Kill no more volume 04, p.4
Kill No More - Volume 04, page 4
“I can’t kill anyone.”
Barker was first shocked, and then he understood that the runt was giving him a compromise.
Thinking he finally found a competitor for his arena, Barker couldn’t contain his smile, and his threatening tone of voice was completely gone.
Barker placed his hands on Liola’s shoulders as if they were old drinking buddies and said, “Don’t worry, my friend. I was afraid you would kill the other competitors, then I’d have to compensate them with money.”
Liola thought about it of it for a while, and the desire to make money was still there. Besides… he didn’t know where else to go. If he continued to wander aimlessly, he would eventually be found by Kaiser and others.
After some consideration, Liola finally nodded in acceptance to Barker’s proposal.
“Great, I knew you would come around. Bro, I still don’t know what your name is?”
Barker laughed loudly, and the young bodyguard behind him returned his gun to its holster. The two men backed into the corner, disappearing into the shadows.
“Liola.”
Barker nodded and waved at Liola, then walked towards a dark alley.
Liola followed without any hesitation, since to him, walking in the darkness was like walking at home.
Barker, who was walking in the front, quietly thought it was quite strange, and at the same time started guessing Liola’s identity. The gray robe on Liola’s body puzzled Barker. He would never believe the agile Liola was a Sorcerer.
Walking in the dirty and narrow alley, Liola felt a sense of nostalgia, as if he had gone back to the time before he met Anise, living the shameful Assassin life.
Liola amused himself with the thought of him being better suited in living in the dark places, and he could caused much less trouble an Assassin than if he was with Kaiser and others.
After walking for a long time, a light shone through the dark alley — the exit was before them. Barker turned around and introduced the street to the “outsider” Liola with pride.
“This is the Dark Street, a dark place where even the Aklan government has no control over, and it’s also degenerated, dirty, and trashy street to outsiders.”
Liola raised his head to look in the street Barker spoke of.
The dark alley even did not make the Assassin raise a brow, but he frowned upon the colorful and dazzling street.
At the time, the so-called degenerated street was full of strange people, both men and women. There were hot girls wearing revealing clothes, and bucktoothed merchants covered in gold.
There were also some guys wearing a hat and cloak, with their hat lowered enough to cover their entire faces.
The surrounding buildings did fit the “dirty” description. Though the lights on the signboard were blinding, but the strange thing was, the buildings didn’t match the signs at all.
Behind the beautiful signboards were often old, damaged, and sometimes looked like they were about to collapse.
Judging from the dripping wet clothes hanging out from the windows, there were still people living inside.
Occasionally, there were a few children wearing torn clothes pouring water down from their balcony, and people underneath would cursed at them.
Despite the fact that the buildings looked like they were about to come crashing down, the bypassing crowds didn’t seem to care. They casually walked in and out of shops, try to purchasing all sorts of strange goods from ruin-like buildings.
The entire Dark Street looked like ancient ruins converted into a shopping center.
Modern and tall buildings can only be found in the distant, and they looked elegant as opposed to the surrounding buildings. This scenery created a striking contrast between the background setting of the Dark Street and its surroundings.
At least Barbalis had better taste. Liola thought about the academy’s laughing gate, no! School gate.
[T/N: ‘Laughing Gate’ sounds identical to ‘School Gate’ in Chinese]
Seeing Liola’s expressionless face, Barker, who was hoping to see Liola’s shocked or amazed expression, was disappointed. Nevertheless, he gathering himself together by reminding himself that this outsider has not seen the Dark Street’s most essential establishment — the Dark Arena.
‘Wait til he sees the Dark Arena, he definitely won’t be able to hold his calm exterior.’ Barker stomped his feet forcefully, and at the same time hurried his new competitor,
“Hurry! We’re going to go have a look at your new workplace.”
Liola stopped his wandering eyes, and followed Barker calmly. The Assassin’s sharp sense noticed Barker’s two bodyguards were closely following them, but moved from one shadow area to the next, and most people wouldn’t even sense their existence.
The two men were strong bodyguards, Liola judged determined. With his current ability, he could possibly beat the young one, but the middle-aged one seemed to be far stronger.
These two people were strong, in the eyes of a normal person. If Liola wasn’t sealed, their combined strength… would pale many levels in comparison to his.
Thinking of the two bodyguards, an idea dawned on Liola, and he asked,
“Why didn’t you ask bodyguards to be competitors? They’re not weaker than me.”
Barker sported a solemn expression.
“Little runt, Dark Street isn’t a playground. If you’re not careful you could lose your life at any moment. I would never let my two bodyguards leave me even for a few matches in the arena.”
