That afternoon, Lu Chao left the boxing gym.
The tram he rode swayed slightly, the seats by the windows on both sides filled with people.
Lu Chao, a black backpack slung over his shoulder, gripped a circular handrail with his right hand, standing steadily in a corner.
[Lianwei Heavy Industry announces the upcoming release of the new Celestial Vault-IV armed cybernetic body, as well as the fourth-generation flying car.....]
[Biotechnology Company announcement: The third-generation Life Potion has completed biological trials with outstanding results!]
[A representative from the Political Affairs Department, Councillor Li, has stated that the construction and development of Ring City will be accelerated this year in an effort to become a vanguard of the Alliance...]
The display screen in the tram was playing the news. Lu Chao took a piece of bread from his bag, tore open the wrapper, and began to chew and swallow, using it to restore his energy and ease the hunger in his stomach.
"New armed cybernetics... Probably just more toys for the rich."
"They talk about expanding the city every year, but we never see anything happen. This year's probably just talk, too."
"Sigh..."
The news broadcast caught the attention of many passengers in the car, sparking a flurry of discussion.
Lu Chao listened in silence, the history of this world subconsciously flashing through his mind.
After surviving nuclear war and the wasteland era, Earth Star's environment had been devastated and scarred, forcing humanity to survive in separate sanctuary cities.
It wasn't until fifty years ago, with the aid of an extraterrestrial civilization that established diplomatic relations, that they gradually solved the problem of wasteland radiation and rebuilt their own civilization.
Later, in order to better explore the cosmos and establish relations with other extraterrestrial civilizations,
most of Earth Star's factions chose to form an alliance, creating the single nation that exists today—the Alliance Country.
'Every Alliance city has a high degree of autonomy. Even the Alliance Country doesn't interfere lightly.'
'But I wonder what the wastelands outside Ring City are like...'
Curiosity flared, but Lu Chao quickly suppressed it.
Those matters were too distant from his life. The urgent priority was to get a firm foothold in the Iron Ring District.
BUZZ BUZZ!
Immediately, his watch vibrated.
He looked down at his left wrist. Several new text messages had appeared on his smartwatch.
[Your bank card ending in XX92 was debited 800 yuan today. Transaction successful! Current balance: 1,613.57 yuan.]
[Political Affairs Department: You have paid this month's rent. Credit Rating: C+! Friendly Reminder: Your welfare loan payment of one thousand yuan is due on the eleventh of next month. Please ensure sufficient funds.]
[Jianxin Rongdai Company: You are a high-credit, high-quality customer with our company. After completing an organ collateral procedure, you can withdraw a loan amount of one hundred fifty thousand yuan at an annualized interest rate of 10%-15%....]
Lu Chao opened and read each message.
The rent for their low-income housing was collected by the Political Affairs Department, which automatically debited half the amount from his and Zhao Yuanqing's accounts at a fixed time each month.
Relying on two jobs to support himself, he had managed to clear another month's worth of debt, carefully balancing his life and his martial arts training.
'It's a shame the cleaning team took a pay cut. That's five hundred yuan less a month...'
'Otherwise, I'd have a little extra money.'
Shaking his head to himself, Lu Chao closed the messages.
As for the messages from unfamiliar loan companies,
he didn't know when it started, but he had been receiving a steady stream of loan-related text messages and even phone calls.
It was as if they all knew he was training in martial arts and was desperate for money.
'The interest is so high, and they want my organs as collateral.'
'I don't know where my information was leaked.'
Blocking another number, Lu Chao decided he wasn't going to risk putting up his organs as collateral.
His contact number was registered in many places: the Patrol Department, the Political Affairs Department, the boxing gym, the Dreamfire Bar... It would be hard to trace the source of the leak.
Shaking his head to himself again, the tram finally pulled into the station, arriving at Factory Street.
His job at the bar didn't include dinner, so he went home to cook for himself every day to save some money.
CLOMP CLOMP!
His feet hit the ground as he stepped off the platform.
