Chapter 56: Candidate
Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu
In addition, one had to factor in the modern weapons. Apart from the obvious things like guns and explosives, things like surveillance equipment could also contribute to Bei Feng’s demise if he were to be too careless.
The ancient Qing dynasty boasted various schools of thought, all contending for the emperor’s attention during its peak. Countless famous martial experts resided with the dynasty, and an endless stream of great scholars flowed there as well.
But fast-forward to the modern age and with the appearance of firearms and weapons of mass destruction, the number of people willing to walk the path of martial arts had also dwindled as they were scattered into oblivion.
The martial skills that an expert devoted his entire life to perfect and train in would ultimately crumble in the face of a mere amateur soldier with one year of weapon training behind him… how ironic was that!
Such a thing was obviously a great fortune for the toiling masses, but it was an epic tragedy for the world of martial arts!
Of course, Bei Feng could tell based on the existence of people like a certain big cow sitting at his home that the martial path had not completely disappeared. It had simply been hidden much deeper than before.
Bei Feng looked at the clock on the wall. It was already 8 am. Deciding that it was time to go, he washed his face and groomed himself briefly in front of the mirror before leaving the hotel.
‘Beggars? Or perhaps… some gangsters?’
Bei Feng stood atop a bridge, a melancholic look in his eyes as he observed the sea of people on a busy street.
‘Forget it, beggars are just people who had fallen into bad circumstances. They’d never done anything offensive to god and reason. It’s not good to mess with their already sad lives…’
Bei Feng thought deeply for a moment, shook his head and finally turned away from a beggar dressed in miserable rags and tattered clothes who was sitting on the side of the road, minding his own business.
‘Then, should I choose from the local gangsters?’
Night had descended upon the city and Bei Feng sat within a dodgy bar whose interior seemed to be eternally wreathed in cigarette smoke. A group of tough-looking men covered in colorful tattoos sat at a table across from him, occasionally bursting into loud, vulgar and raucous laughter.
‘These are just some street punks looking for a place to belong…’
Sighing deeply, Bei Feng eventually left the bar.
And so, Bei Feng roamed the city for three days, failing to find even a single candidate he was satisfied with.
Without knowing it, he wandered into a luxurious shopping area, dominated by clothing stores with branded goods.
"Big sister, you’re so beautiful! I want to give you these flowers!"
Zhou Lin was on a date with her boyfriend Sun Qiang. They had just had dinner and were going to watch a movie when a sweet-looking girl around ten years of age walked up to her. Hugged in her bosom were some carefully wrapped roses.
"Wow, what beautiful roses! Thank you, little sister!"
Zhou Lin beamed radiantly as she accepted the two stalks of roses held out to her. After that, she patted the little girl on the head and turned to leave with Sun Qiang.
"Big brother, I’ve already given the flowers to this big sister. Aren’t you going to pay for it?"
The little girl tugged on the hem of Sun Qiang’s shirt and asked in an innocent voice.
"Little sister, aren’t these flowers a gift from you?"
Zhou Lin asked in wonder.
"Yes, but big brother has to pay for it."
The little girl’s grip on Sun Qiang’s shirt had not loosened in the slightest.
"Then… how much is it?"
Left with no alternative, Sun Qiang asked with a constipated look on his face.
"20 yuan for a stalk, so two stalks is 40 yuan."
Sun Qiang felt his face stiffening up even further as the little girl’s sweet voice floated into his ears.
"Xiao Linzi, return the flowers to her."
Sun Qiang felt a sour feeling spreading through his heart. This was ridiculous! Did the little girl take him for an idiot? Or, perhaps, a moneybag?
He would not say anything and directly give the little girl the money if it was around three or five yuan a stalk, since he would lose face otherwise. However, the price of 40 yuan for two stalks of roses was absurd!
"Little sister, I’ll return the flowers to you. I don’t want them anymore. Ok? Can you let go of big brother’s shirt now?"
Zhou Lin walked up to the little girl, handed her the flowers and asked softly.
"No way, since you’ve already taken the flowers, they’re already yours!"
Not only did she not let go of Sun Qiang, her grip on Sun Qiang’s shirt became tighter.
A pair of stubborn eyes stared resolutely at Zhou Lin.
‘What a scary gaze!’
Zhou Lin was starting to feel frightened.
It was unclear how this came to be, but the little girl’s eyes appeared to be filled with apathy and hate. It seemed like she had become numb to everything in the world.
"Sun Qiang, why don’t we just…"
"No way! Give her the flowers and we’ll go! If you really like it, I’ll go to a proper florist and buy a whole bouquet of them for you later!"
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Sun Qiang’s temper flared as he directly grabbed the flowers from Zhou Lin and shoved them at the little girl.
"I’m warning you, don’t follow us!"
With that, he wrested the little girl’s grip away from his shirt and pulled Zhou Lin away.
