Anomaly

When they arrived, several gang members were already waiting.

Zhou You had also noticed something rather strange—this place was called a city, but public authority was severely lacking. Only a few key locations had police maintaining order; everything else was handled by resident-organized self-governance associations, or simply taken over by gangs.

...What was this? Was the whole world just one giant ramshackle operation?

Seeing Zhou You and the other man approach, the gang members looked visibly relieved. One of them flicked away his cigarette butt and said with great dissatisfaction, "You're the reinforcements? You took way too long."

Before Zhou You could speak, Luo Liangde stepped forward with practiced ease.

He wore a smile and leaned over to whisper something into the man's ear, casually slipping a bill into his pocket in the process—just like that, all of the man's anger vanished.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the gang member turned his gaze toward Zhou You.

"This is the guy paying off his debt with a pledge of loyalty? He doesn't exactly... look like much?"

Zhou You merely smiled and did not respond.

Luo Liangde, on the other hand, actually seemed a little displeased.

"Brother, watch how you talk—this man was personally selected by Boss Yi. His looks... well, they really aren't much, but he's got genuine skill."

At the mention of "Boss Yi," the other man immediately became respectful—or rather, terrified—and hurriedly replied, "Sorry, sorry. Us brothers have been waiting too long, so we got a little irritable. May I ask, this gentleman is..."

"Zhou You."

"So you're Brother Zhou, I—"

Before he could continue his meaningless pleasantries, Luo Liangde cut in.

"Let's get to the point. What's the situation inside?"

At that, the man sighed.

"Don't even mention it. Three more brothers tried going in this morning, and