Shadow Empire - Chapter 945 City Search
Shadow Empire
Chapter 945 City SearchChapter 945 City SearchA young man came to an alley with his hands in his trouser pockets. Just as he was about to go in, two people leaning against the wall in the alley stood up and raised their hands to stop him.
"Explain your intentions, my friend."
The young man took a step back, took his hands out of his trouser pockets, and raised them slightly to the same height as his chest.
"I came here to buy something. I was introduced by...
The two sturdy men stared at his eyes, and when they saw that the young man couldn't stand it anymore and looked away, one of the sturdy men made way for him to pass.
Another person warned him, "Don't cause trouble here, you know the consequences of causing trouble!"
The young man nodded and took a deep breath, "Yes, I know."
"Can I go in now?"
The burly man nodded to indicate that he could go in. The young man then breathed a sigh of relief, put his hands back into his trouser pockets, and walked into the alley.
From the outside, this alley is just an alley entrance, and it is dark inside and you can't see anything.
In fact, after walking about twenty steps and turning a corner, you can see a larger and more open area.
This is a place similar to that of selling stolen goods, and the young man suspected that some higher-class people were also selling some things here.
He didn't know, but he heard from others that those who sold grain were actually agents of bigwigs in the upper class.
They took out the moldy grain piled up in the warehouses of the big guys and sold it here in exchange for money or gold, and then they planned to leave here and go to the Federation.
People always have a lot of rumors that they can't tell where they heard from, and they are happy to spread these rumors and add some of their own ideas to make slight re-creations.
The purpose of the young people coming here is to buy some food.
He has been lucky recently. Two friends found him and were willing to give him some money, but there was one requirement: they needed to hide in his house for a while.
They have known each other since childhood and are good brothers from the slums.
Although Zhuolan is the capital of Lapa, there are still many slums in this city, and these slums occupy the largest area.
Slums surround the city center of Zhuolan, which is like a yellowish egg. The most essential part of the city is not big, and the big ones are where the poor people live.
The poor people living here work for the rich people in the city for some wages, or sacrifice their health in exchange for a meager income.
As soon as people became adults, they would go out to look for work, and the children at home would gather together to play, and that's how they got to know each other.
We have known each other for more than ten years and we can be considered very good friends.
Even if his friends didn't give him money, he wouldn't refuse as long as they got some food for themselves.
Not to mention now, not only are they willing to take care of their own affairs, but they are also willing to give him extra money!
He had some guesses that the two brothers might have made some money somewhere, and now that the incident had happened, they could only hide.
He was not surprised by this situation. This was the life of the poor.
Or like their parents, men work in the lowest jobs in the city, while women engage in the sex business to earn the same meager income to support themselves and their families.
Or, you can take another path, a path where no one knows the ending.
He was a little envious, and when the hype died down, he planned to talk to his two good brothers and ask if he could go out with them to make money.
Now, all he needed to do was buy some food and take it back.
There are many small vendors in this spacious open space, and they are selling things they have stolen or robbed. There are good things, but also some things that are confusing.
After looking for a while, he found a guy selling wheat cakes.
Although it is called wheat cake, in fact, in addition to wheat flour, it also contains many other things, because this is the most cost-effective.
Only the big shots in the city center eat pure wheat flour flatbreads, and only they can afford them.
It seems that this is how it should be for poor people.
A one-pound pancake costs ten dollars, and he couldn't help but grimace when he heard the number.
"So expensive?" He picked up a pancake, looked at it, and scratched it with his fingernails.
The guy selling pancakes just rolled his eyes and glared at him, "If you pick it again, you have to buy it!"
Some people would pick off a little bit of food under the pretext of "inspecting the goods", eat it, then say that this is not what they want and turn around and leave.
There are quite a few people selling cakes and food here. If they save a little from each of them, they can fill their stomachs quickly without spending any money.
It is precisely because some people do this that people are now unable to "taste" the food products here if the stall owner does not allow "inspection".
The young man took out several ten-dollar and five-dollar bills from his pocket. They looked wrinkled and a little black.
All the currency in Lapa is like this, with a black surface and all greasy, also because of poverty.
Because of poverty, their bodies are covered with all kinds of stains, just like those sewer workers.
They would go naked into the city's sewage sewers, work in an invisible environment, and find ways to clear the blockages.
