A brave man may not live, but he cannot die

Chapter 241 CST Thursday UTC+8: 1:20

The night was deep, the moon's reflection shone on the sea, and the small boat drifted with the waves.

"Hey."

With the last black bag on the shore, the unloading was complete. Checking the weight of the goods was the buyer's responsibility. There was no after-sales service like refunds or additional payments in this business. Who knows if the two parties would ever see each other again?

The white man signaled to the captain to set sail, and they immediately left while the night was still relatively dark.

Many countries in the world combat drug trafficking, but this is the only place where there is no mercy. In developed countries, one can escape with the help of lawyers, and in smaller countries, bribery is possible, but not here. It is like a forbidden land for global drug traffickers, where those caught face only the death penalty.

"Good business." The white man waved to Qin Weizheng and boarded the boat to leave.

There's an unspoken rule in this business: never say goodbye. It's considered unlucky and reminds people of prison. But when business is booming, it's different. As long as money keeps flowing in, the cook and the vendor will always meet again.

On the shore, two women packed a total of forty packages into two large garbage bags, each picking one up, and asked Qin Weizheng, "How did you originally plan to take these things with you?"

A hint of wariness flashed across Qin Weizheng's face.

Despite having previously claimed to be newly recruited companions, Qin Wei suddenly took a step back, his steps somewhat dazed, as if waking from a dream, and asked, "You...you are—"

Qin Weizheng had completely forgotten.

These two women were just streetwalkers he had seen earlier when he passed through the alley. They called out, "Boss, come and have some fun!" Qin Wei was so bewitched that he walked into the hair salon. He vaguely remembered what happened after that, and as if possessed, he let them change their plans and follow their arrangements.

"Guess who it is?" the woman said with a coquettish laugh.

Just as Qin Wei was about to snatch the bag from the woman's hand, she didn't dodge at all. Instead, she naturally climbed onto his arm, rubbing her palm against his, leaning in and blowing air into his ear.

Qin Wei felt his mind go blank for a moment, and the next moment, his eyes became glazed over. That unusual, unrestrained excitement and restlessness reappeared, and his eyes seemed to be burning with desire.

"Want to?" the woman asked softly, slowly, like a witch chanting a spell. "Then tell me, what were you originally planning to do with these goods?"

A flicker of struggle crossed Qin Weizheng's eyes again, but it was quickly overshadowed by his impatient lust: "Pack the goods, put them together with the fresh produce, and send them as food to Jianghai City TV Station. The recipient is Yu Tong."

“Very good. Very good. Heh.” The woman said as she started working on it.

Seeing that the two were about to roll around on the beach, her companion immediately slapped her hand away, warning, "Are you driven by lust? If it itches, scratch it yourself. This is a key person in the ritual, don't mess around."

"Boring." The woman reluctantly withdrew her hand.

The Abyss's original sin grants power to those who are extraordinary in a two-way manner.

Before giving lust to others, one must first offer oneself to lust. Just as Jack's every word and action is influenced by greed, scheming how to profit, those with extraordinary lust, like their original sin, crave and enjoy sensuality more than anyone else.

"We've already deviated from the original plan. If we leave any traces, the deviation value when the city rises will be too large, and the ceremony will have been a waste."

After being warned by her companion, the woman had no choice but to ask again, "Where are you planning to go next?"

Qin Wei, panting heavily, mumbled, "I need to go to Hong Kong Island to buy milk powder for my son."

The two women exchanged a glance, about to say something more, when at that moment they heard a voice, like a demon swept in by the sound of waves, drifting lightly into the cool night.

That was a sigh.

The two initially thought it was an auditory hallucination and instinctively turned around. The beach was deserted except for them; the distant fishing village was quiet, and the drug dealers were sailing away at sea. Was it an illusion? Or...?
This was the last question they had in their lives.

On the beach, where the sea breeze rustled, the moonlight flickered slightly. A tree branch pierced through their blind spot, like a skewer of candied hawthorns, piercing their necks. The woman looked at her companion in disbelief at the gushing blood from her neck, as if a piece of paper had been pierced through—spine, throat, trachea, artery.
The sand on the beach rose up, and they fell one after the other, blood slowly seeping out in two crimson patches. Quinn pulled back the branch; it was just an ordinary branch, but in the hands of an assassin, it could be just as effective as a sword.

Who is Ms. B?

Quinn withdrew his indifferent gaze, shook off the blood from the tip of the branch, and looked at the system notification of 'Soul Shards +203, +498', feeling somewhat regretful.

It seems that Ms. B, who coordinated the ceremony, was not among them.

Two hundred or so soul fragments, comparable to the number of [Gluttony] Sequence 9 beings killed in the Abyss earlier, presumably one of them was a [Lust] Sequence 9. 498, on the other hand, is the amount of soul fragments for a Sequence 8 being, which aligns with the status of the one with more influence between the two.

The Soul Shards provided by Abyss Transcendents seem to be about 10% less than those of other combat classes in the same sequence, but for Ms. B, the Soul Shards for Sequence 6 could never be that little.

