Chapter 923: 566, Spades A

The small Fire Pot shop in the Ninth District was bustling with activity.

Outside, dozens of men equipped with various mechanical limbs stood guard, divided into three groups.

They chatted with each other, laughing cheerfully as if they were quite familiar.

Inside, three people sat around a table with a fire pot in front of them. The water was boiling, making a bubbling sound.

A short middle-aged man brought out two plates of sliced meat, his face shiny with oil, as he emerged from the back kitchen. He wore two white sleeve covers, stained with grease: “Take your time, gentlemen. I’ll keep slicing in the kitchen. There’s more than enough.”

One of the three at the table asked coldly, “You’re not giving us some nasty white meat, are you?”

“How could I do that! You three are the bosses of the nearby groups. I wouldn’t dare mess with you,” the fire pot shop owner quickly said. “The cuts I gave you are real lamb. I brought them in from the Fourth District.”

“That’s more like it.”

Once the owner returned to the kitchen, the boss of the ‘I Want to Buy a Watch’ group said, “Have you heard about that Little Devil Group lately?”

“You mean that art group? They tried a big chorus in the afternoon and messed it up,” the Big Pendulum Group boss said, grabbing a piece of lamb. “Giving up being a proper group to become saints, building elevators and fixing utilities for the slums. Do those pigs need utilities and elevators?”

“That’s not entirely true. A few dozen households in my building moved out in just one day. More might leave in the future,” the boss of the Meteor Hammer Group said. “This way, the protection fees I collect each month could drop by tens of thousands, and I might even lose hundreds of thousands.”

“What are you afraid of? How many units does the Pigeon Cage Building have anyway? Can’t our people cover them all?”

“True, but our immediate concern isn’t dealing with the art group, but explaining things to those above us.”

“The higher-ups are so fickle. They said they only wanted eight people, but now, unable to explain themselves, they want us to hand over thirty people. Where are we supposed to find thirty people? Do we hand over ourselves?” The Big Pendulum Group boss said with an unhappy face.

Actually, the requirements from the PCE side are simple. Capture a group of people as a show of force to prove that they are indeed keeping busy: Look, I caught so many criminals. But not finding the assassin isn’t our fault; after all, the assassin could kill an A-Class person. Our department is indeed powerless against that.

Over the years, PCE has been getting by like this, offsetting their deficiencies with merits.

However, this incident was too severe. The previous accomplishments weren’t nearly enough, so the PCE Security Management Committee issued new targets in the afternoon.

At this time, the boss of the ‘I Want to Buy a Watch’ group suddenly said, “How about we hand over the art group? I heard there are over a hundred of them. Wouldn’t that be just right?”

“Hmm, interesting. But won’t we suffer any casualties?” the Meteor Hammer Group boss asked.

“A group doing a chorus, how could they cause us any casualties? They haven’t shown any use of firearms before. Taking care of them serves two purposes: completing the task and eliminating this anomaly.”

The three of them discussed it and agreed it seemed like a good idea: “When should we act?”

“No need to pick a day. Let’s do it at 4 AM tonight.”

…

At this moment, two young men silently stood in front of the Pigeon Cage Building.

They were bundled up tightly, observing everything before them with interest.

They wore gray canvas jackets, washed to the point of being almost white.

At a certain moment, they didn’t quite seem like city people, but more like wilderness folks.

“Boss, I only heard about this art group this afternoon. The residents of the Ninth District say they’re quite different from other groups. What do you think?” one of the young men whispered.

The person beside him frowned: “A lotus growing out of the mud, there’s something peculiar about this. It might be a new exploitation method by those groups. Did you manage to rent a room here?”

“Yes, I did. The rooms here are in high demand. I had to sublet it at a high price from someone else.”

Spades A, Xu Linsen, paused for a moment: “Fully rented?”

“Yes, it’s indeed fully rented, but some people haven’t had the time to move in yet,” Spades 4, Jiang Mubei, said. “Boss, Yangyang asked us to come here to observe the future changes in this city. She said there must be something to learn, but I’m not sure what exactly she’s referring to. Did she say anything else?”

“She said she would come over after finishing the parade in city 10 and mentioned that someone she trusts would be doing something here, so she asked us to learn from it,” Xu Linsen said calmly.

“Learn?” Jiang Mubei was taken aback. Spades was already a rather mature organization. Their organized parades across the Federation had initially succeeded and wielded a strong influence.

Yangyang saying to learn from them had an unusual tone.

Who exactly would be doing something in city 22 worth Spades A’s presence for learning?

Jiang Mubei laughed: “Among all the organizations trying to change the Federation, we’re the only successful one. Who else could we learn from?”

Xu Linsen glanced at him: “She said it’s about learning, Xiao Bei. Humility is a good virtue. Maybe that person has some extraordinary qualities. However, she also said she doesn’t know what exactly that person is planning, but they’ll certainly make some noise. She said… that person is someone who always creates miracles and surprises.”

“But if that’s the case, we’ll miss the Fire Pit’s New Year’s festival,” Jiang Mubei sighed, “The key issue is we don’t even know where or who that person is. In the time we have, it would be more worthwhile to organize a student protest in City 22.”

