Chapter 903: Testing The Waters

Translator: Azza

After the fat uncle left, Zhou Xiao asked Tao Yueyue to carry the small school bag on her back. The weight of 600,000 in cash was about the same as her usual school books.

Zhou Xiao took Tao Yueyue around before coming to an alley. In the alley, there were a few big guys squatting on the ground and smoking. The look in their eyes wasn’t kind. Tao Yueyue was frightened when she walked by them. After all, she had a huge sum of money on her.

The big guys suddenly pinched their cigarettes out and stood up, before following behind the two of them. Tao Yueyue pulled at the corner of Zhou Xiao's clothes and said, "Uncle Zhou, there are bad guys behind us."

"Got it." Zhou Xiao replied lightly.

Seeing the bad guys getting closer, Zhou Xiao didn't panic. The two arrived in front of a gloomy staircase. Zhou Xiao told Tao Yueyue to go upstairs, look for the third door on the left, and ask the person inside to buy an "ear".

Tao Yueyue nodded. She saw the big men surrounding Zhou Xiao as she went up the stairs.

She sped up in fear and found the door. It was actually a shop selling mobile phones. There was no sign on the front of the door. It looked deserted. A boss was sitting behind the table picking at his nose.

kk had told her about this kind of thing. Some people from the underworld would steal other people's identity information to apply for mobile phone cards and sell them to people in need.

Tao Yueyue put down the schoolbag by the door, took a bundle of cash in her hand, walked in, and said to the boss, "I want two 'ears'."

The boss looked at Tao Yueyue up and down, wiped the hand that had picked his nose against his chest, took out two old-style mobile phones from the drawer, and said, "Four thousand."

As they talked, the sounds of a fight came from downstairs. The boss didn't pay any mind to it. It seemed that he was used to listening to this kind of thing.

Tao Yueyue counted out a wad of banknotes and placed it on the table. "I will give you five thousand. If anyone asks how many I’ve bought, you need to tell them it was just one."

The boss smiled and nodded, accepting the cash. "Don't worry."

Walking out, Tao Yueyue couldn't wait to turn on one of the mobile phones. It was actually a working phone. She entered Chen Shi's number, but hesitated with her finger over the dial button. Finally, she gave up.

She turned off the phone, hid it under the money, and went downstairs.

Zhou Xiao had already brought down the big guys who were trying to cause trouble, threatening one of them with a knife. "You think you can get the bounty on my head with just you guys? Get lost!"

They got up, and while fleeing, they left behind the words, "Just you wait."

After receiving the mobile phone handed over to him by Tao Yueyue, Zhou Xiao dialed a number while saying, "The streets are full of little thugs thinking about my bounty nowadays. I probably can’t stay in Long’an much longer. After finishing this commission, I might have to head out and hide for a while. It looks like I’ll have to change my face again." He touched his face.

"Why can't you go now? You have the money anyway."

"I’m a killer, not a scammer."

The phone dialed through. "Old Four, help me get me a car and send it to XX Road…"

The two waited at a nearby coffee shop. After half an hour, a second-hand car drove to the shop. Zhou Xiao took out 50,000 yuan in cash from Tao Yueyue’s bag, went out, handed it to the man, took the key, and beckoned Tao Yueyue to come out.

Although the seats of this car of unknown origin were all torn, Tao Yueyue felt very comfortable in it. At least she didn't have to walk.

As soon as she stopped to have a rest, she felt sleepy. She persisted for a while before falling asleep curled up in the seat. Zhou Xiao kept smoking in the car, causing her to cough in her sleep and dream that her school was on fire.

When she woke up, the sun was already starting to set. Tao Yueyue rubbed her eyes and sat up. The car was parked near a building waiting to be demolished. There was only silence around her. Zhou Xiao wasn’t there, and the door was locked from the outside.

There was a bag in the passenger seat with water and bread in it.

Watching the golden sunset outside the window, Tao Yueyue was filled with inexplicable sadness. Under the control of her weakness, she pulled out the mobile phone from her small schoolbag and dialed Chen Shi's number. When the phone rang three times, she immediately hung up.

No, Uncle Chen cannot be contacted yet. Uncle Chen will definitely not support her risky actions.

Fearing that Chen Shi would call back, Tao Yueyue turned the phone off. Even if he investigated, he wouldn't be able to find it, right?

She made up her mind to subdue Zhou Xiao tonight and give Chen Shi a big surprise.

She hid her mobile phone under the seat cushion. She started eating the bread and drinking the mineral water. The setting sun outside the window was magnificent, and the sky was full of burning clouds. At a certain moment, the whole sky suddenly became gray. This was the first time Tao Yueyue had observed the process of nightfall so carefully.

As the last ray of sunlight disappeared, the sky turned into a velvet-like dark blue, and the surrounding street lamps lighted up in turn. Tao Yueyue’s misery in her heart gradually disappeared. The night made her feel at peace. She liked nights more than days. Sometimes, her adolescent delusions caused her to believe that she belonged to the night.

At 8:00PM, Zhou Xiao came back and said, "Let's go somewhere."

Zhou Xiao drove her to a high-end residential area and parked their car outside. This address was the residence of the fat uncle’s ex-wife. Tao Yueyue was surprised. "Saturday is tomorrow!"

"Do you understand the concept of testing the waters? Am I a little ruffian who would stab someone and run away?"

"Oh…"

Zhou Xiao took out a bag from under the seat, took out something from it, and told Tao Yueyue to take off her shoes.

He melted a glue stick with a lighter and applied it to the pattern on the sole, then sprinkled some white powder on it. He then did the same to his shoes. This way, the pattern on the soles of the shoes would be hard to make out.

Then, he asked Tao Yueyue to stretch out her hand and applied a layer of transparent glue on her fingerprints. Tao Yueyue felt like she was being covered with a film. It was a bit uncomfortable for it to be so airtight.

"Did Song Lang teach you stuff like this?" Zhou Xiao smiled triumphantly.

"We don't need to use these."

"What he taught you is just like playing house. What’s a simulated crime? If you don't commit a crime with risk and pressure involved, you won't experience the bliss. It's like the difference between masturbating and having sex."

Hearing Zhou Xiao slander Chen Shi in a disdainful tone, Tao Yueyue felt like her chest was blocked with something, as if she had been told that her favorite idol was a sissy, but she held it back and nodded in agreement.

The two got out of the car and Zhou Xiao looked for a gap outside the courtyard wall of the housing community, before finally stopping under a tree. He flexibly climbed up the wall using the tree, then dragged Tao Yueyue up. Some residents of the housing community were walking around at night. No one paid any attention to them.

When they got to the villa, Zhou Xiao picked the lock skillfully. After entering the villa, he checked every room. Tao Yueyue noticed the stairs, the balcony, the ropes on the curtains, and all kinds of rooms. This was a good place. It was big and empty, and she could deal with Zhou Xiao here.

Zhou Xiao found a laptop in the bedroom and opened it. There was a monitoring software on the desktop. It turned out that both the courtyard and the house were equipped with security cameras. The two entering just now were recorded.

"What the fuck, she’s quite cautious." Zhou Xiao started to operate on the computer and deleted this section of the surveillance footage. At the same time, he checked whether the footage was connected to other devices.

"Uncle Zhou, why don't we spend the night here? They’ll come tomorrow, so let’s just wait for the rabbit to come here." Tao Yueyue proposed.

"What are you plotting?" Zhou Xiao looked at her suspiciously.