Enter the City of Sin. I will be judged

City of Sin.

What a strange name. Qin Ruqing looked at the city gate carefully. It was tall and huge, made of huge stones, and looked like a trapezoid from the front. The city gate had traces of years of wind and sun exposure. At first glance, it looked quite old. Looking

at the two words "City of Sin", it seemed that the words themselves were newer than the gate.

The strange thing was that when I looked inside, I couldn't see the situation inside the city clearly, as if it was covered by a layer of miasma. After hesitating for a while, Qin Ruqing walked inside.

When she came to the miasma, Qin Ruqing didn't go in. What came to her mind was what Diwu Youlin had said to her before.

The handsome and tall young patriarch had a slightly solemn expression on his face at the time. After thinking for a while, he said, "As for the third prison, I can only tell you that it is completely different from the previous two prisons. It will take you longer, but no longer than six months. If you haven't found a way out after six months, you will be trapped in the city forever."

Qin Ruqing remembered the time point of six months and asked, "Young patriarch, can you describe the situation in the city in detail?"

The fifth Youlin shook his head at first. When Qin Ruqing thought he would not answer, he said:

"You will suffer in the Sin City."

"Pain?" Qin Ruqing said these two words at the Misty Gate of the Sin City, and said in a light tone, "Pain is really an understatement for cultivators. Which of the previous trials was not painful? However, the pain that can be evaluated by the young patriarch must be very unusual."

"Let me experience it." He said calmly and stepped into the Misty Sin City.

Before entering the city, Qin Ruqing had a certain imagination of the situation inside this so-called Sin City - it is very likely to be a disordered place full of poor and vicious people!

The order is chaotic, there are no rules, and the fist is the most important in the city. Therefore, if you want to get things done in the city, it is best to act like a cool lady.

A weak little Baihua? That will definitely not work.

Before entering the city, Qin Ruqing changed herself into a dark red outfit, tied her hair into a high ponytail, raised her eyebrows, and put on an expression that said she was not easy to mess with.

The mist enveloped her, and Qin Ruqing instantly felt like she had entered another world. Before she could think about it, the scene in front of her changed, and she could already see the noisy crowd on the street.

Qin Ruqing thought to herself that if she met a strong man looking for trouble later, she would fight with him first to establish her authority.

Cool and cool sister Qing had already assumed a fighting posture. Sure enough, as soon as she stepped onto the land of the inner city and before she could see the surrounding buildings clearly, a fierce and strong man with a scar on his eye came towards her.

Qin Ruqing straightened her chest, full of momentum, and walked straight towards the strong man.

The two of them exchanged fierce glances, sparks flew, and Qin Ruqing thought that the classic fighting quotes such as "What are you looking at?" and "What's wrong with me looking at you" were about to happen. Unexpectedly, the strong man stared at her for two seconds, and suddenly his eyebrows and eyes panicked, and he looked away, and bowed to her ingratiatingly. As if he was afraid that he would block Qin Ruqing's way, he deliberately moved away.

The fierce and strong man instantly turned into a frightened cat. Miraculous and cool sister Qing was stunned.

Why is it different from the scene I expected? Are you people in this sin city so polite?

After wondering for a while, she finally began to observe the situation in the city. Although there are many pedestrians on the streets, this sin city inexplicably gives people an old and desolate atmosphere. The buildings are obviously not of the modern style, and the shape of the passers-by's robes is also very old.

Qin Ruqing couldn't tell whether this city really came from an ancient era or was a "fictitious setting" of the Four Hells

. Qin Ruqing entered a teahouse to rest. Usually, this is a gathering place for news. Qin Ruqing hoped to find out some useful information while sitting down to drink tea. When

she came to this sin city, she had no guide and no task reminder. She had no idea what she was going to do next.

But unfortunately, the teahouse business didn't look very good. There were only a few people sitting alone, and they all looked expressionless and immersed in their own world. Qin Ruqing felt that they didn't seem to wake up.

Just when Qin Ruqing thought that he would gain nothing from this trip, something unexpected happened. Someone in the teahouse started a fight. They were the later guests, and the reason for the fight was also quite bizarre. The

guests who came in one after the other, the first guest was dissatisfied with the store owner serving tea to the later guests first, so he beat up the waiter who served tea first. The later guests thought he was provoking, so they naturally (?) fought with the first guests.

The teahouse was in a commotion, but those guests who didn't wake up were still very calm. Until a red light appeared on those troublemakers.

There were three people with red light on their bodies, the two guests who were fighting, and the waiter who was pouring tea.

The guests who were not at all panicked when someone smashed the table and overturned the chairs, now saw the red light, and fled as if they were facing a powerful enemy.

The shopkeeper, who had not come out when he saw someone making trouble, heard the news and rushed out. Seeing the red light on the waiter, he was terrified and said immediately: "From now on, you are no longer a partner of our Shengfeng Tea House!"

