Strike First and Gain the Upper Hand, Strike Later and Suffer

Thinking about how he had dealt with the man yesterday, only to come back today to sell the man's own vouchers back to him, Bai Yao suddenly felt as though he were walking into a trap.

Although there were no identifying marks on those vouchers, some of them had serial numbers. Who knew whether the man had memorized a few of them?

This wasn't something he could leave to luck, so, to be safe, he decided...

"Strike first and gain the upper hand, strike later and suffer."

He had considered the possibility that he was only scaring himself, but he figured it didn't matter either way. The people in front of him weren't good people, so his conscience wouldn't hurt.

And so...

"System, customize a knockout smoke that takes effect super fast, then release it in that room."

The system completed the task the instant he gave the order.

Then Bai Yao saw just how much the customized item was worth the price.

With general anesthesia, you still had time to count from one to ten, but the people inside went down in the time it took to count from one to five after the drug was released.

Of course, in their state, a bit of a commotion could easily wake them. That was the drawback of a drug that took effect so quickly.

But Bai Yao didn't care. He worked fast too.

He had already come all this way and spent the price of a quarter of a small gold bar to customize the knockout smoke. How could he possibly leave after making a losing deal?

He strode inside and, guided by his mental power scan, took everything of value.

Money, vouchers, grain, small gold bars.

Cigarettes, liquor, candy, tea, and floral-patterned cloth.

Finally, looking at the bare room, Bai Yao smacked his lips and muttered to himself, "I only meant to take a few valuable things, but I didn't expect everything here to be pretty valuable."

Even the tables, chairs, and stools he hadn't thought much of at first were made of fine wood.

So in the end, he had cleaned the place out again.

And thanks to these guys, he didn't have to buy any of the things he needed for going to the countryside. He had gathered everything here, including some things he hadn't even thought of.

"Who would've thought? It's only a small black market, but it has everything."

With that thought, Bai Yao turned and left. He needed to see if he could find any other black markets.

Of course, he wasn't planning to wipe another one out. He really did want to sell vouchers.

He had already had a stack of local vouchers he couldn't use, and cleaning the place out just now had given him another stack. He still didn't have many vouchers that could be used nationwide.

On the principle that waste was shameful, he figured he had better hurry and exchange the vouchers for money.

Gold jewelry or small gold bars that would hold their value would be best.

With that in mind, Bai Yao got to work.

Perhaps his luck really was good today. Over the course of the night, he actually found two more black markets, and both voucher transactions went smoothly.

Except for the three small gold bars he got in exchange, the rest was all paper money.

By the time he finished the transactions and left, the sky was gradually growing light, and the black markets were about to close.

Mingling with the other people who had come to the black market, Bai Yao soon left.

By the time he returned to his temporary residence, his mental power detected that his "neighbors" had finally woken up too.

As for what happened afterward, he didn't listen in, because he was moving.

He couldn't help it. He didn't feel safe here.

After spreading the dust he had collected back where it belonged and erasing the traces of his stay, Bai Yao headed to another residence he had spotted while looking for the black market yesterday.

Although the new place was a little more run-down, no one would disturb him there. He wanted to spend the next few days in peace.

Of course, what Bai Yao valued most was that it wasn't too far from the train station, so he wouldn't have to waste much time on the road on the day he left for the countryside.

After quickly finishing the move, Bai Yao really did enjoy a carefree life over the next few days.

During the day, he strolled around the city, checked in at various tourist attractions that would be famous in later generations, and paid the system to act as a camera and take pictures along the way.

He also didn't forget to buy the things every transmigrator to this era had to buy: the textbooks and exam papers he would need for the college entrance exam a few years later.

What? Stamps?

He didn't know anything about them, so he wasn't going to meddle in everything. It wasn't as if he was short of that bit of money.

The days passed one by one. When Bai Yao had counted down to one day before his departure for the countryside, he was out having fun when he heard something that seemed to have to do with him.

A person who had gone to the black market recognized its manager as someone who had once gone skinny-dipping in a latrine pit and tried to threaten him with it. Instead, the manager broke one of his legs and threw him into the latrine pit.

Then the brave soul limped to the police, covered in shit, and ended up successfully helping them bust a black market.

Bai Yao could only marvel at how commendably brave and adorably stupid the man was.

In the capital, anyone who wasn't a fool knew that the people who ran black markets weren't their true managers.

