Chapter 42: 41: "The ‘play-house’ games I played back in the day were all bigger than you!
"..."
Chen Miao remained silent, not speaking. He could now understand why this little pill had been listed as a banned substance. It made perfect sense.
If he were part of the federal management, he would have also listed this thing as prohibited; it would affect how much money one could earn.
But that wasn't the most important thing. The most important thing was how much tonight's shipment was worth.
Whether it was worth the risk he was about to take.
Perhaps realizing what Chen Miao was thinking, Zhou Yiming raised his index finger, took a deep breath, and said hoarsely, "100 pills, a full 100 pills. Tonight, there will be 100 AI pills entering the city. As long as we get to the scene before the Enforcement Bureau, all the goods will be ours."
"There's no need to worry about how to sell them off."
"These goods are too easy to move; you don't even need to look for buyers. Just find a few wealthy-looking people on the street, and they're all sold. Anyone with a bit of money in their pocket would want to buy them; it's just that the supply is hard to find."
"The buyers don't need to worry about any risk. Under federal criminal law, the buyers are innocent. Only the sellers who get caught are convicted."
"100 pills?"
Standing to the side and already restless, Hungry Monkey was taken aback for a moment before he couldn't help but blurt out, "What the hell have you been rambling about for so long? How much can 100 pills possibly be worth?"
"Does this count as a big score?"
"I played with bigger things than this when I was just kidding around!"
At 98 credit points per pill, 100 pills would only amount to 9,800 credit points. Even if the price was multiplied several times over, it wouldn't be enough to buy his burial plot. To call this a big score was a joke. It would be better to just kick out the neighbors next door and resell the emptied burial plots.
That cemetery had a total of 1,000 grave sites.
At 80,000 credit points per site, reselling these 1,000 sites once would amount to 80 million credit points. Now that would be a big score.
"98 credit points was the initial price when it hit the market."
With a somewhat frenzied blush, Zhou Yiming stared intensely at Chen Miao and said, "Ever since it was listed as a banned substance, the price of a single 'AI Pill' has now reached 10,000 credit points each."
"100 pills, that's 1 million credit points."
"I only want 300,000 credit points; the remaining 700,000 credit points will be all yours, how about that?"
"Mmm..."
Hungry Monkey nodded thoughtfully and did not speak, considering the offer. Indeed, that sounded like a big score. A profit of 700,000 credit points wasn't bad, enough to buy another eight or nine grave sites.
He turned his head to look at Miao, waiting for Miao's response.
This had to be decided by Miao, as Miao was smarter.
"..."
After pondering with his head down for a while, Chen Miao finally looked up at Zhou Yiming: "Let's go see your brother."
"You lead the way."
Zhou Yiming, although a bit confused, nodded, "Alright."
...
40 minutes later.
Chen Miao stood at the entrance of ward 402, looking at the little boy on the hospital bed hooked up to all sorts of machines. After receiving the information handed over by the nurse and confirming that the boy on the bed was indeed Zhou Yiming's brother and that he urgently needed a sum of money for treatment,
he motioned to Hungry Monkey, who was by his side, to place the fruit basket they had bought on the way on the bedside.
Even though looking at the little boy's unconscious state, it seemed unlikely he'd be able to eat the fruit basket, but since they were already here, it didn't seem right to come empty-handed; it would look bad.
Although appearing somewhat reluctant, Hungry Monkey still picked up the fruit basket he had just purchased and walked into the room. He set the fruit basket beside the bed and muttered, "I haven't spent money on fruits in years; what a waste. These things are everywhere around my house, and there's no way to finish them all."
"And still buying them, just throwing money away."
"When you get better, come to my house, eat as much as you want, and it won't cost a dime."
"If you get better, I'll come to your home and treat you to fruits; if you don't, I'll eat fruits at your doorstep."
Standing at the door of the hospital room, Zhou Yiming didn't dare to go in. Instead, he looked through the little window at his brother lying on the hospital bed and hoarsely said with a hint of red in his eyes, "I've never amounted to much in my life, nor do I have many relatives. My biggest dream in life has been to see my brother get well, to live like a normal person."
"Many nights, I've woken up in terror, afraid to imagine how I would go on if my brother died."
"The Union better pray that my brother recovers."
"Otherwise, I will surely destroy the whole of Fengtian City!"
Zhou Yiming suddenly turned his head to look at Chen Miao, his voice rising uncontrollably, "Why can those rich people afford to spend hundreds of thousands of credit points for a red nickname that's completely useless, while I can't even afford tens of thousands in medical fees?"
"If those people have so much money that they can't even spend it all, why can't they give me a little?"
"Hmm."
Chen Miao, still wearing the dark-gold suit that Doctor Gou had given him before leaving, stood out a bit at the door with both hands on his cane, and, without agreeing or disagreeing, touched his nose and didn't voice his opinion.
This person seemed a bit paranoid.
Although it was an eight-patient room, the area around the little boy was somewhat warmer, with a vase full of vibrant carnations at the head of the bed that still looked lively. There was also a Rubik's cube and a game console nearby—Zhou Yiming must often come to visit.
Definitely his younger brother.
He wasn't concerned with their tragic story; he only cared about whether Zhou Yiming had told him the truth so that he could roughly assess the risks involved in their collaboration.
Tragic stories were all too common. Change the names of the characters in different stories, and he could talk about them for days and nights on end.
Too uninteresting.
He was long past the phase of being easily moved by pity.
"Discuss the specifics of tonight's operation. The Enforcement Bureau must have people watching the whole thing by now, right?"
"How do we get our hands dirty under the Enforcement Bureau's very nose?"
"Is there a retreat plan?"
Chen Miao turned his head to look at Zhou Yiming; on the way here, he had searched with the Hungry Monkey wristwatch, and if this operation failed and they got caught, it was going to be at least ten years starting point.
The risk was substantial.
That is, assuming you get caught.
If he could get his hands on those 700,000 credit points, both he and Hungry Monkey could equip themselves from teeth to toes, making the combat event in three days' time his solo show.
Chen Miao the Supernatural Profession Player from Fengtian City's first show time.
Everyone wants to be a big shot, and he's no exception.
He wanted to make a name, to let Fengtian City know there was a Supernatural Profession Player named Chen Miao.
He had even already picked out the outfit for his debut that day.
Of course, all this hinged on successfully pulling off this job first.
"Huff!"
After taking a deep breath, Zhou Yiming began to quietly explain, "The Western Third Law Enforcement Bureau..."
...
Half an hour later.
Chen Miao left the somewhat old hospital with Hungry Monkey and met the people he had arranged to see that morning in the alley outside the hospital.
He saw over a dozen men in suits and black clothes standing there, faces showing respectfully as they waited for him.
The leading man was even more smiling, taking out two cigarettes, and with both hands, he offered them to Chen Miao and Hungry Monkey.
"Miao, Monkey, have a cigarette."