Chapter 141 Smugglers

The fireplace door was closed to block out the firelight, the candles on the table were blown out, and darkness fell again.

Hearing Bai Jiyue's breathing getting heavier, Ji Weihang comforted her, "It will light up soon."

Ji Weihang opened the door and a short figure rushed into the room quickly and silently. She glanced at the cloak made of rags and the large bamboo basket behind the person, closed the door and whispered, "Light the lamp."

Bai Jiuyue, who was standing by the candlestick, immediately lit the lamp in the dark.

The lights came on and Ji Weihang walked towards the fireplace.

Seeing her walk inside, the stranger in the house immediately stepped back vigilantly, and when he realized that her target was the fireplace, his tense body relaxed slightly.

Pulling open the fireplace door, the firelight illuminated the room, casting warm colors, and also illuminated the stranger's sharp eyes under his thick, inky eyebrows.

Bai Jiyue sat down at the candlestick table, looked at the stranger and asked, "Who are you?"

Ji Weihang, who was standing in front of the fireplace, also looked at the man and said, "Would you like to let us see your face?"

The man pulled down the gray cloth covering the lower half of his face, revealing his mouth and nose, and said in a low, muffled voice, "I am the smuggler Agre."

Although there are some changes, they can still see...

What is Ager? Isn’t it just the teenage version of Wu Li?

Noticing their looks, Aggere was keenly aware of something and said, "Have you seen other people?" Her shoulders drooped and she put down the big bamboo basket behind her, as if she had lowered her guard. "My name is Aggere, don't call me by the wrong name."

"Ager" looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old. He was not tall, about 1.5 meters, but he was very strong, with muscular arms under his cloak.

She took off her cape, revealing a tank top made of colorful plaid fabric and matching trousers.

His eyes flickered between the two silent people, "Why aren't you talking?"

Looking at Ji Weihang, Bai Jiyue asked, "Where are you from?"

Ager was sitting on a narrow wooden bed with a large bamboo basket at his feet. "A house nearby. The thermal imager detected your presence. After you entered the house and turned on the lights, I came to do business. You should have read the precautions, right?"

She patted her chest proudly and said, "I posted them one by one."

Ji Weihang spoke up: "Is there no one else here? Did you cover all the rooms by yourself?"

Just now when I was outside, I took a quick look and saw that there were at least dozens of houses here.

Agre said: "There are people, but everyone stays at home and doesn't go out casually. I paste the stickers in the empty houses, and I paste the stickers for the houses that are occupied."

Bai Jiuyue said: "Is there anything special here? Do you know how to leave this layer of building blocks and go to other layers?" She didn't directly ask how to destroy this layer. This kind of thing would not be a good thing for the locals.

Agger said: "If I knew, wouldn't I have left long ago? So far, only people have come from other layers. No one has left, or no one knows if they left."

Ji Weihang said: "Does darkness have consciousness?" Xiao Le before was conscious, and he also knew that it came from the sixty-sixth floor.

"What kind of question is that? Who knows?" Agger said sarcastically, "Dark creatures do have consciousness. Why don't you ask them if darkness has consciousness?"

Ji Weihang said, "I'll try."

Agerre's face showed an incredible expression: "Are you sick? I was just talking nonsense. You want to communicate with dark creatures? You have to talk to them. Didn't you read what the precautions say? You can't talk. They like quietness. If you talk to them, you will die!"

Ji Weihang hummed indifferently, obviously not taking it to heart. Agre looked at Bai Jiyue and said, "This sister has a problem with her brain. You have to be careful."

The senior must have his own ideas. Bai Jiyue changed the subject and asked, "What products do you have?"

Seeing Bai Jiyue's indifference, Agere also felt that she was also sick, but it had nothing to do with the merchants. Open the bamboo basket board, and wooden boards of different lengths and heights pop out, turning into wooden racks, on which various goods are placed.

"Compressed biscuits, maps, candles, matches, thermal imagers, feathers of dark creatures, everything." Agger said proudly, "Because it is inconvenient to carry too many things when going out, some of the goods are left at the base. If you are sure you want to buy them, I can go back to the base to get them."

Bai Jiyue glanced at the dazzling array of wooden shelves. Although there was nothing she wanted, she still pretended to be somewhat interested and said awkwardly, "We don't have the money here."

Agger said: "We don't use money either. Our traditional way is to barter. The most basic currency is cloth. It's very cold in the winter, and most people will accumulate cloth. In addition, your weapons, clothes, hair, etc. can all be used as currency."

Bai Jiyue asked curiously: "How much is hair worth?"

"Cut your black hair here," Agger gestured to the distance to the top of the ear, "you can exchange it for three packs of compressed biscuits or three candles. A doll made with real hair, placed outside the town, is the best trap." Turning his eyes to Ji Weihang, he said with some regret, "In fact, white hair would be more valuable because it is very conspicuous, but it seems that you have no hair to sell."

Bai Jiuyue had no intention of selling her hair. Firstly, she didn't want others to know that she might have encountered an adventure once she returned to Ji Jiang Continent; secondly, this business would be a complete loss for her and she didn't need the goods.

Ji Weihang walked to the bamboo baskets and wooden racks, looked through the merchandise, and asked casually, "Where do you get all these merchandise from? If I want a large number of feathers of dark creatures, can you get them for me?"

