Chapter 297: Warehouse Confrontation

Breakfast finished before eight and under Gao Ting’s command the convoy set off from the motel.

Lu Xin calculated the time. The personnel from Qinggang’s Central City office needed to take the intercity high-speed train from Satellite City Three. The earliest train departed at nine, so they wouldn’t arrive until around noon. He figured he had enough time to accompany Gao Ting and the others to unload the cargo and then return to meet them. Feeling reassured he left, but still left a note just in case.

This time he didn’t ride with Old Zhou. Instead he joined Gao Ting in the lead vehicle.

Yesterday one had cleared the path while the other guarded the rear. By the time they reached the motel it was late and everyone was exhausted. They hadn’t had a chance to talk properly. Gao Ting naturally understood Lu Xin’s intention and asked directly after they drove out of the motel:

“So you think those people raising the madmen might come looking for trouble?”

Lu Xin nodded. “It’s inevitable.”

Gao Ting fell silent for a moment.

Initially when she planned to abandon the cargo, even risk her life, she had instructed her brothers to spread the news by any means necessary.

Back then spreading the news was the only potential way for those who escaped to survive.

But now that most of them had escaped she wanted nothing more than to avoid any trouble.

If possible she would pretend the incident at White Tower Town never happened, just to prevent anyone from coming after her.

Of course she knew that was wishful thinking.

The faction capable of hiding so many madmen in White Tower Town and creating such terrifying monsters must possess considerable power. And although she wasn’t part of the Special Cleaning Department she knew something like this would have major repercussions. The other party certainly wouldn’t let them off easily.

The journey over the past two days and nights should have been enough time for her to figure things out and realize some terrifying possibilities.

Faced with this even she mostly felt panic now.

Such a massive faction was not something their small transport convoy could afford to provoke, no matter how you looked at it.

So although she felt a bit embarrassed she looked at Lu Xin with a hint of expectation.

“Which company are you working with?”

Lu Xin didn’t offer any guarantees. He simply took out his small notebook and the gold-threaded steel pen.

“Dadi Construction Group.”

Gao Ting paused before answering, “It’s a large conglomerate headquartered in Central City’s main district. Their main business seems to be large machinery manufacturing, repairing public facilities and so on. I heard they existed even when Central City was building its high walls and participated in the construction. People say they’re hard on one end and soft on the other.”

“The ‘hard’ refers to their construction of high walls and helping other settlements clean up and repair abandoned cities.”

“The ‘soft’ refers to them also contracting services like setting up networks and phone systems.”

“They have close ties with several major mining companies. We’re just one of the convoys that serves them.”

…

“Dadi Construction Group…”

Lu Xin silently noted it down. “So is it possible this company betrayed the convoy?”

Logically creating those madmen seemed more like the work of a biotech company or something similar.

Of course false advertising was always possible. After the Red Moon incident many companies rose rapidly. Some large corporations and groups wielded power comparable to a high-wall city, like those major mining groups. They were forces to be reckoned with in their own right. So if they wanted to build an experimental base like that to stir up trouble it was entirely plausible.

Then again making such assumptions without any proof didn’t seem right…

Best to go check it out first.

…

The delivery point was in the West City area of Satellite City Seven. The region was vast with few residents and numerous large warehouses. Dadi Construction Group’s headquarters certainly wasn’t located here; this was just one of their warehouse locations.

“Old Gao you guys arrived faster than planned this time…”

“Thinking about finding a man and settling down here in Central City?”

It was clear the ordinary employees at this warehouse were unaware of what the convoy had encountered. They didn’t even notice the hidden dejection on the faces of the old drivers, still joking around. However seeing the unpleasant expressions on the convoy members’ faces they quickly changed the subject with a smile. Then just like before they cleared the area and arranged for the big trucks to pull in one by one.

While arranging for people to count the goods they gathered personnel to prepare for unloading, transport and other tasks.

Lu Xin sat in the passenger seat without getting out, quietly observing the process.

After all he had quite the talent for driving big trucks; maybe he’d end up in this line of work someday.

No harm in learning beforehand. One should always be eager to learn.

Counting goods, organizing loading and unloading, arranging storage, inspection personnel verifying cargo, signing the receipt…

Both Gao Ting and the warehouse side handled everything methodically.

The only issue was that Gao Ting and her team had likely arrived a day earlier than expected. The warehouse space hadn’t been cleared out in advance. So the junior supervisor on duty could only count the goods as usual while simultaneously calling his superior to come over.

