Meeting Old Zhang Again

"I can't blame you. This wasn't something you could decide anyway. Just keep looking."

Xia Xu sighed softly at that, then said, "All right, let's leave it there for now. Send me the address. School's about to let out."

"Okay."

Yang Bowen hung up, and shortly afterward, a text containing the address arrived on Xia Xu's phone.

"Remember to go straight home. Don't wander around."

When school let out, Xia Xu still couldn't help reminding Little White Flower again.

After leaving the school gates, he could clearly feel the change in the atmosphere around the school as he walked.

Word of Tang Hao's death had evidently spread through the neighborhood. Quite a few people pointed at the gates of Star City No. 3 High School, while even more hurried along. There were far fewer pedestrians on the streets than yesterday.

Even more noticeable were the fire engines and police cars roaring past, one after another. Normally, these vehicles made people feel safe, but seeing them mobilized en masse inevitably stirred up anxiety. Even those who knew nothing about the situation asked the people around them whether something serious had happened.

A human life-and one lost in a bustling city, at that-was indeed serious enough in the Xia Kingdom to warrant such a large response.

This death was particularly unusual, too. An unidentified wild beast had attacked and killed someone. If it wasn't caught promptly, it could very well keep causing casualties in the area. Presumably, these police cars and fire engines were searching for that beast.

With a response like this, even a mutated creature would be shot to pieces once they found it, wouldn't it? Could the Hunter plot really keep going under these circumstances? Or was my guess wrong?

Xia Xu couldn't help wavering a little in his earlier conclusions.

Although the current response wasn't much on the scale of an entire nation, both the fire department and the police had mobilized. Even a mutated creature probably wouldn't fare well once it was found.

If the police killed the prey, what the hell would the hunter have left to hunt? The entire plot he'd imagined would fall apart.

Of course, that was only one possibility, dependent on the police finding the "prey" and its strength not being so outrageous that it could withstand gunfire and artillery.

It's also possible that the creature that attacked Tang Hao is exceptionally good at hiding, or that there's more than one of them. Tang Hao's death and the police search might just be the monster's introduction...

After only a moment's hesitation, Xia Xu ultimately chose to trust his own judgment.

No matter what, Tang Hao being a supporting character in Hunter was an undeniable fact, as was the police's determination that he had died in an animal attack. That meant the Hunter plot definitely involved a special beast, or a special species of beast.

With that established, however the rest of the plot changed, its core would remain the same. It would definitely revolve around that beast. The only unknowns were its appearance, abilities, origins, and ultimate fate.

Forget it. I'll leave that aside for now...

Cutting off his train of thought, Xia Xu hailed a taxi and headed for the address Yang Bowen had given him.

There might be danger now, but nowhere was safe anyway. He still needed to earn money, and he had no intention of giving up on the plot of The Dying Man.

A technological society was, plainly speaking, a society ruled by money. Ultimately, the reason the Hunter plot had left him so helpless was that he lacked funds.

If he had enough money, hiring a bunch of formidable bodyguards would be the least of what he could do. He could even go to some chaotic region overseas and get heavy weapons or an entire squad of mercenaries. Since he could inspect fates, talents, and favorability, he wouldn't have to worry about things going wrong.

With all that at his disposal, would he really fear an unknown creature that someone could hunt down in a Xia Kingdom city? Turning the tables and catching it for dinner, or sending it to a laboratory as research material, seemed more like it.

"Boss, over here."

When the taxi reached its destination, Yang Bowen was already waiting nearby. Seeing Xia Xu get out, he quickly jogged over to meet him.

"Where's Zhang Jianmin?"

Xia Xu got straight to the point while surveying his surroundings.

The Times Royal Court Residential Complex had the same developer as Era Scenic Gardens, which he'd visited last time, but it had been built earlier and was already occupied.

This was a commercial hub near the Times Royal Court Residential Complex, centered on a small plaza, with two large supermarkets and various shops lining the streets.

"He's in there!"

Yang Bowen pointed at a stairway entrance along the street. "Heh heh, boss, the guy you had me find is a real character. He called in a dozen hostesses at the KTV, but he doesn't dare touch a single one. He lets them sing, drink, and have a great time while he huddles miserably outside the door, like he's their waiter."

The stairway entrance he pointed to wasn't particularly conspicuous, but the sign on the second floor covered an entire wall and stretched several meters across. Bright neon tubes formed a tacky sign-[Golden Sun KTV].

"What's this? You look like you're frustrated with him for wasting his chance. Want to take his place and show him how it's done?"

Hearing Yang Bowen's lecherous chuckle, the kind any man would understand, Xia Xu casually teased him.

"Ahem, I wouldn't dare. I just think it's a waste of money..."

Yang Bowen coughed and hurried to explain.

"All right, all right. Save your explanations for your wife. It's nothing to do with me."

Xia Xu smiled and headed straight for the stairs into Golden Sun KTV.

"This is a work requirement. I'm following the boss's lead."

With a thoroughly righteous expression, Yang Bowen strode after him as though marching heroically to his death.

It was only a little past six, which could still essentially count as "daytime," so the KTV was fairly quiet. There weren't many people around, and they barely even saw any reception staff or waiters.

After passing a few rooms, Xia Xu spotted Zhang Jianmin at once. Just as Yang Bowen had described, he was sitting on the floor with his back against the door, smoking dejectedly. A small green glass bottle of beer stood on the floor beside him.

I wonder if this is the plot's inertia...

Seeing Zhang Jianmin like this, Xia Xu wasn't quite sure whether he was now "living it up" along the original plot's trajectory, or whether this was simply an inevitable outcome of his personality and circumstances as a man facing imminent death.

According to the plot summary he'd seen before, even without the money he'd won gambling, Zhang Jianmin still had at least a hundred thousand or so in savings, enough to indulge himself in a daze for a while.

Even if interference had pushed the plot off its original course, his desire to enjoy his final days after learning of his terminal illness wouldn't change.

However, Xia Xu hadn't come to investigate that. He simply wanted to see whether the summary displayed on Zhang Jianmin's protagonist fate would expand or change as the plot progressed and deviated, and also try his luck at encountering other supporting characters, perhaps even following the clues to find the old man at the construction site.

Of course, none of those things was the most important. He actually had another consideration in coming to find Zhang Jianmin...

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