Chapter 173: Exploring the Small Town (1) Si Ling wanted to say: You all...
This idea is actually a bit blasphemous, which is equivalent to questioning the credibility of the ancient gods and equating them with businessmen like Fox Ancestor.
When Si Ling was still Xin Bi, she would never have thought this way. But now, the thought came to her mind, because 30,000 years was simply too long. If the saying "one day in heaven is one year on earth" were true, it would be fine. But she had seen everything in the human world, from gods to ghosts, and knew clearly that one day was one day, and one year was one year.
So... although she still respects the ancient gods, she is less optimistic than Xuan Chi.
She would rather believe in herself and try her best to get what she wants.
.
After packing up, the two went to see Lucifer again before leaving Hohenzollernburg. Si Ling asked him cautiously, "Do you want to tell everyone about this? If Heaven really sends someone to investigate, can you ask them to keep this a secret?"
Lucifer shook his head. "Theoretically, the Eastern Heavenly Court would only come to see me. Secretly visiting the students would be overstepping boundaries, so we suggest you refrain from specifically reminding them. If you spark speculation and discussion, it would only make it easier for your opponents to notice something's amiss."
"That's right." Si Ling nodded slowly and took a deep breath. "Then we'll go first. Goodbye."
"Contact me anytime if you have any questions." Lucifer nodded.
Si Ling and Xuan Chi did not waste any more time. They put on their backpacks and left the Ghost Academy. Late that night, they arrived at the waters where the Puerto Rico Trench was located. Just like before, they plunged into the deep sea.
The sea water in the middle of the night was pitch black after diving a short distance. Si Ling was thinking about his own things and paid attention to Xuan Chi for a long time.
Until she needed to adjust her direction slightly, she turned back to look for him, and when she looked closely to discern his outline, she noticed that he had already conjured up a fish tail.
She couldn't help but think of the time not long ago when she first saw his fish tail in the sea and called him the Little Mermaid; she also remembered that a long time ago, he dived into the lake in heaven to help her find something that had fallen to the bottom of the lake.
…She vaguely recalled a dream that had haunted her for thirty thousand years. For a long time, she had been tormented by her endless vain attempts to understand the origin of the dream.
Later, she gave up looking for its origin, and its existence suddenly became beautiful - because if you ignore this confusing reason, both the picture and the feeling it brought to her heart are full of incomparable beauty.
She stood by the beautiful lake, its surface shimmering with a pale golden hue. Across the lake lay a lush forest. Above the forest, a brilliant orange-red hue, whether from the morning or evening glow, was reflected.
Then, the solemn and long sound of bells and drums rang out in the distance, and she saw from afar that a flock of birds were startled in the forest.
Every time at this moment, she always felt a surge of joy in her heart, as if she was expecting something, and the sound of the bells and drums meant that the thing she had been waiting for for a long time had arrived.
That strong sense of happiness still gave her strength even though she didn't know where it came from.
And now, she knew what to expect.
That was the day of his triumphant return, and she was waiting for him to return to heaven. Or rather, she was looking forward to seeing him again.
This memory made Si Ling feel very strange. She suddenly felt that he had never left her in the past 30,000 years. Deep down in her heart, even if she couldn't find his trace, she was already looking forward to the next reunion.
Xuan Chi was also immersed in his thoughts, so when a hand suddenly grabbed his hand, he squeezed it hard... Fortunately, he came to his senses in time and avoided an over-the-shoulder throw.
He turned his head to look at her. Si Ling continued to dive seriously without looking at him.
She felt it was strange to think about such trivial matters at this time, so she could only pretend that nothing had happened.
Half an hour later, two people appeared above the town.
When they are not sick or injured, ghosts don't need much sleep, but in the normal "human world" and "hell", there are at least day and night, so many ghosts have developed the habit of sleeping at night like human creatures.
But in the depths of the ocean, where no light can be seen, this "circadian rhythm" disappears completely. The ghosts living in the town have a variety of schedules, and even in the dead of night, most of the lights are on. Several streets in the town are haunted by people, and people come and go in front of restaurants and bars.
"Let's go." Si Ling took a deep breath and set off for the small circular square in the center of the town.
Xuan Chi immediately followed, and the two of them landed in the square one after another.
The square was illuminated by magical streetlights, illuminating the entire square in a dim glow. Their arrival immediately attracted the attention of passersby, most of whom did not recognize them. However, a burly male demon soon stared at Xuan Chi with fear in his eyes.
The muscular demon trembled and took two steps back, tripped by the edge of the sidewalk, and sat down on the ground. He was stunned for half a second, then jumped up, turned around and fled.