The waiter looked ashen. He did not react to his dismissal at all, and all his attention was on the red light on his body. Touching himself helplessly, he murmured in a trance: "I have been selected for trial..."

Qin Ruqing put the teacup on the table with a thud and remembered these two words, trial.

Compared to the shock and fear of the waiter and the shopkeeper, the two troublemakers were very calm, and even looked at each other.

"Look at you, it's not the first time, I've been judged three times." The guest with a red glow on his body was carrying a big knife on his back, with a contradictory expression of fatigue and madness on his face.

The man who fought with him sat down calmly and drank a sip of cold tea, and said disdainfully: "I've been judged five times."

The people around him showed a look of realization again, as if everything was reasonable. However, in Qin Ruqing's view, the order here was distorted and absurd, which was different from the chaos she thought at the beginning.

Because of this incident, the teahouse began to close its doors and thank customers. Qin Ruqing was 100% sure that it was not because of the fight, but because of the red glow, the so-called judgment.

The incident did not end there, and even triggered a series of chain reactions. Stores and businesses close to the Shengfeng Teahouse closed one after another.

Seeing that it was getting dark, Qin Ruqing found an inn closest to the Shengfeng Teahouse and stayed there. Of course, the inn was very small, and it was just a "homestay" for Qin Ruqing. One or two rooms in his yard were vacated for rent.

The owner of the house, an old woman, served Qin Ruqing a hot meal. From Qin Ruqing's cultivation level, she had already reached the level of fasting, but this world still has a rich spiritual food culture. Practitioners will not give up their appetites. In addition to practicing in seclusion, they will also enjoy pure spiritual food with less impurities.

What Qin Ruqing had in front of him was a plate of excellent spiritual food, the old woman's cooking skills were quite good. During the meal, Qin Ruqing had been chatting with the old woman and learned that she had a son and a daughter, both of whom were cultivators. Such a family configuration is very common in Sin City.

The atmosphere of the casual conversation had been very harmonious until Qin Ruqing mentioned what happened in Shengfeng Teahouse today, and the old woman's face suddenly changed. She looked at Qin Ruqing in panic and pleading, and her eyes made it clear that she didn't want Qin Ruqing to continue.

Qin Ruqing closed his mouth, pondered for a while and said, "But this matter is quite taboo, can't we talk about it in private? If discussing this matter will bring trouble to the store, mother-in-law, don't say more, and I will certainly not ask again."

The old woman looked at Qin Ruqing's frank eyes, suddenly sighed, and sat back down after leaving the chair.

She said, "It's not a taboo. The shops around Shengfeng Teahouse have closed down one after another because they are afraid of bringing trouble to themselves."

Qin Ruqing asked, "Are you not afraid, mother-in-law?"

The old woman replied, "I am afraid, but I'm not that scared when I think about it. My two children have already entered the cycle of judgment, and I, an old woman, am just an ordinary person without any cultivation. The judgment standards are not that strict for us."

This is also the reason why she dared to continue opening the shop after the incident at Shengfeng Teahouse.

Qin Ruqing picked out the key words, "What is the so-called trial and reincarnation?" She remembered that the two guests who caused trouble in the teahouse today were also very calm and even numb about the trial, and guessed, "Are there multiple trials? Since grandma said reincarnation, does it mean that there is no limit to the number of times and it will never end?"

The old woman shook her head: "I don't know whether it will never end, I only know that the highest number of trials in Sin City so far is ninety-nine times. As for whether there will be more trials after the ninety-nine times, there is no way to verify it, because that person has died in the ninety-ninth trial."

Therefore, this ninety-nine is only the upper limit of an individual's acceptance of trial, not the ultimate number of trials.

Qin Ruqing thought that this would involve her mother-in-law's family, so she restrained herself from asking questions:

"Who is judging, and where is the place of judgment?"

The old woman pointed in a direction, and the oil lamp reflected her eyes, which were terrified and fearful, as if pointing to the land of God.

The old woman said: "In the arena in the center of Sin City."

After thinking for a while, Qin Ruqing asked the last question: "Is it not possible to go to the arena to be judged?"

"No!" The old woman murmured, "Those who escape judgment will be entangled by hungry ghosts forever, and even death cannot free them."

...

Qin Ruqing went to the arena the next day, and when he was leaving, he met the old woman's children who returned home after the trial.

Unlike the two troublemakers they met at Shengfeng Teahouse before, who acted recklessly and without scruples, with malice written all over their faces, the old woman's children looked timid and numb.

They were covered in wounds, but their eyes were calm and expressionless, as if they could not feel the pain and lacked basic perception of the changes in the outside world.

Qin Ruqing passed by and greeted them, but they turned a blind eye and passed by Qin Ruqing with their heads down.

After a pause, Qin Ruqing's gaze turned to the arena in the center of the city.

The arena is the largest building in this sin city. It does not match its name. It is not an entertainment and fighting viewing platform, but a place for the judgment of the residents of sin city.

