There were seven or eight skinny young boys, all bones and skin, but their faces looked relatively clean.
They ran into the light and, upon seeing Lan Yuzai, shrank back in fear. A few of them clearly recognized him. But when they noticed the person behind Lan Yuzai, wearing a mask and a baseball cap, their eyes lit up, and they shouted:
“Boss! Do you need a guide, Boss!”
“I know all the fun places in the lower city! I can take you there! You just need to pay me with two starch sticks! I can wait for you outside!”
“Boss, I can take you to absolutely thrilling places! Places you wouldn’t even imagine!”
Clearly, in their eyes, anyone sneaking into the lower city was just a boss from the upper city here to ‘spend money.’
“Get lost! If you dare come over, I’ll chop you up!”
Lan Yuzai looked fierce, shouting loudly and pretending to kick at them.
The group of boys was scared and quickly dodged, but they didn’t give up calling out. If it weren’t for Lan Yuzai showing off the tattoo on his arm, they would have probably rushed over to grab him.
Lan Yuzai rolled up his shirt sleeves and muttered, “A bunch of little devils who wouldn’t spit out bones even if they ate people! Is it my first day here or what!”
After shaking off those boys, the two walked into a long passageway.
Lan Yuzai’s demeanor became a bit awkward as he quietly said, “By the way, um, big boss… can you take care of these things? I won’t run away; I want to stick with you and learn some skills! I really want to get stronger so they’ll all be afraid of me! I mean… I’m still somewhat famous in our area…”
“You’re famous here too?”
Wang Jixuan took the bag of emergency food that had drained Lan Yuzai’s food quota for two months with his right hand, while still holding onto Lan Yuzai’s right elbow with his left.
This was the most dangerous moment, and Wang Jixuan was fully alert.
“I wouldn’t say very famous, but a bit!”
Lan Yuzai puffed out his chest, suddenly feeling proud, and walked ahead with Wang Jixuan, saying, “Not to mention, I’m loyal and well-connected; I know people in all seven major gangs. Later, you can pretend to be my little brother… Oh, right! What are we here for?”
To directly take down the Black Fire Gang?
If Wang Jixuan had reached the Golden Core stage, he wouldn’t hesitate for a second, but now… reason told him to first make some low-level talismans and prepare a few magical tools to better deal with the gang’s many firearms.
He said, “I heard there are some shops in the lower city that sell various things.”
“There are many, all on a few streets, but most of the shops trade items for items, and they’re all pretty shady, run by gang members themselves.”
Lan Yuzai asked quietly, “What do you want to buy? I know a few shops I often go to. Do you need a gun? Bullets are expensive, even more than guns!”
As they spoke, the two turned a dark corner and entered a brightly lit area filled with orange-yellow lights.
Wang Jixuan stayed alert, walking slightly behind Lan Yuzai.
In his perception, there were many people ahead, and these people… were lifeless.
The spiritual energy here was stuck in a swamp, with murky air released from the bodies everywhere.
Before them stretched a relatively wide straight street, leading to a dazzling scene lit by neon signs and lights at the end.
On both sides of the street were narrow, rusty tin houses. Inside each room, a few people lay or sat, most of them emaciated and barely clothed, with an unknown number of them.
The two rows of low streetlights were the only source of light these people could get.
Wang Jixuan frowned as he walked through.
He had thought the lower city of this fortress would be terrible, but he hadn’t expected it to be like this.
It resembled the scenes of famine described in the teachings of his sect, where corpses were everywhere.
Lan Yuzai was already used to it; he revealed his shoulder tattoo and glared around. Those who looked their way immediately lowered their heads, not daring to speak.
At the end of the street, a few well-dressed men and women were chatting and smoking, each wearing tactical vests and carrying handguns and magazines. Two men even held submachine guns with large magazines.
Beyond these men and women, one could see low buildings covered in neon lights and signs.
There were people coming and going, along with some simple vehicles.