Xuan Chi didn't notice him at first, but it was hard not to notice with such a big commotion.
Si Ling only felt the figure beside him flash out like a black wind. In an instant, the muscular monster was lifted up by the collar, and the crowd around him, who were unaware of the situation, exclaimed in surprise.
"Xuan Chi!" Si Ling immediately chased after him and grabbed his wrist, "Don't cause trouble."
"For God's sake!" the Strong Demon shrieked in Italian. "We bear no ill will toward the lady; we simply thought her life was at an end! Look at this place, my friend. If you live here long enough, you'll want a piece of it, too!"
Xuan Chi didn't let go, and looked at the trembling, strong demon with a harmless smile on his face: "You are right, but whether to hold a grudge is up to me, right?"
The strong demon didn't dare to say anything. Xuan Chi suppressed his smile and said, "So, you answer whatever I ask—how do you communicate with the outside world?"
"Huh?" The strong demon was stunned for a moment and stammered, "We, we don't communicate with the outside world... For some reason, we can't let the outside world discover us."
This is exactly the answer Xuan Chi wanted.
He secretly breathed a sigh of relief and put the strong demon on the ground, but his hand was still holding his collar: "Is there a place to stay in town?"
"This..." Jianshuo Yao was a little embarrassed. Because of its isolation, the town didn't even have a hotel, and everyone lived in a fixed place. Although the purpose of these two outsiders was unclear, they didn't look like they were going to stay in the town for a long time. So this question...
The muscular demon thought about it again and again, but finally answered with a stiff upper lip: "You can buy a house. But..." He lowered his head and muttered, "You need to get some of our currency first. The easiest way is to go to Brenner Luciano, but it will be hard work... So you can also find a way to earn it yourself, but it will take more time."
"Your currency?" Si Ling frowned. "What currency do you use?"
"Uh, we call it..." Jianshuoyao said in a slightly broken English pronunciation, "The cube."
The literal translation is "small square" and "cube", which doesn't sound like currency at all.
But maybe they are small cubes made of gold and silver.
Si Ling thought about it and didn't dwell on it too much. She continued, "That Brenna Luciano you mentioned..." She looked at the muscular figure in front of her, "Who is he? You said finding him would be 'the easiest', but you also said it would 'take a lot of effort'?"
She felt that these were two completely contradictory statements.
Just as Jian Shuo Yao was about to answer, Si Ling smiled and said to Xuan Chi, "It's very rude to ask for help like this. Let's find a place where we can talk. I'd like to buy this gentleman a drink."
“You don’t have to be so polite…” Jian Shuoyao waved his hands repeatedly, but Xuan Chi let him go obediently, nodded and said to him: “Please take us to a tavern.”
The strong demon wanted to refuse in his heart, but his desire to survive made his feet move uncontrollably, and he invited them into a bar not far away.
They sat down at a booth in the corner. Si Ling ordered three drinks and pulled out her wallet to pay. She had everything from ghost money, gold coins, silver coins, and common human currency, but the strong demon quickly grabbed her wallet and pulled out a few "cubes" to throw on the table.
After the waiter left, Jian Shuoyao explained, "Not just buying houses, all transactions here use the Cube as the only currency." He glanced at the wallet in Si Ling's hand and said, "If you are very rich, it's best not to show it. Luciano's henchmen are everywhere. If they see you, Luciano will rip you off when exchanging money with you."
"Okay...thank you." Si Ling felt that the muscular monster in front of him was not bad, and his expression relaxed.
The strong demon continued to explain in detail: "Luciano is the mayor here. He's very powerful and has complete control over the Cube. And... for various reasons, the ghosts who come here will most likely never leave. In a sense, it's no different from 'death' - all previous property has become 'external'. The currency here is the resource that the residents rely on for survival in the future."
"So everyone was prepared to 'give up their belongings' long before coming here. Luciano is very good at judging people by their preferences. If you're a pauper, according to the current normal exchange rate, one Limbo silver coin can be exchanged for one cube. But if you're extremely wealthy, then it's even better, dozens of silver coins can only be exchanged for one cube. If Luciano is in a bad mood, it could be hundreds of coins."
"..." Si Ling really wanted to say: Can you all tolerate this?
But when she thought about how these people had nowhere to go, she understood why they could endure it. It was not easy for them to find a place to stay. Moreover, since Luciano was "very good at judging people's behavior", he must also be a very measured person. This kind of person may often dance on the bottom line of others, but will cleverly not cross that line, thus maintaining the peace just right.
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