. But the payment for that batch of Eastern medicinal herbs you took from me last month can be written off against it. If you still won't accept my terms, go find that damned Hunchback! Let's see what price he can offer you!"

"May the great Gods bless your ancestors!" Lin Qi instantly broke into a radiant smile. He glanced at the bronze liquor bottle on the floor and laughed easily. "Then it's a deal. Let this bottle of liquor be our celebration for completing another transaction. Ah, by the old rules, you're still buying our drinks tonight, aren't you?"

Cripple grunted. He walked to the table, wrapped the six Stabbing Swords in cloth, opened a hidden compartment in the wall, and tossed the bundle inside. A series of clanging metallic impacts gradually receded, and no one knew where the Stabbing Swords had slid off to through the secret passage.

Cripple gestured toward the tavern with his thumb and snorted. "The old rules stand: you can drink, but if you dare cause trouble, I'll break your legs! Hey, Vik, you can come out now. Is this how you treat your dear Uncle Cripple?"

The candlelight swayed. From a patch of darkness in the corner, a thin, withered figure slowly rose to his feet. Vik, dressed in black skintight clothing and short and scrawny like a macaque, walked out of the corner holding a crossbow. He carefully removed the dark-colored bolt from the crossbow, then pulled the trigger, producing a "bang" of an empty bowstring.

Lin Qi swayed his body merrily, gently swinging both arms at his sides as he teased in a slick, mocking tone, "Oh la, oh la, dear Vik, you can't do that. How could you point a crossbow at our dear Uncle Cripple? Oh, don't do it again next time. Especially since your bolts are poisoned. You really are a little rascal!"

Lin Qi twitched his nose and distinguished the faint fishy odor in the air. His laughter grew even more delighted. "You actually smeared the Seven-Step Snake's venom I got from that damned old man last time onto the bolt. Vik, you really are a little rascal."

Vik bared his teeth in a grin at Cripple, whose forehead was continually beaded with cold sweat, then carefully hung the crossbow in the cloth bag at his waist.

Cripple sidelonged Lin Qi a glance, suddenly growing several degrees more wary of the boy. The Seven-Step Snake's venom—damn it, they had actually smeared the venom of such a Demonic Beast onto the bolt! A crossbow was already a despicable weapon of assassination; with the Seven-Step Snake's venom added to it, these little fellows were more sinister and ruthless than the next. How had a few such outstanding specimens appeared in the dark world of the Seventh Empire?

"What's even more detestable is that they're on my turf!" Cripple drew a deep breath and put on a magnanimous smile. "All right, all right, my dear children, you can go have fun. Eighteen gold coins—that's a huge sum of money. You need to spend some of it here. Otherwise, it isn't a good thing for young children like you to have such a large sum of money in their hands!"

"Drinks are on me, but Uncle Cripple has plenty of other fun things here. Hurry up and spend some money, or my heart will ache. My gold coins, my precious gold coins!" Cripple wiped the corners of his eyes with his filthy sleeve and wailed mournfully, "My gold coins were earned one copper at a time too. You just carried off eighteen gold coins in one go!"

Lin Qi was no longer paying attention to Cripple. Tonight's transaction was complete, and Cripple was now an utterly dispensable existence to him. Now he should go drink and have fun, then look for new opportunities to make money while drinking and enjoying himself.

The Cripple's Shop was a good place. Lin Qi could always find plenty of opportunities to make money here, and he would never let a single opportunity slip away.

They opened the hidden door, and just as they were about to head to the tavern to drink and carouse, a tavern maid emerged from the darkness like a ghost.

"Boss, a few strange guests have arrived. Lisa slapped them across the face."