Chapter 354: Darkness within the Great Wall
The voice was very close.
Even though there was noisy music all around, Fang Chang could tell that the words were spoken to him.
His expression subconsciously became serious, and he quickly turned his head and saw the girl who was also sitting next to the bar.
Under the dim light, what caught his eye was a rebellious short green hair.
Even in Boulder City, this eye-catching hair color is extremely rare.
She was not tall and thin, with a pair of eyes of different colors under her fluffy bangs, and her left eye was obviously distorted, probably an artificial eye or an electronic eye. The delicate nose and chin seemed to have been operated on, or they were the crystallization of technology.
Fang Chang's eyes moved down and fell on her left shoulder, where he could see a large piece of metal parts, similar to the style of Brother Kuangfeng.
However, Kuangfeng's metal arm was the work of the Pioneer after all, and it looked much more upscale than hers.
The girl didn't care about Fang Chang's "straight" eyes, and continued in a casual tone.
"If you are interested in the three people at table 12, I can help you find out about them."
Table 12 was where the group of people that Fang Chang was following sat.
"What's your name?"
"Dolly... your pronunciation is strange, are you from another province?" The girl looked at Fang Chang, her eyebrows raised with a hint of interest.
Dolly?
What a strange name.
"Mr. Fang," after a pause, Fang continued, "It doesn't matter where I come from... How do you plan to find out about your proposal?"
"I know that dancer. Her name is Nicole. She is one of the top girls here..." Dolly pointed to the dancer sitting in the booth and said without hesitation, "Give me a tip and I can ask you anything, including her measurements."
"That's not necessary."
Fang Chang reached into his pocket and fumbled for a while. He found the smallest chip and flicked it into her hand with his thumb.
Dolly clapped her hands to catch it. With the help of the light, she could see the number on the chip and the color that was the same as her hair color. A hint of surprise suddenly appeared in her right eye.
"... The boss is really generous."
25 chips.
If she worked in a factory, it would take two weeks to earn this amount.
Dolly's eyes couldn't help but become charming, and she looked at the gentle and gentle handsome man in front of her with interest.
"What do you want to know?"
"What are the identities of those three people, what did they do today, and..." Fang Chang's heart moved, "and find out for me if they know about the fire in the warehouse area last night."
A hint of surprise appeared in Dolly's eyes, especially when she heard the last sentence, her eyes became slightly alert.
"You shouldn't ask like that, if you ask like that... even a fool can guess who sent you."
It was too difficult to go around in circles with a mediocre person, so Fang Chang simply stopped acting and said with a smile.
"It's okay, I only said this to you today...Are you scared?"
Scared?
Dolly raised her eyebrows and stood up from the round stool in front of the bar.
Her thin body twisted and quickly passed through the crowd and came to the side of booth No. 12.
She leaned her elbows on the back of the sofa, blew into the dancer's ear, and naturally laughed and joked with her old friend, blending into the atmosphere.
Watching her chatting and laughing with the dancer, Fang Chang's index finger rubbed the wine glass, and he felt nervous.
He suddenly began to feel that trusting a stranger seemed to be a rash decision.
What if this guy sold himself?
Or... should he pay a deposit first?
Just as he was thinking about it, someone patted his shoulder.
He turned his head and saw that the girl named Dolly was already sitting next to him.
"Ask?"
Dolly hooked her finger, motioning him to move his ear closer, and whispered with her thin red lips.
"...The young man sitting in the middle is named Alex. He is the security captain of Weijia Company. His sister Sophie is Weijia's lover and works as an accountant in the cannery under Weijia's name. He was lucky today and made a small fortune."
"What fortune?"
"He didn't say it, but he kept showing off that he could make those powerful officials and dignitaries so worried that they couldn't eat for a day just by talking." Dolly's eyes flickered slightly, "My guess is that his boss gave him a sum of money to incite the workers to surround the city hall... and he should have deducted a little from that fund."
Meaning a strike?
But why strike your own work?
Fang Chang was a little curious. He felt that he might have missed some key clues.
However, the task did not require him to investigate these unimportant things.
