Chapter 63 Looking for Clues
Is there something wrong at work?
Teacher Zhao gave Lin Guantang this hint, but did not want to talk more and left in a hurry.
Lin Guantang had no choice but to go back first. After looking at Ding Ruize, he decided to follow Chen Huan back home to take a look first.
A dilapidated staircase, a room full of old furnishings, and various boxes stacked together as storage areas are clearly visible in the living room.
When he opened the door, Chen Huan had already whispered, "My house is very run-down and messy... My brother can tidy it up, but I want to do it but I can't."
Perhaps he was afraid that the two adults would dislike the mess in the house, but in fact, it made Lin Guantang feel a sense of familiarity, as if he was back home. It seemed that whether it was the imperial capital or District 35, the poor and destitute places were not much different.
Even the air was filled with the same strange smell - but they were different. At the Chen family's house, it was more of the smell of medicine, while at Lin Guantang's house, it was the smell of cigarettes and alcohol. Especially when his godfather Sazerac had a burst of artistic inspiration, the house was filled with smoke and the smell of alcohol was so strong that every time Lin Guantang encountered it, he would feel dizzy as if he was walking in the clouds.
At that time, the floor was covered with all kinds of drawing papers, pens, inks and paints, and the level of mess was almost the same as that of the Chen family.
But fortunately, every time before Sazerac felt like he was about to create something big, he knew that his bad habit of immersing himself in art was not good for children, so he would take the initiative to find other places to create. Or if he really didn't have time, he would let Lin Guantang go play with his friends first. After he recovered, he would also know to put away the pens, ink, and paper that were scattered around, although even if so many things were put away, they would still take up a lot of space.
In comparison, his father was not so particular. Every time he got drunk, Lin Guantang would have to clean up the mess. Fortunately, when he was drunk, he would either be in a daze or sleep, and would not go crazy. Instead, this allowed Lin Guantang to develop the habit of cleaning and tidying up at a very young age.
But Lin Guantang's recollection didn't last long before a shrill cry broke his thoughts:
"You little bastard! Your brother ran away, and you want to run away and stop serving me, right? Just go away, you heartless person—!"
The shouting suddenly sounded after the door was opened, and then suddenly stopped when someone else came in.
The sound came from the room diagonally opposite the main door. The door was not closed, and one could see at a glance the person lying on the bed in the room, a woman with messy hair, a haggard face, and a confused expression - she should be the mother of the two Chen Huan brothers.
After thinking about it, Lin Guantang walked over.
The originally small room was filled with a strong medicinal smell, which was even more intense at the door. Lin Guantang stood at the door and did not continue to move forward. Instead, he introduced himself to the woman in her stunned expression:
"Hello, I'm Xiaolin, Chen Le's friend. I haven't contacted him in a while, so I wanted to come and see what's going on."
The woman leaned against the bed, motionless, as if stuck. Doubt, confusion, surprise, and other emotions rolled through her eyes. Her lips moved several times before she finally uttered an "oh". After a moment's silence, she said doubtfully:
"He's been away from home for a long time. When did you become his friend? I've never seen you before. Are you really his friend?"
Lin Guantang nodded and asked:
"Auntie, do you know where he is now?"
"have no idea!"
After saying this impatiently, she leaned to the side and lay down to sleep, looking like she didn't want to pay any attention to the two visitors.
This really made Lin Guantang at a loss for words. He turned around to look at Chen Huan. The child looked nervous. Seeing that his mother did not say anything excessive to the two guests, he breathed a sigh of relief. He made various gestures to indicate silence, then waved his hand and quietly took Lin Guantang and the others to another room.
This is the room where Chen Huan and his brother live.
That is an even smaller room with a bunk bed. Opposite the bed is a desk and bookcase. Facing the door is a window. The layout of the room can be seen clearly from the door.
There was nothing noteworthy about them. The upper bunk was covered with cute cartoon bedding, while the lower bunk was a simple gray suit. It was obvious that the upper bunk was the younger brother's bed and the lower one was the older brother's.
The bookcase on the other side is even more messy. Most of the books are for my younger brother's studies. On the bookshelf above are many popular novels, which should be my older brother's books.
Chen Huan took out two bags, with "Big Eyed Playboy" and "Gold Lover Happy City" written on them respectively.
