Following

"Gu Meng, forget it."

The girl beside Gu Meng hurriedly tried to dissuade her.

"Hmph."

Gu Meng snorted coldly, which counted as tacit agreement.

On one hand, Qi Shen did not want to pay. On the other, he did not want to lose face in front of Gu Meng, so he mocked him coldly.

"You're offering such a high price. Why don't you pay up? Don't tell me you're all talk?"

Su Ming did not argue with Qi Shen. He simply said to Manager Wan Shan,

"Payment code. I'll pay!"

Manager Wan Shan's gaze toward Su Ming changed at once, and he hurriedly replied,

"Of course!"

These days, anyone willing to offer three thousand an hour was either a sucker or a genuine tycoon.

Su Ming quickly used his phone to pay the 20,000 Federal currency deposit. Just then, a notification text popped up.

"Dear customer, 20,000 Federal currency has been deducted from your account. Balance: 21,253,000 Federal currency!"

Su Ming stared at the text that had appeared and was slightly stunned. He had always thought he was pretty rich, but he had not expected to be this rich. There was actually still so much money in his account—enough to buy an ordinary Second Generation Mecha.

However, he soon remembered that this money consisted of the New Year's money and birthday red envelopes he had received since childhood, all from his parents, relatives, and grandfather.

Of course, those were not the entirety of his assets. The limited-edition figures and models in his room were also worth a fortune, and they could easily be converted into cash.

In a sense, he really was the foolish son of a rich landlord.

"All right, this esteemed guest has paid and made the reservation. The Simulation Pod belongs to him now. Everyone, disperse!"

Wan Shan shouted at the onlookers.

Gu Meng glared angrily at Su Ming. In fact, she had not merely been fighting over the Simulation Pod; she had been targeting Lin Chuyu.

She had known Lin Chuyu for a long time. They had once attended the same school, and back then, Lin Chuyu had surpassed her in every aspect. That was why she had always hated Lin Chuyu.

Fortunately, when they entered middle school, she had successfully gotten into the best academy, while Lin Chuyu, whose family was less well-off, had gone to the Third Academy.

Now that she had run into Lin Chuyu here, she had naturally wanted to seize the opportunity to cause trouble. She had not expected Su Ming to ruin everything.

Su Ming ignored Gu Meng. He took a hundred Federal currency from his pocket and handed it to Lin Chuyu.

"Take this. I still have class, so I'll be leaving first."

"Thank you."

Lin Chuyu accepted the money Su Ming handed her.

When Qi Shen saw Lin Chuyu taking Su Ming's money, he immediately spoke mockingly to Gu Meng.

"Gu Meng, see that? Looks like the rumors are true. This Lin Chuyu really is a green tea. She was probably taken care of by someone. Let's not lower ourselves by arguing with them."

"Hmph. Let's go."

After hearing Qi Shen's taunt, Gu Meng felt much better. She immediately turned and left.

Su Ming gave the departing Gu Meng and the others a cold glance. Just as he was about to leave, Lin Chuyu called out to him.

"Su Ming, wait."

"What is it? Is there something else?"

Su Ming looked at Lin Chuyu in confusion.

"Give me your phone number. I'll pay you back tomorrow."

Lin Chuyu spoke to Su Ming.

"All right. My phone number is..."

Su Ming directly recited the number to Lin Chuyu. Given Lin Chuyu's memory, she would probably remember it after hearing it just once.

"Mm, I remember it."

Lin Chuyu carefully memorized the number.

"I'm leaving."

Su Ming turned and walked toward the escalator.

Lin Chuyu watched Su Ming's departing back, a thoughtful look appearing in her eyes.

At dusk.

Su Ming walked along the bustling street with both hands in his pockets, looking somewhat troubled.

"This is a bit troublesome."

Su Ming muttered to himself. He had not expected the training pods to be in such high demand. On top of that, he was pressed for time and could not get a slot at all.

Most importantly, this entire Thirteenth District had no other mecha training pods besides this club.

Just then, several figures hid among the crowd and watched Su Ming from a distance as he walked ahead, cautiously following him.

Su Ming suddenly stopped, and the people following behind him stopped as well.

However, not long afterward, Su Ming continued forward.

When he reached a fork in the road, he turned his head and looked around. He then walked toward a deserted little street.

The several figures' eyes lit up, and they quickened their pace to follow him.

Su Ming continued forward. When he passed a small alley, he quickly turned into it.

After entering the alley, he ran straight ahead, repeatedly turning from one path to another.

However, just as he turned into the depths of the alley, his luck failed him spectacularly, and he ran into a dead end.

He had just turned around to leave when five thugs holding clubs blocked his way.

"Run! Aren't you good at running?"

Wang Qiang held a cigarette between his lips and looked at Su Ming with a mocking smile.

Su Ming did not answer Wang Qiang. Instead, he swept his gaze over each of them.

"Fatty, I warned you last time. You really don't know when to quit."

Seeing that Su Ming remained silent, Wang Qiang assumed he had been frightened and spoke viciously.

"Oh? What do you want?"

Su Ming kept both hands in his pockets and looked at Wang Qiang and the others with complete calm, as if he were looking at a bunch of clowns.

Seeing how composed Su Ming was—and the contempt in his eyes—Wang Qiang immediately flew into a rage and snarled,

"What do I want? I'm going to kill you today!"

"That depends on whether you have what it takes."

Su Ming looked at them as if they were idiots.

Wang Qiang was actually angered into laughter. He raised the club in his hand and shouted at all his underlings,

"Get him!"

Just as Wang Qiang and his underlings charged forward, Su Ming pulled a small, exquisitely crafted beam pistol from his right pocket. Intricate patterns covered its entire body.

Whoosh~

Su Ming pulled the trigger without hesitation.

A beam shot out and struck Wang Qiang's right leg.

"Ahh!"

Wang Qiang let out a scream and collapsed onto the ground, clutching his leg in agony as blood gushed out.

Wang Qiang's underlings were frightened senseless. They all stopped in their tracks and looked at Su Ming in terror.

They never could have imagined that Su Ming had a gun. The Old Federation had extremely strict controls regarding such weapons.

Holding the beam pistol, Su Ming walked toward Wang Qiang and the others.

Wang Qiang's underlings retreated in terror. Many of them wanted to run, but Su Ming's gun remained trained on them.

They did not dare run at all, afraid that he would shoot them dead.

"Drop all your weapons. Put your hands on your heads and squat facing the wall. Anyone who moves gets killed!"

Su Ming warned them coldly.

Wang Qiang's underlings promptly threw down their clubs. They obediently clasped their hands over their heads and squatted facing the wall.

Su Ming then walked up to Wang Qiang and raised the beam pistol, pointing it at Wang Qiang's head. His expression was somewhat grim.

These bastards really were like vengeful spirits that would not go away. Fortunately, he had been cautious enough. When he left home, he had specifically gone to his father's room and brought along the beam pistol his father treasured.

Wang Qiang endured the pain and stubbornly said to Su Ming,

"Kid, don't think you're something special just because you have a gun."