It was enough to confirm the identities of those people.
"What about the fire last night?" Fang Chang then asked about the thing he cared about most.
"It's not easy to ask about this kind of thing, but he told my friend that something happened last night and he was sorry that he couldn't come here to accompany her..." When saying this, Dolly's expression was a little teasing, but she didn't know what she was teasing about.
"Thank you, the information you provided is very valuable." Fang Chang extended his index finger and gently swiped the VM exposed from his sleeves, and saved the recording.
[Task (side quest) completed]
[Reward: 120 silver coins, 100 contribution points, 500 "Big Stone City" area reputation...]
[Triggering task (side quest): Summarize intelligence and write a press release]
[Task requirements:...]
Looking at the pop-up window on the screen, Fang Chang raised his eyebrows with interest.
Write an article?
He is familiar with this.
"You're welcome. I'm counting on you to come and take care of my business. There aren't many customers as generous as you." The girl curved her lips and continued with a beaming face, "No matter what kind of secret it is, as long as you bring the person to me, I will find a way to pry it out of his mouth."
Hearing this, Fang Chang laughed and turned off the VM screen.
There have been three unsolved mysteries in "Wasteland OL".
How deep is Shelter 404, how big is Ya Ya, and when is Gou Guang going to be publicly tested.
It's a pity that A Guang is not in the game.
Otherwise, he really wants to bring his good brother here for a drink and find out some inside information that ordinary people don't know.
"I've finished my questions, but I still have some personal questions to ask."
"Go ahead."
Today's performance was perfect, and the girl was not in a hurry to find the next target. She rested her chin on the back of her hand and looked at him with interest.
"Your eyes are very special."
Dolly smiled and joked.
"This is too deliberate... and it sounds fake."
No normal person would think her eyes, which look like those of a bionic man, are pretty.
However, she obviously misunderstood.
The "special" mentioned by the man in front of her means literally.
"No, I'm really curious, where did you get your eyes and mechanical arms?" Fang Chang asked with interest.
Installing an electronic eye and a mechanical arm is really cool, okay?
Especially since he uses a bow.
He dared to bet that there really is a place for prosthetic modification, but only he would be interested, and most other players would be the same.
Looking at Fang Chang who was full of interest, Dolly was stunned for a moment, and her face gradually became a little ugly.
"Your order has ended, this is the second question."
She wanted to use this sentence to get rid of the man in front of her, but what she didn't expect was that a chip with a face value of 50 fell on the table in a circle.
Dolly's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth, but she couldn't say anything for a long time.
"...Are you serious?"
"It seems I gave too much." Fang Chang joked.
He suddenly found this NPC quite interesting.
"Too late!" Dolly quickly reached out and took the chip into her arms.
Fang Chang looked at her and continued.
"Since you have taken the money, don't you plan to tell me some of your secrets?"
Dolly was silent for a while, suddenly waved to the bartender, shook two fingers, and then pointed to the top line of the wine list.
Not long after, two glasses of blood-red cocktails were placed on the bar.
"...Two glasses of 'Dragon Blood', enjoy slowly."
The pungent smell of alcohol reminded Fang Chang of his apartment in the suburbs of Shanghai and the unlicensed black bar in the back alley.
The taste of fake wine blending is really the same.
The Queen of the Night is at least one of the best bars on this street. The living standards of the people in the wasteland are really worrying.
Or is this the taste you want?
Fang Chang was about to pay.
However, the girl had already taken a step ahead of him and handed the 50-dollar chip she had given her earlier to the bartender.
After putting the 40 chips in her pocket, Dolly picked up her cup and gently clinked it with the cup in front of Fang Chang's table, and took a sip of the spicy "Dragon's Blood".
"It's not a secret... You've heard of awakening."
"Of course."
Fang Chang felt a little strange.
What is the relationship between mechanical prosthesis and awakening?
Seeing the confusion in his eyes, Dolly continued.
"There is a serum produced by Giant Stone Military Industry, and its name is the same as this cocktail, both are called 'Dragon Blood'. As long as you inject it, there is a certain probability that you can awaken..."
