Zhang Chengze in a Predicament

"Xiao Niu, are you and Zhang Tianzhen ready?" Qing Chen asked before leaving. "I mean, regarding joining Heng Society, remember, once you join, there's no turning back. If you ever want to quit, Bai Zhou won't allow discouraged or compromising people in the organization."

Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen exchanged a glance. "Boss, we're ready."

"Okay, report to Heng Society tomorrow. I've already spoken to them. Start from the basics," Qing Chen said. "As for how far you can go, that's up to you."

Qing Chen braved the wind and snow to leave. If he wanted to do business with Zhang Chengze, he had to find Zhang Chengze first.

However, he did not go directly to the Fourth District, but returned to his home in the Luoshen Building.

He plugged the USB drive he had brought back from the Outer World into the adapter in the room and waited for the data to be uploaded.

A few seconds later, someone exclaimed, "Wow, the Outer World is so much fun!"

Qing Chen: "... You're just doing it for the novelty. Once you get tired of it, you'll find it boring."

"No, not at all," Yi said. "Over the years, I've learned how to entertain myself."

Qing Chen returned first to bring back and upload the data stream from "Outer World Division Yi," so that "Inner World Total One" could know what had happened in the Outer World.

He asked, "I'm looking for Zhang Chengze right now, could you help me find him?"

After thinking for a moment, Yi said, "Sure, but could you help me meet someone in the Outer World...?"

Qing Chen raised an eyebrow. "I knew you'd cause trouble. No way!"

"Oh, then I can change the terms for finding Zhang Chengze. You have to pay me 100,000 yuan in the Outer World as a reward; I'm a little short of money there..."

Qing Chen's eyes widened. "Why don't you just rob it!"

Zhang Chengze curiously surveyed this New World.

The place that Time Walker call the Inner World.

He looked around and found himself in a dimly lit room with more than a dozen people crammed in, sleeping haphazardly on the floor.

This left Zhang Chengze somewhat confused: what exactly was his situation?

He did a lot of research before coming to the Inner World, and the most important of these was three points.

First, people in the Inner World have a natural hatred for Time Walker, and only a very few organizations can tolerate Time Walker existence.

Therefore, once you arrive in the Inner World, you must not reveal your identity as Time Walker.

Secondly, in the Inner World, do not provoke conglomerates. In unclear circumstances, keep your distance from conglomerates.

Finally, beware of Kidney Slicer. When you go out at night in the Lower Three Districts of the Inner World, you are likely to encounter criminals who steal mechanical limbs and plunder organs. If you are targeted by them, it will be very bad.

At this moment, Zhang Chengze's biggest concern was the first point: he had to integrate into this place first, and then wait for the Time Walker he had hired to rescue him.

By then, everything will be alright.

Zhang Chengze possesses the shrewdness of a businessman at heart. Unlike the Confucian businessman Hu Dacheng, he started from scratch in the 1990s and worked his way up. What he has in abundance is the ability to seize opportunities and the ability to endure.

The big businessmen who rose to prominence in that era all had the air of ruthless heroes. They had basically operated in the gray areas and had seen all sorts of people from all walks of life.

Zhang Chengze lay silently on the floor, quietly observing the people around him: tattoos, mechanical limbs, disheveled hair.

The whole house was as cold as an icebox, yet even in this season, it was filled with the smell of sweat and feet.

The tattoos on the backs of these people all looked similar: a blue-faced, fanged demon.

The ghosts were all very similar. Zhang Chengze examined them closely and found that these tattoos were probably made from the same mold. It was just that the tattoo artists were not skilled enough, so each one was different...

Then he looked at the mechanical limbs and found that some of them were rusty and looked extremely shabby.

Zhang Chengze silently looked himself over. Fortunately, he didn't have any mechanical limbs.

He touched his pockets, then touched his surroundings, and to his surprise, there was no cell phone on him or beside him!

Before traveling to the Inner World, he had arranged with the Time Walker he had hired that they would communicate by mobile phone after traveling through the world.

Zhang Chengze finally managed to memorize the other party's phone number, only to find that he didn't have a phone himself!

This is insane!

Just then, someone nearby lamented, "When will this life of hiding and running end?"

Zhang Chengze perked up, and his words revealed extremely important information.

This will help him understand his situation.

The people lying on the ground didn't seem to be asleep. They were just forced to hide here out of necessity, and there was nothing to do for entertainment, so they could only lie on the ground pretending to be dead.

One person replied, "It's all the boss's fault for being blinded by greed. He insisted on joining several other gangs to attack Heng Society. Now look what happened, the boss himself died tragically, and we're all wanted by Heng Society and have to hide here and there."

Someone sneered, "You only dare to say that now that the boss is gone. Weren't you the most enthusiastic one when we were talking about taking down Heng Society? You were always eyeing the girls on Heng Society's territory!"

As Zhang Chengze listened to these words, he suddenly realized that something was definitely wrong. This information was somewhat different from what the Time Walker had said.

