It’s Not Easy Making Money In the Apocalypse - It’s Not Easy Making Money In the Apocalypse – V5 - Chapter 5

I sat next to Lily, and a waiter appeared almost immediately to take my order. I felt a bit stiff next to her. I couldn’t turn to her to talk reasonably, and I could feel her body pressed against mine.

“I’ll just have a coke,” I ordered after a second.

There were no menus at the table and I felt too embarrassed to ask for one. I wasn’t that hungry anyway. After traveling from wasteland restaurant to wasteland restaurant and seeing the kinds of things they ate, I was quite happy not eating.

“A coke? If you insist…” The man raised an eyebrow. “And you, his big sister, I presume?”

“He might call me big sister.” She suddenly wrapped her arm around my shoulder, putting a hand on my chest. “When we’re having fun.”

The waiter froze, and I stiffened a bit too. Lily was always so hard to read. Was she coming onto me? She might have been drinking, so was this a drunken outburst.

“S-sorry for…” The waiter managed to mumble out a weak apology.

“Just get me a beer, a margarita, and two tequila shots with lime.”

“Y-yes!” He nodded, but then he shot me a strangely hostile look.

She pulled me even closer, and he finally looked away, walking off. We remained like that with only the loud music accompanying us before I finally worked up the courage to speak.

“What are you doing, Lily?” I asked, watching her from the side of my vision without turning my head toward her.

If I did turn toward her, she was close enough that our lips would only be a few centimeters apart.

“That waiter was looking down on you. He was treating you like a kid who didn’t deserve a girl like me. I thought you’d enjoy showing him up.”

That was what it was. I felt a bit foolish for thinking these might be her inner feelings. Always socially attuned, she thought she’d butter me up with this kind of favor. In some ways, it did make my heart beat a bit. However, I refused to admit it.

“I don’t care what the waiter thinks,” I said instead. “You want something, right?”

She hesitated for a second, and then finally pulled away from me, looking me up and down consideringly. At that point, the waiter returned. He put our drinks down. When putting her many drinks down, he gave her a warm, almost flirtatious smile. She didn’t glance his way at all. I thanked him when he put my coke down, but he snorted and turned away. The difference in treatment was clear.

“You don’t care…” She pushed the beer and one of the shots toward me, and then picked up the margarita and took a sip. “That’s why you intrigue me. I’m still trying to figure out what makes you tick.”

“Giving alcohol to a minor?” I looked down at the shot and the beer in front of me.

“What minor?” She asked innocently. “You need to be 21 to drink… or to use the auction house. I imagine your license says you’re 21?”

“It does…” I responded stiffly.

She didn’t sound threatening, but she seemed to be reminding me that all the things I wanted to do required that I be 21. Of course, Caleb had printed me up fake documents, and with Cecelia, I had even made casual online checks revealing me to be 21.

“So does mine.” She smirked, putting down the fruity drinking and grabbing the shot. “Shall we toast?”

I frowned, wondering if she meant that she was older than 21 while claiming to be 21, if she was younger and also had fake identification, or if she meant she was 21. Honestly, it could be any of those.

I decided not to think about it too hard and humor her instead. I picked up my shot and the pair of us clinked it. She down hers, and I drank mine. I had never drunk hard alcohol before. It immediately burned going down, and I barely kept myself from coughing. My eyes still watered though.

To keep Lily from seeing my weakness, I looked away. “Are you going to tell me why you wanted to meet now?”

“You’re always all business, as usual.” She sighed. “In that case, I’ll just state that your activities have been noticed by my higher-ups.”

“Your higher-ups?”

“Yes, the Chloe Auction House is merely one of the many fronts that our superiors use.” She spoke mysteriously before sipping on her drink again.

“Front? For what?”

“Money, Daniel.” She spoke casually as if it was the most obvious thing. “Money moves, and the rich control that money. Chloe’s Auction House is a means of moving money, assets, amongst the ultrawealthy, and they’ve taken a notice of you.”

I didn’t know what to say. “I’m hardly close to being ultra-rich.”

She let out a laugh like I had said something funny, her hand touching my arm briefly before pulling away. “I would think not. However, the people I work for are always on the lookout for… unique individuals that they believe will bring something to the table.”

“Something… as in money?”

“What else is there?” She raised an eyebrow in amusement.