"Of course, not everyone is qualified to inject dragon blood. After all, it is said that it is not cheap. In the past years, Giant Stone Military Industry, which assisted the militia in recruiting mercenaries, would conduct a simple physical examination on applicants, and one of the items was to test the compatibility of dragon blood."
"If you pass, you will have the opportunity to inject one for free. Once you successfully awaken and show excellent qualities, you will have the opportunity to become an employee of Giant Stone Military Industry and live a life without worries about food and clothing."
Fang Chang looked at her unexpectedly.
"Have you awakened?"
"No," Dolly put down the wine glass in her hand, and a trace of haze covered her eyes. "Even if you pass the physical examination, it does not mean that you will definitely awaken. The success rate of dragon blood is 50%, and the probability of no reaction at all is 40%..."
"And the remaining 10% will cause irreversible damage to body tissues... In the words of those bastards, this is also a kind of awakening, but just like mutation, not all mutations are good."
Fang Chang's Adam's apple moved, and he suddenly understood why the girl in front of him was so resistant to this topic.
Obviously, her arm and left eye were taken away by the "dragon blood"...
The New Alliance does have a serum that induces awakening, but the success rate of that thing is a mystery. You must have a certain potential to use it, and this potential is difficult to measure stably.
That kind of potion is useless to players. It should be a prop used to increase the level of NPCs in the setting.
Fang Chang's own understanding is that players and NPCs are completely different power systems.
Therefore, the evolutionary path is also completely different.
But...
Although the probability of awakening of the serum of the New Alliance is not high, I haven't heard of anyone having side effects.
Can I even give it two more shots to try?
"I think I asked a question that made you sad."
"It's okay. I know you are not interested in the dragon blood. After all, a rich man like you doesn't need that thing." Dolly smiled self-deprecatingly and pointed at her left arm with her right index finger.
"My left eye and this arm were installed for me by Giant Stone Military Industry. The bank in Giant Stone City generously provided me with a loan, and for this I had to pay them 50 chips every month until I was 40 years old. And this broken thing is not as easy to use as imagined. It will malfunction from time to time, and it will shut down if the money is not paid on time. Sometimes I think... I should have died at that time."
Fang Chang was silent for a while.
"Sorry, I reminded you of sad things."
Although he wanted to sympathize with the girl in front of him, how could he say it?
He is disabled, in huge debt, and seems to be an orphan...
I always feel that there are too many factors.
"Don't sympathize with me," the girl curled her lips in self-mockery, and touched his glass with her index finger, "If you really feel sorry, just have a drink with me."
...
Slums.
Lao Bai and the two players followed the woman's footsteps into Blake's house.
The environment inside is not rich, but it is much better than the shacks in the slums.
The shoe cabinet next to the entrance is full of empty wine bottles, and there is a paper box on the ground, revealing recycled shells.
"My name is Mary, what's yours?"
"Lao Bai." As he said this, Lao Bai gave a look to the killer brother of the perception department, asking him to go to the second floor to have a look.
Gou Shizi went to the utility room next door, and according to someone's confession clues, he found a locked safe in the moldy ammunition box.
According to someone's confession, there was a deposit that was not spent.
"Old... White? A very rare name."
Although the woman was surprised, she didn't say much.
She took a candle from the cabinet, lit it in an aluminum tray, and brought it to the low wooden table in the living room, adding some dim light to the dark room.
Unlike the inside of the giant wall, the slums have no electricity. People who have the conditions will use candles or kerosene lamps for lighting, and most people go to bed as soon as it gets dark.
After all, there are no guards here. The nearby gangs just hate others making trouble at their doorsteps, but that doesn't mean they are bored enough to check the names of every corpse.
This is a real no-man's land. The people living here are like weeds, and they will grow again when the spring breeze blows.
Compared with the unlucky people who freeze to death, starve to death, or get lost while scavenging in the wasteland every year, the number of people who die from murder and accidents is not worth mentioning at all.
Sitting on the sofa, Mary looked at Old White sitting opposite her, as if she was hesitating about how to start.
