Another Conversation

Qin Siyang locked the gaunt young man away, then lit a piece of damp wood at the warehouse entrance. He let it smoke for a long time, making sure no lingering scent remained, before racing back.

Once everything was done, he let out a long breath.

He had finally secured the leverage Roylena had mentioned and could relax a little.

Wang Defa groaned inwardly when he saw Qin Siyang.

He told the customers in the Internet Cafe that he had something to take care of, then came outside again.

"Boss, what is it this time?"

"I need to use your warehouse computer."

Wang Defa sighed. "You have the key. Use it whenever you like."

"No. The internet connection is yours, and so is the warehouse. I have to let you know when I use it, in case it causes you any trouble."

Wang Defa gave him a perfunctory smile. "You're quite polite."

Qin Siyang took two silver coins from his pocket and placed them in Wang Defa's hand. "Your money back, plus interest."

One belonged to Qin Siyang himself, while the other had been looted from the gaunt young man's backpack.

By giving both silver coins to Wang Defa, he had fulfilled his earlier promise.

Wang Defa stared at the two silver coins in disbelief, at a loss for how to respond.

Qin Siyang patted his shoulder, then headed toward the warehouse.

Only after Qin Siyang disappeared through the warehouse entrance did Wang Defa come to his senses.

He bit both silver coins and found they were genuine. Qin Siyang had not deceived him.

His entire worldview was turned upside down.

Never had a Sequence Ability User-never-kept a promise so faithfully to an ordinary man like him.

In all his years running the Internet Cafe as a front for officials' shady dealings, he had only earned a handful of silver coins. Some of those had gone toward greasing the palms of the various people who came to inspect the Internet Cafe.

Counting only what he had actually pocketed, it might not even amount to what Qin Siyang had given him.

He really had misjudged Qin Siyang.

But who could have imagined that Qin Siyang had not been joking?

Wang Defa clutched the silver coins, looking bewildered, as though he had just awakened from a dream.

"I really... met a living saint!"

Qin Siyang opened the Aixico Virtual Chatroom again, said, "I'm new," then entered and exited five times in succession and waited for the other party to contact him.

Today's chatroom advertisement was for online gambling. Its slogan read, "Take a chance. Today might just be your lucky day!"

"That slogan is pretty fitting."

Qin Siyang smiled. Although he had no intention of gambling online, he did think his luck had been good today.

The randomly assigned handle the chatroom gave him today was [Counterattack], which made him feel even more strongly that everything was somehow destined.

After a while, a chat window flashed on the right side of the chatroom.

Qin Siyang clicked it open. The sender's handle was [Corner].

"Have you left the money there?"

Qin Siyang replied, "Yes."

"Good. You can send me your personal information now."

"But I don't think you'll be able to get that silver coin."

[Corner] replied with a smiley face. "You think there are too many people passing through for me to lift the floor tile and retrieve it? Don't worry about that. I'll find a way."

"No. I mean the person collecting the money for you might not be coming back."

The chat window went quiet again for quite a while.

Only after a long time did [Corner] send another message.

"What do you mean?"

Qin Siyang thought for a moment, then smiled as he typed a line.

"He said that with his uncle around, I'd never dare kill him. So let's arrange a place to meet and discuss whether he lives or dies."

"I'm very curious whether you'll save such a 'clever' nephew."

This time, [Corner] seemed to have crashed. He did not reply for half an hour.

Qin Siyang saw that [Corner]'s name was still blue rather than gray, proving that he was still online. He probably just needed some time to digest what [Counterattack] had told him.

Qin Siyang rested his arms behind his head and idly watched the screen.

"I wonder what Section Chief Qian is doing."

"Is he staring coldly at the screen, or smashing things in his room?"

Another ten-odd minutes passed before [Corner] finally sent another message.

"Meet me tomorrow at nine in the morning at the Unfinished Building beside Safe Zone Exit No. 38324."

"I'll decide the time and place."

[Corner] immediately responded, "What are you thinking? You're asking me for a favor, and you still want to be picky? If you hadn't contacted me first, I wouldn't have said a single word to you! We'll meet wherever I say! Remember to bring my nephew! And don't forget the silver coin you're paying me for my help!"

Qin Siyang smiled. "His dear uncle, typing more words doesn't make you right."

"Let's start with the basics. Do you even know who I am?"

Perhaps because Qin Siyang had mercilessly exposed his bluff, [Corner] soon sent another reply.

"You choose the time and place. But bring my nephew and the silver coin."

"Tomorrow at noon, on the second floor of the collapsed department store beside Safe Zone Exit No. 54320."

"Fine. Remember to bring my nephew and the silver coin."

Seeing [Corner] emphasize the same thing twice, Qin Siyang kindly replied, "Sorry, but I won't be bringing either."

"What exactly do you want?! If I don't see my nephew and the silver coin, I won't help you!"

"Sorry, but your reputation really isn't very good, so this is my only option. Helping me with this will take hardly any effort on your part. Don't get too hung up on it, or you might regret it."

"You're completely unreasonable!"

"I'm unreasonable? To keep your information from leaking and prevent Aixico's backend staff from monitoring our chat logs, I haven't even mentioned your name. Do you still think I'm unreasonable?"

Qin Siyang had deliberately avoided addressing him as "Section Chief Qian" in the chatroom because he was worried someone might be monitoring their messages.

According to what Qian Wendao had said during their last conversation, the virtual network could also be monitored.

Even though the Aixico Virtual Chatroom claimed everything was confidential, it still could not be trusted completely.

An offline transaction, with only two people present and each holding leverage over the other, was the only foolproof guarantee.

That was why Qian Wendao had only told Qin Siyang to leave the silver coin in a certain location, without mentioning the specifics of their deal, and had said it would be best to "make the transaction offline."

This time, too, Qian Wendao had only mentioned the time and place, not the substance of the deal. That way, even if someone was monitoring them, they would not know what the two were discussing.

The Aixico chatroom had tens of thousands of visitors every day. Transactions involving more people and larger sums were comparatively more likely to attract a monitor's attention.

There were countless vaguely worded deals like the one between Qin Siyang and Qian Wendao. No one would pay them any attention.

Ever cautious, Qin Siyang had done his best to leave no loose ends ever since he had suffered at Liu Dazhi's hands.