The Abyss Transcendent beings of Sequence 8 and 9 are physically no different from ordinary people, and encountering Quinn would be like a disaster movie.

After the woman who had been impaired died, Qin Weizheng's vision quickly cleared, and he immediately saw two corpses on the ground, one on his left and one on his right, and a man with a parrot on his shoulder and a long branch in his hand.

Just then, a wisp of cloud drifted by, the moonlight faded, and the face became obscured.

With a splash, Qin Wei was so frightened that he fell to the ground on the beach, half of his body submerged in the icy seawater. Wave after wave of tides seemed to be pushing him toward death. Even as a criminal, the sudden sight of such a ruthless killer left him completely blank.

Quinn craned his neck, first glancing at the large speedboat that was accelerating away, then reaching out his hand towards the Sequence Eight woman's corpse—

With a clenched fist, a rod-shaped object that appeared to have rapidly shriveled up as its owner passed away was stolen.

Upon seeing the shape of this thing, the little parrot let out a speechless exclamation: "Whoa!"

Another Sequence 8 with the [Lust] destiny had also used this thing. It seems it's not some kind of containment object or abyssal relic, but rather, like Jack's gold coin, a manifestation of the abyssal's extraordinary characteristics. "I am a pianist, and this is the songstress."

Quinn threw it away in disgust, feeling like he'd get syphilis if he held onto it for even a second longer.

Under the moonlight.

A magic wand as thick as an arm and as long as a neck swept across the sea, like a torpedo soaring into the sky, then spinning and falling back down, tracing a perfect parabola across the ocean, precisely striking the fuel tank of the large flying vehicle—

A huge fireball rose from the sea, illuminating Qin Wei's bewildered face. After a moment of disorientation, he heard a violent roar as the small boat carrying a load of US dollars exploded. Even if the people on board weren't killed, given the distance from the shore, they probably wouldn't have survived to swim back.

"This is illegal. Don't let it happen again."

Quinn nodded in satisfaction, squatted down by the sea, and washed his hands with seawater. "It's so disgusting! Where is morality? Where is chastity? Where is the purchase link?"
Qin Wei was utterly horrified and at a loss for words, trembling as he asked, "You...you..."

“Give me the phone,” Quinn said curtly.

"what?"

Quinn's hand opened and closed, and Qin Weizheng's phone appeared in his hand as if by magic.

Quinn opened the phone case, dialed a series of numbers, and then tossed the phone back to Qin Weizheng.

“I’m here to help you, sent by the boss. This is the new contact number. Call him right away; he has a new task for you,” Quinn said in Mandarin with a Jianghai accent.

"Boss?" Qin Wei gritted his teeth. "What, what boss?"

“Mi Beilin,” Quinn uttered a name.

Qin Weizheng's shoulders immediately relaxed. Just as he was about to ask more questions, the man on the beach had disappeared, as if he had evaporated into thin air, leaving only two corpses and the firelight on the sea to tell him that this was not a dream.

He quickly looked at his phone screen; it was an unfamiliar number, but judging from the area code, it definitely belonged to Jianghai.

After much hesitation, Qin Wei pressed the dial button.

The phone rang three times.

A calm voice came from the other end: "Hey, how's it going?"

Calm yet with a touch of nonchalance, his tone is reminiscent of the screen persona of Stephen Chow, the Hong Kong film star who is popular in mainland China.

Perhaps because of the distance, his voice was a little distorted and didn't sound like his usual boss, but the tone was unmistakable; it was definitely him.

Qin Wei quickly tucked his phone between his shoulder and ear, picked up the bag full of goods from the ground, and began to limp away from the beach.

"Brother Lin, who is that person? He... he gave the deliveryman—"

"Ah Zheng, I have a question for you."

The Mandarin spoken on the phone wasn't very standard; it sounded like someone was rigidly repeating a sentence. Before Qin Wei could reply, the speaker continued:

"If... I mean, if."

"If one day, I cause your death..."

Qin Weizheng paused in his steps.

"I've raised your son like my own, and he'll get his share of the profits. Can you forgive me?"

Qin Wei's lips moved slightly, as if he were inhaling.

He continued walking forward, dragging the heavy, black bag.

Why are you suddenly asking that?

"Just asking."

So Qin Wei forced a smile and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? How could I hate you? Brother Lin, are my wife and son alright? Don't bother her. We agreed that everything is fine here."

The voice was dry and harsh, like sand that had been soaked in blood and then hardened.

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone before it was finally disconnected without a sound.

An uneasy premonition welled up in Qin Wei's heart. He wanted to call back, but then he heard the rustling of leaves. The clouds parted, revealing the bright moon, and a dense chorus of footsteps came from the forest. Beams of flashlight light shone on him, and Qin Wei looked up in despair—

"Police!! Lie down on the ground!! Don't move!!!"

With a snap, the unreachable phone fell onto the beach. He raised his hands with a bitter smile, as if he wanted to crush his teeth.

(End of this chapter)