Old White didn't waste time. He turned on the translation function of VM, connected the headphones, and then spoke.
"Your friend accepted a commission that he shouldn't have accepted."
"Is he still alive?"
"He's still alive, but he'll probably have to spend the rest of his life in prison."
"Prison?"
The woman's eyes were a little confused, but she didn't dwell on this question.
It was obvious that she didn't care that much about Blake's final fate.
The man would occasionally bring back some money, but he never spent it lavishly on her.
If this meal ticket was gone, she had to make plans for tomorrow as soon as possible.
This situation was not uncommon in the slums. Not everyone had the courage to look directly into hell, and relying on the strong was also an option.
"Ask any questions you have."
She crossed her legs over her knees, leaned slightly against the worn sofa, and looked at Old White who was sitting opposite.
Old White didn't beat around the bush and put the chip with a face value of 100 next to the candle.
"What did he say to you before he left?"
Mary stretched out two fingers to hold the chip, and said with her red lips slightly.
"He said we were going to get rich, and there was a generous customer who gave him a large sum of money as a deposit. He also said that he had deposited the money in the bank, and after the commission was completed, he would take me to live in the giant wall."
When she said this, there was no longing in her eyes, after all, she was tired of hearing those words.
That guy couldn't save any money at all, and he couldn't stand the life in the city at all.
But the man in front of her gave her the opportunity to live a good life.
"Did he mention who the client was?" Old White continued to ask.
"A man named Bit is his old acquaintance. He lives in an apartment on 71st Street in Boulder City. The rent there is not cheap. I heard that it costs 2,000 chips a month." When she said this, Mary's eyes were filled with envy.
"Have you seen that Bit?"
"Of course, he is completely different from the rude Blake. He is a polite man. Not only is his manners elegant, but his eyes are clear and clean. It is said that he helps the big shots in the city to do business. If that guy could learn from him, we wouldn't have to live in a stinking ditch."
Mary couldn't help but complain, and Lao Bai silently wrote down this clue.
It seems that Blake didn't tell the truth completely.
He and the man named Bit were not casual acquaintances, nor did they meet in some Pirate Bay Tavern.
In addition, Lao Bai sent a message to Fang Chang in the city, asking him to go to the apartment on 71st Street to take a look.
However, surprisingly, Fang Chang didn't reply to his message?
It seems that this guy is not offline either...
Lao Bai's expression is a little weird.
After waiting for a while, he guessed that Fang Chang might have something to do, so he sent a message to another teammate who was still online.
This time the message was replied very quickly.
[Kidney Fighter: Got it! I'll go check it out now! ]
[Old White: Confirm the target location first, be careful not to alert the enemy. ]
[Kidney Fighter: Got it! ]
I hope he really understands it.
Retracting his index finger from the screen, Old White looked at the woman sitting opposite the candlelight.
"... Do you know what business that Bit is in?"
"He seemed to have said..." With her index finger against her chin, Mary thought for a while, "Is it arms? I remember he said that farmers in the south need heavy machine guns to deal with mutants with thick skin and flesh, and large-caliber weapons are very popular there."
A hint of surprise appeared in Old White's eyes.
The one who attacked them was an arms dealer?
This was the most unlikely thing.
"... Could it be Giant Stone Military Industry?"
Sha Bi, who came down from the second floor, happened to hear it.
Looking at the translation on the VM, he exchanged glances with the dog thing who was walking out of the door next to him.
"This is terrible...hiss, but it doesn't make sense logically," the dog thing muttered, confused, "I heard that the New Alliance and Giant Stone City negotiated, didn't they make concessions on arms sales?"
Sha Bi nodded subtly.
"...I heard that too."
The weapons of the New Alliance no longer enter the Giant Stone City market, and Dawn City does not prohibit the weapons of Giant Stone City.
In exchange, Giant Stone City opened up markets in other fields and gave tariff concessions to each other with Dawn City.
Anyone has reason to be dissatisfied with them, but the arms dealers in Giant Stone City have no reason to hate them.
He couldn't help thinking in his heart, it would be great if Brother Fang was here.
