211 Cave with Cages (1/2)
The woman did not fail to notice from the look on his face that he was seemingly debating whether or not this information was worth the price in his mind.
If he had a lot of these top-grade essence stones, he would not have bat an eyelid, but his behavior made it seem like he was stuck on a difficult problem, making it reportedly evident that he both needed the information and found the price punishing to his coffers.
The truth was that he had quite a few top-grade essence stones. The storage ring he had taken from the Moon Prince's dead body contained a pile of them, but he had learned that showcasing too much wealth invited danger.
Although his pride told him to never back down, there was no need for him to go out of his way to invite trouble.
Taking out five top-grade essence stones, Xue Wei reluctantly handed them over to the woman. ”I will only pay half to begin with,” he said seriously. This was his best offer.
The woman accepted the five top-grade essence stones with slightly trembling hands. Although she was used to seeing riches, five top-grade essence stones were definitely the most valuable type of currency and item she had seen.
She had been prepared to see the man withdraw from the deal. In fact, although the top-grade essence stones were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns, the price that the Intelligencer had to pay for this information was equally costly. Many spies would have to infiltrate the most secure parts of the libraries of many different high-profile sects and clans. If, or rather when, this was noticed, they would be punished severely and expelled.
The kind of spies who could gain access to those parts of the libraries had been infiltrating their places for many years already. To have them give up their position really required a ton of treasure to make it a reasonable tradeoff.
In fact, this deal that they were making made the hearts of all involved hurt. The woman was aching for her loss of personnel, Xue Wei for the sake of the top-grade essence stones he was spending.
Xue Wei was unaware of whether or not this woman was the Intelligencer. From what he had heard in town, the Intelligencer was a man, but this was without a doubt a woman. This was also only the middle floor, so there was one floor left above them. Who knew what kind of expert stood behind this woman whose strength he could not determine?
”Well, thank you for doing business with us,” the woman was the first one to get over her heartache. Her words roused Xue Wei's attention.
”Come back three months from today and I will get you the information you have been asking for,” she continued. Xue Wei nodded his head.
”Oh, right!” the woman said suddenly, stopping him for a moment. ”Don't forget to wear the face mask you're wearing right now. I will only give the information to someone who has your face.”
Xue Wei did not question how she was so certain about him using a face mask. It was probably a common occurrence to wear a facemask when one visited the Intelligencer's house.
”In that case, thank you for your assistance,” Xue Wei said, bidding his farewell, and left the floor. When he was on the ground floor again, he gave the hallway a second look, but it was as deserted as it had been before.
Although it was deserted, Xue Wei did not think that he had any privacy. The woman above would without a doubt keep observing him until he left the house. She would be a poor member of the black market if she did not.
Xue Wei left the house with no lingering affections. He had forked out an astronomical amount of money, and he would rather not wait around to see the old, decaying house collapse onto him. Leaving it would make him feel good.
When he left, he felt as if he could finally breathe normally again. Although he had not been scared, he had still felt suppressed inside the battered house, mostly because it was the lair of at least one extreme expert.
When Xue Wei was out in the dim light of the street, he noticed how groups of experts were moving further and further into the darkness of the underground territory. It was as if something was happening that was summoning all the experts. Xue Wei's curiosity had been piqued.
Among those migrating towards the spot, there were Sky Warriors and Heavenly Warriors, and some of them were even stronger than Xue Wei by quite the margin.
Some of them walked together in groups, others walked alone. Some brazenly walked straight towards the inner region of the district, while others constantly looked over their shoulders to make sure they were not being followed.
Xue Wei was wondering what could have such allure that everyone would head towards a specific area, but his curiosity got the better of him even after he thought it through with ample hesitation. If even Sky Warriors had the gall to go there, it should not be too dangerous.
He slowly followed the crowd deeper into the poverty-stricken area. The houses started looking more and more broken and worn-down; even the Intelligencer's base looked rather neat compared to these. Some of the buildings had long since already collapsed, even.
The throng of experts continued all the way to the outer city walls of the unregulated district. There was a small house beneath the looming shadow of the city wall at the end of the district, which was what every person entered one after the other. The house did not seem as if it could house all those people, but even so, many more continued through the door as if it was much bigger on the inside.
When Xue Wei reached the door, he found something out of his expectations. The house was not bigger on the inside. As a matter of fact, there was nothing on the inside apart from a set of stairs leading down into the ground.
The staircase had light orbs lighting it up, but it was still damp and slippery so Xue Wei had to be very careful not to trip when he started walking down.
The staircase was at first straight, but it started to wind after a bit of time. It turned left, it turned right, it went one way and then another. It took half an hour before Xue Wei had managed to get out of the stairs.