Chapter 220
Chapter 220: Wants Meat Without Doing the Work
While Li Mu was distributing the pills, many registered Profound Rank martial artists were also hurrying toward the plaza.
These people had all come the moment Li Mu summoned them.
After An Xing registered them, Li Mu had not taken them with him.
They had remained in the plaza, awaiting Chu Ying’s orders.
But since there had been no battle, Chu Ying had no need to keep everyone tied down here.
He let those with personal matters handle them first.
Therefore, these people had left their contact information behind and temporarily departed to deal with private affairs.
Since Stage Three had just arrived, the next few days would definitely be the period with the most changes.
A major battle might even break out at night. These people had gone to settle their relatives properly so they could fight without distractions.
Aside from them...Many family clans, media personnel, martial artists, and even ordinary citizens went to watch the excitement.
After all, the entire city had been under a state of alert these two days. All businesses had temporarily stopped work and gone on leave. Some people had already prepared bedding inside the War-Shelter-Level Buildings, ready to hole up for a few days.
Of course...Aside from them, there were also some Profound Rank experts who were “disdainful” of the matter.
In a certain restaurant not far from the plaza...Two men were eating and drinking.
Looking at the crowd outside the window, who had eagerly run off to watch the excitement after hearing the citywide message, a short-haired man in his thirties held his wine cup and sneered before taking a fine sip of wine.
The person sitting across from him was a few years younger. He had a thin face and shifty eyes.
“Brother Shun, you really should have followed them and gone along for the ride. I didn’t expect there to be rewards.”
Liu Shun sneered.
“What a load of damn nonsense! The people who went to support them are all fools.”
“They never enjoyed any benefits from the Abyss-Suppression Army in normal times.”
“But when it was time to risk their lives, they went as soon as they were called.”
“If that is not being born to grovel, what is it?”
The underling sitting across from him had no sense of tact.
“Isn’t there a reward?”
Liu Shun swept a cold glance over him.
“Do I lack that tiny bit of reward?”
“And the person I hate the most is that damned so-called Tiger Marquis Li!”
“That dog bastard! If not for him, who knows how comfortably I’d be living right now?”
The thought alone made him angry.
Liu Shun had originally been birds of a feather with Lu Xiao, the young master of the Lu Family.
Liu Shun was a Profound Rank First Grade expert.
At first, he had gotten involved with Lu Xiao as a private instructor.
The Lu Family had money, and Liu Shun had strength.
So Lu Xiao treated Liu Shun as his private martial backer, providing him with good food, good wine, and beautiful women.
Liu Shun was also a lecher.
He and Lu Xiao shared the same rotten tastes, and the two of them had indulged in all sorts of sordid games together.
That period had been the most pleasurable stretch of Liu Shun’s life.
He felt that since he had broken through to the Profound Rank through his own efforts, he deserved to enjoy the treatment reserved for the strong.
Unfortunately, this fellow had squandered his will on pleasure, and his cultivation had not improved for years.
Then the Liang Family suddenly brought down the Lu Family.
The reason behind it was precisely Li Mu.
Li Mu had destroyed the Lu Family, and he had also overturned all of Liu Shun’s good days.
Without Lu Xiao as his moneybag, even though Liu Shun was a Profound Rank expert, if he did not want to commit crimes, he had to earn money himself.
He had long since grown used to the feeling of quick money from before and had no patience to earn money step by step anymore.
So in normal times, he had used force more than a few times to make crooked money.
While the two of them were talking, someone rushed into the restaurant entrance and shouted at the owner, “Old Zhou, hurry, hurry! I can’t take it anymore. My craving for wine is acting up. Get me a bottle of Jianghong!”
The owner chuckled and pointed at him with one finger.
Then he casually picked up an empty plastic bottle and went inside to fill it with loose liquor.
His family’s sauce-aroma Daughter’s Red had been specially brewed by his daughter, who was a winemaker.
As long as these drunkards drank his family’s wine, they would find it difficult to find a replacement anywhere else.
If they went a day without drinking it, they would feel uncomfortable all over.
The man took the bottle and first gulped down a third of it. Then he hissed in satisfaction, his face full of comfort.
