IRCDM Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Getting Medicine. The weather is nice tonight.

The hovercar sped along the elevated roadway. The residential area below was brightly lit, with dilapidated traffic robots hovering in mid-air directing traffic. As the elevated roadway spiraled downwards, the lights in the surrounding residential areas dimmed. By the time they reached the lowest level, there were only a few scattered lights. Very few hovercars could be seen on the roadway, and there weren’t even traffic robots at the intersections.

There was still some time before they reached the eighth-level parking platform. Liang Huan was in the back, studying the map of the lower eight levels. Li Yao glanced at it and said, “Don’t bother looking, that thing is useless.”

Liang Huan turned to him and asked, “How so?”

“The buildings on the lower eight levels aren’t fixed. Some good locations not only require connections, but you also have to be able to hold onto them. They change every so often. What’s on the eighth level now might not always be there.” Li Yao raised his hand and fiddled with the 3D holographic map. “Where’s your little chip?”

Liang Huan handed him the registration chip.

Li Yao connected the chip to the map, and a small red dot quickly appeared on the eighth level. “It has the real-time location of the shops. These are the ones with money. Some shops you can only find by luck.”

Liang Huan leaned in to look at the red dot. “For example?”

“No ‘for example’.” Li Yao pushed the map towards him, pushing him away in the process. “Is the space in the car not big enough? Can’t hold you?”

Liang Huan said helplessly, “Sometimes I can’t see clearly.”

Li Yao simply enlarged the map and chuckled. “What kind of onion is this?”

Liang Huan looked at the name of the ancient herbal medicine shop on the map. “Do the shops in the Black Market all have such unique names?”

“Try to understand. After all, they’re stuck in the Black Market, living in this sunless place year-round. They have to find some amusement for themselves, or life would be too depressing.” Li Yao opened the car window. Even though the metal buildings blocked out the soil, the underground air still had a musty smell. The muggy evening breeze made it hard to feel cheerful. “When you open your eyes, all you see is black. The first thought when you wake up every day is probably – my life is completely over.”

The car slowly braked at the parking spot. Liang Huan got out of the car. The sticky, humid air made him frown. What was surprising was that there were quite a few pedestrians on the street. Most of them were wearing clothes in dull shades of gray. Every time they lifted their feet, a dim blue light emanated from under their shoes, only illuminating a small patch of ground beneath them. These people looked numb and empty, more like zombies than the ones in the outer districts.

The faint, unclear cold light, the desolate and dilapidated buildings, and the lifeless pedestrians made this place more like Liang Huan’s vision of the underworld than the training ground.

“How can they get up there?” Liang Huan asked, looking at Li Yao.

Li Yao lit a cigarette, pulling him closer. “Pay taxes.”

“To the imperial court?” Liang Huan asked.

“To Yu Wan Yao.” Li Yao laughed. “The people living in the Black Market pay taxes to Yu Wan Yao, and Yu Wan Yao pays taxes to the base.”

Liang Huan nodded. “Before, the Divine Seal Exploration Team paid thirty percent in taxes. And everyone paid individual taxes based on their mental power and physical fitness ratings. And that was just to the base. Yu Wan Yao took another twenty percent of what was left. Yue Hang said it was already good this time.”

“So Yue Hang is the smart one. He’s always been low-key, so Yu Wan Yao hasn’t paid much attention to this exploration team. He wasn’t so ruthless about taking money, so everyone could make a profit.” Li Yao patted his chest. “You dragged him down, and now he’s mixed up in the lower eight levels.”

Liang Huan smiled. “Your information is very well-informed.”

“When you’re out and about, it’s all about social skills.” Li Yao avoided a pedestrian who was about to bump into him, waved the wristband on his wrist in front of Liang Huan, and handed him another one. “Before you know it, a zero will disappear from your account balance.”

Liang Huan took it and put it on. “Are there many people on the lower eight levels?”

“The population of the third district is ten times that of the first district.” Li Yao lit a cigarette. “The population of the upper seven levels is a fraction of that of the lower eight levels – here we are.”

