Chapter 1: The Su Family of Dragon City

The Catastrophe - dramatic changes in Earth's climate plunged the entire world into an ice age, drastically reducing population, depleting resources, and destroying homes. To combat the disaster, governments around the world established nine major living zones and declared humanity's entry into a new era.

In the 62nd year of the New Era, after experiencing over forty years of apocalyptic mini ice age, the establishment of political districts, resource wars, and warlord conflicts, the world finally welcomed the revival of the earth and the season of spring blooms.

From year 42 to 62, governments of major districts began large-scale consolidation of ungoverned territories awaiting planning, reorganizing resources, and fully entering a recovery phase. These twenty years came to be known as the "Golden Two Decades."

This was a magnificent era where new districts rose successively, politics set the stage, capital performed the show, ambitious individuals walked everywhere, and heroes, strongmen, villains, and grassroots figures emerged together!

...

August of year 62, world map, Dragon City in the North.

A light rail train pulled into Dragon City's Zha'nan District Station. The bustling platform consisted of red and yellow Chinese-style buildings, with nine dragon sculptures lying across the platform's dome. Above the main building hung a plaque that read "Welcome to Dragon City Chinese Living Special District."

As the arrival announcement sounded inside the train and the carriage doors slowly opened, crowds of tourists poured onto the platform. A young man around twenty-one or twenty-two years old, carrying a camouflage backpack, stood in the middle of the moving crowd and pulled out his phone.

The young man was about 1.78 meters tall, wearing loose sportswear that showed his proportionate build, neither fat nor thin. He wore black-framed glasses and had a handsome, sunny face - looking just like a college graduate out traveling.

His name was Su Tianyu. His father had been a senior political advisor in the First District Chinese Expeditionary Force, but was sentenced to life imprisonment four years ago due to political issues. Three months after the sentencing, Su's father died unexpectedly in prison. Half a year later, Su's mother, who had already been in poor health, also passed away in the hospital due to acute distress, and from then on, the Su family fell into decline.

Su Tianyu came to Dragon City for two reasons: first, to seek support from his second uncle's family, and second, to apply for civil service positions.

At the train station, just as Su Tianyu was about to make a call, someone suddenly patted his right shoulder.

"Little Six!" A familiar and hearty voice rang in Su Tianyu's ears. He quickly turned around to see a young man wearing a white cotton short-sleeve shirt, with a muscular dark build and a crew cut, standing before him.

"Second Brother!" Su Tianyu called out with a smile.

The muscular dark-skinned young man, holding the latest model phone in his right hand, looked Su Tianyu up and down before punching his shoulder: "Not bad, Dog Six, you've developed well in these four years we haven't seen each other. I'd say you could even work as a host at Oriental Charm now. Though your build looks a bit weak, might not be suitable for older clients."

"You're wrong, I've always preferred to win through technique," Su Tianyu adjusted his glasses and responded modestly.

The young man teasing Su Tianyu was called Su Tianbei, the second son of his second uncle. From his choice of words, one could tell he was somewhat unrestrained and wild - you could say he was a progressive young man with rich life experience in various aspects.

"Well, well, you can even respond to jokes like that now? Dad always said you were studious since childhood, better than all of us. Now talking to you... damn, you're already at the level of winning through technique? You really are better than me!"

"Haha!"

"Alright, I'll find a place later to check out your techniques." Su Tianbei affectionately wrapped his arm around his little brother's neck and started walking. "Come on, let's head home first."

"Why didn't Big Brother and the others come?" Su Tianyu asked curiously as they walked.

Hearing this, Su Tianbei's brow unconsciously furrowed: "Something came up at home, he's in the city district."

"What happened?" Su Tianyu pressed.

"I'll tell you in the car." Su Tianbei sighed, the joy of welcoming his brother having imperceptibly disappeared from his face.

...

The two brothers passed through the exit passage and entered the parking lot, which was surrounded by people selling local souvenirs, contraband goods, and fake watches, creating a bustling atmosphere.

Su Tianyu felt his cousin's earlier reaction was strange, so as soon as he put down his backpack in the car, he immediately asked: "What exactly happened at home?"

Su Tianbei started the car and, while driving out of the parking lot, said in a low voice: "Second Uncle was arrested for gun smuggling. The situation doesn't look good... Big Brother is working on it in the city."

"Second Uncle smuggling guns?!" Su Tianyu was very surprised: "Does our family deal with that stuff?"

