Chapter 271: Inhuman (79) (1st + 2nd) [VIP]
Perhaps because he met two local tycoons and received an unexpected 1,200 yuan, Lu Yun was in a particularly good mood today.
When they returned to the small room in the City of Violence, Bai Jin said that they even heard Lu Yun humming a song.
She was humming some unknown tune, which sounded very gentle. It probably had lyrics, but Lu Yun either couldn't remember them or didn't want to sing them, so he just hummed them all.
"You guys are back?" She turned around and saw the triggerers halfway through her hum, "Didn't those two rich guys ask you more stupid questions?"
"No..." Everyone felt complicated.
On the one hand, they tried to talk to Hang Yiqing and the person beside him, but for Lu Yun, the two groups of people were just acquaintances, and before he had the chance to talk to them, the figures of the two people blurred and disappeared.
But on the other hand, the appearance of the square-faced man made them more certain that what the people in this illusion knew was actually determined by what Lu Yun knew, and that all the people who appeared in this nightmare were actually just an illusion.
If Lu Yun didn't know where Hang Yiqing came from, then they wouldn't be able to get anything out of him even if they asked again.
However, having said that, the information that the tall and thin man, Hang Yiqing, came to B City from W District was still beyond everyone's expectations.
By the time Lu Yun hid the twelve hundred yuan in a place she thought was safe, and changed out of her clothes that clearly did not belong to Zijie, and put on Zijie's clothes again to pay the protection fee, all the remaining triggerers surrounded the two team leaders.
"Brother Yuan, what's the situation in Area W?" Xiao Tang blinked, his eyes full of curiosity. "I remember Dai Quan also said before that he planned to take the team to Area W. What does the no-man's land mean? Does it mean that there are no people and all of them are undead?"
"Uh... about the same. The non-human creatures in the Novice Village are not just undead and ghosts, there are also some spirits and weird creatures," Yuan Shanming scratched his head. "I don't know much about the situation in Area W. I only know that the undead and humans have signed some kind of agreement there. All human residents in the Novice Village are not allowed to enter. It is the opposite of the City of Violence. At first, the name of that area was something like a city. Later, for convenience, everyone called it the No Man's Land. And because place names are all four characters, they added a "zhi"."
"What specific agreement is it?" Bai Jinshu wanted to ask more clearly.
"I don't know," the two team leaders shrugged. "After all, we are not the team leaders of the W area. If there are no humans in the W area, it will feel a little insecure. For those of us who often lead teams in the Novice Village, it is definitely more reassuring and more convenient to make friends with humans, so there are generally fewer teams going there."
This is also the way.
Even in the City of the Dead, which is full of undead, the teahouse owner who is on good terms with Yuan Shanming is also a human.
There is no need to say much about the city of violence, which is full of humans.
From these few short descriptions, we can probably tell that No Man's Land is probably a city very similar to the City of Violence, but compared to the Purple Street slum in the City of Violence where there are ghosts and undead creatures every night and people die every night, there probably won't be Orange Street, Blue Street, or Yellow Street in No Man's Land where humans appear every night to slaughter the undead.
It's unlikely to expect to get anything out of this name.
"But speaking of Zone W..." Dita suddenly remembered, "Didn't the Monopoly you participated in before have a team from Zone W?"
"After the BUFF was triggered, many people rushed over."
"Monopoly..." This word seemed to be from another world. Everyone was stunned for a moment, but Xiao Tang reacted quickly, "The first division or the second division?"
They were not impressed by the second division, but they were still very impressed by the team of naive people in the first division.
"I don't know what division you are in. I haven't been in there. I just know there is a team in that division," Dita said helplessly, "Why are you asking this? Even if you are curious about the identity of Hang Yiqing, we don't have time to look for them."
"Can't we just go find them after we finish the nightmare?" Yuan Shanming frowned.
Originally, he was not very interested in the details of Hang Yiqing. There were many secrets in the Novice Village. If he wanted to know every secret clearly, he would be exhausted.
But since the Monopoly competition area includes a W zone, you have to go to the W zone.
"Didn't you come to the City of Violence to get people to help you with the ghost stories in the City of the Dead?" Dita asked in confusion, "If you go to the W area, what will happen to your ghost stories?"
Oh, yes.
When they came to the City of Violence, they said that only three people were left in their team, so they had to come to the Fourth Division that we had seen in the previous ghost story.
Yuan Shanming knew he had said something wrong, so he quickly said, "There is no rush for our S-level ghost story. This ghost story is unique and cannot be triggered by any other team except ours."
