thirteen ▋black market

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It took a couple of days, but eventually, Yangyang was able to pinpoint where the black market in Shanghai was being held.

Apparently, the place constantly moved around so that the authorities wouldn't be able to pinpoint their exact location. While it's mostly known for being settled in the different areas of Shanghai, it's also been in places like Beijing, Wuhan, and Shenzhen. However, it's never stayed in one area more than once for more than two days, unless it was Shanghai that is. Luckily once Yangyang found its location, they had just settled down in the city. So if they didn't succeed in getting information on their first try, they'd be able to go back another day.

The ride from Beijing to Shanghai would take a few hours by train, and a group of seven darkly dressed men was too suspicious for their liking. Luckily for them, however, Branch V had a building in the city. So they were going to take one of those helicopters that Ten rode when he first came to the city instead. The trip would be faster and less conspicuous since they wouldn't be stared at by normal bystanders.

"Yukhei and Ten will enter the area first," Dejun told them when they were on the helicopter, devising a plan early on so that a disaster like the one after Xu Minghao's party wouldn't occur. "Hendery will go along with you as well as backup, though Kun wants him sticking close to Ten more than Yukhei. The last time we left him alone one of his comrades tried to kill him."

Hendery's lips immediately dropped into a frown, picking at the loose string of his black shirt as he argued," but if I go in with Ten, I can't take anything of mine with me. My rifle is too big, I can't carry that thing around in public whether it's the black market or not."

"That's why," Yangyang piped in, digging around in a bag that stashed to the side before pulling out an unloaded pistol. It was a simple semi-automatic, metallic in hue and seemed brand new by the looks of it, much better to look at in comparison to Hendery's usually dark and dirty brown rifle. The younger agent dropped the gun in his hands with a mischievous smile and pat his shoulder," you'll be using this one. Oh, don't be so sad man! This is from the newest installment of weaponry that came in last week from our supplier. That means it's more reliable and it's got more uses out of it!"

Reluctantly he took the pistol in his hands, already looking a little homesick without his rifle in question. Though their leader ignored the boy's obvious frustration to continue to explain the plan Dejun had put together. "Once you three are there, try to stay together as best as possible. Dejun and Sicheng will enter from the other side to avoid any suspicion from the regulars and sellers and I will stay with Yangyang while he hacks into the security cameras. Once you catch sight Yuqi, do not engage. We'll begin phase two once we all group up together again. We don't know how dangerous she really is."

And that's how Ten ended up squirming along the shadows of the port of Shanghai, trying to keep up with the long anxious legs of Yukhei while Hendery followed closely behind them. Ten thought it was a little odd how the black market was being held at the Chinese port, knowing very well that the port of Shanghai was incredibly busy all of the time. It meant that more people were coming in and out of the area and that any illegal means would be completely diminished the moment a worker caught you off guard.

Though, oddly enough, it was rather quiet. When the three had first arrived, it seemed almost as if no one was there either. There were no sounds of crane movements, no sounds of hard labor being put to the test. All they were greeted by was containers as far as the eye could see and the crashing of the waves against the ports.

"The one thing the authorities can be persuaded by is money," Yangyang had told them once the helicopter had landed in Branch V's secondary location. "All they need is a big enough sum of money and they'll withhold any sort of movement within their business. So every few months, for as long as three days to two weeks, the port of Shanghai goes silent to all outsiders. Still active, but silent to outsiders."

"It's silent," Yukhei spoke, stating the obvious. "That means Yangyang was right, and the black market really is in the port."

"Of course, he's right," Hendery shrugged, beginning to move past both Ten and Yukhei to get ahead. "He's young and... kinda stupid... but Yangyang's got brains when it comes to stuff like this. Never underestimate his investigation skills, he is our hacker after all."

Though Ten could tell Yukhei wasn't doubting the abilities of their hacker. If anything it should be Ten who was doubtful of the young agent's skills, Yukhei had been around the boy for longer and knew all of his strengths and weaknesses like the back of his hand. He was more worried about encountering Yuqi than anything, having to face his childhood friend after separating from her and learning of her turning down a dark path.

It was a little similar to how Ten felt every time he saw a member of Neo he used to be close with, knowing that they were following orders and hunting him down like a pack of wolves. There was a sense of betrayal in it all that was too big to push back down and forget about. When your former ally and friend turn on you in a way you thought they never would be before and you had to face it head on knowing you could have changed the outcome had you just tried a little harder? It was a pain that Ten knew all too well.

The former gang member sped up his pace to catch up with Yukhei, having a leap a little in order to sling his arm around the agent's neck. The taller boy lurched forward and nearly stumbled at the added weight to his already very large form but Ten only smirked as he continued walking forward. "You'll get used to it, Bigfoot." He told him as little murmurs could be heard in the distance, getting louder as they approached the center of the port. "Don't even worry about it."

