The fatigue from the journey back vanished entirely after a good night's sleep, leaving behind only a ravenous hunger.
"So hungry. I wonder if Mute Zhang cooked anything? Oh well, judging by his cooking style, it's better not to let him wreck my kitchen. After all, hiring someone for repairs costs money."
Rubbing his rumbling stomach, Hei Xiazi opened his bedroom door and saw Zhang Qiling sitting in the living room... in a daze.
"Is Mute Zhang hungry? Master Hei will make you some shredded pork and green pepper fried rice. Just wait." With that, he headed straight for the kitchen.
"Oh right, take this, so you'll stop trying to pick fights with me all the time."
Hei Xiazi tossed the photographs 003 had given him over to Zhang Qiling. These were pictures of him and Zhang Qiling exploring tombs together—perhaps they would jog his memory a little.
Remembering how Mute Zhang would pick a fight with him every single time he suffered amnesia, Hei Xiazi couldn't help but shed a bitter tear for himself. Because of this, he never felt a shred of guilt taking Mute Zhang's money.
Zhang Qiling looked down at the pile of photos showing himself and Hei Xiazi tomb-raiding, alongside pictures of them posing with Zongzi. He knew instantly that his relationship with the person before him wasn't bad at all.
"What is our relationship?" Mute Zhang asked in a raspy voice. He knew these photos were real because looking at them had sparked the return of some memories, making him all the more inclined to trust and follow Hei Xiazi.
"Well, you could say we're friends who've been through thick and thin together. After all, we've known each other for a few decades now, haven't we?" Hei Xiazi said, rubbing his chin as he reminisced. Back then, knowing Mute Zhang practically saved his life; otherwise, he would have perished inside the Bronze Gate.
Zhang Qiling nodded without a word. With a fraction of his memories restored, he also recalled some things about Hei Xiazi. Knowing the man hadn't lied, his guard dropped significantly without him even realizing it.
Delighted by the change in Mute Zhang's demeanor, Hei Xiazi cheerfully launched into his Shredded Pork and Green Pepper Fried Rice Song:
"I am a shredded pork and green pepper fried rice, we all love shredded pork and green pepper fried rice, nobody doesn't love shredded pork and green pepper fried rice, I'm making shredded pork and green pepper fried rice right now, Mute Zhang loves shredded pork and green pepper fried rice too..."
Listening to Hei Xiazi's singing, Zhang Qiling instinctively tightened his grip on his knife.
"Come and eat, Master Hei's signature shredded pork and green pepper fried rice! Guaranteed to make you crave it again next time." Hei Xiazi happily hyped up his dish.
Zhang Qiling ignored him. His remaining scraps of memory told him that the man in front of him was an absolute chatterbox—the more you engaged with him, the more wound up he got.
Zhang Qiling's silence didn't make Hei Xiazi feel awkward in the slightest. Instead, he shifted his target and started chatting with 003.
"Look how successful my shredded pork and green pepper fried rice turned out. See how happily Mute Zhang is eating?" Hei Xiazi gloated to 003.
"I'd say he's just starving. After all, he didn't eat a thing the whole way back with you. Right now, even if you put a piece of compressed ration biscuit in front of him, he'd eat it with just as much joy."
003 scanned Zhang Qiling's physical condition and dumped the diagnostic data straight into Hei Xiazi's mind.
Looking at Zhang Qiling standing there looking all put-together, Hei Xiazi hadn't expected his physical fitness to be this abysmal.
"Tsk, he goes out on a trip and comes back looking like he was abused."
"Normal. This trip of his involved bleeding as much as cutting sugarcane—he leaves himself zero margin for survival." It was 003's first time seeing someone treat their own body with such utter disregard.
"He treats his blood like it's free, bleeding whenever he feels like it. It's gotten even worse ever since he started following Wu Xie," Hei Xiazi muttered, rubbing his temples in resignation.
"Then nurse him back to health. Didn't you brew medicinal tonics for him before?"
"That method is way too slow. Besides, I just took a job from Third Master. Can't you spot him some medicine?" Hei Xiazi asked without a shred of politeness.
"No way. Giving you anything at all is already an exception." 003 flatly refused. It vowed never to be conned by this heartless big black rat ever again.
"Tsk, 003, you can't just look out for your own interests. Think about it—aren't we heading to the Queen Mother of the West Palace this time to retrieve the Meteorite Jade?" Hei Xiazi coaxed the naive 003 step by step.
"Yes." 003 nodded. It genuinely needed the Meteorite Jade to acquire a certain amount of energy.
"Then can I pull this off relying entirely on myself? Wouldn't having Mute Zhang around give us much better odds?"
On this point, Hei Xiazi wasn't lying. Mute Zhang was indeed stronger than him—though only by a tiny margin.
003 pondered Hei Xiazi's words for a moment. It did make some sense; an extra person meant better odds, especially when that person was an upper-limit combat powerhouse like Zhang Qiling.
