Chapter 345 - 191: Have I Been Too Lenient With You?

Chapter 345: Chapter 191: Have I Been Too Lenient With You?

The owner was about fifty, his apron covered in grease stains. His face wore the amiable expression common to those who have spent years in business.

The man nodded, lifted a bundle of noodles with his chopsticks, blew on them, and then brought them to his mouth. He ate at a steady pace, chewing quietly without making any smacking sounds.

"Your dad was probably the one running this place back then," the man said suddenly after swallowing a mouthful of noodles.

The owner gave him a surprised look, pausing the long chopsticks in his hand. His polite expression shifted to one of mild astonishment. "That must’ve been ten years ago. The old man was still doing all right back then, but not anymore... He’s gotten old."

The owner shook his head as he spoke, his tone filled with complex emotions.

The man smiled but said no more, lowering his head to continue eating his noodles.

A few minutes later, the owner finished packing the fried dough sticks and steamed buns Wan Ze had ordered.

The fried dough sticks were wrapped in a paper bag, ten to a stack, with steam wafting from the opening.

The steamed buns were put into two separate plastic bags—one for the meat-filled ones and one for the vegetable-filled ones.

When the owner handed the food over, Wan Ze took it and paid.

Just then, the man finished the last of his noodles. He lifted the bowl and drank all the broth, and when he set it down, the bottom was completely clean, without even a sliver of green onion left.

He stood up, placed his bowl and chopsticks in the collection bin, nodded to the owner, and then walked toward the other side of the street.

Wan Ze carried his breakfast and walked home at a leisurely pace.

After about two hundred meters, he turned into an alley. ℴ

The alley wasn’t wide, flanked by old residential buildings with peeling walls that exposed the red bricks underneath.

It was dim deeper in the alley. A few sparrows perched on the telephone wires overhead, chirping away.

Wan Ze slowed his pace.

His footsteps echoed in the narrow alley. TAP, TAP, TAP. Each one was steady and rhythmic.

"You’ve got some nerve," Wan Ze said slowly.

His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried clearly in the quiet alley.

Behind him, the man’s voice rang out, tinged with a light chuckle. "I just came for a quick meal. The Dragon Eagle can’t be so tyrannical as to deny a man a hot meal, can they?"

The man was none other than Zhao Henian.

He had recently made a deal with Wan Ze. The first part of that deal had been quite profitable for Wan Ze, but the second phase had been delayed because Zhao Henian said he needed to go back and prepare. This "preparation" had taken days, with no word from him at all. Wan Ze had almost thought the man had met a violent end.

Wan Ze didn’t turn around. He just kept walking forward, his pace and rhythm unchanged.

"So you’ve finally decided to show your face. Is everything ready?" His tone was flat.

Zhao Henian followed behind, maintaining a distance of about two meters.

"Actually, I came to give you a heads-up." Zhao Henian lowered his voice until only the two of them could hear. "There’s a problem with the things you wanted."

Wan Ze stopped abruptly.

There was no warning whatsoever.

This instantaneous transition from motion to stillness showed that his muscle control had reached an incredibly high level.

He slowly turned his head, his gaze icy. "Have I been too soft on you people?"

Zhao Henian cleared his throat, trying to diffuse the tension with a mild tone. "Don’t be so angry this early in the morning. It’s not a lost cause. It’s just that... I need your help."

Wan Ze didn’t speak, just stared at him coolly.

His silence was more oppressive than any interrogation.

Zhao Henian felt as if Wan Ze’s gaze was a ruler, measuring his sincerity, trying to determine how much of what he said was fluff.

This was not good news for him.

The alley fell silent for a few seconds.

The noise of the morning market could be heard in the distance, but it was filtered by the alley walls, reduced to a muffled drone by the time it reached them, as if heard through a layer of cotton.

Zhao Henian took a deep breath, his tone becoming earnest, even confiding. "I’ll be honest with you. The Secret Palace isn’t a monolith."

He paused, observing Wan Ze’s reaction.

Wan Ze’s expression was blank.

"I had already applied for two High Level Martial Skills and ten Intermediate Martial Skills for you, plus a spot to visit an Antique Dealer’s offline treasure vault." Zhao Henian’s voice turned bitter. "But now, my nemesis has ruined it all."

"So?" Wan Ze asked.

Zhao Henian looked at him, his lips moving as if he were carefully choosing his words.

He was silent for a few seconds before he finally spoke, his voice even lower than before, almost a whisper. "Help me kill her."