Chapter 139: Contamination and Radiation

Chapter 139 Pollution Radiation

This Cicada Drone was the only thing Li Jun could currently pawn off his entire person.

With the existence of that flying sword fragment lodged in his chest, the vast majority of Li Jun's internal energy had to be used to suppress the spread of the pollution; the strength he could exert was at most Martial Eight.

In Chongqing Prefecture, where dragons and snakes roamed everywhere, this bit of strength didn't count as eye-catching at all, so the Cicada Drone's function of concealing aura was temporarily useless.

Besides, it was just a pawn; once he found time to scrape together some money, he could naturally redeem it.

"This thing..." Zhou You leaned his eyes in close, observing carefully without revealing a trace of emotion.

In truth, with the eye he had honed over years of scrambling in Chongqing Prefecture, he could tell the value of this mechanical construct with a single glance.

But one must play the act to the hilt; the more he pressed the price, the more he stood to earn.

"Of course it can be pawned, but this money should only be enough for you to stay half a month, Boss. When the time is up, you'll have to pay extra!"

"Fine."

The coldness on Zhou You's face melted into a smile; he reached out, took the Cicada Drone, and tucked it into his sleeve.

"Then from now on, you'd best not leave this courtyard. Although I have a decent reputation in this slum, it's still best not to test a poor man's curiosity—after all, this is one of the few things that still belongs to them."

The youth smiled and instructed, "If you need anything, just say the word. You provide the money, I'll run the errands."

"What if I go out on business and get seen?"

"Do you really need to ask me about a trifle like this? Dead bodies aren't exactly rare in the slums."

"Alright then, since you're staying, before the money you pawned runs out, I have to take good care of you."

Zhou You braced his knees and stood up, "I'll go cook for you now. Machine oil? Standby mode? Or... eating?"

"Eating."

"Deal. Then you rest a bit, I'll go get it ready."

Zhou You strode into the room; moments later, the clatter of pots, pans, and bowls rang out from within.

"Trying to probe my Sequence? Good thinking, just a bit too obvious. But if Lord Ma knew his 'Rabbit Warren' was actually a pit dug by someone else, he'd probably beat this kid black and blue."

"Wonder how those two, grandfather and grandson, are doing now."

Li Jun sighed, withdrawing his gaze from Zhou You's retreating back.

This youth was greedy, true, but his character was rather forthright.

Compared to those chivalrous heroes, Li Jun found people who did jobs for money far more reliable.

"Mmph!"

Suddenly, Li Jun's brow twitched, his complexion flushing red for no apparent reason.

He took a heavy, deep breath, and the internal energy in his body automatically surged toward his chest, squeezing the radiation emanating from that sword tip back down.

Soon, the strangeness on Li Jun's face faded, but his brows remained tightly knit.

Although his internal energy could stop the radiation from polluting his flesh, it also drove that sword tip deeper into his chest, making it ever harder to remove.

"Technique trains power, movement trains tendons, body forging trains bones. It seems to resolve this hidden danger, I must extract the thing from the Chu Wu Sect and push my Body Forging technique to Grand Perfection."

Li Jun murmured to himself, the ruthlessness in his eyes growing ever thicker.

"Dao Seven Golden Pill Guest, Yu Canghai—if I don't dismantle your Qingcheng Group's Grotto-Heaven and send you father and son ascending together, how can I repay this hospitality of yours?!"

Hum.

A slight tremor came from Li Jun's sleeve; the murderous aura just rising on him abruptly scattered.

"Alright, Uncle won't go mess with them for now; recovering from injuries comes first."

As he spoke, Li Jun carefully placed a metal figurine, an inch in size, atop his head.

The movement was gentle, as if perching a child on his neck.

"Little girl, look, the night view here is pretty, isn't it?"

"Rest assured, Uncle will definitely find a way to forge you a new, compatible body. Then you can eat whatever you want, drink whatever you want."

Li Jun pointed into the distance, where a vast expanse of brilliant lights, magnificent palaces and towers, floated suspended beneath the night sky.

Beneath the projection of the palaces lay the liveliest place in Chongqing Prefecture at night.

Dozens of wooden, ancient-style pavilions and towers were built against the mountain, interconnected, forming a stretch of resplendent halls.

It was practically a city within a city.

The entire complex was divided into five tiers, upper and lower; between the tiers, sedan lifts crisscrossed horizontally and vertically, and broad roads below allowed carriages to speed through.

The lower one went, the more bewitching the neon glare from the signboards became, and the stranger the attire of the pedestrians grew.

Some wore only shorts, their bare upper bodies fully exposed as mechanical frames, what little skin remained tattooed with various patterns.

There were Daoists with topknots, sitting cross-legged floating in the street, a banner hanging behind them reading "Refining the Heart in the Mundane World, Divination and Fortune-Telling."

There were monks with Buddhist halos atop their heads, haggling with gorgeously dressed courtesans in the shadows.

There were also Confucian scholars in robes and Legalists gripping scale weights, brawling in a corner.

In more hidden spots, people spoke to stray dogs, and the dogs would open their mouths to spit out packaged contraband.

In a shop bearing the sign 'Gambling House', bursts of excited shouts rang out.

"Three with one, shout 'Big' for me!"

Under the dim lights, smoke curled and swirled.

Brother Leopard glanced sideways at his opponents with a cold smile, "Knew you couldn't afford it. Four-Five-Six-Seven-Eight Straight! Keep shouting 'Big' for me!"

Two pairs of bloodshot eyes stared dead at his hand; as the last two cards slammed onto the table, they both erupted in curses.

"Damn it, how's your luck so good today?"

"You little bastard, aren't you cheating?"

"Don't feed me that nonsense, just pay up!"

"Take it, take it, hurry up and shuffle. I don't believe this evil; I'll beat you in a single hand today!"

Brother Leopard raked the banknotes thrown on the table toward himself, his face full of satisfied glee.

"Just made a killing off those fake-clever 'Dock Worker Slaves', now cleaning up at the gambling table. Today is truly a spring breeze at my back, fortune shining on my head!"

He chuckled darkly to himself, cutting and shuffling the cards with practiced ease.

A moment later, when he fanned out his hand for this round, the smile on his face grew even more radiant.

"Straight Flush plus a Bomb, plus four Twos. Fuck, am I related to these Western barbarians? Otherwise why are the cards they invented so intimate with me?"

The gambler opposite glanced at his own cards, the corner of his mouth twitching involuntarily.

He looked up and saw Brother Leopard's look of high spirits, and his face instantly darkened further.

"Hurry up and play, what's so funny about good cards? Laugh again and I'll blow you up when we get out!"

Brother Leopard sneered at the words, slapping his Straight Flush onto the table, "Come bomb me. If you don't, you look down on me!"

"Can you afford it? If not, you two turtle sons are just dreaming!"

Bao Ge threw back his head in a wild, unrestrained laugh, utterly oblivious to the two opponents across the table suddenly ducking their heads, shrinking their necks in cowardice.

"Pay up! Pay up!"

"Excuse me, may I ask a question."

A frigid voice suddenly cut in, severing his laughter mid-air.

"You're that Bao Ge?!"