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[1] "Love and Peace" (爱与和平): A reference to the 1998 anime Trigun, where protagonist Vash the Stampede—a legendary outlaw with a massive bounty—ironically preaches "love and peace" while chaos follows him everywhere. Chen Shu adopts this tongue-in-cheek title before immediately revealing he's actually the "Nanjiang Bandit."
"Don't try to meet me IRL—if you've got the guts, talk trash ONLINE!"
Chen Shu whistled as he strolled out of school, utterly carefree. He wasn't even afraid of Fang Si online, so what was a mere Shen Wushuang?
"Driver! To the Spirit Suppression Bureau!"
Chen Shu flagged down a taxi and glanced inside. His expression froze. "What the—driver, why are you wearing chainmail?"
The driver shook his chainmail-clad body and smiled. "Safety! Just for safety!"
Chen Shu's mouth twitched. Your safety consciousness is pretty excessive, buddy.
An hour later, Chen Shu arrived at the Spirit Suppression Bureau's entrance. Looking at the familiar scene, he couldn't help but recall the time he'd been mistaken for a fake medicine peddler.
The moment he stepped inside, Wang Qian approached with a grave expression. "Chen Shu, does your family own a tank?"
"??" Chen Shu was completely confused. "What?"
"All eight criminals' bodies were crushed by a heavy object. Preliminary analysis suggests someone drove a tank over them."
"Uncle Wang, come on!" Chen Shu's mouth twitched. "You'd actually drive a tank through the city?"
He hadn't expected Wang Qian's imagination to be this wild. With creativity like that, why wasn't he writing novels instead of serving as a squad captain at the Bureau?
"Alright," Wang Qian said, "that's not why I called you here. We found the people who tried to kill you!"
Chen Shu immediately asked, "Hm? Who?"
"Xiaxing Potion Company!"
Wang Qian spoke thoughtfully. "They're a major pharmaceutical company in Nanjiang City. Do you have a business conflict with them?"
Chen Shu nodded with an understanding expression. So he'd been targeted by a potion company after all.
"I just set up a little street stall in the black market. Might've affected them a bit."
"That's impossible. How could a street stall affect a company like that?"
"Uh... my stall might've been a bit larger scale."
"Come on, how big can a street stall be?"
Chen Shu thought back. "Only sold about two thousand Strength Potions in ten days."
"Cough... cough..."
Wang Qian had been drinking water and immediately choked.
"Is your street stall a CHAIN FRANCHISE?"
Now he understood why Xiaxing Potion Company had developed murderous intentions. They had just changed their strategy and paid an enormous price trying to dominate Nanjiang City's Strength Potion market—only to have a student crash the whole thing. Anyone would find that unacceptable.
"We need to gather evidence before we can arrest Xiaxing Potion Company's executives," Wang Qian said. "Keep a low profile for now."
Since they'd broken the law, no matter how big the company, the Spirit Suppression Bureau could handle them!
"Also, all eight were wanted criminals. The combined bounty is five hundred thousand Huaxia Currency!"
With that, Wang Qian had someone transfer five hundred thousand to Chen Shu's bank account.
Greed flickered in Chen Shu's eyes. "That's it? There were eight people!"
Wang Qian's mouth twitched. "Not everyone's worth a hundred thousand. Five hundred thousand is already pretty good."
Though they were all wanted criminals, only Grade-9 Beast Tamers carried a hundred-thousand bounty.
"Uncle Wang, quick question." Chen Shu suddenly leaned in close and whispered, "Does the Bureau sell tanks? The kind that comes with free shells?"
Wang Qian's mouth twitched. "Get lost!"
Chen Shu left the Spirit Suppression Bureau quite pleased with his five hundred thousand.
He looked up Xiaxing Potion Company online and learned that their main product was Strength Potions. Now that the Spirit Suppression Bureau had them in their sights, Xiaxing wouldn't survive much longer. When that happened, Nanjiang City's Strength Potion market would be wide open—and as the black market's Strength Potion King, he was definitely getting a piece of that pie!
Chen Shu dialed a number.
"Hey! Tianbao, bro."
"I don't want blood packs... Gather your boys. We're making big moves soon!"
Half an hour later, Chen Shu met up with Wang Tianbao and the others at a restaurant. Besides Wang Tianbao, there were five others—all people who'd previously helped Chen Shu run his street stall.
"Tianbao, bro, what've you been up to lately?"
Wang Tianbao thought for a moment. "Rectangular Prism Relocation Engineer."
"???" Chen Shu stared blankly. "What kind of engineer?"
Wang Tianbao scratched his head. "Uh... a brick mover."
Chen Shu's mouth twitched. "Come on, man. What about your boys?"
"Little Wang is a Regional Security Inspector, Little Liu is Shared Computing Financial Director, Little Zhang researches Human Epidermis Contamination Science, Little Deng is a Wilderness Survival Pioneer Explorer..."
"Hold up, hold up."
Chen Shu rubbed his temples. His head was starting to hurt. "Speak NORMAL!"
Wang Tianbao laughed awkwardly. "Uh... security guard, internet cafe cashier, bathhouse scrubber, and unemployed vagrant..."
Chen Shu sighed. "Bro, can we keep it real? Quit with all the fancy nonsense."
"Young Master Chen, what do YOU do?"
"Me? If I'm speaking elegantly, I'm Nanjiang City's Messenger of Love and Peace."
"Huh? What?"
Everyone stared at him, completely lost.
Chen Shu said flatly, "The Nanjiang Bandit."
In an instant, everyone shot to their feet. Oh COME ON—so he was a criminal?
Chen Shu quickly grabbed Wang Tianbao. "Wait! Wait! I'm legit—I'm the bad guy who punishes bad guys!"
"So... Evil Squared?"
Chen Shu's mouth twitched. "Alright, enough. I called you here for real business."
"I'm planning to expand beyond the street stall and rent an actual storefront in the black market—a shop dedicated to selling Strength Potions. I want to hire you guys as employees!"
At this, everyone perked up with interest. The street stall had only been temporary work, never meant to last. But an actual shop? That meant long-term employment.
As long as there was money, even if their boss was the Nanjiang Bandit—whatever.
Chen Shu then briefly outlined his shop plans. Since it was a potion shop, they'd naturally need a pharmacist and staff. He'd serve as the pharmacist himself—hiring other pharmacists was expensive, and their output was too low anyway. Since he had school, time would be limited, so the shop would only sell high-grade Strength Potions. For raw materials, he'd have to procure them from the Beast Tamer Association for now.
After discussing the details, they headed to the black market that afternoon.
"Is this storefront for rent?"
After careful consideration, Chen Shu decided on the shop in front of him. The size and location were both excellent.
The clerk stood up. "Please wait, I need to get the owner to discuss this."
"Huh? It's you?"
Chen Shu immediately recognized the clerk. This was the very shop where he'd sold his first Strength Potion—a five-thousand-yuan potion that he'd only gotten three thousand for. Worse, the guy had placed his potion right under the five-thousand-yuan label while he was still standing there. Zero respect.
Chen Shu raised an eyebrow. "Is your shop going out of business?"
"Sigh, Xiaxing Company has been running crazy promotions lately. We can't even sell our Strength Potions anymore."
Chen Shu grinned. "How terribly sad."