"This is the bag my brother got from his workplace. This is the one he's using now."
Chen Huan pointed to the bag with "Jinmi Happy City" written on the back and took out a black notebook from a pile of books and exercise books on the table. There was no password, only a simple buckle on the outside.
Most of them are records of debts and wages, and occasionally there will be a sentence or two similar to "diary" or "mood" every few pages.
[I'm incredibly lucky today. I met the god who saved me. I feel like all my life's misfortunes were just a preparation for today's good fortune.]
My mother's illness has worsened, and she needs a lot of money. The foreman said that since I'm an omega, I can try going to Golden Maze City. If I'm chosen, I'll get more money than I have now. But Golden Maze City... is so scary, I don't dare to go.
My glands, I never thought they would be so useful one day. I never thought they were still in good condition. Haha, I'm a low-quality omega so I haven't been marked. Do I have to feel lucky for such a thing?
[As expected, I was rejected because it was too low quality, but the boss was a nice guy and said he could help me improve it a little bit so that I could get away with it. He also offered me a large sum of money if I was willing to go there...]
[That place, that place, that place, ahhh, the boss is right, take a gamble, otherwise there will be nothing]
[I was so scared, I thought I was going to have surgery, but it turns out I just need to drink some medicine. But the medicine is so bitter, ahhhhh, it feels even more bitter than my mom’s medicine.]
[It hurts, it hurts, it hurts... My gland, I really want to have it removed, so the pain won't go away...]
"Will death relieve me of this pain? But I've been redeemed by God, so I want to live on. Just hold on a little longer, and everything will get better."
"Finally, it's finally possible! I'm truly blessed by the gods! I'll return alive!"
…
The handwriting became more and more scattered, and almost the entire paper was filled with words such as "pain", "ache", "cut off", "leave", etc., occasionally interspersed with words such as "mother" and "brother", as if one could see the situation of the person who wrote it struggling in pain.
Lin Guantang's fingers pressed on the line of words "People saved by God..." He had no idea what kind of mood Chen Le was in when he wrote these words. He was just shocked as if someone had hit his head. It turned out that in an unknown place, someone actually regarded him as a god who could save himself.
If that's the case—
Lin Guantang sat on the stool and looked back at the child who was looking at him nervously and expectantly - an overly smart child. He had originally asked Ding Ruize for help, but along the way now, he found that the "God Brother" he asked for help seemed to be based on the opinions of this strange brother, so he placed his hopes directly on Lin Guantang.
Lin Guantang decided to ask him a few questions first:
"Besides these two bags and the notebook, is there anything else?"
Chen Huan shook his head:
"No, my brother doesn't allow us to bring anything back from his workplace, not even his work clothes. I didn't show the notebook to the uncles before, so they took everything else away."
"Does your brother often cry out in pain when he comes back?"
"No, my brother rarely came back later. When he came back, I was already asleep..."
Chen Huan's voice got lower and lower as he spoke, and finally his voice had a faint sobbing tone:
"I'm sorry, brother. If I hadn't overslept, I would have known that my brother was in pain and would have discovered his abnormality earlier."
"I wanted to go to Jinmi City to look for my brother, but the people there wouldn't let me in, saying I was too young. Furthermore, when I went to ask before, they said they had never seen my brother. How could that be possible? Everyone knows my brother works there."
"I see."
Lin Guantang put his hand on his shoulder, slightly increasing his strength, trying to convey a sense of security to Chen Huan.
"I'll help you find your brother—at least some clue as to where he is, anyway."
He looked into the eyes of the child in front of him. His ice-blue eyes conveyed straightforward determination and the belief that he would definitely do it, which was like a gentle breeze blowing into Chen Huan's mind.
Chen Huan froze in place, and then a feeling as if he was blown by a strong wind swept through his mind, causing him to gradually open his eyes wide, and finally realized that he had made a mistake from the beginning to the end:
"You, you are..."
Before he could finish his words, Lin Guantang raised a finger to his nose and mouth, blinked at him, and whispered:
"Can I keep it a secret?"
Chen Huan nodded quickly and said in a lower voice:
"Can you really find your brother?"
Lin Guantang nodded:
"I will do it, but you have to promise me one thing."
Chen Huan immediately stood up straight, looking as if he was listening attentively.
"I can do anything as long as I can find my brother."
