Chapter 25 | Embers of the Past

The dilapidation inside far exceeded Yu Jin's imagination.

Right past the entrance, abandoned hog-scalding benches and all sorts of equipment piled high on the ground. Mottled patches of red were scattered everywhere, making it impossible to tell dry blood apart from rust. Overgrown with weeds and leaving no clear path in sight, the place looked exactly like a junkyard.

The rain that had just fallen made the ground terribly muddy and hard to walk on.

Scarhead led the red-haired Yu Jin through the piles of garbage, twisting and turning along several bends before finally reaching the factory building.

The factory building was slightly better than the outside, though only marginally; it was simply less cluttered.

The partitioned areas once used for slaughtering hogs had now been crudely separated by wooden boards into a dozen or so sections, and every single one was “inhabited.” The moment the red-haired Yu Jin stepped inside, he heard a rising and falling chorus of snores and wrinkled his nose at a pungent, strange odor unique to crowded communal dormitories.

There were guards stationed inside the factory. Upon seeing Scarhead, several burly men called out in unison, “Brother Scar!”

Brother Scar was a veteran of Taotie Street. He had once worked at a crematorium and even done a stint as an underground body collector before catching someone's eye and gradually being promoted to a minor boss.

The ferocity on his face, forged by years of running in the underworld, had practically become a permanent “tattoo.”

Brother Scar pulled over a chair, sat down, and looked the red-haired Yu Jin up and down. He asked while scrutinizing him, “Why are you here?”

The red-haired Yu Jin had zero interest in Brother Scar. Looking around quite openly, he casually replied, “Short on cash.”

Seeing him act this way, Brother Scar sneered.

He truly was a greenhorn who didn't fear death.

Eleven out of ten people who came here were short on cash. The real question was why they were short on cash—that was what truly mattered.

More often than not, he would observe how the newcomers explained their past experiences to determine whether they were telling the truth or spinning a yarn.

Years of criminal activities had honed Brother Scar's eyes to be exceptionally sharp, and he was highly confident in his ability to read people.

He could tell at a single glance if someone was genuinely slow or just playing dumb.

And so, he pressed on, “Why are you short on cash?”

“Hold on, let me think up a seamless excuse first...”

Before Yu Jin could finish speaking in his mind, the red-haired Yu Jin blurted out, “Because I'm poor.”

“...”

Yu Jin choked. Brother Scar choked as well.

Using his interlocutor's current appearance as a disappointed, middle-aged man, Brother Scar had already imagined dozens of different versions of a failed life story. Yet he had never expected to get just a single word: “poor.”

Are you playing fucking dictionary games with me?!

Brother Scar's expression darkened instantly.

“You can't even speak straight! I'm asking why you are poor! You look like you've got some strength in you, so why do you want to test drugs for cash? Let me tell you, testing drugs doesn't pay much. It's not even as much as what you'd make hauling a few shipments outside. But it's too late to leave now. Now that you've crossed my threshold, you either test these drugs obediently or carry your corpse out of here. Hmph, don't play dumb with me! Speak! Why are you poor?!”

Do you really need a reason to be poor?

Isn't poverty an innate trait given for free when creating a character in 《The Sacrifice》?

The red-haired Yu Jin grew somewhat impatient, but he still relayed the words from his mind verbatim: “I've been a failure since I was a kid. Everyone looked down on me. Only my wife didn't. She's been with me for several years now. Every time we meet, she encourages me, comforts me, and cheers me on. I'm very grateful to her. It's my wife's birthday next month. I want to save up to buy her a gold bracelet. The money I make from working during the day isn't enough, so I thought I'd make some more while sleeping at night...”

The tone of his voice was completely flat and slightly wooden. Yet, this very stiffness successfully painted a picture of a rough, uncaring man who was forced to compromise and test drugs for the sake of love and a few measly pennies.

