Chapter Ninety-One: Battle-Fish’s Shock [Subscription Request]

As soon as Ethan made his move, the whole shop seemed to plunge to absolute freezing point.

Although the situation had been uneasy lately, killing another explorer outright inside a store was certainly a violation of the current regulations of the Jingmen Safe Zone.

Not to mention that the man Ethan had just killed was a level-forty-something explorer.

None of the others had even seen how Ethan had done it.

Which meant this young man, who looked barely eighteen or nineteen, was probably stronger than all of them put together.

And after the woman in the yellow dress led the white-clad swordsman into the shop, the air tightened once more.

At first, everyone had been stunned by the glasses man’s death.

But upon seeing the white-clad swordsman, they fell into even greater, bewildered astonishment.

A hiss ran through the crowd.

“Battle Fish?”

“Holy crap.”

Someone in the crowd gave a low cry of surprise. Battle Fish did not often show himself in the city, but his signature swordsman appearance had once been adored by many.

No one doubted that this was truly Battle Fish himself, because the aura radiating from him alone carried that transcendent air of “keep away from me.” Even without a single movement, he still exuded an oppressive force rooted in instinct, as if from the very body of a living creature. It was enough to make Fatty Xia Zhuang and the others forget they had been trying to flee from Ethan’s clutches.

“We’re here,” said the yellow-clad woman softly. She seemed not to know what had happened, and slowly moved aside.

Her voice was somewhat hoarse. It was hard to imagine that such a lovely, lively girl would have a voice like that, so she generally tried not to speak unless necessary.

“Mm.” Battle Fish nodded, sweeping his gaze around the shop. He saw the glasses man, then looked toward Ethan.

Ethan met his eyes.

The oppressive atmosphere in the air deepened. Even Zhu Qing, standing beside Ethan, felt the pressure. The little ones in the warehouse behind them instinctively held their breath.

“Public violence is not a good thing.”

Battle Fish spoke to Ethan. His voice had the deep resonance of a middle-aged man, yet there was no emotion to be heard in it.

“They came looking for trouble first,” Ethan replied.

Though he was a little surprised that Battle Fish had found him here, he naturally had to remain calm on the surface.

Whatever came next, whether it was a fight or something else, he could not afford to lose face.

Ethan’s body was already beginning to move, ready at any moment to raise his shield and frost barrier. As long as he could cast the frost barrier first, the unrestricted invincibility would let him evade Battle Fish’s attack, so he had his own confidence.

“That deserves death.”

What Ethan had not expected was that Battle Fish would actually agree with his actions outright.

He even glanced at the others, causing sweat to break instantly across Xia Zhuang’s back. They felt as though they were sitting on pins and needles.

Xia Zhuang and the others were all dumbfounded.

What the hell?

This shop?

Was it under Battle Fish’s protection?

???

Hiss.

They had actually come to make trouble in Battle Fish’s place? And someone had even smashed this shop?

In an instant, Xia Zhuang’s mind raced through countless thoughts. For example, when he had named the glasses man’s identity earlier, the boy had said it would not work even if he claimed to be Battle Fish’s younger brother.

Or, for instance, this shop had always been rather laid-back, but ever since Ethan arrived, he had not wanted to talk about any of the unspoken rules at all.

Xia Zhuang had even thought Ethan was incapable of flexibility, that even Jingbei Industries could not monopolize all the benefits.

But now it seemed that the other party simply did not care for such profits at all. He was not the kind of person who played by the rules.

Even the current rules of the Jingmen Safe Zone had been set by Battle Fish and the others.

No wonder this young man was so terrifyingly strong; he was probably a figure on the same level as Battle Fish.

He looked only seventeen or eighteen, but who knew if he was actually fifty or sixty and had somehow grown young again.

Today they had not bumped into a stubborn wall at all. They had slammed headlong into a rare twenty-four-karat legendary alloy.

Fatty did not even dare breathe too loudly.

Under Battle Fish’s gaze, they all carefully backed out, repeatedly assuring him that they had not come to cause trouble.

The others quickly followed.

Ethan pointed at the corpse, and someone immediately carried it away, sweeping up the chairs and the rest of the mess around the area as well.

Once they stepped out of the shop, Xia Zhuang let out a long, forceful breath.

Partly because he had survived the ordeal, and partly because he no longer had to bear responsibility for the glasses man’s death. Since Battle Fish had already said he deserved it, if Department Head Fang came asking later, he could just tell him to go find Battle Fish directly.

“Anything else?” With the shop now left with only Ethan’s people, plus the newly arrived Battle Fish and the woman in yellow, the atmosphere eased slightly.

Ethan had seen Battle Fish’s file before. As for the woman in yellow, she was unfamiliar, but both of them gave off a powerful presence. They were clearly not ordinary explorers.

“Mm. Someone asked me to come talk to you,” Battle Fish said, studying Ethan from head to toe. “I just didn’t expect you to be this young.”

“It feels like I’ve seen you somewhere before.” Battle Fish’s brows drew together slightly. He had assumed the black mage would be a seasoned, older practitioner, but Ethan’s face was far too young.

More than that, Ethan looked very much like someone he had once known.

“What is Ethan Quinn to you?” Battle Fish asked.

“My father.” Ethan hesitated for two seconds, then answered.

He truly had not expected Battle Fish to come looking for him personally. In his recent fights, Ethan had deliberately concealed his identity, even going so far as to make himself appear taller. Battle Fish finding him now and seeing his true face was entirely outside Ethan’s expectations.

From Battle Fish’s words, it also seemed that he had only just learned Ethan’s real appearance.

Thinking of the blind woman beside him, Ethan suspected that the leak of his whereabouts might have something to do with her.

When he heard Ethan say Ethan Quinn was his father, Battle Fish’s expression returned to normal.

But the long silence had already betrayed his surprise.

Battle Fish did not seem to have come here to fight. Ethan estimated that his visit was probably related to the black mage, so he let down his guard a little.

He glanced at Zhu Qing and directly instructed her, together with the little ones behind her, to close the shop, tidy things up, and then invite Battle Fish and the woman in yellow into the reception room at the back. He also poured them each a cup of tea.

The reception room behind the shop had not suffered any damage, and carried a clean, understated business style.

Battle Fish sat down very naturally, but the woman in yellow stood beside the sofa instead.

Though her eyes were hidden beneath a black cloth band, she moved with such ease that Ethan suspected she had some other way of perceiving the world.

End of chapter.