In order to protect herself, the primary goal was to elevate her own abilities.
Practical combat experience also counted as a kind of one’s own ability.
Moreover it was one of the important constituent parts among them.
Therefore Luo Xiaoyu still chose to come near the territory occupied by Poison Snake—
Yet different from last time, since she knew the other party was doing their utmost to capture her, she would no longer take risks by deeply entering the other party’s territory.
Therefore the black-haired girl chose to come to an old bookstore, attempting to find some clues from the Qiufeng City newspaper news sold inside the shop.
This was one of the methods of obtaining information on the surface.
Inside the shop with old-fashioned decoration, a stiffly rotating fan swayed and emitted creaking sounds.
The accumulated dust inside the shop was also partially stirred up along with it, giving off an ancient and simple atmosphere.
If one compared the scene before one’s eyes with the memories in one’s mind, then Luo Xiaoyu would probably only regard this shop as a place opened by a rural old man out of idleness to while away time.
Yet this place was not like her previous life, that society that possessed extremely developed logistics and networks.
Qiufeng City’s transformation, the past and present of a border city…
Shocking! The development of Qiufeng City is actually because of…
Even on the newspapers there were only titles similar to these, and the advertising positions for investment attraction were also only a scant few.
Following the dates of the published issue numbers, the black-haired girl found reports related to Poison Snake.
Yet what was displayed upon them was only a few lines of textual introduction, and finally something about how Qiufeng City was currently conducting a detailed investigation into this and the like.
Luo Xiaoyu wanted to find similar reports again, yet this time no matter how she flipped she was unable to find any more news related to Poison Snake.
Thinking this, the black-haired girl took this edition of the newspaper to the counter.
A large man was lying on the table without any sense of tension, sleeping soundly.
“Hello…?”
Luo Xiaoyu opened her mouth in a soft and delicate voice intending to wake the other party, yet the large man was suddenly startled awake, violently bounced up from the table, and examined her without the slightest concealment.
This strange action made the black-haired girl feel a little at a loss.
She held the newspaper in her hand and silently retreated half a small step backward.
“I was wondering who it was. So it was a customer.”
Seeing this, the large man laughed it off and glossed over it.
“These newspapers are freely distributed by the Qiufeng City government for notification purposes. If you want them, you can freely take the most recent five issues.
Yet the one in your hand seems to be a newspaper from earlier on. This one is not free…”
Yet before the large man finished speaking, Luo Xiaoyu placed the money on the table.
Even though the shop owner completely lacked any appearance of being open for business, those newspapers and books and similar things had already all been marked with prices.
A little expensive, yet Luo Xiaoyu could still accept it.
The moment the other party saw this display, he immediately was no longer sleepy.
He carefully put away the money, his gaze inadvertently sweeping across the newspaper once, and apologetically smiled:
“Thank you for your patronage.”
“Miss, you bought this newspaper and only bought one issue. Do you want to know some information?
I can inquire about any information here! The premise is that you can pay enough money…”
In the western district of Qiufeng City where ordinary people were generally reluctant to spend money, such a shop was naturally quite rare.
And being able to operate this kind of shop that looked as though it had little revenue and still survive, the shop owner naturally had to master a bit of skill.
The large man used snacks and bread and similar things to buy over the nearby children in difficult circumstances, letting them serve as informants to collect intelligence, and then sold this intelligence at different prices to various people.
A neutral intelligence broker, one could perhaps say so.
Yet the only ones who could be cheated in this kind of place were naturally only a small number of middle- and lower-class people.
Truly high-level information could not be bought here, and no one would come to buy it either.
“What do you want to know?”
In the blink of an eye the large man changed his attitude, hanging a mask-like smile on his face.
“Th-this…”
Luo Xiaoyu knew that this kind of intelligence peddler usually sat on the ground and raised prices because they mastered information channels, yet after all it was a matter of life and death, so she would not be stingy with these expenditures.
Moreover the money supporting daily consumption was all obtained through personal work.
