“Stop looking at me in this way. You find the television interesting because you’re not exposed to the world. You won’t find it interesting anymore after watching for another few more days. Don’t forget about our mission. We ran all the way here not for the television, didn’t we?” Li Mu asked with dissatisfaction.

The girls were a little embarrassed. Shen Zixing asked, “Brother Mu, what do you want to discuss with us?”

“Something serious!” Li Mu took out a cash note. “See this? This is a one-hundred-yuan cash note. We left one piece of it only. Three of us will go starving if we don’t go and earn money.”

“Brother Mu, do you mean we’re running out of money?” Shen Zixing asked puzzledly.

“Clever girl. That’s what I meant. Girls, it’s time for you to shine. I have an idea to discuss with you.”

Shen Ming’er patted her chest and replied loudly, “Tell me. Do you want us to kill someone? We can do it for you!”

Li Mu tapped her head and scolded her in a low voice, “Lower your voice. This house is not soundproof. We don’t want the neighborhood to listen to what we’re saying.”

Shen Ming’er stuck her tongue out and made a face at him.

“Brother Mu, tell us your plan. What should we do? Are we going to kill someone?” Shen Zixing asked.

“Stop talking stupid things here. Only wicked people will kill someone for money. Do I look like that kind of person? However, I do need your help in doing a little bad act.”

They did not know what he was up to. So they looked at him curiously.

“Have you seen people performing martial arts for money?” Li Mu asked.

They shook their head together. Shen Ming’er asked, “What is that all about?”

“You don’t know that? What kind of television shows have you been watching? Did you see how the monkey performed in the show just now? I saw both of you were quite happy watching it. The monkey made a performance to earn money.”

“We don’t know how to perform with a monkey. And we don’t have one either!” Shen Ming’er said confusedly.

“I’m not asking you to get a monkey to do the performance. You girls are going to do that yourselves!”

“We’re not monkeys. You are!” Shen Ming’er was annoyed.

“Why can’t you understand what I said? I didn’t say that you’re monkeys. I’m asking you to perform martial arts so that the audience will give us money after your performance.”

“You mean people will give us money after we perform martial arts?” Shen Zixing asked suspiciously.

“Of course, they don’t. The people are not stupid. Why would they pay you for performing martial arts for them?”

“Then why do we do the performance for them?”

“Stupid girls. We can always hypnotize them. Do I need to be so explicit? Three of us are in-charged of different tasks. One of you performs, and the other hypnotizes the audience. I’ll collect money from them after that. We got to do it if we want to be rich. Do you want your meals? Do you want to watch television? We got to work hard for it!”

Shen Zixing looked at him with fear and asked softly, “Brother Mu, it sounds like a robbery. Am I right?”

Tsk. It was good for them to watch some television shows sometimes. The girls had become more knowledgeable nowadays.

Li Mu answered without feeling any embarrassment, “Nonsense. We’re not robbing them. We’re different from the robbers because we work for the money. I’m your brother and you should listen to me. I won’t let you watch television anymore if you don’t listen to me.”

Shen Ming’er whispered, “Brother Mu is a bad guy. He forced us to kill and rob. He’s a big bad guy.”

“I’ll send you home if you dare talk nonsense again!”

“Alright. I’ll keep quiet then. Brother Mu, where should we start robbing?”

“I’m not sure where to start too. It’s okay. We can watch some local news and decide on where to start robbing. No, I mean where to do the martial arts performance!”

“Let’s not go for it!” Shen Zixing said suddenly.

“What do you mean? Are you telling me that you don’t want to do it?” Li Mu asked.

“Not really. I feel that we shouldn’t waste our energy in doing it. It’s easier to get people to give us the money on the streets than performing martial arts in front of them. It’s so embarrassing to do that!”

Li Mu sneered at her and did not expect her to care about her image so much. However, her suggestion would not work at all.

“What a stupid girl! What you suggested was a form of robbery. Do you think people will not report to the cops if they have lost their money for no good reason? We’ll be under arrest once the cops are involved. Just to let you know that I’m a fugitive now. I don’t want to get myself into trouble anymore.”

The girls looked at him in shock. Apparently, they were scared by what he said in the latter part.

“Brother Mu, what have you done wrong that the cops have to arrest you?” Shen Ming’er asked curiously.

“I did nothing wrong at all. It’s all Lin Wan’s fault. Stop asking about it. So, are you two going to do this with me?”

Did they have a choice? The girls had become his followers and would listen to his instructions obediently. From an innocent girl, they became a problematic teenager because of him.

Of course, Li Mu did all these not because he was evil by nature but because he was forced by circumstances. He got to earn money to buy food and make a living. Therefore, he gave up on doing what was good at the end of the day.

