The Fare

"I'm here. What will it take for you to let him go?"

Cheng Sheng turned his head and spoke to the scripture-tattooed man in front of him.

Song Cai had said over the phone that he was being held in Pawan and asked Cheng Sheng to find a way to bring money and save him.

Cheng Sheng could have guessed with his heel what kind of trouble Song Cai had run into.

Never mind his previous life; even in this life, the TV news reported it every other day. It was nothing more than a common "honey trap," and only an idiot and coward like Song Cai, whose head had been muddled by so-called "love," would fall for it.

But he bore some responsibility too. Just as he had kept forgetting to replace the broken light bulb in his family's living room, he had been so focused on preparing for the formal disciple assessment lately that he had also forgotten to call Song Cai's parents. Otherwise, things wouldn't have gotten to this point.

"I told this kid to call his parents, but he refused no matter what... and then he called another student over. You're pretty loyal to your buddy, I'll give you that."

The scripture-tattooed man stubbed out his cigarette in a paper cup and picked up a switchblade from the table. With a light press, the blade sprang out, and he began leisurely cleaning his nails with it.

"Your buddy raped my wife, and I caught him.

There's no settling this without some money..."

"How much do you want?"

Cheng Sheng asked without hesitation.

The scripture-tattooed man held up one finger and wagged it.

Cheng Sheng blinked. "One thousand?"

The woman doing her makeup at the dressing table snorted with laughter.

"Dumbass!"

The mohawk blocking the door spoke up, amused. "You think you're paying Sister Yu for a roll in the sack? One thousand? Brother Cha means a hundred thousand! Without a hundred thousand in Nan Currency, neither of you is leaving today!"

With that, he slammed the door shut with a bang.

"A hundred thousand?!"

Before Cheng Sheng could speak, Song Cai, who was holding a piss bucket over his head in the corner, couldn't help shouting, "Where would we get that much money? I spent all my money buying A Yu a phone..."

"Shut your mouth!"

The scripture-tattooed man snapped at Song Cai, then turned back to see how Cheng Sheng would react.

Cheng Sheng's expression was quite calm. He seemed to think for a moment, then spoke.

"You're sick."

"Huh?"

The scripture-tattooed man's hand froze. He wondered if he had heard wrong.

"What kind of healthy person asks two students for a hundred thousand?"

Cheng Sheng looked utterly speechless, staring at the scripture-tattooed man as though he were an idiot. "Come on, before you extort someone, could you at least check what they can afford?"

When he finished speaking, everyone in the room turned to look at him.

A few seconds later, the scripture-tattooed man slowly stood up from behind the table, switchblade in hand.

"Are students these days... all this brazen?"

He laughed in anger and was just about to come around the table when his vision blurred. The kid who had been standing several meters away suddenly appeared right in front of him.

"You..."

The scripture-tattooed man froze. He was just about to speak when Cheng Sheng, with only the table between them, suddenly raised something and waved it in front of his eyes.

It was a switchblade whose handle had nearly been polished to a patina from handling.

It looked familiar to the scripture-tattooed man. He instinctively looked down and discovered that the right hand he had been holding the knife in was empty, though he had no idea when that had happened.

When had this kid snatched his knife away?!

The scripture-tattooed man was shocked, but before he could react, he heard the other man calmly say one word: "Hand."

The next second, someone seized his left hand and slammed it onto the table.

Immediately afterward, a switchblade stabbed down toward the tabletop at lightning speed!

"Ah!"

The scripture-tattooed man cried out, but the stabbing pain he expected never came. He stared wide-eyed and realized that the other man seemed to be stabbing the spaces between his fingers.

But...

He was too fast!

So fast that he couldn't see where the other man's hand was at all. All he could see was a small, blurry phantom. All he could hear was the rapid sound of the switchblade's tip stabbing into the tabletop and being pulled out again, while a cool draft zipped back and forth between his fingers throughout...

Sweat poured down the scripture-tattooed man's face, but he didn't dare move, terrified that the other man might accidentally stab his hand.

What terrified him most was that the young man, who seemed to be performing "acrobatics" with his hand, never once looked down throughout the whole thing. He kept his eyes on him, holding his gaze with a calmness that sent a chill down his spine.

After who knew how long, the knife tip sank into the wood with a dull thunk. Cheng Sheng let go, and the scripture-tattooed man immediately fell backward.

"Huff-huff-"

He collapsed onto his backside, his face deathly pale as he gasped for breath.

The tabletop was now densely covered with punctures from the switchblade, arranged in a regular pattern resembling a flower.

The entire room was silent. Everyone had been stunned by the sight.

The woman at the dressing table held her lipstick and stared blankly at Cheng Sheng, her makeup smeared crooked across her face.

The mohawk guarding the door stood frozen too, a thoroughly bewildered look on his face.

Cheng Sheng couldn't be bothered wasting words on them. He turned straight to the woman and held out a hand. "The phone."

The woman stood in a daze for a moment, then, as if waking from a dream, hurriedly reached for a small pink bag on the dressing table.

Without waiting for her to search it, Cheng Sheng snatched the bag and dumped everything onto the table with a clatter.

Tissues, jewelry, cosmetics, condoms...

Among the jumble of things, Cheng Sheng found a brand-new Raspberry phone. He also spotted a stack of colorful banknotes and picked them up too...

"That's my money!"

The woman panicked and instinctively started forward to snatch it back.

Cheng Sheng frowned and lashed out with a backhanded slap-

Smack!

"I came all this way..."

Cheng Sheng looked at her, his voice icy. "You think the tuk-tuk ride was free?"

The woman clutched her face and backed away, not daring to speak again.

Slapping A Yu, the working girl, seemed to open up Cheng Sheng's thinking as well.

Robbing one person was robbery, and robbing a bunch was robbery too. He happened to be short of money lately... he might as well rob them all!

"You, and you."

Cheng Sheng pointed the switchblade at the two remaining men, the scripture-tattooed man and the mohawk. "Both of you, hand over everything in your pockets too," he said bluntly.

The scripture-tattooed man had yet to recover from his fright. After a brief hesitation, he slowly stood up, his face dark, and pulled the money from his pockets.

The mohawk was even more obedient. Not only did he empty out all the loose change he had on him, but he even handed over a half-eaten packet of betel nut...

Cheng Sheng gathered up all the money and stuffed it into his own pockets, then called to Song Cai, who was standing in a daze in the corner.

"Let's go!"

He had used his "Sparrow Spirit"-level reaction speed to show off a series of "magic"-like tricks and bluff them, but heaven knew how long the bluff would last.

Once they came to their senses, if they ran off to call for help, he had no confidence that his half-baked fighting skills would be enough to "fight" his way out of Pawan with Song Cai in tow.

He had heard Song Cai say earlier that the two men seemed to be from something called the Red Ba Gang, and Cheng Sheng had no desire to make tomorrow morning's news.

Song Cai came to his senses and hurried after Cheng Sheng.

The guy's head was still in a fog. Even as he ran, he hugged his red piss bucket and refused to let go...