That guy has a lot of twists and turns, and he can definitely analyze a bunch of crooked logic.
"...Who is that big shot? Giant Stone Military Industry?" Lao Bai didn't interrupt, staring at the woman in front of him and continued to ask.
Mary looked confused.
"I don't know... maybe?"
Time passed by minute by minute, and before he knew it, the candle had burned down a bit.
Based on the information listed on the VM, Lao Bai continued to ask a lot of questions, and the sky outside the window became completely dark.
"...I have understood the basic situation, thank you for your cooperation." Lao Bai reached out and clicked on the VM, extinguishing the dim light of the screen.
"Is it over?" Mary's expression was slightly lost.
Lao Bai nodded.
"Well, if I need it, I will contact you again."
Unwilling to give up, she did not get up to see him off, but looked out the window.
"Look, it's dark outside. You have to pay double the city tax to enter the city after 7 o'clock... If you don't mind, you can stay here for one night and go back when it gets light."
The voice seemed to carry some kind of hint, or an invitation.
Lao Bai was slightly stunned.
Is this game...
really for all ages?
His intuition told him that whether he chose yes or no at this time, it would not affect the plot of the game later.
Just like he had chosen in "The Witcher 3".
But...
Will there be a black screen skip here?
At this time, a knock on the door outside the house broke the suddenly ambiguous atmosphere in the living room.
"...It's probably that jerk's drinking buddy again, I'll go and see."
Hearing the sound from outside, Mary muttered and got up from the sofa.
At this time, she suddenly noticed that Old White was sitting on the sofa, and her expression was a little embarrassed, and she whispered.
"...Um, can you please not make a sound?"
Although Blake probably couldn't come back, if she couldn't leave here immediately, she still had to take some face into consideration.
This also made it easier for her to find a new home.
Old White nodded, showing his understanding, and gave a look to the two teammates not far away, indicating that they should avoid it.
Mary breathed a sigh of relief, twisted her graceful body, and reluctantly walked to the door.
The sound of turning the doorknob was heard, and then the door creaked open, which seemed very quiet in the flickering candlelight.
There was a voice coming from the door, but it was not very clear.
Lao Bai took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
However, at this moment, a "bang" sounded, which made him reflexively jump up from the sofa, and at the same time, he tightened his grip on the submachine gun hidden under his clothes.
The gunshot was more than one.
When he rushed to the door, Mary had fallen in a pool of blood, her body was full of bullet holes, and the entrance was scarlet.
The two men standing at the door were stunned, obviously not expecting that there were other people in the room.
The man holding the PU-9 submachine gun immediately pointed the smoking muzzle at Lao Bai.
However, Lao Bai was obviously one step faster than him, and the dagger that flew out of his hand directly pierced his forehead.
The huge kinetic energy lifted the muzzle of the gun, and a burst of bullets swept across the ceiling.
Old White took a step forward, stretched out his hand and pulled the dead man with a dagger in his head and the living man into the house, and kicked the door shut.
The corridor was dark, and the ground was covered with sticky blood.
The man who was caught by the neck was completely scared and trembled.
"Don't, don't kill me... I, I am also following orders. If I knew you were still alive, I would definitely not dare to get involved in this muddy water.
He obviously mistook Old White for Blake.
Hearing the gunshot, Brother Sha and Brother Gou also rushed out of the room, looking at the two bodies on the ground, their faces full of surprise.
"What's going on? !"
"Old White, are you okay?"
Why did they suddenly fight?
"It's okay."
Old White pressed the man to the ground and pointed the submachine gun at the back of his head.
"You, you are not Blake? "The man pleaded in a trembling voice, his voice incoherent, "Don't... don't kill me, please, it's so dark at the door, I can't see anything."
"Who sent you here?" Lao Bai said in a deep voice.
The man said tremblingly.
"Our boss... He said that the awakened person who lives on our street messed up and offended someone he shouldn't have offended. He asked us to come here to clean up..."
The street outside was quiet.
Every household closed their doors and windows, and no one came out to watch the excitement.
Lao Bai noticed the tattoo on the neck of the man he was holding down.
The pattern looked like a dagger.
