Chapter 43: Chapter 43: The Slums

After Fox Ear was done with her, Jiang Qin was completely transformed. She went from a sweet, soft little female to a disheveled, foul-smelling, and slovenly half-beastman female.

He had even stuck a pair of fluffy black cat ears on her head.

Now, even You Wei wouldn’t recognize her if he saw her.

Her once delicately beautiful features were now a mess of squinty eyes, a flat nose, and thick lips, her face covered in mottled marks.

Her fair skin had been darkened to a dusky brown.

She honestly looked like a crazed, homeless beggar.

Once the disguise was complete, one of Fox Ear’s companions led the way, carrying a tattered bag.

Fox Ear, meanwhile, dragged her along behind them.

The four of them left the junkyard and walked west for more than half an hour, finally reaching a shantytown.

If Jiang Qin had to describe it, it was a bit like the slums in India.

Filthy, stinking, and chaotic all in one.

There were no houses here, only one shack after another, all dilapidated and cramped.

But the place was huge, like a massive settlement. It was heavily populated, and most of the inhabitants were half-beastmen.

The four of them now looked just like these people.

Besides the half-beastmen, Jiang Qin also saw people chained up at doorways. They all looked numb; some were working, while others lay motionless on the ground.

As they walked forward and passed a section where the shacks looked a little different, she saw many male half-beastmen lining up.

In front of the shacks stood a group of men and women who were being selected.

There were half-beastmen, as well as pure humans.

They were much cleaner than everyone else, with a bit more meat on their bones, and they were all reasonably good-looking…

Seeing the four of them pass by, a half-beastman in front of the shacks, his face mostly covered in scales, walked over with a smile.

Sizing up Jiang Qin as if appraising goods, he asked, “Brother, are you guys looking to sell her?”

Jiang Qin’s chained hands clenched tightly beneath her sleeves.

However, she wasn’t worried that Fox Ear would sell her. They had lost so many people and so much to kidnap her; it couldn’t have been for a piddling amount of Star Coins.

So, as expected, Fox Ear shook his head and refused. “This is a female I went to great trouble to catch. I’m keeping her.”

The half-beastman gave him a look of pity.

“Brother, you must be really desperate to go for a female like this.”

He offered a sincere suggestion, “You’d be better off selling her and spending a little to find a few pretty females or males at our place. We’ve got delicate pure humans and half-beastmen with great stamina~”

After speaking, the male half-beastman winked suggestively at Fox Ear and his two companions, his unfinished words full of certain stimulating implications.

Fox Ear was unmoved, a smile still on his face. He pulled Jiang Qin into his arms and said, “I have a weird quirk. I just love ugly little things~”

The half-beastman was clearly shocked, probably never imagining a male could have such a fetish. In the end, he gave Fox Ear a respectful thumbs-up before walking away.

Jiang Qin watched the man walk off with a smile to talk to another male.

’He must be the one responsible for drumming up business for these tents.’

After leaving this special area, the four of them continued onward.

They didn’t stop until they reached an equally dilapidated shack.

Once inside, Fox Ear and the two other males sat down and began fiddling with some things she didn’t understand.

Seeing that no one was paying her any attention, Jiang Qin had no choice but to sit down quietly.

The length of the chain didn’t allow her to get too far from Fox Ear.

“Gag…” Perhaps because she could finally relax a little, Jiang Qin started to dry-heave uncontrollably.

After all, she hadn’t eaten anything, so all she could bring up was bitter bile…

Fox Ear frowned and walked over. He scanned her body with an instrument, and only after confirming she wasn’t sick did his brow relax.

He then asked with a grin, “Little cutie, don’t tell me you’re getting sick from your own stench?”

Jiang Qin rolled her eyes at him, speechless. ’He knows why and he’s still asking.’

“Why aren’t you talking? You haven’t said a word this whole time, have you? Are you naturally quiet? How about you sing a song for your big brothers?”

“Gag… I can’t… sing.”

“Alright, then. Seeing your pitiful little face really breaks my heart. Go rest over there.”

After saying this with mock concern, Fox Ear grabbed her arm and forcibly injected her with something.

Then, she felt the world start to spin.

Before passing out, she seemed to hear someone say disapprovingly, “Fox Ear, don’t inject her with too much of that stuff. What if it affects the research?”

“I know,” Fox Ear replied lazily.

***

When she woke up again, the sky was already bright.

Jiang Qin found that the chain was no longer on her wrist. Instead, it was fastened to her ankle, with the other end locked onto an iron pipe stuck in the ground.

The iron pipe was very tall, piercing straight through the roof of the shack.

’So there’s no way I can slip the chain off the top, and pulling the pipe out of the ground seems next to impossible.’

Fox Ear wasn’t in the shack; she didn’t know where he had gone.

As for the other two males, they were still in the shack, continuing to fiddle with something.

They weren’t trying to be discreet with their conversation at all, probably figuring it didn’t matter if Jiang Qin heard them or not. After all, she couldn’t escape.

So Jiang Qin began to eavesdrop openly.

“The people up top are starting to apply pressure. The spaceport entrance will be fully unsealed by tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah. So we just need to hide for a few days and avoid the search.”

“We still can’t let our guard down. There are several groups looking for her on Blue Star right now, and three groups from the Main Star have gotten involved too.”

“Main Star? Didn’t we investigate her? She has no background. Her mother is just a B-level female, and her partners are only A-level males. No threat at all.”

The male with the intel explained, “The Jiang Family hasn’t sent anyone. Our people found that one of the groups is likely from the family of that little bar’s owner.

Another group is Tianwen Entertainment Company. This female’s composing skills are pretty good, so she probably has a contract with Tianwen Entertainment.

The last group is a bit more troublesome. They’re from the Bai family on the Main Star.”

“The Bai family? She’s connected to the Bai Family?”

The male shook his head. “Our intel says no, but we’re not sure if that’s the truth or if the connection is just too classified.”

“Besides those three troublesome groups, there’s another small problem.

She has some fans on the Star Network. Those fans pooled their money and hired a bunch of Bounty Hunters. They’ll probably reach Blue Star by noon.”

Bounty Hunters are more annoying than the official Guard Army because their methods are harder to predict.

They don’t play by the rules and have an intimate knowledge of a planet’s gray areas.

Their only weakness is that they generally don’t like to team up. A small squad is possible, but not a large group.

Because not a single one of them takes orders well. Putting them all together is just asking for trouble.

So they almost never choose to cooperate with strangers.

However, a group that dares to kidnap a female in public is naturally not afraid of some Bounty Hunters.

It would just be a bit of a hassle if they found us and tied us down.

“Other than them, the rest are no threat at all.”

“What about the Guard Army?”

“The higher-ups have already pulled some strings. We have our people on the inside. If we run into them, they’ll only be helping us.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep