Stranger Danger

“Meow…” The Rot Eating Cat was about halfway to the Everhungry Worm when it suddenly straightened its ears and stared warily at Ye Qing’s hiding place.

“You’re quite perceptive for an animal!” Ye Qing sneered while stepping away from his hiding spot. “Too bad it’s not going to help you survive!”

Unlike Kung Fu Frog or Wawa, there was nothing good about the Rot Eating Cat whatsoever. It was a disgusting and terrible creature that deserved to be exterminated on sight. It was one thing if it didn’t show up, but since it did, he wasn’t going to let it live long enough to see tomorrow’s sun!

The Rot Eating Cat puffed up as if it could sense Ye Qing’s bloodthirst. Its shiny black fur instantly puffed up like needles, its long tail gradually flattened and grew fish-like scales, and its canine teeth lengthened until it resembled that of a saber-toothed predator. Right here and now, it looked nothing like the dumb, cutesy cat it was a moment ago!

“So this is what you really look like!” Ye Qing’s lips widened into a savage grin as he examined the cat with a critical eye. “And from the looks of it, you’ve killed a lot of people!”

Most Strangers possessed the ability to disguise themselves, and the Rot Eating Cat was no exception.

“Meow!”

The Rot Eating Cat abruptly let out a screech. The steely fur on its back immediately flew toward Ye Qing like a porcupine’s spines.

Clap!

Ye Qing responded by swinging his hand and “slapping” the air, causing a soft yet unmistakable thunderclap. As if they had slammed into an impregnable wall, the rain of fur abruptly shattered into a million pieces.

The attack was just a distraction, however. Already, the Rot Eating Cat was jumping in front of Ye Qing and attempting to wrap his neck with its tail. If it succeeded, the tiniest ounce of strength was all that was needed to rip his throat into shreds!

“Not bad, not bad!” Ye Qing praised while putting his finger directly in the path of the incoming tail. The second contact was made, the tail abruptly broke into several segments and exploded in a shower of scales, blood and gore. It was like it was struck by lightning. In fact, there was enough force left that the Rot Eating Cat was slammed into the wall behind its back.

“Mrreow…”

The Rot Eating Cat managed to land on its feet, but it was clear it could not fight any longer. Most of its tail had been blown clean off the stump. It was as bare as a human as it had launched most of its hair during the initial assault, and it was bleeding all over. It looked nothing like the imposing predator it was before.

Ye Qing clicked his tongue in disgust. “What an ugly creature you are!”

“Meow!” The Rot Eating Cat shot Ye Qing a hateful glare but did not fall for his taunt. It abruptly bounded toward the distance like a bolt of lightning. Unfortunately, it was futile.

“You can’t escape!” Ye Qing let out a derisive snort and flicked his wrist. A throwing knife shot right out of his hand and toward the fleeing Stranger.

The Rot Eating Cat sensed the danger and leaped to its right. However, the throwing knife abruptly split into multiple knives not unlike a kaleidoscope. The cat was able to dodge the throwing knife flying directly toward its back, but not the rest. One of the knives plunged into its neck, and that was the end of the Stranger.

“Not bad!” Ye Qing nodded in satisfaction. The “Star Plucking Hand” was just as powerful as he thought it would be!

Ye Qing walked up to the Rot Eating Cat and got ready to remove his throwing knife when something unexpected happened. Two men rushed into the back alley as if they were looking for something. When they saw Ye Qing, one of them abruptly cried out in surprise and outrage, “What the—how dare you kill Master Six’s pet! Do you have a death wish, boy!?”

“Excuse me?” Ye Qing lifted an eyebrow as he examined the newcomers. The two men looked to be in their thirties. They were burly, fierce, and glaring at Ye Qing like they would swallow him alive.

“Are you deaf? That cat over there is Master Six’s pet, and you just killed it! You are so dead!” One of them yelled.

