Chapter 80: Goodness, I've Even Decided Where to Bury It

Zhang Ze was already being targeted, but remained completely unaware. There was little he could have done—both men in sunglasses were formidable: one a fourth-grade martial artist, the other a fifth-grade. With Zhang Ze’s meager second-grade cultivation, noticing anything amiss about them was an uphill battle. Moreover, since transportation like the high-speed rail was always under strict supervision, the two men had no intention of acting on the train. Their thoughts were clear: "You're only a second-grade martial artist—do you think you could slip away from us?"

With these factors in play, Zhang Ze hadn’t detected anything unusual up to this point. His mind was already a tangle of worries: on one hand, he was anxious about Cai Hu’s condition; on the other, the data on his system panel filled him with irrepressible excitement.

Wealth: 8.57 million
Cell Strength: 457S
Mental Power: 132/159
Skills: Shield (11%), Probe
Meridians: 12 (90%), Grand Rejuvenation Stage

He’d just used over a million from his previous five million in wealth for his recent training. The mid-grade inner armor he currently wore, however, had instantly granted him a staggering four million in wealth—something he hadn’t expected. Although Zhang Ze knew the general price set by the Anqing Provincial Weapons Company for such armor, he’d assumed the system, true to its usual stinginess, would halve the value. Clearly, that wasn’t the case.

With these conflicting emotions, how could Zhang Ze possibly notice he was being tailed by two mid-grade martial artists?

After about an hour, the high-speed train gradually pulled into Nanye City Station.

“Coach Ma, the finishing work is complete,” a young man jogged over to the middle-aged man, excitement in his voice. “Should we head to the bus terminal now and help deal with the remaining cultists?”

Coach Ma didn’t reply immediately, instead glancing at the main control room’s monitor. He asked one of the staff, “This train that just arrived—where did it come from?”

The staff, recognizing his identity, answered cooperatively, “It’s the L478, shuttling between Heyue City and our Nanye City.”

Coach Ma felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of unease. After a moment’s thought, he instructed the young man, “Take your team to the bus terminal first. I’ll catch up with you after I pick up those two from Customs.”

The young man hesitated but could only comply.

—

As soon as Zhang Ze got off the train, he pulled out his phone and called Cai Hu. “I’m at Nanye High-Speed Rail Station now. I’ll be at the city hospital soon—I brought the money, don’t worry.” Hanging up, he hurried toward the station exit, completely unaware of the two middle-aged men following him.

—

At the high-speed rail exit.

“Don’t those two look like the ‘mice’ on our roster?” An operations team staffer held up a tablet, asking his colleague. Before the other could respond, Ma Junguo appeared beside them.

“Coach Ma!” the team member greeted respectfully.

Waving off the formality, Coach Ma asked quietly, “Anyone on this train we should be aware of?”

“Take a look—here!”

—

Zhang Ze jogged out of the station, leaving within minutes. Just as he reached the curb to hail a ride, two middle-aged men sidled up to him.

“What do you want?” Although worried about Cai Hu, Zhang Ze was unsettled by the system’s lack of data on these two. They were either ordinary people, or—more likely—mid-grade martial artists. But Zhang Ze dismissed the latter; how could there be so many mid-grade martial artists, let alone two at once? He hadn’t done anything to attract their attention, had he?

His vigilance dropped.

The man in sunglasses grinned. “Hey, kid, want to hang out with us for a bit?”

“Are you two in the flesh trade?” Hearing their tone, Zhang Ze relaxed further. But with Cai Hu’s situation pressing, he had no interest in fooling around.

“Sorry, I’m in a hurry. No time to play!” He figured that if they really were shady types, they wouldn’t pester him further.

But they didn’t leave, causing his brows to furrow.

“Didn’t expect you to be such a straight arrow,” the man in sunglasses sneered. “But when you put that floral underwear on my brother-in-law, you didn’t seem so upright, did you?”

His words sent a cold sweat down Zhang Ze’s back.

Floral underwear?

There was only one thing this could mean: these were companions of the cultist he’d killed in Mengyang County. The system showed no data on them—Zhang Ze could easily deduce: cultists, and bona fide mid-grade martial artists!

In that instant, Zhang Ze was already thinking about where he’d be buried.

—

“Best come quietly and play along,” the man in sunglasses advised.

At the station’s main entrance, the crowds flowed thick and fast, so he had no intention of acting rashly. As soon as he finished speaking, the bearded man beside him ushered Zhang Ze into a side alley.

Having guessed their identity, Zhang Ze’s mind was running wild.

“Do these two have any… special proclivities?”

“Damn it, this is tragic—”

“Been here two hundred days since crossing over, haven’t made a mark, and now I’m about to die—and in such an undignified way!”

He silently cursed his fate, mourning that in both his lives, he’d never even lost his virginity.

—

“So it really was that kid who drew them out,” Coach Ma remarked with a chuckle as he watched the three figures from a distance at the station exit.

“We’ve got information on the kid’s identity now, too,” a subordinate responded.

Taking the tablet from him, Coach Ma muttered, “Zhang Ze? Why does that name sound so familiar?”

His subordinate joked, “The kid’s a bit of a troublemaker in Heyue City—stirred up the Bureau of Investigation, even made the news once, I think.”

Suppressing a laugh, Coach Ma replied, “He’s delivered us two big rats. We can’t let anything happen to him. You two, go finish off those two rats—get evidence. That way, we can claim some funds from Xu Ziqiang in Anqing Province.”

“Understood!”

—

“Come on, do we really need to take it this far?” Zhang Ze pleaded in the alley, putting on a pained expression for the man in sunglasses.

“Oh, feeling scared now, are you?” The man in sunglasses patted Zhang Ze’s head, his voice thick with mockery. “When you dressed my brother-in-law in those floral shorts, why didn’t you beg for mercy then?”

Zhang Ze broke out in a cold sweat.

Meanwhile, the bearded man snorted and thought, “You saw his sister a few times and now Lu Shu is your brother-in-law?”

The two laughed, not in any hurry to act. To them, a second-grade martial artist like Zhang Ze was hardly worth their attention.

Of course, they had no idea that their own lives were already being targeted as well…