Shekh: "We'll know once we arrest one and check him."

“I already tested it with my life force, just now when I put my arm around the guard’s shoulder.” Shi Jinzhe lay on his side, propping his head up with one hand, revealing a hint of helplessness. “Nothing was wrong, just an ordinary person, around twenty-four years old.”

"This means the problem isn't with ordinary people, but with those who have status and position. I still have to go to Gao Lun's house tonight."

“Alright, after we check his body, we’ll just take the tunnel to the Tower of Faith and explore it first before deciding whether to go.” Shi Jinzhe tapped the wall by the bedside to remind Pu Sheng and Ji Hui in the next room to come over later.

Ten minutes later.

The five people regrouped.

Shi Jinzhe said, "Today we won't actively inquire about information. Everyone should wander around the city during the day, going as far as possible, mainly to observe the natives. Information filtering will still be mainly done by the Queen and Madam Mo."

Pusheng: "Should we split up?"

"Don't separate," Shi Jinzhe instructed Yan Ruoying. "Especially you, you must stay close to the group."

Plans can change, and accidents can happen at any time. Yan Ruoying's lucky card is a variable that must be protected.

Yan Ruoying: "I understand."

"Okay, let's go out then."

…

The sun was blazing in the clear, cloudless sky. It was so hot that there were fewer people on the street than yesterday.

Shekh changed her veil into a wide-brimmed hat, casting a shadow on the upper half of her face. You wouldn't notice the semi-transparent ribbon over her eyes unless you looked closely.

The five of them didn't attract much attention; they walked around, stopping occasionally to chat, looking like young people out having fun.

From dawn to dusk, walking from District 4 to District 17, the further away from the central area, the simpler the buildings become. It is rare to see brightly colored clothes on the indigenous people walking on the road, and garbage can be seen everywhere on the roadside.

Shekh dodged the strange object at his feet, a soft, grayish-black mass with no specific shape and a few tufts of stiff hair sticking out.

It took her a long time to recognize that it was a dead rat, or a rat whose head was the only thing left.

Yan Ruoying pressed her finger to her nose. "Ever since we passed District Fourteen, we haven't seen any more street vendors. Districts Fifteen and Sixteen were barely acceptable, but District Seventeen is like..."

When she saw someone walk by, she waited until the disheveled indigenous person was far away before continuing in a low voice, "It's like a garbage dump."

Pu Sheng: "I feel like the people here haven't taken a shower. When that person walked past me, I could see fleas on his hair."

Yan Ruoying: "If District 17 is like this, I really can't imagine what the other districts will be like. Will anyone still be able to live there?"

“It’s possible that no one lives here.” Ji Hui jumped over a puddle, avoiding the excrement in the middle of the water. “We’ve walked for so long and haven’t seen any farmland. So many people need to eat. Maybe there’s farmland ahead.”

Yan Ruoying dared not think: "...It must be that when the farmland is being cultivated and the grain is being transported, it passes through this area."

Ji Hui: "Perhaps there is another way."

“Speaking of roads…” Pu Sheng tilted his head back, “Have you noticed that the city’s zoning is so regular? From the central district down to the seventeenth district, it’s basically a straight line. Without rivers, normal cities rarely have such a design and planning.”

"There are no rivers, but there are city walls."

Shi Jinzhe looked towards the white wall on the horizon, "First came the wall, then the city. This white wall appeared even before the country."

White walls, white pagoda.

For some reason, he inexplicably recalled the white maze where he had first met Shekh.