26 [Bonus Chapter] | Chapter 26. Jessica Jones

The rough banging of the door made Ryan, who was in the antique shop, subconsciously wrinkle his eyebrows.

He turned his head, and the first thing he smelled was the pungent smell of alcohol.

"You're the owner of this shop?"

Then, he saw a woman with a hoodie and messy hair, carrying a wine bottle, staggering in.

"That's me."

Ryan looked up and down at the woman in front of him. The other party had a thin appearance, but she was always frowning, like a grumpy old lady.

"Help me see how much this thing is worth."

With that, the woman pulled out a ring from the pocket of her coat and tossed it on the table in front of Ryan, then raised her bottle and took a swig, acting like a complete drunk.

Ryan picked up the ring that popped up in front of him with a raised eyebrow, looked from side to side, and then looked up at the drunk across the room; then opened his mouth and replied, "100 at the most."

Thud --

"One hundred? Burp ..."

With a big burp, the woman lowered her bottle, displeased with the price Ryan had offered. The bottom of the bottle clattered against the table with a loud sound. The woman then reached out and pulled Ryan, who was across from her, into view with a drunken, questioning face, "You think because I'm drunk, you can scam me?"

Ryan turned his head, avoiding the pungent smell of alcohol that slammed into his face, and moved his body to struggle free. He found that the woman's strength was unexpectedly huge, and he couldn't get away from her so easily. This caused his eyes to freeze, and he began to look directly at the unexpected guest in front of him.

"This ring isn't in good condition and has visible scratches on it. 100 dollars is the most reasonable price I can offer."

Although surprised by the woman's strength, which was in contrast to her thin appearance, Ryan didn't appear too alarmed. He simply gave the results of his own appraisal in a calm tone.

"If you're not happy with the price, it's perfectly fine to go somewhere else and get another opinion, but I don't think it would make much difference."

The woman opened her intoxicated eyes and stared at Ryan in silence for a moment before she let go of her hand with a look of impatience. She scratched her messy hair as she continued to chug her drink, "Fuck, well, a 100 is a 100. That bastard, he actually tricked me with this kind of shit. If I ever see him again, I'll ..."

After swearing for a while, the woman took the money Ryan handed over and shoved it into her pocket.

Then she looked at the layout of the antique shop with her drowsy eyes. When she walked in before, she just saw the roadside shop that seemed interesting and didn't think much about it. Now, looking at it again, she noticed that there are actually quite a lot of things in this antique shop.

Although, most of them were fakes.

Out of the keenness of a private detective, the woman could see at a glance that most of the items in the shop were only imitations.

Looking around the antique shop, the woman quickly lost interest. She touched the bill she had just got in her pocket, which was the only 100 dollars left on her. She turned to look at Ryan in the shop, hesitated, and then said, "Are you interested in a partnership?"

"Partnership?" Ryan looked up at the woman in front of him.

"That's right." After drinking the last sip of wine in the bottle, the woman tossed the bottle in a trash can, "My name is Jessica Jones, a private detective based in Hell's Kitchen. My usual work involves settling disputes between couples, like whose wife is cheating or whose husband is having an affair ..."

'Jessica Jones, a private detective, and the unusual strength that she had just displayed...' Ryan finally remembered the identity of the other person when he heard the woman's name.

One of the future members of the Defenders, a female superhero with a tragic past.

Of course, none of that matters. The main thing for Ryan was that Jessica Jones's presence certainly represented a new target to collect reputation points.

Besides, she came to the door herself.

"... I probably said too much. After rambling on for a while, Jessica Jones seemed to react to the fact that she had become a bit too chatty under the influence of alcohol. She rubbed her vaguely swollen head and then continued, "Actually, my aim is simple. In the future, if there's another payment like the ring, can you help me exchange it for money like you did today? "

Because of the relationship between her own experience and personality, Jessica Jones's private detective's work wasn't too smooth. Occasionally, when she received a job, her final payment was often cut because of her excessive actions.

"If you can bring items in, I don't have a problem with it."

Considering Jessica's identity and the points she could give him in the future, Ryan would never turn it down.

"Then it's settled!" Having a certain place to exchange things for money, Jessica's furrowed brows relaxed a bit, and she offered to shake Ryan's hand, followed by another burp. She then took a plate off the antique shop's shelf, looked back and forth a few times, and said, "This is a nice piece. I'll take it as poof of our partnership."

"Hey, that's not a cheap plate ..."

Seeing Jessica Jones take an item from his shop in a casual way, Ryan subconsciously opened his mouth to say something, but she was already running out the door without looking back.

"... cost me a full dollar."

Looking at Jessica's hurried back, Ryan silently whispered the second half of his sentence.

As mentioned earlier, most of the things in Ryan's antique shop, no, it should be said that 99%, were all wholesale goods from Chinatown, including the plate that Jessica took with her.

　　...

Taking his eyes off of Jessica's back...

Although he recognised the other party's identity and knew that in the future, she would become one of the Defenders, the poorer version of the Avengers...

But Ryan didn't expect to get reputation points from Jessica Jones right away after just meeting her.

There were many ways to gain reputation points. The easiest of which, naturally, was straight up fight them, as he did with the Hulk. Jessica Jones's superpowers were good, but there was still a big gap between her and Hulk's. Therefore, if Ryan set his mind to it, he could obviously get a lot of reputation points from her.

However, for one thing, this reckless approach was clearly not in line with Ryan's plans.

Secondly, he was very satisfied with his current status as the owner of this antique shop and didn't want to get exposed that soon.

So, shaking his head, Ryan turned and picked up the empty wine bottle that Jessica Jones threw in the store's trash can and was going to dispose of it in the bottle recycling bin.

He suddenly heard the ringing of a bell.

With the sound of the bell at the door, a man in a purple suit walked in.

...

-:Binge:-

Bonus Chapter at 500 Power Stones !!!