Han Wanghuo didn't wait too long. After about five or six minutes, a woman walked into the small shop selling illegally brewed alcohol.
Yan Miao raised his right hand and gestured:
"Over here."
Han Wanghuo followed his gaze and clearly saw the appearance of the person who had come.
She was very young, looking to be about twenty years old. She was rather short, probably not even 1.6 meters tall. Her features weren't particularly pretty or ugly, possessing the unique soft features of the Ashlands people.
After the initial glance, Han Wanghuo noticed that this woman didn't look too well. Her figure was slender and thin, giving off a feeling of being unhealthy and suffering from an illness.
She had short hair, and her skin was tanned to a wheat color. She wore a black short-sleeved t-shirt, and her legs were covered in blue coarse twill pants, with brown work boots on her feet.
This set of clothing was obviously scavenged from the ruins of the Old World cities. It didn't have any patches or tears, but it was very old.
The woman walked to Yan Miao's side, which was across from Han Wanghuo, and slowly sat down.
From her walking state, Han Wanghuo couldn't tell that she had a terminal illness.
At the same time, he also noticed that the woman's waist was bulging, likely concealing a handgun.
"Let me introduce you," Yan Miao said with a smile. "Zeng Duo, an organ donor volunteer. Hehe, I don't even know if that's her real name, nor do I need to know. It's just a code name."
He immediately said to Zeng Duo:
"Old Han, he only gave his surname and didn't say his name. I was in a difficult position, so I can only address him like this.
"We're all Ashlands people. There's no need to be so reserved."
"Hello," Zeng Duo nodded to Han Wanghuo.
Han Wanghuo returned the gesture:
"Hello."
"Want something to drink? The illegally brewed alcohol here is very good. The owner was once a winemaker at some aristocratic manor," Yan Miao said, trying to liven up the atmosphere, as if he were really arranging a blind date. "Haha, of course, I'm not paying. Do I look like such a generous person?"
"Then never mind," Zeng Duo paused and then said, "I don't drink."
"I'll pay," Han Wanghuo thought that this girl in front of him wouldn't live for long anyway, and he felt a sense of camaraderie.
In any case, he had been a law enforcement officer at the Redstone Collection smuggling hub for so long, and he had accumulated a lot of resources. He was relatively well-off.
Zeng Duo shook her head again:
"The reason I don't drink is that I hate it.
"It wastes too much food. Many people in the Ashlands are starving."
Yan Miao sighed:
"What's the point? This food won't reach their hands anyway. It's better to comfort our stomachs.
"You're saving Old Han money."
He ended the topic with a regretful expression and said to Han Wanghuo:
"Zeng Duo is willing to donate her heart to you, but the compensation she requires isn't low."
Zeng Duo nodded from the side, indicating that what Yan Miao said was correct.
She thought for a moment and added:
"If you're worried that I won't fulfill the contract and will secretly run away, then from now on, I'll stay by your side, under your gaze."
Han Wanghuo's messy and fierce eyebrows twitched:
"Aren't you afraid that I'll find an opportunity to knock you unconscious and take you to a clinic? That way, I wouldn't even need to pay the compensation."
"Ha, you're really a good person, actually reminding her," Yan Miao said with a smile and a shake of his head, looking like he was disappointed in him.
Zeng Duo calmly replied:
"I still have enough self-defense capabilities."
Han Wanghuo took a breath, slowly exhaled, and looked into her eyes:
"Speak, what are your demands?"
Zeng Duo frankly replied:
"Save a small town."
…
The Highest Colosseum, inside a VIP box.
Seeing General Focas leading a group of people in, Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and Long Yuehong merely glanced at them before averting their gaze to avoid attracting their attention and having their disguise seen through.
Focas didn't pay them any mind either. He simply casually glanced around before entering his own compartment and sitting down.
Shang Jianyao looked over there and said with a regretful expression:
"Dukas didn't come."
He was referring to the city defense army major who was obsessed with muscles.
"Cassiel didn't come either," Jiang Baimian nodded. "They're officers of the city defense army, not Focas's personal bodyguards. It's impossible for them to be with him at all times."
Long Yuehong originally wanted to ask Shang Jianyao why he was regretful that Dukas hadn't come, but remembering his status as a servant, he forcibly closed his mouth.
Fortunately, Jiang Baimian "helped" him ask:
"What, do you want to use your current disguise to have an arm-wrestling match with him?"
Shang Jianyao turned his gaze to the arena below and seriously shook his head:
"No, I want him to have another arm-wrestling match with the current you.