Yukhei stayed silent for a moment longer as Hendery stopped in his tracks, waiting for both of the boys to catch up to him before entering what they presumed was the black market in the port of Shanghai. "Did you... did you ever get used to it?" He asked, giving Ten a curious glance.

"I had to," Ten quickly replied. "I had no choice but to."

"Hurry up!" Hendery yelled at them, a smile growing on Yukhei's face as his ally called for them. "We're here! And you two take any longer to catch up to me, I might just fall asleep standing!"

The two untangled themselves from each other, rolling their eyes at the boy's impatience and quickly going to catch up to him. Though he held out his arm to stop them from proceeding past him, taking note of the fact that they were hidden in between the containers that were left sitting on the port but giving them a clear view of the area they had just entered. "Woah..." Ten mumbled, his eyes growing wide at the sight.

There were many more people than Ten had originally imagined, the enter center of the port crowded with people of different sizes, ages, and appearances. The sellers of all the items present in today's market were all huddled inside different containers, conversing and bargaining with each other as fast as they could.

Dotting around the area where men and women in black suits, seemingly guarding the area against any potential outside dangers and were constantly on the move. They never stayed in one place, but there was always someone around to cover the blind spots in their defenses.

"Song Yuqi," Yangyang voice cut through his thoughts, echoing into their brains as they all received the same message. "A young woman, close in age Hendery, Yukhei, and Dejun. Rather short with super long brown hair. Oh! She's got kind of a babyface too."

"Jeez, you could not give us a more vague description of someone." Ten complained. "There could be loads of women in this place that look exactly like that description isn't there something more you can give us?"

"Well I'm sorry," Yangyang mocked and Ten could just feel how hard the boy was rolling his eyes at him. "Do you want me to go into her personal files? Do you mean me to run around the dark web for all the weird pictures people may have put on there of her so you can have an image to go off of? Do you want me to dig into the government's documents for all of her personal and private information?"

"I mean you are the hacker—" Ten began before Hendery stopped him from doing so.

The boy put a hand over Ten's mouth, an irked smile on his face as he grumbled out a response to the former gangster's tomfoolery. "Yangyang is like five years old, Ten. Please do not start an argument with him, be the adult in the situation right now."

Yangyang didn't get a chance to bite at Hendery for the low down insult, probably because he was getting chewed out by the leader of the squadron on the other line. "I'm right though," Ten complained. "He's a hacker, it's kinda his job to look for stuff like that."

"For my sake, don't make him look into that stuff on her," Yukhei intervened. "Besides, you don't need a description of her. You have me, I know exactly what Yuqi looks like."

"It's been years since you've even spoken to her," Hendery pointed out. "How are you going to know her when you see her if you haven't spoken to her in forever?"

"I can recognize her by her voice!" Yukhei protested, trying to cover the loophole that Hendery found in his words. "And still, she can't look that different from the last time I've seen her. You can't change that much in just a couple of years and old friends with strong bonds can recognize each other easily! Trust me, just follow my lead and we'll find Yuqi in no time."

"We're gonna be stuck here for hours," Ten mumbled with Hendery nodding in agreement.

The trio eventually began to traverse the crowd after Kun had made sure everyone was in the area, covering as much area as they could at the center of the containers. It was a little hard trying to blend in discretely with the hired security constantly patrolling the parameters and Yukhei practically towering over everyone present. But with Ten forcing the taller agent to keep his head low and Hendery leading them as best as he could through the unknown area, they were doing rather well.

"Everyone has some sort of wristband on," Ten whispered, hoping that Hendery has caught his comment. On the buyers who were scurrying from container to container with their goods, there was a bright green plastic wristband attached to them, probably to easily find and document everyone who was coming in and out of the area. The sellers In the containers also had a wristband on them as well but were looser and an ugly shade of yellow for probably the same reason the buyers had one. "We'll look out of place if someone catches us without one."

"We can't just go and get one," Hendery told him. "We'll look suspicious if we just go up to the security and tell them we don't have one, as if that's not suspicious enough."

"What if we just steal some?" Yukhei suddenly interjected. The two boys turned to him with confused expressions on their faces, shocked that he would suggest such a risky plan. But the boy seemed adamant about going through with it, pointing to a trio that was walking along the black market and not paying any attention to them. It seemed too convenient and too dangerous to try but Yukhei was up for it.

"How chaotic are you?" Hendery questioned him.

"I think we should try it!" Ten agreed after a moment, liking the wildness of Yukhei's decision. It's been a while since the former gangster had gotten himself into any sort of trouble (as if he wasn't almost killed a week ago) so it sounded like fun to him! Plus, it reminded him a little of how his former gang would go about things.

