Chapter 176: Chapter 176: The Subway Chapter 176: Chapter 176: The Subway “Chen Ke!”
Chen Ke was passing by a street-side restaurant when he felt soone calling him.
The voice was female, familiar to the ear, yet he couldn’t recall who it was at the mont. He looked around, trying to find the person among the crowd.
“Over here, over here!” The woman’s voice ca from his left.
Chen Ke looked to the left and saw Diana sitting beside a small round table with her arm in a sling. There were three empty cups on the table, which might’ve contained ice cream before.
Hey! To bump into the lady from the fencing hall here in Opportunity City! Chen Ke scratched his head, wondering how she managed to fracture her left arm. Was she beaten at the fencing hall?
Diana waved to Chen Ke, and after he noticed her, she got up from her seat and walked towards him.
“Diana? What a coincidence, you…” Chen Ke slightly lifted his head and asked.
“It’s like… an occupational injury,” Diana said nonchalantly, indicating that such an injury seed trivial to her.
“An occupational injury? Looks like your job is quite dangerous. You were fine when I saw you at the bank yesterday,” Chen Ke said with a smile.
“My job is both dangerous and exciting, though, of course, it would be better if it were just exciting. I hurt my arm last night by accident, and it seems like I won’t be able to go to the fencing hall for a while.” Diana shrugged her shoulders, forgetting about her dislocated shoulder, and winced from the pain.
Chen Ke laughed along but didn’t ask about her job—after all, she hadn’t inquired too much about his own.
In the Western world, asking about soone’s job, family status, and inco was considered impolite. Soone who greets you with “How much is your salary?” cos off as particularly trashy.
“What have you been busy with these days?” Diana asked with a frown, hand on her hip, but smiling.
Chen Ke chuckled. This lady sure loved to perform; she was very much like those cool female side characters in Arican TV shows.
“Not much, just helped a friend move so stuff, then took so ti to talk business—that’s about it. I’m free today, so I decided to take a stroll through the ready-to-wear stores here.” Chen Ke replied.
“Sounds like you’re a businessman, you know, always dressed in a sharp suit just like one of my colleagues,” Diana said with a laugh.
“Sort of. I gather you’re into sports, an athlete? Or maybe a fitness instructor?” Chen Ke guessed, rubbing his chin.
“I’ll take that as a complint about my figure. By the way, there was a bank robbery there right after we t yesterday. You weren’t there when it happened, were you?” Diana asked.
“I… of course not, your feet had hardly left when I was out the door, just finished what I needed to do,” Chen Ke blinked.
“You’re lucky. If you’d stayed a bit longer, you would’ve been held hostage, including that little girlfriend of yours,” Diana ntioned.
“Ah… that woman… right, we were very lucky. You hurt your arm last night and decided to go shopping today?” Chen Ke asked in surprise.
“I just t with a friend… was hoping she would accompany to the supermarket to buy so things, but she had to leave for sothing else. You see, with this arm, it’s not very convenient for …” Diana said with a wistful smile, looking at Chen Ke.
Chen Ke took a deep breath, realizing what Diana ant. He really shouldn’t have said he was free.
“It’s not for buying clothes, is it…” Chen Ke wiped the sweat off his forehead.
“Of course not, I need to buy so caviar and eggs, and maybe a few other things… They’re not too heavy, but for soone with only one functioning arm, it’s still a bit inconvenient…” Diana explained.
She patted Chen Ke’s shoulder with her right hand, giving him a knowing look.
Chen Ke pulled out his phone and checked the ti: 12:30 in the afternoon. His life countdown had just over 9 hours and 40 minutes remaining.
“I swear, it’ll be quick. I’m not one of those girls who gets stuck around the clothing departnt,” Diana seed to read Chen Ke’s concern and promised.
“Alright, Diana, I hope the mall where you want to shop isn’t too far from here,” Chen Ke said.
Diana smiled satisfactorily, walked ahead of Chen Ke, and the two of them entered the nearby Walmart, one after the other.
Chen Ke was responsible for pushing the shopping cart, while Diana rummaged through various shelves for the items she needed, mostly ats and fruits and vegetables, and of course, the earlier ntioned eggs and caviar.
Soon the shopping cart was heaped with piles of food, feeling a bit heavy to push, and Chen Ke tested the weight, estimating that the cart’s contents must weigh over 30 pounds, with the majority of the weight coming from the large quantity of eggs.
While queuing for checkout in the ground floor lobby, Chen Ke spotted the firearms counter from afar. His PPQ45 had been lted by the Silent Witch, leaving only the Glock at his residence usable.
For him, without a gun permit, buying a gun at Walmart was unrealistic, and for weapons, he’d have to trouble Pihom.
“That’ll be 278 union coins,” the cashier said.
Diana took out her credit card and swiped it.
Chen Ke, on the other end, packed the groceries into three large paper bags provided by the store. In the United Federation, out of ecological considerations, supermarkets only offer paper bags for free.
Moreover, unless it’s Black Friday, there generally isn’t a large flow of custors in the stores, so the queue wasn’t a long wait.
The two walked out of Walmart, Diana holding a large paper bag in her right hand, while Chen Ke carried two. They stood by the roadside waiting for a ride.
The entire shopping process took less than 20 minutes. Diana kept her word; she really wasn’t interested in the clothing counters.
“I’ll get you a taxi,” Chen Ke said, extending his thumb to hail one.
“A taxi? Let’s take the subway instead, unless you want to get stuck in a taxi watching the fare ter continuously go up,” Diana said with a laugh.
Upon hearing that, Chen Ke’s outstretched hand slowly fell. Conveniently, he had also intended to take the subway to the suburbs. If Diana was going the sa way, that would be quite helpful.
“So, which line are you taking?” Chen Ke asked.
“Line 7. My place isn’t far from here, just three stops away, even faster than taking a taxi. Sotis, to save trouble, I don’t even drive,” Diana replied.
“What a coincidence, I’m also taking Line 7… Let’s go to the subway station,” Chen Ke said with a smile, gesturing for Diana to lead the way.
After all, he hadn’t visited the subway station in Opportunity City before and was unfamiliar with the entrances and exits. He didn’t even know how to buy a ticket on foreign subways, so having Diana take the lead would avoid any awkward situations.
Diana didn’t think much of it and led Chen Ke across the street, moving with the crowd towards the direction of the subway entrance.
Chen Ke’s knowledge of Opportunity City wasn’t vast. In the roughly two weeks he had been there, the only places he’d visited were West Gold Building, the Six-Shooter Gun Shop, Suburban Motel, a bunch of abandoned factories, and the busiest two-kiloter stretch of Raffi Road.
Even in just those short two weeks, Chen Ke didn’t feel that Opportunity City was a suitable place to live. It was desolate, run-down, hopeless, and even sowhat rotten—a city devoid of vitality.
Even the bustling two-kiloter stretch of Raffi Road, which gave him a sense of the advanced Western world, didn’t seem like a good place to him.
In his field of view, the life countdown marked all the Black Box Spaces within his line of sight, those flashing columns of light shooting up into the sky like a silent reminder.
A reminder that before long, this city would no longer be inhabited by people; it would beco Spirit Explosion City, a place to contain monsters.
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