bestfiction Chapter 404 "Crates Full of Artillery Shells"
Chapter 404 "Crates Full of Artillery Shells"
He arrived at the location, took out a box from his storage bag containing half a box of artillery shells, and then prepared to pull out a box containing half a box of stones.
He pulled and almost fell flat on his backside.
'An empty box?' He was struck dumb, his hands trembling as he opened the box in disbelief and peered inside.
The empty box filled him with immense fear, like a tsunami that blotted out the sky and overwhelmed him.
Zhong Ming could hear his breathing become noticeably heavier. He looked around frantically, forcefully covering his mouth with one hand to prevent any accident, while waving the other hand in the air.
Then, as if he had found a lifeline, perhaps comforting himself, "I must have misremembered; I put it next door."
He turned around and checked the boxes in the same position on the shelf behind him. Normally, these level 1 ammunition boxes would not be locked. Otherwise, in an emergency, the artillerymen would have to pick the lock or search all over the place for the key, which would be a big problem.
However, the one behind him happens to be a special shell, and it's locked.
Then he started checking the boxes below like a madman, and Zhong Ming was afraid that the man would suddenly jump up and check the boxes above him.
But the man was certain that he had bent down to put the box at the very bottom, and after searching for a while, he slapped his forehead.
"Hey, I must have made a mistake. It's not that I couldn't find it, I just went to the wrong shelf the day before yesterday. Otherwise, why would I have gone to the shelf next door when there were no boxes there?"
He then went to the shelves next door to check them out, going back and forth and checking almost everything in the warehouse.
Finally, panting, he walked back to where he started, and with a sense of despair, put everything back in its place. He checked the time and muttered, "It'll be time to change shifts in half an hour."
He plopped down on the box.
"Boom~"
"Ok?"
The sound was different from usual. He jumped up suddenly, opened the box, took away a few shells from the surface, and saw the rocks underneath. He completely relaxed, his legs went weak, and he almost fell to the ground.
"Oh dear, I scared myself." He said this directly, his words tinged with the joy of surviving a close call.
'What? You've mixed up the empty boxes and the full boxes.'
He was annoyed at himself for making such a basic mistake. He had mentioned the missing empty box to the guard before he left. What if the guard came back to check? Wouldn't he have been exposed?
If Zhong Ming knew what he was thinking, he would definitely say, "Yes, he did come back to check. If it weren't for my mercy, you would be in jail now."
He carefully retrieved all the stones, then refilled the cannonballs, put the box away, let out a long sigh, and sat down to rest on the empty box.
Clearly, he was in a very good mood, and he took out a pill from his storage bag and chewed it.
"Oh dear, my brain isn't working properly these days. I guess I should do less of this."
"Exactly, you can't make much money anyway, and you're always living in fear."
"Yeah, this business... wait, who's talking!" He almost screamed, paralyzed with fear on the ground.
If he had stumbled upon a petty thief's theft, he would have bravely rushed forward, calling for backup while slowing down the enemy. But now that he was committing a crime, he almost instinctively covered his mouth with one hand while frantically searching for a weapon with the other.
He saw a box open on the upper shelf above his head, and a person straight out of it.
It looks exactly like a corpse that has risen from the coffin.
"Who goes there!? I've called the guards! They're here right away. Surrender immediately!"
Zhong Ming ignored his threat and quickly emerged from the box, looking down at the man before he could even take out his weapon.
“Taking the shells away and then taking them back seems pointless. Let me guess.” Zhong Ming’s lips curled into a strange, chilling smile. “You ‘rented’ the shells to the foundry because he couldn’t complete the task of forging that many shells within a fixed time, right?”
"You, you... I'll kill you!"
"Don't move, or I'll scream!" Zhong Ming slowly raised his hand, the jade token representing his captaincy swaying between his fingers.
A flash of spiritual energy from his grayish-white scales pulled him back from his agitated state.
"Don't move! There are shells all over here. If you mess around, I'll detonate this place and we'll all die together."
“I wasn’t the one yelling about fighting just now.” Zhong Ming said with a smug look, pointing in the direction of his storage bag, “Now that the blacksmith has finished making the goods, he wants you to send them back to make up for the shortfall, right?”
The guard suddenly realized, 'Right, the deficit has been covered, what am I afraid of? The crates are already full of shells, and I have some stones in my storage bag, what's the problem? Is it illegal? I'm asking you, is it illegal to stuff stones into your storage bag?'
He perked up, adjusted his posture, and said, "Nothing happened here. Since you saw it, let's follow the rules of the underworld: we'll split the income in half. I promise I'll never do it again, how about it?"
Zhong Ming shook his head, and before he knew it, a sword had appeared in his hand.
"What, do you really want to fight me here? Or... how about this, I'll consider this my bad luck, I won't earn a penny, and I'll give you everything the blacksmith gave me."
He took out eight mid-grade spirit stones from his storage bag. This was indeed a good extra income, with the risks and rewards being roughly proportional.
Zhong Ming smiled and said, "Do you know the identity of that blacksmith?"
"Sir, it's best not to continue discussing this matter. How about I add two more coins as a confidentiality fee?" He decided to try one more time, since Zhong Ming didn't know exactly how much the foundry had given him.
"No, put away your spirit stones. There's a saying, 'Better to die for a friend than for yourself,' which you should be familiar with. What I want is information about the blacksmith. To be precise, I want to know why that guy failed to complete the blacksmithing task on time."
Zhong Ming revealed a meaningful smile, "What happened that, under such extremely special circumstances, delayed his forging... by two days?"
The warehouse is so dark, so dark, I can't see anything at all.
A day later, at Zhong Ming's suggestion, the monk was transferred from his patrol post in the warehouse and "promoted" by half a rank, reporting to the Third Guard's Reserve Officer Training Department.
Of course, there was no registration desk; he had to set up his own table and sign in himself first.