Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Express Delivery
「Late at night.」
Wang Yang had his arm around Long Ming’s shoulder as they walked toward the side of the street, chatting and grinning.
"I’m telling you, don’t change your number. If you pull a disappearing act on me again, don’t blame me for spreading rumors about you."
"Screw you!"
Long Ming rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Haha, I’ll stop messing with you. I’m off!"
"You’ve been drinking. Let me find you a designated driver."
"A designated driver for what? Those two beers were like water. I’ll just get in the car..."
Wang Yang trailed off mid-sentence, a dumbfounded look suddenly spreading across his face.
He stared at his car parked by the roadside. All four wheels were gone, and the car was propped up on a stack of bricks.
Wang Yang rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was just drunk and seeing things. Unfortunately, reality was harsh. His wheels had well and truly been stolen.
"Fuck! My wheels!"
Wang Yang almost jumped to his feet, cursing with a dark expression.
Long Ming sighed and said to Wang Yang with a sense of resignation,
"I told you it wasn’t safe here. I told you to park in the parking garage, but you just wouldn’t listen."
"How was I supposed to know the Lower City District was this messed up?"
"Alright, it’s just the wheels. At least they didn’t take your engine."
"I... So what do we do now?"
Wang Yang looked at Long Ming, his face a mask of misery.
"I’ll call my neighbor. He’s a mechanic. I’ll see if he has any tires that fit your car."
Long Ming picked up his phone with a sigh and dialed Zhou Hao’s number.
The call connected quickly, and a gruff, deep voice came through.
"Long Ming."
"Brother Zhou, do you have any Aoyue tires? A friend of mine has a problem with his car and needs some."
"What a coincidence. I just got a shipment in. How many do you need?"
"Four!"
"Where are you? I’ll bring some guys over right now."
"We’re on Haichang West Street!"
"Wait there!"
"Okay."
Long Ming then hung up the phone.
A few moments later, an old van pulled up and parked behind Wang Yang’s car.
The door slid open, and a burly man in a short-sleeved shirt with a fleshy, intimidating face jumped out, followed by two strong-looking employees.
They deftly opened the back of the van and pulled out four used tires.
Wang Yang stared at the four used tires. The more he looked, the more familiar they seemed. Then it hit him, and he shouted in shock,
"Fuck, aren’t those my tires?"
Hearing Wang Yang’s words, Long Ming froze. A strange expression crossed his face. ’It can’t be such a coincidence, can it?’
"What do you mean, your tires? We acquired these."
Zhou Hao replied irritably.
"Bullshit! Those are my tires! Give them back right now, or I’m reporting you for theft."
Wang Yang said, seething with anger.
"Hm? What did you say?"
Hearing Wang Yang, Zhou Hao and his men stepped forward menacingly.
"What are you guys doing?"
Wang Yang was startled and backed away in terror.
Long Ming stepped in, trying to placate them with an exasperated sigh.
"Brother Zhou, my friend doesn’t know how things work. Let’s talk this over calmly."
"Hmph. If it weren’t for Long Ming, I’d beat the crap out of you today."
"Thanks, Brother Zhou. But, Brother Zhou, could you give us a discount?"
"Fifty percent off. Cheap enough for you?"
"Fifty percent is too much. Brother Zhou, if I’m not mistaken, you probably bought these tires for twenty percent of their value. How about this? Give us a break and sell them to us for thirty percent."
"Thirty percent? That’s too low!"
Zhou Hao’s brow furrowed, clearly unhappy with the offer.
"Brother Zhou, you know as well as I do that these belong to my friend. If he really decided to press the issue, it would be a headache for you. It’s better to just make a little less profit."
Long Ming advised Zhou Hao.
"Fine. For you, thirty percent it is. That’s 1200 for the four tires!"
Since Long Ming had put it that way, Zhou Hao compromised and accepted the smaller profit.
"Then I’ll have to trouble you and your guys to install them, Brother Zhou. I’ll transfer you the money."
Seeing Zhou Hao agree, Long Ming let out a small sigh of relief.
"Alright!"
Zhou Hao and his men picked up their tools and started installing the tires.
A short while later, the tires were reinstalled. Zhou Hao and his men took the money and left.