"If he fails to recognize you, he'll think that he's lost to a woman twice in a row. He'll definitely be greatly affected and will no longer be superstitious about muscles, looking down on women whose muscles aren't so exaggerated."
"You're so kind…" Jiang Baimian didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing for Dukas.
Then, she nodded almost imperceptibly and muttered to herself:
"Without Dukas and Cassiel, General Focas is still only surrounded by guards, no bodyguards… This shows that he has a lot of confidence in his own strength…"
While they were talking, other nobles successively entered the boxes with their servants and bodyguards.
About ten minutes later, Long Yuehong's eyes lit up as he saw one of the two major targets of this trip to First City:
Ole's grandson, Marcus!
He and his cousin Avia didn't look too much alike. His hair was more yellowish than golden, his eyes were light blue, his nose was sharper, his lips were thick, and his face shape was slightly horizontally developed. His overall image was very ordinary, and only his height of about 1.85 meters was presentable.
As he walked, Marcus always had a smile on his face, but there was no hint of a smile in his eyes. When he wasn't making eye contact with anyone, he even seemed sinister.
"Looks like his temper isn't too good. It's probably because the environment is too oppressive," Jiang Baimian said in a hushed voice, trying to suppress her voice as much as possible.
As Ole's descendants, Marcus and Avia received a lot of preferential treatment and strict protection, but they were also highly vigilant. They couldn't enter the military, nor could they become elders. They had almost no say in the affairs of First City, like pets being raised.
Anyone with a bit of ambition who wanted to achieve something would find such an environment very oppressive.
Shang Jianyao immediately offered a suggestion:
"Old World entertainment data should be arranged for him."
"Not everyone will become addicted to that. Some people prefer to achieve something in reality," Jiang Baimian retracted her gaze and no longer sized up Marcus to avoid being noticed by the strong individuals secretly protecting Ole's descendant.
Of course, during this process, Shang Jianyao deliberately made eye contact with Marcus according to the prearranged plan.
He nodded slightly as a greeting.
This was mainly to familiarize himself with his face.
Marcus returned a polite nod, as if facing other nobles.
He wasn't surprised by Shang Jianyao's unfamiliarity. After two or three generations of reproduction, plus the constant influx of military merit nobles, the number of people in First City's upper class wasn't small at all. Unless they usually hung out in the same circle, or their parents were prominent and had high status, it was normal for the noble children to be unfamiliar with each other.
This didn't even include the existence of a large number of illegitimate children.
Of course, once they reported their family genealogy, they would still know who this was, so-and-so's child.
After no longer sizing up Marcus, Jiang Baimian inconspicuously scanned the four bodyguards he had brought with him.
They were tall and burly, wearing black outfits, and all had sunglasses on their noses, making it impossible to see where they were looking.
This seemed too professional, making Jiang Baimian suspect that there were no Awakened, Mutants, or Modified Humans among them. They were just ordinary bodyguards used to make everything appear normal.
As for the strong individuals in the shadows, she hadn't discovered any traces of them yet.
Not long after Marcus took his seat, the doors on both sides of the arena opened, revealing the situation behind the iron fences.
To the right of the VIP boxes was today's gladiator. He was usually locked in a room behind the iron fence, existing only for the sake of the competition.
He was a Red River person, nearly 1.9 meters tall, with short golden hair, wearing leather armor, holding a shield in one hand and a spear in the other, as if he had just returned from the classical era.
The gladiator had a thick beard on his face, and his eyes revealed obvious anger and frustration.
According to the pre-match promotional material, Jiang Baimian knew that he was originally a citizen, brave in combat, and had a bright future. Unfortunately, during an operation, he disobeyed the orders of a noble officer, causing losses to the team. He was arrested, sentenced, and became a slave.
Afterwards, he took the initiative to apply to be a gladiator, wanting to use his life to gamble for freedom.
This time, his opponent was a mutant creature.
Even just looking at it from afar, Long Yuehong felt the creature's powerful oppression.
This was a black tiger that was a size larger than its peers. It had two heads on its neck, simultaneously emitting threatening growls.
Bang, bang, bang!
Most of the audience in the arena patted the specially made armrests of their seats, creating a drum-like rhythm.
The atmosphere became heated.
Jiang Baimian noticed that Marcus was also clapping, acting very fanatical, as if he had already been immersed in it.
Just then, a noble picked up his glass and took a sip of water.
Suddenly, he choked and coughed repeatedly.
This wasn't a big deal at first, but the noble couldn't stop coughing. His face quickly turned red, his body bent over, and he fell to the ground.