In the early morning of January 29th, Verak said goodbye to Keating after dinner. He left Mainline Street alone and took a carriage for thirty minutes to the gathering place of the Bresci people in the Old South—
Manchester City.
Manchester is not really a city, but a collective name for several neighborhoods where the Bresci people live. Most of the Bresci people in Manchester only live in this small circle, which has formed a semi-enclosed environment.
When facing the Dunman people, Verak could not hide his face, but then he had to deal with many Brexi people in the neighborhood. He had to dress up, make his hair slightly messy, and cover part of his face.
Then he put on clothes as simple and mediocre as possible, so that he could be thrown into the crowd without being conspicuous, and then he walked into Manchester City.
There is no obvious distinction between Manchester City and other neighborhoods. Whether it is the buildings or people's clothes, the atmosphere on the streets is generally the same. But when Verak walked in, he still felt like he was back in a familiar place.
The familiar words on both sides of the street, the familiar restaurant signs, and the languages spoken by the people passing by all gave Verak a sense of intimacy.
He went deep into it, looked around, and planned to sneak in officially in the name of working to make a living, then contact the Sea Rat Gang to learn more, and finally use the identity of the Sea Rat Gang to negotiate with Boss Xin and the others when executing the backup plan.
After walking around the block, just when he was about to pick a store and go in to ask, a tall man stopped in front of him: "Brexi?"
Verak raised his head slightly and looked at the man who spoke Brexi, had an angular face, and looked about the same age as himself: "Yes."
"Where's Brexi?"
"Zward City, Joseph County." Verak said.
The man looked around and turned sideways: "Why did you come all the way here?"
"Why should I tell you?" Verak deliberately remained vigilant.
"We are all fellow villagers, don't be so nervous." Seeing that Verak had a serious face and wanted to leave, the man smiled and took out the cigarette case, pulled out a cigarette and handed it to Verak, "Here, have a cigarette.
"
"I don't smoke."
"Hiss..." The man lit a cigarette by himself, "Did something happen over there with Brexi?"
Verak did not speak, pretending to be wary, but actually waiting for the man to self-righteously guess a false origin.
"I have no intention of asking for your details. How many people who are willing to go to such a shabby place to make a living are clean? Right?" The man looked like he understood Verak very well and mentioned Verak repeatedly.
He took the initiative to introduce himself, "My name is Derek, from Kip City. I have been in Dunman for ten years. I do some small business here. If you just come here to make a living, you can follow me.
, not to mention making you rich and wealthy, and having no worries about food and clothing is still no problem."
"My name is Verak." Verak said in relief.
Derek was very familiar with himself. He grabbed Verak's shoulders and walked towards the alley on the side: "I see you have been wandering around for a long time, so don't think so much. Just fuck with me. At least you can settle down first."
Can I earn some money for food?"
"What are we doing with you?" Verak knew very well that what Derek was doing was definitely not a serious business. He was willing to approach him so diligently because he was a newcomer, and he must have wanted to trick him.
"Actually, it's nothing, you just came out to help buy something——"
"smuggling?!"
"It's not that serious, and unlike Dunman and Blissi, the investigation was not strict!" Derek quickly motioned to Verak to lower his voice.
Verak didn't question too much, for fear that Derek and he wouldn't be able to continue the conversation: "I don't mean to be afraid, it doesn't matter if it's strict, as long as I can make money. You're right, I wouldn't end up here if I had the choice.
By the way, since we have already reached this point, why are we still so tied up?"
"You said you have this awareness, but are you still worried about not making money? These days, as long as you have the courage, as long as you don't have a bottom line, and as long as you don't treat people as human beings, there are opportunities to make money everywhere!" Derek echoed.
"What exactly do you do and how much can you give me?" Verak got straight to the point, "Don't treat me like a fool. Let's just speak clearly."
"You said so, so I won't hide it from you anymore." Derek took a deep breath of cigarette, "I sell guns."
"Gun?" Verak narrowed his eyes.
This time when he came to Manchester, where the Bresci people gathered, he originally did not intend to bring a gun, but Keating was worried about his safety and insisted on letting him bring one.