“Take it easy, Mubei! Let’s settle down first; besides, the Grand Elder isn’t at the Fire Pit. I heard he’s been recruited by Uncle Li Dong again as labor,” Xu Linsen said.

Jiang Mubei grabbed Xu Linsen: “Boss, don’t use the word ‘again’, or the Grand Elder might hear…”

At this point, Xu Linsen suspiciously remarked: “By the way Mubei, do you think the person Yangyang mentioned could be that person from the Daylight group? It seems they have quite a good relationship.”

Jiang Mubei hesitated for a moment: “Daylight is quite close to the Consortium, and its strength is pretty weak. What can they do here? City 22 isn’t even their home turf.”

Xu Linsen thought for a moment and said: “Let’s observe, maybe we’ll see something different.”

At this moment, they stepped into the Pigeon Cage Building. Just as they entered, they saw someone with a red armband, sitting at a desk by the entrance with a notebook and pen.

The young person behind the desk looked up at them: “Where are you from, what’s your occupation, any history of infectious diseases, carrying any weapons? Which room are you staying in, let me see your rental contract.”

This barrage of questions left Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei stunned.

What is this, why is the art society managing things so broadly?!

Jiang Mubei thought for a bit and replied: “We are outsiders, unemployed, no history of infectious diseases, carrying two pistols, staying at 4403, here’s our rental contract.”

Jiang Mubei glanced up and saw a surveillance camera aimed right at them.

However, since Xu Linsen didn’t comment, he stayed quiet too.

After registering their information, the young person handed them a leaflet: “The rules of this building are all on here. No stealing, robbing, no bullying the elderly, women, or children, no fighting. If you’re caught, you’ll be displayed in front of the building as a warning, got it.”

Jiang Mubei raised an eyebrow, while Xu Linsen smiled and said: “Got it, thank you.”

At this time, Qing Chen passed by them. Today he had played quite hard, outdrinking everyone else at the table.

But, when he passed Xu Linsen, he suddenly paused…

He knew Xu Linsen; after all, he had impersonated him in Prison 18, causing Guo Huchan with his big bald head to get beaten up while guarding the middle-aged health manual.

What are people from Spade doing here in the Pigeon Cage?

Without showing any sign, Qing Chen walked into the elevator, as Jiang Mubei asked the young man behind the desk, “Why can he go in directly?”

The young man replied nonchalantly: “He’s an old tenant. By the way, there’s a contact number for our art society office on the flyer along with a group chat. Join in, and you can find us if you have any troubles. Here, our art society is definitely more effective than the PCE. After joining the group chat, find Xiao Mengqiu; he’ll introduce where you can eat and have fun around here.”

“Thank you,” Jiang Mubei said, feeling slightly puzzled; this society didn’t seem like a society at all, the service was too comprehensive.

With that, Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei entered the elevator along with Qing Chen, heading to the 44th floor.

“Hey brother, you’ve lived here a long time, what do you think of that art society?” Xu Linsen asked.

Qing Chen glanced at them: “It’s pretty good.”

Upon reaching the 44th floor, Qing Chen exited the elevator first and overheard Jiang Mubei behind him exclaim: “This building is way too clean, it’s the first time I’ve seen such a clean residential building in the lower three districts. Boss, look, there isn’t even an insect in sight. What exactly does this art society do?”

This Spade 4, acting like a country bumpkin entering the city for the first time, had a look of “never seen the world” plastered on his face…

…

At the city’s edge, Zhang Mengchan led Luo Wanya and Xiao Qi, cautiously traversing through the shadows of the buildings.

The entire Ninth District was shrouded in darkness, except for the Pigeon Cage.

This provided unexpected convenience for those living in the shadows.

“Here’s the place,” Zhang Mengchan stopped at a sewer entrance, “This pipeline is about 0.6 meters in diameter, looks inconspicuous, but actually leads outside the city. It’s roughly 4 to 5 kilometers. I discovered it by accident. However, if you plan to go out this way, you’d have to crawl through sewage for 5 kilometers. Are you sure you want to leave this way?”

Crawling 5 kilometers, and in filthy water at that, is a route even criminals in the Ninth District would rather avoid.

Because it involves enduring prolonged darkness and stench, requiring significant physical endurance.

Walking five kilometers and crawling five kilometers are entirely different in terms of physical exertion.

The most crucial point is that Luo Wanya’s status was no longer what it used to be, his strength having risen to a C-Class under the special care of Li Tongyun, Nan Gengchen, and Liu Dezhu.

Would such a high-profile individual willingly crawl through a sewer?

Luo Wanya took off his jacket and smiled: “Though it’s a bit disgusting, if I can’t endure this hardship, I don’t deserve to work for the boss. Young lad, you still don’t know what a tough person our boss is. This sewage drain isn’t a challenge compared to the hardships he’s endured. In comparison to what he aims to achieve, my effort here is nothing. Xiao Qi, wait here for me; take out any suspicious individuals who get close.”

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