Rise of the Wasteland Chapter 92-93

Chapter 92        Diamonds

Just one gram of spoils of war, are you kidding me?!

Zhou Qingfeng felt dumbfounded in the washroom. Before he transmigrated to this world, the so-called God told him that he was allowed to go back to his original world every ten days. He could bring some loot with him. Little did he know that 'some' was just a gram.

Should I leave or stay? Of course I'll leave! I'll go back even if I could only take a gram of booty with me.

Zhou Qingfeng worked in the tunnel for four days and he stank. There was no water to shower with, no clothes to change into, and the food was limited. He looked forward to his three days of rest.

As for the one gram of booty, Zhou Qingfeng had already planned what to bring. He previously thought that he would be able to bring some gold and jewelry from 2030 back with him and suddenly turn rich. Unfortunately, he could only earn a little now.

Diamond was the most valuable thing Zhou Qingfeng had in hand. Diamonds were priced per carat, and a carat was equal to 0.2 grams. The bigger, the purer, the better cutting equaled more money. Manhattan at the moment lacked food and drinks instead of jewelry.

Zhou Qingfeng found a two-carat diamond and a three-carat diamond. He held them in his palm, then thought, Return. The world in front of him changed. An old and ruined wall, a dusty table at the corner, and a bright screen in front of him greeted him. He was in his room.

I'm back!

Zhou Qingfeng maintained this position before he went into Wasteland. His equipment and armor had disappeared. Instead, he was wearing a T-shirt, a pair of shorts and some plastic slippers. The monitor was still showing the movie titled "Wasteland", yet the conversation between him and God was nowhere to be seen.

As Zhou Qingfeng opened his palm, he found that the two diamonds were still there. They were the only things that proved Zhou Qingfeng went to another devastated world.

"Ha ha ha! I'm back, I'm back!" Zhou Qingfeng jumped around his room, making a huge ruckus.

Soon enough, the resident from downstairs yelled at him, "People up there, you wanna die?! Jump out of the window if you wanna die, don't stomp on the floor!"

Calm down, calm down, calm down!

Zhou Qingfeng returned and sat in his old chair. He stretched and felt extremely comfortable. As he was stretching, he realized that his shirt had a problem—it became smaller.

Zhou Qingfeng walked into the washroom and took off his shirt. What greeted him in the mirror was a strong and muscular young man. In fact, Zhou Qingfeng was twenty-four years old. His age did not change when he returned, yet his height, weight and even his appearance changed a lot.

As soon as he found out that he could crush an aluminum cup with one hand, he proved that he brought the power of NTZ-49 with him.

"It's good, good stuff!" Zhou Qingfeng finally confirmed that his life had changed.

The place where Zhou Qingfeng lived was Huaxia, Tianyang City in the northeastern province. He originally came from the south. He was adopted by his parents from the orphanage and was brought to this city.

Unfortunately, a few years ago, his parents broke up and separated. None of them wanted anything to do with Zhou Qingfeng. Because he was already an adult, they simply left him alone. As a result, he lived alone in the city.

Tianyang City was a declining industrial city. The streets were depressing, and everything in the city was very disappointing. As a twenty-year-old young man brimming with potential, Zhou Qingfeng could not even find a proper job then. His life was very busy, but he did not actually earn a lot.

Fortunately, he brought two diamonds in his hand. They might be able to make his life better. Zhou Qingfeng thought that he could take some diamonds from Wasteland every ten days. He did not expect to be a millionaire, but he was fine as long as he could live well and without worries.

Sell the diamond, sell these two diamonds out! The years Zhou Qingfeng spent in this city were not completely wasted. At the very least, he knew where to sell these two diamonds securely.

Zhou Qingfeng left after he changed. He found around a hundred yuan, put them between his lips and stopped a taxi. "Jianan second-hand supermarket, please."

As Tianyang City was an old industrial city, several factories had closed. Those who managed to survive did not open that often as well. A large number of old workers in their forties or fifties were unemployed. They could only sell their stuff in their houses as their lives got harder. Therefore, the second-hand market was rather thriving.

As Zhou Qingfeng arrived at the Jianan second-hand market, he went straight to a pawn shop. The owner of the shop was his sixty-year-old history teacher. The old man was very skilled at identifying stones. He opened this pawn shop after he retired to earn a little money.

"Mr. Ma, could you help me identify two of my stones?" Zhou Qingfeng was very excited as he saw the old man. Mr. Ma was a good teacher and he treated his students well, and that was why Zhou Qingfeng had the guts to bring his diamonds there.

The pawn shop would be a good business if the owner did his job well. However, if the owner was not that good, the business would only end in tragedy. Mr Ma was the latter. He was too honest as he was a history teacher. He always felt guilty for earning too much, and as a result, he lost a lot of potential profit.

"What? What kind of stone?" Mr. Ma was very proud that he had a lot of students. He was happy when he saw that his student came. However, his face sank immediately as soon as he saw the two shiny stones Zhou Qingfeng placed on the table.

The old man grabbed one of them and scratched on the glass table. A visible mark appeared on the glass counter. "Diamonds? Where did you get them?"

"The legit way."