Not everyone could offend a black market and come away unscathed like Bai Yao.

These days, getting someone killed couldn't have been easier.

But Bai Yao only listened to the news. He wasn't going to get involved.

He would be better off using that time to hurry up and prepare the things he would openly take with him to the countryside. He had to go to the train station early tomorrow morning to catch his train.

Thinking about the speed of trains in this era, and then about the fact that he would be traveling in a hard seat, Bai Yao felt a headache coming on.

When he read novels set in this era, the protagonists could easily get hard-sleeper tickets.

Bai Yao figured that as a transmigrator, he should count as a protagonist too, but he really couldn't get his hands on a hard-sleeper ticket.

Like accommodation in a guesthouse, the allocation of hard-sleeper train tickets was often tied to one's work unit, the nature of one's job, and one's administrative rank.

For a sent-down educated youth like him, getting a hard seat rather than a standing ticket was the best he could hope for. Even that counted as special treatment for sent-down educated youth.

As for why getting a hard seat had been so easy?

Most likely, it was because his stop was near the beginning of the route, so there were fewer people and it was easier to get a seat.

Just in case, Bai Yao decided to cut down his luggage some more, so too many things wouldn't weigh him down. He didn't have the great strength of the protagonists in other novels set in this era.

After picking and choosing, he soon reduced his luggage by a whole sack.

That was right, Bai Yao used sacks to pack his things. Why not a suitcase?

He personally felt that sacks were more in keeping with the character of the era, as well as more convenient and practical.

Don't forget, they were going to the countryside. Unlike in later generations, there were no asphalt roads out there. Right now, they were nothing but dirt roads, full of bumps and potholes and hard to travel.

Looking at the two sacks in front of him, Bai Yao lifted them and, finding that they weren't too much of a problem for him, prepared to rest.

After all, he needed a good rest to face tomorrow's challenge.

A train journey of nearly thirty-six hours! He could do it! His iron butt could definitely do it!

After a night had passed, the summer morning was already bright. Bai Yao woke up and checked the time. It was only six.

After a simple breakfast, he picked up his luggage and set off.

When he arrived, he found that he wasn't the earliest, but he wasn't the latest either.

After all, the train left at eight, and there was still an hour to go, so there was no need to hurry.

After checking in with the person in charge, Bai Yao prepared to find somewhere to sit and wait.

As for getting to know the others?

He wasn't interested. Why did chance companions need to have known each other before? They wouldn't be assigned to the same place anyway. If he got to know them now, he would only have to waste time deleting those useless memories afterward.

He went straight to the point and chose not to get to know them, saving himself the trouble later.

As the minutes and seconds ticked by and the time to leave for the countryside drew closer, the other educated youths' expressions turned a little sad, one by one. Bai Yao alone felt nothing; after all, there was nothing in the capital he was reluctant to leave behind.

Soon, another half hour passed.

The person in charge called for everyone to gather. They needed to call the roll and hand out train tickets.

Just as the group had assembled and lined up, a voice suddenly called out, "Sorry, I'm late."

Naturally, everyone's gaze was drawn over.

The moment Bai Yao saw the newcomer, he understood what it meant to have a face like carved jade and a refined, gentle bearing. The man was handsome, very good-looking, but something about him gave Bai Yao the feeling that he didn't fit this era at all.

What's more, the scene gave him a strange sense of familiarity, which puzzled him greatly.

"Oh my god, it's Gu Yang! Doesn't he have a job? Why is he going to the countryside too?"

"I wonder where he was assigned. I really want to be sent to the same place as him. Even if all I could do was look at that face every day, I feel like life in the countryside wouldn't be hard at all."

Listening to the girls talking beside him, Bai Yao found the scene increasingly familiar.

"Gu Yang. Gu Yang? Gu Yang!"

Murmuring the name, Bai Yao looked at the delicate-featured man in front of him, so handsome he seemed to glow, and was utterly shocked.

Well, would you look at that—he had transmigrated into a book.

That was right. The protagonist of that book was none other than Gu Yang, who had been reborn, standing right in front of him.

Oh my god, please don't let me be assigned to the same place as him. Wherever a protagonist goes, life can't possibly be peaceful. Bai Yao prayed inwardly. He had no desire at all to hug the protagonist's thigh.

While Bai Yao was muttering to himself inwardly, another voice rang out in the distance.

"Great, I didn't miss the group heading to the countryside."