Tokyo Knights: The Odd Jobs X Files

"It can hide one's appearance and prevent one's identity from being exposed."

Ashin picked up where Crocodile left off, saying that as an assassin, concealing one's identity is a basic skill.

"No, because it's cool!"

As he spoke, Crocodile also put on a pair of sunglasses, which were even bigger than Ashin's.

Ashin: "..."

Feeling that he couldn't continue the conversation with Crocodile, Ah Xin said to him, "Crocodile, I'm going back to my room to rest."

"Alright, go and rest. Assassins need to maintain peak condition at all times so they can deal with any danger that may occur at any time."

Crocodile nodded, looking like a very knowledgeable senior assassin. Although he had never killed a single person in his life, not even a chicken, it didn't stop him from pretending to be very knowledgeable, because his real job was actually a con artist, a con artist who specialized in deceiving people.

Ashin returned to his room, or more precisely, a small space with only a bed. He sat on the bed, not lying down, but instead began to practice his internal energy while sitting cross-legged.

The internal energy circulated within his body, causing a sharp, cutting sensation that made Ah Xin break out in a cold sweat. However, he had no choice but to persevere, because if he didn't circulate his energy for a certain period of time, the internal energy would run rampant within him, damaging his internal organs and causing him even more pain.

This internal energy is painful to practice and painful not to practice. Ah Xin thought about dispersing this internal energy, but practicing and not practicing are only painful, while dispersing the energy is life-threatening. Ah Xin tried to disperse the energy, but only half of the energy was dispersed before he fainted on the spot in pain. When he woke up, the half of the energy that had been dispersed had been restored, which made Ah Xin never dare to disperse the energy again.

Even without dissipating his internal energy, daily practice couldn't guarantee his survival. As his skill deepened, especially after cultivating his internal energy to the seventh level, Ah Xin's daily suffering reached its peak. The true energy continuously damaged his body, and his self-healing ability couldn't keep up with the speed at which the true energy was destroying his body. He had a premonition that his life would come to an end soon, and before he reached the end of his life, he had to earn enough money!

Feeling the pain caused by the circulation of true energy in his body, Ah Xin once again recalled that afternoon ten years ago.

....................................

In 1985, in a remote, impoverished village in southern China, under a tree at the village entrance.

"Wow, this is incredible! Classmate, do you know that a burst of spiritual light is shooting out from the top of your head?"

A disheveled old beggar spoke in an exaggerated tone to a child who was eating a steamed bun.

After a thorough examination involving touching his head, holding his hands, and taking his pulse, the old beggar continued, "At such a young age, you already possess such a strong and muscular physique; you're truly a martial arts prodigy, one in a hundred years!"

The child, expressionless, looked at the beggar who was showing his yellow teeth, pondered for a moment, then tore off a piece of the uneaten part of the steamed bun and handed it to the old beggar.

The old beggar was taken aback, then waved his hand to stop the child's hand and said to the child with conviction, "I don't want food!"

"Gurgle..."

A rumbling sound came from his stomach, but the old beggar showed no embarrassment. He pulled up the hand he had been holding back, took half a steamed bun, and started eating it. As he ate, he pulled out a yellowed booklet and said, "Young man, you have such talent. If one day you open up your Ren and Du meridians, your future will be limitless. Here, I have a book called 'The Tathagata Palm.' Once you master it, you will be invincible. The important task of saving the world and maintaining peace will be entrusted to you!"

Seeing that the child was unmoved, the old beggar thought that the child might not be interested in "The Buddha's Palm," so he put down "The Buddha's Palm" and took out five other booklets instead: "Don't like it? I have more!"

The child fell into deep thought, and just when the old beggar thought there was a chance, the child suddenly shouted, "There's a beggar!"

He took the food and didn't leave, even babbling on about things I couldn't understand. This old beggar must be a con artist!

Two days ago, the village secretary reminded the villagers that a child had been abducted in the neighboring village recently, so he told the villagers to be careful of outsiders and to shout for help if they found anything amiss. So the child naturally mistook the strange old beggar for a child trafficker.

Upon hearing someone shout "There's a kidnapper!", a large group of villagers quickly emerged from the village. Some carried pitchforks, some carried hoes, some carried sickles, and others carried carrying poles, kitchen knives, scissors, stools, washbasins... everything that could cause harm in the countryside was in the hands of these villagers, ready to teach the kidnapper who dared to come to their village a lesson.