After deciding on the plan, they switched to a local news channel and watched it for a good two days.

From the news, Li Mu gathered two pieces of information. The first information was about the city where they stayed. The city’s name was Xilin. The busiest place here was Huixiang Commercial Street in the city center. The second information was about the recent bird flu outbreak. The government encouraged the public to wear masks when they were out.

This information would be sufficient for them to take action. There were masks in the backpack. Though they did not have spears and swords, they could replace them with a shovel and a crowbar. That would be good enough. The next day, three of them had a good breakfast before going to the street with their shovel and crowbar.

All of them wore a mask for different reasons. Li Mu was afraid that the cops might recognize him. And the girls did not want people to see their faces because they felt shameful to perform martial arts on the street.

They went out early morning and came home at night. However, they did not get to earn even a single cent.

All of them were too shy to do it. Li Mu asked the girls to perform martial arts in public. But he hid somewhere and waited for his turn to collect money. The girls were embarrassed to do it also because their brother was not there to support them.

They did not earn anything after a day of work. Worse still, they had spent a lot out of the remaining one hundred yuan.

The security guards in Commercial Street were perplexed seeing them carrying the shovel and crowbar walking here and there. Didn’t they feel tired wandering around with these the whole day?

After coming home, Li Mu looked at the remaining twenty-eight bucks and thirty-five cents in anguish. He made up his mind to go all out tomorrow. If he could not earn any money still, he might as well call up Lin Wan and ask her to come and pick him up!

The next day, they went to the street with their shovel and crowbar again. After wandering around for half a day, still, they could not muster the courage to start the performance.

It might look easy to do. But it was indeed a real challenge. One might not dare to say anything because of feeling shy and fearful.

They spent all their money after buying their last meal. Li Mu tightened his belt and told the girls with a firm tone, “Let’s go to the shopping mall basement parking area. We’re going to rob whoever we bump into there!”

Three of them sneaked into a shopping mall basement parking area and heard someone shouting from their back after walking for a while, “Stop moving, you guys!”

They turned around and saw two security guards in uniform chasing after them.

One of them asked, “Who are you? And why did you carry a shovel wherever you go? You guys have been wandering around for two days. What are you up for?”

Suddenly, Li Mu thought of an idea and smiled. “Brother, do you want to watch a martial arts performance?”

“What?”

“I’m asking do you want to watch a martial art performance?”

…

“Sure!”

“What about you?”

“Of course!”

The plan would be easier to carry out with the security guards’ help.

One of them helped them block the elevator entrance and the other brought people to come and watch the performance.

After a short while, a corner of the basement was full of people. Everyone looked at them in a daze expressionlessly!

Nothing much needed to be said in front of a bunch of people who had fallen asleep. Li Mu signaled Shen Ming’er to perform a set of martial arts by curling his lips.

The girl performed reluctantly. The performance was nothing special. Everyone looked at her without any expression. They did not cheer or clap for her.

Then, Li Mu asked Shen Zixing to perform another round. When it was about to finish, he coughed a bit and started collecting money from the crowd. A commotion started. Everyone generously gave them their money, rings, necklaces, watches, and even their bank cards.

Li Mu said in shock, “It’s enough. Don’t have to give us so much. You can give us another time!”

He didn’t dare to take so much money from the crowd. They would probably report to the cops once they found out all their money had gone missing when they regained their consciousness.

“People might not feel it if they only give us a little. There is no way to rush in this. Many a little make a mickle!” Li Mu thought.

The first round was successful. Li Mu counted the money they received after they got back home. There were about ten thousand yuan. If they continued to keep it up, they would get to buy a car very soon.

They wanted to celebrate their success. However, Li Mu didn’t dare to go to the restaurant. So he ordered a lot of food from the delivery company and feasted with the girls in the rented house.

After about ten days, their collected fund exceeded more than one hundred thousand yuan. Then, Li Mu called the landlord to come over to the house and bought his old Santana for thirty thousand yuan.

One shall not underestimate this old car as the performance of this old-fashioned car was still good. Besides, it would not attract a lot of attention. Thus, it was the most suitable car for them now.

The landlord happily left with the money. For him, thirty thousand yuan was a handsome sum of money. He thought he could only sell the car for ten thousand yuan. But Li Mu gave him more than a double fold of what he wanted. He was pleased with the sales.

A day later, three of them drove to the mountain in the morning.

It was time for them to do the business. The threats from the Lin Family and the Shen Family made him feel uneasy. Li Mu wanted to improve his ability to fight against them. Since he could not practice martial arts, he would have to acquire other skills!

He got to know the real purpose of acquiring the Bone of Death from the girls in these past days. The most valuable benefit of the Bone of Death was not to cultivate fatal energy but to create puppets and change one’s bone.