They could only earn twenty or thirty dollars for unclogging a sewage pipe, risking their lives.
Thousands of "plumbers" die in sewer pipes every year, but the masters never care about it. Instead, they curse them for being part of the clogged pipes.
When they were lucky enough to get up, the master's servants would give them some change and then turn away.
Because they stink.
Those people don't wash themselves, they pick up the banknotes directly with their dirty hands and then keep them properly.
According to unofficial research, Lapa banknotes are dirtier than toilet bricks with yellow urine stones!
Looking at the banknotes in the young man's hand, the stall owner finally smiled. He took the banknotes and counted them, "I can give you four and a half."
The young man did not object. Getting half an extra piece was already beyond his expectations. He thought it would only be a quarter more, or just the right amount.
He said "thank you" and the deal was sealed.
He took out a cloth bag and the stall owner took the bun and put it in.
He observed each one of them and found that they were all good pancakes. Some of the pancakes still had some fiber-like things remaining on them. This was a kind of edible crushed grass that they added to increase the feeling of fullness.
After buying the food, he did not intend to leave immediately, but wandered around other stalls because their friends said they planned to give him a belt.
The leather of the belt is actually not valuable. Lapa itself is also rich in furs of various animals. It is a tropical place with primitive jungles and tropical grasslands.
What is really expensive is the belt buckle. As long as it is made of metal and has nice patterns, the price will definitely go sky-high!
He visited several stalls and roughly figured out the prices of belts. Those imported belts marked as coming from Federal were basically between five thousand and six thousand yuan.
Because it is stolen goods, the price is not high.
If they buy it in a store, the cheapest price they will pay is more than 9,000 yuan.
Just when he figured out how much his "reward" was and was about to leave, the alley suddenly became noisy, as if someone had a conflict here.
His face showed some curiosity and the idea of watching the fun. Watching the fun is human nature. No matter if it is a university professor from the Federation or the poor people in Lapa who are too poor to have enough food, they all have the idea of watching the fun.
He walked to the alley, looked outside, and soon discovered something.
Several foreigners wearing windbreakers and fedoras were blocking the alley entrance. They were talking to the two security guards who were maintaining the safety of this small black market.
It was obvious that the security guards had no intention of letting these foreigners in.
Every place has its own rules. In Lapa, the identity of a foreigner is not always useful.
In the past, some foreigners wanted to come in and take a look, but they were stopped.
The foreigner insisted on coming in, and was beaten up by the security guards, and then thrown into the alley behind, and nothing happened. This further confirmed some of the people's speculations - there is a backer behind this black market.
Of course, as people who sell stolen goods here, they need to pay an extra fee, a stall fee of 20 yuan, regardless of whether they sell the goods or not.
Although the price is not low, anything that can be sold here is definitely not cheap, and the stall fee is nothing compared to the price of their goods.
The young man thought that these foreigners might not be able to find any bargains here, but then he felt a little uneasy.
The dispute between the security guard and those people began to escalate. The next second, one of the foreigners took out a very long dagger and stabbed it into the neck of a security guard.
The moment he pulled out the dagger, the blood sprayed onto the wall of the alley. He could even hear the "crackling" sound of blood splashing and spraying on the wall!
Everyone was stunned. Some of the foreigners even pulled out their pistols. Several security guards who rushed over to "fight" with them faced the reality after a brief pause.
At this time, a foreigner who obviously looked to be of higher status walked in from outside.
"Two young men killed a Federal not long ago near ... Main Street and took his belongings."
"If any of you know who they are, or where they are hiding..." He looked around and stepped over the security guard who was lying on the ground like a corpse.
"Then tell us, and we'll give you unimaginable rewards!"
"Now, let me see if anyone here knows these things!"
Those foreigners began to show up in greater numbers and soon took control of the place.
The young people found that their clothes were very uniform, and everyone had a red armband on their left arm.
It seems like they should be part of an organization, or a gang?
He didn't quite understand this, but he knew these people must be in the same group.
Soon the foreigners came up to him and asked him to open his pockets, which he did.
When the foreigners saw that there were only some flatbreads inside, they left him.
They checked all the goods in the black market and made sure that nothing of the Federalist's was in them.
As they were leaving, the guy who looked like the leader said again, "Someone who can provide us with clues, or lead us to catch these two criminals who killed the federals."
