Chapter 115 Market (Fu Jiang's Perspective)

Ah Li is outgoing and unrestrained. Getting along with him is like meeting an old friend you have known for a long time, and it is easy to let people down their guard.

Knowing that she is not simple, this is a trait that makes people wary.

Fu Xuan concentrated on driving and ignored her frequent questions. When Jiang Qian wanted to speak, she was interrupted by Fu Xuan.

After a while, Ali calmed down on his own accord.

When they had driven for a distance and were probably approaching the midpoint of the road connecting the two cities, Fu Xuan slowed down and began to pay attention to any traces on the roadside.

But it was late in the day, and even with the headlights illuminating the road ahead, it was hard to see the details around them. Their eyes were not as sharp as before.

Seeing this, Ali took out something shaped like a compass from his pocket, and the needle was spinning wildly inside.

“When it reaches the middle of the road, it will stop and point to the market.” She showed it to Fu Xuan, and then said, “That’s what the smugglers said.”

They drove for a distance with half belief and half doubt. When they reached a certain location, the spinning pointer really stopped and pointed steadily in a direction on the left side of the road, without moving.

Fu Xuan drove the truck off the road and turned left into the vast yellow land.

The texture of this land is between sand and hard ground. It will not cause the car to sink, nor will it make driving very smooth.

Switching from a smooth road feels unusually bumpy.

Jiang Qian's face twisted as she said, "I feel like vomiting." She had never suffered this kind of pain before.

Fu Xuan said calmly: "Bear with it." She didn't think Jiang Qian would really vomit.

"Here, motion sickness medicine." Ali took out a box of pills from his pocket and handed it over.

How could I let someone else's things enter my mouth casually, especially in such an unsafe situation where I was not sure whether they were enemies or friends? Jiang Yan refused.

Ali didn't care and took the medicine back.

After driving on the bumpy land for a while, the night swallowed up the road and direction they came from. They seemed to be in a deep darkness, with the car lights as the only source of light.

After a while, Fu Xuan seemed to see something flash in her peripheral vision. She felt so horrified that she turned the steering wheel subconsciously to avoid it. She asked with lingering fear, "Did you see it?"

Jiang Yan said, "What?" She felt dizzy and wanted to vomit, but she also had to pay attention to Ali, so she didn't have any extra attention to the outside world.

Ali said, "I saw it. That's the monster I was talking about. When you don't see it directly, it will make you feel very scared, like a conceptual characteristic. But when you really encounter it, it's just like that. The unknown amplifies the fear. It bullies the weak and fears the strong. It won't attack moving vehicles, so don't worry about it."

That sudden feeling of fear was indeed very strange. Fu Xuan recalled it again and again, but he could not remember what was particularly scary about it, and he could not even remember its appearance. It was only left with a horrifying impression.

This episode is put aside for the moment.

After driving for a while, something other than loess appeared in the direction the pointer was pointing.

The night brightened.

Dozens of vehicles of all kinds surrounded hundreds of tents, large and small, in the middle, leaving only a small path of about 100 meters through the center for people to walk. Light tubes were hung on the outer wall of each vehicle to illuminate the surrounding area.

Everyone who came and went was like Ali, wearing a loose khaki robe and an air-filtering mask.

At first glance, they all look exactly the same.

Most eyes were directed towards the approaching truck.

"Stop there." Ali pointed to the outermost truck, "Stop behind the truck to avoid parking in a place that is prone to collapse."

As soon as Fu Xuan stepped on the brakes and stopped the car behind the truck, Ali said, "Don't get out of the car yet, I'll go buy you two masks." Then he put on the wide hat of his robe, jumped out of the car, and walked quickly towards the market.

"Do you think she will come back?" Jiang Yan put down her sore hand from holding the gun, finally took some time to drink a sip of water, slowly suppressed the nausea, and asked.

"Yes, she didn't take the weapons box." Fu Xuan sorted out the weapons and equipped them all over his body. "Use your spiritual sense to follow and take a look."

"I'm following you, and there's really no time to relax." Jiang Qian's tone was slightly complaining.

Fu Xuan threw a pistol to her and said, "Why do you want to have some free time and come to play games?"

