He went to the door and checked the video intercom. Seeing a Chinese girl in her twenties who had come alone, he opened it.
The Chinese girl at the door stood about five-foot-four. She had a small, delicate face and was dressed provocatively, wearing just a tight blue tank top. Her hair was styled in dreadlocks with the left side of her head shaved to the scalp. Her skin was tanned to a bronze hue, and she had a black flame dragon tattoo on her arm.
She was one cool and fiery girl.
In her left hand, the girl carried a white aluminum briefcase.
Noticing Fang Zhenâs gaze land on her arm, the girl simply raised it and said, "Itâs a temporary tattoo, not real."
"A real tattoo closes too many doors. Then you have to get it removed, which hurts, and youâll just think your younger self was an idiot."
"Heh, youâre punctual," Fang Zhen said. "Itâs only been thirty-eight minutes since I messaged you, and youâre even two minutes early."
"Iâm Li Zoyi, a friend of Xia Siwei."
"Iâm Fang Zhen."
He said, stepping aside from the doorway. "Come on in."
After entering the room, Li Zoyi glanced at the furnishings and nodded, finding them acceptable.
"Nice room. Donât stay here again," Li Zoyi said. "Or at least pick a different spot for our deal. The way the front desk staff looked at me, youâd think I was a sex worker."
"I just got to Houston, so I donât know the area. Once Iâm more familiar with things, you can pick the spot," Fang Zhen said.
Li Zoyi nodded, walked to the table, and pulled out a chair. She then placed the white aluminum briefcase on the table and undid the mechanical combination lock.
Inside the box was a gun and its accessories.
What immediately caught the eye was the pistol, with its rose-gold-colored frame and black grip.
The pistol had a strikingly cool design. It was rose-gold colored and equipped with a tactical red-dot sight. The logo on it was also quite flashy, reading âSand Viper,â with the capital âSâ stylized into the shape of a viper.
All in all, the gun looked just like a premium weapon skin from a first-person shooter.
Li Zoyi took the pistol from the case. Holding it in her hand, she executed a few professional, tactical maneuvers before speaking. "This is a top-shelf piece from Taran Tactical, the TTI Sand Viper. I donât know if youâre a fan of John Wick, but the pistol he uses in the movies is the Taran Tactical Combat Master 2011. That gun is totally badass in the film."
"This gun right here is even more of a beast than John Wickâs Combat Master 2011. This particular model won the US 2-Gun National Championship, and itâs also the most expensive pistol Taran Tactical makes."
"Oh? How expensive?" Fang Zhen asked.
"On the Taran Tactical website, itâs over eight thousand US dollars before tax. But you had a few special requests for an enhanced-usability variant," Li Zoyi said. "This one comes with a red-dot sight and an enlarged magwell. The standard versionâs capacity is 16+1, but the enlarged magwell upgrades it from a 140mm magazine to a 170mm, bringing the capacity to 28 rounds."
"The retail price for the variant is 11,000 US dollars. And since youâre not licensed to buy a firearmânot that I really care, of courseâstandard procedure requires a twenty percent markup."
"But youâre Xia Siweiâs friend, and you came recommended. Iâll knock off the change and call it an even 13,000 US dollars."
"Thirteen thousand US dollars?" Fang Zhen chuckled. "Thatâs not cheap."
"You get what you pay for," Li Zoyi said, pointing to the unloaded gunâs slide. "The action on this is so smooth, I can rack the slide with my pinky."
And sure enough, she nudged it a couple of times with her pinky, and the slide glided back with perfect smoothness.
"The trigger pull is incredibly lightâonly two pounds. Itâs perfect for rapid fire. It has a five-inch, single-port compensator, so the muzzle is exceptionally stable. Youâll barely feel any recoil when you shoot."
"Itâs also fitted with an Extreme Engineering fire control group, including a light-speed hammer, an ultra-low-mass sear, a competition disconnector, and a titanium hammer strut, all to ensure maximum accuracy and responsiveness."
"Itâs ergonomically designed, with an optimized grip and safety."
"Basically, it handles like a dream. You can fire in rapid succession with virtually no recoil. You can even chamber a round one-handed."
Holding the gun in her right hand, Li Zoyi sharply jerked her arm back. The inertia alone was enough to send the slide backward, chambering the empty weapon.
"And most importantly," Li Zoyi asked, lowering the muzzle and striking a two-handed-grip pose, "donât you think it just looks cool as hell?"
In truth, Fang Zhen was already very satisfied.
Heâd already had a plan before coming here.
The Silver Moon Treasure Box had limited space, so buying an automatic rifle wasnât realisticâit wouldnât fit. A more reasonable choice was a submachine gun or a high-end pistol.
A micro-submachine gun would have offered enough firepower, but they seemed prone to jamming and burned through an enormous amount of ammunition. The Silver Moon Treasure Box could fit one at most, severely limiting his choices, as anything oversized was out of the question.
Pistols were a much better option. He could fit two, and still have plenty of room for other supplies.
But if he went with a pistol, its capacity, stability, recoil, and accuracy all had to be top-of-the-line.
After looking at all his options, Fang Zhen still found himself drawn to the Desert Viper.
Even though it was a competition pistol, it was highly adaptable and could be used in all sorts of environments.
Besides the fact that it was truly excellent in every respect, there was another important reason.
It was cool.
Of the original eleven-thousand-US-dollar price tag, about ten thousand went into performance. The extra thousand or so was mainly for the logo and the aesthetic.
Fang Zhen was fine with that.
He wasnât too price-sensitive at the moment. He could just treat the thousand-dollar premium as the cost of buying a cosmetic skin for a video game.
Functionality was a given, but style is forever.