"I promise you will get the reward you are satisfied with!"
He stepped over the body again and stood outside the alley.
Perhaps he thought of something, and took two steps back, then took out a stack of money from his pocket, counted a few bills from it, and threw it on the corpse who was covering his neck.
Then the group quickly left here, got in the car, and drove towards the next black market.
It was obvious that someone was showing them the way.
The entire alley was silent, even after those people left.
"These people are so domineering..."
Someone muttered, and then someone else echoed, "Who said it wasn't?"
"But they are foreigners and they have guns. What can you do?"
"Lapa is getting screwed. Sooner or later, these foreigners will be on our heads!"
Some people complained quietly, and after about two minutes, the security guards finally breathed a sigh of relief.
One of them walked up to the body, picked up the blood-stained money on the body, and put it in his pocket.
Then he called two people and asked them to lift the security guard's body and throw it into the sewer nearby.
A life just disappeared in front of people, without any compensation, so cheaply.
The money left by foreigners will undoubtedly be embezzled, but this is Lapa, this is the most real and cruel side of Lapa at the lowest level.
Business goes on, life goes on, the stall owners chatter about something related to these foreigners, then return to their work and life, and continue to sell what they have.
The young man's eyes flickered slightly, and he almost subconsciously thought that this matter might be related to his two friends.
At this moment, his heartbeat was constantly accelerating. He was not feeling excitement or fear, but rather a little excited!
Because he remembered clearly that the foreigner said that if anyone could provide clues or lead them to find the two people, he would definitely get a satisfactory reward!
He didn't dare show any other expression, for fear that his secret of getting rich would be discovered by others. He quickly came to the alley and left.
He still needs to go back and test his good brothers to see if they did it.
As for the danger?
Is there anything more dangerous than being poor?No, there isn't!
There is nothing more terrible than being poor!On the way back, he had seen quite a few foreigners. He had never seen so many foreigners before. This made him realize that if this was done by his two brothers.
Then they must be in big trouble.
In addition to foreigners looking for the two murderers, local police were also looking for the two murderers, and he was also searched on his way back.
One of the four and a half buns was also taken away.
Fake!
What's worse, local gangs are also looking for these people.
This made the young man feel heavy-hearted. He no longer had the excitement he had just felt. Instead, he was filled with fear and terror!
If these two people, who were just neighbors and acquaintances of his, really attacked and killed the foreigner, and they were hiding in his house, would he be considered an accomplice of these people?
Will he... also be discovered by those people, captured, and finally killed?He didn't know and didn't dare to gamble. With his mind in a mess, he returned to his house.
Seeing him come back, his two good friends immediately came up to him. They took out the bread from their cloth bags, tore off small pieces one by one, and then swallowed them into their stomachs with water.
"Didn't you buy meat?" one of them asked.
He forced a smile and said, "I didn't see any meat on the black market. Even if there was any, it wouldn't be cheap. It would probably cost fifty bucks a pound."
When food was in short supply, the price of meat also went up, but the increase was not outrageous, unlike grain, which has increased more than ten times.
The price of meat has simply tripled.
One of his two friends took out the money from his pocket, counted out 120 yuan and handed it to him, "Next time you go out to buy food, remember to buy some meat."
He nodded, put the money in his pocket, and soon began to test, "When I came back, I saw a lot of police and gangsters looking for someone. They said someone killed a foreigner today and got into big trouble."
His two friends looked at each other, and it was this look that made him immediately realize that these were the two people they were looking for.
He swallowed, and his body began to feel slightly hot. Countless thoughts and ideas were boiling in his mind!The more this happened, the more he wanted to calm down. He said with a joking tone, "Could it be you?"
His friend immediately smiled and brushed it off, "How could it be us?"
But the atmosphere became a little solemn afterwards.
The young man breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm glad it wasn't you, I thought it was you!"
As he spoke, he started to do other things. There was some worry in the eyes of both of them, but considering their friendship of more than ten years, they finally believed this friend.
One of them chased after the two and stuffed some money into his pocket, about two hundred yuan, and said, "We'll be hiding here for a while. If we need any help, don't think it's too little."
The young man was stunned for a moment, but did not refuse. “We are all friends, there is no need to do this.”
Seeing him take the money, both of them breathed a sigh of relief...
(End of this chapter)