Chapter 1374: Chapter 835: Zhuge Ling: I Have Three Plans, Superior, Intermediate, and Inferior (Part 2)

Although Ace hadn’t given him the reference materials yet, this kind of official document had fixed formatting and phrasing, so he could totally write the template first and just plug in the data once Ace sent it over.

After he’d been working on the document for a bit, the door of the break room was knocked on.

"Who is it?"

Liu Zheng asked.

"Napoleon."

White Feather Chicken’s voice sounded.

He opened the door; sure enough, White Feather Chicken was standing outside.

"Where’s Niu Ma?"

Before Liu Zheng could say anything, White Feather Chicken asked first.

"It’s probably out delivering takeout. Chef boss, you need something from it?"

Liu Zheng said.

"Yeah, but you’ll do just as well. Another batch of goods came in, go receive it."

White Feather Chicken said.

"No problem. But the boss isn’t here—don’t we still have to run it through the formalities?"

He was still pretty cautious.

"We can."

White Feather Chicken nodded, then called Si Xue.

"Boss, Niu Ma’s not here, the newbie needs your authorization."

Its attitude was fairly respectful, but compared to Niu Ma’s fawning sycophancy, it at least had some backbone.

"Alright. Boss wants you to take the call."

White Feather Chicken handed the phone to Liu Zheng.

"Obey Napoleon’s orders."

Si Xue said just that one line and hung up.

"Got it, boss."

Even though Si Xue had already hung up, Liu Zheng still replied.

"Take this. It’ll lead you to the rendezvous point."

White Feather Chicken put away the phone and handed him a copper pocket watch without a chain.

The watch only had a single hand; you couldn’t tell if it was an hour hand or a minute hand.

"Not at the front door this time?"

Liu Zheng said in surprise.

"All thanks to the mess you made."

White Feather Chicken shot him a glare, its eyes sharp as blades.

"What did I do now?"

He asked, confused.

"If that fish hadn’t escaped, how would City Hall have started a major crackdown on smuggling? And how would restocking have become this much of a hassle?"

White Feather Chicken said.

"Wow, City Hall is really evil then. Strongly condemn."

Liu Zheng played dumb.

"Hmph. If there’s any slip-up this time, no one will be able to save your life. And I’ll have Salmon personally carry out the execution."

White Feather Chicken’s tone was extremely severe.

"Don’t worry, Chef boss, not a single scale from this batch is getting away."

He promised.

"It better be. Salmon will be waiting for you at the door. You’ve got four hours; if you go over by even a minute, I’ll carve a jin of meat off each of you."

With that, White Feather Chicken turned and left.

"Four hours..."

Liu Zheng looked at the pocket watch, lost in thought.

Last time, when he went to Du Kang Wine Workshop to buy liquor, he was only given three hours; this time he actually had an extra hour. Seemed like the rendezvous point was going to be pretty far away.

On the bright side, if he could wrap things up quickly, he’d have plenty of time left to move around freely.

Once the spirit car was fully gassed up, it was quite fast; as long as nothing weird happened during the deal, he should have a decent chunk of time to spare.

And there were only three types of "weird" that could happen.

First, the smugglers tried to pull a double-cross.

Second, the smuggled goods tried to run.

Third, they got busted for smuggling.

The first and second situations could both be solved by throwing down.

The third one was the annoying one. Smuggling wasn’t part of Bloody Restaurant’s legitimate business; City Hall would be completely within its rights to enforce the law.

And if Liu Zheng resisted arrest with violence, his good reputation at City Hall would go straight down the drain, and Silver Wolf, Ace, and the others would get dragged down with him.

Thinking of failure before success, Liu Zheng decided to prepare a response plan in advance so he wouldn’t be caught flat-footed.

"Brother Pai, which department is in charge of smuggling?"

He called Ace first.

"That’s hard to say. The Security Department, Border Control Bureau, and City Supervision Department can all handle it—whoever catches you, it’s their case."

Ace replied.

Metropolis didn’t have a General Administration of Customs, so naturally there wasn’t a dedicated anti-smuggling bureau.

"Then which department is the most proactive?"

Liu Zheng asked.

"City Supervision grabs more cases inside the urban area. The Security Department has more Strength along the borders. We’ve got people in all of them."

Ace said.

"Do you know who handles anti-smuggling work in your department?"

"Brother Zheng, you planning to smuggle?"

Ace asked bluntly.

"Tch, just took a job receiving some goods."

He answered honestly.

