Life in Ninth District was like stagnant water—it had been the same for decades, and nothing had changed.
Sometimes, people would hear news of someone winning the lottery and becoming rich overnight, so they would all go buy lottery tickets, then continue their unchanging lives.
It seemed that life itself was unchanging.
Therefore, the changes in the Pigeon Cage Building were particularly novel.
In the morning, water pipe repair vehicles arrived, bringing two full trucks of pipes and tools for clearing sewers.
Residents near the Pigeon Cage Building looked curiously at it.
They approached Zhang Qinghuan and asked, “What are you doing with all this stuff?”
Zhang Qinghuan explained with a smile, “The sewers in this Pigeon Cage Building have been clogged for a long time. We're clearing them so everyone can use the toilet at home and not have to live like animals.”
Residents from other buildings were surprised, “Aren't you a gang?”
Zhang Qinghuan said, “We collect Protection money; we have to do something in return, otherwise, that Protection money would be collected in vain!”The residents were stunned. They had never seen a gang like this!
They discussed privately and went to the gangs in charge of collecting Protection money in their respective buildings, saying that they also wanted to have their sewers cleared, install surveillance cameras, and repair elevators!
As a result, they were all beaten up...
They began to discuss privately whether they should ask the Arts Society to take out the Snake Tongue Gang in their building, just like they took out the Blackwater Gang...
Someone actually went to find Little Seven and said, “If you come, we'll give you the Snake Tongue Gang's location, guaranteed to be an easy win!”
Little Seven couldn't help but laugh and cry, “I can't make that decision, and too many irons in the fire, let's forget it.”
Little Seven also knew Luo Wanya's ambition, but it wasn't the right time to reveal it.
At noon, the power department also arrived to repair the Cloud Flow Tower on the roof of the Pigeon Cage Building, which was used for wireless power transmission. The Cloud Flow Tower was like a base station, corresponding to the power facility beacons in the building.
Under the escort of Little Seven and others, they quickly entered the Pigeon Cage Building and completed the construction work efficiently and in an orderly manner.
At night, Ninth District was dimly lit, a stark contrast to the bright neon lights of the upper six districts.
Only the Pigeon Cage Building stood proudly, shining brightly.
Its brightness was unlike any building in Ninth District.
Residents in other buildings stood in their homes, silently looking at the brightly lit building opposite.
And the most crucial point was that the building's wiring was repaired free of charge by the Arts Society, without charging the owners any extra money!
To be honest, when people saw someone doing construction, they worried that it might be another extortion scheme by a gang.
However, the truth was, someone cautiously asked Little Seven if they needed to pay, and Little Seven said: This money is from the Protection money.
This news was shocking and delightful.
This wasn't a gang; it was clearly doing charity!
The residents' reaction made Luo Wanya laugh and cry. He merely collected money from these people and then spent a small portion of it on them.
A lot of money is needed for the Arts Society's current expenditure because everything needs to be built from scratch.
But once everything is built, the expenditure will be very small, and the rest will basically be labor costs.
The Underworld Consortium had exploited the residents of the slums so much that anyone who showed them a little kindness would touch their hearts.
At this moment, in the building next to the Pigeon Cage Building, someone was looking at the brilliant building in the darkness, “Wife, how much is the rent for the Pigeon Cage Building? Why don't we move there?”
“The rent for the Pigeon Cage Building isn't expensive, it's not even as expensive as this building,” the woman coaxed her four children, “I'll ask Aunt Liu for the landlord's phone number tomorrow, and we'll move there.”
The couple stood in their dark room, their hearts filled with infinite emotion. If only they could live in a place with bright lights and windows.
This is the human instinct to pursue a better quality of life, even in the slums.
The woman whispered, “By the way, the fourth child's milk powder is running out again... Sigh, if only we had electricity at night, we wouldn't have had time to give birth to four children...”
The man: “... ”
Downstairs from the Pigeon Cage Building.
Luo Wanya murmured, “Little Seven, do you remember the topic we talked about before, where is the most difficult part of the Guardians' Union?”
Little Seven was stunned, “Funding... We don't have a source of funding, we can't do big things.”
“Hmm,” Luo Wanya nodded, “I was still hesitating whether to mention this to the Leader. After all, the Leader entrusted the Guardians' Union to me, but I'm throwing the problem to him, making me, Old Luo, seem incompetent. But I was just a gang member before, how can I manage such a big mess, where can I get so much money?”