“Really? There’s someone out there who would want to keep a Rot Eating Cat as a pet? Your ‘Master Six’ must be a wicked soul then,” Ye Qing said indifferently.

The two men stared at him for a second before bursting out in furious laughter. “You must be a newcomer! There aren’t many people in Anyang who have the balls to besmirch Master Six!”

Ye Qing nodded in agreement. “You are correct. I am new, and I’ve never heard of a ‘Master Six’ before. If I may be so bold, who is he?”

“Our master is the one who sees all, hears all, and knows all! He is the omniscient Master Qiao Six!” One of the men declared proudly.

The so-called “omniscient” Master Qiao Six was a famous information broker in Anyang who made a living by trading information. His information network was hundreds of informants strong and spanned across every strata in Anyang. It did not matter if his informant was a beggar, a hooligan, a trader, a footman; an official, a celebrity or a noble, he valued them equally so long as they could supply him with valuable information. There was nothing in Anyang, big or small, that he wasn’t aware of, so the man wasn’t exactly boasting when he called his master omniscient.

“Omniscient, huh? That is quite an impressive title!” Ye Qing replied almost distractedly. The two men did not notice it, but a plan was quickly taking form in his mind.

“Have you finally realized your folly? Unfortunately, it’s too late!” One of them let out a sinister laugh while cracking his knuckles. “You have killed Master Six’s favorite cat and even besmirched his good name. The only way you may atone for your sins is for us to break your limbs and cut out your tongue!”

The burly man threw a punch as soon as he finished. A tiny smirk crossed Ye Qing’s lips, but he did not try to dodge or defend himself against the attack. He allowed the punch to hit him squarely in the chest.

Crack!

There was a loud crack, and the burly man’s face morphed into incredulity and disbelief. An instant later, abject pain surged up from his hand and overwrote his expression.

The burly man was a warrior, an adept Reforged to be exact. His fist packed enough punch to break an ordinary person’s bones like twigs, which was why he thought for sure that his punch was going to cave in the “frail” youngster’s chest. In reality, he felt like he had punched a steel wall. Not only was Ye Qing perfectly unharmed, he was the one who broke his bones from the rebound.

Shit! I underestimated him! The man thought in shock as he hurriedly backed away from Ye Qing. The other man realized the same thing and tried to rush to his companion’s rescue, but he abruptly felt cold brushing against his neck. When he touched the spot and looked, he was chilled to the core to find that his fingers were covered in blood. He looked behind instinctively and found that a throwing knife was embedded in the wall, a tiny smear of blood dripping off the blade bit by bit.

“That’s… my blood!” The burly man gulped audibly, too afraid to move even a muscle. He knew full well he was still alive not because the young man had missed, but because he wasn’t planning on killing him just yet. He might very well change his mind if he continued to struggle futilely!

While the two men hadn’t learned how to become a proper information broker despite following Qiao Six for years, they had mastered his tactfulness and ability to take stock of a situation to perfection. It was why they did not commit the mistake of provoking Ye Qing further.

“I’m curious. What made you think you could fight against me, when I had killed the Rot Eating Cat, a Red-class Stranger all by myself?” Ye Qing asked carelessly. Two adept Reforgeds were nothing to him.

To his surprise, the two men exchanged confused glances with each other before answering, “Red-class Stranger? W-We don’t understand what you’re saying…?”

A Red-class Stranger was the equivalent of a Qi Invoker, and the two men were of course aware of this. However, they didn’t understand why Ye Qing was bringing this up now.

Ye Qing furrowed his brow but relaxed just a second later. Assuming the two men weren’t putting on a world class performance, it would appear that they had no idea that their master’s pet was really a Rot Eating Cat, a Red-class Stranger. They were just Reforgeds, so their ignorance was understandable. Add to the fact that the carcass was mostly bald and missing over half of its tail, and he could see why the two men had failed to recognize even the fact that the cat was a Stranger. They would not have dared to rush over and accuse him of pet murder otherwise.