They dare to come to our village to steal children? Do they think our village is a pushover?

The old beggar had never seen anything like this before. He immediately exclaimed "Holy crap!" and took off running. In his haste, he dropped a small booklet on the ground.

The villagers chased the old beggar for a long distance. The child, with his short legs, couldn't run fast. He only managed to catch up with the group for a couple of steps before losing track of him. He had no choice but to turn back, and that's when he saw the booklet lying on the ground.

Picking up the booklet, the child read aloud the four large characters on the cover: "What 'Clothing Divine Skill'..."

Yes, the child doesn't recognize the first character and can't pronounce it.

....................................

In the spring of 1995, torrential rain fell for three days and three nights, and floods breached dams, submerging countless villages.

On the hillside outside Shibali Village, the villagers ignored the heavy rain falling on them and cried out as they watched the raging floodwaters below destroy their houses.

Their home is gone...

A young man braved the rain to walk up the hillside, carrying a bundle several times larger than himself on his shoulder. He said to the two leading villagers, "Village Chief, Secretary Wang, I've brought everything I can carry."

An honest-looking old farmer nodded, then turned to the villagers behind him and shouted, "Stop crying! The flood just submerged the village, not people. What are you all crying about!"

As soon as the village chief spoke, the villagers immediately stopped crying. Although the village chief was not particularly handsome, he was highly respected in the village, and everyone respected him. So when he roared, even though they had lost their homes and all their property, the villagers were still obedient to the village chief and kept quiet.

After the village chief finished shouting, the village party secretary of Shibalipu Village, a square-faced man wearing a faded Zhongshan suit, stepped forward and said to the villagers, "Don't panic, everyone. The flood is here, and the government will organize disaster relief. The city should have received the news by now and is preparing disaster relief supplies for us. If we can get through this, our Shibalipu Village will be fine!"

Hearing the village secretary say this, the villagers' despair and confusion caused by the flood subsided considerably.

Although the village chief is highly respected and capable, and has never backed down in fights with neighboring villages over farmland and water resources, when it comes to finding solutions, the village party secretary is the real expert. He is a college graduate who has studied abroad and received an education overseas. When he was first transferred to Shibalipu Village, he made a bold promise to help the village shed its label as an impoverished village, saying that he would not leave Shibalipu Village until it achieved a moderately prosperous life. And then... he worked diligently in Shibalipu Village for eighteen years.

Well, there's no fairy tale of some divine being descending from the heavens and quickly leading the village to prosperity. Reality is just that cruel. Even if Zhuge Liang came to this poor village in the remote mountains, he wouldn't be able to help it.

Of course, the poverty of Shibalipu Village had nothing to do with the village party secretary. Before the village party secretary came, Shibalipu Village was even poorer. It was only after the village party secretary came that Shibalipu Village began to improve. Therefore, the villagers were very grateful to the village party secretary. However, even this improvement was completely wiped out by the flood.

While the village chief and the village party secretary were talking, the young man had already put down the huge package, taken things out of it, and used the contents to build a makeshift rain shelter.

The heavy rain just wouldn't stop, and no one knew when it would. With so many people in the village, they needed a place to take shelter from the rain. There were many elderly people and children among the villagers, and if they continued to get wet in the rain, they could catch a cold or fever, which could be life-threatening in these times of scarcity.

Besides the tools for setting up the awning, the package also contained many daily necessities such as pots and pans, several bags of rice and some vegetables, and a small amount of medicine. It's hard to believe that such a young person could carry so much heavy stuff.

Seeing that the young man was still helping the villagers tidy up after setting up the rain shelter, the village secretary called out to him, "Axin, why don't you take a break too!"

The young man, Ah Xin, smiled and said, "Secretary Wang, it's alright, I'm not tired!"

The village party secretary shook his head and said nothing more.

Ah Xin's full name is Li Xin. He is an orphan in the village. His parents died early, and he was raised by each household in the village sharing a portion of their food. More than half of the women in their forties here breastfed Li Xin. For Li Xin, everyone in Shibali Village is his family.

It was precisely because of this sense of kinship that Li Xin, after graduating from high school, did not go out to work like other young people, but stayed in the village, helping out at various households. The people in Shibalipu Village were truly like one family.