"Oh, let's talk about it later," Dita said without any suspicion, "let's talk about it after we get out of this nightmare."
She didn't have any thoughts about Hang Yiqing.
but……
Bai Jinshu narrowed his eyes.
He doubted that Dita could help herself.
If she didn't get the answer in this illusion, Dita might just abandon her teammates and leave the Novice Village early to ask her friend about the square-faced man.
"Sister Xiao Tang," Lu Yun came back after paying the protection fee. Seeing everyone gathered together with serious faces, he thought something had happened, "What happened?"
"Nothing," Xiao Tang made up an excuse, "We were just saying that this new gang doesn't look like it will last much longer, and it would be a big loss to pay protection money."
"It's really a loss," Lu Yun frowned distressedly, "When I went there just now, I saw that there were only a few people alive in their yard. If a few powerful undead appear tonight, we will have to change gangs tomorrow."
When it comes to protection fees, there are benefits to paying them early, and there are benefits to paying them late.
Gangs that have people dying every day can only attract new members and maintain the gang by raising protection fees for residents in the area and increasing the dividends for joining the gang. The sooner you pay, the less you have to pay.
But on the other hand, the entire Purple Street is now struggling in this huge vortex. Who knows if the gang in his jurisdiction will be finished one night. When that time comes, those who surrender late will naturally not have to surrender.
Xiao Tang's words seemed to make Lu Yun regret paying the protection fee as soon as she got the money. She felt painful all night. In the evening, when every household closed the doors and windows, she did not just close the door and leave for the first time. Instead, she stood at the door and looked worriedly at the gangsters who came to check whether the doors and windows were closed.
It seemed like she was really worried that the entire gang would be killed tonight and her protection fee would be in vain.
But I don’t know if it was God’s will or the madness that swept across the entire Purple Street finally eased a little today. The next morning, when everyone woke up in crazy hunger and a sea of blood as usual, they unexpectedly learned that last night was Christmas Eve.
There were no powerful undead appearing inside Purple Street last night, only a few small creatures appeared here and there.
For the first time in the early morning, there were no thugs carrying corpses on Purple Street. When Lu Yun opened the door, everyone saw a rare look of joy on this Purple Street, where people could only see numb expressions and empty eyes all year round.
"No one died last night..." Huang Mao expressed everyone's thoughts, "I'm afraid it has something to do with Hang Yiqing."
This person... we can't talk about this person anymore. It is most likely that Hang Yiqing is not a human being. His identity is not simple at first glance. Could it be that because he is in charge of Purple Street, the undead ghosts and monsters in Purple Street dare not act rashly?
"That's not right..." Guan Hongyan frowned. "If his mere presence here is enough to control Purple Street, then what about the many undead attacks we saw in the previous illusion?"
It was obvious that after Hang Yiqing had stayed in Purple Street for a while, a few undead would occasionally appear in Purple Street at night.
But he said yesterday that he would live in Purple Street, and last night became the only Christmas Eve in recent times without any incident. Could such a coincidence really happen?
Everyone looked at each other and saw the words "absolutely impossible" in each other's eyes.
If only I could find a chance to meet him...
In the blood-red vision, everyone waited familiarly for Lu Yun to temporarily fill his stomach, while tacitly lying on the stools to save energy.
Lu Yun is a typical Purple Street person, and she has experienced the precariousness of life to the extreme. The more than one thousand yuan she received yesterday did not make her feel safe, but instead increased her anxiety.
Everyone thought that Lu Yun would enjoy herself for a few days before doing anything else, but after receiving more than a thousand yuan yesterday, she not only did not choose to lie down at home, but instead became more motivated and planned how to get more money.
"I plan to go to the South District and steal some jewelry from the gold and silver jewelry stores and sell them on the black market," she said as she changed into the clothes she got from Xiao Huo yesterday. "The clothes I wore on Purple Street were too obvious. Once I walked in, I would be discovered to be from Purple Street. But this one is different."
This is Xiao Huo's clothes.
The latest popular styles among young girls in the violent city.
Wearing such an outfit, Lu Yun can appear anywhere in the city without being discovered as a Purple Street person.
"Sister Xiao Tang, please help me tie my hair." She held the rubber band in her mouth for a long time and struggled with her hair, making it a mess. Finally, she had to ask Xiao Tang for help.
While helping her fix her hair, Xiao Tang couldn't help but say a few words: "Didn't they say there's a sniper rifle in the South District? It's very dangerous for you to steal things there."
This is not stealing the newcomers in the violent capital, this is stealing the locals.
