Petrus (6)
Garden Street is a residential alley where each household has a small garden, with branches of varying lengths visible from outside the fence. Further on is the Adventurers' Guild, located in the northernmost part of Sun City, the uncrowned king of the country. Beyond the Adventurers' Guild lies a street lined with gambling dens, restaurants, taverns, theaters, and brothels—streets of all sizes crisscrossing the northeast of Sun City, high-end, mid-range, and low-end shops intermingling, making this the heart of Sun City's extravagant spending spree.
Passing by the Lihua Theater, Mi looked at the extravagant flower baskets at the theater entrance. The vibrant dahlias were the most beloved flowers of the people of Sun City—large, beautiful, yet without fragrance, and they didn't attract mosquitoes. Fashionable girls would even pin a bright red dahlia in their hair or on their blouses; it was hard to tell whether the flower or the girl's face was more beautiful. Even more amazing was that dahlias bloomed year-round. In the cold winter, if you placed the pot near a fireplace, buds would sprout in just two days. Give a dahlia a little warmth, and it would bloom with its most vibrant flowers.
As you walk from Theater Road to the red-light district, the crowds thicken, and the sounds of laughter and chatter increase. Vulgar banter and the sounds of lovers mingle in the air. The scents of perfume and lust fill the air. Figures entwine on street corners, even those clinging to fences, their bodies already entwined and throbbing, waiting to go inside. It's as if Mi has entered another world, a purely animalistic one.
Mi quickened her pace, leaving those clinging, absurd figures behind, and turned into the luxuriously decorated commercial street with its doors and windows tightly shut. Not a single light could escape from these shops, creating a dark, sprawling expanse that resembled a winding, crawling dragon. Each shop had at least one or two skilled guards, with more guards in larger, more luxurious establishments, all shrouded in darkness. Mi could feel the guards' wary gazes and hear their soft breathing as she passed. This place was even more opulent than Derek's Palace; 40% of the entire Sun City's tax revenue came from here. Even in the entire Flower Kingdom, this was a considerable income. These foreign merchants were, in essence, the lifeblood of Sun City.
As Mi passed the tax office set up by the shops, she felt two shadows appear behind her. She moved her figure into the shadows on the left and turned back into smoke, hugging the wall.
"Where is she?" A chubby middle-aged man, reeking of alcohol and squinting, asked, clutching a sharp knife. "She was right here just now. Are you sure it's her?" The fat man pinched three fingers together. —Mi knew this was a euphemism for a thief who had committed a crime. When such a thief was caught, not only would the stolen goods be divided among them, but the shop owners who had been robbed would also receive a substantial reward.
“I just saw you come out from there.” Another skinny man, with hunched shoulders and an indeterminate age, his face hidden in his hood, said in a deliberately low voice, “I only hired you because I heard you’re skilled and efficient. If you don’t believe me, I’ll find someone else.” The skinny man turned to leave.
"Hey, I didn't say anything," the fat man, reeking of alcohol, grabbed the skinny man. "What's your rush? Point her out to me again, and I'll go and finish her off." As he spoke, the fat man's dagger gleamed coldly, and with a "thud," it plunged into the skinny man's abdomen. "Kid, you think you can mess with me?" The fat man spat to the side. "Don't you even know my title?" With that, the fat man pushed the dagger further into the skinny man's abdomen, pulled the skinny man's cloak over his shoulder, and carried him into a dark alley. The skinny man made a hissing sound as blood flowed from his mouth onto the fat man's back.
Mi looked up at the sky, glanced into the dark alley twice, and finally decided to follow. Behind this large area of shops, there was such a narrow alley. The corpse that the fat man was carrying kept hitting the walls with dull thuds. At the end of the alley, around the corner, was Red Powder Street. Mi cautiously stopped, looking at the bright lights of Red Powder Street.
The fat man, carrying the person, stood at the end of the alley. Suddenly, he raised his hand to his mouth and whistled. Soon, a wheelbarrow appeared not far away, and a skinny young man emerged: "Fatty, where have you been? I couldn't find you even at your lover's place."
"You were looking for me?" The fat man unloaded the person he was carrying and put him on the car, then took off his coat to cover the person's head. "Let's go, this isn't the place to talk."
“Okay,” the skinny man pushed the cart. “Have that clam kid tell me he’s looking for me. What is it? If I hadn’t been unable to find you, I wouldn’t have been waiting in this alley.”
“I wasn’t looking for you, you got scammed,” the fat man cracked his neck. “I got scammed today too. This kid was impersonating you at first, but when I found out, he said someone introduced him. I never do business with middlemen. I don’t know where this kid came from, but I took care of him. I’ll go back and do some research, I wonder if I can make some money.”
"You don't recognize it?" The skinny monkey stopped and looked around a few times before saying, "Are you sure it doesn't have a tail?"
“No,” the fat man said. “This guy is trying to trick me into going to the front alley. I know that place all too well. Even if there’s an extra carriage, I’d know where the airflow is different if you move a stone.”
“That’s right, why didn’t he ask around about ‘Fat Nose’? He’s not someone you can easily fool.” The skinny man flattered the fat man, and the two turned and walked through Red Powder Street to a stone house in a back alley. Mi watched from afar as the two carried the body inside. She followed them in. The skinny man took a burning piece of firewood from the fireplace and lit an oil lamp. Seeing the lamp again, Mi hid in a dim corner. The fat man removed all the clothes from the body, and a piece of paper with a drawing fell out. The skinny man picked up the drawing and held it up to the lamp. Mi discovered that her face was drawn on the paper.