*Screech…*

About half an hour later while the goods were still being counted a sports car suddenly rushed into the plaza in front of the warehouse.

Judging by the principle ‘the less practical the car the richer the driver’ the owner of this car was definitely very wealthy. Its chassis was extremely low almost scraping the ground. The streamlined body, gleaming paintwork and the gull-wing doors that flipped upwards when opened all indicated this car belonged to the ‘I want one even if it’s impractical’ category.

A man in his thirties stepped out wearing a blue jacket, corduroy pants and yellow lace-up leather shoes. He was rather overweight wore glasses and glanced over expressionlessly before striding towards the convoy.

“Supervisor Zhao…”

“Supervisor Zhao you’re here…”

The surrounding warehouse administrators and the head of the loading workers immediately bowed and greeted him upon seeing him.

But the man didn’t say a word walking directly to Gao Ting who was overseeing the cargo count.

He tilted his head slightly studying Gao Ting coldly.

A clearly subdued expression appeared on Gao Ting’s face. She pretended not to see the man, lowering her head to look at the cargo.

“Heh heh you actually… actually arrived quite quickly!”

A sneer appeared on the man’s face. He muttered to himself then said to Gao Ting, “Come with me to the office!”

Gao Ting’s face clearly showed some panic. “I’m busy!”

“I’m busy too.”

The man glanced at Gao Ting. “So don’t waste my time.”

As he spoke he turned directly and walked towards the office building leaving his sports car parked right in the middle forcing all the movers to walk around it.

Gao Ting seemed to hesitate for a long moment but eventually handed the cargo manifest to Old Zhou and followed behind him.

…

“Hmm…”

Watching Gao Ting walk away with the man Lu Xin pondered for a moment then pushed open the truck door and got out.

Dozens of large trucks were lined up creating a chaotic flow of people. No one noticed him. He slowly weaved through the vehicles following dozens of meters behind Gao Ting into the somewhat dilapidated but still imposing office building.

Inside he strolled slowly through the building his hands clasped behind his back like a retired old leader.

He gradually examined the slogans posted in the hallways mostly related to work principles and required discipline.

On the left wall of the first floor Lu Xin saw a row of photos.

These were the management team of the warehouse. Above was the Warehouse Director below were the Receiving Supervisor Quality Inspection Supervisor Security Supervisor Coordination Specialist etc. The Supervisor Zhao who had just called Gao Ting away was there too; he was the Quality Inspection Supervisor named Zhao Hui.

“Doesn’t look too impressive. I was promoted to Supervisor back in Qinggang too…”

Lu Xin thought silently.

“Brother brother they’re arguing…”

Shortly after Sister cheerfully crawled over along the corridor wall whispering secretively to Lu Xin.

Lu Xin lowered his voice. “How are they arguing?”

Sister happily mimicked, “That man started by touching that woman! The woman slapped his hand away! The man got really angry cursing loudly, yelling that the woman shouldn’t think he doesn’t know what she did trying to disgust him like this! That she’s courting death! Then he grabbed the woman’s hair asking if she hooked up with someone else! He also said whatever you try you can’t escape my grasp…”

As she spoke Sister clenched her little fists waving them emphatically to add force.

Lu Xin looked at his excited sister and corrected her, “That’s not arguing. That’s yelling at someone.”

“So can we turn him into a toy?”

Sister’s eyes sparkled ignoring Lu Xin’s point.

Lu Xin shook his head. “We can’t. It’s illegal.”

Sister pouted indignantly. “He’s a bad person.”

“Why does hearing Sister say ‘bad person’ sound a bit strange…”

Lu Xin thought inwardly a smile appearing on his face. “I have a more fun method. Want to hear it?”

A hint of pleasant surprise flickered across Sister’s face. This was the first time Lu Xin had actively suggested playing with her.

…

After sending Sister away Lu Xin walked up the stairs floor by floor his hands behind his back looking at the different signs on various office doors. Finally on the third floor he saw a room labeled “General Manager’s Office” and knocked gently.

“Come in.”

After a moment a man’s voice sounded from inside.

Lu Xin turned the doorknob and entered simultaneously plastering a smile on his face.

He saw a thin man in a suit with slicked-back hair sitting behind the desk matched his face with the one on the photo wall then walked towards him smiling extending his hand from afar. “Manager Wang is it? Hello…”

The man paused looking at Lu Xin with confusion. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to file a report.”

Lu Xin’s smile broadened. “One of your subordinates is soliciting bribes…”