Changes in District 9

Life in District 9 is like a stagnant pool; it was like this decades ago, and it remains the same decades later—nothing has changed.

Sometimes, after hearing the news of someone winning the lottery and becoming rich overnight, people will go out and buy some lottery tickets together, and then continue to live their unchanging lives.

It seems that life itself is just like this, unchanging.

Therefore, the changes to the Dove Cage building seem particularly novel.

In the morning, the water pipe repair truck arrived, bringing two truckloads of pipes and tools for unclogging the sewers.

Residents near the Dove Cage looked at Dove Cage with curiosity.

They huddled up to Zhang Qinghuan and asked, "What are you doing hauling all this stuff?"

Zhang Qinghuan, "The drain in this Dove Cage has been clogged for a long time. Once it's unclogged, everyone can use the toilet at home instead of living like animals..."

Residents of other buildings were surprised. "Aren't you a community organization?"

Zhang Qinghuan said, "If you've collected protection money, you should at least do something about it, otherwise, what's the point of collecting protection money?"

The residents were stunned; they had never seen such a community before!

After some private discussion, they all went to the gangs in their respective buildings that were responsible for collecting protection money, and told them that they also wanted to unclog the sewers, install security cameras, and repair the elevators!

As a result, they all got beaten up...

People started discussing privately whether they should invite the Art Troupe over to wipe out the Snake Tongue Club in their building, just like they wiped out the Blackwater Gang...

In the end, someone actually went to Xiao Qi to discuss it, saying, "If you guys come, we'll give you the location of the Snake Tongue Gang, it'll be easy to fight them!"

Xiao Qi was both amused and exasperated. "I can't make that decision, and trying to do too much at once will only lead to failure. Let's just forget about it."

In fact, Xiao Qi knew about Luo Wanyai's ambition, but it was not the right time to expose it.

Around noon, the power company arrived to repair the Cloud Flow Tower on the roof of the Dove Cage building, which is used for wireless power transmission Cloud Flow Tower acts like a base station, aligning with the power facilities beacons inside the building.

Escorted by Xiao Qi and others, they quickly entered the Dove Cage Building and completed the construction work in a tense but orderly manner.

At night, District 9 is dark and gloomy, a stark contrast to the dazzling neon lights of District 6.

Only the Dove Cage building stands out, gleaming brightly.

Its brightness makes it seem unlike any building in District 9.

Residents in other buildings stood in their homes, silently watching the brightly lit buildings across the street.

And most importantly, the electrical circuits in this building were repaired free of charge by the Art Troupe; they didn't charge the owners any extra money!

To be honest, when everyone saw the construction work, they were worried that it might be another project where the club would charge exorbitant fees.

However, the truth is that when someone cautiously asked Xiao Qi if they needed to pay a fee, Xiao Qi replied that the money would come from the protection fee.

This news is both shocking and incredibly exciting.

This isn't a group setting up a club; they're clearly here to do charity work!

The residents' reaction left Luo Wanyai somewhat amused and exasperated. He had only collected money from these people and then spent a small portion of it on them.

The Art Troupe is currently facing significant expenses because everything needs to be rebuilt and money is needed everywhere.

However, once the entire project is completed, the expenses will be minimal, with the remaining costs primarily consisting of labor.

The Inner World Consortium has exploited the slum dwellers to the point that they are easily moved by even the slightest kindness shown to them.

At that very moment, in the building next to the Dove Cage, someone in the darkness looked at the glittering skyscraper and said, "Honey, how much is the rent for the Dove Cage again? Why don't we move there too?"

"The rent for the Dove Cage isn't expensive, it's not even as expensive as the rent in our building," the woman coaxed her four children. "I'll ask Aunt Liu for the landlord's phone number tomorrow, and we'll move in there."

The couple stood in the dark room, overwhelmed with emotion, wishing they could live in a bright and well-lit place.

This is the human instinct to pursue a higher quality of life, and even in slums, this is no exception.

The woman whispered, "Oh right, we're running out of formula for the Old Four again... Sigh, if only we had electricity at night, we wouldn't have had four kids out of the blue..."

Man. "..."

Downstairs in the Dove Cage.

Luo Wanyai sighed softly, "Xiao Qi, do you remember what we talked about before? What's the hardest part about the Parent's Association?"

Xiao Qi was taken aback. "Funding... we don't have any funding, we can't do anything big."

"Hmm," Luo Wanyai nodded, "I was initially hesitant about whether to bring this up with the parents. After all, they entrusted the Parent's Association meeting to me, and if I just dumped this problem on them, it would make me, Old Luo, seem a bit incompetent. But I used to be just a Jianghu, how could I manage such a big undertaking, and where would I get so much money?"

