Free Web NovelChapter 390: Chapter 289: End of the Road, Desperation Breeds Malice
Lin Li spent over half an hour browsing the community forums on the Exotic Beast Hunter app, catching up on the latest happenings in the Hunter circle before logging off.
DING.
Just as he closed the Exotic Beast Hunter app, a message popped up in the group chat for the Ping’an Garden District’s homeowners’ association.
Lin Li tapped it open. It was a message from the group admin, Ms. Wang, sent to all members.
The message was about a meeting Ms. Wang had attended at the sub-district office that afternoon.
Just as Lin Li had expected, the topic of Ms. Wang’s meeting at the sub-district office was a warning from the director.
He had instructed the heads of the various district homeowners’ associations, like Ms. Wang, to notify residents to stay away from the areas bordering the wilderness in the South District Suburbs for the time being. This was to prevent attacks from crazed Mutant Beasts.
In the eyes of an ordinary person, a Mutant Beast that trespassed into a safe zone couldn’t be anything but insane, right?
After reading Ms. Wang’s notice, residents flooded the chat with questions, asking when this whole thing with the Mutant Beasts would be over.
Ms. Wang replied that she didn’t know either. As for when the crazed Mutant Beasts would be completely dealt with, they would have to wait for an official announcement from the Superpower Administration Bureau.
Lin Li lurked silently, reading the group’s discussion. ’These people really don’t think,’ he thought. ’Ms. Wang is just an ordinary person. Why ask her when this will be over? How could she possibly have an answer?’
Before long, the number of messages swelled to the hundreds, then over a thousand. Lin Li skimmed the screen for a bit longer, but seeing it was all useless chatter, he left the group chat.
’Time for a shower, then bed. I’ll get up early tomorrow and head out to the wilderness in the South District. See if I can find one of those Mutant Beasts that grows red mushrooms...’
Lin Li tossed his phone onto the sofa, then stood up and headed to the bedroom to grab his pajamas for a shower.
* * *
It was past one in the morning. In a wealthy villa district, the lights of a second-floor study were blazing in a house near the community’s entrance. The owner was still awake.
Haaaaah...
A man in his forties sat slumped in an office chair. He was about five-foot-nine, with a square face, a scruffy beard, and messy hair. He let out a long sigh, a plume of white smoke billowing from his lips.
He was alone in the silent study. Finishing the cigarette in his hand, the haggard-looking man immediately stubbed it out in the ashtray on his desk. He then pulled out another, lit it, and continued to envelop himself in smoke.
BRRRRING...
His phone, lying on the desk, began to ring. The moment the chain-smoking man saw it, his haggard face lit up with unconcealed excitement.
He immediately snatched the phone from the desk and answered.
"Hello."
"Boss Wang, I went to check the warehouse today. There’s another huge batch of pearls." A woman’s voice came through the phone.
"What? Another huge batch of pearls? Where did they come from? Did one of the suppliers make a delivery to Zhang Yuxi?" The middle-aged man’s right hand, which held his cigarette, trembled as he heard her report. He asked with urgency.
"Boss Wang, I don’t know where they came from either. I didn’t see any suppliers like you mentioned. It’s like the pearls just appeared in the warehouse out of thin air," the woman replied.
Only three people knew that Zhang Yuxi was buying the pearls from Lin Li: Zhang Yuxi herself, her accountant Liu Lan, and a store clerk named Xiaoyun.
The sudden appearance of so many pearls had made all the other employees intensely curious about where their boss was getting her stock.
But because Zhang Yuxi had ordered them to keep silent, neither Liu Lan nor Xiaoyun would breathe a word about it. To this day, no one else knew the true origin of the pearls.
"You...! I’m paying you to monitor Zhang Yuxi’s every move, and you haven’t gotten a single piece of useful information! You’re useless!" the middle-aged man snarled, his frustration boiling over.
"Boss Wang, why are you cursing at me? I took your money, and I’ve been doing a good job monitoring my boss’s activities for you."
"I’ve given you plenty of information about the shop before, and you seemed perfectly happy with it, didn’t you? Now you’re saying I haven’t given you anything useful? That’s crossing a line!" the woman retorted, her voice tinged with anger.
Hearing the woman he was paying dare to talk back, the man’s anger flared. His voice rose as he continued to berate her.
"You are useless! That information you gave me before? It was worthless! It didn’t affect my plans one bit whether you reported it or not."
"Now, when top-quality pearls suddenly appear in Zhang Yuxi’s shop, I need you to find out where they came from, and you’re completely useless. How can you say you’re not useless?"
"Listen here, Wang! I’m not your servant! If you curse at me again, I’ll—" The woman didn’t get to finish.
"You’ll do what?" he interrupted. "You took my money, so you’ll do what I say. If I curse you out, you’ll just have to take it."
"Say one more word, and I’ll tell Zhang Yuxi everything—about how you’ve been taking my money to spy on her..." the man threatened in a low, menacing voice.
