Chapter 53 - 46: Technology and a Nasty Piece of Work

After buying the nails for his practice hunting, Chen Jue had planned to ask Jiang Zhe to go with him to Garbage Street in Binjiang Xia Sha and reminisce about the old days.

But to his surprise, the guy rushed home to take care of his kid the second work ended, flatly rejecting Chen Jue’s suggestion.

’He’s probably been going to the Jingtang Club too much recently, and his wife put him on lockdown.’

Still, the mention of Garbage Street filled Chen Jue’s mind with memories.

Back when he had just graduated from university and arrived in Hang City, the two greenhorns had no money in their pockets. They couldn’t afford high-end restaurants, so their favorite weekend activity was eating street food.

What was that saying again?

For broke college kids, the night market is a Michelin-starred restaurant, a roadside massage parlor is a luxury spa, and a budget inn is a five-star hotel.

They couldn’t afford expensive places but still wanted to satisfy their cravings, so they had no choice but to eat some "garbage" from the food carts.

But that street food was full of chemical additives and questionable tricks. It was incredibly satisfying to eat, but you were guaranteed to get the runs the next day.

Right after graduation, Chen Jue had no savings and his finances were tight. Occasionally, he and Jiang Zhe would find time on the weekends to go grab a bite of street food.

He wasn’t reckless with his eating; he usually went straight for the sticky rice and lean pork meatballs that tasted like home.

As someone from Wen City, adrift in Hang City far from home, he naturally missed the taste of his hometown after a while.

But once their salaries went up, the two of them rarely went to places like Garbage Street anymore.

For one, they were older and their standards were higher. Having tasted healthier food, they naturally wouldn’t touch that junk again.

And for another, it was a bit embarrassing to admit, but sitting in an office chair all day had given him a minor case of hemorrhoids, so he didn’t dare risk getting diarrhea.

...

Since he couldn’t get anyone to join him, Chen Jue drove slowly from memory to Binjiang University City. By now, the sky had darkened, and the residential complexes and skyscrapers he passed were dotted with lights.

But as soon as he arrived, Chen Jue was dumbfounded.

He hadn’t been here in several years, and the Garbage Street he remembered as filthy, chaotic, and overflowing with sewage had changed quite a bit.

The food carts from his memory were gone, all replaced by neat, square-shaped stalls. They had even built a domed food court inside, complete with proper seating and a performance stage.

Passing by outside, he could see flashy neon signs glittering everywhere. The lively atmosphere and crowds of college students mingled together, and the enticing aroma of food drifted through the air.

"Laxi Street?"

"Eat here and get the shits!"

’What kind of genius came up with this name? A true fucking talent!’

After finding a parking spot nearby, Chen Jue was blinded by the sign above the food court entrance as soon as he arrived.

He had planned to come here to hunt and grind some Skill Level for his Hidden Weapon Throwing, and also to find something to do with his mundane nightlife. He never expected the place to have changed so much.

He followed his memory to the stall that used to sell Wen City snacks. It was still the same husband and wife running it, but they had aged quite a bit in the few years since he’d last seen them.

Running a night market stall was hard work. Facing smoke and fire every day was exhausting, so it was normal to age faster than the average person.

Chen Jue himself, a white-collar worker who sat in an office, had a physical age almost three years older than his actual age! Let alone people like them, who worked from dawn to dusk in the food business.

But seeing that the old couple’s business was booming and their faces showed the happy satisfaction of making money, it was clear they were raking it in from the students’ pockets.

’Never underestimate these stall owners. As long as there’s a lot of foot traffic, they can make a ton of money in a year!’

...

He ordered a portion of sticky rice and lean pork meatballs, then found a seat and ate slowly.

The taste was the same as before, but the prices had skyrocketed ridiculously.

The two small dishes cost Chen Jue 30 yuan. When he first came to Hang City, they were only 12 yuan. The price had nearly tripled in just eight years.

"Street stall quality, big city prices."

’They’re really keeping up with the times!’ Chen Jue couldn’t help but sigh.

The management here probably worried that tourists would complain about the high prices for street food, so they even arranged seating for customers.

On the performance stage at the front of the seating area, a band formed by college students was performing. They sang quite well, and when they finished a song, they were met with applause and cheers from many tourists.

After listening to so many angsty music playlists, it was a nice change of pace to hear a live performance like this.

...

He counted the snacks as his dinner and sat watching the performance for a while.

The crowd was growing. Students from the several nearby universities gathered here, the streets were bustling, and it was hard to find a single empty seat in the square. There were also many tourists who had come with their families.

With so much foot traffic, the sanitation in the area started to decline.

Disposable cutlery was scattered all over the ground, along with the occasional scraps of fallen food.

However, there were dedicated staff cleaning the square, so Chen Jue couldn’t find any targets to "hunt" for the time being.

Once his food had more or less digested, Chen Jue got up from his seat and went to his car to put a box of nails in his pocket.

’Don’t be fooled by the fact that this Garbage Street has been tidied up. Some things aren’t what they seem on the surface.’

’Is there any street food vendor who doesn’t produce kitchen waste?’

He followed the cleaning staff for a while, bypassing the neat storefronts on the main street, and found a small garbage station in the back alley of Laxi Street where kitchen waste was piled up.

