82: Fists and money

The early morning sun was not yet intense. After enduring a week of extreme heat, it had finally cooled down just a little.

Zhao Mingyuan was keeping watch in his repair shop, directing a robot to help him assemble the engine of a hoverbike.

The light from the arc welder illuminated his protective mask. Under such high concentration, his forehead was covered in a dense layer of sweat beads.

Suddenly.

Bang!

The shop door was kicked open, causing dust to fall from the doorframe in showers.

Five burly men filed in. The man in the lead wore a black leather jacket, a thumb-thick gold chain around his neck, and a face full of black whiskers, looking like a black bear monster that hadn't shed its fur yet.

Zhao Mingyuan took one look, and the welding torch in his hand dropped to the floor with a "clatter."

" B-Black Bear Brother... "

His fingers slid quietly across his wristband, blind-dialing Jiang Feng's number and hitting mute.

' Brother Feng, please, please. You have to be reliable. Come save me quickly! '

Zhao Mingyuan thought with trepidation, and then a thought flashed through his mind.

' I need to buy a Robot Dog for self-defense, just like the one Brother Feng has! '

Black Bear Brother casually pushed aside the household robot that had come over to help Zhao Mingyuan and sat on the workbench with a heavy thud, causing the surface to creak. He looked at the engine Zhao Mingyuan was assembling and chuckled.

" Little Zhao, your craftsmanship is not bad. You've grown some skills. "

Zhao Mingyuan's face couldn't have looked any uglier. Black Bear Brother was a recently rising second-hand parts dealer. Legend had it that he was supported by powerful forces behind the scenes, and he was known for being ruthless and cold-blooded.

" Black Bear Brother, I, I'm just trying to make a living... "

Zhao Mingyuan hunched his shoulders and offered a forced smile.

" Make a living? "

Black Bear Brother suddenly looked at the four lackeys beside him. The four fierce-looking lackeys understood.

" Ha... "

" Hahaha... "

" Hahahahaha... "

The four hulking men were almost laughing to tears. At that very moment, two of the lackeys suddenly erupted into action, their crowbars raining down on the engine on the workbench.

Zhao Mingyuan's eyes widened, his hand half-extended, but his tongue seemed to be tied in knots.

Black Bear Brother carefully pulled a data cable from his pocket and waved it in front of Zhao Mingyuan's eyes.

Its brand-new appearance made Zhao Mingyuan's heart sink into an icy abyss; this was exactly the batch of goods Jiang Feng had given him.

" Tell me about it. " Black Bear Brother pinched the data cable and shook it, saying indifferently: " Where did this thing come from? "

Zhao Mingyuan swallowed a mouthful of saliva: " Just... ordinary channels... "

" Bullshit! " Black Bear Brother lunged forward in one stride and grabbed Zhao Mingyuan by the collar.

" I've scoured the entire black market in District 03, and nobody can get their hands on 100 high-grade data cables overnight! "

" Not even fakes, let alone the real deal! " He leaned close to Zhao Mingyuan's pale face: " Do you know how much this batch is worth? 830,000! Enough to buy your shop twenty times over! "

" Oh, right... " Black Bear Brother laughed sarcastically.

" Of course you know! " He patted Zhao Mingyuan's cheek: " This batch of goods, wasn't it released by you? "

Zhao Mingyuan's wristband vibrated slightly; the call had already connected, and he had to stall for time.

' Brother Feng, you have to come quickly, otherwise... otherwise I'm done for. '

While hoping in his heart, he squeezed out a fawning smile: " Black Bear Brother, please calm down. Actually, it's, it's my cousin. Yes, my cousin works at the spaceport... "

" Slap! "

With a powerful, heavy slap, Zhao Mingyuan's cheek swelled up instantly.

" How come I didn't know you had a cousin? "

Black Bear Brother sneered and snapped his fingers. The lackeys behind him immediately found several buckets of industrial solvent in the repair shop. Two lackeys exchanged a glance, unscrewed the lids, and began pouring the solvent onto the floor.

In an instant, a pungent odor filled the entire shop.

The maintenance robot stood there blankly, doused in solvent. It raised its hand, seemingly caught off guard by the situation.

" Last time I'll ask. " Black Bear Brother pulled out a lighter and twirled it lightly at his fingertips.

" Who is the source of the goods? "

Zhao Mingyuan's legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground. He was anxious, the words "Brother Feng" stuck in his throat, dying to be let out.

Just as Black Bear Brother stopped twirling the lighter, the violent roar of a hover pickup truck's engine came from outside.

" Boom! "

The shop door was kicked open once again.

This time, the entire door couldn't take it anymore. The hinges snapped, and the door collapsed with a crash, hitting the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

In the morning light, Jiang Feng's figure stood at the doorway, followed by the silent robot Little Handsome.

At his feet, Gold-Wrapped Silver's electronic eyes were turning red, one pixel at a time.

