bookbashuk Chapter 355 Companions, Potions, Urban Legends
Chapter 355 Companions, Potions, Urban Legends
Chapter 355 Companions, Potions, Urban Legends
Inside an unassuming warehouse in the eastern part of Backlund.
Wearing simple work clothes that allowed for easy movement and a baseball cap as a cover, Lorne looked at the mountain of wooden crates in front of him and nodded slightly.
In the past two days, through Ted's investigation, he acquired the stockpiled inventory in warehouses of some small, bankrupt arms factories in Backlund at a fairly low price.
He walked to a wooden crate filled with ammunition and casually opened it. From a pile of gleaming yellow bullets, he randomly picked one out and examined it closely in the light streaming through the warehouse's ventilation window.
"There are already some signs of oxidation on the cartridge case, so it seems it wasn't well preserved."
He then briefly inspected the remaining boxes.
"They didn't even wrap it in oil paper, it's not moisture-proof at all—" Lorne couldn't help but make a classic joke as he looked at the somewhat rusted gun parts in the box.
The other factories' inventory wasn't problematic in terms of manufacturing process; it was just that it was stored too carelessly.
"That's true. The factory's gone, so who would care about all this stuff piled up in the warehouse?"
"However, it's not a big problem."
Although the quality of this batch of goods is not as good as the batch produced in our own factory, it is still much better than the discarded guns and cannons that the army has abandoned. Selling them should not be a problem. At worst, we can have them simply process them after they are transported to Deniz.
The only thing that bothered Lorne was—
"There's someone in the same industry here—"
During the acquisition of these stockpiles, Lorne discovered that besides himself, there seemed to be another group also acquiring these weapons and ammunition. Moreover, this group possessed considerable power and appeared to have significant connections with high society. He conducted a brief investigation but found no useful clues.
"With such high profits from arms smuggling, it's only natural that there are competitors."
"The other party is most likely to have some connection with the military—" Lorne guessed to himself.
Those business associates are likely a major player who has been in the arms trade for many years. The fact that they started doing business before such significant fluctuations in the arms market most likely indicates that they used military channels to acquire a large number of weapons that should have been destroyed.
"Competitors are enemies. My current scale is still small, so they probably haven't noticed me yet—"
"However, even with the identity of an arms factory owner as a cover, we still need to keep a lower profile in the future —"
"Mr. Scott, you're back." As soon as he returned to the factory, the gatekeeper, old Kohler, immediately came over to greet him.
"Sir, someone just came by and delivered an invitation to you."
"An invitation?" Lorne was somewhat surprised, but he still took the invitation, which looked quite high-class and was sealed with wax, from Old Kohler's hand.
"Oh, Dela Negan—" Lorne exclaimed in realization. It was the Duke Negan's nephew, whom he had met at the charity gala, a member of the younger generation of conservative nobles.
"Just a regular social gathering—perhaps even Duke Negan himself will be there—"
Looking at the contents of the invitation, he fell into deep thought.
"A typical aristocratic salon? An invitation from conservative nobles—but I don't seem to have any reason not to go—"
Having access to the highest echelons of power in the kingdom could potentially benefit his current career and future plans.
"However, I specially sent the invitation to the factory—" Lorne's lips twitched involuntarily.
It's quite embarrassing to think about. The waiter who delivered the invitation probably asked around but couldn't find out where he lived. In the end, he had to hold his nose and run to the harsh environment of the East District to deliver the invitation to the factory.
But there was nothing I could do—Lorne sighed helplessly in his heart.
The renovation project was indefinitely suspended due to the sudden discovery of ancient ruins beneath the Williams Street villa and the ensuing ghostly disturbances.
To prevent unsuspecting workers or future visitors from being drawn into the extraordinary event, he had to take matters into his own hands and, for several nights in a row, work with Marich and his team of taciturn "living" friends to completely seal off the underground entrance with cement and steel bars.
But this also caused his plans to move into the new house to be postponed once again.
"By the way, Mr. Scott." Just as Lorne finished greeting old Kohler and was about to go to the workshop, the latter suddenly called him back, his face full of gratitude.
