Chapter 75: So decisive?

  "Hah... hah! I've never thought of killing someone before, really!" As for the rest, it's not worth mentioning. Jiǔ Mìng (Nine Lives) actually found that black merchant again, perhaps the other party didn't think Nine Lives would come back alive either.

  When he saw Jiǔ Mìng, the other person's eyes widened in shock, as if they had seen a ghost. And indeed, they had seen a ghost, and when they saw Jiǔ Mìng, the expression on their face that seemed to say "how are you still alive" was especially vivid.

  "No... I was wrong." The black merchant was shocked and immediately realized that he had lost this time. The conversion furnaces he sold out before did not have any return customers... This thing either went directly wrong, with the person being caught off guard and blown to death, or it ran stably.

  Yes, the former is more likely, after all these are smuggled goods.

  So the nine lives found him at his doorstep and gave him a big surprise.

  "Wrong?" Jiǔ Mìng sneered, his mouth curled up at the corner as he gazed at the black merchant, whose pointed chin and cheekbones made him look like a mouse. "Admit it and that's good. So what do you plan to do now?"

  "Refund?"

  Bang! The wall next to him directly caved in a circle, covered with spider web-like cracks. "Tsk, tsk, at this time you still have such thoughts?"

  Thinking of C.C.'s appearance at that time, Nine's heart was extremely angry. No matter what, even though they had only known each other for less than three days, this disaster was caused by him, and she was implicated without reason. Ah, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became!

  "Cough, cough, I'll pay! I'll pay the money!" The black merchant's body wasn't bad, and after being hit like that, he only coughed a few times without even spitting out blood. However, he didn't have any thoughts of resisting either, and was subdued by Jiǔ Mìng with just one move, making him realize the difference between them. His survival experience in the black market also made it clear to him that recklessly resisting the strong would only lead to his own death.

  Maybe it was originally possible to survive, but as a result of the strong wind blowing again, he got himself into trouble. Without any special reliance or trump card, let's soften up first.

  "I'm not short of money." Jiǔ Mìng sneered, tossing the remaining few high-grade energy crystals in front of him, and then putting them back into his pocket amidst the black merchant's widened eyes, "My friend almost got into trouble, you know."

  Hei Shang's mind immediately thought of bad things, looking at Jiu Ming who didn't seem to have any problems coming over. It was just that the unstable explosion of the transformation furnace hadn't harmed him. Since it hadn't harmed him, the other party might be furious, but definitely wouldn't be furious to the extent of taking lives... Of course, this was also a result of Hei Shang's observation that Jiu Ming didn't seem like someone with a black heart and ruthless hands.

  But it involves a friend, and the situation can be big or small. Although there is a saying that friends are for sale, or maybe this is what they mean by trying to swindle someone. Since I've said so much, it's always a troublesome matter. The expression of Jiǔ Mìng also doesn't have any fake component, which means if this matter isn't handled properly, he will really be in big trouble.

  "I'm just a person in charge of this place, I really can't do anything about it." After thinking for a while, the black merchant found that except for putting himself in, there seemed to be no other good way, so he simply revealed his true identity.

  "Is that so? I seem to recall that when I first tried it out here, nothing happened?" Jiǔ Mìng let out a soft hum and slightly increased the strength in his hand, causing the black merchant to immediately feel a strong sense of suffocation.

  "Hmm... because, because... I've been had." The black merchant thought quickly and soon realized that he seemed to have been treated as a disposable son. Damn it, no wonder the goods were selling well, but suddenly received a notice from the top to replace them with an inferior product. That inferior product was familiar to him, unstable and with a built-in tracker, usually used for black eating black.

  This is also the reason why he ran away without thinking when he saw Jiǔ Mìng, who had nothing to do with him, return here again. Even if he received many guests, it was impossible for him to remember every face, but Jiǔ Mìng's transparent body left a deep impression on anyone who saw him.

  Damn it! The top must have known long ago that this guy is extraordinary and wants to use himself to probe the opponent!

  Damn it! I've been working hard here for several years, no credit but hard work. Say it, if you want to sell me out, just sell me out! Fucking ridiculous!

  "Betray me?" Jiǔ Mìng's eyebrows rose in surprise.

  "No, no, no!" Seeing that his life was about to be turned upside down, the black merchant quickly defended himself, "I'm just a small fry following orders, if I didn't do this, tomorrow's sun wouldn't rise."

  "Huh?! Doing this and you still won't see tomorrow's sun." Jiǔ Mìng was furious and laughed, "Good, really treating people... ghosts as easy to bully?"

  "Hei Shang's bitter face, if I had known earlier, he wouldn't have dared to do this! Since the higher-ups are not benevolent first, don't blame him for being unrighteous afterwards!"