Even if it was a little wasteful, she would not feel guilty because of it.
Just earn more later.
“Matters of the Poison Snake gang…”
Yet the moment she spoke the words in her heart, the other party’s expression drastically changed and finally stopped at a somewhat unsightly forced smile.
“Miss, my place is a little close to Poison Snake. If these matters are exposed, then there will be big trouble.”
As he spoke, the large man seemed to notice something and once again lay down on the table pretending to be dead asleep.
Only the black-haired girl remained at a loss standing in place.
“Hey, today’s protection fee—”
Luo Xiaoyu turned her head and discovered a man with a vulgar appearance wearing a face mask.
On the mask that covered half his face was the pattern of Poison Snake.
“Ha, look what I discovered. A lost little girl?”
The black-haired girl briefly fell silent for a moment.
Her black hair hung down, making her expression unclear.
Seeing this the masked man grew even more excited.
Such a beautiful-looking girl was not common, and her personality seemed quite good as well.
“Where is your home? Do you want Uncle to take you home?”
Seeing that Luo Xiaoyu did not speak, the masked man continued speaking on his own:
“Come with me. I’m a person of Poison Snake.
Guy in the bookstore, if you don’t want the shop to be smashed you’d best not say too much. I’ve remembered you.”
Walking out of the shop and seeing the Luo Xiaoyu behind him obediently following, the masked man grew a little more confident in his own charm, and the gratitude toward Poison Snake that already existed in his heart expanded by several degrees.
This was not the first time he had done this.
The territory of Poison Snake was only that large, so in places where the radiating power of Poison Snake was a little weaker the masked man was the boss.
When he arrived at the depths of the alley and the masked man smilingly turned his head back, he finally discovered that mist had gathered around at some unknown time.
“You seem already accustomed to doing this kind of thing? How many times has it been?”
“The fourth or fifth time…”
Yet the moment the words left his mouth, the masked man felt something was very wrong.
These words were not actively spoken by him at all.
It was more like a thought had arisen and then directly slipped out from his mouth.
How could this be.
He immediately broke out in cold sweat—
The current mist was something he seemed to have heard about from people like the Thin Man inside the gang.
He had not even gone to that training session on response methods.
Yet it was only a little girl.
Could this little bit of smoke and similar things overturn the heavens? It completely lacked any offensive power.
Giving himself courage in this way, the masked man once again recovered his vicious attitude.
Luo Xiaoyu who had been continuously lowering her head finally raised it.
Her golden pupils carried a kind of top-down overlooking sensation.
It would not even be an exaggeration to call it a gaze of judgment.
The masked man suddenly recalled the expression of the other party when he had nearly been caught by the patrol knights for the first time.
It differed little from the gaze of the little girl before his eyes.
Yet this high-and-mighty sensation instead ignited the fury in his heart.
By what right was she looking at him like this—
In the depths of the alley beside the bookstore, successive roaring sounds of airflow rang out.
Only when the chaotic movements finally quieted down did the large man in the shop climb up from the table once more.
He irritably spat a mouthful of saliva and walked out of the shop while complaining and filled with resentment.
“Wouldn’t have killed the person, right… Still have to have me clean it up. Damn Poison Snake…”
When he arrived at the alley, the scene before his eyes instead left the large man staring with wide eyes and open mouth.
On the nearest ground was a Poison Snake mask stained with blood.
Not far away, corpse fragments that faintly still retained a human shape quietly lay on the ground.
Blood and tissue that looked as though they had been split open by gravity splattered backward.
The large man hastily retreated two steps.
He felt astonished at the scene before his eyes, and deep in his heart he was also extremely fearful afterward.
Was this done by that black-haired girl from just now?
Where did a human get such great strength?
He also knew some content of the mysterious side.
Then it was a ghost. It definitely was!
In order not to implicate himself, the large man decided to keep an extra careful eye.
He had to immediately tell Poison Snake.
His small life was the most important. Business and the like could all be ranked later!
Stumbling, he fled as though escaping and left the alley far behind.
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