Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 768 - 31: Dove Occupying the Magpie’s Nest

Chapter 768: Chapter 31: Dove Occupying the Magpie’s Nest

Tang Zheng’s threat didn’t intimidate Xi Zi, it only made her, a mother protecting her daughter, erupt with even greater strength.

Xi Zi struggled, writhing her body.

Facing an harmless ordinary person, Tang Zheng couldn’t be ruthless. Consequently, he was struck heavily by Xi Zi’s bending knee below his waist. Luckily, he was wearing Tyrannosaurus Protective Clothing, otherwise this hit may have taken him by surprise.

"Sorry about this." Tang Zheng adjusted his position, sitting on Xi Zi’s stomach. She kicked his back with her legs and grabbed his arm with her hands. He pushed her head against the floor with considerable force.

Tang Zheng glanced around the room, grabbed a sheet, and stuffed it into her mouth.

Believing that Tang Zheng intended to harm her, Xi Zi’s face turned into an expression of horror, intensifying her struggle.

"Quiet." Tang Zheng flipped Xi Zi, a mature woman in her thirties, onto her stomach, holding her arms down. He realized he didn’t have a rope to tie her up, so he held her with one arm, walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, ripped a strip off the curtain, and used it to tie her up.

Tang Zheng didn’t warn Xi Zi again - that would be a waste of breath. After tying Xi Zi’s hands, he grabbed her ankles and tied them too.

"Phew, I’m really not cut out to be the bad guy." Tang Zheng stood up, wiping his brow - this was more exhausting than killing a shadow demon.

Xi Zi whimpered on the ground, squirming, attempting to escape. The heat combined with her struggle caused her to break out into a sweat, making her look all the more enticing.

Tang Zheng picked up a thin blanket, covering Xi Zi’s body. He then left the bedroom - if it wasn’t to extract information and maintain his disguise, he would have just knocked Xi Zi unconscious, saving both time and effort.

Xi Zi’s daughter was fourteen years old and was wearing cartoon pyjamas. She was very sleepy and only awoke after Tang Zheng had tied her hands - but by then, it was too late to escape.

"Damn, that was exhausting. I won’t do this again." After setting Cheng Cheng, Tang Zheng took Jing Xiang to interrogate Xi Zi in the bedroom.

Xi Zi was uncooperative, refusing to say a word and continuously demanding to see her daughter.

"Are you sure you want her to see you like this?" Tang Zheng sat next to the table, Jing Xiang obediently poured tea and handed it to him.

"What do you think she’ll do if I told her you were interrogated?" Tang Zheng took a sip, seemingly bored. "Why are you still worried? It’s just a resume."

"You demon." Xi Zi trembled, finally capitulating. After answering all the questions, she realized that Tang Zheng hadn’t asked anything too strange.

"Alright, from now on, I’m your employee recommended by a friend, tasked with watching the store. Is that clear?" Tang Zheng finished his tea. "I will let you go, but if you say something that you’re not supposed to, sorry, I can’t guarantee your daughter’s life."

Xi Zi felt as if the sky had fallen, nodded numbly.

"Team leader, aren’t we being too cruel?" Jing Xiang looked at Xi Zi and asked softly.

Tang Zheng gave her a sharp glance, causing Jing Xiang to instantly fall silent.

"Look at me."

At the sound of Tang Zheng’s loud shout, Jing Xiang lifted her head, but quickly lowered it again.

"What did I say before?" A little angry, Tang Zheng gripped Jing Xiang’s chin and turned her face to him.

"You said that I must follow your instructions no matter what, and that I’m not allowed to question them." Jing Xiang was scared, tears welling up in her eyes.

Xi Zi noticed all of this and was even more frightened. She felt that the young man was a heartless demon.

"Very well, do as you’re told. Stay with her daughter and don’t take a single step out." Apart from chastising Jing Xiang, Tang Zheng was mainly putting up a show for Xi Zi. Only by making her think he’s a bad guy could he prevent her from resisting.

"Alright, go make breakfast, then open the store for business." Tang Zheng pulled off the blanket from Xi Zi, untied the ropes around her hands and feet, left the bedroom. Judging from Xi Zi’s behavior, she loved her daughter very much. This was a point he could fully exploit.

Xi Zi looked at the floor-to-ceiling windows, hesitated for a while but didn’t run away. Concerned for her daughter’s safety, she decided to toe the line.

The convenience store opened at half-past seven. Two part-time workers arrived and after listening to Xi Zi’s introduction of Tang Zheng, they didn’t suspect anything. They just thought that their boss looked under the weather, as if she was sick.

Tokyo’s massive power outage was still ongoing, so the rush to stock up hadn’t ended. Customers started arriving early. Tang Zheng, dressed in a green uniform, patrolled the store.

A sneaky and stylishly dressed girl, around eighteen or nineteen, wearing short shorts and a cool suspender top, with her short hair dyed tea brown, caught Tang Zheng’s attention. She took advantage of the crowd and attempted to shoplift from the store.

The girl stuffed some small items into her bag and was about to leave when she saw an attractive Chinese man standing behind her. His outfit identified him as an employee of the store which made her face change color instantly.

The girl’s heart was pounding, but she feigned calmness, circled around Tang Zheng, and quickened her pace to leave.