…

Ali didn't walk far before she crossed the road between the vehicles and traded with the stall owners at the market entrance.

He took out something and handed it to the stall owner, in exchange for two masks and two khaki robes.

"She exchanged motion sickness pills for a mask, saying it was a panacea. The stall owner happily accepted it and also gave her two robes," said Jiang Qian.

"Nothing's wrong, no communication with anyone. She's back."

Ali walked back against the wind and sand, and was covered in dust when he got into the car.

"Here, put them on."

She handed them the mask and robe, and without waiting for their response, she got out of the car and went to the back to get the weapons box.

The mask is an ordinary mask, with no other functions except filtering the air and protecting the eyes and ears. If necessary, the retractable tube beside the ear can be pulled out and inserted into the filter in the mouth to serve as a breathing tube when hiding underground.

The wide khaki robe is unfolded, the inner layer is white and can be worn on both sides.

"Tsk, I should have known not to throw away my trousers." Fu Xuan said as he put on his robe.

When she was being chased by the security guard, she felt that the trousers that were dragged to her ankles were too long and inconvenient, so she found an opportunity to change her trousers by taking off her shorts that were walking across the balcony.

It’s windy and dusty now, so shorts are inconvenient to wear.

"It's the same if I put on a robe," Jiang Yan said. She didn't have this worry, because she was wearing a security guard uniform with short sleeves and long pants, which fit her well and didn't make her feel hot.

They put on their robes and masks.

Equip pistols, daggers, grenades, electric batons, flash bombs, etc. inside the robe;

A shiny machine gun was hung outside the robe.

After they were equipped, they opened the door and got out.

As soon as I got off the car, hot wind blew up the dust.

The long robe that reached down to her shoes shielded Fu Xuan from the dry dust. She raised her hand and her sleeves slid down. The strong wind blew the fine dust and hit her skin. It felt tingling at first, but after a while it started to hurt.

She lowered her hands, letting her long, wide sleeves fall to cover her skin.

She looked at the market entrance not far away, her breathing clearly audible through the mask.

The mask can prevent you from inhaling dust while breathing, but your vision will inevitably be a little blurry.

"Let's go." Ali came from behind the car carrying a weapons box.

They walked towards those people's gazes.

After entering the market, the wind suddenly died down. The tents at the market were carefully placed in a cross shape with the wind direction, blocking some of the wind.

There are hundreds of people here, all dressed the same, crowded together in an almost unrecognizable way.

"Follow me closely." Ali said loudly, "The contact person is inside."

They followed the crowded crowd inside.

Jiang Yan looked around.

The tents are big and small, some are broken and some are new.

The tent is facing away from the wind - the one facing the wind is blocked by the wind because of the tent opposite.

Each tent owner sat in his tent and displayed his wares facing the entrance. These wares included weapons, food, medicine, maps, information...

Some tent owners do not display their products outside, but ask customers to go into the tent to communicate.

Fu Xuan noticed that although the people here would pay attention to them, they would quickly look away, and no one would come forward to teach them about female virtues like the faceless man before.

Is it because this is a concentration camp for criminals? They don't care about that at all?

No, there must be another reason.

It looked chaotic, but it was actually in good order. What was even more strange was that no one was seen maintaining order.

Ali was walking in front, and there were so many people here that it was not a good time to ask questions.

They walked to the center of the market, where there was a very large tent, larger than the other tents.

Even more unique than the size of the tent was that the zipper at the door was completely closed and there was no tent owner soliciting business.

The people passing by ignored it, neither felt strange nor puzzled, and walked past as usual. No one showed any intention of unzipping their pants and going in.

It seems that this "contact person" must have been here for some time and has a certain status, Fu Xuan judged.

Ali knocked on the tent door and said, "Hello, I'm from the smuggling team, and I'm here to deliver the goods."

"Come in." A hoarse female voice came from inside. After speaking, she coughed a few times due to a sore throat.

Ali unzipped the door connecting the inside and outside, bent down and walked in first.

Fu Xuan glanced at the door to make sure there were no extra ambushes inside, and waited for Jiang Yan to nod before walking in.

As soon as you enter, you are instantly separated from the windy and sandy outside world, and a warm and peaceful feeling envelops your whole body.

