"Here's your reward for going to North Africa." Old Man Lin carefully pulled two crumpled hundred-yuan bills from a well-wrapped rag and handed them to Lin Yi, who was watching him eagerly.
Lin Yi couldn't understand why his missions were so dangerous, his enemies so powerful, and the profits his clients received were so lucrative, yet in the end, he earned so little.
Where did the old man get these top-tier missions for him? Each one was a near-death experience, yet the reward was only fifty or a hundred yuan. And that was still okay, sometimes there were only three or two... Every time he thought of it, Lin Yi wanted to cry.
Accepting the two hundred yuan he'd earned with his life, the last thing Lin Yi wanted to say was, "Fuck you!" Even though he was an orphan, motherless since childhood,
After fifteen years of studying martial arts and studying for fifteen years with Old Man Lin, who had raised him, he was definitely a well-rounded man, right? In ancient times, he would have been a top scholar, a master of both civil and military skills, yet he's being treated like a laborer... When will this ever end?
I heard building houses in the city can earn tens of thousands a year, but I work myself to death every day and only make a mere 1,800 yuan a year...
"Old man, you're kidding me, aren't you? Two hundred yuan? I seriously suspect you're skimping on my pay." Lin Yi had suspected this more than once, but the old man wore the same clothes and ate the same food as him and didn't act wealthy.
"It's good enough to have the money. Do you think money is so easy to make these days?" Old Man Lin rolled his bulging eyes and said unhappily, "What? You don't want it? Just give it back to me. I haven't been to Widow Wang's snack bar at the village entrance for ages."
"..." Lin Yi wanted to give the skinny, withered old man a good beating, but he knew that if he did, he'd only get beaten up.
Lin Yi himself didn't know the true extent of Old Man Lin's martial arts. He only knew that whenever he practiced with him, he never gave it his all. Just when his own martial arts skills had reached a new level, he suddenly realized that the old man had also improved, and he was still defeated by him.
"Well, you've experienced enough over the years. It's almost time for that big thing." Old Man Lin, without even raising an eyelid, sat cross-legged on the kang, tapping the plate of fennel beans in front of him. "Complete this task, and you'll have food and drink for the rest of your life!"
"Really?" Lin Yi knew that ever since he was picked up by the old man as a ragpicker at the age of three, he had been learning martial arts, medicine, and other knowledge from him, all in the name of a big thing. However, Lin Yi doubted the reward for this big thing would be as high as the old man claimed, a single task that could provide a lifetime of support.
"When have I ever lied to you?" Old Man Lin tossed another fennel bean into his mouth. "Are you going or not? If not, I'll find someone else."
"Yes, of course I'll go!" Lin Yi thought to himself. Only a fool wouldn't take such a good opportunity! This one mission could last a lifetime, and I wouldn't have to endure such a life-threatening situation in the future. Even if it's a dangerous place, it's worth it!
"Well, then go ahead. Go to Songshan City, Pengzhan Group, and find someone named Chu Pengzhan. He'll tell you what to do next." A barely perceptible smirk crossed Old Man Lin's lips. "But think it over. Once you accept this mission, you must follow through. Don't quit midway."
"Why? Why wouldn't you let me escape when there's danger?" Lin Yi wasn't the kind of stubborn person. He would never do something he knew would kill him.
"Xiao Yi, I've raised you for fifteen years, providing you with food and drink, buying you a laptop and a 3G network card..." The old man rolled his eyes and began to ramble on. "You're asking me to do something, and you're asking so many questions. Don't push me!"
"Damn it!" Lin Yi was furious after hearing the old man's words. "You raised me for the first three years. Since you were six, I've been cooking, chopping wood, and making straw sandals to support you. Don't push me!"
"You were secretly watching porn on your computer in the middle of the night, and don't think I didn't know!" The old man glared and said, "You forced me to say that! And you were in front of the computer..."
"Okay... damn it... I won't run away, okay?" Lin Yi's face flushed. He hadn't expected this old man to find out about something so private he'd been doing. It was so damn embarrassing. If he kept talking, he might reveal something inappropriate for children.
So, under Old Man Lin's coercion and inducements, Lin Yi packed his bags and boarded a northbound train, traveling thousands of miles to Songshan City, a modern, international metropolis.
On the train, Lin Yi thought: I'd have to encrypt my porn videos and hide them in my computer's system folder. When I do that, I'll have to be vigilant.
However, Lin Yi was still very much looking forward to this mission. Retirement after completing one mission was something Lin Yi had always dreamed of, even though Old Man Lin's words suggested it might be challenging. Well, challenging is what makes it challenging!
"Pop!" The pockmarked man sitting across from Lin Yi opened a can of Coke and casually tossed the ring onto the table.
A crew-haired man next to the man feigned indifference, picked up the pull ring, and fiddled with it for a few seconds before suddenly exclaiming, "Wow! Wow! Wow! First Prize!"
Although his voice wasn't loud enough in the bustling train, the passengers sitting nearby heard it and looked over.
The pockmarked man was no exception. Seeing that the pull ring in the crew-haired man's hand was the one he had just dropped, his expression suddenly turned a little uneasy. "Give it to me! It's mine..."
"What do you mean, 'your'? Where's your name written?" The crew-haired man withdrew his right hand, clutched the pull ring tightly, and glared, "Your name is First Prize?"
"No... My name isn't First Prize... I lost that first prize pull ring..." The pockmarked man, seeing the crew-haired man's menacing look, felt a little intimidated. However, not wanting to lose what was his due, he spoke timidly.
"You said you lost it, and since you lost it, it belongs to whoever finds it," the crew cut snorted disdainfully.
"Hey, how could you be so rude?" The pockmarked man suddenly grew anxious and shouted to the passenger across from him, a man with glasses sitting to Lin Yi's left. "Sir, you look like a scholar. Please judge the situation. How could he be so rude? Isn't he being a scoundrel?"
"Who's being a scoundrel?" The crew cut was also unhappy and turned to the man with glasses. "Master, tell me, who should this pull ring belong to?"
"Hmm..." The man with glasses adjusted his glasses and hesitated. "I'm a university professor. Since you two trust me, I'll judge the situation for you."
"Go ahead, go ahead!" The pockmarked man and the crew cut both nodded, looking anxiously at the man claiming to be a university professor.
"Logically, this guy pulled the pull tab off the can, so it should belong to him..." The man with glasses was halfway through his sentence when a smug expression appeared on his face. The crew cut man, immediately anxious, was about to say something when the man with glasses waved his hand, stopping him. "But since this guy had already thrown the pull tab away, and this guy picked it up, it should belong to this guy later..."
"But you also said it's mine..." The pockmarked man's face immediately turned sad after hearing the man with glasses' words.
"I think it's better if you two split the prize equally. That way, no one loses out!" the man with glasses suggested.
"Divide..." The crew cut man hesitated, gritted his teeth, and said, "Okay, then."
Perhaps the crew cut man felt his argument was a bit weak, so he agreed to the man's suggestion. Meanwhile, the pockmarked man, seeing the ring gripped by the crew-haired man, nodded in agreement. He thought if he didn't agree, he might not get anything at all, so he decided to split it in half.
"Okay, since you all agree, let's split it." The man with glasses took the can from the pockmarked man's hand and looked at it. "It says here that the first prize is 100,000 yuan. After deducting 20% personal income tax, there's 80,000 yuan left. But since claiming the prize is a bit of a hassle, whomever of you goes to claim it can give the other person 30,000 yuan, and then go claim it yourself. What do you think of this idea?"
"Okay!" The pockmarked man, eager to get some money, agreed immediately. "Give me the 30,000 yuan, and then you go claim it!"