Liang Huan looked up at the shop in front of him. The words “What kind of onion” were written on it in bright red paint, and there was a lot of red paint dripping down and congealing on the sign. Only the bottom half of the string of colored lights behind it was lit. The decals on the glass door were mostly torn off. Various swear words in different languages were sprayed on the flowers on the remaining decal. Liang Huan walked closer to get a better look, but Li Yao pushed the door open. “You can’t understand them anyway, hurry up and take care of business.”

As soon as he entered, the familiar smell of medicine wafted over him. The light in the room was still dim. The antique-style medicine cabinet was covered with chips of various colors. Behind the counter, someone was grinding medicine. In front of the counter, a woman in her fifties or sixties was holding two bags of medicine and asking, “Will I get better after taking these two doses?”

The person behind the counter said casually, “If you die, there’s nothing I can do. If you live, please give me a good review, thank you.”

The woman was silent for a moment, then left with the medicine.

“Number chip.” The person said without looking up. “There are only two numbers left today. Are you together?”

“Together.” Li Yao leaned against the counter and handed over the chip.

The other person looked up, revealing a beautiful face. She was wearing a white coat, but the scalpel in her hand and the blood splattered on her clothes made her look less friendly.

“Liang Huan.” Her eyes fell on Liang Huan. “What are you doing here?”

“You know me?” Liang Huan asked in confusion.

“We were on the Divine Seal Exploration Team in the outer district for more than ten days.” She said lightly. “I’m Su Murong.”

“Oh.” Liang Huan nodded.

Su Murong: “…Don’t pretend you know me. I was wearing a protective suit and a mask. It’s normal that you don’t recognize me.”

“What do you mean, he doesn’t recognize you.” Li Yao laughed. “Of course he recognizes you. Can we get a discount on the medicine?”

“No.” Su Murong refused coldly. “The name of the store is written very clearly.”

Li Yao raised his eyebrows.

Liang Huan smiled and placed the written list in front of the counter. “Dr. Su, please help me fill this prescription.”

Su Murong glanced at it, then her gaze stopped, and she picked up the prescription with a serious expression. “Who gave you this prescription?”

“Is there a problem?” Liang Huan asked.

Su Murong put down the list and said lightly, “No problem, it’s just that I’ve never heard of some of the medicines, and I can’t read the words. Did you graduate from elementary school?”

“No.” Liang Huan said without changing his expression. “I grew up in an orphanage. I went out to work before I graduated from elementary school.”

Li Yao next to him turned his head to look at him. “?”

Liang Huan sighed in a lifelike manner. “That’s just the way it is.”

Li Yao laughed in annoyance.

Su Murong took out the chip and calculated for a moment. “Excluding the three medicines that I can’t find, the others, according to your weight, total three million condensed coins. Are you sure you want them?”

“How much?” Li Yao looked at her in shock. “Are you robbing us?”

“We have legal transactions here, and we have to pay taxes.” Su Murong pushed the list back. “If you don’t want to buy, we won’t force you.”

“Buy, please wrap it up for us.” Liang Huan raised his hand to stop him.

Su Murong glanced at them, turned around, and went to get the medicine.

Li Yao said, “You’re crazy, spending three million to buy a few grams of grass?”

“If it can make you better, then the money is worth it.” Liang Huan said seriously.

Li Yao looked at him as if he were a sucker. “You’re saying ‘if’. What if it doesn’t work?”

“Then consider it a lesson learned.” Liang Huan opened his account, his fingertips suddenly paused.

“What kind of lesson is worth three million? I think you’re just out of your mind.” Li Yao grabbed his shoulder and was about to drag him away when he saw Liang Huan slowly raise his head and call out to him sincerely: “Li Yao ah.”

“…” Li Yao immediately became vigilant, his eyes swept over him, then over the chip on his wrist, and he felt uneasy. “I don’t have any money. I can’t even afford takeout right now. All the money is spent on Kunwu. The rest of the bonus hasn’t been taxed yet.”

“Don’t you even have a million and three hundred thousand?” Liang Huan was a little disappointed.

“I have to struggle for two hours to afford a 130 yuan mecha fan membership.” Li Yao said seriously. “We’re just ordinary partners, you’re crossing the line.”

Liang Huan sighed and lowered his head to dial Yue Hang’s communicator. “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely be able to raise the money.”