Lin Guantang said:
"Study hard."
Chen Huan: ...
As a teenager, Chen Huan's courage and initiative are already quite amazing, but due to his age, he can only do this much - it would be best to end here, as what follows is not a discussion that a child needs, can, or can participate in.
After making an agreement with Chen Huan that "only if he studies hard will the gods help him find his brother", Lin Guantang and Ding Ruize walked out of the Chen family with the notebook - of course Lin Guantang would not claim to be a god, that would be too shameful.
But it was obvious that Chen Huan had been influenced by his brother and placed all his hopes for salvation on the "God", and then on Lin Guantang. At this time, arguing that this was an empty delusion seemed meaningless. Moreover, if the "God" could make Chen Huan feel more at ease, then there would be no loss in just assuming this identity for the time being.
It was already dusk, and the sky and the earth were shrouded in a dim and yellow sunset.
Walking on the road in the community, Lin Guantang was the first to ask:
"Brother Ding, do you have any ideas?"
"If you really want to know, maybe asking in that Golden Mystery City might yield some results."
Ding Ruize shook his head, spread his hands and said helplessly:
"That's all I can say. I'm not a brainiac, and I'm not interested in mystery novels. There aren't any clues at all."
"But I do."
Lin Guantang looked at him deeply, then looked away and said softly:
"Drug modification, gland stripping, it's really hard not to connect it to what happened at the racetrack before."
A long time had passed since that incident, and Lin Guantang had also tried to check the relevant follow-up through the system. The entire task process could still be viewed in detail, but he had no authority to know how the follow-up was handled.
He once asked Huo Shizhen related questions, and the response he got was that his curiosity might harm his companions.
So he hesitated, but now he has a new idea.
He chose to give up at that time because once he chose to open the box of disaster, the disaster might endanger the people around him. But now the situation has reversed, the disaster has revealed its harm, like a broken seal, the box that suppresses the disaster has been broken, and it seems unimportant whether he chooses to continue opening it.
But maybe he really was thinking too much. These were two completely different things. After all, there was no mention of any words about the "eternal world" in Chen Le's diary. This was very different from the belief-like attitude that Apa Shou had to shout out when he was dying.
All in all, the most important thing at the moment is to find Chen Le first.
If you want to find Chen Le, you must go to his workplace to take a look, but can you really find any clues?
It was a very magnificent entertainment venue, standing among a circle of dilapidated buildings. It looked out of place, yet there was a kind of strange harmony.
Night has fallen, and the bright and dazzling lights have become brighter, highlighting the golden brilliance of this Jinmi Happy City. The surrounding buildings are even grayer, as if swallowed by the darkness.
Lin Guantang and Ding Ruize were sitting in a noodle shop across the street eating, glancing sideways at Jinmicheng, which didn't have many customers yet, and discussing ways to get some information.
But before Lin Guantang could speak, Ding Ruize rejected this option:
"You're definitely not going to get any useful clues. And your teacher also warned you not to go in. This kind of entertainment venue, with all the bad guys mixed up, is pretty difficult to deal with."
"Or—"
Ding Ruize suddenly smiled, which made Lin Guantang feel a chill. Then he heard Ding Ruize grinning and making a suggestion:
"How about asking the young master for help? If it's the young master, it would be easy for him to find someone. Maybe if you go to the young master now and tell him that you want to see Chen Le, your wish will come true tomorrow."
It makes Huo Shizhen sound like some kind of wish-granting machine that can do anything.
Lin Guantang secretly complained in his heart, but he didn't plan to ask Huo Shizhen for help - at least not now, because -
"I have a better idea."
There was a calculating glint in Lin Guantang's eyes.
***
The nights in late autumn come very early, and it is almost dark at six or seven o'clock, but it is not yet the peak time for the Golden City, and there are only a few scattered guests. In addition to receiving them, the front desk staff also have some leisure time to comment on the visitors.
This one is obviously a nouveau riche, this one is an old customer, this one is a wealthy man, this one...
"Hello, does Chen Le work here? I'm his friend and I haven't been in touch with him for a while, so I wanted to ask."
The innocent and handsome young man at the counter asked nervously. It seemed that this was his first time in a place like this - he looked totally out of place.
If he hadn't been unable to find any friends, he probably wouldn't have forced himself to come to such a place, even bringing a bodyguard with him for courage.
