Chapter 87: Dalong takes action, half a step beyond the ordinary!
The wave of infection took away far more than just the population; it also drained away the invisible spirit of this land.
The entire buffer zone seemed to have been drained of all its vitality by an invisible hand. The air was filled with indescribable silence and desolation, and even the wind carried a gloomy smell.
Walking all the way from the central checkpoint, Jiang Chuan would stop from time to time to observe.
There was hardly any expression on the faces of the people passing by, only numb fatigue. Occasionally, there were a few people with a gleam in their eyes, and it was obvious at a glance that they were people who had escaped from the shantytowns, selecting their targets and waiting for nightfall to strike.
Only those migrants carrying backpacks or those squatting on the roadside exchanging supplies with each other and preparing to leave can you see some anticipation and smiles on their faces.
To them, Happy City is just a stop on their life journey. They will soon be heading to the next stop and naturally will not be infected by the decadent atmosphere here.
Jiang Chuan believes that if he had stayed in the buffer zone, these changes would not have affected him.
After all, he has lived here for nearly twenty years. From a young boy of sixteen to a middle-aged man of almost forty years old, he has long been accustomed to the ups and downs of life.
But he had just followed Ding Yishan into the inner city and witnessed the prosperity and order there. Then, returning to this lifeless buffer zone, he felt a sense of disconnection, like a blunt knife cutting flesh, repeatedly grinding against his heart, making him feel a little uneasy.
"Dude, are you leaving too? Do you want some solid nutrient solution?"
Seeing Jiang Chuan standing still, a bearded scavenger came over with a backpack.
When you open the package, you will see some solid nutrient paste inside that has been boiled and then solidified into balls with glue. It looks gray and not very appetizing.
"If you leave now, the liquid will go bad in a few days. I added a lot of preservatives to this stuff, so you can take it with you and eat it for a month without any problems."
The scavenger patted his chest, his tone revealing a hint of pride, "Don't worry, at most you'll get a slight fever from eating this, but it won't kill you!"
"No, I don't eat this."
Jiang Chuan shook his head and continued walking towards area B-7.
But the scavenger refused to give up and followed closely with his backpack, chattering on and on about selling his goods.
At the same time, several scavengers on the roadside who were originally chasing others to sell things also moved, quickened their pace, and surrounded them.
"Brother, do you want some anti-inflammatory or painkillers? Don't be fooled by the fact that they're homemade, they're definitely as effective as the authentic ones from the clinic!"
"9mm bullets, two for one Happiness Coin. They're cheap, but it's always good to have some in reserve!"
"Where's the tent? You'll need it, right? If we leave the city and don't have a place to shelter from the wind and rain, we'll get sick from the cold the next time it rains. And then there'll be no one to turn to for help!"
"If that doesn't work, how about some insect repellent? I don't have it when I'm out in the wilderness. I'll be kept awake at night by bugs!"
The more Jiang Chuan tried to avoid it, the more scavengers gathered around him. Their chattering voices wrapped around him like a net, making it increasingly difficult for him to walk.
"roll!"
Annoyed by being pushed around, he stopped and growled,
However, surprisingly, the scavengers looked at each other and burst into laughter.
"Hey, what, you still want to beat us?"
"Come on, hit me on the head. See if you can kill me with one punch."
"You have so much money in your pocket, but you don't buy anything. Do you want to leave your brothers hungry?"
The sound of chattering came with the smell of sweat and dust. The scavengers' encirclement tightened, and the eagerness in their eyes gradually turned into a fierceness.
In today's world, no one is willing to let go of a fat sheep easily.
money?
Jiang Chuan subconsciously touched his trouser pocket and found that there were indeed quite a few happiness coins in it.
As the stationmaster's clerk, due to his special status, he usually just swipes his badge wherever he goes, and he has not had the concept of money for many years.
He borrowed these happiness coins from the guards when he was leaving the checkpoint, so that he could use the money to pave the way after entering the B-7 area and find out as soon as possible what Cheng Ye had done.
I never expected that before I even set foot in Area B-7, I would be spotted by this group of sharp-eyed scavengers.
"Aren't you selling things? Are you robbing me?"
Jiang Chuan's eyes turned cold. "You're planning to force sell me this garbage that these migrants won't even buy?"
"What do you mean by rubbish? You can't speak properly, huh, kid!"