Before he could press the last communication code, his wrist was grabbed with a “pa” sound. Li Yao frowned and stared at him. “Are you really going to buy it?”

“I have to buy it.” Liang Huan said solemnly.

Li Yao sighed, put his wrist on the payment scanner, and said half-deadly, “Forget it, you’re doing it for me anyway, use mine.”

The vibration sound of the successful payment made his flesh ache.

Liang Huan smiled. “Don’t worry, it will definitely be useful.”

Li Yao tapped the table depressedly and shouted inside, “Boss Su, give us more, Liang Huan and you are teammates, even freebies are fine!”

The chip vibrated again. He looked up and saw that Liang Huan’s screen was on the transfer page. He said with relief, “I knew you were a kind and good person, let me see how much you transferred to me – one condensed coin?”

“Tonight’s commission.” Liang Huan smiled.

Li Yao gritted his teeth: “I shouldn’t have come with you.”

Liang Huan patted him on the shoulder to comfort him.

“The medicine is packed, thank you for your patronage.” Su Murong handed over the packed medicine.

Liang Huan just reached out to take it, but another hand was faster than him and pressed on the bag of medicine. “I bought this medicine.”

Liang Huan and Li Yao turned their heads at the same time.

The other person was strong and powerful, with a buzz cut. There was a black stud on his brow bone. Two blue electric wires were embedded in the skin of the left half of his face. The left eye was a mechanical eyeball, and the pupil was very small. When he looked at people, he had a fierce look. He glanced at Li Yao and his eyes fell on Liang Huan’s face. “You take the next number.”

“The medicine that everyone grabs has different effects, can this be exchanged?” Liang Huan asked.

“Can’t you understand human speech?” The other person twitched the corner of his mouth, the muscles on the left side were stiff. “If you don’t want to die, get out of here.”

There was a rumbling sound from outside the door. Through the blurred glass, you could vaguely see many figures. Li Yao tilted his head slightly and whispered in Liang Huan’s ear, “The visitors are not friendly, let’s not take it, let’s go.”

Liang Huan glanced outside. “Okay, you can transfer three million to us.”

The other person seemed to have heard a big joke. “Ask around, when do I, Lou Chu, take money for things on the lower eight levels?”

He stared at Liang Huan, swept the packed medicine on the counter to the ground, and stomped on it hard.

Su Murong behind the counter stood up abruptly. “Lou Chu, don’t go too far.”

“Shut up–” Lou Chu suddenly raised his voice, pointing the gun in his hand at Su Murong’s brow. “It’s already giving Yu Wan Yao face by letting you hang out on the lower eight levels, don’t be ungrateful.”

Su Murong’s face turned pale with anger.

Lou Chu laughed and slapped the gun on the counter: “What are you two doing, still not getting out?”

“What should be whose is whose, Boss Su said that this is a legal transaction.” Liang Huan said gently, “You’re breaking the rules like this, I’m afraid it’s not appropriate.”

“On the lower eight levels, I am the rule.” Lou Chu grinned, “If you don’t like it, then suck it up, or are you looking–”

“Brother Lou.” Li Yao suddenly interrupted him, stepped forward and put his arm around Liang Huan’s shoulder, and said with a smile, “He’s new here, why don’t we just let it go?”

“General Li–no, Colonel Li.” Lou Chu looked at him provocatively. “Instead of being a dog for others in your mercenary base, what are you doing in my territory? Isn’t it enough to kill so many people, do you have to kill everyone else? If I were you, I would have shot myself a long time ago. Look at what a useless waste you are now, it would have been better to just die.”

He raised his hand and gave Li Yao the middle finger: “Traitor.”

Crack.

The sound of bone breaking was clearly audible. Before the pain came, Lou Chu met a pair of calm black eyes. Liang Huan looked at him with a cold expression: “Mr. Lou, that’s not very polite.”

“Ah–” Lou Chu screamed, grabbed the gun on the counter and aimed it at Liang Huan to pull the trigger, but the next second the gun was kicked away, hitting the medicine cabinet heavily.

Li Yao retracted his leg and sighed: “Lou Chu, you can’t understand people and you’re not polite, it’s too embarrassing for the Black Market.”