Parent's Association days are always a tight budget. Although family members donate, I don't have any income myself, so how can I help so many family members?

Luo Wanyai sighed, thinking that if he had the ability to make a lot of money, he would have become the richest man in a region, just like Hu Xiaoniu's father.

"Yeah, back then we racked our brains trying to figure out how to make money. The most profitable industries were all controlled by conglomerates, and the crooked ways to make money didn't align with our principles," Xiao Qi said.

Luo Wanyai hummed in agreement. "As it turns out, before I even mentioned this to the parents, they'd already figured out their future. Property management—that's our way of life. Xiao Qi, you do the math: if we could take over the entire District 9 of City 22, how much revenue would we generate?"

Moreover, and most importantly, although City 22 is the main base of the Age of Gods, its population and city size are completely incomparable to the Twin Stars of the Federation.

However, City No. 18 City No. 10 are the bases for their Parent's Association.

If we were to acquire the Lower Three Districts of this twin star complex, the monthly cash flow of the Parent's Association would reach an alarming level.

Luo Wanyai patted Xiao Qi on the shoulder with great enthusiasm. "Keep up the good work! Let's first turn this place into an 'Advanced Civilization Model Pilot Project,' then summarize the experience and promote it in City No. 18 as well! Our unit has a bright future!"

At this moment, Zhang Qinghuan was still directing the construction work not far away. This guy was even more excited than Luo Wanyai and Xiao Qi.

When I checked the surveillance footage at noon, this guy was still slacking off.

Right now, he's more excited than anyone else.

Men really should focus on their careers!

A short while later, Zhang Qinghuan's underlings delivered dozens of flyers, which were to be posted on each floor of the Dove Cage.

The promotional material was very simple: firstly, it allowed users to join a group chat to learn about the organization's policies and changes in protection fees.

Secondly, a contact number is provided, so you can call the Art Troupe directly in case of any problems. This can help resolve a range of emergencies, including those involving thieves, robbers, rapists, and more.

The second-to-last line of the promotional material reads, "If anything happens, we are more trustworthy than the PCE Public Security Management Committee. Our mission is to ensure everyone can live and work in Art Troupe."

This thing looks pretty convincing, leaving the residents of Pigeon Tower completely baffled. What on earth is this Art Troupe doing?!

Just half an hour after the poster was put up, someone called to say that a thief had broken into their home.

As a result, Xiao Qi and her team checked the surveillance footage and caught the thief in ten minutes...

The thief, in a fit of rage, demanded, "Your so-called gang is meddling way too much! I paid protection money! Even the PCE doesn't handle this, and you want to get involved?"

The thief knew there were security cameras, but he thought no one would bother with it, so he didn't pay any attention.

After all, which gang would bother catching thieves...?

Isn't this just being a busybody?!

Xiao Qi chuckled and said, "It's precisely because the PCE doesn't care that we have to."

The owner was overjoyed to have his lost item returned.

Thieves caught by the gang won't have it so easy; this place isn't like the prison managed by Yi, where you can eat and drink well.

He was met with a beating from Xiao Qi, who then dragged him to return the lost items and apologize to the owner.

The Dove Cage was then displayed in front of the building for another day.

After this incident, the owner kept praising Xiao Qi and the Art Troupe in the owners' group!

She was just trying it out, but she didn't expect them to actually take action!

The residents were all shocked. These Dove Cage are so safe these days!

Within minutes, even the neighboring buildings knew about it, and many people gathered on the street talking about it.

In this slum, the majority of people are honest; otherwise, they wouldn't be so poor.

Someone whispered, "Should we write a petition to the Art Troupe and ask them to take down the club in our building?"

"Wait a little longer..."

Downstairs at the Dove Cage, Luo Wanyai, seeing that things were more or less settled, turned to leave. Xiao Qi asked from behind, "Where are you going?"

"You guys keep an eye on this place, I have something to do," Luo Wanyai waved from behind.

On the light rail train, Luo Wanyai sat down next to Qing Chen as if nothing had happened. The two sat together in a quiet corner as if they didn't know each other.

"Boss, what about Zhang Mengqian?" Luo Wanyai asked. "Should she stay with me or..."

"You guide him for now," Qing Chen said. "He will become my knight messenger in the future."

Luo Wanyai immediately understood how to handle the situation.

The knight's messenger will be the most trustworthy person by the knight's side. He needs to start being polite from now on and do his best to help his boss train him.

The two people on the swaying light rail train looked like underground operatives making a rendezvous.