Su Wan closed the back door of the truck, restarted the engine, and drove out of the dead-end road.
Next was the second stop.
The West City Wholesale Market.
Same process, same operation.
Food, daily necessities, hardware, clothing, children's supplies...
Su Wan transformed into a procurement machine once again, weaving through the crowded market and sweeping through stall after stall with cash.
Then she loaded the truck, drove to a deserted spot, and stored everything into her space.
Third stop: the South City Daily Necessities Distribution Center.
Fourth stop: the North City Small Commodities Wholesale City.
Fifth stop: the Western Suburbs Agricultural Trade Market.
...
The entire afternoon.
Su Wan traveled to every large wholesale market in Jiangcheng.
From east to west, from south to north.
She bought tons of rice, flour, and oil; truckloads of daily necessities; cases of medicine and equipment; and bundles of bedding and clothing.
Every time she loaded a truck, she drove to a remote, deserted location to store the supplies in her space.
Then she would drive back near the market, return the vehicle, swap for a new rental, and continue to the next stop.
To avoid attracting any attention, she used three different vehicles and four different rental agencies, paying entirely in cash to leave no record.
As the sun began to set, Su Wan finally completed her last purchase.
She stood at the entrance of a small rental agency in the northern part of the city, returned the keys to the owner, took her deposit, and turned into a nearby alley.
There was no one in the alley.
She took off her hat and coat, swapped her mask, and by the time she emerged from the other end, she looked like a different person.
She hailed a taxi.
“To the old city district.”
Old Ghost’s shop was still deep within that unremarkable alley.
Su Wan knocked on the scrap iron door with practiced familiarity.
“Miss Su, here to grace my shop with business again...” Old Ghost’s voice was raspy and flat, devoid of any emotion.
Su Wan didn't speak, silently exchanging her gold.
“Seven hundred and thirty thousand. Cash or transfer?”
“Transfer. To an unregistered burner card.”
Old Ghost nodded, pulled out an old POS machine, and tapped it a few times.
Su Wan’s phone vibrated.
【Your account has received a transfer: 730,000.00 yuan】
The transaction was complete.
Su Wan did not get up to leave.
Old Ghost did not rush her either.
He simply looked up at Su Wan and waited.
After a few seconds of silence, Su Wan spoke.
“I want to buy information.”
Old Ghost’s eyebrows twitched slightly before returning to a calm state.
“What information?”
Su Wan’s gaze fell on Old Ghost’s face. Behind her mask, her voice was slightly muffled, but every word was clear.
“Everything about the Bai family and Bai Chengye.”
Bai Ruochu only had a superficial understanding of the truth behind the Su family’s downfall. To know more, Su Wan could only look toward the core figures of the Bai family.
That old fellow Bai Hongyuan was hard to deal with.
Having ruled the Bai family for decades and dominated the business world, that old fox’s shrewdness and depth were not easily shaken.
But Bai Chengye was different...
Old Ghost named a price.
Su Wan didn't haggle, directly transferring the money she had just received.
Old Ghost put away the POS machine and turned to walk into the back room.
A few minutes later, he emerged carrying a bulging kraft paper file envelope and placed it in front of Su Wan.
“Bai Chengye, the second son of the Bai family and Bai Ruochu’s biological father.” Old Ghost’s voice remained raspy and flat, as if he were describing a common commodity. “His public resume is polished, but all the dirt on his private life is in here.”
Su Wan opened the envelope and pulled out the documents.
The moment the papers left the envelope—
A faint scent of ink wafted into her nose.
It was very faint, but to someone like her who had undergone ability strengthening, it was as distinct as the smell of fresh bread.
Fresh ink.
This file had just been printed.
Su Wan’s fingers paused for an imperceptible moment before returning to normal. Her gaze remained on the documents in her hand as if she hadn't noticed a thing.
The time Old Ghost had spent inside was three or four minutes at most.
To print a file dozens of pages long, even with a high-speed printer, would take time.
More importantly—
She hadn't heard a single sound.
With her perception as a Level 3 Ability User, she could hear a needle drop within ten meters.
The mechanical hum of a printer and the rustle of paper should have been as clear as if they were happening right next to her ear.
But just now, behind that door, there had been dead silence.
Nothing at all.
Su Wan’s eyes were on the documents, lines of text passing before her, but her attention was no longer on the words.
She nonchalantly looked up, her gaze sweeping across Old Ghost’s face.
Old Ghost was still sitting behind that old wooden table, fiddling with those two glossy walnuts in his hand. His murky eyes were half-closed, showing no emotion.
He seemed to have noticed nothing.
Su Wan withdrew her gaze and continued flipping through the papers, as if the anomaly she just sensed was merely a trick of her imagination.
But her perception had already spread out silently.
Invisible mental power bypassed Old Ghost’s body and extended toward the tightly closed wooden door behind him.
The door was very ordinary.
Old, mottled, and bearing the marks of time, just like all the other furniture in the shop.
Su Wan’s mental power tendrils touched the door—
And then, she froze.
She couldn't get in.
Her perception actually couldn't penetrate that door!
It felt like hitting an invisible wall.
It wasn't a physical obstruction, but some kind of barrier!
As soon as her mental power tendrils touched the wood, they were pushed back by a force that was gentle yet firm.
That force wasn't aggressive; it was even quite mild. But it existed, standing there indisputably, isolating her perception from the outside.
A storm of shock surged within Su Wan’s heart.
What was this?
A barrier that could block mental perception?
Such a thing actually existed on Blue Star?
Her gaze remained on the documents, flipping page by page, her face expressionless.
But her heartbeat was already significantly faster than before.
Old Ghost.
This man who ran a dilapidated shop in a back alley of the old city, living by buying and selling goods of “unknown origin”—
Who exactly was he?
And what was hidden behind that door?
When making deals, Old Ghost never asked much and never said much.
She gave gold, he gave money; she asked for information, he set a price. The transaction was clean, with no strings attached.
She had always thought Old Ghost was just a businessman making a living in the gray areas.
A veteran of the world who lived clearly and knew what should and shouldn't be said.
But now...
Su Wan lowered her eyes and continued reading the documents in her hand.
Rate on N.U.
