**Chapter 23: Peak Acting Skill**
"Now, your child is not yet born. If he truly comes to this world, are you sure the Parasytes will accept him?"
As she was about to leave, Xia Shang spoke again, "This is also a cooperation, and it is beneficial to both of us."
"Why not consider it again?"
Reiko Tamura did not speak and left the Coffee Shop directly.
Facing Reiko Tamura's departure, Xia Shang calmly continued drinking his coffee. He placed his mobile phone in front of him, seemingly waiting for something.
Ten minutes later.
On the mobile phone screen, a text message suddenly popped up.
"You are very despicable, but I still have to congratulate you, because you convinced me."
Immediately after, Xia Shang received an address. The address indicated a Ramen Shop located in the Foothold Zone.
"'Despicable is the pass for the despicable, noble is the epitaph for the noble. Sometimes, being despicable is more effective than being noble.'" Xia Shang shook his head. After finishing the last sip of coffee, he took a taxi to prepare to go to the Foothold Zone in Tokyo.
Compared to other prosperous areas of Tokyo, the Foothold Zone was much more deserted. Furthermore, because the proportion of low-to-middle income residents in the Foothold Zone was higher, the public security here was very poor.
Along the way, Xia Shang, sitting in the taxi, could clearly feel the gap between the Foothold Zone and Tokyo Ginza.
Here, Hooligans standing on the street doing nothing could be seen everywhere. The trash on the roadside was left uncleared by anyone, and even the number of homeless people was very high. Seeing these scenes before him, Xia Shang for a moment thought he had arrived in a Slum in Japan.
No wonder the Parasytes would choose to open restaurants here. They're planning to personally raise humans!
Xia Shang guessed that in the Ramen Shop Reiko Tamura sent him to, there should be more than one Parasyte. That woman is a dangerous person, full of bad intentions; he must be even more cautious.
Soon, Xia Shang had the driver stop the car. According to the roadside signs, he estimated that the Ramen Shop should be deep inside the Alley.
"The Parasytes should hunt for food late at night." Xia Shang lowered his head and looked at the time on his mobile phone. There were still two hours until dark.
Within these two hours, he needed to prepare some things to ensure everything was foolproof.
He first found an Agricultural Supply Store, which specialized in selling pesticide and plant seeds, and even agricultural machinery. For example, Xia Shang saw a short-handled chainsaw on the shelf. Unfortunately, although that thing had decent lethality, it was too obvious to carry around casually.
"'Excuse me, what kind of pesticide here is relatively strong in toxicity? My Grandpa's melon field at Home is almost eaten up by insects.'"
The owner of the Agricultural Supply Store was a middle-aged man. He shifted his gaze from the newspaper in his hand to Xia Shang.
Seeing that Xia Shang was relatively young, he couldn't help but frown.
"'The kind of pesticide you want belongs to a restricted category. We do not sell it to individuals.'"
"'Ten thousand.'" Seeing that the owner really didn't intend to sell, Xia Shang, without a second word, directly took out ten thousand Japanese Yen from his wallet and placed it on the counter.
Seeing the ten thousand cash on the counter, the owner was clearly tempted, but he still lowered his head and looked at the newspaper: "'We only sell to agricultural cooperatives. If you want it, why not go ask them?'"
Is pesticide management so strict in Japan? He offered ten thousand Japanese Yen, and the other party still wouldn't sell.
Suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something. He continued by taking out another ten thousand Japanese Yen and saying, "'You might have misunderstood. I'm not trying to commit suicide by swallowing drug. Besides, even if I were to commit suicide, why would I choose the most painful method?'"
His words made the owner of the Agricultural Supply Store look up at him again.
"'Are you sure you won't use it to commit suicide or kill someone?'" "'I swear to the deity.'"
"'Alright, please wait a moment.'" The owner swore he absolutely wasn't selling the drug to Xia Shang because of the money, but because he couldn't bear to see Xia Shang's Grandpa's melon field at Home destroyed, that's why he sold him the drug.
"'This is an organophosphorus pesticide, and it's also a concentrated liquid. Be careful when you use it. Once this stuff enters the human body, it can quickly cause death.'" The owner handed a bottle of drug covered with English labels to Xia Shang. At the same time, he put the twenty thousand Japanese Yen from the counter into his pocket.
Xia Shang was very satisfied with the effect of the drug described by the owner.
Afterward, he went to a Small Clinic not far next door and bought a few syringes.
By the time everything was prepared, the sky also gradually darkened.
As Xia Shang walked along the roadside, he kept seeing Drunkards who were completely drunk passing by him. However, what was even stranger to him was that there would always be someone helping these Drunkards along and taking them into the Alley.
If it weren't for the fact that most of those people were male, Xia Shang would have thought it was some kind of illicit transaction.
"Are they Parasytes?" Xia Shang stared intently at the back of one of the people.
That person seemed to sense something and turned their head and looked at Xia Shang.
Their dull expression and those emotionless eyes instantly revealed their true identity.
"'That's right, only Parasytes have that kind of expression. It seems this place is likely one of the Parasyte nests. Reiko Tamura leading me here was indeed malicious.'" Xia Shang did not make eye contact with the other party for too long but directly turned his head and left.
With his current strength, dealing with even one Parasyte would be tough, let alone the at least four Parasytes in front of him.
He went to a nearby Park, then sat on a bench and silently closed his eyes to rest.
Until the time was about right.
He then opened his eyes and walked towards that Alley. Along the way, he conveniently bought a can of white liquor. After unscrewing the lid, he took a sip, then poured the remaining liquor onto his clothes, thus disguising himself as a Drunkard.
As expected, not long after, a thin man pretended to be very familiar with Xia Shang and quickly walked over to help support Xia Shang.
"'Oda-kun, I saw you from a distance just now. Why are you drinking so much liquor?'"
The man's tone of voice was stiff, but it also had an effect. At least the pedestrians on the roadside wouldn't cast strange glances at them.
"'You are?'" Xia Shang opened his groggy eyes and asked unclearly.
"'I'm Tanaka, your neighbor. Don't you remember?'"
Speaking of which, Xia Shang had already used his lifelong learning. This was definitely the peak of his acting skill.
"'I have a bit of an impression. Let's go, I'll take you drinking. We won't come back until we're drunk.'"
Xia Shang pulled the man and walked towards the nearby Park. At this time, the Park was already empty.
The man hesitated slightly, but in the end, he still followed Xia Shang over. Although that wasn't his usual killing spot, looking at the current time, it shouldn't be discovered by others; it would just be a bit troublesome when dealing with the corpse afterward.
"'Tanaka, help me over.'" Xia Shang pointed to the chair in front of him.
Just then, under the illumination of the street lamp light, Tanaka's shadow appeared on the ground in front of Xia Shang. And the head of that shadow split open outwards like a flower, revealing countless sharp teeth.
(end of chapter)