Chapter 117 - 99: Quadra Kill

Chapter 117: Chapter 99: Quadra Kill

South City.

Inside an unremarkable tavern.

The tavern’s unremarkable exterior matched its equally unremarkable interior. It housed a dozen or so well-worn tables, their surfaces slick and shiny with grease.

Despite its grimy appearance, the tavern was typically packed to the rafters, making it nearly impossible to find an empty table.

There was a simple reason for this.

It was the gathering spot for the Ghostwriters of South City.

The tavern’s owner may not have been powerful, but their connections were certainly exceptional. Otherwise, they could never have served as the bridge between clients and Ghostwriters.

Ghostwriters looking to take on jobs and earn money generally had two avenues.

The first was to hunt down vicious criminals from the wanted list and turn them in to the Government Office for a silver bounty.

This path demanded an extremely high level of skill from the Ghostwriters.

After all, any criminal who made it onto the wanted list was bound to be formidable.

The second avenue was to go through a middleman and accept missions posted by wealthy and powerful clients.

These jobs were varied—everything from bodyguard and delivery services to revenge killings. All sorts of dirty work.

Ghostwriters, by their very nature, did the jobs that others were unwilling or unable to do themselves.

Strictly speaking, they walked the line between black and white. Even if they weren’t evil, they lived in a gray area.

As evening fell, a figure appeared at the tavern’s entrance, a sack slung over his back. Judging by its shape, it clearly contained a person.

The moment the figure appeared, the once-raucous tavern fell silent—so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

THUD!

The man tossed the sack onto the counter.

"I’ve brought him back. Inspect the goods."

Su Mu said, his expression placid.

HISS!

A collective gasp echoed through the tavern.

"How many times is that now?" someone whispered.

"Five days, twenty jobs completed. That’s an average of four a day!" a Ghostwriter in his forties exclaimed in amazement.

"I did the math. In these five days, he’s earned at least seven hundred taels of silver!" another Ghostwriter licked his lips, his face full of envy.

"You really can’t compare people. He was made a constable at such a young age. Even after he couldn’t make it in the South City Bureau, he comes out to be a Ghostwriter and still rises to the top this quickly. Incredible!" a slightly older Ghostwriter lamented.

They were both Ghostwriters, but the silver Su Mu earned in five days was more than this man could hope to make in a month.

He wasn’t the only one who felt this way; nearly every Ghostwriter in the tavern shared the same thought.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to take on more jobs.

But a person’s energy and abilities were finite. Even if they accepted the jobs, they didn’t have the skill to complete them so quickly.

"All of you, don’t just stand there envying the silver he’s making. You haven’t seen how hard he works to complete his jobs. While you’re here chatting and drinking, he’s out on a job. While you’re in bed with a woman, he’s still out on a job," a burly man said.

"If I had his talent, I’d work that hard too. I heard that back when he was still a constable for the South City Bureau, he had already mastered the second level of Saber potential," a Ghostwriter retorted, unconvinced.

"With how little you work, you’re nowhere near the point where talent even matters," Wei Yongfu sneered, speaking with disdain.

When he first met Su Mu, Su Mu was just a Hunter, not even considered a constable.

He had personally witnessed Su Mu’s step-by-step journey to becoming a constable of the South City Bureau, so he knew better than anyone just how desperately hard Su Mu worked.

Whenever Su Mu was awake, he was either on a case or on his way to one. In any case, Wei Yongfu knew he could never do the same.

Su Mu deserved to earn that money; he, on the other hand, never could.

"So what? He still couldn’t cut it at the South City Bureau and had to run off to become a Ghostwriter, just like us," a Ghostwriter said, his eyes filled with jealousy.

"What did you say?" Wei Yongfu roared. "Niu Kejiang, are you asking for a beating?"

"What, can’t a man speak the truth anymore?"

Niu Kejiang flinched. He knew Wei Yongfu’s strength and was certain he was no match for him. Just as he was about to say something conciliatory, a hand suddenly pressed down on his shoulder, and a voice rang out.

His gaze traveled past Niu Kejiang’s body to land on the speaker.

The man was dressed in the Official Uniform of a constable, and behind him stood three men wearing the Official Uniforms of squad leaders.

Wei Yongfu’s brow furrowed instantly.

’The South City Bureau’s new constable, Hu Feng!’

’The other three are squad leaders: Hu Yu, Hu Lei, and Hu Dian.’

’All of them are Household Generals brought from the Inner City by the South City Bureau’s new Sima.’

These four had made a big name for themselves in South City these past few days.

Just yesterday, the Gang Leader of the Yellow Sand Gang, a master at Body Tempering Second Realm Perfection, had been cut down in the street by Hu Feng with a single strike, all for talking back to him.

Wei Yongfu had already broken through to the Third Stage of Body Tempering and begun tempering his tendons, but even he couldn’t have killed the Yellow Sand Gang Leader in a single blow.

’I’m definitely no match for Hu Feng.’

"Cat got your tongue? Weren’t you just trying to stick up for Su Mu? Go on, speak. This constable is listening."

Hu Feng said mockingly, "What’s the matter? Is Su Mu so high and mighty that no one is allowed to speak of him being stripped of his constable position for corruption and breaking the law?

Since when did South City have such a rule? I wasn’t aware."

CLACK!

He planted one foot on a stool and leaned forward, his cold gaze fixed on Wei Yongfu.

"I—"

A vein throbbed on Wei Yongfu’s forehead. He felt a rush of blood to his head and clenched his fists in an instant.