Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 1920: Chapter 1089: Interview_2

Standing to the side like a pillar, Yang Xiao was unimpressed; he knew the answer too, he just couldn’t react in time.

Instinctively, he didn’t want to spend money. The taxi just now was outrageously expensive, and watching the meter go up made Yang Xiao’s heart ache.

After hearing the 3000 yen price, Takagi Reina coldly laughed to herself. She wasn’t some clueless tourist from out of town; a palm-sized bamboo basket usually cost around 800 yen, and at most 1000 to 1500 if it’s a bit expensive. This old geezer quoting 3000 yen clearly took her for a fool like Chu Xi who could hardly speak coherently.

If it were reality, she wouldn’t buy it, but in the Nightmare World, it wasn’t her money, so she decisively bought one and asked the old lady if she knew of a family with the surname He Jian in the neighborhood.

But strangely, after asking twice, the old lady just stared at her as if she had frozen and didn’t respond.

"Old lady? Are you okay?" Takagi Reina found the scene very puzzling and couldn’t help asking.

"How much is this?" Yang Xiao came over, picked up a bamboo basket similar to Takagi Reina’s, and asked.

"3000 each, 5500 for two," the old lady replied immediately.

"Damn it..." Takagi Reina almost smashed the bamboo basket on the old geezer’s head.

"What’s the price if I take them all?" Yang Xiao asked again.

"You want all of them?" The old lady stood up excitedly, her eyes brightening, "Young man, you have great taste. A package deal is cheaper; I’ll give it to you for 2200 each. You won’t find this price anywhere else."

Yang Xiao pulled out his wallet, drawing out large-denomination bills one by one. The scene left the old lady in a daze, wishing she had asked for more before.

She thought to herself, he might be a bit stupid, but he really has money.

"Is there a family named He Jian in this neighborhood, do you know?" Yang Xiao asked casually while counting money, flaunting his wealth carelessly.

"Yes, yes, you mean Hejian Youzhen, right? His family lives right here. Go straight along this road for 50 meters, then turn right; it’s the third house. It’s easy to find with the metal nameplate on the wall."

The old lady rattled off a bunch of information, unusually kind, her eyes fixated eagerly on Yang Xiao.

To be precise, she was staring at the wad of cash in his hand.

But in the next second, the cash disappeared from her sight, neatly stacked back into the wallet. "Thank you." Yang Xiao put away the wallet, tucked it into his jacket pocket, and walked away.

The old lady was stunned for a few seconds, disbelief written all over her face: "The bamboo baskets! You haven’t taken your bamboo baskets!"

Upon hearing this, Yang Xiao turned around, giving the old lady a charming profile like an advertisement model, and then smiled brightly: "No, they’re your bamboo baskets."

Accompanied by the old lady’s blessings, Yang Xiao and the others followed her directions to an old residential house. Above the right side of the door, they found the He Jian family nameplate.

It was a two-story wooden house, the walls mottled and showing signs of cracking and blackening, clearly lacking maintenance. The eaves were so low that it felt oppressing standing underneath.

Besides that, the most noticeable thing was the paper posted in front of the house.

It was yellow paper, with large characters written in thick red brush strokes, adorned with multiple exclamation marks, looking quite intimidating.

"Seems like the person we’re looking for is in trouble." Takagi Reina looked at the paper stuck on the wall, a loan repayment notice, basically a debt collection notice.

Similar papers were plastered all over the door and walls, even on the electric pole and mailbox in front of the house.

"It’s those guys, the violent debt collection squad, they’re... they’re shameless," said Yamamoto Chunai, with memories she wished to forget flashing through her mind.

Back then, her mother was seriously ill, and she had borrowed some money. The interest was too high to pay back, so these people were constantly harassing her, even coercing her to pay the debt in other ways.

These people had no bottom line. They not only posted debt collection notices but also continuously harassed and followed her, including but not limited to blocking her home’s lock, knocking on the door day and night, puncturing her bicycle tires, and even going to the hospital to intimidate her mother. Those two years, she was driven to near suicide by them.

Indeed, Yang Xiao disliked the violent debt collection squad too, but their presence here was undoubtedly a good thing for them.

"Take out all the money you have." Yang Xiao gestured to the other three while taking out his own wallet.

They pooled together all the money they had, and Yang Xiao counted it—about half a million yen, a significant sum for an ordinary family living here.

Though clearing this household’s debts might be challenging, it would at least tide them over for a while, providing much-needed relief.

With this money, Yang Xiao had enough leverage to inquire about the opponent’s secrets.

"Hey, don’t spend it all; we still need money to take a taxi back!" Takagi Reina, being careful and frugal as always— a habit formed from spending nights earning commission by drinking with patrons—protested.

Yang Xiao patted his pocket to show her he had kept enough for the return fare.

Stepping forward, Yang Xiao tried to press the doorbell. Good, it didn’t ring; it was broken. frёeωebɳovel.com

This actually relieved Yang Xiao somewhat; with the harassment from the debt collection squad, the homeowner would surely have cut off the doorbell’s power.

This was reasonable.

Worried about startling the homeowner and causing misunderstanding, Yang Xiao signaled Takagi Reina to knock on the door.

Takagi Reina, always the drama queen, cleared her throat, started knocking, and asked in a very gentle and sweet voice: "Is this Mr. He Jian’s house? Is Mr. He Jian home?"

Soon, a slight sound came from the originally silent room, faint rustling, as if someone was moving softly.

"Who are you people?" A few moments later, a man’s voice came from behind the door, deep and hoarse, filled with wariness.

Takagi Reina blinked her eyes, her lips curving into a smile, appearing cute and youthful. "Is Mr. He Jian home? It’s great to see you. We’re reporters from Kyoto Newspaper and would like to interview you. Is it convenient for you?"

"No..."

"The interview isn’t unpaid; there’s an honorarium," Takagi Reina added.

The originally impatient man immediately changed his tone, "How much? I mean... how much is the honorarium?"

Takagi Reina glanced at Yang Xiao, who remained expressionless and held up two fingers to her.

"That would depend on your cooperation level, starting from 50,000 yen to a maximum budget of 200,000 yen," Takagi Reina answered through the door.

Here, an ordinary person typically receives about 10,000 yen for a single interview; Takagi Reina’s offer was genuinely generous.

Tempted by the monetary offer, the door finally opened, and the person inside didn’t even ask what they really wanted to interview about.

It was an elderly man, roughly in his sixties, dressed in a worn-out loungewear, unshaven, with stress-induced gray hair, a haggard face, and bloodshot eyes.

Upon seeing Takagi Reina and the group, the old man was noticeably suspicious. These people didn’t look like reporters; they had no interview equipment or camera.

"You... are really reporters? This isn’t some silly joke, is it?!" The old man’s face darkened.

"You’re Hejian Youzhen?" Yang Xiao asked.

"Yes, that’s me." The old man nodded.

"Then it’s all good," Yang Xiao said, taking out a prepared 10,000 yen bill and handing it over, speaking calmly, "Mr. He Jian, this is the advance for the interview. If everything’s fine, I hope we can start quickly. We’re pressed for time."