Knowing the shipment would be sold quickly, Jiang Ling was naturally delighted, so she didn't ask for too high a price. She had no idea how effective the weapons were, nor how the search teams typically dealt with the mutants. Of course, now that it was post-nuclear war, she could imagine the frantic actions of those who hadn't been able to enter the internment camp. Perhaps the "Three Yang Caravan" simply needed weapons for self-defense, to give those treacherous individuals spying on them a second thought.
Jiang Ling didn't think about it any further. Conspiracy theories were unacceptable, even if they always attracted attention. He couldn't harbor the intention to harm others; it would only cause him to lose his ability to distinguish between good and evil.
After leaving the merchant base, Jiang Ling made a long detour through District 2 before heading to the residence of "Song Qiaoying." She still had a mission to complete, so since it was on her way, she decided to complete it.
There was nothing special about the location of Building 3, Row 4; it looked exactly like the other buildings nearby. Given the time, the residents of this row should have gone home from work, but the girl's suite was completely silent. Jiang Ling planned to ask the neighbors first. If the girl had been working overtime or had an accident recently, knocking on the door would probably be pointless.
"Song Qiaoying? No, there's no one here by that name," an elderly man from the downstairs apartment replied. This was the third elderly man to come, and Jiang Ling felt like she must have been asking the wrong question. Some people might not have the best of relationships with their neighbors, and it's not uncommon for them to not even know the name of their neighbor after living there for years.
"Uncle, do you know where the person who lives in room 303 has gone?"
"It seems like someone lived there before, but they moved out half a month ago!"
"Do you know where he moved to?"
"Old woman! Do you remember where the man upstairs who often goes out late at night has moved to?" the old man shouted into the inner room.
"Damn old man, didn't I tell you this morning? That person was taken away by her relatives. It seems like they're going to some bureau for tea?"
"Oh~ That person was moved away by some bureau!" The old man cut off the beginning and the end and summarized the meaning again. Although it felt strange, Jiang Ling still understood it generally. At least she was not that hard of hearing.
"Thank you, sir. You can take a rest now!"
Jiang Ling felt that Li Wenjia would most likely never see this girl again. She took the letter from her backpack, tore it into pieces, and threw it into the trash can by the passage. Some things are better left untold; constantly asking for the truth is bad for both herself and others. On the way back, she used her terminal to compose an email, telling Li Wenjia that the girl was fine and had gone to stay with relatives. She had read the contents of the letter; it was a farewell letter.
Unfortunately, sending an email cost one point, and Jiang Ling's pass still had that glorious zero. So she just edited the email and put it in the draft box. If she wanted to send it, she would have to wait a few more days.
The transaction with the caravan was scheduled for three days later, at their rented warehouse. They would then exchange their points and the protective gear they'd acquired for weapons and ammunition. There was still plenty of time, so Jiang Ling planned to go to the market again before then. She also wanted to buy a watch.
When asked what the two most precious things are in the subway, Artyom's answer is time and hope. As a fan, Jiang Ling couldn't miss out on both. She desperately wanted a radiation-resistant digital watch and a nuclear-powered lighter. However, the game wasn't real. Forgetting the lighter's longevity, a digital watch on the surface would likely be gone in less than half an hour. So, she had to settle for the next best thing: a mechanical watch and a lighter. Of course, she could also opt for a mechanical watch or lighter.
After returning home, Jiang Ling was worried about the weapons and ammunition, so she naturally needed to count them. Then she found more than a hundred bullets from Jiang Wenwen's bag.
"Are you planning to rob a bank?" Huang Yun quickly learned what had happened. She dragged Jiang Wenwen into the bathroom and began to torture her. They tormented her for half the night, and only after Jiang Wenwen finally behaved herself and apologized to Jiang Ling and vowed never to do it again was Huang Yun let her go.
The next day, or perhaps a few hours later, Jiang Ling had grown somewhat accustomed to this underground existence, where day and night were blurred. Unlike the unfortunate Russian protagonist, his subway was dark and terrifying, while here it was bright as day and bustling with people. It was like the two sides of a mirror, each reflecting the other.
Jiang Ling arrived at the market on time. This time, she noticed that the only checkpoints at the junctions between areas were the entrances, not the exits. That's why she hadn't been dragged to tea last time when she was carrying a bunch of dangerous stuff. It was true that practice made perfect, and she now had enough energy to observe the surroundings.
Turn left after exiting the building and you'll find the waiting area. There were supposed to be public seating there, but somehow it was removed and is now used as a flea market. Turn right and you'll find the tracks and a row of temporary warehouses along them. These are probably the rental warehouses, and the elevators and stairs leading to the upper floors are also there.
"It's really convenient, so convenient that I could load a bunch of explosives into a warehouse and no one would bother me!" Jiang Ling was a little surprised by the security measures here. She had always thought the subway would be a militarized fortress with a sentry every five steps and a guard every ten steps. Even if it wasn't that level, in a system with hundreds of millions of people living there, there should at least be some military force to manage it, right?
She'd taken it for granted. While there was no one here to manage things, there was an artificial intelligence. Of course, it wasn't some superhuman Gestalt consciousness; it was probably like a kitten or puppy, good enough to guard a door, but it couldn't possibly do cutting-edge research, especially in the realm of profound philosophy and sociology, which even humans couldn't grasp, let alone their creations.
After noticing the hidden cameras in the corners of the walls to the right, Jiang Ling suppressed her unrealistic fantasies and quickly turned to the other side. She figured she'd need to disguise the deal a bit, at least not so obviously carrying the weapons case on her shoulders. Her target this time was still the military enthusiasts. On her last trip, she'd picked up a few mechanical watches, and maybe she could even trade them for a travel backpack big enough to hold a few rifles.
"Speaking of travel backpacks, why don't I use a suitcase? I remember I still have two at home, and Huang Yun has always wanted to get rid of them." She suddenly discovered a blind spot. People's thinking is always limited by some stereotypes, thus ignoring some simpler answers.
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