Lou Chu grabbed his wrist and shouted outside: “Kill them for me!”

The engine roared outside the glass. The next second the glass suddenly shattered, and seven or eight heavy motorcycles rushed towards Li Yao and Liang Huan. Liang Huan pulled Li Yao behind the counter. The rows of medicine cabinets above their heads kept exploding. Su Murong wanted to get up in shock but was pressed back by Liang Huan and Li Yao on either side.

Li Yao grabbed the wristband on his wrist, swung it into a stick, looked at Liang Huan and gritted his teeth: “I really owe you.”

After saying that, he suddenly stood up, supported the counter, flipped over, kicked away the people in the car, and accurately hit their necks with the stick, then jumped to the bottom of the car to avoid the wheels rolling over. The stick turned into a grappling hook. He was like an agile and flexible fish swimming in the rain of bullets, always able to dodge the bullets that ran to his body. In the blink of an eye, he wrapped several cars together, and even the younger brothers were entangled and unable to move, and he was firmly trampled under his feet. Lou Chu next to him cursed a piece of trash, picked up the gun on the ground and aimed it at Li Yao who was stepping on a group of people.

The next moment, a breeze blew, his knees hurt, and his back sank, and the whole person was caught off guard and fell to the ground, with a combat boot heavily stepped on his face.

Liang Huan stepped on his face with one foot, and slowly moved the other foot away from his broken wrist, kicked away the gun in his hand, and looked at Li Yao: “Are you okay?”

“Something’s wrong.” Li Yao wrapped the rope around the wheel, walked over and squatted in front of Lou Chu, and seriously asked for his opinion: “Brother Lou, look at what happened, it’s really not my intention, can we pretend that nothing happened?”

“I fuck|you–” Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly screamed in pain.

Liang Huan saw that his head was a little deformed and restrained his strength a little: “Brother Lou, speak properly.”

Lou Chu gasped for breath and stared at the boots in front of him: “Liang Huan, I underestimated you.”

“I came to the lower eight levels with Mr. Yu’s authorization. Today is just a private matter. As a result, I just arrived at the pharmacy, and you followed. This is not how you show off your power.” Liang Huan sighed. “Apologize.”

“You’re dreaming! I’ll kill you sooner or later!” Lou Chu said angrily.

Liang Huan released his foot and smiled: “Then there’s no way.”

Li Yao squatted on the ground without reacting. He kicked Lou Chu in half of his face, directly blasting the mechanical eyeball. The warm blue oil splashed on Li Yao’s chin. When Liang Huan wanted to kick his neck directly, he suddenly raised his hand and grabbed Liang Huan’s ankle.

The cold leather of the combat boot was wrapped in the palm of his hand, and Li Yao’s tiger’s mouth was slightly numb from the shock, but soon he realized that Liang Huan’s strength had weakened, and he put his ankle on the ground.

He supported his knees and stood up, and said to Liang Huan: “Forget it.”

“Forget it?” Liang Huan looked at him, a little puzzled.

“It’s not good to make things worse.” Li Yao said, “After all, it’s Yu Wan Yao’s people.”

Liang Huan glanced at the dog-like person on the ground. It was difficult for him to imagine that Lou Chu, such an idiot, would be the second in command of the Black Market. He and Yue Hang had initially regarded Lou Chu as an opponent. He liked talented people, he liked smart people, and even if he had a heart of a snake, it didn’t matter, but he extremely hated idiots, especially idiots who didn’t use their brains, which was simply an insult to him.

But Li Yao insisted.

Liang Huan wiped the oil off his boots with Lou Chu’s clothes, picked up the medicine bag on the ground, patted the dust off it, turned around and said to Su Murong: “I’m sorry Dr. Su, I’ve caused you trouble.”

He was so gentle and calm, completely different from the way he had just kicked half of Lou Chu’s head off. Su Murong shook his head stiffly: “It’s okay.”

Li Yao pointed to the group of tied up people: “Boss, I’ll help you clean up and let them compensate you, can you give me a freebie?”

Su Murong hesitated and nodded: “What do you want?”

