Chapter 1117 - A Shopfront
Chapter 1117 A Shopfront
It was very strange. The storekeeper seemed to be unwilling to let Xia Fei and Fuchen leave, his eyes filled with disappointment.
“Did neither of you distinguished masters find any of these items to your liking?” the elderly man asked somewhat anxiously.
“Perhaps the next time,” said Fuchen courteously. Xia Fei’s mind raced and he asked with a laugh. “I wonder if there are any decent repair shops for warships nearby? Our ship encountered some problems on our way here and is now in a bit of a fix.”
The elderly man momentarily froze up but soon broke out into a big smile. “You’ve asked the right person, good sir. Somewhere not too far from Moontooth Port is a large repair dock. The boss of that place, who goes by the surname of Cai, has the best skills in the area. Many warships from foreign star regions will specifically come here to seek his expertise; why don’t the two of you head over to look as well?”
Fuchen thought that Xia Fei had merely casually asked about this. After all, there was no way a repair dock in such a desolate region could be something too exceptional, and it would not beat the convenience of returning to the bustling core region of The Alpha Universe.
Unexpectedly, Xia Fei was actually serious. Not only did he acquire the coordinates for the repair dock, he even carefully jotted down Boss Cai’s contact number.
After they went out the door, Fuchen asked, “You couldn’t possibly be planning to have your warship be repaired nearby, could you? Why dock out here in the sticks?”
Xia Fei flashed him a smile. “It’ll hardly take much time to have it slightly repaired. Besides, it isn’t too bad for the ship to be repaired in this remote region of space. If we do it in a bustling star region, it won’t take long for the secret of our ship to spread. When that time comes, there are surely people who will have designs on us. More often than not, it’s better to lead our lives staying lowkey.”
Though that was what he had said, Xia Fei still furtively released his fiendish blade, Nirvana. It was unknown what orders Radix had received from Xia Fei, but he quickly disappeared into an alley.
“What are you up to?” asked Fuchen, baffled.
“Nothing. Just letting Radix relieve his boredom while also searching for any valuable shop nearby that we can visit. I’m tired of making the trip over myself,” said Xia Fei, thinking nothing of it.
Back in the same shop, after Xia Fei and Fuchen left. That elderly man heaved a long sigh and wiped the sweat from his brows with his sleeves.
“Look after the frontend for me; call me if anything comes up.” The elderly man instructed his little servant.
Turning around, he made his way back into his room on the second floor. A screen was on inside the room, with another elder waiting.
If Fuchen saw this person, he would definitely be astonished, for this was Orchid Chime’s father, Rock Chime.
“How did it go?” Rock Chime asked with furrowed brows.
“I didn’t manage to sell the marked soul weapon to them, but I did succeed in convincing them to get their warship repaired nearby. If everything goes as planned, they’ll arrive at Cai Kangnian’s repair dock this afternoon.”
Rock Chime shook his head and muttered, “Everything was fine; why did you have to drag Cai Kangnian into this? I have no wish to mix around with him.”
“Everything happened so suddenly. I originally thought that they’d surely be interested in that dark soul weapon, but how was I to expect that they wouldn’t even spare it a single glance? As such, I have no way of helping you pinpoint their coordinates; the best I could do was keep them around the area for much longer.
“Cai Kangnian’s repair dock was the only thing I could think of to delay them from leaving. If you don’t wish to have any association with Cai Kangnian, you can perhaps wait till they’re done fixing their warship before making your move.”
Rock Chime nodded. “Alright. Remember: You must keep this matter under wraps. Someone will of course be sending you the reward. Don’t worry; this elder is a man of his word.”
The shopkeeper, of course, expressed his eternal gratitude. Xia Fei and the others had no idea that Rock Chime had already used his power as a member of the Spiritualist Association to issue a search order for Fuchen, even offering generous reward to that effect.
Few people could recognize Xia Fei, but many had seen Fuchen before in the circle, and the moment the shopkeeper saw the old man, he knew at once that this was his opportunity to get rich. As long as he relayed this information to Rock Chime, he would surely be a recipient of a sizable reward!
Turning off his screen, Rock Chime left his study with a black face. He saw his spouse seated in the living room, looking glum, not even greeting him when she saw him enter the room.
“Is Orchid doing okay?” Rock Chime made his way to his wife and asked in concern.
“How could she be okay? I really have no idea what kind of father you’re; your son-in-law was murdered and your daughter got bullied, yet you’re actually sitting idly by and doing nothing about it! If I knew that you’d be such a coward, I’d never marry you; I’d have rather gotten betrothed to chicken or a dog!
“Tell me, Rock Chime: Are you ever planning on taking revenge or not? If you’re that afraid of Fuchen, then I’ll go seek my father! Get Orchid’s grandfather and uncle to show their faces!”
Rock Chime’s expression turned aggrieved after being on the receiving end of such a thorough scolding. Though Rock Chime held a decent position in the Spiritualist Association, he was the typical henpecked husband. When his wife was around, he would listen to her, and when she was not, he would be at the mercy of his daughter. He was leading quite the tragic life.
It could not be helped, because Mrs. Chime was born to a noble household and had a family background so much greater than the Chime family. Of course, her temper was also directly proportionate to her upbringing, so despite the fact that Rock Chime did not have even a son to his name, looking like his bloodline was about to end with him, he did not dare to broach the subject of getting a second wife, all because he feared her reaction.
However, he could not let his bloodline end without pulling out all the stops, which was why he had gotten the orphan Bell Hill to be his son-in-law. Unfortunately, Bell Hill and Orchid Chime had yet to have a child after marriage when the former ended up dying to Xia Fei, and so it appeared that Rock Chime would not be escaping from the fate of his bloodline ending with him!
