Chapter 583: Chapter 399: The New Boss
The three didn’t dare to stay long, quickly slipped away.
Yi Zetao shoved the handgun into his coat, tightly wrapped himself, jogged to catch the van back to the city, found an anonymous guesthouse to stay, and called Minamoto Tamako to inform her to pick up the gun.
"Are you sure it’s clean? This gun isn’t involved in any crime, right?" Minamoto Tamako asked sternly.
"Absolutely clean!"
Yi Zetao was talking nonsense, he fired a shot in the urban village, must have alerted the cops, the entire city’s police were looking for this gun, if he didn’t sell it quickly, he’d spend the rest of his life in prison.
"Alright, wrap the gun in newspaper, throw it in the trash bin by the roadside at Evergreen Park, I’ll send a kid to retrieve it."
Minamoto Tamako was clever, pretending to be an adult to avoid being underestimated again.
If Yi Zetao were thinking straight, he should’ve realized something was off, the other party’s accent sounded like a little girl, now saying she’ll send a kid to retrieve, might be a kid herself.
Unfortunately, he was sweating profusely with urgency, hearing the sirens outside the guesthouse scared him into silence, fearing the police would break in and arrest him.
Liu Daniu mocked his cowardice, he didn’t care, as long as he could resolve the crisis and live the rest of his life peacefully, he’d pay any price.
The three set off again, sneakily heading to Evergreen Garden, wrapped the gun in newspaper, and according to the agreement, threw it into the specified trash bin.
This was when Yi Zetao’s mind finally clicked, he proposed to stay nearby the park and follow the child picking up the gun, to see who the mysterious contact really was—things reached this stage, he felt incredibly uneasy, worried the mysterious contact wasn’t reliable.
Liu Daniu and Ma Xiang had no objections, they too were curious, who exactly was the mysterious person calling them.
The three sat at a roadside stall, pretending to be diners, each ordered a bowl of hot dry noodles, pretending to eat while actually observing secretly.
They waited for ages, finally saw the kid coming for the gun—it turned out to be a little girl, they thought it would be a boy.
On second thought, they found sending a little girl to pick up the gun was clever, after all, no one would suspect a little girl hiding a gun.
Yi Zetao exchanged a glance with Liu Daniu, the two tacitly understood each other, stood up intending to sneakily follow her to uncover the truth.
But after taking two steps, they found one person missing, turning around to see, Ma Xiang was still asking the stall owner for a bowl of egg wine.
Liu Daniu couldn’t stand it, went up and smacked Ma Xiang on the back of his head, angrily said: "Every time it’s you screwing up, we’re doing serious business, and you’re in the mood to drink egg wine?"
"I-I’d rather not go?" Ma Xiang said sheepishly.
"Go! Don’t make me slap you!" Liu Daniu pointed at Ma Xiang’s nose and said.
Yi Zetao also urged a couple of times, only then did Ma Xiang reluctantly stand up.
The three had no experience in tailing, openly followed behind Minamoto Tamako. If Minamoto Tamako turned around, they’d look up at the sky or down at the ground, with one pretending to be dazed. When Minamoto Tamako proceeded, they hurriedly caught up.
The group moved and halted, as they passed an alley entrance, Minamoto Tamako suddenly veered, darting into the alley like a rabbit. Yi Zetao and others were startled, quickly pursued, just entering the alley only to hear the sound of a gun cocking.
The trio focused their eyes, only to see Minamoto Tamako holding a Type 64 pistol, her gun-holding posture surpassing theirs by far, her young face extraordinarily serious, like a battle-hardened veteran, the naive and playful little girl aura vanished instantly.
"Who are you?" Minamoto Tamako asked while holding the gun: "Why are you following me?"
Even for a bold man like Liu Daniu, he was taken aback. His sharp eyes immediately noticed Minamoto Tamako’s gun-holding hand, she opened the safety catch, and her finger wasn’t on the trigger, clearly not a novice, might be a tough one... this kind of person says they’ll shoot without hesitation, if he acts tough now, he might not know how to spell the word "dead."
