Chapter 34: Underground Shopping Mall

Bogotá was prettier than Arthur imagined but much colder. Despite being a tropical city on a plateau, after a light rain, it felt quite chilly.

Arthur's luggage was just a backpack, no guns, no weapons because they couldn't bring weapons to Colombia.

Just walking on the streets of Bogotá made Arthur feel nervous. Although the security in Bogotá has improved a lot in recent years, it remained one of the cities with the highest murder rates in the world. As for robbery, the less said, the better.

In Bogotá, just daring to show off a good phone could get it snatched away in minutes. So Arthur didn't dare to take out his new phone to take pictures or anything.

But Frank and John seemed fearless, strutting wherever they went. They just weren't interested in taking out their phones to snap pictures.

"This is it." Stopping to look around at the buildings, Frank nodded. "Be smart later, don't get robbed here. It's okay to lose some money, but it would be embarrassing if it got out."

John didn't care. "Even if we get robbed, you won't say anything, I won't say anything, Kung Fu Kid won't say anything. Who else would know?"

That made sense in theory, but saying it out loud felt weird.

Arthur whispered, "What are we here for?"

"To buy things."

Looking around, Arthur saw this was not a slum, but it was not a shopping area. There were no malls nearby, not even a convenience store. He didn't know what they could buy here.

"There's nothing here, why are we shopping here?"

Frank smiled. "Here, there's Colombia's largest underground mall. Let's go, stop being such a curious baby."

Curiosity killed the cat, but he couldn't help it. Arthur saw no places to buy things around, let alone an entrance to the largest underground mall.

Especially when they reached an alley in a flat-roofed area, where several men looked like gangsters. It looked dangerous no matter how you looked at it, but Frank strode confidently towards the alley.

Arthur felt nervous but still followed Frank.

There were six people at the entrance of the alley, one of them with the handle of a gun showing. The only one sitting on a chair was a burly man. After Frank walked to the entrance of the alley, the man didn't immediately rob Arthur and the others. Instead, he raised his head and looked at Frank, then said in a gentle tone, "What's up?"

He spoke in Spanish, and this was where Arthur came in handy. Arthur immediately whispered, "He's asking what we're doing?"

"Just say we're shopping."

Arthur was still somewhat surprised, but he calmly said, "Shopping."

The burly man waved his hand. Without waiting for him to say anything, Frank started walking in.

There was no point in asking anymore; it would only make him look too green. Arthur made up his mind. He wouldn't ask about any strange scenes he saw in the future.

After walking about a hundred meters in the alley, passing by a dozen or so houses, Frank stopped in front of a corrugated iron house where two people were standing at the door. The person at the door glanced at them and said sharply, "Foreigners?"

Arthur was about to translate when Frank said directly, "Tell him we're here to buy things and have an appointment with their boss."

"We're here to buy things and have an appointment with your boss."

The guard at the door looked at Arthur again, then reached out and knocked on the rolling shutter gate. The small hole in the gate opened from the inside, and the person inside looked out, then the rolling gate slowly rose.

The rolling gate only rose a third of the way, and John couldn't wait to bend down and crawl underneath, but Arthur and Frank waited until the height was enough before calmly walking in.

Behind the gate was a corridor, at the end of which was an iron gate. There were two people in the corridor. One of them pressed a button, and the outer rolling gate began to lower. After the rolling gate was completely lowered, the guard in the corridor said loudly, "Hands up, frisk."

Frank said impatiently, "You're so careful. Hurry up."

Arthur was a bit nervous but also excited because he felt like a new world was opening up to him. However, it was more accurate to say that the door to the underground world was opening up.

After being frisked obediently, the person in the corridor said loudly, "Open the door!"

The iron door inside opened, and Frank walked in first. After Arthur followed in, he found that it was indeed a place selling things inside.

Shelves filled the space, ranging from tall to short, new to old, made of both metal and wood. The variety of shelves was complex enough, and the goods on them were even more diverse.

Arthur looked at the shelf closest to him, which was full of phones. There was a whole section dedicated to iPhones, with one three-tiered shelf stretching at least ten meters, each phone tagged with a label.

Frank continued down the aisle between the shelves, but Arthur couldn't help but look at the phones. Then, to his astonishment, he found a nearly new iPhone 8 with a price tag of two hundred dollars.

"Two hundred dollars for an iPhone 8? A new iPhone 8 costs over eight hundred dollars, and they're selling it for two hundred here?"

Arthur felt like his own iPhone 8 in his pocket wasn't so great anymore. It was the first phone he bought with his own money, and now he felt like he'd been ripped off.

With a complex and heavy heart, Arthur passed through the shelves and found himself in a clear area in the middle of the supermarket, where a middle-aged man was looking at them.

"Hi, Sebastian, my friend."

Frank waved and greeted the middle-aged man warmly, then opened his arms for a friendly hug.

"Long time no see. Business is even better since you moved."

After Frank said this with a smile, he looked at Arthur and said, "Translate."

Arthur thought Sebastian would speak English, so his translation was a bit slow.

Sebastian looked to be around fifty years old, with a small beard that South Americans often favored. He was thin and wiry, but his left hand only had two fingers, and there was a long scar on his right arm that went all the way to his hand. There was also a knife scar on the corner of his mouth. At a glance, it was clear he'd been through a lot.

But Sebastian seemed to be a very friendly person. After shaking hands with John and Arthur, he gestured and said with a smile, "Come on, the things you want just arrived yesterday. Come take a look."