When Zhang Heng stood in front of the elevator, he heard the woman in fishnet stockings talking about credit points. The credit point was the official currency of the Human Federation. Almost all goods and services were bought and sold with credit points.
Zhang Heng then saw his current credit point balance from the bracelet.
962 points.
It was not a lot; clearly, not enough to pay for the service offered by the woman in fishnets, and it wasn’t enough for Xu Qian to buy a new bag either. However, it was more than enough for Zhang Heng’s food and necessities. Take his beef ramen as an example. A bowl of that would cost around 25 credit points, which meant his 962 credit points were enough to complete this two-week mission as long as he did not spend them on anything unnecessary.
Zhang Heng did not know whether his salary was paid on a monthly basis or if he would get paid for each task he completed. Right next to the noodle shop where he had his dinner was a shop selling all kinds of audio equipment. Thus, once he finished his meal, he took a walk there.
“Shellac record? Never heard of it.”
The owner of the audio equipment store was a man with long hair, and he looked quite artistic. When he heard Zhang Heng’s question, he shook his head. “Although I don’t know what you are looking for, I can tell you that all physical records were discontinued in 2039. Only digital audio is available now. You can download them from the internet, and they sound better too. But…
“There are indeed some people who like to collect antiques. I will give you an address where you can try your luck.”
“Thank you.”
After receiving the address, Zhang Heng navigated to his destination with the navigation function on his bracelet. It was a grocery stall called House of Old Things. It wasn’t far from the audio equipment store, but the location was slightly remote, and it was in the middle of two communities. The grocery store was not facing the road, while an unpopular pastry shop lay next to it.
Although the sky had not turned dark, the House of Old Things had already put up a closed sign on their window. Just like its name, the shop had a very retro exterior. It still had the classic wooden glass door from the end of the 20th century. Here, Zhang Heng found a rare sense of familiarity in this technologically advanced city.
Unfortunately, he came at the wrong time. Seeing that the owner had gotten off work early, Zhang Heng could only come again at another time. However, just when he turned around to leave, the wooden glass door of the House of Old Things suddenly opened.
A young man of around sixteen years old ran out of the shop. He had a guitar on his back and an old stereo under his arm, shouting at his friend while he ran. “Hurry up, hurry up! That old man might wake up any time now!”
His friend was about the same age as him, and he held an electric oven and two routers with antennas. However, he looked a little sad. “Wang Gan, do you really think that we can sell these for money? We still haven’t found buyers for the stuff we stole last time.”
“We can ask the museum. If they don’t want to buy them, we can sell them back to the old man. Isn’t this a sh*t place that buys and sells old things?” said the young man.
Before the young man at the back could respond to his companion, Wang Gan stopped running suddenly. Caught off guard, he almost ran into Wang Gan in front of him.
“What’s wrong? Didn’t you say you want to get away from this place as fast as possible?” the teenager behind complained. However, when he raised his head and looked past his companion, he immediately became nervous when he saw Zhang Heng. The three stood there and looked at each other for about four or five seconds.
After that, the young man named Wang Gan asked, “Who are you?”
“Bodyguard.” Zhang Heng replied.
“What?!” The two teenagers were shocked when they heard Zhang Heng mentioning his job. “We are just picking up some random garbage. Is it really necessary for the old man to hire a bodyguard to deal with us?”
“You seem to have misunderstood,” Zhang Heng said, “I am not the bodyguard of this shop’s owner.”
Wang Gan breathed a sigh of relief, “What a relief. You scared me to death.”
“But… It is not right to steal the property of others. Besides, I’m pretty sure that security cameras recorded what you just did. Once the shop owner calls the police, you’ll be spending your time behind bars.”
“It doesn’t matter. There are no security systems installed in the old man’s shop. And he is a weirdo. He doesn’t trust the police,” the young man behind Wang Gan said quickly. After he said that, he quickly realized that he seemed to have said too much.
Wang Gan glared at him before turning to Zhang Heng. “Since the matter has nothing to do with you, you should get out of our way.”
“Or what?” Zhang Heng asked rhetorically.
“Or…” Wang Gan gritted his teeth, put down the speaker under his arm, and pulled out a fruit knife from his pocket. “Otherwise, don’t blame us for being rude.”
Zhang Heng did not respond to Wang Gan’s threats. All he did was look at the Shrouded Sheath on his waist. And the two teenagers landed their gaze on Zhang Heng’s Shrouded Sheath as well. Immediately, their face turned pale. They were not professional robbers in the first place. They had only stolen all those old things because they were too bored and looked for some fun. Besides, earning some extra cash would earn them bragging rights in school. Since they didn’t expect to sell those old things anyway, they shouldn’t be able to afford any decent weapons as well.
When they compared their weapons with Zhang Heng’s blade, any person could see that their blade was shorter.
Upon seeing this, the two looked at each other and obediently put down the knife.
Zhang Heng stepped aside too. “Off you go. And don’t come back again. If I see you again next time, I won’t be letting you off the hook so easily.”
After scaring away the two teenagers, Zhang Heng bent over to pick up the pile of things they dropped on the ground.
Right after that, the door to the House of Old Things opened again, and an elderly man who appeared to be in his sixties emerged with a shotgun in hand. “Hands up! You damn thief,” he shouted.
“Uhh… actually, the thieves were just driven away by me. Since this is not their first time robbing you, you should know them quite well,” Zhang Heng explained. “I was planning to send these things back to your store.”
“You can’t lie to me, the boy with a bow. I know you robbed those robbers.” With cheeks flushed red, the old man gasped, “You followed the two little bastards to my shop and waited to ambush them. They stole my treasures, and you robbed them.”
“It makes sense.” When the old man was speaking, Zhang Heng smelled alcohol in the air. Hence, Zhang Heng stopped talking, put down the router and speakers in his hand, and made his move.
The old man saw a quick flash in front of him, and when he reacted, Zhang Heng was already holding his shotgun.
Seeing Zhang Heng pointing his own gun at him, he suddenly sobered up and nodded.
“Well, I believe you are here to help.”