A potholed concrete road stretched out before him, lined on both sides by a dozen or so short concrete buildings.
Flies still swarmed the trash can at the street corner, which gave off a faint stench. Rust-spotted pipes ran along the gray walls toward the end of the street, and a few old men and women were gathered outside a storefront, chatting.
"Hm?"
Feeling someone sizing him up, Lu Chao turned his head to look.
Two figures were standing at the street corner—one tall and thin, the other short and stout.
One wore a sleeveless hoodie, the other a loose, black, long-sleeved crewneck. Both wore black masks, their hands stuffed in their pockets.
Their eyes met, and the tall, thin man seemed to look him up and down a few times.
A strange sense of pressure rose, making Lu Chao frown slightly in discomfort.
That look in his eyes... it felt like he was sizing up prey.
He felt a mix of confusion and alarm.
Before the feeling could fully take hold, a shrill sound from the distance shattered everyone's attention.
Even the man who had been staring at him turned to look.
Slightly tilting his head, Lu Chao followed their gaze.
A blue and white patrol car was driving down the road, its red and blue lights flashing continuously on the roof.
After a moment, it entered Factory Street and stopped in front of Building Two.
Two patrol officers in blue uniforms got out one after the other. In an instant, a crowd of onlookers gathered around, chattering excitedly.
"Poor Old Li's daughter. Hasn't she been missing for three days now?"
"Yeah, who would've thought? A perfectly healthy person just vanishes."
"Sigh, this world we live in..."
The snatches of conversation drifting over made Lu Chao feel that something was wrong.
He glanced back toward the intersection; the two men who had made him uneasy were gone.
'Were they after me?'
Doubt surfaced, and Lu Chao felt a hint of pressure.
But thinking back, he couldn't remember offending anyone.
He mulled it over but couldn't come up with an answer. Meanwhile, the commotion from the crowd in front of Building Two grew louder.
He finally walked over to an old building at the corner of the street.
There was a small supermarket here with a sign that read [Fuman Supermarket].
The owner, Auntie Zhang, a middle-aged woman, stood at the entrance fanning herself with a cattail fan. She was looking on with a worried expression.
"Auntie Zhang, what's going on?" Lu Chao asked. He often bought things from this supermarket and was fairly familiar with her.
"Sigh, it's a real tragedy."
Sighing, Auntie Zhang subconsciously stopped fanning herself.
"Old Li's daughter has gone missing."
"They say she disappeared three days ago after her night shift at the factory. I heard Old Li even hired someone to trace her route, and the last place she was seen was right near this intersection..."
Auntie Zhang shook her head repeatedly, sighing.
Old Li's girl was a good person; she often came here to buy daily necessities.
And now... sigh.
"Are there any leads?" Lu Chao asked after a brief silence.
"No. What leads could the Patrol Department possibly have?"
Shaking her head with a sigh, Auntie Zhang couldn't help but complain, "This area of ours is so run-down. We barely have any surveillance cameras. And the Political Affairs Department... they're so stingy. If they'd just been willing to install a few more cameras, things wouldn't have gotten to this point."
"And let me tell you, a lot of people are guessing it was probably one of the gangs. I heard someone went missing from the next street over, Little Stone Street, recently too..."
Her voice trailed off, full of worry.
While she was speaking, other passersby walked up to the supermarket entrance, also sighing and shaking their heads.
Hearing this, Lu Chao glanced at the street outside the supermarket.
The two masked men from before were long gone, and he couldn't be sure if they were connected to this.
Looking around, he saw numerous paper flyers pasted on the concrete utility poles, including a missing person poster for Old Li's daughter.
Heads poking out of open windows upstairs wore the same worried expressions as the crowd below, all afraid of becoming the next victim.
'It's getting more and more chaotic...'
His heart tightened. Lu Chao felt that public safety in Factory Street had taken a sharp downturn recently.
He silently clenched his fists.
Finally, he turned to leave, quietly slipping away from the gloomy discussion.