Borrowing Money

"Tsk, you actually saw someone pickpocketing this young lady and didn't step in to stop him. You're such a coward."

At that moment, a young man nearby deliberately spoke up to belittle Su Ming, hoping to attract Lin Chuyu's attention.

After hearing him, Su Ming wasn't angry. He calmly explained, "The thief had a knife. With so many people on the maglev train, stepping forward to stop him directly could easily have caused a commotion and led to injuries. The video has already been recorded. I don't think catching him will be particularly difficult."

"Enough. Don't make excuses. Put simply, you're a coward. If I'd seen him, I would've taken him down immediately."

The young man had no intention of listening to Su Ming's explanation.

At that moment, Lin Chuyu ignored the loudmouthed young man and said to Su Ming, "Su Ming, I think you did the right thing."

Seeing that Lin Chuyu had completely ignored him and had even taken Su Ming's side, the young man could only leave dejectedly.

At that moment, a security guard hurriedly spoke up. "I'm sorry, miss. This was a failure on our part during the security inspection. I'll report it to the police right away so they can catch the thief. Please leave your contact information. We'll contact you as soon as he's caught."

"Okay."

Lin Chuyu nodded slightly.

"Sir, could you please send us a copy of the video? Your response was absolutely correct and prevented the situation from escalating. On behalf of the maglev operator, I'd like to thank you."

The security guard spoke to Su Ming very politely.

"Sure."

Su Ming immediately transferred a copy of the video from his phone to the security guard.

After everything was settled, the security guard led Su Ming and Lin Chuyu out through the manned gate.

Lin Chuyu sincerely thanked Su Ming as well. "Su Ming, thank you."

"It's nothing. I'm actually the one who should be thanking you. I still haven't thanked you for saving me last time."

Su Ming replied calmly.

"That was what I should have done."

Lin Chuyu shook her head.

"Classmate Chuyu, I have somewhere to be, so I'll leave first. We'll talk another day!"

Su Ming briefly said goodbye to Lin Chuyu, then walked ahead. His time was limited, and he had to hurry to the club.

Lin Chuyu hesitated for a moment before chasing after Su Ming.

When Su Ming saw Lin Chuyu catching up, he stopped and asked in confusion, "Is there something else?"

Lin Chuyu hesitated, but finally mustered her courage and said, "Classmate Su Ming, could you lend me some money?"

Su Ming immediately understood. Lin Chuyu's phone and wallet had both been stolen, leaving her without a single cent. She probably wanted to borrow money to take a taxi home.

He reached into his pocket and felt around. After taking out all his cash, he found that he only had a single one-hundred Federal currency note.

Although it wasn't much, it was enough for a taxi, so he handed the one hundred Federal currency to Lin Chuyu. "Here."

"One hundred isn't enough. Could you lend me a thousand?"

Lin Chuyu looked at the one hundred Federal currency Su Ming held out, but didn't reach for it. Instead, she shook her head and said, "I don't want to miss today's training. Every minute is extremely, extremely important to me right now."

"Because I absolutely cannot fail the City Exam this time. I have to get into Imperial Court Military Academy."

When Su Ming heard that Lin Chuyu wanted to borrow a thousand, he found himself in a difficult position. It wasn't that he was worried she wouldn't repay him; her character and family background spoke for themselves. Besides, she had saved him once, so he didn't care about this amount of money. The problem was that he hadn't brought that much cash.

"Classmate Su Ming, I'll definitely pay you back."

Seeing that Su Ming was in a bind, Lin Chuyu hurriedly assured him.

"That's not the issue. I only have one hundred in cash on me. What do you need so much money for?"

"I'm going to Charge Club to practice piloting mecha."

"What a coincidence! I'm going there to practice too. How about this? We'll go together, and I'll pay directly with my phone when we get there."

Su Ming then spoke to Lin Chuyu.

"Okay, thank you so much."

Lin Chuyu thanked him politely.

"It's no big deal. Let's go!"

Su Ming then set off with Lin Chuyu toward Charge Club.

Optical Valley District was the liveliest and most prosperous entertainment district in the Thirteenth District. Although night had yet to fall, the shops and buildings along the way had already lit up their colorful neon signs.

The streets were packed with bustling crowds. From time to time, they could even see wandering musicians holding guitars, squatting at street corners as they played guitar and sang the latest popular songs.

Lin Chuyu and Su Ming walked straight ahead along the street, attracting quite a few glances from passersby. Some even looked envious and jealous, muttering indignantly, "What a waste. A beautiful flower stuck in a pile of manure."

Su Ming naturally noticed those strange looks and comments, but he didn't care in the slightest.

A little over ten minutes later, Su Ming and Lin Chuyu arrived at the entrance of Charge Club. The entire club stood in the center of the most prosperous street and occupied an entire building by itself. That alone showed how powerful the club was.

Su Ming and Lin Chuyu entered the club together and arrived in its spacious lobby. The lobby wasn't lavishly decorated, but it was filled with a sense of violent aesthetics. Various steel mechanical components and mecha models were embedded in the surrounding walls, while the floor was paved with mechanical tiles.

"Over here. The mecha Simulation Pods are on the second floor, and they cost one hundred Federal currency per hour."

This wasn't Lin Chuyu's first time here, so she directly led Su Ming toward the escalator.

"That price isn't cheap, but it's still within the normal range."

Su Ming chatted with Lin Chuyu as they walked toward the escalator.

"It really isn't cheap. You know, ordinary working-class people in the Thirteenth District only earn around 1,500 Federal currency a month. But there's no choice. This is the only club in the entire Thirteenth District with the proper license and mecha Simulation Pods."

Lin Chuyu also felt that it was expensive, but they had no other options right now.

"Mm."

Su Ming nodded slightly.

Soon, the two of them reached the second floor. It was incredibly lively, with many young people gathered there. Many of them wore the uniforms of First Intermediate Academy · Haiheng and Second Intermediate Academy · Tianwei, though there were also plenty from Su Ming's school.

"There are so many people from Haiheng and Tianwei?"

Su Ming said, somewhat surprised.

"They're under lockdown at school too, so they all came here."

Lin Chuyu explained.

"Come on, let's hurry and have a staff member open a Simulation Pod for us. There won't be any spots left later."

Seeing how many people there were, Su Ming immediately walked toward a staff member nearby.

Lin Chuyu followed closely behind Su Ming.

Soon, the two of them arrived in front of a somewhat greasy-looking male staff member wearing a Charge Club vest.

"Hello."

Su Ming greeted him politely.

"Hello. I'm Liu Zhi, a staff member here. How may I help you?"

Although Liu Zhi replied to Su Ming with a broad smile, his gaze remained fixed on Lin Chuyu.

"Open two mecha Simulation Pods for us."

Su Ming stated simply.