Chapter 19: This is Purely Curiosity

After retrieving his motorcycle from the Public Security Bureau, Mo Xuan rode all the way back to his home on Sixth Street. As he passed by the video rental store, he thought that since he had nothing to do at home, he might as well watch a movie. So he parked his motorcycle by the shop window, got off, and walked into the store.

The video rental store was empty, with only two Bangboos working at the counter. This was the norm for most shops; you just needed to buy a few Bangboos to hang in the store, which was much cheaper than hiring people.

The shelves in the store were filled with boxes containing various movies. For a modern person like Mo Xuan, the movies in this world were a bit too retro; they were even on videotapes. Even though this was a near-future world where many technologies were so advanced that they seemed fantastical, the movie aspect was surprisingly retro, most likely technology recovered from a previous civilization.

"Brother Mo Xuan, here to rent a restricted videotape again today?"

A head poked out from a side door by the counter. It was a blue-haired woman who looked very young, seemingly only seventeen or eighteen years old, but Mo Xuan had confirmed with her that she was already an adult, a woman whose age started with the number 2.

The blue-haired woman's name was Ling, and she was one of the owners of this video rental store. The other was her older brother, Zhe. The two siblings ran this store together, constantly teetering on the edge of starvation.

Why would they starve? Of course, it was because the business of this video rental store was ridiculously bad. Mo Xuan didn't know why, but the people on Sixth Street didn't seem to like watching movies. Every time he came here, the place was deserted. Those two Bangboos could last for half a year on a single charge. He had calculated before that this pair of siblings' monthly income wasn't even enough to eat four bowls of ramen a day. Who knows how they survived?

"Don't make fun of me. I just made a mistake that every man makes."

Mo Xuan said helplessly. He was being targeted by Ling. Every time he came to rent a videotape, she would tease him. Fortunately, she was also an adult woman, so she wouldn't be corrupting a minor.

This had happened about a month after Mo Xuan came to this world. He had the power of a Kamen Rider, but a rider was still a person. A rider also had seven emotions and six desires. He was a young man. After a heated battle, he was still fired up. Isn't this proof of health?

Being fired up was a subjective factor. The objective factor was that this world was different from Earth; there were beast-eared girls here. As an ordinary person with normal emotions, Mo Xuan really, really wanted to know if the physiological structure of a beast-eared girl was the same as a human's.

Mo Xuan thought this might be a unique idea of his, but any young person around his age who came to this world, regardless of whether they were male, regardless of whether they were heterosexual, as long as they were curious, would definitely have the same curiosity as him. No objections accepted.

Mo Xuan considered himself to be well-behaved and hadn't found any of those ambiguous places, so he decided to find a videotape to watch. You should know that this business was already very developed on Earth. Coincidentally, downstairs from the coffee shop where he lived, there was a video rental store just a few steps away.

Mo Xuan didn't know about other stores, but a store related to movies definitely had to have some gray income. This was a consensus on Earth. So that day, he excitedly came to the video rental store and very seriously confirmed the ages of this young pair of siblings. After learning that their ages started with 2, he confidently stated his needs.

Mo Xuan still remembered the expressions of the two siblings at that time. It wasn't the kind of look you give to trash, but a very special one, really very special, like looking at an alien. Then Ling laughed so hard she almost passed out, while Zhe had a helpless smile on his face. After they had finished laughing, they told Mo Xuan that they didn't have that kind of business here.

Mo Xuan was completely dumbfounded after hearing the explanation. In this world, restricted videotapes were actually contraband. This level was almost the same as smuggling arms. Mo Xuan's vision went dark at that time. He had no idea which world would put videotapes and arms at the same level.

Later, after hearing more explanations, Mo Xuan finally understood what was going on. This was a way to protect the Xi-ren. Generally, Xi-ren were divided into two types. One was the shark girl Mo Xuan had seen, with some animal characteristics. The other was completely bestialized. For example, a three-meter-tall brown bear suddenly appeared on the street, but it was wearing clothes and walking upright, and it even greeted people. This was another type of Xi-ren.

If the kind of film Mo Xuan needed was not strictly controlled, some rare races of Xi-ren might be caught and forced to work. After all, he was not the only one who was curious. Others would also want to know the difference between Xi-ren and humans, which would lead to a series of persecution behaviors.

This situation was incredible in Mo Xuan's view. He was an earthling, and there were no beast-eared girls on Earth. But in this post-apocalyptic wasteland world, gangs even dared to kidnap ordinary people and sell them to dig in the Hollow. What else would they not dare to do? Now, 99% of the old capital was full of criminals. The Public Security Bureau couldn't even control that area, so one can imagine the harm.

Now, New Eridu's attitude was that once these filmmakers and sellers were caught, they would be sentenced to twenty years to life imprisonment. If the main culprit who abused the Xi-ren was found, they would be directly sentenced to death, using tough means to cut off this kind of criminal behavior.

So the question is, has this filming industry been cut off? The answer is no. There are still people who defy the law, but they are all small workshops and cannot form an industrial chain. This proves that this strict punishment is still useful and indirectly protects many rare Xi-ren.

"Is your brother not at home?"

Mo Xuan picked a few decent movies and handed them to the cashier Bangboo for rental, casually asking Ling a question. To be fair, the movies in this world were quite good, and as an outsider, Mo Xuan had never seen any of them. For him, they were all new releases. The thought of watching new movies every day was a joy.

"He's resting upstairs. Brother Mo Xuan, if this is a Public Security Bureau uniform, did you successfully join?"

Ling pointed a finger at the ceiling above her head. This video rental store also had a two-story design. It was unknown whether this property was left by their parents or bought by themselves. Mo Xuan felt that the possibility of this pair of poor siblings buying a building themselves was very small.

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