"Sun Qiang, I think that little girl might have been forced by somebody to come out and sell flowers. What if she gets beaten up if she didn’t manage to sell anything?"
Zhou Lin asked meekly with a troubled tone.
"So what? There are so many unfortunate people in the world. Can you help all of them? Besides, they might be a syndicate of tricksters, trying to swindle kind-hearted people like you!"
Sun Qiang felt a slight headache as he looked at this naive and soft-hearted girlfriend of his.
Zhou Lin did not refute him, only lowering her head sadly as the two disappeared into the crowd.
Only the little girl was left, picking up the flowers from the ground with a heavy expression on her young face.
"Give me two stalks of roses."
A light voice sounded as a tall figure appeared before the little girl. Following that, the tall figure produced a hundred yuan bill from his pocket and handed it to the little girl.
A hint of emotion could be detected in the little girl’s eyes as she looked up at the young, handsome face before her. She hurriedly grabbed the bill and passed two stalks of roses to the young man. Then, she looked downwards again, as though she had no intentions of returning the change.
Smiling lightly, Bei Feng did not seem to mind at all as he took the two stalks of roses and walked towards a nearby cafe where he continued to sip his cup of hot coffee nonchalantly.
Of course, the reason he had decided to buy the two stalks of roses for 100 yuan was not because he enjoyed flaunting his wealth. He was actually quite a miser. Bei Feng had simply felt some pity for the little girl.
He knew that if he had not been adopted by the old grandpa back then, his current state might even be worse than this little girl.
But the main reason he extended a helping hand was for the sake of obtaining his perfect candidate.
No, not the little girl selling flowers. Rather, the perfect candidate he had spent so much time looking for was the vulgar-looking man standing before the little girl right now.
"Wretched girl, you only managed to get this much money after an entire day? Che, that’s not even enough for a round of mahjong!"
The vulgar-looking man grunted in dissatisfaction as he snatched a bit over one hundred yuan from the girl’s extended palm.
"Work harder and don’t bum around. Understand? If you can bring back 300 yuan tonight, I’ll add an extra egg for your dinner."
Having obtained the money, he swaggered away, a satisfied expression on his face.
Time passed, and the number of people on the streets dwindled. It was past 10 PM and the little girl gathered the unsold flowers and turned to leave.
Seeing this, Bei Feng also settled the bill and left the cafe. He then proceeded to follow the little girl from afar.
Just like that, Bei Feng shadowed the little girl for over half an hour. They had now entered a small ghetto.
The buildings here were all worn out and dirty. They were built many decades ago, and were practically falling apart. The politicians declared every year that they were going to tear down the buildings and raise new ones in their place. However, to date, such plans had never even been close to being executed.
The roads and the sidewalks were riddled with holes and long cracks. The streets were dark as most of the street lights had fallen into disrepair a long time ago. The buildings here were short and ugly, forming a stark contrast with the tall and magnificent towers of the downtown just a few blocks away.
This area was primarily populated by foreign laborers. Although it was quite run-down, the rent for a room here was quite cheap.
Along the way, Bei Feng spotted more young girls and boys appear as they headed towards the same direction. These children seemed to be surrounded by an atmosphere of doom and gloom. Not a single word or greeting was exchanged between them as they walked abreast.
The temperature of Bei Feng’s frosty gaze dropped several degrees further as he proceeded in silence.
Soon, the children arrived before a dilapidated manor. They hesitated briefly before stepping through the gate and into the house. From the outside, Bei Feng could hear the cries of numerous children emanating from the manor.
"What are you crying about?! I’ll break your legs if you continue crying!"
The bone-chilling voice of a man sounded out. Immediately after, the crying noises diminished significantly.
"The money they’re bringing back recently is getting lesser and lesser. There’s barely 3000 yuan despite an entire day they spent outside! What useless brats."
Within a small yard, about a dozen men were seated as they counted a stack of money.
"Boss, I say we just sell off those kids who aren’t pulling their weight. What’s the point of keeping another mouth to feed if they can’t even sell some bloody flowers?" A man with puckered lips and a chin like an ape's said in dissatisfaction.
"F*ck off! Are you retarded? Who would dare to buy grown kids like this?" Another man immediately refuted.
"I think we should just break their arms and legs and let them beg for money instead," a perverted look appeared on one of the men’s face as he measured the kids in the yard with his eyes.
"Bang! Bang!"
The entire manor fell silent as a series of knocks sounded out from the door.
A quick-witted man hurriedly ran to the door and looked out through the crack between the door and its frame. However, as the street was too dark, the man was unable to make out much of the situation outside.
"Boom!"
The man was sent flying backwards into the manor along with pieces of wood as the door was directly smashed from outside.
The unlucky bastard who had been sent flying did not even twitch as he lay unconscious.
"Brothers! Let's f*ck this fool up!"
A commanding voice sounded as the group looked at the lone figure standing in the doorway.