When the flood came, Li Xin was the first to notice. He ran back to the village and told the villagers not to take anything and to escape for their lives. But he stayed behind and collected useful items from each household. He carried luggage that weighed several people and still managed to cross the flood. He arrived at the hillside that was not submerged by the flood just a few steps later than the villagers.

After settling everything in, Li Xin finally had some free time. He respectfully approached the village chief and the village party secretary and said to them, "Village chief, Party secretary Wang, I have something to discuss with you."

The village secretary nodded and said, "Ah Xin, this time it's all thanks to you for discovering the dam breach in advance and running back to the village to inform everyone, otherwise we would all be gone. Just tell me what's wrong."

This year's flood season started a month earlier than usual, and no one was prepared at all. If it weren't for Li Xin, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

The village secretary was always very satisfied and at ease with Li Xin, who was a diligent and down-to-earth young man. It was a pity that he didn't have a daughter, otherwise he would definitely marry Li Xin.

Oh, by the way, the village party secretary doesn't even have a wife.

Li Xin swallowed hard, cautiously observing the expressions of the village chief and the village party secretary, and whispered, "I want to go to Hong Kong to work with Uncle Liu from the next village..."

"Uncle Six from the next village? Which Uncle Six?"

The village chief pondered for a moment, then his expression changed drastically. "That bastard came looking for you? Didn't I tell you not to pay him any attention? Ah Xin, you've grown wings and don't listen to me anymore, have you?!"

The "Sixth Uncle" that Li Xin mentioned was a villager from the next village. He was originally called Lao Liu. He couldn't stand the poverty in the village, so he smuggled himself to Hong Kong. Later, he was said to have become rich. Last year, he returned to the village and recruited the young and strong men in the village to work for him. Before each of them left, he would leave tens of thousands of yuan for their families.

You have to understand, this was tens of thousands of dollars in the 1990s, a huge sum of money that ordinary rural people wouldn't even dare to dream of. That's why many people were willing to follow Lao Liu to Hong Kong, even though almost none of them ever came back.

The village secretary looked at Li Xin with a serious expression and said, "Xin, if it's about money, with me and Lao Lu here, it's none of your business to worry about it."

Last year, when Lao Liu returned to the village, his triumphant return caused quite a stir. The village secretary had met with Lao Liu once, hoping that this wealthy man from the neighboring village could donate some money to Shibali Village, a notoriously impoverished village. Even if that didn't work, he hoped that Lao Liu could take some villagers from Shibali Village out to earn some money, which would benefit the village. However, after only one meeting, the village secretary concluded that Lao Liu lived up to his name, saying one thing and doing another. He believed that most of the young people Lao Liu took out were not going to enjoy life but to suffer. So, after discussing it with the village chief, the village secretary strictly ordered the people of Shibali Village to avoid contact with Lao Liu.

Li Xin was the strongest young man in Shibalipu Village. When fighting with the neighboring village, he could single-handedly chase and beat up more than a dozen people from the neighboring village. Lao Liu was fond of young men like him who could fight, so the village chief and the village party secretary had specifically told Li Xin not to have any contact with Lao Liu. But now it seems that Li Xin did not listen to them at all.

Li Xin had already made up his mind after speaking. He said to the village chief and the village party secretary, "But, village chief, secretary Wang, the seeds have already been sown this year, but the land has been flooded. Even if the flood recedes, the seeds will be ruined. We must spend money to buy new seeds. What will happen to this year's harvest if we miss the planting season?"

Li Xin's question stumped the village chief and the village party secretary. The two deliberately avoided thinking about the problem, because thinking about it would be useless and would only increase their troubles. They decided to get through the current difficulties first.

The village chief reached into his breast pocket, wanting to pull out a cigarette, but found that the cigarette had been soaked and ruined by the rain. He could only wipe his face, shaking off the liquid that was either rain or sweat, and said with a stern face, "That's none of your business, little brat. Go back and rest!"

Li Xin disobeyed, instead kneeling down before the village chief and village party secretary, kowtowing three times to them, and then running into the rain without looking back.

"Hey! Kid, Ah-Xin, come back here!"

The village chief and the village party secretary chased after him, but the torrential rain was so heavy that it obscured their vision. They had barely run out of the awning when Ah Xin disappeared from sight. The ground was already muddy from the constant pounding of the rain. Chasing after him in such poor visibility would easily put the two elderly men in danger. The villagers needed them to settle down, and they couldn't afford to get hurt. They could only look at the seemingly endless downpour and sigh.