"That’s gonna be tricky. You know they’re still in the middle of the big crackdown lately."

Ace scratched his head.

"If it’s tricky then forget it. I’ll think of something else. Hanging up now, ’kay."

Liu Zheng didn’t make things hard for him.

"Brother Zheng, don’t try to muscle your way through this. It’s a sensitive time right now—if you stir up trouble, not even Bloody Restaurant will be able to cover for you."

Ace warned him.

"Don’t worry, I’m not that stupid."

Liu Zheng comforted him.

"Don’t rush, don’t hang up. Let me think."

Ace still couldn’t relax.

Whether out of feelings or profit, he didn’t want to see Liu Zheng go from a helpful citizen to a doomed rebel.

"Okay."

Liu Zheng raised his phone and waited patiently.

But ten minutes went by and Ace still hadn’t come up with a good idea.

"Damn blockhead, totally useless at crunch time. Brother Zheng, don’t rush, I’ll go ask Zhuge Ling. She’ll definitely think of something."

Ace was afraid Liu Zheng would act on his own, so he hurriedly spoke.

"You know Zhuge Ling too?"

Liu Zheng asked in surprise.

"Of course, she’s a part-time consultant for our Security Department, helped us crack a bunch of cases. You know her too, Brother Zheng?"

Ace asked.

"I’ve dealt with her a few times. Then you don’t need to go, I’ll just go directly. Relax, I definitely won’t move on my own before checking back in with you."

He promised.

"I trust you, Brother Zheng."

Ace said seriously. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Hoo~"

Liu Zheng hung up and let out a long breath.

Trust is motivation, but also pressure.

Since Ace had said that, he had to come up with a solid plan.

"In that case, I’ll go find Zhuge Ling first."

Liu Zheng walked out of the delivery passage; San Huamao was idly licking its paws.

"Liu Zheng!"

Seeing him appear, it immediately pounced over.

"Good kitty."

Liu Zheng rubbed its little head.

He looked at the pocket watch; the needle was pointing northeast.

Not exactly on the way to Zhuge Ling’s place, but no big deal—he’d just save some time on the road.

He picked up San Huamao, got in the spirit car, and floored the gas straight toward Empress Dowager Avenue.

Luck was on his side; this time he didn’t run into any green vests on the way.

After getting out of the car, Liu Zheng knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Zhuge Ling’s voice floated out.

He pushed the door open and went in; Zhuge Ling was squatting on a chair, writing furiously.

"Doesn’t that pose kill your back when you write?"

Liu Zheng said speechlessly.

"What do you know? This is how I trigger my inspiration. Don’t bug me. Whatever it is, wait till I’m done writing."

Zhuge Ling said impatiently.

"Oh."

He curled his lip and hugged San Huamao while booting up the console.

He ended up waiting half an hour before Zhuge Ling finally finished what she was writing.

"Phew, done."

She stood up from the chair and stretched lazily.

"If you fall later, I’m not lending you a hand."

That’s what he said, but Liu Zheng’s nerves stayed taut the whole time.

"This house was built for me. How would it possibly hurt me? You’re overthinking it."

Zhuge Ling shot him a disdainful look.

"Yeah yeah yeah, you second-gen types are all amazing, got it."

He was tired of saying the word "jealous" already.

"So, what are you here to ask this time?"

Zhuge Ling asked.

"I need to receive a batch of smuggled goods, but I don’t want a head-on clash with City Hall. What should I do?"

Liu Zheng asked.

"Pull some strings."

Zhuge Ling answered.

Can’t deny it, that really was a simple and effective answer—too bad there was a crackdown going on.

"The heat’s on right now. It’s too late to go digging up connections."

He shook his head.

"Do you want the goods, or do you want the deal to succeed?"

Zhuge Ling asked.

"The goods. As long as I can receive them and get them back safely, losing money is fine."

Liu Zheng said.

"Then I’ve got three plans for you: high, middle, and low. Which one do you want?"

Zhuge Ling said.

"Lay them all out first."

"High plan: suspend the deal. I’ll give you someone’s file—if you can get them on your side, smuggling will be as easy as drinking water."

Zhuge Ling said.

"Definitely a high plan, but if I don’t drink water now I’ll die of thirst, so pausing is a no-go."

Liu Zheng shook his head.

"Middle plan: put together another batch of smuggled goods. If you run into anti-smuggling patrols, hand over that batch and keep the stuff you actually want."

Zhuge Ling continued.

"I pick the middle plan!"

He said immediately.