"Fine, I can give you the medicine, but you have to ensure this operation is a success." 003 had no intention of investing this much and ending up empty-handed.
"No problem, who do you take Master Hei for? I'll definitely handle it to absolute perfection." Seeing the medicine materialize in the palm of his hand, Hei Xiazi couldn't suppress the grin spreading across his face.
"Open up, Mute Zhang." Holding the medicine, Hei Xiazi walked over to Zhang Qiling and blurted out the request out of nowhere.
Zhang Qiling looked up at the unhinged Hei Xiazi, his eyes full of confusion. Although he knew Hei Xiazi had intermittent episodes of madness, he still couldn't comprehend the man's thought processes.
"Tsk, hurry up. I'm not going to harm you." Ignoring Zhang Qiling's inquisitive gaze, Hei Xiazi urged impatiently.
Though baffled, Mute Zhang obediently opened his mouth. His intuition told him that Hei Xiazi meant him no harm.
"Good boy." Hei Xiazi deftly tossed the pill into Mute Zhang's mouth.
"Swallow it."
Without asking questions, Zhang Qiling swallowed. Immediately, he felt a change in his body—a warm current coursing through him, repairing his chronic ailments, and his physical state swiftly recovered by leaps and bounds.
"This medicine?"
"An encounter during my recent tomb expedition." Hei Xiazi didn't elaborate, but the medicine was indeed a lucky find.
Zhang Qiling nodded. He knew the tombs were full of bizarre items, and extraordinary discoveries were nothing out of the ordinary.
"Right, Third Master has a job for us. The Queen Mother of the West Palace. We leave tomorrow."
Zhang Qiling nodded, stood up, and returned to his room.
Seeing him leave, Hei Xiazi cleaned up the bowls and headed out to prepare his gear.
"Hei Xiazi, Hei Xiazi, hurry, hurry, hurry, walk forward! There's a beauty in that small alley up ahead—and a distressed beauty at that. Let's hurry over and play the hero saving the damsel." 003 shouted excitedly.
"A beauty? How gorgeous can she be?" Hei Xiazi said dismissively. Having lived as long as he had, what kind of beauties hadn't he seen?
"Absolute peerless stunner material, enough to make fish sink and geese drop, flowers hide and the moon blush." 003 didn't hold back any of its vocabulary in praise.
"Tsk, let's go take a look and see just how pretty she is." Hei Xiazi's curiosity was instantly piqued.
Ahead, a figure in pink robes was weaving through a crowd of men in black, brandishing a staff with fierce momentum and sending a large swath of enemies crashing to the ground. Even so, it was tough for one person to fend off so many.
"Ah, ah, ah, a beauty! A down-on-his-luck beauty radiating an indescribable, fragile charm." Who could understand? 003 was an absolute sucker for this aesthetic.
"A beauty, sure, but this one's also a man-eating flower—deadly poisonous."
Hei Xiazi was well aware of the rumors in the underworld concerning Household Head Xie. He knew the man had taken the helm at age eight, maintaining his grip on the Xie Family seat since childhood—definitely not someone to be trifled with.
"Wow, I love him even more now." Not only was 003 unfazed, but its infatuation deepened.
For once, Hei Xiazi was left completely speechless. He could only give a thumbs-up to express his admiration.
"Well, if it isn't Household Head Xie! Care to hire Master Hei to lend a hand?"
Yielding to 003's intense demands, Hei Xiazi reluctantly spoke up, though getting his help would still cost a price.
"Master Hei, I advise you to stay out of our business."
The men in black knew of Hei Xiazi's notorious reputation in the underworld, which was why they hadn't attacked him the moment he appeared, choosing instead to ignore him.
Hei Xiazi paid them no mind, his gaze burning straight through his dark glasses at Xie Yuchen—though behind the lenses, no one could tell, save for the sensitive Household Head Xie, who detected a flicker of intense scrutiny.
"Fine. I'll pay you 300,000 to clear them out." When problems could be solved with money, Household Head Xie never hesitated.
"You got it, Boss." Flashing a broad grin, Hei Xiazi drew his dagger and dispatched the thugs with a flurry of quick strikes.
"Will the boss be paying in cash or by card?" Hei Xiazi whipped out a POS machine and smiled.
"Card." Watching Hei Xiazi's fluid and efficient movements, Xie Yuchen pulled out his black credit card while weighing the feasibility of recruiting the man to his side.
*Swish.* Hearing the chime of funds transferring into his account, Hei Xiazi's smile grew even more radiant.
"Thanks for your patronage, Boss! Do come again!" With that, he pocketed the POS machine and strode off without looking back.
"Hei Xiazi, have you ever considered working for the Xie Family?" Xie Yuchen called out, wanting to bring a talent like Hei Xiazi under his command.
Hei Xiazi paused in his tracks, turned around, and drawled with a swagger, "I wonder how much Household Head Xie is prepared to pay me?"