" Brother Feng! " Zhao Mingyuan almost cried out.

Black Bear Brother narrowed his eyes: " Who are you? "

Jiang Feng didn't answer; he just snapped his fingers lightly. The blue light in the robot's eyes suddenly turned red.

Seeing this, the four lackeys hurriedly stepped forward to protect their boss, shouting loudly as they swung their crowbars with force.

The first thug to rush up hadn't even seen the movement before a titanium alloy fist slammed into his abdomen. His 200-pound body flew out like a ragdoll, crashing into several shelves before stopping.

Blood sprayed from his mouth, mixed with a large amount of white foam. The crowbar spun in the air and hit the ground with a "clatter."

The second thug was already too close and couldn't react in time. Little Handsome's right arm caught his wrist and gave it a light twist; the crisp sound of wrist bones cracking, accompanied by the grown man's scream, echoed through the shop.

Little Handsome caught the discarded crowbar in mid-air and, with a metallic "creak," twisted it into a pretzel.

" Stop! " Black Bear Brother's shout came too late, his voice having cracked.

The remaining two lackeys immediately found their excuse and retreated frantically. One of them had a large wet patch in his crotch, and the other, holding his crowbar, was shaking as if he were on vibrate mode, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.

Jiang Feng finally walked in slowly, casually straightening a shelf that had been knocked askew. Little Handsome retreated a step quietly, without even a scratch on its metal fist.

Zhao Mingyuan scrambled to hide behind Jiang Feng, his voice trembling: " Brother Feng! These scumbags wanted to burn down your studio! "

Jiang Feng rolled his eyes: ' If it weren't for the fear that you'd expose me completely, why would I have come here today? '

He looked at the bearded man in front of him, his eyes sharpening: ' I have important matters to attend to today; I need to see the star digger wreckage, and then go to the newly rented warehouse to build robots. I don't have time to get into a conflict with these people. '

' It's best to turn big problems into small ones, and small ones into nothing. '

Black Bear Brother's expression was uncertain. He looked at his wailing lackey on the floor and then at Jiang Feng: " Which path do you walk, brother? My name is Black Bear, I'm just a second-hand parts dealer... "

Suddenly, the siren of a patrol car came from the distance.

Jiang Feng smiled. He opened his wristband, looked at Black Bear, and initiated a face-to-face transfer for the amount of 5,000 earth federation coin.

" Medical expenses. " His voice was calm: " We are all law-abiding businessmen, why cause trouble? "

Black Bear Brother's eyes darted around frantically, trying his best to observe Jiang Feng's micro-expressions. This man, wearing ordinary work pants, stood with a relaxed posture as if he were in his own backyard, carrying a black toolbox, looking harmless.

But something in his eyes sent a chill down Black Bear Brother's spine: ' This Brother Feng... is a tough nut to crack! '

' That batch of goods, I'm afraid this guy has everything to do with it! '

He no longer hesitated and clicked to accept the transfer on his wristband.

" ... Brother Feng, right? " Black Bear Brother suddenly grinned, his beard trembling.

" Alright, I'll remember this. "

He waved his hand to signal his lackeys to carry away the injured, and just before leaving, he suddenly turned back: " Let's have a drink together sometime. "

Once Black Bear Brother and his group were far away, Zhao Mingyuan finally slumped to the floor. Looking at the flammable and explosive solvent all over the ground, and then at the smashed hoverbike engine on the workbench, he buried his hands in his hair and grabbed it fiercely.

" Brother Feng! You are too awesome! Little Handsome is simply... "

" Shut up! " Jiang Feng glared at him: " Don't you have any idea who caused this? "

" Clean up the shop. I have things to do, I'm leaving now. "

Zhao Mingyuan felt incredibly guilty and could only watch Jiang Feng leave, unable to help but regret: ' Would it have been better if I had only released half of the goods that day, and the other half the next day... '

" Sigh, damn it, what is this mess! "

He watched with some envy as the hover pickup drove away, and he understood in his heart that Black Bear Brother would not be coming back to cause trouble.

Jiang Feng had used force to intimidate him, but at the same time, he had given him a way out, and the fact that Black Bear Brother was willing to accept the 5,000 was a subtle implication that this matter was now closed.

This was the unspoken rule of the underground world. It wasn't that no one broke it, but those who did generally didn't live to see the next year.

In the slums, two things were most important: titanium alloy fists and banknotes.

But the most badass thing was always the brain that knew when to use fists and when to use banknotes to solve problems.

" Damn it! I have neither fists nor banknotes, what the hell... "

The more Zhao Mingyuan thought about it, the angrier he got. Looking at the smashed engine, he frowned and muttered to himself.

" I wonder when Brother Feng will take me to do big business again... "

" It would be best if we went to repair space drills together; maybe we could get more money back. "

" Hehehe... "