Late at night.
Wang Yang hooked an arm around Long Ming’s shoulder as they headed toward the roadside, chatting with a grin.
“I’m telling you, don’t change your phone number. If you vanish on me again, don’t blame me for spreading rumors about you behind your back.”
“Get lost!”
Long Ming rolled his eyes in exasperation.
“Haha, enough messing around. I’m off!”
“You’ve been drinking. I’ll get you a designated driver.”
“What designated driver? Those two bottles of beer were no different from water. I’ll just get in the car—”
Wang Yang stopped halfway through his sentence, a dumbfounded look spreading across his face.
He stared at the car parked by the curb. All four wheels were gone, and a stack of bricks had been propped underneath.
Wang Yang rubbed his eyes, half wondering if he had drunk himself stupid. Unfortunately, reality was harsh—his wheels really had been stolen.
“Fuck, my wheels!”
Wang Yang nearly jumped up, cursing with a dark expression.
Long Ming sighed and said helplessly to Wang Yang.
“I told you ages ago it wasn’t safe. I told you to park in the parking lot, but you just wouldn’t listen.”
“How was I supposed to know the Lower District was this cursed?”
“Enough. It’s just the wheels that are gone, at least they didn’t take your engine apart.”
“Then what do I do now?”
Wang Yang looked at Long Ming with a bitter face.
“I’ll call my neighbor. He repairs cars. Let’s see if he has tires that fit your vehicle.”
Long Ming helplessly took out his phone and dialed Zhou Hao’s number.
The call connected quickly, and a deep, rough voice sounded.
“Long Ming.”
“Brother Zhou, do you have tires for an Aoyue? A friend of mine has a problem with his car and needs some.”
“What a coincidence. I just got a batch in. How many do you need?”
“Four!”
“Where are you? I’ll bring people over right now.”
“Over on Haichang West Street!”
“Wait there!”
“Okay.”
Long Ming then hung up the phone.
A short while later, an old van drove over and parked behind Wang Yang’s car.
The door opened immediately after, and a burly man in a short-sleeved shirt, his face full of fierce-looking flesh, jumped out with two strong employees.
They briskly opened the trunk and carried out four secondhand tires.
Wang Yang stared at those four secondhand tires. The more he looked at them, the more familiar they seemed. Then realization struck, and he shouted in shock.
“Fuck, aren’t those my tires?”
Long Ming was also stunned when he heard Wang Yang’s words. A strange look appeared on his face. It couldn’t really be that much of a coincidence, could it?
“What do you mean, your tires? We bought these.”
Zhou Hao snapped back irritably.
“Bullshit, those are my tires. Hurry up and give them back, or I’ll sue you for theft.”
Wang Yang said, his anger flaring.
“Hm? What did you say?”
When Zhou Hao and the others heard Wang Yang, they immediately strode forward menacingly.
“What are you trying to do?”
Wang Yang was startled and backed away in fear.
Long Ming said with a headache, trying to smooth things over.
“Brother Zhou, my friend doesn’t know any better. Let’s talk this out.”
“Hmph. If it weren’t for Long Ming’s sake, I’d have beaten you up today.”
“Thank you, Brother Zhou. But Brother Zhou, could you sell them to us a bit cheaper?”
“Fifty percent off. Cheap enough, right?”
“Fifty percent is too expensive. Brother Zhou, if I’m not mistaken, you probably bought these tires back at twenty percent of the price, right? How about this—make it a little cheaper and sell them to us at thirty percent.”
“Thirty percent? Isn’t that a bit too low?”
Zhou Hao’s brows knit tightly, clearly not too willing.
“Brother Zhou, you know very well too that these things belong to my brother. If he really pursues the matter, it’ll be troublesome for you as well. Why not just earn a little less?”
Long Ming suggested to Zhou Hao.
“Fine. For your sake, thirty percent it is. Four tires, 1,200 for you!”
Seeing Long Ming put it that way, Zhou Hao compromised and agreed to earn a little less.
“Then I’ll have to trouble you, Brother Zhou, to help install them. I’ll transfer the money to you.”
Seeing Zhou Hao agree, Long Ming also let out a slight breath of relief.
“Okay!”
Zhou Hao and the others picked up their tools and installed the tires.
A short while later, the car’s tires were installed again. Zhou Hao and the others took the money and left.