Only then did he pay, then ask the owner, “Are you coming? Let’s go watch the excitement!”
Old Zhou chuckled, folded his thin arms, leaned against the counter, and shook his head.
“I’m not going. What’s there to see?”
“What’s there to see?”
The drunkard curled his lip. “In less than five minutes, more than twenty Profound Rank experts advanced one after another! Have you ever seen that before?”
“That golden light shot from earth to sky! One after another, like fireworks!”
“Huh?”
Old Zhou looked bewildered.
“What’s going on?”
The drunkard smiled mysteriously.
“What’s going on?”
“You know Tiger Marquis Li of the Abyss-Suppression Army, right?”
Old Zhou pursed his lips. “Damn, the one who killed Zong Hongsheng?”
“That’s him!”
“Didn’t the previous citywide notice say that the Military District had summoned them over for support?”
“That was actually Tiger Marquis Li’s order!”
“And the one giving out rewards now is also Tiger Marquis Li. Two pills per person!”
“It’s downright strange. Out of every five people who take them, three can break through on the spot!”
“Tell me, is that impressive or not?”
Old Zhou nodded. “That is very impressive!”
The drunkard sighed deeply, then raised his head at a melancholy forty-five-degree angle.
“Ah, a profit-minded little man reeking of copper like you...”
“How could you understand the excitement of righteous men like us?”
“You must know this.”
“The lives and deaths of Linyuan City’s tens of millions of citizens all depend on the Abyss-Suppression Army and on these experts who charge into battle!”
“For Tiger Marquis Li to take out such things and share them with all the experts... he is simply this!”
As he spoke, he did not forget to curl his lip and raise his thumb.
“For the safety of the people of Linyuan City, he is willing to stake everything. His great love truly knows no bounds!”
Old Zhou blew his beard in irritation.
“Are you even using those words properly?”
“What does it matter to you? I’m leaving. I’m going back to watch the grand occasion!”
“There are still many Profound Rank experts who haven’t arrived yet!”
“You just keep guarding this shabby little shop of yours, you miser!”
After scolding him, the drunkard ran out.
Old Zhou felt so itchy with curiosity that it was unbearable.
He really wanted to go and watch.
But as long as Linyuan City had not fallen, no matter what other business stopped, his restaurant could not stop. On the contrary, this was precisely when he could make money.
He truly could not leave, so he went inside and drove his daughter out of the shop to watch the excitement in his place.
Before she left, he even instructed her.
“Daughter, when you get there, shout a couple of cheers for your dad.”
“And while you’re at it, shout that drinks at Zhou’s Tavern are thirty percent off these few days!”
At the dining table...Liu Shun and his underling looked at each other.
Liu Shun was clearly tempted!
Those Profound Rank experts were not merely First Grade. Many of them were Fourth or Fifth Grade, and there were even Sixth and Seventh Grades!
They ate the pills and broke through?
If a Profound Rank First Grade ate them, would that not guarantee a breakthrough?
Asking him to cultivate step by step was simply too difficult.
But since there were pills this powerful, who would not be tempted?
“Big Brother, stop hesitating! Go!”
The underling urged him on.
Liu Shun frowned and thought for a moment.
“Will he give them to me?”
“Tsk! Big Brother, you’re confused!”
“The entire Lu Family was raided, but nothing happened to you. That means he doesn’t know you at all.”
“And Stage Three has just descended. Everyone is in chaos right now!”
“Otherwise, with so many people in the Abyss-Suppression Army, why would they still be looking for reinforcements?”
“The world is in turmoil!”
“With several hundred people there, if you say you were present at the time, can he really remember every single one?”
“Even taking ten thousand steps back, if he really does recognize you, the worst that can happen is that you don’t get anything. What do you lose?”
The underling felt that his suggestion was absolutely perfect.
There was no loss in trying.
But Liu Shun laughed coldly.
“That makes sense!”
“And even if he really can recognize me, so what?”
“Can he really brace himself and say he won’t give me anything?”
“There are definitely plenty of people there who didn’t go at the time, just like me!”
“As long as I stir things up a little, we’ll see whether he can still step down from that stage!”