N-A-A Chapter 79 Please beg me?
Chapter 79 Please beg me?
In the end, Lu Chen stayed.
—It's not that Lu Chen has any dirty thoughts about Yu;
Instead, Yu took the initiative to suggest that Lu Chen wait downstairs for half an hour.
After finishing her personal hygiene, she called Lu Chen upstairs.
"You should find a place to stay."
"You can afford the rent for [12 days] per month now."
Inside the apartment, Yu wore a light-colored long-sleeved top and knee-length denim shorts.
He lazily held a towel, wiping his wet white hair, while talking to himself.
"Let's not even talk about whether my apartment is cramped or not, or whether it's too crowded for two people to live here."
"No matter what, I'm still a girl, aren't I?"
"Even if scavengers are all roughnecks, we can't be so informal, can we?"
While they were talking, Yu's hair was already half-dry.
Then Yu walked barefoot to the window, rubbing the rust particles in her hair, and then skillfully lit a cigarette.
Let's do a recap.
...
"Let's review the actions of the past few days."
"Let's plan out the specific details of our next steps."
His nonchalant words made Lu Chen relax a little.
I sat cross-legged in my own spot—the empty space under the mattress.
After a moment's thought, he said, "Our original plan for this operation was disrupted by that explosion."
"The exposure of the hibernation pod area also forced us to abandon our plan to continue acquiring hibernation pods."
"Of the three scavengers who seized the hibernation shed, we... disposed of two of them."
"We need to be careful with the last one."
As soon as she finished speaking, Yu nodded slightly.
"Number 9529 is one we found."
"What that person brought back to the city can be basically confirmed to be hibernation pod number 9530."
"We can start from this point and identify our target."
As she spoke, Yu gently reached her hand out the window and flicked off some cigarette ash.
Then he said, "This matter can be handled by Zhao Jie."
"Zhao Jie had contact with all of the recoveries, numbers 9530-9540."
"Having sold them information means that Zhao Jie has a high probability of gaining their trust."
"With Zhao Jie stepping in, finding that person won't be difficult."
After saying that, Yu turned around, rested her elbows on the windowsill, and looked up at the night sky outside the window.
Inside the apartment, Lu Chen frowned upon hearing this and remained silent for a long time.
...
"You must have sensed it too, right?"
Lu Chen suddenly spoke, but Yu didn't turn her head. She simply took a light drag of her cigarette and then exhaled leisurely.
"The eleven recoveries brought Zhao Jie more than 6 days of benefits."
"On average, each person works more than 14 hours."
"That was definitely a bit too much."
Lu Chen nodded in response.
"If it were just about selling information, Zhao Jie could never have earned so much [time]."
"The amount of valuable information that Zhao Jie possesses, which is worth the time and effort of those recovering from the crisis, could not possibly exceed twenty pieces."
"Therefore, Zhao Jie should not only have provided information selling services to the recovering population."
"Even the part about selling information cannot be priced at [10 minutes] per message."
...
"Zhao Jie has been driven to a dead end."
"Without scavengers to guide us, there is no opportunity to go out of the city to scavenge, and therefore no possibility of bearing the interest on bank debts."
"Zhao Jie, having exhausted all other options, has become somewhat unscrupulous."
After saying this, Lu Chen's expression darkened slightly.
What "rich guy" and what "ignorant resurrected man"—it's all nonsense!
Who isn't a survivor?
After recovering, how could Lu Chen not know what his mental state was like?
If you're in debt, your instinct will definitely be to save time; you won't want to waste even a minute!
Even if he weren't in debt, he would definitely be in a daze and would never be the big spender who generously tipped Zhao Jie.
Therefore, Lu Chen concluded that Zhao Jie must have used underhanded methods to obtain the service fees for a total of more than 6 days, nearly 7 days, from the eleven revived individuals.
For example, each message could take 30 minutes, or even 1 hour?
For example, what if the survivors were forced to each buy Zhao Jie a glass of water and then convert that water into cash for "6 hours"?
If you really think about it carefully, there are probably more than just these two points.
That's why Lu Chen subtly warned Zhao Jie before parting: Don't go too far, just earn what you're entitled to.
It wasn't that Lu Chen was bursting with a sense of justice, meddlesome, or wanted to stand up for the other survivors;
Rather, it was Zhao Jie's unscrupulous methods that made Lu Chen find it hard to like him.
—Lu Chen planned to take Zhao Jie out of the city to scavenge!
Although it was only a one- or two-time session to help Zhao Jie get started, it was still necessary to form a team to leave the city!
As a result, Zhao Jie showed an attitude of "doing anything to get [time]", so how could Lu Chen trust Zhao Jie and feel at ease taking Zhao Jie out of the city?
"Actually, I've already been considering whether or not to go back on my word and abandon Zhao Jie."
Thinking of this, Lu Chen couldn't help but sigh softly, then got up and walked forward.
I went to the window and lit a cigarette.
As he puffed out a cloud of smoke, he said with a hint of helplessness, "Zhao Jie doesn't seem like someone I can trust."
"Outside the city, a teammate who will stop at nothing for profit will become our biggest hidden danger."
"Bringing someone like that into our team—even temporarily—I feel is too risky."
Upon hearing this, Yu couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth.
With a smile, she reached out and stubbed out her cigarette in the small metal box on the windowsill, then turned to the side, giving Lu Chen the spot in front of the window.
Then she tilted her head, leaned gently against the wall, and looked at Lu Chen with a smile.
"With such accurate marksmanship, Officer Lu, you're probably not worried about your own safety."
...
"Are you worried about me?"
"Afraid something might happen to your sister?"
The teasing remark made Lu Chen blush, and he forced a smile and coughed twice.
Then, she straightened her face again and turned to look at Yu with great seriousness.
What's your opinion?
"Should we still bring Zhao Jie out of the city?"
But Yu was still tilting her head, looking into the depths of Lu Chen's eyes with a half-smile.
After a long silence, he finally spoke calmly: "Back then, when you approached Zhao Jie, you only wanted to sell 8 or 9 pieces of information to earn [1 hour 20 minutes] to [1 hour 30 minutes]."
"This is because at that time, you needed those 1 hour and 20 minutes to buy a ticket for 'scavenging outside the city'."
"With that ticket, you can go out of town to scavenge and earn enough to cover the interest on your bank debts."
"That's all you need."
...
"But Zhao Jie is different."
"Zhao Jie, there's nowhere to buy this 'ticket'."
"He's selling information, not to collect the 1 hour and 20 minutes needed to buy tickets to go out of town to scavenge."
"It's not so much to cover the bank debt interest for each month [300 days]."
"You said it yourself—he was forced into this situation."
"Without the opportunity to scavenge outside the city, Zhao Jie can only seize every chance to gain [time]."
After saying that, Yu deliberately paused, giving Lu Chen time to process what she had said.
After Lu Chen nodded thoughtfully, he smiled and said, "Different circumstances will lead people to make different choices."
"If you were in the same situation, you might do even more outrageous than Zhao Jie."
...
"Of course, most importantly: Zhao Jie poses no threat to us."
"At least they can't pose a threat to me."
"As for you, Officer Lu..."
At this point, Yu added a slightly playful, drawn-out tone.
Then, under Lu Chen's astonished gaze, she reached out and hooked her arms around Lu Chen's neck.
"Please beg me?"
"If you make your sister happy, she'll protect you once we're out of town, okay?"