"Legit? Bullsh*t! I'm asking you for the truth and you dare lie to me. Little brat, stop dodging, come here!"

Zhou Qingfeng was hit a few times with a feather duster, yet he continued to insist that he got them legally, "Sir, I really didn't steal, didn't rob or got them illegally. Just pretend that I found them on road. Could you help me to sell them off, please?"

Mr. Ma thought that Zhou Qingfeng was suspicious. He grabbed his monocular loupe and inspected the diamonds. After about an hour, Mr. Ma sighed and said, "They are both with highest of FL, pure and flawless. The best thing is their cutting; a masterpiece's cutting. The refraction of the diamond is perfect."

One of the diamonds had 1.8 carats, and the other had 2.7 carats. The latter was a big diamond. It would be worth over five hundred thousand yuan in the market, yet Mr. Ma told him honestly, "The way you got the diamonds are unknown, so fifty thousand would already be a good price."

"Fifty thousand, then." Zhou Qingfeng got those diamonds without paying for them. It would be amazing if he could earn fifty thousand yuan every ten days!

"You didn't steal the diamonds, did you?" Mr. Ma was still worried. "If you obtained them illegally, you'll mess up my life."

"Sir, I've never done anything illegal for the past few years and I won't. I guarantee that the diamonds are legit."

Mr. Ma looked at the two diamonds and could not make up his mind. Since he opened the pawn shop, only furniture and electronic devices had piled up, and he could not sell them. He even lost his pension for his business.

If he could get these two diamonds from Zhou Qingfeng, he might be able to earn ten thousand, or even twenty. As he was already old, facing hardships at his age, the money he could gain would be a great help. Also, he knew his student was not a deceitful man, so he said while gritting his teeth, "All right then, give me the diamonds. I'll buy them for fifty thousand."

Zhou Qingfeng heaved a sigh of relief. He felt overjoyed!

Chapter 93        Debt Repayment

"You sure you didn't steal these diamonds from the others?

"Did anyone order you to sell them?

"If your diamonds indeed have an unidentified origin, then as your teacher, I'll be in big trouble! Don't you dare try to lie to an old man."

The transaction of fifty thousand yuan took less than half a minute. After asking repeatedly for almost an hour, Mr. Ma finally decided to reach an agreement with Zhou Qingfeng. However, Mr Ma did not dare to keep the goods in his hand overnight, as he quickly called his friends in order to transfer the ownership.

Meanwhile, Zhou Qingfeng felt exuberant after receiving the transaction notification on his mobile phone.

Fifty thousand yuan, it's f*cking fifty thousand yuan! His earning did not reach close to fifty thousand yuan even though he had worked several part-time jobs for the past several years. He took the taxi once again, and he already knew how he will be spending his fifty thousand yuan—he first had to repay his debts!

That's right, debt repayment! During the past few years, Zhou Qingfeng had lived in poverty. His adoptive parents divorced and left nothing behind for him except a lot of debts. Those debts were not supposed to be paid by him, but the creditors only looked for him!

The taxi did not send Zhou Qingfeng to his home. Instead, he brought to an old building located in front of the old city area. Zhou Qingfeng found a house and knocked the door for quite some time, but he did not get any response. Someone from the neighborhood then yelled, "Aunty Zhang's not back yet!"

The residents were quite old, and they all looked pitiful in front of the withered flowers and willows planted in front of the buildings. Most of the residents were just workers from the lower social class, and hence they had no income when they reached their elderly stage. They tried to change their occupation, but they did not possess any skills. And so, they could only think of a way to work as casually. However, nowadays, even if an employer looked for casual workers, they would only look for teenagers. There was no way they would look for elderly in their fifties or sixties.

Zhou Qingfeng waited under the building. His creditor, however, did not appear even when it was already past nine o'clock at night. All the other houses were brightly lit, but Aunty Zhang's house remained pitch black. It was not until ten o'clock that he saw an old woman riding back home with a broken bike.

"Aunty Zhang, Aunty Zhang!" Zhou Qingfeng shouted twice, as he walked toward her happily. Aunty Zhang used to be colleagues with his adoptive mother. She once even lent his adoptive mother eight thousand yuan for a small business. The two families used to be close to each other, but they had lost their amicable relationship since then.

The white-haired Aunty Zhang was shocked when she saw a teenager approaching her. Her expression then turned sour when she realized that the teenager was actually Zhou Qingfeng. She said unpleasantly, "Why are you here?"

Aunty Zhang did not want to bother with Zhou Qingfeng. She carried her bike and tried to go upstairs. She lived on the sixth floor, and there was no elevator in the old building, so it was quite difficult for the old woman to carry the bike. However, if she left her bike downstairs, the two wheels will be gone for sure the next day.

"I'll help you carry it." Zhou Qingfeng hurriedly walked near her and carried the bike with ease.

Aunty Zhang, however, said to him anxiously, "Oh dear…. Put it down, put it down!"

"Don't worry, it's not heavy at all." Within a few moments, Zhou Qingfeng carried the bike to the sixth floor. In those years when the relationship between the two families was still good, Aunty Zhang had given him quite a lot of snacks. He still remembered her as a very optimistic and humorous person.