Qin Ruqing observed the area around the arena for three days and found that most of the people being judged who entered the arena could be divided into three categories.

The first category: those who have given up everything, knowing that they cannot escape the judgment and that they cannot escape the cycle of judgment, so they begin to indulge themselves. They act in an extreme way and magnify their malice, which fits the image of a real sinner in Qin Ruqing's imagination.

This type of people is represented by the guests who make trouble in Shengfeng Teahouse. Most of them have been judged many times, at least three to five times, and some have been judged more than ten times. Those who can persist in ten rounds of judgment without dying are mostly of high cultivation, but their personalities are extremely bloodthirsty and violent. Everyone in the City of Sin is afraid of them.

The second category: fearful and uneasy, they regard the gladiatorial arena as a scourge, and every time they enter the gladiatorial arena, they have to make a great psychological struggle, and when they leave the gladiatorial arena, they will show an expression of surviving a disaster.

According to Qin Ruqing's guess, this kind of people should not participate in the trial many times.

The third category, Qin Ruqing called it the numb type, represented by the old woman's children.

This group of people is not uniform. Some have been tried as many as 20 times, commonly known as "full anesthesia", while others have only been tried two or three times, and they are completely desperate.

In summary, experiencing a trial in the gladiatorial arena is definitely not a good thing. On the contrary, it is an abyss of despair. Once you fall in, it is almost impossible to escape.

After a few days of observation, Qin Ruqing could not say that he understood everything, but he had basically figured out the general situation of this sin city.

If this sin city is real, then it is very likely a city-state that has been passed down from ancient times and is isolated from reality, because it has its own set of operating rules and logic; but if it is "fictional" by the Four Hells, this city may have had a prototype.

The residents of the city are trapped in an inescapable tragedy of fate, and will enter the cycle of trial on various charges. Once they enter the trial, it is almost impossible to prove themselves and it is difficult to escape, and the final outcome is death.

The only difference is how they die. Did they die in the trial in the arena, or committed suicide, or died from the entanglement of hungry ghosts.

Rather than calling it the City of Sin, Qin Ruqing would rather call it the City of Despair.

The above is the information Qin Ruqing could get, but she still didn't know what the third of the four hells, the Hungry Ghost Assessment, would require her to do.

Was it simply to go through the four hells and learn something from it, or was it a more difficult task to help the residents of the City of Sin escape the cycle of judgment?

Qin Ruqing continued to live in the old woman's B&B and observed for two days, and confirmed that if she simply waited for t, there would be no special "plot" to trigger and assign her tasks, and all she could trigger was the desolate daily life of this City of Sin.

On the sixth day of entering the City of Sin, Qin Ruqing decided to take the initiative and try to enter the arena. Obviously, the invisible order of Sin City is caused by the judgment of this arena. If she doesn't enter the arena to investigate the situation, she will never know the truth.

It would be fine if the Hungry Ghost Road had no time limit, but Diwu Youlin told her that the Hungry Ghost Road is limited to six months. If she hasn't come out after six months, she will be trapped in the city forever.

Obviously, after six months, she will become a real "resident of Sin City"

Qin Ruqing thought that she would experience certain twists and turns when entering the arena. Maybe something would appear to block her and set a precondition for her.

But Qin Ruqing didn't expect that she would go in directly.

From the moment she entered the arena, Qin Ruqing's body flashed red, as if something had left a mark on her.

At the same time, Qin Ruqing had a spontaneous realization: she would be judged.

When she realized this, the scene in front of her began to become clear. This was a circular stepped trial platform, and she was at the bottom.

Standing at the highest point, the judge, whose face was blurry and difficult to look at, began to announce her crimes.

Her name was Ruqing, and she encountered a powerful monster in a secret place. She was chased by the monster and fled. It was known that there were two escape routes in front of her, one leading to an ordinary village with a population of thousands, and the other leading to her own family, which had more than 20 powerful monks.

If the monster entered an ordinary village, the result waiting for the villagers would definitely be annihilation, but if the monster entered a monk's family, there might be a glimmer of hope under the joint siege of the clan members.

"Ruqing" quickly analyzed the pros and cons in an emergency, and chose the escape route that led the monster to the family.

However, the monster was more powerful than "Ruqing" could imagine, and more than 20 monks were almost wiped out. Ruqing, as the hope of the family, survived.

Now in the court, "Ruqing" needs to prove her innocence before the trial can end and she can leave the court. If she cannot prove her innocence, she will be thrown into a real beast arena and punished.

Qin Ruqing's heart sank completely after hearing her crime.

This crime is simply the immortal version of "The Trolley Problem". Regardless of whether Ruqing's act of rescuing ordinary villagers was righteous, it is an indisputable fact that she caused the destruction of the monks in her family.

On this basis, she will never be able to prove her innocence!

Is this why the residents of Sin City cannot escape the cycle of judgment?