"Sir, the medicine you gave me before was really effective!" Old Kohler's face was filled with heartfelt gratitude and admiration. "Several of our factory workers who were so sick they were almost bedridden recovered within two days after taking your medicine! Thank you so much!"
Lorne nodded, a sense of relief washing over him. His initial motivation for developing that inexpensive drug was to address the workers' health problems, and it seemed the initial results were promising.
But old Kohler's next words made him frown slightly: "But—sir, recently, due to the weather, quite a few workers have fallen ill again. Some workers who had previously received treatment haven't fully recovered—so they hope to get some more medicine."
Lorne sensed something was wrong. After sending out the first batch of medicine, he had Old Kohler send out a second batch. Although the medicine he made himself didn't have a long shelf life, the rate at which it was being consumed was far too fast.
"Old Kohler," Lorne looked into Old Kohler's eyes, his tone calm but with a hint of scrutiny, "you shouldn't have—spread the word about the medicine around, right?"
Old Kohler immediately shook his head: "No, sir. You specifically instructed me not to be too high-profile. I was very careful; I only briefly explained the situation to the workers who received the drug—"
Although he didn't understand why Mr. Scott was unwilling to publicize what he had done, which could have greatly enhanced his reputation and prestige, he wouldn't do anything unnecessary since the gentleman had made the request.
Mr. Scott must have his own reasons for doing this.
Moreover, he understood the saying "the more famous you are, the more trouble you attract." In a place like the Eastern District, the more conspicuous you are, the more likely you are to be targeted by gangsters.
"I see."
"I'll find a way to deal with the medicine later." He looked up at old Kohler's weathered face, which was noticeably rosier than before.
"Also, there's something else I'd like to ask you for a favor."
"Mr. Scott, just tell me what you want me to do! I'll do my best to do anything I can!"
"Besides news from inside the factory, I also need your help to keep an eye out for all sorts of rumors, urban legends, gang bounties, and other such news that have been circulating in the entire East District recently."
"I will pay you the appropriate salary," Lorne added.
"I'll try to find out more information for you! But I really don't need any money—"
Before Old Kohler could finish speaking, Lorne interrupted him: "Take what I give you. I'm not the kind of heartless boss who likes to exploit his employees."
"Scott, are you asking if there have been any strange rumors circulating in the East District lately?"
After leaving the factory, Lorne found Hugh.
While Old Kohler can provide information from the perspective of the factory and the working class, since he now lives in the factory most of the time, most of his sources are limited to inside the factory and therefore have a certain degree of lag.
If you want to get information faster and more comprehensively, it's better to hire a professional bounty hunter.
Xiu took a sip of the black tea in his cup and fell into deep thought.
She first talked about some recent gang activities, as well as some newly released, high-value bounties.
Lorne took a sip of coffee and listened quietly to Hugh's intelligence sharing.
He learned that some gangsters had started to have ulterior motives after seeing that his factory had resumed operations.
Lorne was speechless after hearing this.
These guys are crazy to dare to mess with an arms factory. Aren't they afraid of getting riddled with bullets on the spot?
"Wait a minute—" Despite his complaints, Lorne suddenly realized a problem he had overlooked: his factory seemed to have—indeed, no decent security force!
Aside from Hugh, who occasionally helps out, the entire factory has only one gatekeeper, Old Kohler, and a few "security guards" who are rotated among the workers.
Although these workers who deal with firearms every day are not to be trifled with, they are not professional security personnel after all. If some reckless individual were to rush in, something serious could really happen.
"Ha—it's really a double whammy," Lorne remarked with a touch of self-deprecation. Outsiders might think the arms factory is heavily guarded and wouldn't dare to act rashly, but in reality, its internal defenses could be riddled with loopholes.
"Should we set up a dedicated security department? After all, we have more and more businesses—" He made a mental note of this.
"Oh, right," Hugh said, leaning forward slightly as if suddenly remembering something, "there's a new urban legend spreading very quickly in the East District these past few days."
"Urban legends?" Lorne's interest was immediately piqued. He knew very well that most urban legends in this world had some extraordinary elements behind them.
"I heard from a friend at the bar that recently a panacea has appeared in the East District—it's said to cure all diseases."
"Although the news has only just begun to circulate and not many people know about it yet, some people are already secretly offering high prices to buy it."