He was dumbfounded. He clearly remembered leaving it by the roadside, not far from the shop, but now it was completely empty—nothing left at all. This was a courier company’s vehicle; if it was lost, he’d have to pay for it.

Oh, it wasn’t lost! From a distance, he saw a city management vehicle, fully loaded with all kinds of two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and various illegal street stalls. He could vaguely make out that welded-roof courier vehicle. David Clark panicked, running desperately toward it, waving and shouting as he ran:

“Hey, I’m here… I’m a courier, not running an illegal business… Hey, I’m here…”

He ran until he was out of breath, then stopped, hands on his knees.

The city management vehicle didn’t stop, just kept going farther and farther away…

……

……

Beyond the Third Ring is the Fourth Ring, and every ring has places to eat, drink, and have fun.

From morning till afternoon, the famous and beautiful plaza was always bustling. Here, you’d find a cinema, a winery, a shopping center, and five large residential communities, making it a lively spot in the area. From the overpass to the crosswalk, people came and went as if completely unbothered by the heat, and the shops lining the street were all busy.

Bustling crowds aren’t always a good thing for some people. For example, at this moment, a few people sitting in a beat-up FAW domestic car were grumbling. They were discussing how there were too many people—hard to make a move. It wasn’t far from the Asian Games Village, not safe, and there were surveillance cameras. The place to act was at the entrance to the Anhuitang Community, where a row of tables was set up and the mobile company was running a promotion, playing “Little Apple” on repeat, driving everyone crazy.

“You two? Who’s going?” The driver checked the time, getting impatient.

In the back, two heads stuck out. One had a face full of pimples and was fat and sleazy; the other was skinny with a long horse face, and when he grinned, two little canine teeth showed—ugly but kind of cute. The driver seemed to prefer the ugly-but-cute one. He pulled out five 100-yuan bills and said, “Five hundred yuan, who’s going?”

“Mr. Foster, this is too dangerous. For this kind of thing, you need to hire more people, rush in together, hit and run, so no one knows who’s who.” The fat, sleazy one seemed experienced and knew what to do. He warned the eager skinny guy, “San’er, don’t be stupid. This is the capital—security is tight, and they’re building a civilized city. Even picking up trash, you have to wear a suit, or the shelter will definitely take you away… Let alone beating someone up, you absolutely can’t do it alone.”

Right, this was a deal—they were supposed to go beat someone up, and the price was the five hundred yuan in the driver’s hand.

The driver got angry when he heard this: “If you don’t want to do it, get lost! If all the local thugs hadn’t switched to being private detectives, would I be looking for drifters like you? Just go up, give him a beating, slap him a few times, kick him a bit—is it really that hard?”

After thinking for a moment, the driver added for the two who were hesitating, “Let me tell you, I’m a private detective. The job came from a married woman. The guy’s a total scumbag—slept with her several times for free, but won’t give her any real feelings. So she’s paying someone to beat him up, just to get some psychological balance. Can’t you have a little sense of justice?”

“Too many people, can’t do it, bro. Get a few more people, and when it gets chaotic, it’ll work.” The fat one said.

“You actually got that right. You can have more of anything, but not more people. Everyone’s cutting costs these days, saving money. I only charged her a thousand in total. Migrant worker wages are expensive—can’t afford to hire more.” The driver added two more bills and waved them: “Seven hundred. Take it or leave it. For this price, you could get a drama school girl to chat with you.”

“I’ll go!”

The skinny one couldn’t hold back, snatched the money, got out of the car, and walked toward the community entrance.

The driver was pleased, waving at the pimple-faced fat guy: “Get out, keep an eye on things. If anything happens, run back to the car and I’ll drive you away.”

Oh, the fat guy was a bit unhappy, but he got out too. He watched his companion from a distance, walked over to the promo booth, and stood with a group of handsome guys and pretty girls doing the promotion. Looking at the place, it really wasn’t a good spot to make a move, and the timing was all wrong—there were too many people right now.

As for the one standing in front of the booth, he was really tall, a bit hunched, didn’t walk in a straight line, and looked at people sideways. When he got to the booth, he actually startled the girl with the promo sash. Out of humanitarian spirit, the girl at least didn’t treat the horse-faced guy like livestock, and timidly handed him a flyer. As she stepped aside, another clean-cut, fair-skinned girl started introducing the phone plans to him.

“Cut it out, don’t think I don’t know—these plans are all just traps.” The skinny guy said disdainfully.

“You must be joking, sir. If you sign up for a plan, you get a free phone.” The promoter said.

Wait, the voice was obviously thin and a bit hoarse. The skinny guy, who was planning to flirt, looked down from the promoter’s face and, seeing his Adam’s apple, was so shocked he almost put his hand in his mouth. He exclaimed, “I finally worked up the courage to hit on a girl, and it turns out to be a guy.”

The girls and guys at the booth all laughed. The promoter took off his hat angrily and said, “Who told you I was a girl?”

“A man with a woman’s face—what the heck?” The skinny guy stared.

“Hey, are you insulting me?” The clean-cut guy, who looked prettier than a girl, got angry.

“You’re the one who’s disgusting, I haven’t even bothered to insult you. Whatever!” The skinny guy flicked his sleeve and left, looking extremely disgusted.