I didn’t think that my actions would draw the attention of the sharks so quickly. I had presumed I was either too small of a fish to notice or I wasn’t creating a big enough splash. These guys were more observant than I expected. I supposed they had to be to become ultrarich in the first place. The question became if they were the type who were out there to tear me down or if they were looking to protect me from other predators so that we could mutually benefit.

“They figured all of that from dinosaur bones?” I spoke out loud before I could help myself.

“It’s not just the bones.” She waved her hand. “Or the jewels you acquired earlier. Well, it’s part of that. The items you sold have identification. Some of the jewels had a laser inscription on them. Furthermore, those bones you gave me were marked as they came from a museum.”

I jerked up. “I didn’t steal them!”

Well, technically I had, but it was from a world that had long collapsed. They had no value and were just lying around. Anyone who would have cared about those things was long dead.

“I wasn’t saying you were. If these items had been claimed by another, we’d be having a very different conversation.” She responded. “However, it does create an interesting question on where you’re able to obtain such things.”

I frowned. “I used your services under the assumption that I would be having anonymity. If this is how the Chloe Auction House conducts business…”

A flash appeared in Lily’s eyes as I started to stand up. She reached out and grabbed my shoulder.

“Please!” Her eyes seemed generally worried. “You’re misunderstanding me. I’m not trying to pry into your personal affairs, nor am I trying to threaten you. The higher-ups are simply wanting to talk.”

“If they want to talk with me, they can contact me directly.”

“That’s not how this works…” She began, but then froze as she saw the look on my face.

“You seem to think that I need you,” I responded. “I used your services because they were convenient to me. However, I have other options.”

“If you’re talking about Mizuki, her father just put a freeze on her assets. He isn’t as excited about helping you as his daughter is. Her assistance here forth will be limited.” Lily spoke quickly like she was afraid I’d interrupt her. “So, don’t be so hasty to throw us away just because you procured some startup funds. You’re still young and inexperienced. You’ll need financers.”

“Maybe… but they sure as hell won’t come from rich old men who are too frightened to even show me their faces.”

The businesswoman smile she always held on her face had finally slipped. “You won’t have a choice. These guys… own everything. They’re not the kind of people who can be ignored.”

“I wonder about that.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but then her phone started ringing. “Just give me one second.”

She picked up the phone and when she saw the number, her face grew white. She put it up to her ear.

“Well?”

Lily gave me a quick look of irritation, but the word hadn’t been for her.

“The person who called Lily is one of these shadowy rich people. I know what you want. You want information on them. Unfortunately, they don’t leave much of a presence. I’ve been able to discover the name of the organization.” Cecelia explained.

“It’s not the Illuminati, is it?” I had picked up the beer on the table and used it to hide my mouth as I whispered into the Perco.

“Don’t be absurd,” Cecelia responded. “There is no such thing. This group also doesn’t care about power or control. Just money.”

“Oh, just that?” I responded bitterly.

“They call themselves the Alliance of the Coin.”

“Daniel,” Lily spoke quietly, finally holding her head away from the phone.

“Yes?” I lowered my drink, having only sipped away the bubbles.

“He’d like to speak to you.” She held out the phone.

I looked at it for a moment, but couldn’t think of a reason to deny her request. I lifted the phone to my ear.

“Yes?”

“I don’t dislike being distrustful and cautious. These are good traits in an up-and-coming entrepreneur.” A deep voice came from the other end of the line.

“Who are you?”

“That’s not important. I’m only contacting you because you’ve shown an ability to get a hold of things, things that shouldn’t exist.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Maybe you don’t. Maybe I’m wasting my time. In reality, you’re just a fruit fly in the grand scheme of the world economic forum. However, there is something I want, something that money cannot buy. I wonder if it is something you can get for me.”

“Why should I help?”

He let out a dark chuckle. “It’s good to owe people in high places a favor. However, if that’s not enough for you, then I will pay you five million dollars, and membership into our organization. You shouldn’t take the offer lightly. Such membership could usually not be obtained without extraordinary wealth.”

“I’ll earn it eventually…” I frowned.

“Hehe… perhaps. In the rat race of finance, people rise and fall. Things happen and nothing is certain. However, your rise will be far easier if you’re part of us.”

“You? You mean the Alliance of the Coin?”

“Please, Daniel. No one uses that name. You can just call us… Allco.”