The scavengers were immediately furious when their sore spot was touched. The hideous smiles on their faces became even wider. Some of them clenched their fists and were about to rush forward.
However, just as Jiang Chuan was about to take action, a rough roar suddenly came from behind the crowd:
"Fuck, you want to die, right? You've sold things to our B-7, don't you want to live anymore?"
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw five strong and burly middle-aged men walking quickly towards them. They all had fierce faces and their eyes showed a hostile look that showed they were not to be messed with.
It was visible to the naked eye that the faces of the scavengers who were so arrogant and domineering just a second ago suddenly fell, and their ruthlessness was like a balloon that was punctured, and they immediately wilted and became extremely obedient.
"Boss Huang, aren't we still in B-5? We didn't dare to enter your B-7."
"Get lost! You still dare to argue with me?" Boss Huang stepped forward and spit in the other man's face. "If you dare to hang around here again, I'll chop off all your claws!"
It takes another evildoer to deal with an evildoer.
Boss Huang shouted angrily, and the scavengers looked at each other. No one dared to say anything. They could only lower their heads in shame, pick up their rags, and quickly slip away.
Although they are reckless, they can also distinguish between the important and the unimportant.
There are more than 4,000 people in Tianyuan Community, and nearly 3,000 of them are adult males. They are not people they can afford to offend.
What's more, that "poison-hand dragon" has been like crazy lately, marking its territory and protecting its children very fiercely.
Last night, someone had a conflict with their people at B-6, and the people from B-7 rushed over, beat the other person half to death, and carried him out.
If you run into bad luck at this time, you are simply asking for trouble.
"Brother, be careful if you have money in your pocket. It's not a good thing to be harassed by these people."
Boss Huang also caught a glimpse of the bulging happiness coins in Jiangchuan's pocket.
Just by looking at the shape, you can tell that this person has at least a few hundred coins in his pocket, which is equivalent to their monthly income from working.
"Thanks, brother. Here are some drinks for you."
Jiang Chuan's eyes rolled, and he suddenly took out two happiness coins with a face value of 10 from his pocket.
Huang Boss swallowed subconsciously, but when he thought of what District Boss and Dalong had told him, he shook his head and said, "No need, it's just a small favor. The situation in each district is not good right now, and everyone is struggling. You should keep the flowers for yourself."
Don’t want any money?
Jiang Chuan was stunned for a moment, but did not chase after him or say anything. Instead, he followed Boss Huang from a distance and entered Area B-7.
It's very strange, as B-6 and B-7 are only one block apart.
But after crossing this line, the dead silence and desolation in the air seemed to be suddenly cut off by something and retreated for the most part.
I don't know when the roadside stalls started to appear. Pieces of rags were spread on the ground and placed in a row against the corners of the walls, with all kinds of small items on them.
Most of the stall owners squatted at the foot of the wall and did not come up to solicit customers. Their eyes did not even look at their own stalls, but instead they all looked at the pedestrian street not far away.
A ding-dong sound was heard, mixed with vague shouts and the crisp sound of metal colliding.
Normally, the buffer zone should be sparsely populated after the wave of infection, and it will not become lively until new people come in and autumn arrives, at least a month or two later. However, the entrance to the pedestrian street was crowded with hundreds of people, a sea of activity. Even the people at the outermost edge stood on tiptoe to look inside, with a look of vitality on their faces.
Jiang Chuan saw it clearly, not with sadness, nor with numbness, but with a tense expectation.
With a loud bang.
There was a sudden loud explosion, shaking the ground beneath our feet.
Two four-story illegal earthen houses on the outskirts of the pedestrian street suddenly collapsed inward, and broken bricks, yellow soil and rotten wood flew into the sky. The splashed mud and dust spread like a mushroom cloud, choking the people in the front row and making them cover their mouths and step back.
Several figures in work clothes emerged from the smoke and dust, holding crowbars and hammers, and shouted to the crowd, "Make way! After we demolish these two houses, the passage will be clear!"
"Brother, what are they doing?"
Jiang Chuan squatted at the foot of the wall, imitating the stall owner. Looking at the sweaty crowd not far away, he couldn't help but ask, "Why is it so lively?"
"Tear down the pedestrian street, what else can we do?"