Forget about candles, which are not difficult to make at home. But things like scissors, thermal imagers, and feathers of dark creatures must have a place of origin. How can these things be made in this place that requires quietness and darkness?

Smuggling means transporting something from one place to another in violation of the law.

Where is the country of origin? What legal regulation is being evaded?

"What do you want to do with so many feathers?" Agger is not a fool. She would not directly tell strangers her secret to making money.

Ji Weihang looked at her and felt that beating around the bush was useless and would only alert the other party, so he got straight to the point: "I want to know how you got the feathers from the dark creatures, and how the merchants communicated with each other."

Bai Jiuyue nodded in agreement.

Agre looked at Ji Weihang's hand pressing on the bamboo basket, and could only suppress the idea of running away with the goods. He said in a bad tone: "Why should I tell you our industry secrets?"

Ji Weihang said: "Is it related to the players?"

"..." Agger looked her up and down, confirming that he had never seen her before, "How do you know?"

Ji Weihang motioned for Bai Jiuyue to speak, and Bai Jiuyue explained, "Since you posted the precautions, this rule is very likely from your hands. It clearly states that it was 'co-written by local residents and players'. In this case, you must be related to the players."

After a pause, he said, "If the rules are relevant to you, I guess the fourth rule, which warns against the smugglers' non-physical goods, was written by the players."

The brain is really good, worth ten pieces of cloth. Agger complained in his heart and said, "Yeah, so what? You are also players, so should I tell you my business secrets unconditionally?"

Ji Weihang said: "We are also players, so we can help you just like the players before us."

Agger looked at them and whispered, "Women should be fine," and then said, "Well, you are new here and can enter the house accurately. If you have some skills, I can introduce you to the Smugglers' Guild.

"If Big Sister lets you join, you will naturally know these secrets."

Ji Weihang agreed: "Then I'll trouble you."

Agger took out a pair of glasses from the wooden rack and handed them to Bai Jiuyue. "Here, these are night vision goggles. Let me give them to you to try. The guild is quite far from here. If you are afraid of the dark, it is better for you to wear these. Don't cause trouble for us."

Bai Jiuyue paused, took the glasses and put them on. They looked like ordinary framed glasses, but with a string hanging down the back of the head to prevent them from being knocked and lost in the dark.

Ji Weihang said: "It seems that you have been observing us for a long time." Otherwise, he would not know that Bai Jiuyue was afraid of the dark, and he would not have given Bai Jiuyue glasses.

Agre closed the bamboo basket, covered it with a wooden board, and said, “Of course, I am a businessman, not a philanthropist, how can I approach someone new just because I see them coming.

"You have no idea how stupid some people are. They came to an obviously eerie quiet place and actually shouted and screamed, which immediately attracted dark creatures and they were eaten. They were dead beyond death."

The young man carried the bamboo basket on his back, put on his cloak, and said, "If I happened to be nearby, wouldn't it be like giving the dark creature a dish? I must see if the newcomer has brains before I act."

She put on her cloak, hood and face covering cloth, and her voice became even lower: "You'd better cover your mouth and nose, otherwise you may not be able to stand the smell."

Bai Jiuyue took out two long pieces of gray cloth from the cabinet door and shook them. There was not much dust and no peculiar smell.

The two men covered their mouths and noses with cloth, tied it in a knot behind their heads, and tucked the excess cloth hanging around their necks into their collars to prevent it from being blown by the wind.

After that, close the fireplace door and put out the candlesticks.

Darkness shrouded the place, and the scene Bai Jiuyue saw through his night vision goggles was gray-green.

Looking at Ji Weihang's figure, she didn't feel afraid at all.

"Do you have any more questions?" Agger said, standing at the door. "I'm going out now. You're not allowed to talk when you go out."

Ji Weihang suddenly asked: "Why are the windows here sealed? Why not build windows in the first place?"

Agger was confused for a moment, then replied: "A house must have windows, isn't that common sense? How can it be called a house without windows?"

This was a very strange answer. Bai Jiyue raised her eyebrows and subconsciously looked towards the window in her memory, but her heart skipped a beat.

The black paint was applied in circles from the inside out, forming a strange spiral that made people feel dizzy for some reason.

It's obviously a circular pattern, how can it fill the entire square window?

"Indeed, how can it be called a house without windows..." The senior's voice seemed close at hand, yet seemed far away.

Bai Jiyue's mind seemed to be caught in a strange spiral, spinning and spinning...sinking into darkness...

“Don’t look!”

A low roar came from a distant place. Bai Jiuyue felt that he was no longer turning and wondered blankly: What am I looking at?

The lights come on, shining with warm light.

The darkness was dispelled, and I felt my soul finally landed on the ground.

Bai Jiuyue's consciousness slowly returned. She looked into the eyes that were so close to her. Those eyes were filled with shock, anger, and fear, and their original sharpness had been reduced by most.

"Why are you holding my head?" Bai Jiuyue asked. She felt like her temples were about to be squeezed flat.

Agger let go of his hand and said unhappily, "I saved your life, and this is the first thing you say?"

Bai Jiuyue stood in front of the fireplace, illuminated by the crackling flames. She thought of what had happened before and subconsciously looked towards the window, but she was met with Ji Weihang who was blocking the window.

"What happened?" Bai Jiyue asked in confusion, "What was that?"