That said, Ye Qing did not believe for a second that their master, Qiao Six wasn’t aware of the truth.

Ye Qing asked again, “Tell me your names.”

The two men exchanged another glance with each other before the one with a broken hand answered obediently, “I’m Qiao Shanhu [1], and he is Qiao Shanpao [2].”

Neither Qiao Shanhu nor Qiao Shanpao had any clue why a dragon-in-human-skin like Ye Qing had deigned to visit a backwater county like Anyang. The only reason they were even out today was to search for Master Six’s cat, and suddenly, their lives were in grave danger.

It’s all that stupid cat’s fault!

“Take me to this ‘Master Qiao Six’ of yours,” Ye Qing said directly.

“You… you want to meet Master Six?” Both men’s hearts skipped a beat as they exchanged a third glance with each other. Is he serious? He must know the proverb, “A snake in its turf may yet wrestle a foreign dragon”, right? Is he too young and confident to recognize his folly, or…

Ye Qing merely cocked his head and smiled. “Sure! I want to know if your master is really as ‘omniscient’ as you claim.” ｂｅ𝚍ｎｏｖｅ𝚕．ｃｏｍ

“...”

A bitter smile crossed the two men’s lips. It did not matter if the young man was an overconfident lamb or a deadly wolf. The fact remained that he wasn’t someone they could trifle with. The only thing they could do until they met Master Six was to do as he demanded, or else.

The two men nodded and were about to move on when suddenly, Ye Qing said, “Oh right, one of you should carry the cat. This would be my first time visiting Master Qiao Six, so I should bring him a gift!”

“...”

You call this a gift? Are you a monster?

Despite their inner thoughts, neither Qiao Shanhu nor Qiao Shanpao dared to voice an objection. They could only pick up the Rot Eating Cat with a disgusted expression before leading Ye Qing back to Qiao Six’s residence.

To Ye Qing’s surprise, Qiao Six’s residence wasn’t far away from Endless Horizons. It was just located on the next street, Rainflower Alley.

Rainflower Alley was one of the most flourishing streets in Anyang. Populated by highly profitable businesses such as restaurants, brothels, gambling dens and more, the only time Rainflower Alley wasn’t jam-packed with people was midnight.

Ye Qing had expected Qiao Six’s residence to be excessively glamorous just like most of the buildings he had seen on Rainflower Alley, but in reality it looked rather mundane. However, it was by no means an ordinary place. From the moment they stepped on Rainflower Alley, he immediately noticed a few sets of eyes gazing in their direction. The gazes never lingered on them for long, but that was fine, because there were always new observers to pick up the slack.

During the stretch between the street entrance and Qiao Six’s residence, he noticed hawkers, waiters, customers, beggars, pedestrians, prostitutes and more examining him with a critical eye. He had no doubt that they were the information broker’s informants and sentries. In fact, the closer they got to the residence, the stronger the feeling he was being observed became until finally, he even picked up several tinges of bloodthirst. They all pressed against his skin like sharp knives.

Of course, Ye Qing didn’t pay them any heed. He simply smiled and continued toward Qiao Six’s residence as if he couldn’t feel the aggressive gazes at all!

“Qiao Residence—Longevity and… Prosperity?” Ye Qing squinted at the signboard hanging above the main entrance for a bit before shaking his head. “Who wrote this? It’s barely legible!”

“Ahem, it’s written by none other than Master Six!” Qiao Shanhu hurriedly said with a cough. To be honest, he thought that the writing was ugly as well, but of course he didn’t dare to say a thing about it!

“That said, a doctor’s writing is also barely legible, but we all hold it as gospel, do we not?” Ye Qing changed his tune smoothly.

“...” Silver-tongued bastard!

1. Shanhu->Mountain Tiger. As a pun, the whole name can also be read as “intimidator”, like a loan shark intimidator 👈

2. Shanpao-> Mountain Panther. 👈