The stall owner smacked his lips. "I heard this place is going to be rebuilt. The entire pedestrian street will have to be torn down and rebuilt. New roads will be paved, shops will be built, and a small factory will be built."
"ah?"
Jiang Chuan was stunned and subconsciously straightened his back. "How much will that cost? Where can such a small community get so many resources?"
"None of your business." The stall owner shook his head slightly, his tone thick with envy. "Tianyuan Community has thousands of people, and only a few dozen died in this wave of infection, so they've minimized the losses. I heard they even won the 'Third Class Merit for Happiness' award. I'm afraid the funds allocated from higher authorities could renovate half of this street."
"Third Class Merit of Happiness?"
Jiang Chuan was completely stunned.
He instinctively felt that this third-class merit might have something to do with Cheng Ye, but a trainee inspector
After thinking for a moment, he lowered his voice and asked, "Do you know that there's an Inspector Cheng Cheng nearby?"
"have no idea."
The stall owner shook his head honestly. "We only set up here because we saw that B-7 was so orderly and there wasn't any chaos after the wave of infections. If you want to ask for help, you should go to the people in the Tianyuan community. They have the final say in this area."
"That Boss Huang"
"The patrol team is responsible for maintaining order. You should look for him."
"Thank you!"
Jiang Chuan nodded and didn't ask any more questions, but his heart was in turmoil.
The buffer zone has been under the management of the idealist faction in recent years. Although the status of the inspectors is respected, the power of the checkpoints themselves is actually shrinking.
In the past, I was eligible to directly retrieve all the information in the buffer, but now I have to apply to the higher-ups for anything I want to do.
In order to avoid alerting the enemy, he did not dare to apply for information about Area B-7.
Now the question is, wow, is this B-7 going to turn the world upside down?
Just as I was thinking about it, cheers suddenly came from not far away.
It turned out that the last section of the broken wall had been pushed down, revealing a spacious passage behind it. Several workers were cheering with hammers in their hands, and sparse applause was also heard from the crowd of onlookers.
Soon, the huge clod of earth was smashed into pieces by hammers, and the crowd of onlookers consciously stepped back to make a narrow path.
Six carts came in. The drivers rolled up their sleeves, bent over and used shovels to load soil onto the carts. Their movements were very skillful.
Jiang Chuan thought about it, stood up and walked to the outside of the crowd, and deliberately found a friendly-looking woman.
"Big sister, I have a question for you." Jiang Chuan tried to sound calm. "Has any important person visited District B-7 recently? Otherwise, why would they suddenly start demolishing the street and rebuilding it?"
The woman looked up at him, a hint of vigilance flashing in her eyes. But seeing that he was dressed neatly and didn't look like someone looking for trouble, she pointed to a tall man who was directing the clearing of obstacles not far away. "Don't ask me if you have any questions. Ask him, Chen Dong. Just call him Captain Chen."
"good!"
Jiang Chuan moved his feet, but in his heart he thought that the people in Tianyuan community were really vigilant.
He didn't even have the chance to pay, as no one responded to his words at all.
"Captain Chen."
"Hmm?" Chen Dong turned his head. "Who are you? What's going on?"
"I live next door, and I want to ask you something for money."
"Neighbor, spending money?" Looking at the several happiness coins with a face value of '10' in Jiang Chuan's hand, Chen Dong hummed with his nose, "Tell me, what's the matter? Let me hear it first."
"It's not a big deal. I heard there's an inspector named Cheng living in our area. Do you know him?"
"Inspector Cheng?"
Chen Dong was stunned for a moment, then frowned. "You'll have to ask our brother Dalong about this. He should know. We're just workers, how would we know about inspectors?"
"Then I wonder where Brother Dalong is?"
"Oh, he's in the mall. Wait for me for a moment and I'll take you there."
"Thank you so much."
Finally finding a breakthrough, Jiang Chuan breathed a sigh of relief and stood aside.
But within a few minutes, the atmosphere around them inexplicably grew tense. The workers, who had been laughing and joking just a moment ago, now buried their heads in their work, even the banging became quieter.
The crowd of onlookers quietly stepped back, glancing at him with an inexplicable look in their eyes.
Jiang Chuan was just beginning to feel something was wrong when Chen Dong came over with a blank expression on his face: "Let's go, Brother Dalong is waiting for you."
"Walk."