In panic, Liu Daniu and Ma Xiang simultaneously turned their heads to look at Yi Zetao, although others were unconvinced, Yi Zetao indeed seemed more like a leader material than the other two.
Yi Zetao gathered his composure, gulped and grinned: "D-don’t misunderstand, we are Boss Cao’s brothers, this gun, we got it for you..."
Minamoto Tamako wasn’t off guard, her gaze went beyond the trio, confirming no one was passing by, she continued to question: "Why follow me?"
"Well, we were a bit uneasy, so wanted to follow and ask if there’s anything else we could help with..."
Yi Zetao rubbed his hands like a shopkeeper recommending dishes to customers: "Look at my brother here, his build is robust, all muscled, one hits harder than four; and this brother here, thin he may be, but has a special skill, can open any lock, his hand skills are excellent too... surely there’s a place for us in your service."
Liu Daniu was quite displeased, he hoped Yi Zetao would be a bit gutsy, didn’t expect this guy to kowtow immediately, seemed ready to switch allegiance, consider someone new as boss.
Boss Cao’s corpse wasn’t even cold, and he was mulling over jumping ship, so ungrateful!
Thinking of this, Liu Daniu patted his chest, wanting to showcase his integrity, teaching this little girl what true underworld loyalty is. Unexpectedly, thinking he wanted to act, Minamoto Tamako turned her gun’s aim, targeting his forehead, scared him into a cold sweat, he improvised saying: "Uh, right! If the boss tells me to go east, I absolutely won’t go west!"
Minamoto Tamako blinked: "Who’s your boss?"
Ma Xiang fell to his knees with a thud, if not fearing Minamoto Tamako’s gun, he’d rush forward and hug her legs: "Your boss is our boss! Though I haven’t met her yet, she must be an imposing female hero, I’m willing to serve faithfully, even if it means going through dangerous terrains without wrinkling my brow!"
Yi Zetao thought to himself, nonsense! Really going through dangerous terrains you’d run away fastest! Reluctant to come earlier, now facing a little girl you kneel, no integrity whatsoever, damn!
He feared Minamoto Tamako might misunderstand, definitely didn’t mean to kneel and beg, just standing was tiring, so he crouched down with hands over his head, the awkward smile on his face unchanged: "I mean the same, Boss Cao is gone, we’re without a backbone now!"
Liu Daniu was stunned, two of his brothers knelt, considering jumping ship, not kneeling would make him seem disrespectful!
What to do?
Before he could decide whether face or the new boss was more important, Minamoto Tamako spoke up, directly asked: "Do you know how to use a gun?"
Ma Xiang was the first to answer, boasting: "Who doesn’t? I hit the bullseye every time!"
Yi Zetao and Liu Daniu followed suit, nodding to indicate they could use guns.
Upon hearing, Minamoto Tamako ’hummed’, took a few steps back, said: "You won’t mind if I test the gun, right? In case there’s a problem, that’d be troublesome."
"Don’t mind don’t mind, you’re welcome." Yi Zetao grinned.
Minamoto Tamako kept a safe distance, dismantling the firearm skillfully before them, within moments turned it into a heap of parts, thoroughly checked, and reassembled in seconds, expertly chambered the gun.
Hmm, Fujimura-kun’s dream felt so real, the gun seemed genuine...
These extras were so real, the fearful yet sycophantic expressions felt like living people...
Minamoto Tamako pondered momentarily, lowered the gun’s muzzle, said: "The chamber has issues, seems manually filed, the shell casing isn’t right, it’s reloaded ammo, high chance of jamming or misfiring... do you have a slightly better gun?"
The trio were dumbfounded, exchanging looks, none spoke, and couldn’t help but wonder the same thing.
...Who exactly is this little girl?