Liola nodded. His calmly footsteps stopped, and his silver eyes looked at the giant, pyramid-shaped building with curiosity. Having never seen anything similar to it, Liola examined the strange triangular object.
Barker looked proud. The pyramid in front of them was the pride of everyone in the Dark Street, and the spiritual icon of all the outlaws of Dark Street.
In the gloomy Dark Arena, there was only one kind of people: gamblers — spectators gambling money and competitors gambling money with lives.
Chapter 3 : Sacrifice
* * *
“What the…”
Barker looked at Liola satisfactorily as Liola’s eyes gazed on the pyramid. Barker was waiting for the outsider to say some words of praise and exclamation.
Liola stared at the pyramid-shaped Dark Arena. Despite being used to seeing strange buildings, He had only one question in mind, which he asked directly, “What is an arena?”
Barker was stupefied. The older bodyguard widened his eyes, and the young one practically slipped. Barker had a blank expression, “Y-you don’t know what arena is?”
Liola nodded a couple of times.
Barker’s otherwise solemn face seemed to be amused, then he waved to Liola. They walked to the entrance to the Dark Arena, which already had countless excited people lined up to buy the ridiculously high-priced ticket to get in.
A buff man who tried to cut in line, was surrounded by the crowds and beaten up. People who were bored from standing in line became onlookers, and cheered as the fight went on.
Barker raised his eyebrows, and walked around the chaos headed directly to the door as if fights were a natural occurrence.
However someone was so confused because of the fight, he thought that Barker was trying to cut in line as well, so he reached his hand to grab Barker’s collar.
Unfortunately, after a sound of a gunshot, the scene fell completely silent, and the guy who didn’t know any better, lost a hand that tried to grab someone’s collar.
Barker pulled the collar of his clean suit, and glanced coldly at the guy rolling on the ground holding his arm.
With the terrified eyes of the onlookers, Barker majestically stepped into the Dark Arena Pyramid, and a few attendants hurried to him to welcome him. There were people who took his jacket, and someone brought a pail of water for Barker wash his hands in. The attendants didn’t dare to neglect Liola and the two bodyguards either, so they hurried to offer them pails of water as well.
Liola looked from the corner of his eyes, and saw Barker placing his hands inside the pail, so Liola did the same thing.
“Do you want to rest, or do you want to go check out the arena?” Barker courteously asked for Liola’s wish.
Liola hesitated.
Though he was curious about the arena, his body continuously warned him with signs of exhaustion and soreness.
Liola lowered his head to look at the bruises and dried blood, thought it was best for him to get healed now that he no longer has his immense Ki to use as shields.
Liola opened his mouth to request, “I want to treat my wounds first.”
Barker nodded, indicating his agreement, “Bring my new competitor to the room we have prepared.”
The attendant respectfully agreed.
Barker laughed and said to Liola, “You go treat your wounds first, and rest well for a few days. You will fight in the arena for me in a couple of days. Don’t worry, that guy definitely not a match for you.”
Liola nodded, and walked away with the attendants.
As soon as Barker saw Liola turned into a corner, his warm smile immediately vanished. Seeing that the hallway was clear, Barker murmured to himself,
“Finally found a sacrifice. I almost thought the first match I’m responsible for would not go according to plan.”
The older bodyguard who had remained quiet all this time finally opened his mouth, “He’s strong, and the match will be exciting.”
The young bodyguard remained quiet. As he thought about the nauseating match in the Dark Arena, and with Liola’s face looking younger than his own, the young bodyguard felt sorry for Liola.
The older bodyguard looked at his apprentice’s eyes, and said casually, “Perhaps he’ll be the first ‘sacrifice’ to actually win a match.”
Hearing his master say so, the young bodyguard thought about the silver light dancing in the crowd of homeless guys, and Liola’s fluent movements. He nodded, “Maybe he’ll win.”
Barker laughed in disdain, “Win? He better enjoy his last three days.”
Liola, who had already walked away with the attendant, had no idea he had become a sacrifice.
* * *
Liola followed the attendant to the elevator, and walked to an elegant door. The attendant respectfully opened the door, allowing Liola to enter his room.
Liola was a little shocked as he surveyed the place. Everything that should and could be in a suite was there.
The moment Liola entered the room, there was a gorgeous living room. It had a pricey and soft leather sofa, and the ground was covered with white carpet. One of the walls had a large sliding door installed, allowing Liola to watch the beautiful scenery outside.
“Please rest for a bit, and a maid will come serve you immediately.” The attendant bowed towards Liola, and closed the door.
Liola frowned. He thought the room assigned to him was too elegant to the point of exaggeration. He was certain these types of room were reserved for important guests, and not for mere a competitor such as himself. He didn’t believe Barker valued him so much having only just met him.