“Poor wretch, nothing to show for it.” The fat man rummaged through all the pockets, finally picking up the shirt and cloak, saying, “These two are decent stuff, worth at least two silver derries. Tonight wasn’t a wasted effort.” The fat man put the clothes aside and went to pull off the tight pants on the corpse. He held onto the pant leg with one hand and lifted one leg with the other, but the pants wouldn’t come off no matter what he did. With his back to the skinny man, he pushed the corpse over and pulled down the pants: “What are you doing? Aren’t you going to help me?”
"Look at this woman, she's quite pretty." The skinny man held up the blueprints and turned the image towards the fat man.
"What woman? Where did she come from?" The fat man lifted one of the corpse's legs, his eyes fixed on the boots on the corpse's feet: "Fine deerskin boots!" The skinny man put down the blueprints, unbuckled the leather belt on the corpse, held it up to his eyes and said: "Hey, not bad luck, there's a gem."
"This kid doesn't have a single copper coin, but he's got a lot of good stuff on him." The fat man and the skinny man huddled together, pulled down their pants, and then stared at the boots on the corpse's feet. Mi quietly walked over, looked at the portrait on the table, and with a few strokes, drew her likeness. Mi reached out and tore the paper up, as if a gust of wind had blown it into the fireplace. Flames leaped up, and the image burned to ashes.
The fat man and the thin man cleaned the body, and finally pointed to the blood-stained shirt, saying, "What a waste of such fine material."
The skinny man took a tattered black felt blanket from the corner of the wall. He stared at the empty tabletop twice, then glanced at the ground before turning around and wrapping the corpse in the blanket.
"What woman are you talking about?"
“I said he was as white as a woman,” the skinny man patted the corpse under his hand. “He must have been born into a good family.”
"That's true. We can definitely get a good price from Tu San. It's just too thin, not much meat on it." The fat man carried the corpse out the door, and the corpse was put back on the handcart and pushed towards the west of the city.
"What do we do now?" the skinny man said as he pushed the cart. "There's nothing here, and it's hard to find anything."
"It's alright, take the clothes out tomorrow and see if anyone recognizes them." The fat man snorted through his nose. "They're after me, they'll definitely try again. Go find Old De."
"Old De's fees aren't cheap," the skinny man muttered.
“What do you know? The more empty someone is on their person, the more likely they are to be rich. Tell Old De to find this guy’s place and give him half of whatever he has.” The fat man said viciously, “Look at all the good stuff he has on him, I think this is a fortune.”
"Okay, I'll listen to you. I'll go first thing tomorrow morning." The skinny man pushed his wheelbarrow into a slaughterhouse in the west of the city, leaving it lying in the yard. He shouted, "Tu San, time to collect the goods!" Then the two turned and left. Mi stopped outside the slaughterhouse and watched as a shirtless man wearing a leather apron came out and carried the corpse inside. Mi felt a wave of nausea wash over him. How could cannibalism happen everywhere?
* * *
Calvin had just finished drawing the latest star map when Severus came over, picked up the observatory, and frowned more and more as he looked at it. Calvin saw that Severus was about to get angry, so he quickly picked up his drawings and left.
"You bastard." Severus spat on Calvin's back and sat down again. This time, he carefully observed the star chart, moving the stars along the orbits one by one until they stopped, forming a completely new pattern. Severus picked up a piece of paper and quickly began calculating, growing increasingly panicked: "Where did they go? How did they disappear?"
Severus put down his pen and once again manipulated the star trails in front of him. An image of a crown appeared before him: "The Queen's crown will not disappear. This time, let me be the Queen's guide. No, I want to be the Queen's husband. My goal is for the Queen to give birth to my child and rule this country." Severus's expression was ferocious. He looked at the star trails in front of him, reached out and scattered all the stars, picked up the manuscript, and walked towards Derek's Corridor.
* * *
Yana, a student at Lincheng No. 17 Girls' School, locked herself in her room. She repeatedly looked at the star map, muttering incredulously, "How could it be gone? How could it be gone?"
Qiu pushed open the door: "What's wrong with you? Miranda said you didn't eat anything tonight, are you crazy?" Qiu was holding a tray and used her foot to push open the door. All the stars in the room fell on Qiu, forming a small crown.
"Don't move!" Yana stared at Qiu's figure, quickly taking out a memory stone. Qiu glared at Yana, gritting her teeth as she handed her the milk cup: "Drink it." Qiu raised her hand, and the fleeting image of the crown vanished. Yana held up the memory stone, looking at Qiu, and said in confusion, "Am I seeing things?"
"I think you're starving." Qiu saw Yana standing there motionless, so she walked in with a tray and put the milk cup to her lips: "Eat quickly."
After finishing her milk, Yana sat down at the table to eat. She showed Qiu a star chart, with starlight darting around the room. Qiu said helplessly, "Just say what you want to say. I don't understand these things."
"The Queen's crown has been destroyed."
"What's the meaning?"
"The Queen's crown has been hidden and may never appear."
"So what? We can't control the succession to the throne," Qiu said irritably. "The mission hasn't sent back any news. I just want them to bring Beatrice back."
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