If you find a thief in this violent city, you will beat him to death.
"I can't wait any longer," Lu Yun lowered his head and uttered several words after a long while, "I want to leave Purple Street as soon as possible."
"Gold and silver jewelry is the fastest way to make money. Even if there are no receipts for the items in luxury stores, you can still get a lot of discounts." She glanced at Xiao Tang for a few times, lowered her head and whispered, "People die here every day. I don't know when it will be my turn."
"I...I don't want to die." Lu Yun said.
In such a purple street, even if you pay enough protection fees, there is no guarantee that you can spend the night safely. It only means that there will be someone willing to work for you for this money that night.
The lives in Purple Street are worthless.
It's not surprising that Lu Yun would have such thoughts.
When she was hungry one day and worried every day whether she would have enough to eat the next day, she would not have the spare time to think about these things because they were too far away, too far away.
The world outside Purple Street was a faraway place for her at that time.
But when she suddenly got a windfall, this goal became within reach.
"As far as I can remember, in the beginning, Purple Street collected protection fees from each household." Seeing that everyone was silent, she pulled her coat uncomfortably and looked up at Xiao Tang. "At that time, each household only needed about fifty yuan a month."
"Don't underestimate these fifty," she said as she buttoned her shirt slowly, "At that time, not many people in the entire Purple Street could afford to pay. At the end of each month, a large number of people would be cleared out of the gang's jurisdiction. Was it because they didn't want to work? No, it was just that the outside world couldn't tolerate the people of Purple Street."
"You probably don't know that all jobs outside of Purple Street require ID and identity verification information, and people from Purple Street don't have any," Lu Yun shrugged casually. "When I was a kid, several of my neighbors worked in stores near Purple Street. They were actually illegal workers, so the boss could deduct their wages at will. Whether it was a fight between customers while buying things and damaging the store facilities, or someone ran away with the bill, all of these would be charged to them. In the end, the money they were given was only enough for them to maintain basic food and clothing after paying the protection fee."
"When you don't even have enough food to eat, it's even more impossible to stop those who intend to cause trouble. You may think that the people in Purple Street are bad for robbing and stealing in order to survive, but more than a decade ago, those young students outside who said they were young and ignorant, those who smashed stores for a big adventure, provoked to show their heroism, and drunkards who claimed to be unconscious were the bad ones in my opinion."
The expression on her face was very calm, as if these were all very ordinary topics.
"Gradually, people who wanted to live a good life couldn't survive," Lu Yun laughed sarcastically. "I lived with a person from Purple Street at the time. At that time, the protection fee was calculated per household. At the end of the month, when it was time to pay the next month's protection fee, she told me that she was very sorry and that she couldn't afford it. We might have to move out today. Then I said no, I had money, and then I took out enough money to pay for three months."
"She was very surprised and asked me where the money came from. I said I stole it. I learned to steal from other kids on the street. I wanted to stay in this safe area. I didn't want to move out. I didn't want to die. Then she broke down. She said she didn't support thieves and she wouldn't spend the money I stole. She wanted to move out by herself and leave this place to me," Lu Yun blinked calmly. "The next day, she died at the hands of the undead."
"She was not good at fighting at all, and was the only one who didn't escape that night," Lu Yun said in a flat tone, "She thought violence was wrong, and stealing was wrong, but in the end she used her life to tell me that these were right."
"Uh... is that person your adoptive mother?" Dita looked a little embarrassed, probably because she didn't expect Lu Yun to suddenly talk about these things.
Lu Yun was not a good fighter from Purple Street, or rather, she had misplaced her skill points. Her stealing skills were probably unmatched in the entire Purple Street, and her overly thin skeleton provided her with an advantage that other Purple Street people did not have.
In their perception, the entire city of violence is a place where fists are used to make sense, robbery and gang fights are as common as eating, and the first lesson everyone learns after birth is from their parents' teaching of fighting skills.
They have been fighting with their classmates for the last toy or the last piece of cake since kindergarten. Violence is engraved in their bones and fists are the eternal truth of this city.
And in Purple Street, survival is everything.
"That's about right. She wouldn't let me call her that. She said she's not much older than me," Lu Yun thought for a moment. "It was an accident that I lived with her. She looked down on the people of Purple Street, so she wanted to raise a child like herself to prove that Purple Street was not hopeless. But I didn't expect that in a place like Purple Street, I would still grow up to look like Purple Street."
"Then the guy you told us about who went to find the gang and was killed by the undead..." Yuan Shanming continued.
