On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

"Your territory?"

"Yes, because the owner of this bar was a pretty famous scavenger in the past. After he retired from scavenging, many of his colleagues naturally came to patronize it. Over time, this place has become a recognized gathering place for all of us scavengers in the Black Hole. We form teams here, exchange information, trade items, and post commissions. In short, just think of it as our guild base!"

The girl had a proud and smug expression on her face, which showed that she had a strong sense of belonging to the Sea Sand Bar, so Liao Ji began the next question.

"So... you're quite famous here?"

"Of course! Just ask any scavenger here, and you'll find someone who doesn't know my name, Irene. It's no exaggeration to say that when it comes to scavenging skills in the wild, all of them combined can't match my abilities. Otherwise, why do you think those gangsters in Kaleva would specifically seek me out as their guide?"

"Oh, that's pretty impressive."

Seeing the long-lost look of praise on the young man's face, Irene raised her fair chin. She had finally won back some ground and taken the lead between the two.

The girl was talking as she led Liao Ji through the bar.

"The back door of the bar we're going to is an internal area, which is supposed to be only for bar staff. But it's okay, I know everyone here very well, including the owner I mentioned earlier. We're all brothers, so I can ask him for a favor and he'll definitely let us through."

"But he's probably slacking off at this hour, chatting with the customers at the bar. Keep an eye out for him. If you see a guy with a full beard, fierce eyes, a head shaped like a pumpkin, a beer belly, and a sapphire necklace around his neck, call me. That's Brian, the bar owner."

Irene was still explaining things to Liao Ji when she noticed that the young man suddenly stopped and kept looking straight ahead at them.

Before the girl could even turn around in surprise...

A rough, teasing voice came first.

"Hey! What's gotten into our bar today? We got such a pretty young lady here! Want to come have a few drinks with us?"

Ok

Being approached at a bar was an expected scenario, a recurring occurrence for Liao Ji.

but.

Liao Ji sized up the man who had come up to chat with him.

He has a beer belly.

His chin was covered in a full beard.

His head shape is like a pumpkin.

As for his eyes, they should normally be quite fierce, but now they've turned into a lecherous look, scanning Irene.

Most importantly, the big man was wearing a sapphire necklace around his neck.

Hey.

Liao Ji sighed.

Soon, several more men appeared behind the big man. They seemed to be a group. They also stared at Irene with lecherous eyes and then began to comment on each other in a very professional manner.

"Tsk tsk, look at all those designer clothes, she seems to be a rich heiress?"

"Little sister, it's not appropriate to dress so nicely for a bar. You'd better go home!"

"Those legs are amazing! I could admire them for a year!"

"It's a pity that her breasts are a little small, and she's too immature. I still prefer a more mature married woman."

"Hey, keep your voices down and watch your words. If you anger that young lady, she might call her bodyguards over and break your third leg first."

"Hahahahaha!"

The bar owner, Brian, and four or five other patrons burst into laughter.

However, soon after, one of the drinkers, having carefully examined the girl again, suddenly said:

"Speaking of which, don't you guys think this girl looks a bit like Irene?"

Liao Ji had thought that things would change at this point.

Unfortunately.

"What? You've been drinking yourself silly, haven't you? I watched that kid Irene grow up, how could she be so effeminate? Wearing high heels too! Oh my god, I can't take it, just imagining that scene makes my stomach hurt from laughing so hard!"

Brian exaggeratedly clutched his beer belly.

The other group of drinkers, dressed as scavengers, chimed in with their own comments, even blaming the previous drinker.

"Exactly, exactly. The moment you said she looks like Irene, I almost lost all interest. We finally found someone good-looking, don't spoil the fun."

"I'm dying of laughter! Forget about high heels, if you guys can let my older brother, Irene, wear a dress, I'll livestream myself eating the toilet bowl!"

"Alright, alright, stop mentioning Yilin all the time. Look, you keep bringing up other women's names in front of this young lady, she's getting angry."

"Woman? Surely no one actually thinks my brother is a little girl? If Irene hears this, she'll curse your whole family!"

"To be honest, I have to admit that Lin-ge has a way with words."

"Hahahahahaha!"

The situation has indeed taken a subtle turn.

However, it's developing in a strange direction.

It seemed that as soon as the topic of "Eileen" was brought up, the scavengers and the bar owner put aside their flirting and flirting and started telling jokes about "Eileen in women's clothing," as if it really tickled their funny bone.

Liao Ji: "."

He glanced at the girl beside him, who had lowered her head slightly, her long brown hair obscuring half her face. Although he couldn't see her expression, he could tell from the clenched fists on either side of her chest...