The once arrogant Lan Yuzai immediately tucked his tail between his legs, lowered his head, pulled Wang Jixuan down, took out two emergency food items from Wang Jixuan’s bag, and fished out a crumpled paper bag from his coat pocket.
Lan Yuzai tilted his head and warned, “Don’t say a word, don’t make a move. They all have guns, and there are rifles on the rooftops. This is the territory of the Joy City.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the street guards noticed them.
“Oh hey! Rotten Fish Boy!”
“Hey! Brother Zhang! You’re on guard today? Hard work, hard work.”
Lan Yuzai nodded and bowed as he approached, taking out a few cigarettes and a skull lighter from the paper bag.
Wang Jixuan silently counted five pencils in his hand, calculating the angle of attack.
As long as Lan Yuzai dared to call for help…
The members of the Joy City gang laughed and took the cigarettes, lighting them with their button lighters, and casually took the two bags of emergency food Lan Yuzai handed over.
“Rotten Fish Boy, didn’t you just come down a few days ago? What’s up, did you expand your territory, get more blood bags?”
“Hey, I’m on the thirteenth floor; you know there’s hardly any profit there, and the new captain is ruthless.”
At this moment, Lan Yuzai looked as innocent as a primary school student: “I want to get a gun to take up there; things aren’t peaceful on our side.”
Get a gun?
The group said, “Bringing a gun to the thirteenth floor? You want to die? You can’t bring guns above the twenty-eighth floor; don’t mess up the rules!”
“I heard there was big news on the thirteenth floor; the Black Fire Gang’s big mouth Hua was killed! That guy is a loser; I heard he wanted to play with a female doctor, and then the female doctor stole his gun? Is that true?”
“The Black Fire Gang has been sending people up these days; that female doctor seems to have some background, someone is protecting her. What’s going on?”
Lan Yuzai scratched his head, “I don’t know the specifics, but there is indeed such a thing. The Black Fire Gang has released many conditions for us locals to find those two people.”
“What happened to your neck?”
“I got hurt,” Lan Yuzai chuckled awkwardly, “I need to get a gun back!”
“You’re such a loser, go on in.”
“Hey, thanks, Brother Zhang, thanks, Brother Zhang!”
Lan Yuzai turned to glare at Wang Jixuan: “What are you standing there for? Call him Brother Zhang!”
“Brother Zhang,” Wang Jixuan calmly called out.
“My new little brother is a bit shy,” Lan Yuzai smiled, “I’ll take him in for a bit.”
“Go ahead.”
The gang members waved their hands impatiently. Lan Yuzai joined his hands in thanks, smiling as he led Wang Jixuan into the colorful, muddy ground.
‘He didn’t even call for help.’
Wang Jixuan moved forward, casually treating Lan Yuzai’s elbow, frowning as he looked at the street ahead.
There were two or three-story buildings everywhere, and members of the Joy City gang could be seen moving around on the rooftops.
These people occupied the best vantage points, controlling the lighting on the street.
The street was filled with shadows, and everyone seemed so busy.
Skinny men in simple clothes sat in their rickshaws, waiting for the next order to come in.
Young waiters either stood by the street waiting for customers or wiped down display windows. Inside the windows were various goods, the most common being men and women in revealing outfits, posing enticingly under the dazzling lights, trying to attract passing customers.
There were plenty of well-dressed figures on the street, including some in light blue uniforms from the city’s security team.
The air had become thick and fragrant.
The two streets felt like two different worlds.
For a moment, Wang Jixuan seemed to see a giant multicolored python coiled up in a more than thirty-meter-high underground space, flicking its tongue and staring at him with cold eyes, as if it wanted to swallow him whole.
“Big boss… big boss? It hurts so much!”
Lan Yuzai called out in a strained voice.
Wang Jixuan came back to his senses, realizing he had unconsciously squeezed Lan Yuzai’s elbow too tightly, so he loosened his grip.
Lan Yuzai’s face turned red from the pain.
“Don’t look around; we can’t afford to spend here,” Lan Yuzai said, covering his elbow, tears in his eyes.
“Let’s find a grocery store,” Wang Jixuan instructed.