Aunty Zhang was already gasping for breath when she arrived on the sixth floor. She pointed at Zhou Qingfeng and shouted, "Kid, stop paying tribute to me! I'll make it clear: I don't have any money to lend you. Your family still owes me eight thousand yuan."

"Aunty, I think you get me wrong. I'm here to repay the debt." Zhou Qingfeng felt sad after spitting out those words even though he was wearing a smile on his face. Everyone had lived through tough times these few years as the condition in Tianyang City worsened by the day. Eight thousand yuan would be a life-saving asset for her, an elderly who had no pension at all.

Aunty Zhang used to look for him several times to collect the debt, but Zhou Qingfeng always shook his head to indicate that he had no money. Therefore, as time passed, Aunty Zhang stopped looking for him as she knew that she could no longer get back her money.

As a result, when Zhou Qingfeng said that he was there to repay the debt, Aunty Zhang was shocked. "You're here to repay your debt?"

"Yes."

"How much?"

"I remember that we owed you eight thousand four hundred yuan. Including the interest, I'll pay you ten thousand yuan!"

Ten thousand yuan? Aunty Zhang thought she heard wrong. She already felt disbelief when Zhou Qingfeng said that he was going to repay the debt, as everyone in these days tend to renege on their promise to pay their debts. She thought that Zhou Qingfeng would pay her with a smaller amount, at most two thousand yuan.

"Are you really going to pay me ten thousand yuan?" Aunty Zhang was truly shocked! Her family needed a large amount of money as her grandchildren needed money in order to continue their studies. She also needed the money to treat her geriatric diseases. She could solve a lot of problems if she had ten thousand yuan.

"Yes. What's your account number? I'll transfer the money to you right now. You'll receive the notification about the transaction details in no time." Zhou Qingfeng took out his mobile phone. "Paying someone using mobile phones nowadays is extremely quick. It just takes around a couple of minutes."

"Come, we'll continue talking inside the house." Aunty Zhang almost burst into tears after hearing that she was going to receive ten thousand yuan. She then opened her house door and invited Zhou Qingfeng inside.

Her old house contained two cramped rooms. The walls were all mottled and the furniture were all worn out. The house was a decent place to live in thirty years ago, but now, the house no longer had anything of value in it. There also sat a few leftovers soured dishes on the dining table.

"As you can see, there's nothing here for me to offer you." Aunty Zhang invited Zhou Qingfeng to sit on her sofa, as she rubbed her hands anxiously.

"Aunty, I better send you the money first, so you can stop worrying about it." Zhou Qingfeng knew that the old woman was actually quite anxious. However, due to her pride, she did not take the initiative to ask for the money.

"Okay, okay." Aunty Zhang stopped beating around the bush too, as she soon told him her account number. Ten seconds later, she received a notification from the bank on her phone. After repeatedly confirming that it was indeed the figure '1' followed by four zeros, the old lady instantly burst into tears.

"Thank you so much! You've really helped me a lot." Aunty Zhang talked to him in tears, "I've stood in the supermarket today for the whole day, but I couldn't even find a part-time job.

"I know that the people on the streets mock me. They resent the fact that I'm too old, so they don't hire me, even for a job with a wage of only fifty yuan. I can't even afford to commute through the public transport right now. I'm exhausted because I rode the bicycle for the whole day." Aunty Zhang continued crying as she grumbled about her life.

"Aunty, don't be too sad! You have ten thousand yuan now, don't you?" Zhou Qingfeng tried his best to comfort her, but even he eventually cried in the process of comforting her. People from the neighborhood heard the commotion, so they came to see what had happened. They cried as well when they found out that Zhou Qingfeng was there to repay the debt.

After crying, Zhou Qingfeng felt a lot better when he left Aunty Zhang's house. He then headed to the other houses in order to repay his debts. All the families were surprised with his arrival, as all of them kept expressing their gratitude when they received the money from Zhou Qingfeng.

Zhou Qingfeng's fifty thousand yuan only lasted for a few hours. He used up all his money to repay his debts. But he did not feel any regret for his actions. Instead, he felt extremely happy from finally being able to live a debt-free life.

It was already midnight when he returned to his home. Zhou Qingfeng planned to take a bath and sleep. However, it was not long before someone gently knocked on his door.

Zhou Qingfeng opened the door and saw a young woman, perhaps around twenty-seven to twenty-eight years old, standing outside his house. She wore a common work uniform. Her appearance was extremely rustic, and there was not much meat on her cheeks.

"Xiao Zhou, I'm sorry for disturbing you so late. However, I recently heard that you're paying the debts of your parents. I just want to ask, could you… could you…." The young woman lowered her head, unable to complete her sentence.

At that moment, an impatient voice snapped from the back of the young woman, "Wife, just cut straight to the point. Ask him if he could pay us back our five hundred yuan."

Zhou Qingfeng threw a glance into the darkness and saw a perverted man hiding behind the young woman. The man even hid himself subconsciously in the shadows when he saw Zhou Qingfeng staring at him.

Zhou Qingfeng lowered his gaze and looked at the young woman. Then, he said mercilessly, "No, I couldn't."

Chapter end