Wang Yang turned to Long Ming, his expression dark.
"Long Ming, why did you pay them? For all we know, they’re in cahoots with the thieves."
"I know. But this is the Lower City District. Things are different here than in the Upper City District. Just consider it a lesson learned."
Long Ming said calmly.
In fact, when he had first moved to the Lower City District, he had run into trouble everywhere and had been scammed several times.
It was only after he slowly adapted to the place that things gradually got better.
"Fine, I’m taking off then. As for the money for the tires, I’m not paying you back. After all, I lost them on your turf."
"Alright. Drive safe."
"Bye."
Wang Yang then got in his car and drove away.
Long Ming stood where he was, quietly watching the car disappear from view before turning to leave.
...
「Two days later.」
Long Ming sat in front of his computer, looking at information about Civilization Paradise, his brow deeply furrowed.
The hype for Civilization Paradise had reached an unprecedented level. The internet was flooded with posts from people trying to buy a helmet. The price of a regular gaming helmet had been jacked up to 100,000, a fivefold increase, but even so, many people with money couldn’t buy one because the first batch had a limited supply.
Moreover, Long Ming learned from comments online that the game wasn’t just being operated by Mountain City Mountain; other Sanctuary Cities had also apparently launched the same game.
This made Long Ming a little suspicious. ’Since when did these Sanctuary Cities get along so well that they would launch the same game simultaneously?’
But he wasn’t in the mood to dig deeper. The servers were launching tomorrow, and there was still no word from Wang Yang.
Long Ming grew more and more anxious. While it would be fine to start playing a little later, getting in late would definitely put him at a disadvantage.
BZZT BZZT~
Just then, Long Ming’s phone rang. The screen showed an incoming call from "Asshole."
Long Ming answered immediately, asking nervously,
"Wang Yang, how did it go? Did you get it?"
However, the other end of the line was silent. Wang Yang didn’t say anything for a long moment.
"What’s the situation? Say something, will you?"
Long Ming couldn’t help but press him.
"Sigh... Sorry, man. The game’s too popular. I really couldn’t get one."
"It’s okay, I understand. Just transfer the money back to me."
"Sorry, the money’s gone."
Wang Yang replied cheekily.
"Hey, hey, don’t joke like that. That’s my life-saving money."
Long Ming reminded Wang Yang with a sigh.
Of course, he didn’t actually believe Wang Yang would keep his money. He knew his friend’s character well.
"Open your door. A delivery guy should be bringing you a package any second now."
Wang Yang told Long Ming with a chuckle.
Just as Long Ming was about to say something, a knock came at the door.
KNOCK KNOCK~
Still on the phone, Long Ming walked over and opened the door.
When he opened the door, he was greeted by a young man in a "Speedy Express" uniform, holding a securely wrapped package. The delivery man asked,
"Excuse me, are you Mr. Long Ming?"
"Yes, I am."
"This is your package. Please sign for it."
"Okay, thank you."
Long Ming signed his name, took the package, and went back inside.
Just then, Wang Yang’s cheerful voice came over the phone.
"Did you get it?"
"I got it. Didn’t you say you couldn’t buy one?"
"Yeah, I wasn’t able to buy one. But that doesn’t mean someone else couldn’t. I asked someone for help."
"Your connections are insane."
"It’s not my connections that are insane, it’s you!"
"Huh? Why would you say that? What’s going on?"
"Forget it, let’s not talk about it. I’ve got stuff to do, so I’m hanging up."
"At least explain it clearly!"
Long Ming kept pressing Wang Yang, but the guy just played dead and went silent.
The next second, the call was disconnected, replaced by a dial tone.
’That guy’s being an ass again, not explaining anything. Whatever, I’ll ask him later.’
Long Ming looked at the disconnected call and sighed helplessly.
He didn’t dwell on it any longer, instead carrying the package toward his bedroom.
The apartment Long Ming rented was about 60 square meters, with a one-bedroom, one-living-room, one-kitchen, and one-bathroom layout.
However, Long Ming spent most of his time in the bedroom; the living room was usually used to pile up miscellaneous clutter.
Soon, Long Ming was in his bedroom. He found a knife and carefully opened the box, taking out a well-packaged black helmet from inside.
