Chapter 5: Fifth Day of Being a Salted Fish

Goudan nodded.

“…Oh.” He hesitated, looking as if he wanted to say more.

Lu Yuan glanced at him and explained, “I’m quite satisfied with you. You aren’t exactly my subordinate.”

Subordinates required management, and management was a hassle.

Although Goudan was in the habit of calling him “Boss” or “Brother,” terms that implied a hierarchy, Lu Yuan viewed their relationship as more of a partnership.

For instance, he provided TV dramas, and Goudan was responsible for making him dinner. Or, regarding this district…

“No,” Goudan said. “I wanted to ask how you plan to handle this guy?”

“Do as you like,” Lu Yuan said with a glance. “I’ve already caught him for you. The rest is your job.”

While Lu Yuan would step in to stop outsiders from committing murder, he didn’t care about other matters and was too lazy to get involved.

In fact, as far as he was concerned, he was doing Goudan a favor.

Outsiders called Lu Yuan the actual controller of this place, but that wasn’t entirely accurate.

Goudan was still the manager of this district. Lu Yuan had simply set requirements for peace and stability, using certain means to make Goudan change his management style to fit those requirements.

Those “means” didn’t involve turning Goudan into a subordinate, nor did he use force to coerce him. He simply offered certain terms of exchange, such as teaching Goudan how to apply Mental Power, providing guidance, and supplying a small number of weapons.

In short, he paid a price, and Goudan met his needs. When it came to managing this area, they were partners. Or perhaps, it was a business relationship.

“I just wanted you to help me come up with an idea.” Goudan gave a sheepish laugh, glancing at the outsider. “I feel like I can’t quite handle him.”

Though he didn’t know the full details yet, Goudan was certain the outsider was no ordinary man, based on his extensive experience watching TV dramas.

Goudan didn’t easily believe the man’s casual claim about drug resistance training, but someone who could wake up from Lu Yuan’s Anesthetic Bullets in such a short time was definitely not normal.

And when Lu Yuan fired a second time, although the man hadn’t dodged it, Goudan could tell from his movements and reaction speed that he far surpassed Goudan himself.

Goudan wasn’t particularly bright. His method for making people obey mostly relied on brute force. When force wasn’t guaranteed to suppress an opponent, Goudan found himself at a loss.

However, the person he was seeking help from…

Was a heartless, apathetic salted fish.

Lu Yuan didn’t want to think of a plan at all. He only hoped Goudan could handle the man’s situation completely so his peaceful life wouldn’t be affected.

If he had been willing to use his brain, he wouldn’t have just shot the man to shut him up moments ago.

Lu Yuan was a man of efficiency. If a problem absolutely required his resolution, he would settle it immediately. Unless, of course, the problem could be pushed onto someone else…

“Have some confidence.” Lu Yuan looked at Goudan seriously, offering encouragement. “You can do it.”

“…”

–

However, no one knows a person better than themselves.

No matter how much trust Lu Yuan placed in Goudan or how much he hoped the man could solve problems independently, the next day, Lu Yuan was greeted by a bruised and swollen Goudan and a smiling outsider following behind him.

“…” Lu Yuan already had an ominous feeling. “Why is this guy still here?”

“Stop pretending.” Goudan rolled his eyes, but the movement tugged at his wounds, making him wince in pain. “As if you don’t know what happened. You can sense a fight from a kilometer away, but you can’t hear a fight in the house right next to you?”

Zhu Rong¹‘s house was far from Lu Yuan’s small shop, but Goudan’s house was right nearby.

But Lu Yuan truly didn’t know what had happened specifically, nor had he heard it.

Though, looking at the state of the two men before him, he could easily deduce the sequence of events: they had definitely fought, and Goudan had lost.

Shaking his head, Lu Yuan was about to explain when the light in front of him suddenly dimmed.

The outsider had approached the counter. He was a head taller than Goudan, and standing there, he completely blocked the faint light from the ceiling.

“If he isn’t paying attention, he really can’t hear it.” The outsider spoke, his tone seemingly directed at Goudan, but his eyes were fixed on Lu Yuan, scanning him from head to toe.

“No one can have hearing that good – the noise would be deafening. He could perceive it when I killed Lao Tong² yesterday because he felt the killing intent… or perhaps Lao Tong’s desperate struggle. I didn’t show any emotion when I hit you, and I wasn’t trying to kill you, so it’s normal he didn’t sense it.”

Lu Yuan looked up at him.

The man still looked clean and decent, forming a sharp contrast with Goudan. Seeing Lu Yuan’s gaze, the outsider smiled gently and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Can we talk?”

“…”

Lu Yuan looked at him for a moment and sighed.

It seemed this man really wasn’t someone Goudan could handle.

Just based on the fact that this man realized Lu Yuan had detected last night’s battle through “emotion” rather than hearing or Mental Power.

Lu Yuan’s Mental Power was indeed powerful, and he could easily monitor the entire district. But that didn’t mean he would monitor everything at all times; that was too exhausting, and he didn’t feel he had such a responsibility.

Most of the time, he paid no attention to his surroundings. Only his keen perception of death – the emotions of those on the brink of death – remained active.

That part required no effort. Having been a commander-in-chief for over a decade and witnessing the deaths of countless soldiers, sensitivity to such emotions had seeped into his bones and blood, becoming pure instinct.

And it could only be instinct.

Even the Empire’s most advanced technological equipment could not detect “emotion” from a distance, not even the most intense despair of the dying. Only warriors who walked the line between life and death could be trained to have an intuition for death – and technology had yet to decode why this intuition existed.

The fact that this outsider understood this instinct meant that he, too, had once witnessed countless deaths.

Goudan, who only knew how to act like a big shot in a tiny corner of this Desolate Planet, was no match for a man like this.

That meant the problem could only be solved by him.

Lu Yuan’s finger brushed lightly against his gun as he let out a sigh.

Even if he knocked the man unconscious again, it would only buy time. It was ultimately pointless.

“Your name? Your business?” Lu Yuan asked, pushing himself into a sitting position.

“Siming³. Assassin,” the outsider replied with a smile. “I’m here to kill Lao Tong. If you agree to let me do it, I’ll take the life and leave immediately without bothering you further. If you refuse, forcing me to face a pursuit from my organization-“

“Then I’ll just stay here and never leave. After all, you don’t seem to allow killing on these premises, do you? It’s very safe here. I like it.”

“…” Lu Yuan fell silent for two seconds before looking at Goudan. “Is Lao Tong Zhu Rong’s mother?”

The name was unfamiliar to him.

“Yes, that’s her,” Goudan replied.

“…Siming, Lao Tong, Zhu Rong…” Lu Yuan repeated the three names and sighed. “Family matters, then.”

Siming, Lao Tong, and Zhu Rong were all names of deities from ancient mythology.

Although religious beliefs had gradually faded in the interstellar era, ancient legends still persisted, and Lu Yuan happened to know a thing or two about them.

Two of the three names were homophones of the originals. When it was just Zhu Rong alone, Lu Yuan hadn’t sensed anything wrong. But with all three together, it was enough for him to draw a conclusion.

There was definitely a connection between them; they likely belonged to the same organization.

…So, in this organization, even a child only a few years old was given a code name?

He was getting sidetracked.

Lu Yuan silently pulled his thoughts back and looked at Siming again.

Letting the man kill someone was something Lu Yuan was unwilling to do.

But if the man stayed here and refused to leave…

That seemed like it would cause even more trouble!

Translator’s Notes