Outside, snow was swirling in the wind, yet room 3101 was quiet, so quiet that Zhang He could hear the thudding of his own accelerated heartbeat.
The young man with black hair opposite looked at him with an inquiring gaze.
"Where are you from?"
"Chairman, I'm a local. I moved to Sand Port two years ago and now work at the company." Zhang He spoke somewhat hesitantly.
"Oh, one of our own."
The chairman's voice became a bit friendlier: "Which department do you work in?"
Zhang He replied, "I work at the Tamed Bull Tribe."
"A taxi driver?"
"Yes, correct."
The other party looked somewhat surprised: "So, you met Tuo Zhu in Sand Port and he was captured here by the people from the Heavenly's Citizen Department?"
"Uh, no, Chairman."
Zhang He looked somewhat embarrassed: "Actually... I got to know Tuo Zhu in the Shuanghe Region."
The black-haired young man shook his finger, smilingly said: "Nicely done, your Hooked Horned Bulls have even started operations over there...wait, that's not right? The company's Hooked Horned Bulls and Mechanical Bulls haven't reached the numbers for export, there's fewer than 400 by the end of this year."
"..."
Zhang He cautiously explained: "Actually, it's like this, Chairman. The Tamed Bull Tribe has started a glider rental business now, aside from taxis, they also offer manned glider flights..."
"I'm one of the first to obtain dual permits for both vehicle and aircraft. This time I flew long distance in Shuanghe, from Shuanghe city to Shell City, then to Steel Refining City, and finally back to our Sand Port."
"Tuo Zhu was my passenger, he chartered the whole aircraft and flew alone to Sand Port."
The young man across frowned slightly: "Start from the beginning."
"Yes, Chairman."
...
The second year after the establishment of Wasteland Development Company, Zhang He moved in.
His initial aspiration was to become a Guangtai worker, a job that was high-paying and safe. However, the positions filled up early, and since he knew how to drive enhanced cars, he was hired as a driver commissioned by Sand Port City.
Zhang He's job involved driving to pick up and drop off mayors, town leaders, tax officers, intelligence officers, etc., between various towns and sometimes transporting certain items.
Later when the Wuhu Elevated Bridge became operational and vehicle traffic increased, Zhang He used his spare time to go to the Tamed Bull Tribe and learned to drive Hooked Horned Bulls.
The reason for learning something new was because the Hooked Horned Bulls were sturdier than cars, and they could traverse mountains, deserts, forests, and hills where there were no roads, they had strong endurance, and barely used up Energy Packs under normal conditions.
Zhang He planned to save enough money to buy his own personal Hooked Horned Bull to operate.
However, the tribe leader, Niu Zhen, extended an olive branch to him.
"Come join us. Our number of Hooked Horned Bulls is increasing, and we need new drivers. You have rich driving experience, and in the future, we plan to open rides in other cities, and we are currently recruiting talent."
The salary for the Tamed Bull Tribe was 12,000 mushrooms a month, on par with Guangtai workers. Wasteland Development Company offered more holidays and boasted unparalleled free medical and housing benefits, so Zhang He switched jobs without hesitation.
Some time later, Niu Zhen announced to the tribe: "To better adapt to current changes, we've ordered 3 manned gliders from inside the company. Now we are training glider pilots; everyone with rich driving experience, who understands controls, can come try."
"The income for pilots is a base salary of 24,000 mushrooms, plus flight commissions, the more you fly, the more you earn."
Zhang He signed up and became one of the first pilots belonging to the tribe.
He completed the flight test in the shortest time, qualified through flights around Huan Sha Port and long-distance flights across the Dead Sea, and obtained the company's recognition as a long-distance pilot.
Niu Zhen happily told him: "Finding you was indeed one of the best decisions!"
"Zhang He, you seem completely unafraid of flying, nor of the Dead Sea."
Actually, that was not the case.
He had simply gotten used to it.
Before coming here, Zhang He had been drifting over the Dead Sea for years, and that work was much more dangerous than flying.
Flying a glider, if not operated recklessly, is generally very safe.
But being a Slave Merchant, even if you want to properly sell some slaves to a certain place, you might encounter a Dead Sea monster and have your ship destroyed and crew killed, or encounter a Pillage Group and be double-crossed, or due to a rebellion by the slaves, be killed.
This line of work was profitable, but it was truly high-risk.
Zhang He was tired of the job.
He was particularly tired of telling the slaves over and over.
"The place you are going to is much better than where you came from."
"You can eat three meals a day, have clean water to drink each day, and take baths. You don't have to worry about freezing to death in winter; heating is unlimited, in summer there are cool rooms, you won't be whipped, work hard, and you can save quite a bit of money."
Such lies made him want to vomit.
But the slaves would believe it.
They had to believe it.
Otherwise, what could they believe?
Knowing that they were going to coal pits where there was no daylight, or mines several tens of meters underground where even breathing was difficult, or to become a perverted rich person's sexual outlet?
To live, one had to believe in some good luck.
Zhang He transferred the enhanced ship to a new slave merchant, someone with a similar drive as he had in the past.
"Brother Zhang, this line of work is still profitable! When I was running my trade business, I couldn't earn much."
"How can you get rich without taking a gamble!"
"Brother Zhang, why did you quit?"
Zhang He simply smiled: "I'm tired, my body can't take it anymore. I want to go somewhere stable and live a simple life."
He could only wish his successor good luck and hoped that this younger fellow could survive to change careers.
Coming to Sand Port, because it was far from the Shuanghe Region where he once worked, and due to the strong development momentum of Wasteland Development Company.
After arriving, he discovered that the lies he had told were actually the true descriptions of this place.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.