It's probably terribly black.

Through the "contract," he could sense the turbidity rapidly condensing within the girl's body.

For a moment, Liao Ji didn't even know whether to sympathize with Yilin or with her "good brothers" on the other side.

fortunately.

Just when this little boat of friendship was about to capsize

Bang!

A loud, clearly intentional slamming sound came from the entrance of the Sea Sand Bar.

In an instant, everyone in the bar was drawn by the commotion and turned to look, including Brian and several other patrons.

One of them was even startled.

"No way, is she really a young lady with bodyguards?"

Obviously not.

because

Liao Ji squinted as he watched as a dozen or so gang members, armed with sticks or guns, stormed into the Hai Sha Bar after a series of hurried footsteps.

And the identities of these gangs

The prominent "Sand Rose" logo on their jackets says it all.

Kaleva.

Chapter 18 Rewards

"I've heard that this is a place where rats like to stay. I came here today and it's true. I can smell the stench coming from here from far away."

From the rear of the gang that had suddenly barged in, a man in a black suit slowly appeared. His ruthless provocations immediately angered many of the patrons in the Sea Sand Bar.

"Oh, what's wrong? Judging from your expressions, do you think I said something wrong?" The man in black raised an eyebrow and looked at the few scavengers and drinkers closest to him with disdain.

Alcohol is known to be intoxicating, and coupled with the man's blatant disregard for human beings, two or three of the scavengers immediately turned red in the eyes and grabbed their glasses, ready to smash them at the man.

At this moment, the man's eyes were filled with even more sarcasm and disdain. He didn't care about the other party's attack at all; rather, this was exactly what he wanted.

Once the bottle is smashed, it will be seen as the Sea Sand Bar initiating the violence, and then...

The dozen or so gangsters he brought with him were no pushovers.

As you can see, several members of the Kaleva gang have already pointed their dark gun barrels at the scavenger who picked up the bottle, waiting for him to fall into their trap.

The bottle was about to be smashed.

At that moment, a burly man flashed past and grabbed the scavenger's wrist before the bottle could fall.

"Leave this to me," a deep, reassuring voice then rang out.

The burly man who stopped the scavengers was none other than Brian, the owner of the Sea Sand Bar who had been in front of Liao Ji and his group earlier.

He completely changed his previous lecherous look towards Irene, and his slightly tipsy expression also disappeared.

Brian's authority was clearly high; the impulsive scavenger immediately calmed down, put away the bottle, and felt a wave of fear wash over him—what if he had smashed it in his moment of rage?

He'll most likely be walking out sideways today.

"Everyone who is not involved, please leave now. Sea Sand Bar is closing early." Brian's loud voice echoed in the bar, and most of the patrons breathed a sigh of relief and began to leave this place of trouble.

Normally, if it were other people who came to cause trouble, they would just let it go and would give them a little leeway. But this time it was Kalewa, the biggest gang in the Black Hole gathering place who had absolute power. Even if they were called rats, they could only swallow their anger. After all, compared to fighting for their pride, their lives were more important.

As for the Kaleva gang, the man in black who was clearly the leader just snorted coldly, a look of regret flashing in his eyes, but he did not stop them.

The number of people in the bar was rapidly decreasing, and Liao Ji glanced at the girl next to him.

Irene remained motionless, staring intently at the gangsters and Brian confronting each other at the entrance. Seeing the girl's focused expression, Liao Ji suspected that she might have subconsciously filtered out the option of leaving.

After all, judging from how excitedly Irene had introduced the bar to herself, the girl probably considered this place her second home.

Ok.

Liao Ji didn't say much about it and turned his attention back to the scene.

"This is Viper's territory. Although I am not one of your Kalewa people, it is the most basic rule that leaders should not cause trouble in each other's territory, right?"

Brian's face darkened as he tried to reason with the man, but all he received in return was a mocking smile.

"Yes, that's right, but there's one exception: the viper is dead."

"Your name is Brian, and you're the leader of the rats here, right? To save everyone's time, I'll just get straight to the point. The idiot who used to protect you guys is gone because of his own stupidity, and I'm now the new master of this place, so... you know what I mean?"

The man stretched out a hand and gestured to Brian. In the Black Hole gathering place, apart from a very few merchants with outside forces behind them, almost all local shops had to pay protection money to the gangs, and among them, Kalewa was the most rampant.

“The payment for the Sea Sand Bar has already been made this month,” Brian said in a deep voice.

But the man shook his head: "You gave it to the viper, not me."