Ah-Xin, you rascal...you absolutely have to come back!

Chapter Three: A chance encounter between the golden wind and jade dew leads to a huge pitfall...

In Hong Kong, a greasy-faced fat man led Li Xin off the ship. The fat man was dressed in a snow-white suit, with a cigar in his mouth, a thick gold chain, a gold watch, and a pair of large brown sunglasses, looking every bit the nouveau riche.

After his feet touched the ground, the fat man exhaled a puff of smoke and took a deep breath: "The air in Hong Kong is still the most comfortable!"

Li Xin, dressed in simple country clothes, looked at the fat man with his arms outstretched as if to hug him with a puzzled expression. He took a deep breath and was choked by the strong smell of chimney smoke!

Li Xin didn't understand how such air could make anyone feel comfortable, but since he still needed to make money from the fat man, he didn't say anything.

This fat man is Uncle Liu, also known as Lao Liu by the village chief and the village party secretary. He ran away from the neighboring village more than ten years ago, and last year he suddenly returned home in glory, saying that he had become a big boss in Hong Kong and was very rich. He needed some trustworthy fellow villagers to help him, and everyone who went with him could receive tens of thousands of yuan as a resettlement fee. After Li Xin sought refuge with Lao Liu, Lao Liu immediately gave Li Xin 50,000 yuan. With this money, Li Xin secretly returned to Shibali Village and left the money with the village chief.

This money was meant for the villagers of Shibalipu Village to buy seeds. The entire village was submerged in the flood. In order to escape, the villagers took nothing with them except their personal belongings. They were practically penniless. If Li Xin hadn't carried a few bags of rice from the village chief's house, they probably would have starved to death before the city's rescue arrived.

After receiving the money from Lao Liu, Li Xin changed into a "decent" set of clothes and, with the dream of making a fortune in Hong Kong, went to Hong Kong with Lao Liu.

The first stop in Hong Kong was a hotel. Lao Liu told Li Xin to stay there and wait for his instructions.

After settling Li Xin in, Lao Liu returned to his home. Contrary to what he had boasted about to the villagers, his home was not particularly magnificent. Instead, it was a somewhat dilapidated shop, with various CDs sold on the first floor and his living quarters on the second floor.

Back home, Lao Liu was immediately greeted warmly by his wife: "Honey, how was your trip to the mainland? Did you manage to fool a few fools?"

The sixth man took off his suit jacket and gave it to his wife, who had a sallow complexion, saying smugly, "I don't have any more, just one."

"What? Only one?"

The sixth man's wife's face immediately fell as she took the suit: "You rarely go back, and you only managed to trick one person. This isn't even enough to cover your travel expenses..."

The sixth man shook his head and said to his wife, "What do you know, you woman? This time it's different. I'm not going to let him be a ghostwriter."

"Don't want to be a ghostwriter? You can support me then!"

The sixth brother's wife was even more dissatisfied.

To feed someone, you have to feed them, and feeding them costs money!

Old Six smiled and shook his head: "There are plenty of people eager to support him; ten gunmen can't earn as much as that one!"

The "gunman" here doesn't refer to the person who takes the exam, but rather to someone who takes the exam in the literal sense.

In Hong Kong, dealing with one type of person is absolutely unavoidable: gangsters. If you want to do business, you must manage your relationships with the triads well, otherwise you won't be able to do anything.

The triads wielded considerable power in Hong Kong. At their peak, they had over 300,000 members. Considering that Hong Kong's total population was only around 6 million, triad members accounted for about 5% of the population!

With so many gang members, countless disputes arose over territory and related interests. However, it was no longer the time for gangs to act recklessly. 1995 was the eve of the handover, and with the future uncertain, the gang leaders would choose to play it safe. But the disputes would not disappear, so gunmen, or assassins, were needed to resolve them. Lao Liu was one of those who provided gunmen to the gang.

On the surface, he sold pirated CDs, but secretly he colluded with the gang and was an unofficial member of the gang, specializing in providing gunmen for the gang. The gunmen provided by Er Lao Liu were his fellow villagers.

He lured his fellow villagers to Hong Kong, tricked them into committing murder, and then sold them to the police after they succeeded.

