I lent my brother 500 yuan, and he offered his wife as collateral.

……

As soon as the inner ring green channel opened, the first person to enter was not Qin Feng, but Qian Shao.

Holding the delivery box, he walked to the identity verification terminal, first scanning the person in charge's documents, and then putting in the transitional warehouse ownership documents.

[Identity confirmed.]

[Executive Director of the Su's Inner Ring Transition Warehouse: Qian Shao]

The settlement process has begun.

Qian Shao stared at his own name, his throat feeling a little dry.

The words "person in charge" didn't carry much weight when written on the appointment letter.

But once he stood there, he realized that those three words meant more than just managing goods. Every piece of equipment on the truck, every interface in the warehouse, and every confirmation at the delivery point ultimately came down to him.

In the past, when something happened, his first reaction was to look for Qin Feng.

Now, when someone else is in trouble, you have to go to him first.

The staff member on duty at the passage handed over a list:

"Check it. If there are no problems, sign it."

Qian Shao took the list but didn't rush to write anything down.

"What about routine spot checks?"

"System approved automatically."

"What about end-of-line packaging verification?"

"pass."

"What about the base array detection?"

"The transitional cabin underwent maintenance yesterday, and its safety rating is normal."

The staff on duty answered quickly, did not urge him to hand over any benefits, and did not ask him any questions about the purification base.

Qian Shao felt even more uneasy.

He'd learned too many lessons the hard way on the outside. The rules are even more intricate on the inside, and the procedures will only be more complicated.

But now that the whole process has gone through so smoothly, it's making him feel frustrated.

"I request a manual random inspection."

The staff member on duty glanced at him.

"The system has already allowed it, why do you insist on checking?"

"check."

"Manual sampling will incur additional costs."

"Records of the operation of the Su family's transitional warehouse."

Qian Shao pressed his mark in the application section and added a sentence:

"Write down the names of the inspectors, equipment serial numbers, and the time the equipment was unpacked."

The transport trucks behind were parked in a row.

Wu Jie peeked out for a while, then whispered to Qin Feng:

"Is this Qian Shao? He used to be able to haggle for half an hour over any paid service."

"Being in charge hasn't made me much bolder, but it has certainly made my mind work faster."

Qian Shao heard this, turned around and said:

"Boss, I can hear you."

"Continue investigating if you hear that."

"Okay. Once I find out the problem, don't blame me for delaying the warehouse entry."

The manual sampling inspection was completed quickly.

Ten boxes of high-order array core blanks and six boxes of purification base materials, with identical packaging, hash, and source records.

The staff on duty stamped the document again without saying a word.

Qian Shao took the documents back and found them increasingly displeasing.

"You're really letting us in like that?"

The staff member on duty pointed forward:

"The position has been unlocked. There are other cars behind, so don't block the passage."

The first batch of transport vehicles slowly drove into the inner ring road.

Beyond the city gate lies a multi-level commercial district.

Near the city gates were mostly temporary warehouses, transshipment shops, and material stores. Further in were the permanent businesses of the inner ring.

The Su family's warehouse is located in the seventh district on the east side, a fairly good location. It is surrounded by public transportation arrays in front and behind, and there is also a high-level data cable next to it.

Under normal circumstances, on the first day a new merchant enters the market, nearby businesses that provide moving, warehouse protection, and base maintenance should have already flocked over to compete for their business.

As the Su family's convoy passed by, people on the street backed away.

As soon as a moving company took out a price list, the boss saw the Su's logo on the front of the truck and immediately stuffed the paper back into the counter.

Another liquid store closed its cooperation platform and even took away the sign at the entrance that read "New Customer First Day Discount".

Wu Jie watched the whole way, and the more he watched, the angrier he became.

"What do they mean? Are we not going to pay, or are they just scary-looking?"

Shen Banxia chimed in from behind:

"If you take off your disguise, it will definitely scare both families away."

"My face is normal now."

"You said the same thing last time."

Wu Jie touched his earlobe and decided not to argue with her anymore.

He walked over to a nearby transport shop and knocked on the counter.

"Hey bro, need a short-distance fare? Just two blocks away, price is the same as the inner ring road."

The middle-aged man behind the counter was tidying up the account books with his head down.

"The schedule is full today."

Wu Jie glanced at the empty transport truck.

"All the cars are parked."

"The car needs to be inspected."

"All eight vehicles to be repaired at once?"

The other party did not reply.

Wu Jie pushed the price list forward a bit:

"No long-term contracts, one-time settlement. The source of goods must be disclosed, and responsibilities must be clearly stated."

The middle-aged man still shook his head.

"We really can't take this. You'll have to find someone else."

He spoke politely, but his hand kept pressing down on the cooperation end, as if afraid that Wu Jie would submit the application directly.

Wu Jie didn't press the matter further.

After returning, he lowered his voice and said:

"It's not that they think the price is too low, nor is it that someone is preventing them from taking the order. They're afraid of being associated with us."

Qin Feng kept looking at the identity cards of the shopkeepers on the street.

Whenever a Su family transport vehicle approached, those people would proactively disconnect the pre-connected interface. Two companies even turned off the public inquiry function.

The people here knew something in advance.

But they only dared to hide, not to speak out.

Qin Feng didn't press him for answers.

It can silence the entire street, and you can't get the truth out of them. Even if someone is willing to tell you, it's most likely false information that others want the Su family to hear.

Su Qingxue walked in the middle of the convoy, checking the temporary cooperation records item by item:

"If no one else will take over the moving, we'll use our own guards."

