Chapter 2312 — Baiting the Hook
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Red Conch was one of the largest international drug-trafficking organizations, and Conch Bar was one of its wholesale distribution points, where a great many out-of-town buyers came to collect their goods. That was why the waiter dared to boast so extravagantly.
"Oh? Bring a little out and let me try it." Wei Zhao showed a flicker of interest in what the waiter had said.
"Sir, if you are interested, please come with me to a private room—after all, this is a public place..." the waiter reminded him cautiously.
"All right, lead the way." Wei Zhao nodded.
The waiter cheerfully led Wei Zhao toward a small private room meant for one. People who came to a bar were there for the bustle; few ever asked for a private room. They either sat in the main hall, or at the bar, or thrashed about on the dance floor.
So the purpose of the private rooms was simple enough: apart from giving those young men and women who had lost all self-control a room to bed down in, they were for the customers who came here to get high or to deal drugs.
This waiter went by the nickname "Hammer." He had risen from waiter to peripheral member of Red Conch and had worked here nearly five years now. Of course, he had no achievements to his name; apart from his waiter's wages and commission, he had basically no other income. Watching those who had joined after him become the contacts for big traffickers, Hammer burned with envy.
But his luck was poor. Every time, the customers he ran into were mostly casual ones like Wei Zhao—no matter how much money they had, there was no big profit to be made from them.
Still, relatively speaking, meeting a big spender like Wei Zhao was enough to satisfy him. After all, the kind of major traffickers who came here to buy in wholesale were not people one met every day.
Once inside the room, Wei Zhao took a rough look around. The place was small, with only a sofa and a coffee table, nothing else at all, and the decor was nothing lavish. It was, as he had guessed, a place for young men and women to vent and for addicts to get high.
"Sir, how much would you like?" Hammer asked bluntly only after they were inside.
"What's the price?"
"Five hundred a gram," Hammer said.
"Five hundred? That really isn't expensive." Wei Zhao was no addict, but because of the Pangolin affair he had paid especially close attention to Red Conch and these traffickers. When Baldy Wolf and Otedi had made their deal, Wei Zhao had roughly calculated that their price had already reached three or four hundred US dollars a gram, whereas here it sold for only five hundred a gram—figuring it out, that was only about eighty dollars. The retail price really was not high at all!
And that was Baldy Wolf dealing in massive quantities. In the retail market, prices of two or three hundred US dollars were not unheard of!
"Naturally. I told you, our prices here have a real advantage." Hearing Wei Zhao's words, Hammer let out a breath of relief.
"Let me have five grams first." Wei Zhao took three thousand yuan from his wallet and handed it to Hammer. "Keep the rest as a tip."
"Thank you, thank you!" Hammer took the money and went off cheerfully to get it ready. Never mind the commission on those five grams of white powder—the five hundred in tips alone had made Hammer very happy.
Hammer was back in no time with five small zip-lock bags and a set of gear for snorting white powder. He gave a strange little smile. "Take your time, sir. There's a pager here—call whenever you want, and you'll reach me. My name's Hammer!"
"Fine, you can go." Wei Zhao put on the look of a man barely able to wait and waved a hand, signaling that Hammer could leave.
Once Hammer was gone, Wei Zhao made a great show of starting to "use." Of course, there was no way he was really going to dose himself—Wei Zhao was no fool. A cultivator might be able to force poison out with true qi, but if Wei Zhao actually inhaled the stuff, would that not be asking for suffering for no reason?