“This way… don’t worry, I really won’t run away. The Black Fire Gang’s territory is on the forty-ninth floor; this is the forty-sixth floor, the territory of the Joy City and the Silver Party. The Silver Party isn’t on good terms with the Black Fire Gang… I really want to learn skills from you to become awesome!”
…
Making talismans requires two basic items:
Talisman paper and talisman liquid.
If you want to be particular, a good talisman brush made from the hair of a magical beast is also needed… but right now, Wang Jixuan couldn’t be picky about these.
The so-called grocery stores were actually shops ranging from ten to several dozen square meters.
Some shop owners were diligent and organized their items neatly. Most shop owners showed a lackadaisical attitude, with products piled haphazardly on the shelves, presenting a chaotic beauty.
Inside were all kinds of items, a dazzling array, but there weren’t many brand-new products.
Wang Jixuan quickly felt disappointed.
Talisman paper is usually made from the pulp of spiritual wood, and there were a few thousand-year-old trees near the cave where Wang Jixuan had been in seclusion for years, from which the extracted spiritual liquid emitted a rich spiritual energy.
Yet in these shops on the forty-sixth floor, Wang Jixuan could hardly find any blank paper.
These papers were recycled paper, reused who knows how many times, and while they couldn’t be said to have no spiritual energy, they were completely useless.
As long as he could find suitable talisman paper, he could actually make some emergency talismans.
Because blood is the most common talisman liquid.
Exorcism talismans often use chicken comb blood, and elemental talismans use the blood of corresponding attribute spirit beasts;
At worst, Wang Jixuan could bite his finger to draw talismans; his blood now had a hint of spiritual energy in it.
“What kind of paper are you looking for, big boss?”
Lan Yuzai asked, a bit confused.
“Are you really not here to buy weapons? You need to go to another street for bullets.”
Wang Jixuan asked, “Why would I buy weapons?”
“To deal with… those people!”
Lan Yuzai glanced around nervously.
“Big boss, what do you need paper for? To write something? Isn’t there paper in the upper city? Some of the paper here is what we got from the upper city.”
Wang Jixuan shot him a glance.
It was also his requirement that Lan Yuzai couldn’t leave his two-step range; otherwise, he would take action directly.
Wang Jixuan said, “Don’t ask too many questions.”
“Okay,” Lan Yuzai looked towards the street outside. This shop street under the Silver Party was considered the third most prosperous area on the forty-sixth floor; he also wanted to wander around.
—If the big boss would let him go free.
Wang Jixuan suddenly stopped, looking down at a messy shelf, carefully pushing aside some unknown bone fragments.
Did he sense wrong?
Why was there obvious spiritual energy residue on these black fragments of bone?
What is this?
He searched carefully and soon saw a faded label among similar black bone pieces on the shelf.
Low-level Blade Beast Exoskeleton · Scavenged Item.
—There were no prices on the labels here.
Blade Beast?
Yes! This world has magical beasts! And humans were driven underground by the Blade Beasts, establishing fortresses to survive!
Wang Jixuan’s eyes lit up as he quickly searched the nearby shelves.
Soon he made a new discovery.
A large glass bottle covered in dust was filled with pale pink liquid, labeled as “Inactive Blade Beast Blood,” specifically marked for “Collectible” use.
Most of the spiritual energy inside had dissipated, but some remained.
‘If this liquid is used to soak ordinary paper, it can give the paper spiritual energy! If I need to refine pills in the future, the blood of magical beasts is also essential! Good stuff!’
Wang Jixuan’s mind suddenly became very active.
He turned to look at Lan Yuzai, who was picking his nose.
“Do you… have any coins for this place?”
Lan Yuzai blankly nodded, “Yes, yes! This is the most prosperous layer of the lower city, using Joy Coins from the casinos. I’ve saved some, and we can trade our food with them; the rule in Joy City is to prohibit robbery.”
Although Wang Jixuan tried to remain calm, he still felt a bit embarrassed as he looked aside.
“Lend me some… for later…”
(End of Chapter)