Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 511 "Spring Breeze"

Yang Qiaoxi led Sun Hang and the other two through a narrow alley on foot, and then through the middle of a nearly completely collapsed stadium. There were many passages made of steel bars and beams between the ruins. These passages were obviously not formed naturally when the collapse occurred, but were dug out by people in the ruins later.

These passageways bear obvious signs of reinforcement; steel beams of vastly different ages are spliced ​​together, the welds unsightly but undeniably sturdy. Cracks in the ground are sometimes covered with thick steel plates, and in other places filled with cement. A hundred-yuan bill is stuck in a crack between broken bricks; Sun Hang pulls it out and discovers it's actually a small advertising card with a banknote image printed on the back.

"Xinhong Freelance Hunter Agency, your best partner for creating a great career! For details, please call 137XXXXXXXX."

The last eight digits of the phone number on the card were barely legible, and along with the bikini-clad woman's face in the background image—if you didn't read the text, it would look exactly like one of those "shady little cards" that are often slipped under the doors of small hotels and motels.

“Xinhong?” Yang Qiaoxi glanced at the card in Sun Hang’s hand. “It went bankrupt half a year ago. It’s said that the boss was dishonest in business. The price he quoted to the hunters was often different from the price he quoted to the employers. He made a profit of several times more than the brokerage fee. After he was discovered, the owner of the agency was tricked into going to Yumen and killed… But some people say that he was forcibly taken there.”

“I’m more inclined to the latter,” Sun Hang replied. “Even if someone is stupid, they can’t be that stupid.”

“That’s hard to say.” Zhulong shook his head. “If he weren’t stupid, he wouldn’t have done something like this… He can’t afford to offend either the hunters or the wealthy clients who are willing to pay a lot of money to hire them.”

“Since killing someone isn’t illegal in Yumen…” Sun Hang glanced at the goods on Yang Qiaoxi’s cart, “Aren’t you afraid of being murdered and robbed when you come here to deliver goods?”

“Of course I’m scared, why wouldn’t I be?” Yang Qiaoxi pretended to be scared. “I’m scared to death, but I have to make money… A trip to Yumen can earn me more than half a year’s revenue from my shabby tavern… Listen carefully, I said revenue, not net profit.”

“Those people generally won’t target her,” Zhulong said. “Apart from her, the personal safety of those who regularly deliver goods to Yumen is generally guaranteed…”

"Yeah, yeah, guess what? If something happens to me, will anyone still send wine to this godforsaken place?" Yang Qiaoxi's expression suddenly changed completely, and she said with complete confidence.

"Couldn't you have killed someone and then faked it as an encounter with a sandstorm in the desert?"

“Sure, but even if I were to die in a sandstorm outside, the businessmen in Dragon City would think someone broke the rules, and Jade Gate’s supplies would be cut off for a long time, which would be enough to make the people here suffer… Therefore, those hunters and mercenaries would not only not attack me, but would also do everything they could to ensure my safety,” Yang Qiaoxi said.

“I’m afraid of encountering those who are willing to risk their lives for money, and who will continue to deliver goods to Yumen after you get into trouble.” Sun Hang shrugged. “They’re like those big companies in inland cities that take on all the work that nobody else wants to do, and then they ruin the whole ‘market’.”

“Not here,” Yang Qiaoxi said decisively. “This is Dragon City, not the mainland—oh, we’ve arrived.”

She stopped in front of a building that looked like a church.

“A church?” Sun Hang glanced at the circular dome that was now just a steel frame—the architectural style was quite similar to the veterans’ sanatorium in Baikal City.

“No, it’s the waiting hall of Yumen Bus Station.” Yang Qiaoxi shook her head. “The designer of the waiting hall came from the former Siberian Federation, so it was designed to look like this.”

The doors to the waiting hall were wide open. Sun Hang noticed many footprints scattered around the entrance. At the base of the wall on the right, there was even a puddle of urine, with a extinguished cigarette butt soaking in it.

Yang Qiaoxi pushed a cart full of goods into the waiting hall, while Sun Hang, who was following behind her, subconsciously looked up.

Half of the floor slab on the second floor of the waiting hall had collapsed. At the edge of the collapse, a person wearing a sand-colored cloak was squatting, and a pair of bright eyes under the hood were staring intently at the four people who entered the waiting hall.

This was a hunter; Sun Hang sensed a trace of eerie meme energy emanating from him. The man licked his lips and reached into his pocket.

Sun Hang caught a faint sound of metal colliding with metal... but the sound didn't come from a weapon, but from a coin in the hunter's pocket.

"Boss Yang, long time no see." The hunter squatting on the second floor greeted Yang Qiaoxi.

"Not long ago," Yang Qiaoxi said with a professional, fake smile. "How's business?"

"Same as always, not looking well... but this sandstorm must be getting tired of it." The hunter's voice was hoarse and indistinct, as if he had a lump of phlegm stuck in his throat that he could never swallow. "Boss Sheep, is there any cigarette in your shipment?"

"Of course."

"How much does a box cost?"

"The same price."

"..." The hunter was silent for a few seconds, then whispered, "Can you sell them by the piece?"

"Then come back tonight. I need to take the goods down first. It's not convenient to open them like this, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes... I'll come again tonight, Mr. Sheep, you must save a few for me." The hunter nodded hurriedly.

Yang Qiaoxi pushed the cart to the open space in the center of the hall, then nodded to the hunter on the second floor: "Could you please open the door?"

"Alright!" The hunter stood up, walked to the turnstile next to him, and pushed the lever down forcefully.

With a sound of steel cables and pulleys scraping against each other, a heavy iron plate was lowered down, revealing an entrance leading underground.

"Let's go." Yang Qiaoxi took the lead and pushed the handcart down the slope.

The underground space of the waiting hall is quite spacious, enough for three off-road vehicles to drive side by side. The tunnel is also equipped with lights on both sides—although only a third of these lights are still working properly, they are enough to illuminate the tunnel.

For an abandoned city, the presence of working electric lights is already quite surprising.

"Where is this?" Sun Hang asked, looking at the graffiti on the tunnel wall. "Yumen Metro."

“Yumen doesn’t have a subway. When this city was abandoned, only metropolises like Chunming City and Shencheng had subways.” Yang Qiaoxi shook her head. “This is Yumen’s air-raid shelter… but it has a new name now.”

"spring breeze."

(End of this chapter)