The Guardians' Union has always been struggling financially. Although they have donations from Home Families, they don't have any revenue themselves, so how can they help so many families?
Luo Wanya sighed, if he had the ability to make big money, he would have become a regional tycoon like Hu Xiaoniu's father.
“Yeah, we racked our brains, and we still couldn't figure out how to make money. The most profitable industries are controlled by the Conglomerate, and the profitable crooked ways don't conform to our principles,” Little Seven said.
Luo Wanya hummed, “As a result, before I even mentioned this to the Leader, he had already figured out a solution. Property management, this is our future path. Little Seven, calculate how much revenue we would have if we could take over the entire Ninth District of City 22?”
Moreover, the most important thing is that although City 22 is the Shendai base camp, its population and city size are completely incomparable to the Federation's twin stars.
City 18 and City 10 are the bases of their Guardians' Union.
If the lower three districts of these twin stars were also taken over, then the Guardians' Union's monthly cash flow would reach a very terrifying level.
Luo Wanya patted Little Seven's shoulder with great enthusiasm, “Work hard, let's first make this place a ‘model pilot for advanced civilization,’ then summarize the experience and promote it to City 10 and City 18! Our unit's future is bright!”
At this time, Zhang Qinghuan was still directing the construction work not far away. This guy was even more excited than Luo Wanya and Little Seven.
When he was watching the surveillance cameras at noon, this guy was still slacking off.
Now, he's more excited than anyone else.
Men should really be committed to their careers!
After a while, Zhang Qinghuan's younger brother delivered dozens of flyers, ready to be posted on various floors of the Pigeon Cage Building.
The content of the flyers was simple. First, you can join the group chat to understand the gang's policies and changes in Protection money.
Second, there is a contact number on it. If anything happens, you can call the Arts Society directly to resolve it. They can deal with thieves, robbers, rapists, and a series of emergencies.
On the second to last line of the flyer, it says that if something happens, we will definitely be more trustworthy than the PCE Public Security Committee. Our goal is to allow you to live and work in peace and contentment—Arts Society Office.
This was quite impressive. The residents of the Pigeon Cage Building were all confused. What is the Arts Society doing?!
Within half an hour of posting, someone called to say that a thief had broken into their home.
As a result, Little Seven led people to check the surveillance, and within ten minutes, they caught the thief...
The thief was heartbroken and questioned, “Your gang is meddling too much. I've paid Protection money! You even deal with cases that PCE doesn't handle?”
The thief knew there were surveillance cameras, but he thought no one would bother with this, so he didn't care.
After all, which gang would bother catching thieves...
Isn't that just killing time?!
Little Seven laughed happily, “Precisely because PCE doesn't deal with it, we have to.”
The victim was overjoyed to see their belongings recovered.
But the thief caught by the gang wasn't so lucky. This wasn't like the prison in Yi Prefecture, where they could eat and drink well.
What awaited him was a beating by Little Seven, followed by Little Seven taking him to return the stolen goods and apologize to the victim.
Then, he was publicly displayed in front of the Pigeon Cage Building for a day.
After this incident, the victim kept praising Little Seven and the Arts Society in the owner's group!
She had just tried it out, but they actually handled it!
For a time, the owners were all shocked. The Pigeon Cage Building was too safe!
In a few minutes, even the adjacent buildings knew about it, and many people gathered on the street to talk about it.
In this slum, honest people are still the majority, otherwise, they wouldn't be so poor.
Someone whispered, “Should we write a petition to the Arts Society and ask them to get rid of the gang in our building?”
“Wait a little longer...”
Downstairs from the Pigeon Cage Building, Luo Wanya saw that things were almost done, so he turned to leave. Little Seven asked behind him, “Where are you going?”
“You guys watch over here, I have something to do,” Luo Wanya waved his hand as he walked away.
...
...
On the Light rail, Luo Wanya sat next to Qing Chen indifferently, and they acted as if they didn't know each other, sitting together in a less crowded corner.
“Boss, what should we do with Zhang Mengqian?” Luo Wanya said, “Should he follow me?”
“Take him under your wing for now,” Qing Chen said, “He will become one of my Knight Messengers in the future.”
Luo Wanya immediately understood what to do.
Knight Messengers, those would be the most trustworthy people around the Knight. He had to start being polite now and wholeheartedly help the Boss cultivate them.
The two of them, on the swaying Light rail, were like underground workers secretly contacting each other.