Hearing this, the ferocity on Brother Scar's face froze. Watching the red-haired Yu Jin look around as if he “didn't dare meet his gaze,” Brother Scar opened his mouth but found himself at a loss for words.

He frowned and spat disdainfully. Then, he irritably patted himself down, found a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag. Slowly, his brow unfurled.

“It's two hundred to test one dose, with a maximum of one dose every three days. Since you seem honest, I'll raise it by twenty for you. We start tonight. From now on, sit here and don't wander off. Don't listen to what you shouldn't hear, and don't look at what you shouldn't see. Follow all orders. Got it?”

Got it.

Brother Scar had also tasted the bitterness of love.

The red-haired Yu Jin shot a meaningful glance at Brother Scar, then found a random stool and sat down.

Then, to further reinforce the persona, he counted on his fingers as instructed by Yu Jin: “Can I test two doses at once? Otherwise, I won't save up enough money.”

Brother Scar, who had looked melancholic just a moment ago, instantly lost his temper. He pointed at the red-haired Yu Jin's nose and cursed: “You're a fucking human being, not a slab of meat! Doing two at once will kill you! Are you really going to throw your life away just for some woman and a gold bracelet?!”

He had run into a real idiot.

Who but an idiot would believe in that bullshit called love?

Love makes people lose their minds. Brother Scar had learned that lesson long ago.

He wanted to yell some sense into the man, but the red-haired Yu Jin didn't care in the slightest. He simply glared back at Brother Scar with a look that said, “Go ahead, try cursing at me again.”

Brother Scar laughed from sheer anger.

He spat a thick glob of phlegm right at the red-haired Yu Jin's feet.

“Once you're on my turf, you submit to me, no matter how tough you think you are! I make the rules here. If I catch you glaring at me like that again, I'll gouge out your eyeballs and send them to your wife! Still looking?!”

With disdain in his eyes and the tips of his hair faintly glowing red, the red-haired Yu Jin nearly failed to contain his temper.

Sensing that he had to pull out his trump card, Yu Jin murmured softly in his mind: “Is the thrill of a fight more important, or is finding clues about the eyeless goat and Xia Jie more important?”

“...”

The red-haired Yu Jin clicked his tongue and replied in his mind, “They're both important. The thrill of a fight also brings in information.”

“But crude methods will only ever yield low-level information. Only by getting close can we reach the core.”

The red-haired Yu Jin pursed his lips and didn't argue.

Seeing him stand down, Brother Scar curled his lips and grunted coldly. “Hmph, that's more like it.”

He stared at the red-haired Yu Jin, who had turned his head away, for a long while before suddenly asking, “Is your wife on Taotie Street too?”

Yu Jin was momentarily taken aback when he heard this question.

Honestly, does it make sense for a minor boss of a stronghold to randomly care about a drug tester's family?

He couldn't help but wonder if the man was trying to probe for more details to verify whether his identity was fake.

The only reason he had brought up saving money to buy a gold bracelet for his wife earlier was that a victim Yu Jin had previously investigated after a disaster had gone down this very path for that exact reason.

Recalling the “family” situation of that particular victim, Yu Jin's face took on a bizarre expression as he fed a line to his split personality.

The red-haired Yu Jin was also stunned upon hearing it, but then a gleam of anticipation flashed in his eyes.

He figured that once he said this line, he might actually get to throw down today.

Thus, with a subtle look on his face, he replied, “No, she lives with her husband.”

“?”

What did he mean, “your wife lives with her husband”?

Was this motherfucker playing me?!

Brother Scar's face turned incredibly grim.

But strangely, the conflict the red-haired Yu Jin had been looking forward to did not happen.

Brother Scar didn't make a move. Who knew what was going through his head? His face twisted rapidly through several expressions before he actually accepted and even sympathized with the red-haired Yu Jin's “love.” With a dark face, he simply threw down a sentence: “I'll give you another twenty. Keep your mouth shut and don't tell anyone about this. Also, just buy her a bracelet that's a size smaller. You can't pamper women.”