Chapter 5: Second visit to Sky city


    N?v(el)B\\jnn


    By the time Zi Han left that part of district ten, the twin suns of Saarilia had already risen on the horizon. He ignored the beauty of having the twin suns shining bright on the horizon because his mind was more focused on getting these deliveries done by the end of the day so he could go back and im that smart pistol.


    Standing by the terminal tform he studied the bus route for the districts he had to make drop-offs at. All his life he had grown up in district ten and never needed to visit other districts. He had only stepped into sky city once but never other districts.


    Lucky for him the ground city was once a part of sky city which meant they had developed an extensive transportation system to get household workers to rich neighbourhoods with ease. It was because of this it was rtively simple to understand which routes to take in order to make his deliveries effectively.


    Pulling his hood lower he hopped into the hover bus and made his way to district eight which was first on the list of delivery addresses. Because of his light brain, this task would be considered rtively easy.


    The true risky in getting caught. Why was that one might ask? It was because pixie was derived from impure chemicals as the military had monopolized the supply chain of raw materials to produce such a powerful sedative.


    Such impurities unfortunately had adverse effects on the mental power of users over time. This is why there was a heavy military presence on cities ands rumoured to have the highest consumption rate of pixie.


    Saarilia wasn’t on the list in the past but because of the increase in tourism military presence on the had heightened drastically which meant that Zi Han had a higher chance of getting caught than getting hit by a hovercar on his way home.


    .....


    The only good thing was that the military presence in a slum like this was rtively low. The prime minister’s office for Saarilia could give a rat’s arse about the surface city. It was because of this his deliveries in different districts were sessful. The only problem came when he got to thest address.


    Sitting in the hover bus he took out the list and typed out the address on his light brain. The result of that search was the question, “Did you mean Railen Street, Sky City, Saarilia?”


    Zi Han’s brows furrowed as he jolted to sit up straight. The address on the paper clearly stated Railia Street, Saarilia. Though it didn’t mention a district he was pretty sure this street should be on the surface city.


    A little flustered he closed the tab on his light brain and pulled up his contacts before directly dialling Dage’s number. It didn’t take long for the phone to get picked up. The person on the other end was sprawled on the couch with an e-cigarette on his lips and rings of smoke all around him.


    “What?” he asked before blowing out a puff of smoke.


    Zi Han didn’t feel like mincing words with him so he said, “Railia street?”


    The man on the other end of the call minimised the call screen and opened up the invoice details for that address before saying, “My bad..... it’s Railen street in sky city.”


    Zi Han resisted the urge to curse as he harshly pulled down his hoodie. “The fuck,” he whispered before biting his lips to restrain himself, “you know how much it costs to get to sky city? I don’t even think I have enough star coins for that.”


    A soft chuckle escaped Dage’s lips as he took a long drag of his e-cigarette. With his head tilted back he puffed out five rings of smoke before saying, “That’s not my problem is it.” After that, he immediately hung up without another word.


    Zi Han’s face sank hearing this. Annoyed he swore, “Fuck!” kicking the empty seat in front of him. His little tantrum attracted the other passengers’ attention with others shrinking back in fright. “Sorry,” he mumbled before biting his lips feeling a little exasperated.


    Thinking this could count as an emergency he decided to get some money from the vault his mother attached to his light brain. Yes, it was for emergencies and there probably wasn’t much in it but now he needed a ticket to Sky city asap. After sessfully purchasing the ticket he closed his light brain and leaned back with his eyes closed listening for the next tform stop.


    He had been to Sky city with his friends once before but never visited again. That’s because when his mother found out his ass was beaten till it was ck and blue. Onyx strictly forbade corporal punishment for children but in a slum like this, it didn’t apply more especially to his mother.


    That was the first time he had seen his mother that pissed off with him. Unwilling to get seconds of that spanking he never dared visit Sky city again. But today he was willing to risk it all to protect his mother.


    Since he didn’t want to spend much money from the emergency fund he bought the cheapest ticket to the city. This meant he was rubbing shoulders with manual workers who were rushing to get to work. The trip was especially ufortable as his bones felt like they were being rattled but he endured.


    Once he arrived at Sky city he followed the directions from his light brain which were extremely urate. Twenty minutester he was standing in front of the mentioned address but it wasn’t what he expected.


    In front of him was the grandest hotel in Sky city where the people at the top of the food chain would reside when they visited this. It was obvious that thest client was rich but was wealthy people so desperate for illegal drugs these days that they would purchase their stash from a small-time drug dealer from the slums?


    No matter how he looked at it none of it made sense. Because he had been stupidly standing there staring at this prestigious building he didn’t notice that he had attracted the attention of a military officer on patrol.


    When he did eventually notice the military officer was already walking in his direction. “Shit,” he mumbled as he tried to put on an ‘I am innocent expression.’


    “Can you show me some form of identification,” said the military officer as soon as he reached the lone figure dressed too poorly to be associated with this hotel.


    Zi Han who knew that if he gets searched the vials on his body could get him the death sentence put on a helpless smile as he pulled up his light brain for the military officer to scan. “Sir is there anything wrong?” he asked with no trace of guilt. He nned on bullshitting his way out of this otherwise things will end badly.