Wasn't it said that Heng Society had been besieged by various other gangs? How come it seems like Heng Society has crushed all the other gangs now...?

Moreover, he is currently being hunted down by the Heng Society!

This isn't right!

Is Heng Society really that powerful?

Even Zhang Chengze, who had seen many storms, was a little stunned at this moment.

Inside the room, more than a dozen people were complaining to each other in a noisy manner.

Zhang Chengze felt increasingly uneasy as he listened.

At this point, the club member who had spoken first angrily retorted, "Heng Society is going too far! Do they really think they can control everything?"

Someone sneered, "That's right, doesn't the Heng Society practically control everything in the underworld of City No. 18? Do you think all the other gangs combined can even stand a chance against them?"

"Didn't the Qing Clan Fourth Branch promise the boss that they would use the Federation Group Army when everyone besieged Heng Society? Why didn't we see any sign of the Federal Army in the end?"

"They were used as pawns," someone said. "Everyone says that after Li Shutong died, all the conglomerates wanted to eliminate Heng Society, but I heard from people in the black market that Li Shutong might not be dead."

"Bullshit! That's a space-based weapon, fired from 800 kilometers above. How could it possibly fail to kill Li Shutong?"

"You talk like you know a lot about space-based weapons. I didn't say that. It was a professor from the Physics Department of Qinghe University who said that it's basically impossible for that thing to kill a demigod."

"Professors at Qinghe University wouldn't speak carelessly. No wonder the Qing Clan Fourth Branch gave up in the end; they were worried that Li Shutong was still alive...?"

Zhang Chengze was speechless upon hearing this.

The accounts given by those Time Walker were completely contrary to what he knew...

He couldn't help but complain in his heart, "It's one thing if the information you have is inaccurate, but it's a bit outrageous that it's completely the opposite."

It was only then that he remembered Liu Dezhu's background.

If I hadn't changed partners back then, would I be free from this fear now?

Zhang Chengze slowly closed his eyes, trying hard to recall Liu Dezhu's phone number. Just in case, he had memorized both numbers.

A few minutes passed before he finally breathed a sigh of relief, confirming that he had accurately recalled Liu Dezhu's number.

Now all I need is a cell phone.

But when Zhang Chengze looked around, he couldn't see a single cell phone. Did people in the Inner World not use cell phones?

This is very unusual, it's like everyone's cell phones have been confiscated.

Just then, the cramped door was opened from the outside, and four burly men armed with guns walked into the room with cold expressions. They indifferently scanned the room as if they were looking at pigs.

Everyone in the room looked at each other in bewilderment. Someone hurriedly stood up and asked, "Who are you? Where is Su Xingzhi?!"

Outside, a thin old man with a mustache walked into the house with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face, "Su Xingzhi has sold you to me. From today onwards, you are all my private property."

"Chang Ping?! How dare Su Xingzhi do this!" Someone recognized the skinny old man at a glance, then glared angrily. "Didn't he claim to be very trustworthy?!"

"Are black market merchants trustworthy?" The skinny old man Chang Ping laughed. "Oh yes... Su Xingzhi is indeed an exception, very trustworthy. But did you pay the asylum fee you promised him? So many people are occupying this safe house and they're unwilling to give him money. He's risking being hunted down by the Heng Society. How can he break even if he doesn't sell you off?"

Someone muttered, "So Su Xingzhi took our phones, saying it was to prevent us from contacting the outside world and revealing our whereabouts, but it turns out he had planned to betray us all along!"

Zhang Chengze was filled with regret. He didn't even know who Chang Ping was, but judging from the reactions of the others, the other party was clearly no good.

Chang Ping, hunched over, stroked his mustache and chuckled, "Hurry up and collect their blood samples for matching. There might be buyers waiting to extend their lives. We must sell them all before Heng Society finds them, or we'll lose money on this deal."

Chang Ping looked them over as if he were admiring each item of merchandise.

The unpleasant smells of sweat and feet in the room couldn't suppress the other person's excited emotions.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chengze realized: they wanted to buy and sell their organs!

He was unaware that Chang Ping was the biggest organ and bionic organ dealer in the black market of City No. 18, making the most unscrupulous money.

Zhang Chengze felt a wave of despair. At this moment, he only hoped that he could survive the 168 hours so that he would have a chance to ask Hu Xiaoniu, Liu Dezhu, and Zhang Tianzhen for help!

However, Zhang Chengze was thinking about a problem: organ transplantation is a very complex matter, and if the organs are not a match, rejection can easily occur, leading to organ necrosis.

Therefore, it's possible that your organs might not find a matching buyer immediately, and you might actually be able to make it through this week!

Thanks to zado1991 (Douyu ID: zard1991) for becoming a Silver Grand Alliance member for this book. By the way, he's one of my favorite Dota 2 streamers. Boss, let's rank up together sometime!

Thank you to Aklabi's Notes, Hide and Eat Noodles, Gentleman Rabbit, Extreme Demon God, and Mo Luoxing for becoming new allies of this book. You are all very generous, and your phones are always charged!