Shopping for Free

An Kai followed the clean street toward the Bounty Tower.

This time, he was in no particular hurry.

He had visited Chaos City several times, but every visit had been a hurried arrival followed by a hurried departure.

He had never taken a proper look at its streets and surroundings.

Given the chance, An Kai would still prefer to cultivate in seclusion in Chaos City.

Humans were social creatures, after all.

His previous periods of seclusion were proof of that.

The reason he could never stay in seclusion for long was partly a shortage of food, and partly the loneliness in his heart.

An Kai felt that if he stayed in seclusion too long, he would go mad...

That made Chaos City a good place for secluded cultivation.

Provided he was strong enough to face any unexpected trouble in the city without fear...

Halfway there, the urgent clatter of carriages suddenly sounded behind him.

He darted aside and stood at the edge of the street with two residents of Chaos City.

They watched three carriages race toward them.

"What fortune has the Evergreen Gang made this time? They need three carriages just to haul their food?"

"You haven't heard? Ever since the Evergreen Gang swallowed up the Mountainbreaker Gang, they've been buying food by the carriage-load. They're rolling in it!"

An Kai pricked up his ears, an interested look crossing his face...

"Ah! If only we could break through to tier two! Then we could start a gang and live the good life too!"

"Ha! Dream on! If reaching tier two were that easy, Chaos City wouldn't have so few of them..."

"Wait, plenty of people reach tier two every year. Why are there so few in Chaos City?"

"That I don't know, but I heard something from a friend of my next-door neighbor's great-uncle's grandson. Apparently, only after reaching tier two can you truly glimpse Chaos City's secrets!"

"Secrets? What secrets?"

"Stop asking. If I knew, I wouldn't be standing here being friends with you."

"...Hah!"

The two people beside An Kai left.

He had wanted to hear more about the Evergreen Gang.

Instead, he had heard something else.

"Glimpse Chaos City's secrets at tier two?"

An Kai muttered to himself, feeling that those two were simply making things up.

Chaos City was large, but he had visited several times and explored parts of it. Besides, Hanks had lived here for a while.

If there were any secrets, could they really escape Hanks?

Back in Nameless Town, that fellow had been a notorious gossip. He even knew exactly what positions the mayor of Nameless Town used!

As for Hanks knowing a secret and keeping it from him, An Kai considered that impossible.

If there really were any secrets, Hanks would have already tried to sell them to him at an exorbitant price.

An Kai shook his head and chuckled.

He continued walking through the streets of Chaos City.

Only this time, he changed direction...

He was no longer heading toward the Bounty Tower, but toward the Evergreen Gang...

Between the uncertainty of the Bounty Tower and a shopping-for-free trip to the Evergreen Gang that was very likely to succeed, An Kai chose the Evergreen Gang...

Two hours later.

An Kai crouched in a corner opposite the Evergreen Gang, disguised as a street vendor.

He had bought the stall for one gold coin.

He also held a detector borrowed from the fat, big-eared merchant.

Whenever a member of the Evergreen Gang came out, An Kai went up to pitch his wares...

[Tier one, level four]

[Tier one, level six]

[Tier one, level nine]

This one was a familiar face: the knight Polpi, whose mount had been eaten by Lei Ming, the former leader of the Mountainbreaker Gang.

Smiling, An Kai tried to sell him some wares, only for Polpi to shoo him away...

"Do you think I'm some sucker you can fleece?!"

Polpi muttered and walked into the Evergreen Gang's headquarters.

It was the former headquarters of the Mountainbreaker Gang.

An Kai had long since burned the Evergreen Gang's own headquarters to the ground.

As the sky darkened, An Kai finally spotted his target.

He hurriedly picked up a bowl of tea so murky that its contents were impossible to make out and ran toward the newly emerged leader of the Evergreen Gang.

"Sweet tea! Sweet tea! Tasty and cheap, just one gold coin!"

Kaili had been in a good mood. Polpi had led the gang members through several more bounty missions that day.

They had earned a decent haul of supplies for the Evergreen Gang.

So Kaili was planning to visit the Pleasure House in the city and enjoy himself...

He would treat it as a celebration of the Evergreen Gang growing stronger!

