My hometown is far away in Moscow.

Chapter 285 Everything is Ready

"Understood." Hu Yi reached into his pocket and rummaged around for a bit, then realized he didn't have any change. He simply pulled out a thousand rubles from his pocket and handed it to him: "Thank you, take this and have some tea."

The security guard hesitated for a moment, then clutched the money in his hand: "Thank you, Mr. Anton."

Hu Yi patted him twice on the chest, then walked to the gate with a smile: "Good morning, gentlemen. When does this market open?"

"I don't know." A policeman took off his hat, fanned himself, and pointed to a simple "Closed Today" sign hanging on the door: "Anyway, we can't open today."

"Oh dear, this is too much trouble." Hu Yi clicked his tongue anxiously. "I have something very important that I need to retrieve. Could you let me in for a moment?"

"What's so important?"

"Um... identification documents."

"Identity?" The other policeman smiled knowingly. "So, you left your identification in the market?"

"Yes, I've been avoiding the police on the streets these past few days." Hu Yi gave an ambiguous response, pulling out two 1,000-ruble notes and handing them to the two men respectively: "Let me go in and get them, is that alright?"

The two policemen exchanged a glance, then each took the money and stuffed it into their pockets: "Go get it."

"Thank you!" Hu Yi was overjoyed, but seeing that the two people were standing stiffly in place without moving, he had no choice but to smile apologetically and say, "Could you please open the door for me?"

"We don't have the key." The policeman, fanning himself with his hat, looked up. "Climb in."

Hu Yi said nothing more, grabbed the iron fence, climbed a few steps, jumped over the gate, nodded to the two policemen, and turned to walk into the market.

Quiet, desolate, and bleak, Hu Yi had never seen a container market like this during the day. He wasn't familiar with the area, so after surveying the surroundings, he hurried towards his small shop.

Although it appeared quite deserted compared to usual, the market was not entirely deserted. The sound of cartwheels rolling over the ground could be heard from the adjacent streets from time to time, and occasionally other merchants could be seen walking briskly between their containers and the streets.

Police and security guards were on duty at the intersection, and Amon was patrolling the road at a leisurely pace. They didn't drive away the merchants who sneaked in, but if anyone wanted to pass through their guarded section, they couldn't help but try to make a small fortune.

Time was precious, and Hu Yi had no interest in trying to get close to them or haggle over prices. He would take a detour if possible, and if he couldn't avoid them, he would just pay them off.

These people had different appetites; the easy-going ones could be dealt with for a thousand rubles, while the more difficult ones would cost two or even three thousand. From the moment he entered the gate, Hu Yi had spent a total of about ten thousand rubles on bribes along the way, and finally, after wandering around, he arrived at the street where his small shop was located.

This street was just as deserted as the place we had just passed. Some stalls had their doors wide open, and the insides were ransacked, probably not done by the stall owners themselves. This kind of scene was common along the way. Just a few streets away, there were more than twenty Vietnamese merchants gathered in the middle of the road, crying and shouting in protest, whether because of lost property or their dissatisfaction with the market closure, it was unclear.

Hu Yi nervously arrived at the end of the road, thankfully finding his half-box still securely locked. He stood at the intersection, looked around, gently unlocked it, slipped inside, and casually closed the box behind him.

The folded tables, chairs, and shelves were casually leaning against both sides of the doorway, unlike their usual neat arrangement. It was probably because Da Liu received a last-minute notice for a hygiene inspection that day and didn't have time to arrange them carefully.

There were still twenty-one packages in the box. Hu Yi squeezed past the mannequin standing in the middle of the aisle and walked to the back of the box. On top of the safe, there was a half-empty bottle of soda water weighing down more than 20,000 rubles, which must have been the income from that morning.

He opened the safe, inside lay four bundles of rubles. Hu Yi stuffed all the money into his pocket, stepped out of the safe, locked the door, and turned to walk towards the warehouse in the Black Hair District.