"Isn't the Dunman Civil War over? The government is about to start maintaining stability. They are afraid that the Alliance Army will resurgence during this period. In addition, there are frequent workers' demonstrations, and the proliferation of guns makes these demonstrations often break out in gun battles, so they simply start
Guns were banned. As a result, the price of guns has doubled several times, and now it has become a huge profit..." Derek briefly told the background of selling guns, "Every time you sell a gun for me, I can give you this
number."
Verak looked at the five fingers raised by Derek: "Five silver grams?"
"We've all arrived in Dunman. Let's calculate it in Dunman's currency, five thousand pounds."
"Five thousand pounds?! That's ten gold grams! I can get so much money for just one gun? Are you kidding me?" This amount really surprised Verak, and this was only the portion allocated to him.
, including Derek’s share, it’s estimated to be tens of thousands.
"It's all small money, don't make such a fuss. Think about it, if you can sell ten handfuls a day, it's fifty thousand pounds. Isn't this enough to earn you a year's salary as a worker in Bressy? So you just touch it when you first come here.
It's a coincidence that you fell in love with me. What's going on, do you want to do it or not?"
"Wait a minute." Verak asked, "You just said that Dunman is now strictly prohibited from selling guns. What will happen if I get caught?"
Derek originally wanted to hide it from Verak, but after hearing that Verak had just said that he was not afraid of anything and wanted to create a new world in Dunman, he boldly confessed: "The Dunman was caught selling guns.
, will be imprisoned for decades, and foreigners like us will basically be shot if caught."
If you are caught, you will die, which is normal. If huge profits are not accompanied by huge risks, they will not be huge profits.
"What? Are you scared? Didn't you just say that you didn't want to be tied down and want to have a big fight?" Verak didn't say anything for a few seconds, and Derek couldn't help but get excited.
"I'm not afraid." Verak didn't show any timidity. He thought for a moment and asked Derek about the Sea Rat Gang, "Do you know about the Sea Rat Gang?"
This time, Derek narrowed his eyes and was wary: "How do you know about the Sea Rat Gang?"
"How do you think I got here?" Verak asked.
"Are you looking for someone to inquire?"
Verak shrugged, and the meaning was self-evident: "I came here thinking of defecting to the Sea Rat Gang, but I didn't expect that I didn't see any trace of the Sea Rat Gang after walking around half a circle, so I was pulled into an alley by you first."
"There's no need to defect to the Sea Rat Gang. You can't make much money with them." Derek relaxed a little.
"You seem to have some conflicts with the Sea Rats?" Verak noticed that Derek was very nervous when he mentioned the Sea Rats.
"It's not a big deal. They also strictly prohibit people in Manchester from selling guns. If you want to do this with me, not only must you be careful outside, but you must also be alert when walking around Manchester." Derek said it was not a big deal.
But he still took Verak and walked deeper into the alley.
"They are all Brexi people, why do they care so much? Is it possible that guns can also be harmful to the Sea Rat Gang?" Verak further understood.
Derek took another puff of cigarette, threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stamped it out, then shrank his neck and put his hands in his pockets to keep warm: "This matter is very complicated to talk about, and you don't have to--if you insist on listening, I will tell you."
"You probably didn't know when you first arrived, but Dunman recently promulgated a new conscription law. This conscription law is obviously aimed at civilians, but it is us outsiders who suffer the most."
"How do you say that?" Verak asked knowingly.
"This new conscription law stipulates that as long as you pay 300,000 pounds, you will be exempted from military service. Then the rich people don't have to go to the battlefield at all, and all the poor people who can't afford the money will be cannon fodder! It's even more excessive for us, some
As soon as the outsiders came to Dunman and moved in, they were forced to sign a service letter and were treated as free soldiers by the Dunman government!" When mentioning this, Derek was a little excited.
"Then what does this have to do with the Sea Rat Gang's ban on guns?"
"Because this is obviously targeting us outsiders and deliberately weakening us." Derek said matter-of-factly. "The Dunmen people are so xenophobic. It's not like the government can't hear their voices. They also want to solve the problem and occupy us."
We have taken away public resources and redistributed jobs to local people. But our status is quite special. Dunman has just finished solving the internal problems.