Oh, I forgot to mention, besides selling pirated DVDs and working for the gang, he also had another identity: a police informant.

A gunman was brought to Hong Kong from the mainland by Lao Liu. He first killed his target and then was arrested by the police. The gang got rid of a major threat, the police gained a high case-solving rate, Lao Liu got two paychecks, and the gunman's family also received a settlement fee. A world where no one was hurt was achieved!

This gunman business has only been running for a year, but it has already brought Lao Liu millions in revenue. You should know that the price for hiring a gunman in the underworld is around HK$300,000, while Lao Liu only pays tens of thousands of RMB. In addition, with his income as an informant, a gunman can net him more than HK$300,000!

(PS: 1 Hong Kong dollar equals 1.0796 Chinese yuan)

As for the fact that none of the villagers who acted as hired guns returned, and whether the villagers would be suspicious... please, that's tens of thousands of RMB. In an era when the average urban salary was only a few hundred RMB a month, tens of thousands of RMB was an astronomical figure that people in the countryside could never earn in a lifetime. For such a large sum of money, even if they vaguely felt something was amiss, no one would doubt it in the face of such huge profits. In fact, Lao Liu had already bribed the village chief. With the village chief's help and encouragement, the spots to go to Hong Kong to help Lao Liu were so competitive that they had to fight for them. How could anyone refuse?

This time, Lao Liu returned to the mainland to divide the spoils with the village chief. Shibali Village was flooded, but the neighboring village was on higher ground and was not affected by the flood. Li Xin ran to the neighboring village to ask Lao Liu to take him with him, and Lao Liu was overjoyed.

Lao Liu had heard of Li Xin's abilities. Even though he had never met him in person, he could get a general idea of ​​his abilities from the way his village chief gritted his teeth but looked helpless when he mentioned Li Xin.

The gang already has plenty of gunmen, you could even say they have a surplus. After all, the gang isn't always fighting and killing each other. Now that things are about to return to normal, the gang needs to prioritize harmony. But the gang desperately needs skilled fighters.

There are many triads in Hong Kong, among which Hung Hing and Tung Sing are the most powerful. Some time ago, Hung Hing and Tung Sing fought. Tung Sing's experts were no match for Hung Hing's and were at a disadvantage in the battle. If at this time, Lao Liu could send Tung Sing a good fighter who could take on ten men, would Tung Sing give Lao Liu less money?

However, the people Lao Liu brought before were all from his own village. Most of them knew in their hearts that they weren't here to do anything clean. They agreed to be hired guns without thinking much about the money. But Li Xin was from the next village. Lao Liu wasn't too sure about Li Xin, so he just told him to rest at the hotel and didn't ask him to do anything.

However, Lao Liu was also confident that as long as he let Li Xin experience the glamorous life of Hong Kong for a few days, wouldn't this country boy who had just come from the mountains obediently listen to him? At that time, Li Xin would do whatever he wanted, fight whoever he wanted, or kill whoever he wanted. His own status in the gang would rise dramatically!

The sixth brother told his wife about it, and she immediately beamed with joy. The couple excitedly imagined their future together.

Just then, a phone rang inside the house. Lao Liu answered the phone, said a few words, and then hung up.

"Honey, who is it?"

The sixth man's wife asked.

Old Six's good mood vanished completely, and he said impatiently, "It's that kid Lai Fu again. He's asking about his brother again."

The sixth man's wife frowned and said, "What bad luck! If you ask me, we should get him in there too if we get the chance!"

Laifu is a villager from Lao Liu Village. His brother was recruited by Lao Liu to work as a gunman, but Lao Liu betrayed him and now he has been sentenced to about twenty years in prison. Laifu kept calling Lao Liu to ask about his brother's situation. Of course, Lao Liu couldn't tell Laifu that his brother was in jail, so he always brushed him off. After being asked so many times, Lao Liu got impatient and thought that Laifu would follow in his brother's footsteps, so that the brothers could be reunited.

Lao Liu and his wife started talking about the villagers who had been tricked into becoming gunmen, saying they were incredibly stupid.

The sixth brother peeled open a peanut, removed the skin, and tossed the peanut into his mouth: "They're not my long-lost biological sons. If there were a real chance to make money, why would I bring them along?"

So stupid, she deserved to be fooled by him!