Chapter 364: Explosion of Opportunities! Night Walker

Chapter 364 -196: Explosion of Opportunities! Night Walker

Wasn’t this just saving the guy money?

Zhao Henian felt a strange, indescribable emotion welling up inside him.

There was confusion, and a bit of unease.

But more than that, there was something unexpected, something that even he found awkward…

‘Moved?’

‘No… not quite that.’

But something had definitely changed.

‘Damn it, what the hell is he playing at!’

‘Damn! Damn it!’

Just as he was thinking this, footsteps echoed from not too far away.

Zhao Henian peeked out from behind a pillar, looking in the direction of the sound.

A figure emerged from the darkness.

A baseball cap, a black face mask, dark sportswear…

Wan Ze had arrived.

…

Wan Ze walked up to Zhao Henian and stopped about a meter away.

It was a distance that was neither too close nor too far.

Of course, if Zhao Henian were to make a sudden move, Wan Ze would have at least 0.3 seconds to react.

The moment Zhao Henian saw Wan Ze, his expression became incredibly complicated.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say some pleasantries like, “Thanks for your hard work,” or “Did you have a smooth trip?” but he swallowed the words before they could come out.

He felt that saying such things at a time like this would be too fake.

It was better to just ask directly.

“You… didn’t take anything?”

Seeing him ask first, Wan Ze shook his head. “Old Zhao, to be honest, I’m very disappointed in you.”

Zhao Henian’s brow, which had been tightly furrowed, relaxed when he heard this.

‘Yes, *that’s* more like it.’

He even let out a sigh of relief.

“Are you talking about Supervisor Zheng?” Zhao Henian’s voice grew heavy, his expression turning serious. “I’ll give you an explanation for that. I know Supervisor Zheng. He wouldn’t dare touch my people, but he has his own little schemes in the black market. I didn’t expect him to target you because of Dong Hui. That was my oversight.”

He took a deep breath.

Wan Ze waved his hand dismissively. “Since you already know, Old Zhao…”

“After this is over, how about I compensate you with a million?” Zhao Henian offered.

Wan Ze froze.

He was genuinely stunned.

‘Holy shit, did I hear that right?’

He looked at Zhao Henian in astonishment.

‘Did Old Zhao get possessed or something?’

The thought flashed through Wan Ze’s mind.

He had been planning to shake him down.

After all, his whole reason for not choosing anything at the black market and intentionally leaving empty-handed was to squeeze another payment out of Old Zhao.

Zhao Henian had arranged the trip to the black market and said to “take whatever you like.” Since Wan Ze took nothing, didn’t that mean Zhao Henian now owed him a favor?

‘A favor owed is a debt to be paid. And how do you pay it? With money, of course.’

Wan Ze even had his lines prepared… ‘Old Zhao, look, I came all this way and didn’t take a single thing. It’s not that the stuff was bad; I was saving you money. So, about that favor…’

But Zhao Henian had spoken up first.

A million.

‘Fucking hell, what a rich bastard!’

Wan Ze opened his mouth, then closed it again.

He couldn’t play the bad guy anymore.

If Zhao Henian had said nothing, or had hemmed and hawed, Wan Ze could have confidently named his price.

But now that Zhao Henian had made an offer—and for more than he’d expected, as he’d been planning to ask for half a million—he couldn’t bring himself to say anything more.

Wan Ze paused, then felt a sense of relief. “Old Zhao, I’ll be straight with you, too. If you weren’t a decent guy, I would’ve ripped you off today. You didn’t handle things well at the black market, letting that Supervisor Zheng corner me. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s not a small one either. If it were anyone else, I’d have extorted at least two million from them.”

As he spoke, he took half a step closer to Zhao Henian and lowered his voice. “But since you brought it up first, I won’t waste any more words. A million it is. We’ll call it even.”

Hearing this, Zhao Henian gave a simple, honest smile. “It’s rare for you to be so understanding, Brother Wan. As the senior guy here, I have to be generous. You can’t let me get off scot-free, and I can’t have you making a trip for nothing. That’s just how it is.”

He paused, his eyes flashing as if he’d remembered something important. “Right. That woman has a warehouse. I’ve already sent people to check it out. Wait for my good news; I might be able to get you some even better stuff. Not the run-of-the-mill goods she displays out in the open, but her private collection she’s built up over the years. I’ll take you there myself. You can take whatever you want.”

Wan Ze’s eyes lit up.

‘Old Zhao, you really are a good guy.’

In his heart, Wan Ze chalked him up as one of the good guys.

But what he said out loud was a different story entirely. His tone was casual, as if discussing a trivial matter. “Alright, alright. Just remember to introduce me to more channels for old artifacts next time. Not like this time, where I went and touched everything but didn’t find a single thing I wanted.”

“Deal,” Zhao Henian replied crisply.

As for the black market incident, he considered it a favor owed to Wan Ze.

Besides, Wan Ze was a solid guy.

He, of course, had to be magnanimous as well.

…

“Enough about that. What about the intel?” Wan Ze didn’t delay, getting straight to the point.

Zhao Henian nodded and pulled a bundle out of the inner pocket of his jacket.

It was a thick stack of paper, about a dozen sheets, folded into a palm-sized rectangle. It was a special type of waterproof, tear-proof paper, with neatly trimmed edges free of any fraying.

Zhao Henian handed the paper to Wan Ze.

Wan Ze took it and unfolded it.

Each sheet was covered in densely packed text, and a photograph was attached to the top-right corner of every page.

They all looked like recently taken candid photos.

Wan Ze looked closely.

The first page contained a woman’s personal information.

The name was simple, just two words… Xiao Ya.

Xiao Ya, female, 28 years old, Deputy Supervisor of Operations for the Eastern Region of the Secret Palace. Height 5’6″, weight 115 lbs, blood type A…