Darkstone Code
Chapter 78 - 0077 comes with its own traffic, who else if not me?

Chapter 78: 0077 comes with its own traffic, who else if not me?

Wood, an ordinary name that if you shout out on a busy street, at least four or five men would look your way.

The young man undercover around Lynch bore this sort of slightly old-fashioned name, simple, straightforward, with a trace of the past’s flavor.

Of course, the name might seem a bit outdated, but it’s much better than names like "Dick" or "Puxi," much better indeed!

After lunch, Lynch and those newspaper boys left early. Before leaving, he wrote a check for Richard, instructing him to help them find their footing a little.

Wood immediately got into character, "Richard, it seems like the Boss has something going on, do we need to help?" His face was bright, with a hint of sycophantic expression that made people comfortable, and he even flaunted his muscles a bit.

Richard just glanced at the check in his hand. He didn’t like these musclemen. Speaking of muscles, every worker in the factory working shirtless had plenty.

This is no longer an era where one’s future potential is judged by muscles; only past farmers and workers regarded muscles as something extraordinary.

In this new era, a money-making mind and wealth are the essential parameters for evaluating a person’s value in society, not those stiff muscles.

Although, sometimes he did envy them a little.

"Doing your job well is much more important than meddling in others’ affairs. What’s your name?" Richard put the check away. Lynch gave him some money, asking him to take these lads to order two sets of uniforms each—two short-sleeved shirts with the company’s name on the chest, two pairs of pants, thirty genuine leather briefcases, and a thousand belts.

The belts had a significant use. Richard had given up on thinking about what they might be used for. To him, a belt was a belt, and such cheap belts weren’t in high demand.

Not everything that’s cheap will sell well. Only necessities do; belts don’t.

Those who are unwilling or don’t care would use just a piece of string to solve the problem, while the meticulous ones wouldn’t buy cheap belts. He didn’t understand what Lynch needed them for; it was too complicated for him to grasp.

He was trying hard to get close to Lynch, learning diligently with relentless effort. He didn’t see himself as a minor character working for others all his life. Someday he would become a boss too.

Richard looked at Wood, somewhat eager; Lynch gave him a position second only to himself, showing that in this small group, he’s the most trustworthy person.

The trust from Lynch, along with his own sense of duty and mission, gave rise to a feeling he’d never experienced before, a wonderful feeling—power!

"Wood, good lad..." He patted Wood’s sturdy arm, really like patting a stone, a completely different experience compared to the slight rebound when patting himself, "You’ve got spirit, so help me with something..."

Moments later, Wood got a very fitting physical task, while he himself began chatting with the remaining people about how he met Lynch.

No future as beautiful as the reality that has already occurred, no matter how well Lynch talked it up, there would always be those who were skeptical. After Richard directly stated his identity, he spoke of his previous cooperation with Lynch.

In his view, it was cooperation, though it could also be considered being hired, but he preferred the relatively equal term, cooperation.

"You can’t imagine how crazy our time was. I made two to three hundred a day, which is the best job I’ve found since I was born!"

The exclamations from the newcomers around made Richard very satisfied. He showed off the brand-new watch on his wrist, "See? I bought this watch in just a week, a watch I originally didn’t intend to buy, and now I have a new goal."

This watch was worth two thousand, a mere entry-level luxury watch, only considered the lowest end in its entire series.

Perhaps due to its entry-level and corresponding low cost, many people’s first luxury brand watch purchase is often this model, gradually leading people to call this, seen as trash by the wealthy, as a "classic model," and fervently pursue it.

This also led to an interesting phenomenon where luxury brands and models widely circulated among the lower social classes are not popular in the truly top-tier upper class society. Those so-called "classic models" and "hot models" are mere sales tools to satisfy the mid-to-lower classes’ awful vanity.

If you must inquire into what clothes and accessories those top-tier social figures might wear, they might give you a designer’s name or that of a craftsman you’ve never heard of.

However, for the lower strata of society, the significance of such "classic models" becomes very apparent. When Richard showed the watch on his wrist, people couldn’t move their eyes away from it.

According to the current per capita wage in Sabin City, aside from daily expenses like food and drink, an unmarried young person would need to scrimp and save for two to three years to afford such a watch.

A good watch significantly enhances a person’s image. People often observe a man through shoes, belts, watches, tie clips, and ties; their impact is substantial.

His previous words might have convinced these people by three parts, but now they’ve believed by seven parts.

Just as Richard was satisfied with these people’s reactions, Wood suddenly asked while carrying two boxes of lunch from outside, "If it’s really that lucrative, why aren’t we continuing your previous work, and instead, doing this unfamiliar stuff?"

Richard gave him a sidelong glance, while others were all looking at him, he shook his head, "If you read the newspapers, you’d know."

Previously, two major authorities in Sabin City raided underground financial companies, catching a batch of criminals suspected of money laundering, also taking down some burgeoning small-change exchange businesses.

The atmosphere in the warehouse felt a bit stifled; after half a minute, Richard clapped his hands, signalling the young guy who always caused him trouble to bring up the coffee, then continued discussing with everyone how to smoothly get on board.

In the evening, Wood returned to his solitary home. Just as he was about to pull out his key to open the door, his pupils constricted slightly.

Before he left, he had set up a little trick: he had plugged a strand of hair into the keyhole. If someone tried to unlock the door, as the key was inserted and then pulled out, the hair would surely be taken out.

Now that the hair was gone, it meant someone had tampered with his lock.

Whether undercover in some crime syndicate or with someone like Lynch, one always had to be fully prepared, as vigilance is their only guarantee for survival.

Right then, he heard a familiar voice from inside the door, "Come in, it’s me..."

It was his superior. He opened the door and entered the room, rolling his eyes with displeasure, "You almost scared me to death!"

His superior just laughed, explaining, "I didn’t know when you’d return. If I kept appearing around here, someone might notice, so I just came inside."

He quickly wrapped up the previous topic, "How did it go today, did you see Lynch?"

Wood nodded, "I saw Lynch, and his business partner, named Richard..."

"Richard?" Wood’s superior frowned, "As far as I know, this Richard is just a small fry that doesn’t even rank as an outsider. Are you sure he’s Lynch’s business partner?"

Wood shrugged, walked to the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water, and took a big gulp, "All I can do is pass the intel to you; analyzing the intel isn’t my job!"

Wood’s superior paused in silence, jotting this down in his notebook, then pursued further, "Anything else special today, tell me about what happened..."

This conversation went on for more than an hour, the two of them wide-eyed, with an inexplicable feeling.

Frowning, the superior asked with a somewhat uncertain tone, "Are you sure... he said the top three earn over ten thousand?"

"He said so; whether it can be achieved, I don’t know, but I’ll give it a try..."

The superior quickly made a decision, "When the time comes, we’ll support you. This can bring you closer to Lynch, make him see you as one of his own, and get closer to his criminal evidence. Be sure to protect yourself!"

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