The air is filled with a light and elegant fragrance, which makes people relax.

The tent is six meters long and wide, which is considered to be very spacious. The most eye-catching thing is the soft couch less than half a meter high in the center of the space.

The couch was covered with colorful plaid cloth. A middle-aged woman sat cross-legged on it, with her waist hunched and her head lowered, looking listless.

There was a strong sense of weakness caused by illness. She looked listless and there was nothing special about her.

Very different from the contact person I imagined.

"Hello, I'm from the smuggling team and I'm here to keep an appointment." Ali placed the weapon box on the couch next to the woman's hand and half-knelt to talk to her. "This is the weapon that I reserved to exchange for the method of leaving this layer of bricks."

"Hmm..." The middle-aged woman glanced at her and raised her head - this movement was extremely slow, as if it took all her strength.

She looked at Fu Xuan standing at the door with her cloudy eyes, then looked at Jiang Qian who was curiously looking at the furnishings in the tent, and said slowly: "If you want to leave here... you have to find the legendary savior."

"The savior... can, can open up... a passage... to other building blocks. When the savior... leaves, the others... can naturally... also... leave... cough cough cough..."

She was already speaking very slowly, but she still started coughing violently. Ali quickly poured her a glass of water from the kettle beside her.

After drinking some water to slow down, she continued, "As for...how to...find...the savior...when she appears...the alarm...will naturally...sound."

Ali nodded to show that he understood, thanked her politely, asked her to take care of herself, and then pulled Fu Xuan and Jiang Qian out of the tent.

"Who is the savior? What is the alarm?" Fu Xuan asked.

Ali zipped up his pants and led them through the middle of the tents, out of the center of the market, and to the edge.

The stalls here are basically propped up in the wind direction with a piece of cloth to block the wind. Obviously, the conditions are not as good as those on the central road.

Ali led them over and frowned as he said, "I heard from the smugglers that the Savior is a legendary person who can destroy the entire building block. She will appear randomly on different floors, and once she appears, an alarm will sound throughout the entire floor of the building block."

It sounds very special, will this be the main quest?

Fu Xuan and Jiang Qian looked at each other, and Fu Xuan said, "Will the people here know more information?"

Ali said, “It’s possible.”

After clarifying that the currency used for transactions here could be anything of value, Fu Xuan looked around and found a stall that was the least popular.

She squatted down to look at the merchandise, picked out a piece of paper labeled [25th Floor Map], and said, "How much is this?"

The stall owner said, "This is not guaranteed to be accurate, it's not expensive, what can you give me?"

Fu Xuan was still thinking, but Ali interrupted and said, "A tablet of panacea."

Hearing the voice, the stall owner looked up at her and said, "...Okay, I won't cheat you. What do you like? I can add some more."

Fu Xuan withdrew his gaze from Ali and the stall owner, picked up the 25th floor map and sickle, and said, "Take the sickle, and add a message about the savior."

The stall owner said, "Of course, we can... But let me make it clear in advance that we don't know much about the savior."

...seems like he's worried that they'll run away halfway.

Ah Li threw a box of medicine into the stall owner's arms, and the stall owner said, "The sheriff said that the savior will destroy the building block world and make us all disappear.

"The police said:

“She’s a woman;

“She was able to jump around in the blocks;

“She possesses powers beyond those of ordinary people and can deprive others of their powers at will.

"As the public security said, once she shows up, the alarm bells will ring."

The stall owner shrugged casually, "That's all I know."

Jiang Yan asked: "Did they say when the savior would appear?"

The stall owner said, "What do you mean? If you mean the time of her birth, then she was born with the world of blocks. She is immortal.

"If you're referring to the time when she appeared on our floor and destroyed the bricks on this floor, only the God of Rules knows that."

Fu Xuan said: "The God of Rules?"

"They are the ones who make and enforce the rules." The stall owner impatiently lifted up the four corners of the cloth under the goods and wrapped them up. "Could it be that so many rules were formed naturally?"

"Okay, it's time to close the stall. The transaction is over."

They looked around and saw that the stalls in the market were being packed up.

Ali explained, "It will be the monster's time to act soon. Everyone will go back to the car. Let's go back too."

They walked toward their truck.