“Did I just run into more trouble?” Liola thought with a headache.
At this time, there was a knock on the door.
After Liola had said “come in”, a middle-aged cougar looking woman waved a feather fan, and led a group of women with varying styles of clothes into the room. Every woman looked fairly pretty. All of them showed Liola their most beautiful side and stare at Liola, which made him even more confused, unaware his current situation.
The middle-aged woman flirtatiously laughed, “Aiya, the guest this time looks so good, even I want to serve you.”
The all women stared at Liola’s delicate face. A few of them looked at Liola with flirtatious eyes while smiling to try to show their interest.
Liola frowned. The cougar woman who could read people clearly, understood Liola didn’t like to be checked out.
She immediately asked the girls to settle down, then turned her head to Liola,
“Honored guest, I’m the leader of these maids, and I’m bringing them to you, so you choose. I promise to you that every maid under me are definitely the prettiest, best tempered, and good with their hands and feet. You can pick whomever you want, and she will serve you.”
Liola finally understood what these maids were. Without even looking at the group of beautiful women, Liola casually said, “Anyone would do.”
Liola then he walked towards the sliding door, surprised to he was able to see the stadium where Kaiser and others were. Though it only looked like a small circle, it was enough to garner Liola’s interest, so he stood at the sliding doors without moving.
Hearing Liola’s response, the cougar woman’s smile froze.
‘How could there be a man who isn’t even a bit interested in her daughters! What a joke.’
In the Dark Street, she was known as the Mama Sang who had no ordinary girl under her. If someone wasn’t an important guest, they wouldn’t be able to touch her daughters!
[T/N, the middle-aged woman would be like a pimp, and the maids would be prostitutes; in China, it was common for the pimp to call the prostitutes her “daughters”]
“Aiya, guest, are you sure you don’t want to pick carefully? Every baby under me is extraordinarily beautiful, and very obedient. You can do anything you want.”
Mama Sang smiled with her teeth showing, and blinked suggestively at Liola. Unfortunately, even though Mama Sang blinked so much that her eyes were close to having spasm and smiled so much that her facial muscles hurts, Liola was still deep in thought, and completely ignored anything she said.
Seeing a person so young, Mama Sang thought he wouldn’t be as picky as her older guests. She hit her palm with her feather fan, and yelled irritably at her daughters,
“What are you all still doing here? The guest isn’t satisfied with you! Go away, and tell my Seven Fairies to come here!”
The women felt cheated and left, and a few of them turned around to peek at Liola, with disappointment all over their faces.
Mama Sang anxiously paced at the door, waving her feather fan repeatedly as she waited for the arrival for her trump card.
Liola was still standing next to the sliding doors, looking at the small stadium, thinking of things like ‘Are Kaiser and others still fighting in a match?’ or ‘Did Baolilong obediently stay with Jasmine?’
They wouldn’t abandon the match to look for him, right? Liola felt uneasy, but then tried to comfort himself: no, they won’t, even if they try looking for him, and if they fail to find him within a couple of days, they would probably give up.
After all, they had only known him for a couple of months, and Daylight only knew him for a few days. There’s no reason for them to be very worried about him…
Liola suddenly touched his face, remembering Meinan’s punch.
“Dear guest, guest… Bastard! Turn around!” Mama Sang called Liola more than ten times, but Liola didn’t give even a slightest of response. She finally lost her temper and released her lion roar.
“Mama Sang?” The Seven Fairies were in shock, seeing Mama Sang being so discourteous to a guest. She was at the point where her make up was practically falling off her face piece by piece, and her fake eyelashes were half hanging on her eyelids.
Liola turned around, and stared blankly, “Something’s up?”
Mama Sang’s angry face froze, and she forcefully twisted her ferocious face into a smile. Along with her make up falling off due to her facial muscles moving too much, she looked almost like “Flowery”; even Liola, whose heart was like still water, twitched his face a little after seeing such terrifying face.
[T/N: “Flowery” was a common female name. Literally “like flower”. Its current usage was popularized by Stephen Chow in one of his movies, in which a character with this name was played by a cross-dressing man with terrifying looks and manners (often seen picking his nose)].
“Ohaha.” After a moment of Mama Sang’s awkward laugh, “Guest, you are quite the insightful one. Those few lowly girls weren’t good enough for you, then why don’t you take a look at my seven precious daughters and see if any of them fit your taste better?”
Liola glanced at the seven girls expressionlessly. He thought, didn’t he just say anyone would do? Liola was a bit baffled, which ever girl it was didn’t matter to him, so Liola gave the same answer as before, “Anyone would do.”
*Crack!*