Just as he returned to the vicinity of the intersection ahead, he suddenly heard a series of chaotic footsteps in the distance. He cautiously peeked out from behind the box, only half of his head visible. He saw a group of fully armed Amons rapidly advancing towards him, no more than twenty or thirty meters away.

Hu Yi was terrified. If these Amons were here to clear the area and arrest people, he would lose the more than 400,000 rubles he was carrying. He shrank back and turned to run, but the surrounding roads were straight, open, and deserted. There was little chance he could escape.

In his haste, Hu Yi caught a glimpse of a box on the second floor of a nearby stall that seemed to be unlocked. Without thinking twice, he rushed over and climbed up the ladder.

Just as he opened the door and hid inside the box, Amon below also turned the corner. Hu Yi didn't know if he had been discovered; he could hear Amon's footsteps getting closer and closer, and his heart was beating faster and faster.

The box was piled with goods. He casually picked up a pack opener that was lying on the ground, walked inside, and quickly slit open a package. He stuffed all the rubles in his arms into it, thought for a moment, then grabbed a few more and stuffed them into his pocket. He then quietly returned to the box and sat down near the door.

Don't come up. Don't come up. Don't come up. Hu Yi kept repeating this to himself with his eyes closed, his mind flashing through the various terrifying descriptions people had given of Amon. At the same time, his mind raced, quickly trying to come up with a way to bluff his way out.

Fortunately, the Amons didn't linger beneath him. Hu Yi listened as they ran further and further away until they were completely silent, then slowly shuffled towards the door, hiding behind the trunk and peering out.

The large group of people had already run far away, seemingly heading towards the Vietnamese merchants who had gathered on the road earlier. But about ten meters away, there was still a man named Amon with a gun slung over his shoulder, his back to him, gazing in the direction the others had gone.

Hu Yi breathed a sigh of relief and was about to retreat back into the box to continue hiding when suddenly his cell phone rang loudly in his pocket.

The surroundings were completely silent, except for the crisp ringing sound that could be heard dozens of meters away. Hu Yi was terrified and quickly shrank back, reaching into his pocket to hang up the phone.

He broke out in a cold sweat. Hu Yi steadied himself, listened intently for a moment, and then cautiously peeked out, but there was no one on the street outside. Trembling with fear, he leaned out again and was shocked to find that Amon was standing right next to the box at his feet, staring at him with an icy expression.

Their eyes met, and the situation was incredibly awkward. Hu Yi forced a smile, "I..."

Amon raised his right index finger to his lips in a shushing gesture, then looked around and waved at him expressionlessly: "Go on."

Hu Yi was greatly surprised. After a slight hesitation, he concluded that the other party meant no harm. He then turned around, retrieved the banknotes from the cargo bag, and nimbly jumped off the box. He took out one thousand rubles and handed them to Amon: "Thank you."

Amon didn't answer, his voice still icy: "You've already given it to me." With that, he slung his gun over his shoulder and slowly walked away.

"Huh?" Hu Yi was stunned for a moment, vaguely recalling that he seemed to have seen him before, but he hadn't paid any attention to his appearance. Amon, on the other hand, had an exceptional eye and a photographic memory.

"Goodbye." Hu Yi called out to his retreating figure, then turned around, took out his phone, and realized that the call was from Lu Tao. He quickly dialed back: "Brother Tao, I'm sorry, there was a little problem just now."

"Hey? Why are you talking and behaving differently? What happened?"

"It's nothing, just ran into a bunch of idiots, nothing serious." Hu Yi wiped the cold sweat from his neck. "So, how's the warehouse situation?"

"To be honest, it's quite a struggle," Lu Tao sighed. "Since yesterday afternoon, warehouses throughout Moscow have been in high demand and low supply. Transport companies and cargo owners are frantically searching for places to unload their goods. But those well-informed middlemen have already booked all the available warehouses in advance. Everyone is getting the prices after layers of subleasing, and even so, the competition is fierce. Finding a warehouse is harder than finding a panda."

Hu Yi's hopes were dashed, and he quickly pressed on, "But surely not all of it is gone? Moscow is so big, there should still be plenty of space available!"

