Chapter 512

Arthur cracked his neck from side-to-side as he waited in line to get into the first of the Bhutanese Towers. Located in the capital of Thimpu, the surroundings of the Tower had been bulldozed and torn down. A large, external wall stood not too far away, locking in the Tower if problems occurred; but the inside, cleared fields these days were filled with ramshackle huts and container stores.

The wait to get into the Tower was quite high, even for those Climbers who had completed entrance before, and that had a lot to do with the sheer volume of individuals seeking to enter this Tower. That, and the constant buzz as family and friends of the Climbers chatted with the Climbers, seeking to give advice, calm nerves and otherwise ready the newcomers.

That was, in fact, what two thirds of the stores around here were for. They rented or sold gear to those entering the Tower, a full and vibrant economy of used armour and weaponry being offered to those entering. Everything from guns – mostly pistols, some shotguns and the occasional assault rifle – to melee and ranged weapons were available. For ranged weaponry, a quick verification of required training badges were necessary before rental was made, for everything else, a deposit was required.

“That… looks low,” Arthur said, frowning at the deposit amount he glimpsed in the big signs before each of the stores.

“They only need three or four survivors before they breakeven on most of their equipment,” Mel pointed out. “So the deposit only needs to cover a quarter of the cost. The government also provides a subsidy at the level for lost equipment, after six months. Keeps the businesses liquid.”

“And the government run store keeps the rest of them honest,” Arthur said, nodding to the bigger and only official-looking store in the distance. There were very few – in comparison – potential Climbers visiting the building, even if it was thrice the size of the average container store. Most likely because their equipment was older and more expensive.

“Exactly.” Mel chuckled. “Manager Kong wants our thoughts on this. If the Clan is willing to maybe do something similar in Malaysia.”

“No way ah,” Jan said. “We got ten towers! Here, they have it so easy, only six.”

“She’s not wrong.” Arthur muttered. “Six floors, and they’re considered pretty easy – though a bit heavy on the ranged side.”

“It’s why my father wants to get in here,” Rick said. “We can introduce firearm ranges, bring in more firing coaches and teach people how to shoot. They’re still using pistols when they should be using assault rifles, with a backup of a pistol if necessary…”

“Expensive lah,” Yao Jing said. “Bullets always expensive…”

“We’ll get classes on reloading too and gunsmithing. There are two ranged Towers in this country and the other two are just as fine for firearms. If they weren’t so against us…” Rick sighed. “Damn Colt…”

“Colt?” Arthur asked.

“Surely you know?” Rick said, then seeing the blank look on Arthur’s face he sighed. “They were the first ones to realise the possibilities here. About three years in, when things had settled somewhat in the US. They came over hard and the government rolled out the red carpet. Except, of course, they screwed it up for themselves and the rest of us.”

“How?”

“How else? Took too much, jacked up the prices. Tried to bribe government officials and the gangs so that they

“Isn’t it illegal to bribe people? For your companies?” Jan said, curiously.

“I heard about that,” Uswah muttered. “Some law?”

“It’s gone. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977,” Rick said. “Not that it mattered. We used to just find other companies or people to do our dirty work for us. Now, it’s just a little more open about it, though not too much. The public doesn’t need to know.”

“So, your Colt company bribed people to lock out others, jacked up prices and cut open the golden goose. Left the place broken and the government decided to stop letting in everyone else?” Arthur said.

“Pretty much, though we weren’t the only ones. Some Canadian mining company was making a mess of things further north too, and a few other places. When they realised how much power they could have, they made a choice. Now, they run off the visitor revenue and keep up a bunch of automated factories for everything else they need.”

Arthur nodded, having noted how everything was a couple of generations behind for the most part. However, that mattered little when the cost of everyday goods was so low, that things like mobile phones and the like could be greated on a generic pattern and worked well enough. The other side of automation when everything was cheap was that unless you really wanted the latest versions of everything, life itself was cheap. Add in the fact that the new middle and upper class were Climbers, and Bhutan was fast on track to becoming one of the richest countries per capita out there.

Once more, the group shuffled forward. Thankfully, their line wasn’t the super long snaking one of the other side, so it would take only a half hour to get forward. Not the multi-hour process of the other Tower, what with the number of visitors. Some of whom sported the very tourist looking, a few overconfident influencers on their phones one last time.

Arthur sighed, and turned away from that group. Too many idiots went in, thinking it’d be easy, and never come back out. The Tower didn’t care how many fans you had.

Not far, on the opposite end where Climbers were exiting the Tower, they were being checked over; quick verification of Tower Stones completed by the attendants before the Climbers would be accosted by attendants. Many checking over the clothing and armour being worn before drawing said borrower over to be stripped, their gear checked against records and a hard sell on their remaining beast stones arriving not long after.

Which made sense but annoyed Arthur at the blatant exploitation.

“Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to work with your family, Rick.” Lips pressed together, he added. “So long as we play nice, right?”

“We’re the MacKenzies. We do fair and consistent and play the long game.” Rick sniffed. “And we don’t sell out people.”

“We’ll hold you to that,” Mel murmured.

Arthur noted the small glint in her eyes as she stared at the yawning portal. She had not been in one for a while. Then again, this one shouldn’t take long. After all, it was but six floors. How hard could it be?