Chapter 289: The Cat King

As the sky gradually darkened, Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin walked towards Tian Tang Kou.

"Deceiver... Didn't you say you knew who Tian Yang was? Why didn't you tell that Hu Tou kid?" Qiao Jiajin asked.

"Compared to that Di Hu... I trust Chen Junan more. There are some things I want to ask him."

"Jun Nan kid?" Qiao Jiajin nodded slightly upon hearing this.

The two turned a corner and saw an old lady leading a child coming towards them.

The old lady had a kind smile on her face, staring stiffly at Qi Xia.

Qiao Jiajin felt something was off... Were there really old people in this place?

Just as he was about to say something, Qi Xia spoke first: "Fist, let's go."

Qiao Jiajin was stunned for a moment and nodded silently.

The two walked past the old lady and the child as if they hadn't seen them.

Once the two were out of sight, the child spoke: "Ma Nainai, aren't you going to ask them?"

"No need." The old lady shook her head. "Neither of them has Hui Xiang or Dao on them. We should go ask the Sheng Xiao stationed here instead."

"But wasn't that huge sound at night last time?" the child asked. "Will the Sheng Xiao know about it?"

"It seems so..." The old lady shook her head helplessly. "Perhaps we'll have to find the participants... It turns out everyone on that vehicle is unreliable..."

"So, which participant should we find?" the child asked innocently.

"There's a good place..."

The old lady thought for a moment, reached out, and grasped the child's wrist. In the blink of an eye, the two vanished on the spot.

...

Qi Xia kept glancing back out of the corner of his eye and only relaxed after confirming no one was following them.

"Deceiver... What's going on?" Qiao Jiajin asked. "Are there really old people and children here?"

"I don't know, but something's definitely not right," Qi Xia whispered. "Their ages... It just doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it."

"Yeah... They should have a hard time getting out of the interview room..." Qiao Jiajin whispered.

"It's not just that..." Qi Xia said. "I can't imagine what crime a naked child would commit... Perhaps... They don't really look like that?"

"You... Are you saying they've disguised themselves?" Qiao Jiajin asked.

"It shouldn't be that simple." Qi Xia shook his head. "Right now, the priority is to ask Chen Junan how much he knows about Tian..."

The two quickened their pace and headed towards Tian Tang Kou.

...

In an instant, the old lady and the child appeared at the entrance of a prison on the edge of the city.

Although the prison looked rundown, a kerosene lamp was lit at the guard post. A long-haired man in a leather jacket was standing inside on duty.

He glanced up at the old lady and the child, and his expression quickly turned to confusion.

The old lady paid no mind and walked a few steps forward to stand in front of the long-haired man.

"Greetings, I am Mao Mu Liu Er Shi Yi. And you two are...?" the long-haired man asked tentatively.

"Oh well..." The old lady waved her hand. "Don't be nervous. We're here for business."

"Business?" The long-haired man sized up the two in front of him, still feeling confused. "Regular clients?"

"Of course, of course. I've done business with you all a long time ago... Is the boss around?" The old lady smiled kindly, making the long-haired man's back feel cold. "I have some business I want to discuss with the boss."

"The boss...?" The long-haired man nodded. "You two, follow me."

He turned and opened the large iron gate, leading them into the prison.

The three crossed the prison yard and entered the building.

The long-haired man opened one security door after another inside the prison, taking the old lady and child straight to the cell area.

The security doors here had lost their power supply and were mostly for show—rusty iron gates were opened one by one, leading deeper into the prison.

Walking along the corridor lined with cells, the old lady casually glanced to both sides and saw many people in black leather jackets sitting on the cell beds, all staring at her warily.

There were men and women, dozens of them, and the group was much larger than the old lady remembered.

A man in a leather jacket who was strolling in the corridor hurried over when he saw the long-haired man.

"Er Shi Yi, what's up?" the man asked.

"Shi Yi Ge, someone wants to see the leader," the long-haired man said.

The man called Shi Yi Ge nodded and said to the two, "Are you guests? I'm Wang You Luo Shi Yi. If you have any business, you can discuss it with me. May I ask which year you're from?"

"Shi Yi?" The old lady furrowed her brow. "You're not qualified. Get someone from the top ten."

"Not qualified...?" Luo Shi Yi's face suddenly darkened. "Who do you think you are to say Luo Shi Yi isn't qualified?"

No sooner had he spoken than the old lady appeared beside Luo Shi Yi in a flash, her speed so fast that no one present could see it clearly.

She lifted her smiling face and asked hoarsely, "Child, what do you think I am?"

Luo Shi Yi's eyes widened, and he stepped back two paces.

"You... You are..." Luo Shi Yi felt a chill run through his body. "Are you Tian?"

The atmosphere froze for a moment.

Just then, a strange voice echoed from nearby.

"Shi Yi, show some respect."

Luo Shi Yi and Liu Er Shi Yi both stepped aside, and an unusually short figure slowly approached—it was a young dwarf man with well-proportioned features and a bizarre scar on his left cheek, as if from an animal bite.

"Ge Wu," Luo Shi Yi and Liu Er Shi Yi said in unison, bowing their heads.

When the old lady saw this dwarf man, she smiled again: "Ah... Qian Wu..."

"Tian Ma." The dwarf man called Qian Wu nodded expressionlessly. "Sheng Xiao rarely does business with us."

The word Tian Ma made several people nearby change their expressions.

"We're here now, aren't we?" Tian Ma chuckled and tilted her head slightly. "Xiao Hu and I are here to do business with you."

"I still have my doubts," Qian Wu replied. "Can our 'business' even work out?"

"Qian Wu, what kind of attitude is that... You're not very good at respecting the elderly and caring for the young." Tian Ma reached up and tapped her waist. "Can't you be a bit more enthusiastic towards us?"

"We only care about the payment," Qian Wu said. "I don't understand how Sheng Xiao plans to pay us."

"Do we even need to pay?" Tian Ma laughed. "Qian Wu, we could always threaten you, you know."

"Oh?" The dwarf man smiled slightly. "I might have misheard. Did you say you want to 'threaten me'?"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the cells stood up. They opened their cell doors and slowly stepped into the corridor.