Chapter 324 — The Cool Girl

"Good, then thanks!" Wei Zhao took the cap and put it straight on his head. "If anyone gives me trouble, can I say I'm a flunky of York's, one of the boss's boys?"

"Of course, no problem at all!" York was grinning from ear to ear at being called boss. "Say whatever you like! I, York, still carry a little weight here in Blue City."

Wei Zhao nodded, counted out four hundred euros, and handed them to York. Wei Zhao had only a few thousand euros in his pocket altogether, so York did not eye him with any particular greed; once the money was in hand, he simply told Wei Zhao to get in the car. The key was already in the ignition — inside a repair shop, what was there to fear from thieves?

Wei Zhao drove straight out of the repair shop. With this cap, a good many things would come a great deal easier to him. That York still thought he had gotten the better of the bargain.

He had not driven far from the repair shop when he spotted a pretty young girl standing at the roadside, hailing a ride. When she saw Wei Zhao's car coming, she waved at him.

Of course, Wei Zhao had no real interest in beauties who flagged down cars to strike up a conversation. In the North District, the beauties who came up to him numbered eighty if not a hundred, and what trade they plied he could not begin to guess...

What drew Wei Zhao's notice to this girl, however, was that she was an Easterner. Here in this foreign land, the sight of an Eastern girl felt uncommonly warm and familiar.

On her cool little face she wore a pair of sunglasses, and she was dressed all in black, in tight-fitting martial-style clothes that drew the eye. Yet Wei Zhao had a feeling of deja vu — though the sunglasses covered most of her face.

Had it not been for that sense of familiarity, Wei Zhao would not have stopped the car merely because the girl had an Eastern face.

"Something the matter?" Wei Zhao wore a blue baseball cap and oversized sunglasses — roughly the same getup as this cool chick, most likely — so that no one could make out his true face from outside either.

"Hey there, handsome — could I catch a ride with you?" The cool chick forced a trace of a smile onto her cool face.

"A ride? I don't even know where I'm going myself — how am I supposed to take you?" As Wei Zhao spoke, he was studying the girl. She looked very familiar, giving him a sense of having met her somewhere before, yet for the moment he could not place her.

Over the years Wei Zhao had seen far, far too many people; now and then finding a face familiar was a perfectly ordinary thing.

"That's just perfect, then. Since you don't know where you're going, just drop me at the Ken River Hotel." Without further ado, the cool chick pulled open the passenger door and got in.

"Heh..." Wei Zhao laughed. "I don't know where the Ken River Hotel is either."

"Hm?" The cool chick was slightly taken aback. "Aren't you one of the Water Blue Gang? And you don't know where the Ken River Hotel is?"

"Just joined. Is there a problem?" Wei Zhao shrugged.

"Oh... nothing. Just drive — I'll give you directions." The cool chick's voice sounded faintly disappointed, though it remained icy cold.

Wei Zhao started the car, and it rolled slowly forward. Out of the corner of his eye he was sizing up the pretty cool chick beside him. "A tourist, here from out of town?"

But no sooner had he asked than Wei Zhao felt it impossible. How could an out-of-town tourist be so bold as to stand on the street hailing rides? And especially once she knew he was a member of the Water Blue Gang — she still dared to get in? Was she not afraid of dying?

At that thought, Wei Zhao grew a little curious about the cool chick's identity. Had he seen her before? If he could take off her sunglasses, perhaps he would remember.

"Independent traveler," the cool chick replied — which rather surprised Wei Zhao. Independent traveler?

"An independent traveler who knows about the Water Blue Gang?" Wei Zhao shot back. This cool chick was plainly lying.

"I'm interested, is all. I admire the strong!" The cool chick did her best to make her smile alluring and charming, but the smile forced onto that cool little face of hers came out closer to a sneer.

"..." Wei Zhao was somewhat at a loss for words. If you're going to lie, at least make it convincing, no? Still, he could not help finding it rather funny. "Admire the strong? So you came all this way to wait at the Water Blue Gang's doorstep just to catch a ride?"

"Yeah — didn't I just run into you?" Cool Girl smiled. "Why don't you tell me about your gang? I want to hear!"

"Sorry, like I said, I just joined. Guess I've disappointed you." Wei Zhao found himself growing more and more curious about this Cool Girl. She couldn't even lie convincingly — what exactly did she do?

"Then you should at least know who your gang's leader is, right? Is it Hulan Dun? I heard it's him!" Cool Girl asked.

"Probably." Wei Zhao had looked up information on the Water Blue Gang online; the leader's name did seem to be that.

"Then do you know where he is?" Cool Girl ignored Wei Zhao's "probably" and pressed on. "Is he also inside this auto repair shop? Or at the Blue Castle?"

"Inside the repair shop, I think..." Wei Zhao answered offhandedly. This too was a scrap of information he had gotten from that taxi driver.

"I see. So do you get to see him normally? Which of those buildings does he usually work in?" Cool Girl continued curiously.

"That I wouldn't know." Wei Zhao was no real member of the Water Blue Gang — how would he know so much?

"How come you don't know anything I ask?" Cool Girl was a little angry. "Then can you take me to see him?"

"What do you want to see him for?" Wei Zhao became even more convinced this Cool Girl was somewhat odd. But right after asking, Wei Zhao frowned — because he saw a black van following him at a distance behind!

He had been so absorbed in talking with Cool Girl that he had no idea where her so-called Kenhe Hotel was and had been driving about completely aimlessly — and yet, despite his random driving, that van behind him was still trailing him at a distance. If someone told him it wasn't following him, Wei Zhao wouldn't believe it!

Men from the Water Blue Gang? Wei Zhao frowned and reviewed his earlier behavior — there had been nothing suspicious about it, and he hadn't even revealed his purpose. He hadn't dared carry much cash on him either. Why would the Water Blue Gang follow him?

What's more, what struck Wei Zhao as strange was that this van must have picked up the trail afterward — it hadn't followed him out from the Water Blue Gang's repair shop, because when he left the shop, Wei Zhao had deliberately checked behind him, and there had been no one tailing him...

Could it be someone following Cool Girl? At that thought, Wei Zhao found it quite possible — most likely it was only after he picked up Cool Girl that the van behind had fallen in behind them!

Just who was this Cool Girl?