Wang Yang said to Long Ming with a dark expression.
“Long Ming, why did you pay them? For all we know, they’re in cahoots with the tire thieves.”
“I know. But this is the Lower District. Some things are different here from the Upper District. Just take this as a lesson.”
Long Ming said calmly.
In truth, when he had first moved to the Lower District, he had run into walls everywhere and had been swindled several times.
It was only later, after he slowly adapted to this place, that things gradually got better.
“Fine then. I’ll go first. As for the money for the tires, I won’t pay you back. Who told you I lost them on your turf?”
“Fine. Drive carefully.”
“Bye-bye.”
Wang Yang then got into the car and left.
Long Ming stood where he was, quietly watching the vehicle gradually disappear from sight before turning and leaving.
Two days later.
Long Ming sat in front of his computer, looking at information about Civilization Paradise, his brows tightly furrowed.
The popularity of this Civilization Paradise had now reached an unprecedented level. Online, posts seeking to buy helmets were everywhere. At present, an ordinary gaming helmet had already been hyped up to 100,000, a full fivefold increase in price. Even so, many people couldn’t buy one even if they had the money, because the number of helmets released in the first batch was limited.
Moreover, from the comments left by netizens, Long Ming had also obtained another piece of news. This game seemed not to be operated only by Shanchengshan; he heard that other shelter cities had also opened the same game.
This made Long Ming feel a trace of doubt. Since when had these shelter cities been on such good terms that they would operate the same game at the same time?
However, he was in no mood to investigate further. Tomorrow was the server launch, and there was still no news from Wang Yang.
Long Ming’s heart grew increasingly uneasy. Although it would be fine to start playing a little later, entering late would definitely put him at a disadvantage.
Buzz, buzz—
At that moment, Long Ming’s phone rang. The screen showed an incoming call from “That Jerk.”
Long Ming immediately answered and asked nervously.
“Wang Yang, how is it? Did you get one?”
However, the call was completely silent. Wang Yang didn’t speak for a long while.
“What’s the situation now? Say something already.”
Long Ming couldn’t help urging him.
“Sigh, sorry, brother. This game is too popular. I really couldn’t buy one.”
“It’s fine, I understand. Just transfer the money back to me.”
“Sorry, there’s no money left.”
Wang Yang replied in that cheap tone of his.
“Hey, hey, don’t joke around like that. That’s my life-saving money.”
Long Ming reminded Wang Yang helplessly.
Of course, he didn’t believe Wang Yang would pocket his money. He knew very well what kind of person his brother was.
“Open your door now. A delivery guy will bring you a package very soon.”
Wang Yang told Long Ming with a chuckle.
Long Ming was just about to say something when a knock suddenly sounded at the door.
Knock, knock—
Long Ming held the phone as he walked over to open the door.
When the door opened, Long Ming saw a deliveryman in a Jisu Express uniform holding a tightly wrapped package and asking.
“Are you Mr. Long Ming?”
“Yes.”
“This is your delivery. Please sign for it!”
“Okay, thank you.”
Long Ming signed his name, took the package, and returned to his room.
At that moment, Wang Yang asked Long Ming with a chuckle.
“Got it, right?”
“I got it. Didn’t you say you couldn’t buy one?”
“That’s right. I’m not capable enough to buy one, but that doesn’t mean other people can’t. I asked someone else to help.”
“What a damn impressive connection.”
“It’s not that I’m impressive. It’s you who’s impressive!”
“Huh? Why do you say that? What exactly happened?”
“Forget it, I’m not saying. I still have things to do, hanging up first.”
“Explain it clearly!”
Long Ming continued pressing Wang Yang, but unfortunately, that brat simply played dead and refused to make a sound.
The next second, the call was disconnected, and the beeping tone rang out.
“That guy’s being a jerk again. He won’t even explain it properly. Forget it, I’ll ask him later.”
Long Ming looked at the ended call and sighed helplessly.
He did not continue dwelling on it. Instead, he carried the package toward the bedroom.
The apartment Long Ming rented was about sixty square meters, with one bedroom, one living room, one kitchen, and one bathroom.
However, Long Ming spent most of his time in the bedroom. The living room was usually used to pile up miscellaneous items.
Before long, Long Ming arrived in the bedroom. He found a knife and carefully opened the delivery box, taking out a well-packaged black helmet from inside.