Gritting his teeth, Su Tianbei cursed: "The Sanitation Management Council got a new deputy chief, he's from Changqing Company. This bastard came in wanting to redraw territory lines, messing with our business. Our old man sensed the higher-ups' intentions and wouldn't accept it, so he joined forces with three other dirty gang families in Zha'nan District, wanting to make some noise in resistance. But we didn't expect the other side to move first, setting up a trap that caught our old man and the leaders of the other three families."

"They were set up?" Su Tianyu asked.

"Yes, they found two boxes of military weapons in our garbage storage area," Su Tianbei said quietly. "Dragon City is very strict about weapons control. If these two boxes of goods are confirmed, the old man might face execution."

"What does Big Brother say?" Su Tianyu immediately asked.

"He's at his wit's end now. The Sanitation Management Council is pursuing accountability, wanting to charge us with breach of contract. The Police Bureau isn't just investigating the old man, they're trying to connect the case to our Big Brother, and Changqing Company is looking for chances to grab our territory." Su Tianbei sighed: "The family situation isn't good right now, but you don't need to worry about it. We can handle things. You just got back, so take time to adjust to the environment first...!"

Due to historical reasons, Dragon City was an overseas Chinese gathering city under EU leadership, with a very special political situation. Additionally, Dragon City's history was less than twenty years old and was in a stage of rapid development. You could say opportunities and gold were everywhere, so the government managing Dragon City was also feeling its way forward.

Corruption was rampant, with regional population clusters, various companies serving as fronts, "chambers of commerce," "business organizations," political groups, and military forces all tightly controlling different industries. Today someone might rise to power, wielding great influence; tomorrow they might make one wrong move and lose everything. Its political landscape somewhat resembled certain coastal cities from the 50s and 60s before the New Era, or Min Country in the 20s and 30s, but with a living state of high technology and low living standards - the rich were extremely rich, and the poor were desperately poor.

Dragon City's daily garbage disposal was managed by the Sanitation Management Council, which contracted all aspects of garbage cleaning to private companies by region. These companies were formed by people with strong underworld group characteristics.

Dragon City had over twenty thousand garbage processing workers. Because they were all group organizations full of underworld characteristics, and often had conflicts over territory division, they were collectively known as the Twenty Thousand Dirty Gang.

The Su family of Dragon City was a small group within the Dirty Gang, responsible for garbage processing in some areas of Zha'nan District, with eight hundred Dirty Gang workers under them.

In the car, when Su Tianyu heard about his second uncle's imprisonment, he didn't show excessive worry or panic: "Did Second Uncle leave any messages before he was arrested?"

"Before he went in, he said we must never give up the territory, even if it means death, but now... Sigh, this can't be explained in just a few words. You just arrived and don't understand the situation here, so don't worry about it," Su Tianbei replied with furrowed brows. "Damn it, if Changqing Company really wants to go all out, I'll definitely make sure they don't get away with it! Don't worry, everyone in our family knows what they're doing."

If it were someone else hearing about family trouble, they might be very anxious, constantly asking about various details and reasons, but Su Tianyu wasn't like that. There were some things where he wouldn't show his inner emotions on his face.

The original joy of family reunion was diluted by the sudden crisis in the Su family, and the two brothers couldn't feel cheerful sitting in the car, creating a somewhat heavy atmosphere as they returned home.

At the end of Tianhe Road in Zha'nan District, there was a compound of about 1,400 square meters. The overall architecture was mainly Chinese style, with many miscellaneous items and old vehicles in the courtyard, looking very lived-in, like a bustling courtyard house full of family members.

This was the Su family residence, where Second Uncle's family of more than fifty people lived.

When Su Tianyu returned, all the family members, young and old, came out to welcome him, especially a curvaceous girl with neat short hair who was very lively and happy: "Dog Six, did you miss Third Sister?!"

"I missed you so much, Third Sister!" Su Tianyu looked at his cousin sister and walked forward with a smile.

"Second Brother, Second Brother!"

Just then, a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth ran out from the courtyard, calling somewhat frantically: "There's trouble at the storage area. Changqing Company sent over seventy people, wanting to discuss the storage area with us. Little Wei called me, said their people are all carrying weapons."

At the Su family entrance, everyone looked toward the courtyard upon hearing this.

Silence, and after a brief moment of quiet, Su Tianbei immediately waved his hand and shouted: "If we can't hold the storage area today, Changqing Company will come to tear down our house tomorrow! All Su men grab your weapons and follow me!!"

"Second Brother, calm down," Third Sister immediately shouted: "Wait for Big Brother to return before deciding."

"What's there to wait for?! If we can't hold the storage area, all eight hundred workers will definitely be gone tomorrow." Su Tianbei turned and ran toward the car: "Everyone grab your stuff and follow me to the storage yard!"