Chapter 144 It's that man!
"What's wrong?" Shen Han finally noticed the strangeness in her tone, stopped what he was doing, and looked at her with a puzzled expression.
The mask covered most of her face, but he could feel her tension.
"It's nothing..." Josie quickly suppressed her turbulent emotions and managed to say.
What good would it do to say it? It would only fuel Shen Han's anger and wouldn't change the shameful and unsettling truth.
She took a deep breath and tried to make her voice sound normal. "Let's pack up and get ready to go."
Stepping into the black market again, the smell of cheap tobacco, various body odors, and blood mingled together and assaulted Josie's nostrils.
There are too many people; there's no way to avoid them.
Wearing masks, Josie and Shen Han navigated the crowded and chaotic stalls and crowds with practiced ease, heading straight for the abandoned factory where the scorpions were entrenched.
Scorpion was talking to his men, a cheap cigar dangling from his lips, spitting as he spoke.
When he looked up and saw those two menacing figures again, the fat on his face twitched violently, his expression like he had swallowed a fly whole, his eyes filled with undisguised fear and annoyance at "Why is it you again?"
"Hey! You two... what brings you here again?" Scorpion forced a smile that looked worse than a grimace as he greeted them, wishing these two plagues would just disappear.
Josie sat down unceremoniously across from his dilapidated table piled with clutter, slamming the specially made cryogenic storage box onto the table with a thud that made Scorpion's eyelids twitch.
“Of course I’m here to do business with you.” Josie’s voice came through the fox mask, carrying a metallic chill.
Scorpion cursed inwardly, but had to force a smile: "What kind of business... are you doing?"
He stared at the box, his intuition telling him that what was inside was not simple.
Josie's fingers tapped lightly on the cold box, producing a rhythmic, soft sound.
"Today is the 15th. The purchasing teams from all the major powers should have arrived by now, right?"
"Yes...yes, we went to a few places," Scorpion mumbled, his bad premonition growing stronger.
“Very good.” Josie leaned forward slightly. Even through the mask, Scorpion seemed to feel two cold gazes locked onto him. “Right now, send someone to notify all the leaders of any powerful factions you can name. Tell them: I have something that can awaken superpowers in ordinary people. Tell them to come to you immediately with sufficient sincerity to make the deal. No exceptions.”
"Wh...what?"
Scorpion sprang up from his rickety chair, oblivious to the cigar falling to the floor. His beady eyes widened, instantly blazing with a terrifyingly greedy light, and his voice cracked, "You...you really...you really have something like that?"
If this news is true, it's enough to cause a huge upheaval in the entire apocalypse!
Josie raised an eyebrow and smiled at him, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "If there wasn't, do you think I'm so free that I would go out of my way to shake off my tail and come to your rat's nest to amuse you?"
The scorpion's expression underwent a rapid transformation from shock and ecstasy to fawning.
He rubbed his rough hands together, his back unconsciously bending down, his face plastered with a fawning smile, even his voice becoming several degrees sweeter: "My dear aunt! Look at what you're saying! It's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding! How about... you sell it to me first? The price is negotiable! Crystal cores, weapons, women, whatever you want, I, Poison Scorpion, will go bankrupt to get it for you!"
He seemed to already see himself commanding all the heroes.
"Sell it to you?" Josie interrupted his daydream, tapping the table with her finger. "Scorpion, you have quite the appetite, but unfortunately... you can't swallow it. Stop talking nonsense and do as I say. If we have a good working relationship today, in the future... the agency rights for this thing might be given to you to operate."
She threw out a very tempting bait.
Agency rights!
The scorpion's eyes instantly shone like searchlights, and its breathing became heavy!
This not only means a continuous supply of crystal nuclei, but also unimaginable status and power!
He seemed to see himself standing at the pinnacle of power in the black market.
"Understood! Understood! Don't worry, Grandma! I, Poison Scorpion, will handle it!"
He patted his chest, his face trembling with excitement, and said in a loud voice, "I guarantee I'll handle it perfectly for you! Please have a seat and some water, I'll go and make the arrangements right away."
With that, he turned and yelled at his men, "Quick! What the hell are you all standing there for? Get the news out there, tell all the big shots out there that a huge deal is coming!"
He dashed out as if his pants were on fire.
In less than twenty minutes, the entrance to the dilapidated factory building became lively.
Modified vehicles, covered in weapons and bloodstains, were roughly parked at the entrance, and all sorts of men, exuding a fierce aura, filed in with their elite subordinates.
There are powerful forces dressed in uniform tactical jackets, wild bandit leaders covered in tattoos, and lone strongmen with sinister eyes.
A dozen or so groups of people quickly gathered in the empty factory, talking in hushed tones. The air was thick with suspicion, greed, and tension.
Qiao Xi and Shen Han stood at a window with a wide view on the second floor of the factory building, looking down at the crowd below.
Josie's gaze swept quickly across the faces that were either fierce, cunning, or deep.
Suddenly, her gaze froze!
In the relatively dim light at the factory entrance, a tall figure standing among powerful superhumans wearing dark gray tactical jackets came into his view.
His calm and steady demeanor, sharp as a knife, instantly distinguished him from the noisy and greedy crowd around him.
He slightly raised his head, seemingly observing the structure of the factory building; the profile of his face beneath the brim of his hat was cold and sharp.
It's him! The man from the mall!
As if sensing the penetrating gaze from above, the man suddenly looked up and locked his gaze precisely onto Josie on the second-floor platform.
Two pairs of eyes, separated by the noisy crowd, the dim light, and the cold air, collided fiercely once again!
This time, it was no longer a blurry, fleeting glimpse.
Josie could clearly see the deep, cold eyes beneath his hat brim, eyes that held no lewdness or vulgarity, only a cold scrutiny, a hint of barely perceptible inquiry, and... a sharp glint as if he had seen through something.
He looked at her calmly, like a hunter eyeing his prey.
Josie's heart skipped a beat beneath the mask.
A chill crept up my spine.
It was neither an illusion nor a coincidence.
The man who had spied on her and Shen Han's intimacy was also among this group of people.
Shen Han keenly noticed that Qiao Xi, who had been calm just moments before, suddenly began to breathe erratically.
"XiXi?"
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