Enforcer Manual
Chapter 167: Authentic Trading Experience_1

Chapter 167: Chapter 167: Authentic Trading Experience_1

This small town must change!

After nearly half an hour in the sand, Song Lan came to a crucial conclusion.

He finally understood the importance of the scenes in movies where the protagonist goes undercover. Had he not personally stepped out of Sector Seventeen himself, he could hardly have imagined that people here would consider this stifling, dangerous and uncomfortable sand bathing as a form of relaxation.

Empathize with others.

If he were a merchant traveling between the Neutral Country and Sector Seventeen, he would not wish to finally make it through the desert only to learn that the shabby station they arrived at does not even offer bathing facilities.

"There is another reason for choosing this as our starting point."

After returning to their room, Lu Xiang began to speak: "Since we don’t often get to be out here, I thought we could experience life as traders. Most of the people we encountered downstairs are mercenaries seeking employment."

Even for a merchant with considerable means, it’s difficult to transport goods alone. Even air transportation wouldn’t work.

The local criminals are well-equipped and have ties to international arms dealers. Many are equipped with anti-aircraft weapons.

If a transport aircraft were shot down by criminals, the losses would be unimaginable.

For this reason, even merchants capable of air transport prefer land transportation.

"This town serves as the starting point for trade routes, and many traders come here to recruit mercenaries. Aside from having to deal with the crime syndicate active on the route, they might also encounter mutant creatures in the desert. Here, for instance, there’s a genetically mutated creature locals call the ’Death God Crab.’ It looks like a regular crab and usually hides in the sand. But as soon as a car passes by overhead, it attacks."

Lu Xiang shared some "outside world" knowledge with Song Lan," A fully grown Death God Crab is larger than a transport truck, and it can easily overturn objects weighing tens of tons."

Apart from criminals, there’s a massive creature that can overturn trucks weighing tens of tons?

Song Lan felt that Lu Xiang had a very peculiar understanding of the term "tourism."

Perhaps it would be best for them to return home?

Before he could speak, Lu Xiang continued to outline her plan, "We can apply as mercenaries, which will enable us to travel with a trading caravan to the Twelfth Nation."

When she suggested the idea, Song Lan was downright opposed to it.

But Lu Xiang saw right through him and added, "This will help us leave the desert region faster. Besides, the vehicle is air-conditioned, which would be much more comfortable than staying in the inn."

Song Lan had to admit that Lu Xiang always knew how to exploit his weaknesses. He now suspected that the sand bath was all part of her plan. He was extremely hot and wanted to be somewhere air-conditioned. If possible, he would also like to leave this small town as soon as possible.

Lu Xiang also mentioned "leaving the desert region," which meant that this crude small town wasn’t the norm. Maybe once they left the desert, they would find elegant high-end hotels waiting for them.

This brought a glimmer of hope to him.

Because not all parts of the "outside world" are impoverished. To his knowledge, the Twelfth Nation is a trading hub of the Neutral Countries. A casual investment from its Princess could solve the financial issues of their department. The infrastructure there must be overwhelmingly more advanced than Sector Seventeen.

It’s worth noting, the urban development within the entire United Government territory was worst in Sector Seventeen. Except for the more affluent downtown areas, the architectural style in all other regions hasn’t advanced much since 2020.

Ever since arriving in the year 2166, Song Lan had yet to experience the charm of a top-tier city.

After a moment’s thought, he reluctantly agreed to Lu Xiang’s plan.

However, two hours later, an originally enthusiastic Lu Xiang returned to their hotel room, sank into the bed, and fell into a gloomy mood.

According to her original plan, they should have already found a merchant caravan to hire them, begun inventorying supplies and prepared to set off on their journey to the Twelfth Nation. However, she had overlooked one fatal issue.

To avoid attracting attention, both she and Song Lan had utilized certain disguises.

This definitely helped them avoid a lot of trouble, but it also led to a problem.

The supervisor of the Law Enforcers’ department in Sector Seventeen, and a "concerned citizen," were repeatedly rejected when they tried to get hired, and there were no trading caravans willing to hire them, even when she made it clear that money was not an issue.

Even after reluctantly offering free escort services, they were still politely rejected by the merchants.

At this rate, they might end up being the first people to pay to work as mercenaries.

However, even if they would pay to be mercenaries, no one would hire them because it seemed too suspicious - who in their right mind would pay to escort others? What could they possibly gain from that?

So people had a reasonable suspicion: these two individuals eagerly seeking to be mercenaries were likely headhunters planted by the criminal syndicate.

In Lu Xiang’s travel plan, traveling with a merchant caravan was an important part, enabling them to closely observe the caravan and gain a more direct understanding of the difficulties that might be encountered on this trade route.

"I suppose their unwillingness to hire us speaks to the fact that they’re a sensible team."

Song Lan sat next to Lu Xiang, gently patting her back to soothe her," We don’t have guns, and we don’t look tough. Look at your arms, so slender, and your skin so fair, you don’t look like someone who frequently travels in the ’outside world’."

Of course, if a fight were to break out, Song Lan conservatively estimated that Lu Xiang could single-handedly knock down those mercenaries on the first floor in less than a minute.

"So what do you suggest we do?"

Lu Xiang turned her face sideways, her eyes filled with lament.

"Do we absolutely have to travel with a merchant group?"

"Yes."

"Well, let’s propose something that aligns with our appearance."

Seeing Lu Xiang’s rare display of helplessness, Song Lan pondered and suggested, "We don’t necessarily have to stick to being mercenaries. We can claim to be a survey team from a large corporation looking to travel with them. We aren’t relying on a mercenary’s salary anyway, we could even propose to share the cost of hiring mercenaries."

"A survey team?"

"Representatives of Tesla Tech’s Biological Survey Team. The purpose of our trip is to gather biological information for the region to aid the development of new domestic robots."

This would also perfectly explain why they aren’t traveling by hover car, but instead chose to journey with a caravan.

They looked like corporate employees, with soft skin that wasn’t accustomed to harsh traveling.

"Wait here for me, I’ll go negotiate with the merchants in the town."

...

About fifteen minutes later, Song Lan returned.

"There’s a merchant caravan preparing to set off. They’re willing to travel with us."

"You always have the best ideas."

Lu Xiang nodded in agreement, her furrowed brows relaxing. She picked up her still unopened suitcase and followed Song Lan’s steps out the door.