Business Goes On as Usual

"I thought you were just someone slacking off at the company. I didn't expect you to actually dare to fire a gun."

In the silence, the middle-aged woman Lu Xin had pointed at did not try to escape. Instead, she slowly pushed past the others and walked into the crowd. Facing Lu Xin's gun, she showed no fear, only saying coldly, "We have guns too, but we didn't prepare them in advance. Since you've got the drop on us, that's fine. We'll admit defeat. We'll let you leave for now..."

"If the Guard Department arrests you afterward, that has nothing to do with us!"

"If the Guard Department doesn't arrest you, then we'll settle this out in the world!"

"..."

The Guard Department strictly inspected firearms inside High Wall City, so even they kept very few guns within the city.

Companies like theirs, which often needed to travel between the city and the wilderness, usually established their own supply stations at secret locations outside the city. Not only guns—even small arsenals might be there. However, under the High Wall City patrol army's strict inspections, once they entered the city, it was impossible to bring in too many weapons or firearms. Otherwise, they would be severely punished for a serious crime.

Of course, under such intense pressure, they still had ways to smuggle in one or two guns for self-defense. But they could not possibly carry such weapons on them in advance. Caught unprepared and with Lu Xin's gun pointed at them, they had lost the initiative.

The woman's thoughts were clearly very nimble. Her words left no openings. Normally, if Lu Xin fired a gun here, the Guard Department would have no choice but to intervene. He might even be arrested and sent outside the walls to clear wasteland. Yet she had also made it clear that if the Guard Department did not arrest Lu Xin, they would naturally use their own methods to retaliate, following the rules of the underworld.

Princess Xiaoqing and Lu Cheng were both so frightened that their legs went weak, their faces pale.

The moment they saw Lu Xin pull out a gun, even their entire worldview had begun to crumble.

People who had grown up inside High Wall City had always felt that guns were something impossibly distant from them.

Hearing the female manager's words, the thugs released Lu Cheng and Princess Xiaoqing and made way for them.

But their gazes were cold as they watched Lu Xin, as though they were looking at a dead man.

Lu Xin, however, showed no intention of turning around. "I'm not leaving. We haven't finished discussing our business."

The woman Lu Xin had pointed his gun at froze for a moment. "At a time like this, you still want to discuss business with me?"

"Yes."

Lu Xin nodded. "But we need to discuss the price. You can't just name whatever figure you want and call it the price."

After a slight pause, he added, "It has to be fair."

The woman's expression suddenly became extremely complicated.

The expressions of everyone around them became equally complicated.

"I've pointed a gun at people while doing business plenty of times. I've even hung someone over a pond full of lunatics while negotiating with them. But having my woman point a gun at me while negotiating business... That really is a first..."

Just then, a man staggered out of another office behind them. He was tall and broad, with a face covered in stubble and a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He wore a dirty but obviously sturdy camouflage uniform and a red beret. It did not look like the style worn by the Qinggang City patrol army, and no one knew where he had dug it up.

The people around him instinctively lowered their heads when they saw him.

Even the woman Lu Xin had pointed his gun at called out to him, "Boss, this man..."

The man waved a hand and said to Lu Xin, "Put the gun away. You got the upper hand, so I won't give you trouble today."

"Oh."

At that, Lu Xin lowered the gun and stuffed it back into his backpack.

Princess Xiaoqing and Lu Cheng's eyes widened, filled with confusion.

"Business goes on as usual. You go negotiate!"

The man nodded at the woman who had previously been held at gunpoint, then said to Lu Xin, "Little brother, come with me."

The development of events was completely unexpected, and everyone present was at a loss.

Lu Cheng and Princess Xiaoqing were quickly shoved back into that office, while Lu Xin obediently followed the man into the bungalow he had emerged from. The place was fairly well decorated, with wooden flooring and hanging lights. A large sofa sat on the left, with a glass coffee table in front of it. On the table lay a plate of dumplings, several steamed buns, and a dish of red pickled chilies.

The man sat down and began eating on his own. The way he ate was strange. He chewed very slowly, yet never stopped, giving off an oddly greedy feeling. The food was clearly nothing special, but he ate with great seriousness.

Lu Xin did not rush to answer him. Instead, he instinctively glanced over the food covering the table. Several plates had already been thrown aside, with scraps of food still on them, as if they had only just been finished. Just how much had he eaten?

"After staying in the wilderness for too long, I always feel like I can't get enough to eat whenever I come into the city."

Qin Ran took a bite of a steamed bun and pushed a dumpling into his mouth. He glanced sideways at Lu Xin. "Want some?"

Lu Xin quickly shook his head. "I'm not hungry."

Lu Xin could understand Qin Ran's particular habit.

Life inside and outside High Wall City was completely different. High Wall City—especially Qinggang City—was one of the earliest places to solve the food shortage problem. He had heard that this was related to the reconstruction of agricultural technology and mysterious wild species. Inside High Wall City, there was a certain amount of livestock production, as well as vast farms and even some mechanized farming. Outside the city, however, such things were luxuries no one even dared to imagine.

Many organizations outside the city were still suffering from food shortages. For people living in the wilderness, hunger was practically the norm.

Their only way to obtain food and shelter was to give up their weapons outside the wilderness and enter High Wall City to live.

However, although Qinggang City's supplies were fairly abundant, and one could buy grain, oil, salt, and even meat with money, this was limited to within High Wall City. Buying food in the city and taking it outside to eat was an extremely serious offense.

The two most well-known serious crimes in High Wall City were:

The first was transporting armed firearms inside.

The second was transporting food outside.

"After getting used to struggling for your life in the wilderness, you start caring a lot about being able to eat your fill, sleep peacefully, and sleep with a woman without worrying that she'll pull a grenade out from between her legs and blow you to death. Here in High Wall City, even I avoid causing trouble whenever I can. Everyone follows the rules. You give me an inch, I give you an inch, and everyone can still get by, right?"

Qin Ran only paused briefly before continuing to eat. After a while, he raised his eyes and glanced at Lu Xin.

His eyes carried a lazy yet dangerous air, as though he had already seen through Lu Xin. He said coldly, "So, tell me, little brother. Why have you come to see me?"

"I've seen plenty of people doing business at gunpoint outside the walls, but you clearly haven't been outside the walls. So tell me the truth."

"Who sent you here, and what's your purpose?"

"..."

Lu Xin carefully sized him up and compared him with the information in the files before saying, "You're Qin Ran?"

The man glanced at Lu Xin. Instead of answering directly, he smiled. "You here to kill me?"

His hand still appeared to be holding chopsticks, but his other hand had already dropped beneath the wooden coffee table.

"No."

Lu Xin shook his head. "I came to ask you whether you've encountered anything strange."

Qin Ran's expression suddenly changed when he heard this, a hint of fear appearing on his face. He lowered his voice. "Are you plotting against me?"

As he spoke, the hand beneath the table suddenly rose, gripping a gun.