The waiter and his companion exchanged a glance, then briefly flipped through the system and answered his question:
"Chen Le? He hasn't come to work for several days. I don't know where he went."
The handsome boy uttered a disappointed "oh" and asked again, seemingly unwilling to give up:
"Excuse me, are you really not sure? I'm sorry, but you didn't seem surprised at all when I said he couldn't find it."
"This is a very normal thing."
The waiter smiled and looked at the two people in front of him with a headache - he had encountered this kind of thing too many times. They were all unreasonable people. How could the lowest-level waiters know so many things? But often when they encountered such incidents of looking for someone, they were the ones who were scolded and beaten.
So I don’t want to answer the second question at all - if it were in the past, I would have just ignored it.
But who could blame this handsome boy in front of me? He was really good-looking, and he spoke very politely, not aggressively like others. His expression was so innocent, as if he was really confused about this matter. So when I called the waiter, I couldn't show a fierce expression, but I couldn't bear to ignore him, so I said jokingly:
"In places like ours, many people come today and leave tomorrow. They leave at any time. We're used to it. Do we have to be responsible for asking where they go after they leave? We don't have that much free time, and it's not something a pampered young master like you can understand."
The other party added a sarcastic remark - it seems that his vision is not very good, Lin Guantang is not from a young master's family.
But that couldn't be blamed on the waiter's poor eyesight. A young, beautiful, very innocent person, between a teenager and a young adult, asked some very innocent questions, and was followed by a tall and strong bodyguard wearing sunglasses, who was serious the whole time. No matter how you looked at him, he looked like a young master who acted arbitrarily.
He even wore a pair of white gloves - although he was disguised and wearing ordinary clothes, why would an ordinary person carry gloves with him? Only those pampered aristocratic young men would wear gloves because they didn't want to be contaminated by dirt.
This young master who couldn't even conceal such a small detail was casually dealt with perfunctorily - just as the waiter expected, after asking this question, it seemed that he had no idea how to find other clues indirectly. The handsome boy looked around helplessly for a while, then left dejectedly - although he still walked back and forth in the hall a few times unwillingly, but it was completely useless. How could there be any clues in the hall?
Not only could he not find any clues, but he was also mistaken by the customers as a new waiter and was tried to be teased. If the bodyguard behind him had not stopped him in time, this handsome boy would probably have suffered a lot.
The waiter looked at the customer with pity and wanted to laugh, but he didn't watch for long. Perhaps because he was sure that he couldn't find any clues, or perhaps because he couldn't stand the customers' dirty talk, the handsome boy finally left dejectedly.
It really makes people feel sad, but there is nothing we can do. Even if we know some things, we cannot tell them to him.
Around ten o'clock in the evening was the busiest time for the business of Jinmi City. The waiters were so busy that they were almost completely relying on instinct to do various reception and registration tasks. They had long forgotten about the visit of the strange young master.
Apart from the fact that he was extremely good-looking, there was absolutely no need to remember him. After all, finding someone was not a difficult thing to do, and it even happened frequently. Although I felt as if I had seen him somewhere before, being busy at work made it impossible for me to calm down and think about these complicated and trivial matters. So I thought I'd wait until work was over before doing it.
At around ten forty, something unexpected happened.
It's not quite accurate to say that it was an accident. To describe the scene seriously, the director of the street guard station unexpectedly paid a visit in person - without having received any notice of a surprise inspection before.
Not only that, every time the director came in the past, he was not only surrounded by people, but also quite calm and decent. But today he came in with a servile attitude, leading a strange and aggressive person in, and many people followed behind him, all of whom looked very difficult to deal with.
After coming in, he didn't even look at the front desk and walked straight inside. The security guard wanted to stop him when he saw the situation was not good, but was pushed away mercilessly. When he wanted to take action, he was kicked out.
Since the opening of Jinmi City, no one has ever been so arrogant.
The guests were so frightened that they dodged to the side, looking nervously and helplessly at the group of people who suddenly broke in.
Before these people could even reach the center of the hall, the boss of Jinmi City came down with many high-level staff to greet them. He showed no anger at being disrupted, but instead had a flattering smile. He didn't even have time to say hello, but immediately cried out in injustice:
"There must be a misunderstanding. How dare we hide the young lady?"
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