"Brother Qin, I heard all about it from the boys. That move of yours was brilliant! Funeral wreaths, spirit money, and a coffin, all brought to someone's wedding! Hahaha!"
They were back at the entertainment complex in the eastern suburbs, in room 888, the KTV's private hospitality suite.
A square-faced man in his forties with an easygoing, hearty air was raising his glass as he spoke to Qin Xiao.
The man's name was Shi Aiguo. It was an old-fashioned name, and paired with his surname, it sounded a little comical.
But he was a man with a formidable reputation throughout Magic City's underworld.
As the overall climate grew increasingly restrictive, those so-called gang bosses involved in petty theft and violence had mostly either fled or gone to prison.
For him to navigate the gray areas under these circumstances and establish such a vast entertainment complex...
He was unquestionably someone with considerable skill and brains in that world.
Qin Xiao had handed over two million that day. There had been no fighting or injuries, and gathering a crowd to make a scene wasn't a particularly serious matter.
So everyone had come away happy this time. The job had been done cleanly, and the money had been earned easily!
Besides, those two million were only the beginning.
"Brother Shi, I really have you to thank. Your boys worked quickly and did a beautiful job! Without them, my big performance couldn't have been nearly so spectacular!"
"We were just doing what we were paid for. You're too kind, brother!"
Shi Aiguo laughed heartily and clinked glasses with Qin Xiao again before turning serious.
"Brother, we didn't let them keep that coffin. The boys brought it back. How would you like us to handle it? Should we take it to your place, or melt it down into gold bars for you?"
Shi Aiguo's service was certainly thorough.
Qin Xiao didn't stand on ceremony either. He hadn't intended this to be a one-off deal in the first place.
He immediately waved a hand.
"How could I take back something I've already given away? A coffin symbolizes promotion and prosperity, after all. Since that cheating pair weren't blessed enough to enjoy it, if you don't mind, Brother Shi, consider it payment for you and the boys' hard work."
To be honest, the man had handed over two million at their very first meeting, calling it a greeting gift.
Shi Aiguo had thought that once the job was done, Qin Xiao would at most throw in another few hundred thousand as payment for the boys' efforts.
They would certainly have more dealings in the future, but this was tens of millions in one go. Having made it this far, Shi Aiguo certainly wasn't someone who lost all sense at the sight of money.
He had done so little, only to have such a huge sum thrown at him.
How could he possibly accept it with an easy mind?
"Brother, let's speak frankly. I make my living in the underworld. Never mind a coffin-even if there were a corpse lying inside it right now, I wouldn't mind. But all I did today was handle a trivial little matter for you. Your greeting gift was already enough. With such a huge chunk of gold coming my way, I'm afraid I can't handle it!"
"A complex like this must cost at least a hundred million, right? Surely a mere few tens of millions wouldn't be too much?"
Qin Xiao gestured at the glittering, lavish decor around them.
"Ah! I don't have that kind of money. It might look like money comes easily to us, but I've got a whole bunch of boys to feed and people at every level to pay off. Not much actually ends up in my pocket. This is just a little private venture belonging to a big boss. I just help keep order here, nothing more than a watchdog. He didn't look down on my underworld background and gave me a small equity stake without requiring any investment!"
Shi Aiguo held nothing back and spoke plainly.
"Good! Since you're being so straightforward, Brother Shi, I won't stand on ceremony either. I don't want to live off my family, so I came to Magic City to build a little business. But I'm new here and don't know anyone or my way around. I need someone to show me the ropes, and someone with enough clout to watch my back!"
Although Qin Xiao hadn't said exactly what he intended to do, it was certainly legitimate business. He simply needed people to run errands and help him find local contacts.
If any trouble arose later, he would also have someone to help smooth things over.
He had no friends in Magic City himself. This time, for instance, he hadn't even known where to rent a fleet of Ferraris. Shi Aiguo had arranged it for him.
Having a reliable local power broker who knew where to draw the line would make anything he did much easier.
With both sides laying their cards on the table, Shi Aiguo felt considerably more reassured.
Still, he remained cautious. Regarding the gold coffin, he only offered to convert its cash value into credit on a membership card for the complex, allowing Qin Xiao to come and spend it whenever he pleased.
It was simply another way of phrasing things that left him a way out.
Qin Xiao didn't mind either. There would be plenty of opportunities ahead, and they could build their relationship gradually.
As for the trouble involving Guo Xinliang and Qu Fang, Shi Aiguo helped Qin Xiao find a lawyer.
They would return the company shares and pay compensation in exchange for Qin Xiao not taking legal action against them.
Naturally, neither of them dared pursue the matter of Qin Xiao injuring them either.
With an old hand like Shi Aiguo involved, their assets were soon uncovered down to the last detail.
Besides the company shares, the compensation amount came almost exactly to the limit of what the two could afford.
It left them with nothing and some debt on top of that, while the events at the wedding had utterly ruined their reputations.
They certainly couldn't stay in Magic City anymore.
Still worried that Qin Xiao might not be satisfied, Shi Aiguo drank too much and spoke to him conspiratorially.
"Car crashes, drowning, all kinds of accidents-even getting a couple of people with AIDS to seduce that cheating pair would be no problem. Betraying a brother and seducing his woman-I can't stand backstabbing bastards like that!"
Qin Xiao smiled and shook his head. As long as the two no longer appeared before him, that was enough.
With things having come to this, the two, who had grown accustomed to an increasingly luxurious lifestyle, would certainly live worse than dogs from now on.
The fact that he had transmigrated here and obtained the system was, to some extent, thanks to them as well.
There was no need to wipe them out.
Qin Xiao had no interest in his old company's shares anymore. Once he got them, he sold them straight to a venture capital firm at a low price.
He had originally poured five million into the company, and selling those shares brought him over eighty million in cash.
All told, he had made a huge profit and substantially replenished the money he had been spending recklessly lately.
After dealing with all these miscellaneous matters, Qin Xiao began entrusting Shi Aiguo with finding him a place in the city center. He intended to establish a high-tech company.
He would use the artificial intelligence Tony had designed to break into the market and firmly establish himself in Magic City.
With other people running around handling the location, registration, and recruitment through headhunters, Qin Xiao suddenly found himself with nothing to do.
More than twenty days had passed since his return, and he had long since accumulated enough energy to transmigrate again.
Bored, Qin Xiao began questioning the system.
"If I transmigrate again, will I still have to advance the plot through a stage before I can come back?"
"Correct. A major plot in the Marvel Universe must advance before the host can choose to return!"
"System, will there be any way in the future for me to switch freely between the Marvel Universe and reality?"
Qin Xiao continued asking.
"Insufficient authorization. All I can tell the host is that this restriction will definitely change in the future, but reaching the point of switching freely will be difficult. As for the specific changes, the host will naturally find out after gradually becoming stronger."
"All right!"
Qin Xiao nodded and activated transmigration once again!
Finally reached a hundred thousand characters! Starting tomorrow, there'll be four updates a day. How long that lasts depends on my Ultraman stamina, but this week at least won't be a problem! We just hit a hundred thousand characters today, and the site is giving the book its first promotional recommendation. If you like this book, I hope you'll add it to your library, leave a five-star review, and hit the update reminder button! These stats are very, very important for a new book! Thank you, everyone!