They will not take the initiative to deal with outsiders and make enemies with other countries. Therefore, they have to find excuses and use legitimate reasons to solve troubles so that other countries cannot interfere. Therefore, it is not only the Sea Rat Gang, but now all non-Dunman locals
People's gangs ban guns and don't make trouble if they can, just because they're afraid of being targeted by the government and legitimately getting rid of them."
“Since the Dunman people are so xenophobic and the government is always trying to drive outsiders out, why should we insist on staying here?”
"Do you think everyone wants to come here? Either they have no choice but to come here, or they have lived here for ten or twenty years and their roots are firmly rooted here. How can it be so easy to just leave." Derek shook his head.
Verak was silent thoughtfully for a while: "Then why are you still selling guns?"
"Why not sell it if you can make money? What's going on with the government, what's going on with the Sea Rat Gang, what does it have to do with me whether they are dead or alive? I have no obligation to stay together with them for warmth. I made the money I should earn, where do I want to go after that?
"Where." Derek said with a dry mouth, "After all that, what do you think, are you willing to do it with me?"
"Just do it. Once you make money, it will be easy." Verak tentatively agreed to sell guns with Derek.
This has two purposes.
First, Derek is doing such a dangerous job, but he reveals all his secrets just after meeting him. This is not in line with the cautious character of a person who makes money on the edge of death. He needs to have more contact with Derek to find out more about him.
The reason for being so confident.
The second is that he wants to join the Sea Rat Gang, wants to be trusted by the people in the gang, and wants to quickly rise to a position with a slight say, so he had better have something to offer. Derek, who is regarded as the Sea Rat Gang, thousands of Bresci from Manchester City
Regardless of people's safety and selling guns privately, there is no better gift than Verak would miss.
"Follow me." After Verak agreed, Derek led him out of the alley and towards the end of the street.
"Where to go?"
"I'll arrange a place for you first, and then I'll go see the boss." Derek took a cigarette again.
"Boss? I thought you had full authority to do this." Verak raised his eyebrows.
Because he was on the street, Derek lowered his voice a little: "I am mainly responsible for recruiting people, purchasing goods, and contacting buyers. Others are responsible for it. After all, guns are not something that just anyone can sell."
, where do you buy the goods from, and how do you get them out, everything is a matter of course."
"That's right..." Verak felt a little more at ease.
It seems that Derek is more relieved about himself because he has a more secretive big shot above him, so even if the news leaks out, it will not shake their foundation.
This also means that it won't be too difficult for him to just take down Drake.
"How many people are there?" Verak tried to ask for more information.
When it came to the secrets of the organization, Derek immediately became strict: "You don't need to know this. You just need to deliver the gun I gave you to the designated place and the hands of the designated person, and then wait to receive the money."
"Okay. I understand. The less you know, the better. I just do what I should do."
"The fact that you think like this means that you are a very measured and self-aware person." Derek patted Verak on the shoulder, "People like this don't have to worry about not making money, just hang out with me in a down-to-earth manner from now on.
Guarantee you to make a lot of money."
With that said, Derek took Verak to a nearby small hotel and spent fifty pounds to book the worst room for Verak.
"I'll help you pay for the room for one day first. After that, you have to work hard on where you live, what you can afford, and what kind of life you want to enjoy." In the room, Derek settled Verak.
Come down.
"When can I sell guns?" Verak glanced around the room. There was nothing in it except the bed. It could be said to be as simple as it gets.
"When I finish meeting the boss, I will come to you with information about the goods and the owner. If you do it quickly, you might be able to earn tens of thousands of pounds today." After finishing speaking, Derek walked out of the door.
"Okay, just stay calm for now and wait until I come back to find you."
Verak said "hmm" and lay on the bed: "Then I'll take a rest first."
"Bang!" The door was closed and Derek left.
Listening to the silence outside, Verak sat up from the bed, walked slowly to the door, and opened it a crack.
After observing through the crack in the door that no one was outside, he walked out and left the hotel directly. In the name of having breakfast, he went to the nearest restaurant and asked the owner of the restaurant for information about the Sea Rat Gang.