"That happened later," Lu Yun brushed his hair. "I lived alone for a while. Since I wasn't good at fighting, I couldn't keep the stolen money. So I just went to find someone who was good at fighting to partner up with me. I was responsible for stealing and he was responsible for keeping the money. At the beginning, the cooperation was good. The two of us went from being partners to friends... or family, anyway, I thought it was good this way, but later..."
Lu Yun paused.
"What happened next?"
"Later... Purple Street became like this," she shrugged. "More and more undead appeared every night, and more and more people died. The protection fees gradually changed from being calculated per household to being calculated per person, and the prices started to rise again. Many people died after being driven out because they could not pay the protection fees."
"Then one night, the sound of the dead was heard outside our woodshed. He felt that although his skills were not as good as those of the gang members, he could barely hold on until he was able to get some information, so he left."
Lu Yun stood at the fork in the street and pointed in a certain direction: "I smelled blood all night that night, and when I found that he didn't come back, I knew something was wrong. Sure enough, the next day, I saw his body at that location."
"Since he wasn't a gang member, no one came to collect his body, so I had to drag him by myself, through many streets, to the garbage dump," Lu Yun turned around and gestured, "I recognized his hands. In the corner, only his left arm and most of his waist and abdomen were left. I dragged this part to the garbage dump, but when I returned to the shed and opened the blackout curtain, I discovered it."
"What did you find..." Huangmao asked cautiously.
"We found out that the rest of him was actually outside the shed," Lu Yun turned around and glanced at him calmly, "That night he dragged half of his body all the way back home, and died before the knock on the door."
Everyone's face twisted for a moment.
"Lu Yun..." Bai Jinshu raised his eyebrows slightly amidst all the distorted expressions, "You really don't look like someone from Purple Street. Even less like someone from the City of Violence."
"Really?" Lu Yun shrugged slightly, "Maybe I'm really not good at fighting."
"Of course that's not what I'm talking about," Bai Jinshu said, half smiling, "I'm saying that your logic is really unlike that of a Purple Street person. In a sense, your first family member was successful because you did understand something that most Purple Street people, or most people in the City of Violence, don't."
With Lu Yun's confused expression, he said softly, "Were you pretending to be pitiful just now?"
"Pretending to be pitiful?" Dita tilted her head in surprise.
Bai Jinshu ignored her doubts and continued to talk to Lu Yun: "You think you have found a way to leave Purple Street, but those of us who can't stay in the outside world can't leave there. So in order to stabilize us, you need to find some topics that will make us sympathize and let us not stop you from leaving Purple Street."
"But I didn't lie!" Lu Yun quickly retorted, "These are all true! Just ask anyone nearby, they know this too!"
"I didn't say you were lying," Bai Jinshu looked at her face which was a little red due to excitement, "I just think you really don't look like a Purple Street person, that's all."
In a place where fists are respected, Lu Yun knows too well what is taking shortcuts, when to act pitiful appropriately, and when to seize opportunities.
If she wasn't in Purple Street, a precarious place like this, she might be living better than most people in the City of Violence.
But then again, if it weren’t in Zi Street, there wouldn’t necessarily be such a Lu Yun.
"So what do you want?" Lu Yun was still young after all, and the pitiful calm on his face suddenly broke, "Do you want to stop me? I can split the stolen things with you 40% and 60%!"
"No, no one is going to stop you," Bai Jinshu shook his head slightly, stopping Yuan Shanming who was about to speak, "Go ahead if you want to. We can still survive in Purple Street without your 46 points."
Not to mention that this is just an illusion, even if it is really Purple Street, according to the distribution of force in the team, it is not impossible for them to form a gang.
Lu Yun silently raised his head and glanced at him, his eyes filled with confusion and speechlessness, as if asking why he should expose her pity tactics since he had no intention of taking his money or stopping him.
"Just curious." Bai Jinshu looked back at his teammates.
They seemed to have been focusing on the square-faced, tall and thin man and thus overlooked one problem.
According to Lu Yun's current plan, she could really leave Purple Street, so why was she still living there when they entered the illusion decades later?
Didn't she try desperately to escape?
The author has something to say:
Today is so scary QAQ
When I was typing in the evening, my computer suddenly had problems and all processes crashed. After I restarted it, all the manuscripts of several thousand words were lost. I looked through the history records and automatically saved manuscripts but couldn't find anything. I was so scared that I crawled to find the software developer to retrieve the manuscript. Fortunately, the developer didn't have a holiday for National Day, and he was still online at this time in the evening. After searching for a long time, he finally helped me find it. Woo woo woo woo
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