He didn't care about any gangs, let alone the Dagger Gang.
He killed at least three-digit predators in Xizhou City who were more barbaric and cruel than this group of villains.
What really surprised him was the control of the entire city by the huge military-industrial group...
Whether it was inside the giant wall or outside the giant wall.
Every part seemed They are all revolving around the core hidden under the water.
Those people can decide the life and death of each person, or even a group of people, at will, just like operating chess pieces.
And without any concealment.
Lao Bai suddenly discovered unexpectedly that there might not be real order here.
Or civilization.
The lights inside the giant wall are bright, and it might be darker than the wasteland outside the giant wall...
Seeing the sound behind him, the man seemed to have misunderstood, thinking that the person behind him was weighing whether it was worth offending the Dagger Gang for a woman.
Thinking of this, he lowered his voice in a self-righteous way.
"... Friend, the light here is very poor, I can't see your face. If you let me go, I will say that the unlucky guy who shot you was stabbed in the head by that woman... Our boss won't ask about this matter."
"... But if both of us confess here, this matter will definitely not be let go. "
Lao Bai didn't quite understand the first sentence, but he did understand the second sentence.
He laughed.
"Good guy... was threatened."
Lao Bai reached out and lifted the man, turned the face to himself, and said with a smile.
"Now you can see clearly."
The man's face was pale, and his eyes were full of fear.
Just when he thought he would be silenced, he was thrown to the ground.
"It's time to retreat. "
Lao Bai didn't look at the man again.
He gestured to his teammates and walked out of the bloody house.
At this time, the screen of the VM on his arm flickered slightly.
[Kidney Fighter: I've arrived at my destination, but the apartment is separated by guards... There are a lot of people around, I heard that a murder happened.]
Not very surprised, Lao Bai typed a message back.
[The person is probably dead, you come back first, see you at the save point later.]
[Kidney Fighter: OK]
Looking at Fang Chang's icon, Lao Bai couldn't help but feel a little worried that he hadn't replied to his message yet.
I'll ask him when I log off later.
...
Lao Bai After the pedestrians left, at Blake's home.
The man who found himself alive unexpectedly struggled to get up from the ground.
He felt that except for his pants, the rest of his body was cold.
"Damn..."
He cursed, venting his fear in dirty words, and limped to the door.
The door opened.
The cool breeze blew on his face.
For a moment, he felt that it was great to be alive.
At this moment, a group of people appeared in his sight.
Looking at the man in the lead, a trace of surprise appeared in the man's eyes, and a flattering smile immediately appeared on his face, and he walked up to him in two steps.
"... Lord West, why are you here?"
The man in front of him was the boss's confidant, and he was also the leader of this street.
West glanced at the door behind him and frowned.
"What happened? "
The man immediately explained what had just happened, even exaggerating it.
West listened quietly, and suddenly asked.
"Do you remember what that man looked like?"
"Yes! Of course I remember!"
The man nodded quickly, his eyes flashing with excitement, and said viciously, "I can recognize that face even if it is burned to ashes. If I see him again, I will definitely recognize him! "
Wade nodded, glanced at his men standing next to him, and then turned and left.
The quiet night was broken by a gunshot.
Not long after, Blake's house caught fire and engulfed three bodies.
At the same time.
The city hall in the outer city.
The lights were on in the conference room.
Dulong faced his staff with great enthusiasm, vividly describing the genius plan for the 200 million chip loan.
Deputy Director Jaeger's face was full of confusion.
He didn't know what the man in front of him was crazy about, and he didn't know what the moles had fed this guy. What kind of magic potion is this?
But if he were to find a fault with this plan, he really couldn't think of it for a while.
After all, such a thing has never happened in the past two hundred years.
Melvin, the bank president sitting at the table, kept frowning and relaxing his brows.
He also had concerns in his heart, but he couldn't ignore the temptation of the cake.
A loan of 200 million chips...
Although it is not without risk, it is much safer than lending money to merchants and mercenaries.
After a long time, he nodded.
"...Although there has been no precedent like this before."
"But it sounds like a good idea."