"Qian Shao, confirm the goods one more time before putting them into the warehouse."

"Zhou Ye, don't connect the high-end data cable to the main system yet. Try it with the isolated end."

"Su Lie, have the guards register and replenish the weapons. The Grandmaster's Qi should also be entered into the security system inside the warehouse."

Su Lie took the rulebook and nodded in agreement:

"I've already had them seal the knife."

Wu Jie asked:

"A complete lockdown? What if someone comes knocking?"

"If you can block it with rules, then block it with rules first."

Su Lie glanced at Qin Feng.

When Zhuo Heng was sentenced yesterday, he stood still. Today, entering the inner ring road, he realized even more clearly that the faster you draw your sword, the easier it is to take the blame for someone else.

But it's impossible to completely relax.

The surrounding businesses are hiding too neatly.

This was not a spur-of-the-moment decision.

The Su family's convoy arrived at the seventh section on the east side, and the gate of the transition cabin opened automatically.

There were no used goods or discarded interfaces in the warehouse.

The walls, floor, and base of the array had just been cleaned. Even the traces of array fluid, which are usually difficult to remove, were nowhere to be found.

Shen Banxia squatted down next to the main array base and inserted a detection needle into the ground.

The readings are very stable.

She changed positions three times, but the result was still the same.

"Is there a problem?" Qin Feng asked.

"The readings are fine."

Shen Banxia pulled out the testing needle and twirled it between her fingers twice:

"It's just too clean."

"Shouldn't a new warehouse be clean?"

"The temporary warehouses change merchants every day, and the underground interfaces will leave historical call records. Even if the previous owner leaves completely, the public transportation network will still leave load records."

She raised her hand and pointed to the edge of the array base:

"Everything here has been cleared. Old records, residual interfaces, load fluctuations—not a single thing remains."

Qian Shaozheng was about to sign the warehouse receipt when he heard this and immediately put his pen away.

"Then I won't sign it yet."

The guards followed them to the warehouse entrance, their tone remaining indifferent.

"The warehouse has passed public safety certification. Refusing to sign for it will be considered as you voluntarily relinquishing your qualification to be stationed within the inner ring road."

"I didn't say I wouldn't accept it."

Qian Shao turned to the supplementary section of the document:

"I want to add a clause: Su's will only accept the current warehouse and will not inherit the historical responsibilities from before the cleanup. The cleanup party, the maintenance party, and the certification party should all be included."

The staff member on duty frowned.

"There's no need for that."

Whether it's necessary or not is not up to me or you. If something goes wrong in the future, the system will recognize the characters.

Qian Shao submitted the supplementary application.

A few seconds later, the public delivery terminal approved the application.

The maintenance companies, public base certification offices, and inner-ring warehouse management units responsible for yesterday's cleanup have all been included in the delivery chain.

Qian Shao then stamped the seal.

My palms were already sweaty after I signed.

He used to think that Qin Feng and Su Qingxue liked to complicate simple things. Now that it was his turn to manage the business, he realized that complicated procedures were better than losing someone.

Goods have begun to be stored in the warehouse.

Shen Banxia continued inspecting the underground array base. Zhou Ye, on the other hand, connected a high-level data cable to the isolation end.

The first layer is the public warehousing system, and the second layer is the credit rating of merchants in the inner ring.

The third level of access is locked.

Zhou Ye did not attempt to force a crack; he simply used Su's legitimate position qualification to initiate a read request.

The system quickly allowed it to proceed.

"Safety rating is normal."

Qian Shao leaned over for a look and breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's fine then."

Zhou Ye didn't speak, but separated the public rating from the backend call records and found that the update times on both sides were inconsistent.

The "security" rating on the public platform was written three hours ago, but the backend received a hidden update before the Su family's convoy entered the city.

The updated information was not displayed directly; only a string of epidemic prevention numbers was left.

Zhou Ye retrieved the high-risk pollution classification table for the inner ring road and compared each item one by one.

Qin Feng stood to the side and saw that his finger stopped.

"What did you find out?"

"The rating has been changed."

"What is it now?"

Zhou Ye reapplied for deep reading.

This time, a red alert popped up on the data terminal.

[Eastern Section Seven: Transition Warehouse]

[Potential pollution from the reprocessing of underlying waste.]

[Danger Level: High Risk of Infection]

[Procedure: Third sequence preloading.]

No one spoke in the warehouse anymore.

Su Qingxue looked towards the warehouse door.

The merchants who were just watching from a distance have now shut down the last few doors of their cooperative network.

Qin Feng finally understood why the other party didn't make things difficult for him or ask for anything.

The person who took action this time did not need the Su family to make a mistake.

The disposal process began the moment they stepped into the warehouse.

Inside the inner ring main control room, Song Wuji brought up the third sequence execution page.

He didn't check the Su family's assets, nor did he read Su Qingxue's candidate information. The purification array diagram and the Shen family's life evidence were also not on his task list.

There is only one execution request on the screen.

[Using the pretext of pollution spread from the purification of bottom-level waste, the Su family's transitional warehouse in Zone 7 on the east side was subjected to a standardized, epidemic prevention-level erasure.]

[Countdown to execution: 24 hours.]

Song Wuji confirmed the position, scope, and related chains, and pressed the preload approval button.

Beneath the transitional cabin, a red progress line began to extend.

Zhou Ye stared at the backend data, his throat tightening.

"Brother Feng, the system isn't planning to investigate us."

"They've already marked this place as a source of pollution that needs to be destroyed!"