2

"Hmm... I have some here. Are you injured? I only have one bottle. Do you want it?"

Shen Ruoqiu bit her lip. The organization had clearly stated that strategic materials like morphine must never be sold, but looking at Lu Chen's expectant eyes, she uncontrollably agreed.

"One bottle should be fine, right?"

Shen Ruoqiu thought to herself.

"How much?"

Disappointment flashed in Lu Chen's eyes. There was only one bottle. But it was alright. He then reached into his pocket, clutching the few remaining legal tender coins, feeling somewhat troubled.

I only have this much money on me right now. I gave all my military police salary to my sister as soon as I got paid, and I don't know if it's enough.

"Never mind, it's just one bottle, I'll leave it for free. You wait here, I'll go get it for you."

Shen Ruoqiu waved her hand, "It's just a bottle of morphine, why would I need money?" She then turned around and went back into the house to get the morphine.

"Oh, how could I possibly accept this?"

Lu Chen tried to stop him, but his hand had already been taken out of his pocket.

If she doesn't want it, then so be it; it's her who doesn't want it.

Here, take it.

Shen Ruoqiu quickly came out of the house and handed the bottle of morphine to Lu Chen.

"Thank you, miss, thank you, miss."

Lu Chen took it and glanced at it, his face full of smiles, but inwardly he was complaining.

"This is morphine? No wonder it's free. The bottle is so small; I thought there was more."

The bottle of morphine was only about the size of half of Lu Chen's thumb. He had originally thought it would be at least the size of a hand, but it turned out to be just this little bit.

"What kind of address is 'Miss'? It sounds awful. We're all Chinese, can't you just call me 'girl'?"

Shen Ruoqiu rolled her eyes at Lu Chen, and even emphasized the word "Miss".

Lu Chen was taken aback, and quickly changed his words, "Thank you, young lady, but I have other matters to attend to, so I'll be leaving now."

Lu Chen bid farewell and then walked away into the distance.

Shen Ruoqiu stood there, hesitant to speak, looking at her lower abdomen, and couldn't help but feel annoyed. Why did she expect him to recognize her?

......

"Come on, smell it, remember this smell, it's called morphine, remember the name too."

After walking some distance to a secluded corner, Lu Chen opened the morphine, and several rats surrounded him, sniffing it intently.

"Squeak squeak".

Lu Chen only put it away after the rats and the others had memorized it.

"Don't bring any rats this time. Go find this thing yourselves, then come back and tell me. Remember, don't get caught."

Since he couldn't find morphine himself, he could send the rats, who had a keen sense of smell, to look for it and then come back to tell him when they found it.

"Squeak squeak".

"Rat Two..." Rat Six replied, jumped to the ground, and disappeared in a short while.

"I need to go and fleece Old Deng."

Lu Chen weighed the morphine in his hand and stroked his chin. He wanted to get some fiat currency from Kuroda, since he was known for his generosity.

Besides, morphine isn't cheap in the current situation, so we can get more.

Thinking of this, Lu Chen walked towards the Japanese concession again, and the process was the same as before: badges and body searches.

Arriving at Kuroda's office again, Lu Chen waited outside for a while before knocking and going in, since there was no sound coming from inside and he couldn't eavesdrop.

The moment the door opened, Lu Chen's expression immediately changed to one of excitement.

"Colonel Kuroda, after you gave me the mission, I went straight to the Chinese-controlled area and searched for clinics one by one. I didn't expect to find it in the second clinic."

Lu Chen, panting heavily, placed his hands on his knees and handed the morphine to Colonel Kuroda. Of course, his exhausted appearance was just an act.

Otherwise, it would be illogical for someone to find something so quickly after just receiving a mission.

"Mr. Lu, don't get excited. Have some tea first."

After confirming that it was morphine from the small bottle in his hand, Colonel Kuroda was very pleased and even poured Lu Chen a cup of tea himself.

After Lu Chen finished drinking his tea and his breathing calmed down, Kuroda finally spoke.

"Did Lu only find this one bottle?"

"No, Colonel, the clinic I contacted has many options. He also said he has connections and can get any amount of morphine as long as you have the money, but it's a bit expensive."

Lu Chen shook his head; these were words he had spoken after careful consideration.

The purpose of saying this was to prevent Kuroda from directly sending Japanese troops to plunder, and also to get some legal tender from Kuroda to spend.

"Yes, Mr. Lu, you did a good job."

Colonel Kuroda nodded, but his expression was somewhat hesitant. He stared at the morphine in his hand for a while before looking up at Lu Chen.

"Please wait here for a moment, Mr. Lu. I'll have someone send some legal tender over. Mr. Lu, go and get some morphine for the Empire right now."

"Colonel, I'm afraid that won't work. The boss said that if it's a large quantity, it can only be delivered tomorrow."

Lu Chen hurriedly spoke up: Kuroda told him to get morphine right now, but where was he supposed to get it? He had just sent Rat Two and the others to look for it; even if they did it quickly, they wouldn't get any news until tonight.

"Alright, then thank you for bringing the morphine to Tegoty tomorrow, Mr. Lu."

Kuroda had no doubts. He patted Lu Chen on the shoulder and walked out of the office, leaving Lu Chen to wait there.

boom......

When he heard the door close behind him, Lu Chen could no longer contain himself and a smile crept onto his face.

This time, we'll probably be able to get a lot of legal tender from the Japanese army again, and then we won't have to worry about legal tender anymore. My sister can stay at home and won't have to go out to find a job.

Thinking of this, Lu Chen's tense nerves relaxed a little.

Just a few minutes later, the door behind him was opened again. Lu Chen looked and saw that Kuroda had come in, followed by two Japanese soldiers carrying a wooden box.

"Lord Lu, this is the funding and the Empire's reward to you."

Colonel Kuroda opened the wooden crate, which was filled with a box full of Chinese currency, roughly estimated to be over 100,000.

"There is a total of 120,000 yuan here. 100,000 is for buying morphine, and the other 20,000 is a reward for Mr. Lu."

As he spoke, Kuroda had the two Japanese soldiers carry the wooden box to Lu Chen.

"Yes, Colonel! I will certainly live up to the Empire's expectations!"

Lu Chen answered loudly, and in his excitement, he even saluted Kuroda.

Kuroda smiled and nodded, indicating that he could now leave with the money.

"Luckily, I'm used to wearing coats now."

With an excited heart and trembling hands, Lu Chen's coat pockets were large enough to hold quite a lot, not to mention the additional large pocket inside, which could easily carry all the legal tender.

After letting Rat return to his hometown and stuff the legal tender into his pocket, Lu Chen made a passionate declaration of loyalty to Kuroda before leaving the Japanese concession.

However, what puzzled Lu Chen was why there was still residual heat on the banknotes. Moreover, the smell when the wooden box was opened felt very familiar to Lu Chen.

It smells exactly like the new books that were handed out when school started in my previous life—the smell of ink and paper.

Shaking his head, unable to figure out the reason, he simply stopped thinking about it. Anyway, this legal tender was real money, and as long as it could be used, that was fine.