"Are you stupid?" Hendery argued, grabbing the shirt collars of both of the boys so that they wouldn't run off and away from him. "It's like you're asking for someone to catch— Yukhei!"

The taller agent wasn't listening to the sniper any longer, turning on his heel and dragging both of the boys with him as he began approaching his unsuspecting victims. Hendery dug his feet into the ground and struggled to keep Yukhei in place as the other agent overpowered him with his sheer physical strength, practically begging thrown around like a ragdoll. "Yukhei, no!"

"Watch our backs, okay?" Ten asked of the sniper, prying his hands off of Yukhei like an owner to a dog's leash. "Make sure security doesn't catch us, distract them a little for us. I mean I know that's our job but the wristbands are kinda important so that we don't get jumped or something. If they don't buy your act just do your little gun thing... you know the pew-pew bang-bang you do so well!"

"Why are you encouraging this?"

"Because it's fun watching you struggle." Patting the boy's shoulder for a little more reassurance, Ten turned to run after Yukhei, desperate to escape to the annoying grasp of Hendery and get right into the action. After the disaster at Xu Minghao's party, he didn't think Yukhei had any real usefulness. Though the boy was proving to be a much more fun ally than the rest of the squadron. If he had to rank the Squadron Wenshien members, it would definitely be Yukhei, Yangyang, and then all the other members at the bottom.

"Where did they go?" Ten asked in a singsong tone once he caught up to Yukhei. He jumped up and slung his arm around his neck like the taller boy was a jungle gym. Letting his feet dangle in the area for a moment before dropping to the ground completely.

"They disappeared into that container," He answered, pointing out the red container that stood a few containers away from them. The doors to the container were ajar and there was a light shining from the inside of the container, so someone was inside. "But I think someone else is in there, a seller I mean. We can't jump them with someone else watching us, they'll alert security and our cover will be blown."

"Let's just go in anyways." Ten shrugged. "We're supposed to be finding out where Yuqi is anyways. We can ask around for her location in the market while we're here and attempt to isolate those three guys from the rest of the group so that we can take their wristbands."

Yukhei nodded, smiling down at Ten. "I like the way you think, you knew you could be so smart?"

"I'm going to take that as a genuine compliment and not a backhanded one." He mumbled under his breath, though still aging Yukhei a mischievous grin back before approaching the red container.

When the two arrived at the door they immediately hid their wrist, holding their hands behind their backs or digging them deep into their pockets. They weren't sure if the sellers were snitches, but they sure weren't going to their chances.

The container was a little emptier than Ten had originally anticipated, so it seemed as though it was being used as a common area to get away from the crowded outdoors of the rest of the black market. There were only a few people inside, conversing with each other silently or counting their newfound earnings from their day of being in the market. One or two people were lighting cigarettes in the corner, trying to hide away their addiction from the others who were in the room with them as if they were drawing attention in the first place.

While there was no seller inside, Yukhei was right about people being inside of the container. At the back of the container was the trio that the two boys were looking for, huddled together and mumbling about something that Ten couldn't quite catch. "Let me handle this," the former gang member whispered to the taller agent, the mischievous smile on his face growing even wider. "I'll talk to them to bring their guard down and then lure them out of the container. Until I do so though, ask around about Yuqi."

Yukhei nodded in response, immediately splitting off from Ten as seamlessly as he could while Ten walked straightforward towards the men. There was a sort of excitement in this sort of thing, a feeling he could recall from his work with Neo. There was never going to be anything that Ten enjoyed more than using his silver tongue and quick wits to get what he wanted from others. "Excuse me good men, but you don't mind helping me out for a moment?" He asked them, the words dripping out of his mouth like honey.

Though his hands began to fall from their place behind his back, his eyes widening like a hunted animal at the sight that he had been greeted by. The two of the men turned towards the former gang member with a curious expression on their faces, stepping out of the way of the last person who stood in between them.

It was a boy a little younger than Ten, closer to Yangyang's age than anything. His face's young and delicate features contorted from confusion to eager astonishment as he shook out his raven black hair. "What a pleasure to see you again, Ten. How long has it been, three... no, four months since I last saw you in Korea?"

"Renjun," Ten responded, paralyzed by the pure dismay that was coursing throughout his body.

The ravenhead boy smiled politely at him, hiding his emotions under the mask of emotions he wore so well. "The one and only. What being you to Shanghai, you're so far from home you know." He asked the former gang member, his voice oozing with condescending and

Neo doesn't just let its younger members run off to another country unsupervised, so that meant Renjun was most likely not alone at the black market. And if Renjun wasn't alone, that meant Ten was in danger. "I've got to get out of here."

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