Chen Dong led the way in front. Jiang Chuan felt a little strange, but he had no choice but to follow.
But he didn't care. No matter their status or strength, it was easy to crush a group of ordinary people.
When we arrived at the entrance of the mall, there were a few young men standing there, looking me up and down with fierce eyes.
"Do you have a gun? Take it out. Guns are prohibited in our community."
"A pistol." The young man took out a self-defense pistol from his waist, and two other people came forward and began to check it.
"Okay, go in."
The door was opened, and the inside seemed a little dark.
A man could be vaguely seen moving around in the middle of the mall. Chen Dong pursed his lips and said, "That's Brother Dalong. Go ask him."
"Thanks, brother."
Jiang Chuan didn't suspect anything and ran over immediately.
However, after taking a few steps, he heard the dull sound of a door closing behind him.
"Come here, boy."
Dalong, who was standing in the activity area, hooked his finger. "I heard you were looking for Inspector Cheng?"
"You know?"
"Of course I know. What do you want from him?"
Dalong took two steps forward, looking him up and down with sharp eyes, "Are you a martial artist?"
"I just want to ask Brother Dalong something. Did you meet the process inspector on the night of the infection wave?"
Jiang Chuan cupped his hands and took out the remaining happiness coins from his pocket. "I just want to know the news. If Brother Dalong knows, these are yours."
"Do you have an ID badge?"
"No." Jiang Chuan shook his head honestly.
Before he could finish his words, a gust of evil wind suddenly blew in his face.
Dalong leaped up like a leopard, and his right fist hit him in the face at an almost vertical angle. There was a fierce force in the fist, which was obviously a killing move.
Jiang Chuan's pupils shrank slightly, and his body instinctively moved to the left to avoid the heavy punch.
Then he exerted a little force on his shoulders, stretched out his hand and pushed, and actually used his strength to carry the dragon away.
"You're quite skilled, a master at carrying a baby?"
"I dare not."
Jiang Chuan's eyes turned slightly colder. "I don't want to fight with you. I just want to know the news. If you don't want to tell me, I'll leave."
"Then you must be dreaming."
Dalong sneered, stomped his foot hard on the ground, and pounced forward again like an arrow. His right fist, wrapped in a strong wind, hit Jiangchuan's heart, and his left elbow secretly blocked his retreat. His moves were three times more brutal than before.
But this time, Jiang Chuan no longer dodged. He pressed his toes on the ground and his body suddenly sank.
At the moment when the fist was about to hit his chest, he suddenly turned sideways, and at the same time, his left hand grabbed Dalong's wrist like an iron hook, and his right hand went to the opponent's elbow and hit it hard.
Click.
Dalong only felt his right arm numb and weak, and his attack instantly stagnated.
But Jiang Chuan did not give Dalong a chance to breathe. He took advantage of the situation and twisted his body to exert force. He used Dalong's own momentum as a fulcrum and threw him over the shoulder with a clean and neat move!
Bang.
Dalong's burly body was thrown to the ground like a torn sack.
"You opened a common muscle barrier, held a fake fetus, and fought with only a grudge. You won't go far on this path. You'd better avoid being so brave and aggressive in the future."
Jiang Chuan shook his head and was about to turn around and leave.
However, just as he took a step, he heard a crisp sound behind him.
Dalong, who was thrown to the ground, grinned, coughed twice, took out a pistol from his lower abdomen, and opened the safety.
"Brother, I'm afraid you can't leave yet."
"Just you, with this gun?"
Jiang Chuan smiled coldly, his fingers lightly resting on his belt, where a three-inch long self-defense knife was hidden.
The gap in realm is here.
He was absolutely sure that before the other party could fire a shot, he could send a flying knife straight to the dragon's throat.
However.
Dalong, however, got up from the ground with a chuckle, dusted off his body, and waved at the empty circular corridor above.
Click, click, click.
A series of crisp sounds of lights turning on merged into one, and the dim mall instantly became as bright as day.
Jiang Chuan looked up suddenly and was completely stunned the next second.
I saw countless gun muzzles sticking out from the circular corridors on the second and third floors.
Pistols, rifles, and even four machine guns?
What is this doing?
Crazy?
"Come on, be honest."
Dalong clapped his hands again, and four strong men immediately walked out of the shadows, holding iron chains as thick as their forearms.
