Chapter 44: The Decisive Locomotive
Translator: Vicky_ Editor: Vicky_
Payment for the first year and deposit for another year; for 800 a month, in the blink of an eye almost 20,000 dollars was handed over.
Hans’s money.
"Are you crazy?" Li Du reprimanded after they left. "How could you agree to those conditions?"
Hans gritted his teeth. "Don’t you see? She’s one of those arrogant types of bitches—I loathe assholes that act all high and mighty the most! I want to conquer her, and show her the prowess of this Big Fox! I want to make it so that no other woman will look down on the Big Fox ever again!"
"In any case, I’m not going to give you money for this. If you want to conquer her that much, then you can live there," Li Du said.
"Of course it’s me that’s staying there," Hans said, raising his voice. "I’m the one paying, obviously it’s going to be me and not you. If you’re the one staying there, then how the f*ck am I going to conquer her?"
Next was the moving-in procedures. Hans did not have much, one large trunk was enough space for all his belongings. Only a few sets of clothes, a bunch of cosmetics, and a large stack of condoms…
When Li Du saw these flowery and colored plastic containers, he gave a wary look. "Sh*t, why are you bringing so much? Are you gonna use them till you’re 80?"
Hans closed up the leather trunk and scoffed. "Poor virgin. This is just two months worth of ammunition for the Big Fox! You’ll see. When we meet again, you’ll see how that bitch shows her obedience to us!"
It was only a brief time until that they met again. He moved in that afternoon, and it was a few hours later when he called Li Du.
"That… Ahem. Li, can you come over?"
Li Du called a cab and went. When he arrived, he saw a depressed Hans sitting on his trunk. "What’s up?" Li Du asked.
Hans passed him the key. "I’ve thought it through: since the one who wanted to rent a house was you, as a good brother, I shouldn’t take this chance away from you."
Li Du shook his head. "I don’t want it. I’m not staying with that cop."
Hans stood up furiously. "How did you know she was a cop!?!"
Li Du made up an excuse on the spot. "When we looked at the house in the afternoon, I saw a photo of her in the living room. She was wearing her uniform and taking a group photo with the Flagstaff police force."
There was such a photograph, but it was in the study.
Having heard this, Hans slapped himself and let out a long sigh. "A lesson. Oh, Big Fox, this is a lesson! Next time, when hooking up, you have to do your homework!"
In the end, Li Du went to live in the house. Twenty thousand had already been invested, they couldn’t just abandon the place.
Hans refused to live there, no matter what. Li Du asked for his reason, but he just said that it was for the sake of a brother. He even said that he could tell that Rose was very compatible with him. Both were Chinese, and looked like a couple.
With that, Li Du moved into the apartment.
However, over the next two days, he did not meet Rose. Apparently there was an emergency in Flagstaff, so she stayed in the police station while dealing with it.
There was also no news from Andrew during these two days. With nothing to do besides training with the bug and playing with Ah Meow, Li Du focused on cleaning up the place.
Rose was definitely not a tidy person. The kitchen, bathroom, and living room were all messy, and every room seemed dirtier than the previous one.
Li Du spent a huge amount of effort cleaning the floor, clearing out the trash, and then arranging the appliances and kitchenware that were all over the place.
Just as he was finishing up, Andrew’s news arrived.
Hans drove by to tell him. "The day after, in Williams, there is a storage company called ‘Locomotive Storage’. An auction will be there. That’s where we’ll deal with Andrew."
Time was tight. As Li Du cleared some stuff, he said, "Let’s go there now. I want to see the condition of those units."
Williams belonged to a central district of Arizona. It had been attracting attention all year round from people seeking outdoor adventures. It was due to the lush greenery around the town, making it stand out amongst the other districts in the hot and dry Arizona.
The town was west of Flagstaff, about forty miles away. They drove along Highway 66. The landscape quickly started rising, and the protruding sand dunes became teeth-like hills as they were covered by short trees and shrubs.
Hans explained a bit of Williams to Li Du. "This time, we are looking for items left by tourists. What this town has most of is tourists. There will always be some careless fella’ leaving his valuables in the rented storage units."
"This town is beautiful?"
"The weather is good," Hans said. "Whether it’s beautiful, I can’t really say. Most of the people came here to ride the locomotive. In the early 19th century, the Grand Canyon railways started from here. The train is still preserved well, you can take a look."
Li Du smiled. "I’m not interested in trains."
"Well, I still suggest that you go have some fun. It’s one of the best ways to appreciate the Grand Canyon. Watching the beautiful scenery pass by, and watching the girls wearing 19th century costumes while introducing the history and knowledge of the area.
"If you’re lucky, you can even hear folk music played with banjos. Listening to that music under the night sky is heavenly."
"I didn’t know you were someone who actually had such sentiments in life," Li Du said.
Hans shrugged. "Who hasn’t taken a break in their life before? I wasn’t born this mature. The last time I took a break, I wasn’t as passionate about life as I am now."
Locomotive Storage Co. was located near the border of the town. It had over two hundred units, but there were many mini-units apparently meant for tourists.
After Andrew sent the information, Hans had done some research. The auction had 9 units up for bid: 15, 16, 45, 47, 85, 114, 119, 151 and 185.
Li Du rubbed his hands together and sent the bug into unit 15.
The unit belonged to a cycling fan. There were many accessories meant for bicycles, such as tires, handlebars, bells, lights and pumps.
However, most of these things were useless. It seemed that they were the broken, replaced parts of the bikes. In addition, there were a few old, gross bags, and an outdoor stove that had no gas.
After sweeping through the unit, he shook his head. There was no value in here.
Even if units 15 and 16 had different owners, the two people must have had some connection. The items were not much different, with mostly biking accessories and travel products.
The most valuable thing Li Du found was a bowie knife. This was a decent weapon, but since it was at the front, it was too obvious. It was not worth it to compete for this unit.
Unit 45 was similar to one of the storage units they had handled before. It belonged to a music lover. In it was a blue guitar, some microphones, and a set of speakers and amps.
He took note of this unit. According to his experience, this type of storage unit tended to have something good.
The next was unit 86. This unit had a bread toaster and a glass-display cabinet. It probably belonged to a pastry store. The toaster was also exposed, so it would be difficult to get the unit for a cheap price.
Feeling that there wasn’t much of value, Li Du swiftly switched to the fifth unit, which was 114. Inside were a bunch of cardboard boxes.
Seeing this, Li Du nodded. He liked storage units that used cardboard boxes to store things.
The bug passed through a few boxes, and then in one of them he found a belt.
The belt was hidden in a bunch of trash, so Li Du thought it was just something normal at first glance. However, upon close inspection of the buckle, he knew that this was not something ordinary.
Below the box containing the belt was an intricately packaged lucky draw box. The box contained a bunch of cards. After looking through it, Li Du smiled.