"Yes, there definitely are. But your situation is urgent, and asking around will only waste time." Lu Tao pondered for a moment, then said, "So, in desperation, I took the liberty of finding one a bit further away, outside the city. Do you think that's alright?"

"Oh! Oh, that's great, Brother Tao! You're really taking your breath away! You almost worried me to death!" Hu Yi's worry instantly turned to joy, and he laughed loudly, "We're in a crisis right now, what do we care about distance? Where's the warehouse you mentioned?"

"It's in the south, between the city center and Dammajedawa Airport, so taking the ring road is quite convenient." Lu Tao smiled faintly. "This place was rented from that rich woman by our boss. Because of its remote location, the price isn't too outrageous. I just booked it under the company's name. If you can book it, I'll cover the rent for you first."

"I can place the order! I'll place it right now!" Hu Yi thanked him repeatedly, "Brother Tao, you've really helped me out! I'll get the goods sorted out first, and then we'll have a good get-together afterwards!"

According to Lu Tao's description, the warehouse was about 40 or 50 kilometers away from the market, which was indeed quite far. However, as long as they could find a place, nothing else mattered. Besides, they had their own vehicle, so they didn't need to worry about transportation costs or safety. The only inconvenience was the long round trip time, which would inevitably make things less efficient.

All the hardware facilities were in place, and the entire plan was basically complete. Hu Yi jogged all the way to the warehouse in the Black Hair District and saw a burly man sitting with his back against his warehouse, lost in thought. At a glance, he knew it was Yabalov.

"Abba!" Hu Yi exclaimed curiously, quickening his pace. "What are you doing here?"

"Anton! I knew you'd come!" Yabalov jumped to his feet excitedly. "I'll watch the goods here for you!"

"guard?"

"Yes! Look!" Yabalov gestured to the other people hauling goods around him, "Some people have lost their goods, and some have come to take things that don't belong to them. I'm worried your goods will be stolen."

"Abba!" Hu Yi's throat bobbed. "Thank you! But... how did you get in?"

"We usually live in the market, but we were all kicked out a few days ago. People started coming back yesterday, and the police aren't giving us too much trouble." Yabalov patted Hu Yi's suitcase. "Quick, get your goods out of here! I'll get someone coming right now!"

"Wait, I haven't found the exit yet." Hu Yi turned to look at the other trucks carrying goods, Bacha: "Where do they exit the market? I need to have the trucks wait at the entrance."

"I know! There's a small door on the south side that leads out!" Yabalov told Hu Yi the exact location, then made a call to gather people for help. Hu Yi immediately notified Fu Jiahui and Xiao Linzi, who were waiting outside, to come in and transport the goods, while the rest of the people and the truck waited at the door.

Everything was proceeding according to plan, but execution was not going smoothly. Although there weren't many merchants sneaking into the market yet, everyone was focused on getting all the goods away as quickly as possible. The scattered shipments returning from Bacha couldn't meet the demand for transport capacity, making them very sought-after, and labor costs skyrocketed.

Yabalov tried his best to persuade his friends and acquaintances, but in the end, he only managed to find the tall, dark-haired chieftain, Bacha, who was on good terms with him. Tanya also volunteered to help; although she was a woman, when it came to physical labor, she was probably much better than the market vendors.

Hu Yi's side was also facing numerous problems. The small gate on the south side only allowed exits, not entry, and there were so many people on duty that there was no chance to slip money in. Fu Jiahui and Xiao Linzi had no choice but to follow Hu Yi's instructions and climb over the wall into the market, clearing a path with rubles along the way, before finally meeting up with him after many twists and turns.

What's even more perplexing is that heavy trucks are no longer allowed to park on the entire road outside the small gate. Presumably, the various guards inside the market are willing to accept money to make things convenient for the cargo owners, but they don't dare to do it too blatantly, so the trucks parked at the gate to transport goods are all small and medium-sized vans.

Left with no other option, Natasha parked the rented truck along with the two cars belonging to the Dagana couple in an open area two kilometers away, and then ran to the vicinity of the market to rent another van for transshipment.

(End of this chapter)