“Bring a bottle of high-concentration mental power enhancer.” Li Yao smiled in the dim light. “I heard Wang Le Ren say that he got the goods from you, and it’s very expensive to sell to me. It costs a fortune to eat a bottle, which makes my wife want to get a divorce every day.”

Su Murong nodded: “This is not expensive, I sell it for 10,000 condensed coins a bottle, but you should pay attention to the dosage, just eat half a pill at a time, and at most eat it continuously for three days. If you take it for a long time, it is easy to cause mental disorder.”

“10,000 condensed coins?” Li Yao looked at her and moved a whole box of enhancers from under the cabinet, as if he had lost his soul. “Wang Le Ren, that bastard, sells me 500,000 a bottle, is it easy to cheat our mercenaries?”

Su Murong remembered that he had just swiped three million without blinking an eye, and kept silent about this.

Li Yao reached out and grabbed two bottles: “Give me ten first–”

“He doesn’t want it.” Liang Huan grabbed his wrist, put the two bottles of medicine back to Su Murong, and said lightly, “Have you reported selling these controlled drugs to the Drug Administration?”

“…” Su Murong shifted her gaze guiltily. “This is the Black Market, big brother.”

“The Black Market must also conduct legal transactions.” Liang Huan took out the certificate of identity given by Yu Wan Yao. “In the capacity of the administrator of the lower eight levels, I confiscate these prohibited items from you. Remember to pay the fine on the next level tomorrow.”

“There’s a fine too?” Su Murong frowned. “How much?”

“Three million condensed coins.” Liang Huan looked official. “These people have damaged your business without authorization, and they will also be compensated according to the regulations after the loss is determined.”

Su Murong instantly understood: “No problem, the medicine is yours.”

Isn’t the assessment of damages up to her, three million and a box of concentrated enhancers, Lou Chu and his men are rich, she decided that she had lost 30 million now.

“It’s confiscated.” Liang Huan corrected her, picked up the entire box of medicine and went out.

Li Yao simply cleaned up the “battlefield” and threw the half-dead Lou Chu into the abandoned motorcycle. Lou Chu struggled to grab the corner of his clothes and said in a hoarse voice: “Do you think you are a good person by helping me beg for mercy…you traitor…sure enough, you are mixed with the military’s dog…you are worthy of…who…”

Li Yao raised his eyes to look at him: “The military’s dog?”

“Li Yao.” Liang Huan called him from a distance.

Lou Chu laughed hoarsely: “You will go to the eighteenth level of hell sooner or later…”

Li Yao took a deep look at him, turned around and left, wiped the oil off his face, and looked up at Liang Huan.

Liang Huan made eye contact with him with a calm expression: “What’s wrong?”

Li Yao raised his chin at the medicine box in his hand: “Give me a bottle?”

Liang Huan smiled: “Exchange it for brain marrow.”

“No discussion?”

“No discussion.” Liang Huan turned his head and glanced at Lou Chu, who had passed out.

“Then forget it, I’ll go and slaughter Wang Le Ren first.” Li Yao clenched his fists and made a crackling sound. “Who?”

Liang Huan looked at the woman who was curled up in the corner of the abandoned shop next to him. Her face was full of wrinkles, and her hands were covered with burn scars. She was holding two empty medicine wrappers tightly in her arms, and said in a trembling voice: “I, I sprained my foot, I hid just now and was not beaten to death…two officers, don’t kill me.”

“It’s okay, we’re not from the Black Market.” Li Yao squatted in front of her, bowed his head and fiddled with his chip for a moment, pointed it at her wrist, and the prompt tone of the successful transfer sounded. He said in a low voice, “Go buy two more packs again.”

“Thank you, thank you.” The woman’s eyes turned red, and she kept nodding. “Thank you, thank you.”

Li Yao shook his head, got up and left, saw Liang Huan staring at him, and “tsk”ed: “What are you looking at, haven’t you seen a handsome guy?”

Liang Huan smiled: “I think–”

Li Yao narrowed his eyes dangerously.

Liang Huan raised his head nonchalantly: “The weather is nice tonight.”

Li Yao looked at the dark sky roadway and the dilapidated building complex underground, hummed and laughed: “Not bad.”