It was a damp environment. Several large, uncovered trash cans were haphazardly stacked together. The ground was covered in a mixture of unknown liquid slop, and the air was filled with the nauseating stench of food scraps.

Swarms of flies buzzed overhead, and large southern cockroaches crawled along the walls.

On the rims of the trash cans and in the drainage ditches on the ground, several large, gray-furred rats were eating scattered food scraps. Judging by their plump bodies, they were clearly permanent residents.

’Found them!’

A look of delight crossed Chen Jue’s face.

He pretended to play on his phone for a while off to the side. After the cleaning staff left, he finally took a round woodworking nail from his pocket.

The nail was three inches long, about the same size as a small international dart.

But trying to nail a moving rat from a distance was exponentially more difficult.

The alley was dimly lit, visibility was poor, and the rats were positioned at tricky angles—not like the green-headed fly from earlier that had rested on an open tabletop.

Besides, Chen Jue didn’t have a headlamp like that Urban Hunter, Ahfei. He had to rely solely on his own eyes to aim at the rats.

Getting any closer was also not an option.

Once he got within five meters, the rats would perk up their heads alertly and stop eating. Their beady black eyes would watch this strange human from a distance. At the slightest disturbance, they would dart behind the trash cans. It was as if their anti-tracking abilities were innately at the Master Level.

’A rat’s reaction speed is ten times that of a human.’

’Their top escape speed reaches eight meters per second.’

’And they’re tough, highly adaptable, and their survival ability is among the top tier of rodents!’

’Their only weakness is extremely poor eyesight, about 1/30th of a human’s. They’re bad at seeing moving objects, which is why there’s the saying about them being ’shortsighted’ and easily pounced on by cats.’

’But their Night Vision Ability is strong—six times better than a human’s. Their eyes are on the sides of their heads, giving them a field of view over 280 degrees. They’re natural-born creatures of the dark.’

’If I want a kill, it has to be a one-shot hit. And I need to throw it with force!’ Chen Jue thought, glancing down at the rat facts he’d looked up online as he shuffled closer to the trash cans.

When he was about ten meters away, the rats on the trash cans started to react, each one perking up.

’This is about as close as I can get.’

Seeing this, Chen Jue took a step back. Ten meters was the closest he could get, which was also the limit of the rats’ night vision range.

Coincidentally, it was also about the limit of Chen Jue’s own nearsighted vision.

Any farther, and the rats would become blurry, double-visioned images, which would seriously affect his performance.

’I still have to keep training my eyes!’

’I wonder if there’s a way to improve my night vision.’ Chen Jue made a mental note to look it up when he got home.

But for now, he had to nail these rats!

He raised his left hand, made a fist, and pinched the three-inch round nail vertically between his thumb and index finger.

From this distance, using a standard dart-throwing technique was definitely not going to work.

He had to rely on brute force and use a slinging throw.

With his Lv. 5 Master Level [Hidden Weapon Throwing] Skill, the moment Chen Jue handled the nail, he instinctively knew how to unleash its maximum power.

His vision focused. He aimed at a rat on the edge of a trash can. With a SWOOSH, he swung his arm forcefully, and the nail flew across the ten-meter distance at incredible speed.

THUD! The nail pierced the propped-open lid of the plastic trash can, making the whole can shudder and slicing off the tip of a rat’s tail in the process.

The rats all jumped in fright, their four paws scrabbling frantically on the hard plastic lid as they scurried into the shadows behind the trash can.

’A failure?’

Chen Jue paused, about to go closer for a look, when a system notification popped up:

——————

[Ding!]

[You have completed a qualifying nighttime Hidden Weapon combat instance. Target successfully hit. Your Hidden Weapon technique has improved.]

[Hidden Weapon Throwing Skill Level +10]

——————

’Just cutting off a rat’s tail counts?’ Chen Jue rubbed his chin, backed away a little, and took out another nail to prepare.

Having watched many City Hunter videos that afternoon, Chen Jue knew about the greedy nature of these rats. As long as there was food in front of them, they would risk their lives to come out and eat.

Some were especially stubborn; even after being hit by a small steel ball from a slingshot, they would poke their heads out to continue eating until their internal injuries took over and it was game over.

This was the foraging instinct of a wild animal.

’Life is optional! But the food must be eaten!’

Sure enough, after less than half a minute, the first rat scurried out from the shadows.

The rat circled the top of the trash can warily, and upon finding no danger, it began to feast again.

Probably because this rat scout had paved the way, the others followed it out of the shadows. Even the one with the severed tail emerged.

’Let the music play, and the dancing continue!’

Chen Jue chuckled to himself and once again shuffled forward.

His last throw had missed, likely due to his lack of focus and the fact that it was his first time slinging a nail from this distance, so he hadn’t gotten the feel for it yet.

This time, he made an adjustment. He lifted the arms of his glasses on his ears slightly, changing the angle of the lenses. This improved the correction, and his vision became much clearer.

He also took longer to aim. Chen Jue gripped the nail again and threw it with all his might.

SPLAT! Blood spattered on the spot. The round nail pierced straight through the severed-tail rat’s head. It struggled for a few moments before falling off the trash can.

Just then, a notification popped up on his panel:

——————

[Ding!]

[You have completed an excellent nighttime Hidden Weapon combat instance. A small mammal has been successfully killed. Your Hidden Weapon Throwing technique has greatly improved.]

[Hidden Weapon Throwing Skill Level +100]