Special District 9

It was hard to imagine just how many people that river used to feed.

In the current era, the living conditions in Asia could be classified into three tiers.

The third tier was the Wasteland District. These were the areas which were hit the hardest by the apocalypse. Some of them had land that was dried up and cracked, such that it was impossible to find any water for hundreds of kilometers. Some suffered from permafrost; there was nothing but ice for wherever the eye could see. Some had even turned into an ocean.

Back then, right before the apocalypse, in order to overcome the calamity, the governments of the world invested a great amount of money into developing technology and constructing infrastructure. Unfortunately, all of them proved to be futile before the unstoppable prowess of nature. Furthermore, the constructions that were ruined ended up worsening the destruction, especially when it came to the nuclear facilities…

To this day, those areas remained places where no one dared to step into. It would probably take many more decades before everything slowly recovered.

The second tier was the Development District. While living conditions in these areas weren’t ideal, it was still habitable for humans. However, due to the geographical constraints and limited resources of the Nine Special Districts, the Development Districts were not under the protection of the Confederate Government yet.

In the first tier were the Nine Special Districts formed by the Confederate Government. They were divided into the Four Special Districts of Asia and the Four Special Districts of the Europe-Africa Alliance, as well as a specially formed Special District 9. Of the Four Special Districts of Asia, Special District 7 and Special District 8 were located in China, granting the Chinese significant say in the Confederate Government. This was because China had significant resources and manpower at its disposal.

…

Jiangzhou’s Development District was located close to Special District 7, and the living conditions there were relatively better than the north. There were many well-to-do cities in the area, such as the Ji’an Communal Region that Kang-ge talked about. Furthermore, the entire Jiangzhou was once viewed to be a potential ‘Special District 10’.

Two years ago, the Confederate Government was seriously considering whether they should officially construct a city here, but due to the limitations of resources and the multitude of ‘local powers’ that created a complicated political situation, the idea was eventually dropped in the end.

After three days of endless driving, Qin Yu, Qi Lin, and Old Cat finally arrived at Ji’an Communal Region. Being in a rush for time, they had no choice but to take the shorter but more difficult roads, putting them through a lot of suffering and tribulations. In the end, even Old Cat had to admit that if the experienced Qin Yu hadn’t been with them, the other two of them would have already died halfway through the journey. There were simply some things that couldn’t be resolved by mere courage.

Despite facing many difficulties along the way, they still managed to reach their destination on time.

After the three of them got into Ji’an, they had a bite of hot food and rested for several hours. As soon as the sky turned dark, they quickly made their way over to Platinum Castle.

The entertainment venues in this era were hardly as grand and extravagant as the night clubs and karaoke bars in the previous era. In this era where people struggled to fill their stomachs, they couldn’t afford to waste their time on singing, dancing, and other leisure activities.

There were a total of three floors in Platinum Castle, consisting of twenty compartments and ten guest rooms. It was kind of like a bar where people could rest and relax. That being said, there were hardly anyone who came here for the sake of leisure. Most of the customers were here for business networking and negotiation purposes.

Qi Lin followed Kang-ge’s instructions and opened a room on the second floor. It didn’t take long for a waiter to walk in with twelve beautiful young ladies.

“Would these drinks suffice?” the waiter asked politely.

“Un.” Qi Lin nodded.

“Gentlemen, please pick a lady,” the waiter said with a polite smile. “We have all types of ladies here, and they can cater to your every need.”

Qin Yu and the others were here to discuss important business, so they couldn’t bring themselves to get into the mood for such things at the moment. So, Qin Yu rejected them politely, saying, “We have a friend who hasn’t arrived yet. We’ll wait till then.”

Just as the waiter was about to respond, the leftmost lady suddenly stepped forward and said with a smile, “Big brothers, please choose three of us. We have targets that we need to meet. If we aren’t chosen for a day, not only will we not earn any commission, our salary will be deducted too.”

Old Cat was a philandering fool. Hearing those words, he assessed the young lady who had just spoken up and saw that she had beautiful clear eyes and an eye-catching figure. On top of that, she seemed to exude a natural charm that drew people in. So, he asked with a crooked smile, “Does someone of your charms still worry about having no business?”

Seeing that Old Cat was talking to her, the young lady immediately walked over forth and said, “The competition here is intense. We have ladies of all races and nationalities here… If I don’t work hard, I won’t earn anything at all.”

Old Cat turned to Qin Yu and whispered in his ear, “We might look out of place if we don’t get any accompaniment at a place like this. Why don’t we choose a few of them to sit down with us? We can get them to leave once the person we are meeting arrives. Besides, he might want some entertainment too.”

Qin Yu thought that what Old Cat said made sense, so he said with a nod nod, “We’ll keep three of them then.”

“Miss, how should I address you?” Old Cat asked the young lady.

“I’m Coco.”

“Call two of your close sisters to join us,” Old Cat said.

Coco was a little surprised to hear that.

“What’s wrong? You don’t have any friends here?” Old Cat asked teasingly.

“Of course not.” Coco finally recovered from her surprise. She gestured to the other two ladies on the left and said, “The two of you should join us too.”

The other two young ladies walked over and sat down beside Qi Lin and Qin Yu.

The waiter respectfully bowed toward the group and said politely, “Gentlemen, I wish you a pleasant night.”

After that, he left together with the other nine unchosen ladies.

There was nothing much to do at the moment, so Old Cat glanced at Coco’s thighs before moving his hands toward them, “Miss, your skin feels supple.”

“Big brother, you sure are so perverted.”

“Not at all. I just know how to set the mood…”

Hearing those words, Qi Lin suddenly felt a headache striking him. He leaned toward Qin Yu and said, “He sure knows how to let himself loose.”

Coco crossed her legs before she calmly peeled Old Cat’s hand off her thigh and said, “Your hands look quite elegant.”

Old Cat raised his forefinger and middle finger and replied, “Don’t you think these two look exceptionally plump?”

Coco was utterly dumbfounded. She had never seen someone who was so lewd as to be able to respond to every single thing she said with innuendos. “Big brother… I’ve never seen anyone as vulgar as you.”

…

On the first floor of Platinum Castle.

A flattop middle-aged man walked into the venue alone.

A waiter immediately walked up to him and asked, “Mister, are you alone or with a friend? Do you have a reservation?”

“My surname is Kang, and I have reserved a compartment room on the third floor,” the flattop middle-aged man scanned the surroundings as he spoke.