After leaving the gang's headquarters, he encountered the vendor.

Whenever Kaili was in a good mood, he would usually give the vendor a little business.

This time was no exception.

When the unfamiliar vendor approached, Kaili wondered whether he was a friend of the usual vendor or something.

He was just about to make a purchase as usual when he heard the outrageous price of one gold coin.

Kaili's expression froze, and he snapped, "You dare try to rip me off? Get lost!"

An Kai chuckled twice and took a step back.

With his back to Kaili, he took the detector out of his clothes...

[Tier two, level two]

An Kai smiled when he saw the detector's reading.

No wonder Kaili had felt relatively weak to him, rather than unbeatable.

He was about the same as the [Typhon Giant]!

An Kai turned around. He was only about two meters from Kaili.

Holding the bowl, he continued walking toward him.

"Are you deaf?! Get lost!"

As an [Enchanted Archer], Kaili hated nothing more than people getting close to him.

After all, his body was just as frail as a mage's.

Seeing the vendor continue approaching with no regard for his life, Kaili grew furious.

He swore that if the vendor took one more step, he would twist the bastard's head off!

One step later, only half a meter remained between them!

Enraged, Kaili was about to take a weapon out of his Storage Ring, chop off An Kai's legs, and then twist his head off, when An Kai's figure blurred!

He was already standing right in front of him!

The next instant, a large hand clamped around Kaili's throat like a vise!

An Kai gripped Kaili's throat with his right hand, never slowing his movements!

His left hand clenched into a fist and drove a straight punch into Kaili's stomach!

Thud! Clatter!

The bowl of sweet tea struck the ground at the same moment as the dull impact. Kaili's eyes bulged, and strangled groans of pain escaped his mouth...

"Don't resist!"

An Kai spoke coldly as he held Kaili by the throat.

Hearing him, Kaili used every ounce of strength he had to nod.

He had never imagined this vendor would have such a violent temper. If he had known, he would have just bought a bowl of sweet tea!

An Kai stripped the Storage Ring from Kaili's finger.

Then he landed three more thudding punches, beating Kaili into a limp wreck before dragging him into the Evergreen Gang's headquarters.

Under the stunned gazes of the gang members guarding the food, he led the three carriages, which had yet to be unloaded, out of the headquarters.

At that moment, a crowd of Evergreen Gang members surrounded him. An Kai remained calm, punching Kaili over and over.

That kept the gang members from approaching.

An Kai knew where to draw the line. He only wanted the Evergreen Gang's three carriages and the resources in Kaili's Storage Ring.

He did not loot the Evergreen Gang's warehouse.

This had two advantages.

First, the Evergreen Gang would not fight him to the death. Second, the gang could serve as a stable, long-term source of resources, ready for another round of harvesting once he finished his secluded cultivation...

Using rope from the Storage Ring, An Kai tied the three carriages together side by side.

Then he subdued the three fine horses with brute strength. Sitting on the middle carriage, he gripped a long whip and lashed it hard across the horses...

"Hyah!"

With his foot planted on the unconscious Kaili, An Kai drove the carriages away and disappeared from the Evergreen Gang members' sight...

There were over two hundred Evergreen Gang members, including quite a few powerful fighters at tier one, levels eight and nine. If they had all rushed him together, there was no telling what trouble they might have caused An Kai.

But because An Kai had known where to draw the line and held Kaili as a bargaining chip, all those gang members could only watch him leave...

"This is bad! The boss is done for!"

"Hall Master Polpi, what should we do?"

"Even though the boss is gone, we can't let anything happen to our gang! Fine! I'll take over as acting leader of the Evergreen Gang for now!"

"..."

"Do you have any objections?!"

"...N-no... none..."

Polpi shook his head, looking grief-stricken as he sighed and walked back into the Evergreen Gang's headquarters...

Halfway there, Polpi suddenly turned around and instructed, "Oh, right. Kaili has a concubine in the eastern part of the city. Go bring her to me. I need to comfort her wounded heart!"

"...Yes! Hall... Gang Leader!"

Thanks to Mysterious Organization 404 and Half a Lifetime of Cold for their monthly votes, and to Losing It Is My Fate, Cold, and Infinite Reversal for their tips.