Chapter 323 — First Arrival in the Small Town
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
At an ATM outside a bank, Wei Zhao first withdrew a few thousand euros and tucked them into his pocket for spending money, then went on wandering the North District.
Auto repair shops... Wei Zhao frowned. He would never have known if he hadn't come out; only by walking about did he learn that the North District was truly vast, and a混杂 jumble of all sorts — nightclubs large and small, dance halls, KTVs could be seen everywhere along the streets. It seemed that the closer one got to the Water Blue Gang's headquarters, the more of these businesses there were.
Wei Zhao was not about to believe that all of these were legitimate operations, because on his way past he had already spotted several gaudily dressed women making eyes at him.
Of course, Wei Zhao did not know whether the sex trade was illegal here, nor did he have the time to look into such things. After brooding a moment, Wei Zhao made a bold decision: he stopped a man wearing a blue baseball cap with a scar across his face.
The fellow did not look like any sort of good news at a glance, especially with that gang emblem plainly displayed on top of his head — which proved the point well enough. Still, the man was clearly not a higher-up of the Water Blue Gang either, because what higher-up would wander the streets alone without a bodyguard?
"Kid, do you know who I am? Looking to die?" The scar-faced man had not expected Wei Zhao to stop him out of the blue, and at once began cursing him out in the local tongue.
"Hey, brother, no rush..." Wei Zhao made a show of cautiously glancing around, then lowered his voice: "I'm from out of town. I heard the Water Blue Gang has cheap cars for sale — I'd like to buy one to play around with. You know a way in, brother? Don't worry... there's something in it for you!"
"Oh? You want to buy a car?" The scar-faced man looked Wei Zhao up and down a few times. Wei Zhao's complexion marked him plainly as a foreigner, and judging by his dress and age he did not look like an undercover plant sent by the ***, so the man raised no further outcry.
The Water Blue Gang did indeed hold a great many stolen and robbed vehicles; this was one of their sources of income. They bought black-market and stolen cars in bulk from other cities, altered the engine numbers and license plates, and then sold them off to some poorly regulated little backwater...
As low-ranking members of the Water Blue Gang, whether they were selling stolen cars or drugs, or escorting customers to the casinos, they all earned a handsome commission. These lower-tier gang members lived almost entirely off such work.
So when he heard that Wei Zhao wanted to buy a car, the scar-faced man's interest was immediately roused: "What kind of car? What's your budget?"
Nor did the scar-faced man ask what Wei Zhao wanted a stolen car for; there was no need to ask such a thing — it was basically an unwritten rule of the trade. You don't ask where the car originally came from, and you don't need to care what happens to it after it's sold.
Cash on one hand, goods on the other, and neither owes the other a thing; afterward, neither knows the other.
"Anything at all, so long as it's cheap." Naturally Wei Zhao would not play the big spender and buy some high-priced stolen car. He would ditch the thing once he was done with it anyway; even though he was spending on Qing-bo's credit card, Wei Zhao did not want to invite trouble. Who knew whether the fellow before him was the type to be blinded by money, and might turn ugly thoughts over in his mind if he saw Wei Zhao throwing cash around?
Not that Wei Zhao feared him, but the main purpose of this trip was to bring Xie Jinbiao home. He had no intention of picking a fight with the Water Blue Gang; whether these people were good or bad was none of Wei Zhao's concern.