Chapter 49: A New Fat Sheep! (Please keep reading)

The wontons gradually arrived at the table, and only then did the atmosphere in the restaurant come alive again. Yi Shen and Zhu You barely spoke, while the boys at Ah Sen’s table resumed their boisterous chatter. Yet this time, the tone was different from before—quieter, and more like the typical banter and boasting found at a meal: tales of recent strange encounters, connections made with powerful figures, all recounted with an air that suggested they hoped to impress Yi Shen with their exploits.

Yi Shen found their stories rather novel. Through these young men, he gleaned a variety of opinions and information unique to their world. For instance, the blond youth spoke about several small guilds eyeing Taohuawu for an easy profit. He grinned, mentioning an uncle of his, formerly of the Jianghe Guild, who was now posing as a member of a minor guild in hopes of making a quick round through Taohuawu.

“Hey, what about our matter? We should have some news by now, right?”

“Yeah, the deal’s pretty much set. This afternoon we’ll meet their representative. If we get through this stage, we’ll be living the good life for sure.”

“Sister Jade is something else—she’s worth two men! Tsk tsk, that old fat man is still dreaming his sweet dreams.”

“He’s made a lot of money over the years. Someone’s bound to come for him.”

“You don’t think people from Jingbei Industries will come after us, do you?”

“He’s hardly one of them. Jingbei Industries has enough trouble of its own these days—they won’t bother with him.”

Snatches of their bravado—words like warehouse and shop—caught Yi Shen’s attention. From what he could gather, it seemed that a girl in their crew, Sister Jade, had used a certain tactic to get close to some old fat man. This man had once been from the South Street district, where an official materials factory had been established to help reclaim the city. In its early days, the factory was highly profitable, handling nearly half the business in South Street. Later, when the government privatized control, the old fat man leveraged his connections to Jingbei Industries to take over the factory and made a killing.

Now, although the area was technically under Jianghe’s jurisdiction, the old man’s network had long since lost its influence. Seizing upon the recent chaos, another group had decided to target him, collaborating with the Motorcycle Youth Gang in hopes of pulling off a major job. The gang’s role seemed minor, but from the way these young men spoke, it was as if they were about to embark on a grand mission to rid the community of a villain.

Soon after, the group finished their wontons, having somehow managed to turn a simple meal into a feast. Yi Shen finished his bowl and, uninterested in further bravado, left the restaurant with Zhu You. When he tried to pay, Ah Sen and the others politely stopped him, sending him off with respectful words.

Zhu You seemed pleased. In the past, when she encountered Ah Sen and the others, they would occasionally tease her or joke about her sister. But today, both Ah Sen and the blond were conspicuously respectful. She recognized this as the result of Yi Shen’s imposing strength. While Zhu You was not a vain girl, for someone attuned to the social dynamics of South Street, a touch of pride was inevitable.

After their simple meal, Zhu You accompanied Yi Shen back home. Though the outing had yielded useful intelligence, Yi Shen was aware that he’d also risked exposing himself. Today he’d run into Zhu You’s acquaintances; next time, it might be someone from his own past. With the streets in turmoil and many shops shuttered, Zhu You offered to bring him meals in the future, or suggested he stock up on supplies and kitchenware himself. Yi Shen, too lazy for such chores, left the arrangements to Zhu You, if only to keep her occupied and not constantly at his heels.

Yi Shen then searched the forums for information on the fat man the motorcycle youths had mentioned, as well as those materials factories. He was surprised to discover that the Motorcycle Youth Gang’s target would be a perfect target for him as well. Many of the warehouses he’d researched the night before belonged to major guilds, often underground or heavily guarded, making it risky to acquire resources from them. In contrast, the fat man had been exposed on the forum more than once for exploiting connections to convert public factories into private enterprises, amassing vast profits and creating monopolies in small areas. In the past, his ties to Jingbei Industries had protected him, but now that there was trouble brewing within Jingbei, people had inevitably set their sights on him. Though their armed strength was not as formidable as one might expect, their resources were abundant—truly a fat sheep ripe for the taking! With the coming reshuffle of the Jingbei Safe Zone, people like him would likely be the first to fall.

Still, Yi Shen made no immediate move. After instructing Zhu You to stay home, he sneaked to the city’s edge to see what information he might glean from the long-faced fat man. As a minor guild boss in charge of KTVs and such, the long-faced fat man likely had dealings with these small businessmen. Having spent the night on that side of town, he greeted Yi Shen with the same cautious, submissive demeanor as before, perhaps out of genuine intent to join the Yi family or simply out of fear of being hunted down by Yi Shen himself. When questioned, Bai Hongjiang divulged everything he knew.

As expected, Bai Hongjiang knew of the materials factory fat man in South Street—they’d even visited his KTV a few times, throwing money around, living extravagantly, once booking seventeen or eighteen girls and staying for two whole days. Beyond that particular fat man, Bai Hongjiang, as Taohuawu’s “businessman,” also knew several others of the same ilk: men who had little real power, surviving only thanks to old connections. Yi Shen obtained a list of seven or eight such names—wealthy merchants not strong in themselves, but enjoying prosperity thanks to ties with major guilds. Bai Hongjiang seemed to guess Yi Shen’s intentions but dared not ask, intent only on weathering the current crisis in peace.

After the previous day’s upheaval, the forum was noticeably quieter, with fewer posts and certain keywords restricted by the authorities in an attempt to suppress news and prevent other safe zones from watching the spectacle. The forum’s silence became eerie. Meanwhile, in the real world, more and more shops were closing, the locals sensing that the unrest was merely the beginning, not the end.

As dusk descended, teams clad in various outfits and insignias—origin unknown—began to appear. Especially on the rooftops, shadowy figures gathered, and everyone tacitly kept silent in their mutual awkwardness.

Yi Shen was among them. After running into several squads on the rooftops, he resumed walking the streets, eventually reaching an industrial park. The gates were locked, with only two buildings at the far end still lit. Occasionally, he could hear the voices of patrols. This was now a small-scale pharmaceutical factory, rumored to have hired a number of alchemists to brew medicines in bulk. According to Yi Shen’s sources, there were at least hundreds of thousands’ worth of materials stockpiled here.