Actually, from a scientific point of view, with how advanced cloning technology was getting, Rock Chime could have used his genes to get himself several sons, but the major figures in the Alpha Universe were very traditional. Hence, if Rock Chime really did such a thing, he would definitely be despised by others, and there would be no way for him to continue mixing in the circle; Mrs. Chime would be all the more disgraced, too.
Rock Chime sighed. “I’m being maligned! When did I say I wouldn’t avenge our daughter? Ultimately, the enemy I’m facing is the old monster, Fuchen. I couldn’t possibly move without making any preparations. In fact, I just received news that Fuchen and that mysterious young man of his had appeared in Eagle Hunter Constellation, so I’ll be heading off there tomorrow to get justice for our daughter.”
“You found Fuchen?!” His wife immediately got up, her eyes gleaming with venomous intent.
enomous
“It’s a secret message that I’ve only received,” Rock Chime replied with a smile.
“Tomorrow? No way! You’d better get going right at this moment! Don’t even think about coming back if you don’t bring me Fuchen’s head!” Mrs. Chime demanded sternly, sounding like a heroine in a story.
“Now? My wife, we’re talking about Fuchen, someone at the caliber of an old monster! As the saying goes, ‘even a skinny camel is bigger than a horse.’ If I go without ample preparation, I’m afraid that I’ll be leaving without ever coming back,” Rock Chime protested.
“I DON’T CARE! I WANT FUCHEN DEAD! If you can’t do that… hmph!” Mrs. Chime unreasonably insisted.
Rock Chime sighed. Even a saint would be helpless against a woman when she became unreasonable, not to mention this wife of his, who was a ferocious shrew.
“Fuchen, oh Fuchen. Better for you to die than me. Don’t blame me for not keeping to the rules…” Rock Chime muttered as he made his way out of the residence, upset.
Xia Fei could not tell that anything was off as he made his way back to the Silver Specter, swiftly setting his course to Cai Kangnian’s repair dock.
It was really not that far, for it did not even take two hours of travel before this large repair dock appeared in front of Xia Fei.
The dock, built in planetary orbit, was akin to a large space station. It looked dilapidated, but it operated perfectly fine.
He followed the standard procedures to berth and dock as per usual. Xia Fei was curious because the boss of this repair dock, Cai Kangnian, hardly acted like a businessman. The moment Silver Specter docked, the man came running to them like an excited, little child, looking left and right at the Silver Specter, sans the slightest hint of craftiness that a merchant or a boss should have.
“Have you seen such a ship before?” Cai Kangnian asked the person next to him, who appeared to be a fellow mechanic.
“Not at all! Not only does it have a strange outer appearance, look, the Hypergravity mooring system of this warship even has some curvatures, meaning that its mass is way heavier compared to large battleships and may have even been constructed using superheavy metal alloys,” the mechanic must be used to this child-like behavior from his boss, because he answered his question with a laugh.
“How interesting. Very interesting,” Cai Kangnian, who was minding his own business, muttered this under his breath, completely oblivious to the fact that Xia Fei was already right beside him.
Xia Fei turned around and saw that Fuchen had gone back onboard the ship after taking a step out of it, seemingly not prepared to show his face here.
“My young friend, is this ship yours?” Cai Kangnian asked anxiously the moment he realized that Xia Fei was there.
Xia Fei nodded. “Indeed, it is. I wish to—”
“Sell it to me. You can set the price,” Cai Kangnian did not even let Xia Fei speak and immediately propositioned to buy the Silver Specter from him. This behavior was quite child-like; how often would one find someone who could speak so plainly like this? In most situations, an experienced businessman would not express their interest first even if they had their eye on something. They would only talk about making a purchase after they sufficiently brought the price down.
This old man before his eyes did not appear to be a businessman, as he did not even understand the concept of haggling.
“I’m sorry. I only plan on having this ship repaired and am not looking to sell it,” Xia Fei replied calmly.
Cai Kangnian immediately became very disappointed. Xia Fei had not even planned to let anyone enter the Silver Specter and only intended to buy some additional equipment and repair tools from them. He was fine with doing all the work on the warship; given that this ship was related to Aquamarine’s secret, he had to be very careful with how he handled
it.
If anyone came onboard, they would see the equipment on deck, which was far more technologically advanced than what the Alpha Universe had. There was no telling if rumors about it would spread. Just from seeing the exterior of the Silver Specter, Cai Kangian already wanted to buy the ship, which just showed how detrimental it was for the ship to have too much exposure.
Cai Kangnian was even more disappointed after hearing Xia Fei’s request. He could not buy the ship, so he was fine with settling for just going onboard it and having a look, but how was he to know that Xia Fei would not even give him that chance? Boss Cai simply remained rooted on the spot for a good while before walking away in disappointment.
Xia Fei handed a list to the staff of all the equipment and parts he needed for his work. The staff immediately went to prepare everything listed. If they did not have what he wanted, they would have to find ways to transfer the goods from other places.
After everything was settled, Xia Fei returned to the ship, only to find Fuchen drinking tea in the ship’s mess hall, as if nothing had happened. Fuchen was very picky when it came to his food and drinks and would even bring his tea leaves wherever he went.
“Do you know that person?” Xia Fei poured himself a cup of tea and asked, curious. Fuchen’s actions today were too strange. The moment he saw Cai Kangnian appear, he immediately turned back and hid, as if he did not desire to meet the mechanic. All these, of course, did not escape Xia Fei’s notice.
Fuchen nodded.
“The Great Soul Eater Cai Kangnian, how could anyone with credentials not recognize him?” Fuchen said out loud. “Your luck is simply too terrible. He is a bad person, and this repair dock is his shopfront.”