"The unity of nature and man is very powerful, but you can try to see if you can dodge the machine gun fire."
I was kidnapped?
Kidnapped by a group of ordinary people in the community?
Jiang Chuan was not paying attention to the flickering look in Dalong's eyes after he finished the call, and he was slow to come back to his senses.
He has been staying by Ding Yishan's side all these years, although he has never gone out to explore the world again.
But after reaching half a step beyond the ordinary, killing those outsiders who have achieved the unity of heaven and man is no different from fighting ordinary people.
But today, he actually had a car accident in an ordinary community?
"I'm so sorry, brother. Prosecutor Cheng will be here soon. If this is a misunderstanding, I, Dalong, will kowtow to you and apologize."
Dalong put down the defense pass and scratched his head awkwardly. The tense atmosphere in the mall immediately eased.
The crowd put away their guns as if nothing had happened, talking and laughing, as if nothing had just happened.
The first floor also became bustling with activity, with many people carrying materials in. It looked like they were busy repairing the infrastructure.
This place is indeed completely different from other places in the buffer zone, and it exudes an indescribable vitality.
The children chasing and playing in the mall made Jiangchuan feel a sense of "prosperity and peace" that only existed in the inner city.
Of course, it was still dilapidated, with junk piled up in the corners and iron beds stacked up to the ceiling, making everything look messy.
But if he ignored the external mess, the flow of people in this space made him feel more comfortable than the carefully maintained order in the inner city.
Jiang Chuan secretly clicked his tongue, and suddenly felt a little regretful for his rash intrusion and not being able to approach more cautiously.
But he vaguely felt that he could go back and talk to Ding Yishan about everything that happened here. This kind of change was definitely not what a buffer zone should have.
Even Ding Yishan has never been very enthusiastic about the idealistic reforms.
Moreover, Cheng Ye is definitely not that simple. Even before meeting him, he has the same feeling as Cheng Long going to the Pioneer Corps to secretly accumulate strength. He is worth paying special attention to.
Of course, the most important thing now is to get out.
Fortunately, he had never met Cheng Ye before. He could just try to fool him by pretending that the station received a medical request and sent him over to check on his injuries. He should be able to get away with it, right?
call.
Just as my thoughts were in a mess, someone shouted, "Prosecutor Cheng is here!"
Jiang Chuan subconsciously looked up and was completely stunned.
The messy mall seemed to have been paused, and nearly a thousand people put down their work almost at the same time.
Men, women, and even children all turned their eyes to the entrance in an instant.
Boom, boom.
Steady footsteps came from afar, and a young man who looked particularly young strode in.
He was wearing simple short-sleeved shirt and long pants, and his figure was not particularly tall.
As he walked by, nearly a thousand people followed him spontaneously, their eyes filled with gratitude and respect.
He stopped, and the crowd's breathing stopped slightly. The huge mall suddenly became quiet.
He, Cheng Ye?
Jiang Chuan's head boomed as if it was hit by a sledgehammer, and he completely lost the ability to think.
Countless scattered fragments of memory overlap.
A similar scene occurred outside the checkpoint many years ago when Ding Yishan took office.
Countless people gathered spontaneously, their eyes full of respect and following.
But he had never seen such a scene since then. Even though many residents were respectful to the inspector, they could never achieve such a uniform gaze, let alone such an almost instinctive solemnity.
"Who's looking for me?"
The words fell.
Nearly a thousand people turned their heads almost at the same time, staring at them in unison.
Jiang Chuan had never thought that being stared at could bring such a strong feeling of being on edge.
Every glance seemed to carry weight, pressing down on his shoulders and making it difficult for him to breathe.
But at this moment, he had no choice.
He could only look up with a wry smile on his face as he met the young inspector's gaze.
His memory became fuzzy again. The face was about 60% similar, and the eyes looked down at him, making him feel as if he saw Cheng Long standing there.
"Um?"
Their eyes met, and the other person's eyes seemed to be full of stories, but Cheng Ye searched his memory and confirmed that he had never seen this face before.
He subconsciously opened the panel.
Then, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
【? ? ，98.8%】
[Searchable range: Information, items, skills (Lv1, Lv2, Lv3)]
"Strange, where did this person come from? Why is his cooperation so high? It's almost full without even saying a word!?"
"Huh, and there are Lv3 skills to search for?"
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