  "I'm just a small fry who can't even grasp my own life in my hands, if you think it's not pleasant to kill me, it would be like stepping on an ant, but doing so would make you feel relieved?"

  "Are you going to rebel?"

  "Don't harm me!" The black merchant immediately looked around nervously, as if afraid that Jiǔ Mìng's words would be overheard.

  "Whatever, just don't forget why I'm here." Jiǔ Mìng knocked on his ear and gave the rat-like guy a few glances. "What's your ability?"

  "Hmm, concealment can make people overlook themselves, but compared to me, it's not very effective against those who are stronger and have been targeting me from the start." The black merchant answered Nine Lives' question honestly, having used his ability on Nine Lives as soon as he saw him, yet it didn't seem to have any substantial effect.

  He nodded slightly, and the feeling of wanting to ignore him when he was caught earlier wasn't an illusion after all. As for why it was considered an illusion, it's because that feeling was too faint... You're really weak.

  But it's a pity if this ability is used for assassination... However, the despicable black merchant in front of me obviously isn't that material.

  "Three choices." Jiǔ Mìng stood up three fingers, "You should be lucky that my friend didn't get seriously hurt, otherwise you would have been the first to go down just now."

  "Firstly, as punishment for you duping me, how about twenty years of your lifespan? I'm a fair person, if it were someone else, they would have crippled your arms and legs or even taken your life by now."

  "Hei Shang looked at Jiu Ming with a puzzled expression, what does this mean?"

  "Just consider it one of my abilities."

  The black merchant immediately shook his head in terror, and who would dare accept the fact that their lifespan was shortened by twenty years, let alone humans with limited lives.

  "Alright, I'm a fair person, if you don't like the first one then how about the second? What do you think it's like being an ordinary person?"

  "How can you!?" The black merchant looked at Jiumeng with even more terror, not only could he take away lives, but also superpowers!?

  "Hmm, let's listen to the third one first, I don't want the first two... How about you?"

  Hei Shang's face turned pale in an instant, and the cold tone of his words was no joke.

  "Uh...do the first two have any side effects?" After hesitating for a moment, Hei Shang also knew when to give up and asked about the first two options in a very straightforward manner.

  "The first one, if you suddenly reduce your lifespan, people will become very weak. If you reduce too much, it's normal to die on the spot."

  What kind of disaster have I gotten myself into?

  "As for the second one, you should become an ordinary person."

  "Should I?"

  Hei Shang immediately seized on the uncertain words in Jiu Ming's speech.

  "Well, I've never done this before, so I don't know what the side effects are yet, but it definitely won't (maybe will) be life-threatening!" Jiǔ Mìng said with a solemn guarantee.

  Finally, Hei Shang looked at Jiu Ming leaving with a dejected face, Jiu Ming still holding a conversion furnace that was smaller than the previous one by nearly a third. This could be said to be the best stock from Hei Shang's place, and it was also considered a 'new version', with a higher safety factor and a lower chance of error, less than one in ten thousand... At least that's what the manual said.

  Jiǔ Mìng also tested it several times there, seeing that there was nothing unusual, and simply took it over, for free.

  He chose to abandon his ability, which didn't provide any substantial help for him as an assassin. Okay, this profession exists in the world, but he didn't have the courage.

  Jiǔ Mìng left, and the originally disheartened Hei Shāng revealed a relieved expression. On one hand, he was temporarily safe; on the other hand, he discovered that his abilities were completely gone...

  It should be said that the lost is the ability to hide, but his Esper trait is still preserved. How can I put it, Espers have many differences compared to ordinary people, such as training and upgrading being faster and having a higher amplitude than normal humans.

  In other words... he's now like a career changer in those games, having the growth attributes of a professional, but without the 'skill tree' that belongs to professionals. This existence is definitely at the bottom, but compared to ordinary people, it's also much better.

  With this comparison and a bit of luck, his resentment towards Jiǔ Mìng suddenly weakened by a large margin. The remaining part will probably be thrown out of his mind after some time, after all, the power displayed by Jiǔ Mìng was too strange, even superpowers could be stripped away... I've never heard of such an example before.

  Apart from this, what he resents the most now is being treated as an abandoned son. Nima wants to force me to become a bandit, right?!

  He quickly gathered his things, collecting all the high-energy crystal stock he had here. The black merchant's gaze fell on a tightly locked room, where all the defective converters were stored.

  Boom!

  "Is it that ruthless?" Hearing the explosion behind him, Jiǔ Mìng turned his head to take a look. A strong shockwave swept over, and the sudden explosion caused quite a commotion in the black market. Wasn't the location of the explosion exactly where the black merchant was selling things?

  He shook his head and continued to move forward, he could see that the black merchant was a man who cherished his life, this kind of suicidal act would not be done, the most likely possibility was to cover up, quite decisive.