Tang Zheng was about to stop her and retrieve the stolen item when he heard the sound of an argument coming from the cash register, so he hurried over.

Perhaps due to the power outage, supplies had become unstable over the last few days. The citizens were worried, and an altercation - both verbal and physical - broke out during the panic buying. Xi Zi tried to mediate, but it was no use; the riot was escalating.

"Ladies and gentlemen, due to a shortage of supplies, this store will be temporarily closed today." Tang Zheng bellowed, pushing through the crowd. He walked up to the two quarrelling women with a smile and kindly asked them to leave, "To show our store’s apology, we will only charge you half of the price for the goods you have purchased."

The two housewives, not being fools, knew they wouldn’t get any advantage from continuing the dispute, so they huffed and stood in front of the cash register.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there will be a 30% discount on all the goods you’ve bought. Thank you for your patronage. Please queue up and pay here." Tang Zheng generously offered a discount, hoping that the customers would leave quickly so that he would have an excuse to close the store.

The customers praised Tang Zheng, conscientiously forming a queue. None of them tried to take more goods, too proud to lose face.

"You..." Xi Zi was on the verge of tears. With Tang Zheng’s actions, she had lost at least several tens of thousands of yen. For her and her daughter, this was not a small sum of money.

"Sato, Nishiguoji, your wages are doubled today. Clean up everything and then close the store." The two store clerks bowed slightly to Tang Zheng with joy on their faces.

"Don’t worry, for whatever you lose, I’ll compensate tenfold." Tang Zheng whispered reassuringly into Xi Zi’s ear.

Xi Zi didn’t listen to Tang Zheng’s explanation and turned to leave.

"Nishiguoji-kun, do you think he has already caught Xi Zi’s heart? I am so envious." Sato sighed as he watched Xi Zi’s waist and hips.

"Stop daydreaming; Xi Zi will never fall for you." Nishiguoji shook his head. Compared to the young man called Tang Zheng, Sato was far behind.

After closing the store door, Tang Zheng handed three million yen to Xi Zi, who became even more confused. He wasn’t short of money, and he wasn’t after her body, so why did he want to take over this convenience store?

"After dinner, we’ll go."

Before Xi Zi could react, she was knocked out by Tang Zheng with a chop to her neck.

Holding a tennis racket, Tang Zheng began to train Jing Xiang, helping her get familiar with the basics of close-quarter assassination techniques. If the female clerk made a mistake, she would be spanked.

At first, Jing Xiang blushed and trembled, but after an afternoon, she had started to get used to it.

"Let’s go." At ten o’clock in the evening, Tang Zheng took Cheng Cheng with him, let go of Xi Zi and her mother, got into the MPV, and went to Tobu Hall to meet the others.

Tang Zheng thought he had arrived early enough, but except for the old principal and Mei Jueye, the newbies had been waiting for a night. Other conquerors had also arrived and were discussing their experiences of the past day or so.

"Leader Tang, you’re finally here." As soon as Li Hongda saw Tang Zheng, he ran over, his face full of distress. This billionaire was having a tough time and was looking wretched after just a little over a day.

Gurgle, Li Hongda’s stomach grumbled. He touched his stomach, looked at Tang Zheng with embarrassment, and whispered, "Do you have anything to eat?"

Broke and drifting in a foreign land, also worried about being caught by the police, Li Hongda’s billionaire status couldn’t bring him any convenience. In the Trojan World, all one could rely on was strength.

Tang Zheng gave a piece of bread to Li Hongda and then looked over the newbies. Led by spectacled Li Han, the Students’ Union team didn’t seem to be faring well. Clearly, they had gained nothing. The five outlaws were still intact because they were careful and did not attack the Shadow Demon Warrior after probing it. Instead, they hid and enjoyed themselves all day.

Gu Xueqi was the only newbie who got a soul shard but didn’t show off. Instead, she sat next to Qin Yan, asking her for information about the punitive troops. She had a backpack full of weapons, and even a dagger at her waist, giving off a heroic aura.

Before Tang Zheng could say anything, everyone’s radar started sounding, and then five demonic shadows appeared around them, launching an attack.

The newbies’ faces turned pale as they were terrified and retreated. The Conquerors, however, immediately acted to snatch the monsters, which meant soul shards.

Ruan Feifei’s lightning and Chu Baichuan’s fire attacks were the fastest. Lu Fan was a split second slower and felt frustrated. Li Xinlan didn’t bother to fight and gave the opportunity to the Old Soldier and Xu Liangmao.

Considering they needed to deal with the punitive troops later, Tang Zheng didn’t summon any warriors. Instead, he drew two samurai swords and lunged at the nearest Shadow Demon Warrior for a melee battle. Without the Space Wristwatch, he didn’t even have a handy weapon.

Having been stimulated by Tang Zheng’s action, the newbies thought he was crazy. But then they looked around and saw that the conquerors didn’t find this unusual.

Encompassing the augmentation from the Tyrannosaurus Protective Clothing, Tang Zheng’s physical condition had been strengthened more than tenfold. In addition, he knew the Shadow Demon Warrior’s weaknesses well, so engaging in close combat wasn’t a problem.

.......

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