“Yes, long time no see.”
“I heard you've honorably retired. Are you here in Central City to visit some old friends?”
The butler's voice was very soft, yet every word reached Xia Yitiao's ears clearly.
Xia Yitiao smiled, dropped his cigarette butt directly onto the ground, and stubbed it out, leaving a black mark that made the eyelids of the two security guards twitch.
“Still working as a butler after all these years?”
Hearing this, the butler sighed.
“I have no skills to speak of. Fortunately, the master doesn't mind. Being a butler for so many years is already a blessing.”
The butler spoke humbly, but his expression showed none of it.
“I believe you didn't come here to catch up, Mr. Xia? Is there anything I can help you with?”
He spoke up to this point, then seemed to remember something, a look of apology appearing on his face.
“I almost forgot. You've already retired, so you have no right to make me cooperate with you on anything.”
Xia Yitiao laughed out loud.
“True, true. I'm retired, so I have no right to make anyone cooperate with me.”
“Sigh, but even if I weren't retired, you guys didn't cooperate when you were supposed to anyway, did you? So there's not much of a difference.”
The butler's expression turned solemn upon hearing this.
“I don't understand what you mean by that. Our Sun family is a law-abiding household. We have received over a dozen honors from the Security Bureau alone. When have we ever not cooperated?”
Xia Yitiao kept smiling, pulling out a cigarette and a lighter from his pants pocket.
“It doesn't matter. When I was in office, I had to be responsible to the Security Bureau, to the law, and to everyone who trusted me.”
“But now that I'm retired, I only need to be responsible to myself.”
Click.
A flame rose from the lighter, igniting the cigarette.
“Why can't you people understand? The law doesn't just restrict you; it restricts me too.”
He stared at the butler with a half-smile, finally causing the other man's expression to turn dead serious.
“Mr. Xia, do you remember how I answered you back then?”
“My answer today is the same as it was then.”
“Don't bring ruin upon yourself.”
“Hahaha!”
Xia Yitiao couldn't help but laugh out loud. Pocketing his cigarette and lighter, he turned and walked away, as if he had truly just come here for a stroll today.
Behind him, the butler's face turned grim. He spoke in a volume loud enough for Xia Yitiao to hear clearly.
“This man is a Demigod and extremely powerful. If you see him stepping into our Sun family's private property, contact the Security Bureau immediately.”
“Yes, sir!”
The two security guards answered loudly, as if they wanted Xia Yitiao to hear them too.
Whoosh—
A cigarette butt traced a graceful arc and landed right at the butler's feet. Without turning his head, Xia Yitiao replied.
“Go ahead and report me to the Security Bureau, dumbass.”
...
Central City.
The transcendent market!
Yin Yang was truly having his eyes opened. Transcendent items could actually be so down-to-earth; there were street stalls, shops, vendors shouting their wares, and people bargaining.
Transcendent items that would be rare and exotic to ordinary people in the surrounding cities were everywhere here.
Security was also very strict. To purchase certain unstable or dangerous transcendent items, real-name registration and reporting were required.
If one wanted to buy high-level promotion materials, they even had to hold a transcendent token from the Security Bureau.
To put it simply, it was highly regulated!
Registered transcendents—such as security officers of the Ward Guard pathway, students of the Scholar pathway, and soldiers of the Executioner pathway—could buy whatever materials they needed as long as they had the money.
Scions of some small and medium-sized families could also buy what they wanted once they registered.
As for the big families, almost none of them registered unless they wanted to pursue a career in government. After all, they weren't lacking in these resources.
For an "underground transcendent" like Yin Yang, the probability of buying legal and compliant promotion materials here was too low. Wanxiang City was actually more suitable for him.
But this didn't stop him from wandering around. With the two divine skills of 【Perception】 and 【Communion】 for finding hidden gems, wouldn't it be a waste if he didn't take a stroll?
This stroll made him realize that the transcendent market shared many similarities with Wanwu City.
For example, out of a hundred items on the street stalls, ninety-nine and a half of them were just handicrafts.
But the vast majority of things in the shops were genuine.
After walking around, Yin Yang squatted in front of a stall.
The owner was brushing walnuts with his head down, not even looking up as he spoke.
“Take a look yourself. I've got plenty of treasures on my stall.”
Yin Yang's gaze landed on a small pendant. It was a little bell engraved with a three-legged golden toad holding a copper coin in its mouth, looking very exquisite.
“Boss, how much for this golden toad bell?”
The owner looked up and said.
“Five hundred.”
Hearing this, Yin Yang immediately pulled out five hundred in cash, handed it over, and picked up the small bell.
The owner accepted the money and said.
“Young man, you've got good eyes. The material of this bell is Yao alloy. Before firearms appeared, this was a material that only divine archers could use to make arrowheads.”
Yin Yang raised his eyebrows slightly.
Indeed, this was not a transcendent item. Yin Yang bought it partly because it suited his taste and partly because the material was rather special.
He thought he was finding a hidden gem, but who would have thought the stall owner recognized it too?
“Boss, since you know what it is, why are you selling it so cheaply?”
The owner stuffed the five hundred yuan into a box on the side and continued brushing his walnuts.
“Cheap goods aren't necessarily easy to sell. These days, good goods are rare, and those who understand them are even rarer.”
“If you had bargained with me just now, I would have spat at you. But you didn't, which shows you know your stuff. Good goods should be sold to those who understand them.”
“Besides, I have several houses collecting rent at home, so I'm not short of this bit of money.”
“I set up a stall purely to give myself something to do.”
Yin Yang gave him a thumbs-up. This was the first time he had met such a stall owner.
Just as he stood up to continue wandering around, he ran into another acquaintance.
Xia Yitiao!
Yin Yang had seen him once when dealing with the Lyu family.
This man's perception was even sharper than Su Baadao's, and he had almost discovered the hidden blade-wielding ghost, so Yin Yang had a very deep impression of him.
Why is he in Central City too? Is he on a business trip?
While Yin Yang was pondering, Xia Yitiao turned into a shop. This also made Yin Yang notice that there were actually two people tailing this Bureau Chief.
Yin Yang pocketed his bell and decisively changed direction.
No matter what they planned to do, Yin Yang did not want to get involved.
After all, the man's perception was too sharp. If Yin Yang noticed something, it wouldn't be a good thing for him.
But as he focused his attention, he realized that there were more than just two people tailing the Bureau Chief!
Yin Yang slightly activated his Perception skill and discovered that at the street corners on both sides, as well as in the stalls and shops, there were actually over a dozen people tailing him!
It seems this is not as simple as a business trip or a vacation.
Inside the shop.
Xia Yitiao looked at the shop owner in front of him, who smiled like a Maitreya Buddha, and said.
“Boss, are you still in the organ business?”
Rate on N.U.
