"Scare away outsiders and stay away from danger?"
Beside the reservoir, Slimani cautiously interjected: "The security in Emerald City is good, and you don't look like people who would cause trouble or have property. Um, sorry, I mean, where is the danger?"
The abandoned cistern fell silent.
Warniak snorted.
"Danger? Too many."
Uncle Hauser sighed: "Everything, everything from normal people, is dangerous to us."
Srimani was confused.
"The gaze," Shilai said suddenly, attracting the attention of many people, "the gaze, words, and everything they can do because of their 'normal' physiques from normal people are all harmful to us."
"More than that, their pity, sympathy, contempt, scorn, rejection, and isolation are too much," Uncle Hauser stopped what he was doing and sighed, "And we, on the ground, in their eyes, are just
Could be half a human."
He compared his height and made a sarcastic expression.
"Ha, it's much better here than up there," Warniak crossed his arms and the big lump on his shoulder trembled. "It is said that some people have dug underground lithium veins and made a fortune..."
Slimani raised his eyebrows: "Then why are you still here?"
"We...someone must give up glory and wealth and stay to take care of everyone." Warniak's voice weakened.
Everyone laughed.
"So, Twenty-Four, have you found your parents?" Dorothy asked.
Thales frowned.
Looking for parents?
Xi Lai was startled, and after a few seconds, her expression darkened.
"No, I'm still looking for them."
"I advise you to give up as soon as possible," Warniak snorted disdainfully, "They can abandon us at birth, which explains a lot of problems."
"I..." Xi Lai hesitated.
"Woo, woo, woo." Bobo expressed an opinion that no one could understand.
"It doesn't matter, people like us," Hauser continued to unpack the old stuff without caring, "sometimes, it's a good thing that you can't find it."
Madam Gadama gave Hauser an elbow and glared at everyone.
When everyone at the reservoir saw this, they quickly dispersed as if nothing had happened, each doing their own work. Even Slimani was trembling and Boboti slipped away.
"About this place, the Ghoul Tunnel, the people here, and the 'parents'," Thales whispered to Hilley, "Don't you have anything to say to me?"
Xi Lai turned around and smiled mysteriously:
"You just need to know that this is a place where Zhan can't be found, and that's enough."
Thales raised his eyebrows:
"Okay, what are you going to do next? Wait here?"
"Of course not, we are here to ask for help."
"Whose help?"
Before he finished speaking, there was quite a commotion in the tunnel.
Thales turned around and looked. Under the firelight, a short, fat man in dark robes carrying a large bag appeared at the corner of the tunnel.
The clothes he wore were simply decorated but made of luxurious materials, making him look out of place with his surroundings.
In an instant, not only the reservoir, but also people in almost every settlement in the tunnel stood up.
"grown ups!"
"Thanks!"
"The setting sun bless you..."
Here, Mrs. Gadama and Dorothy also stood up and urged Warniak:
"The adults are here, hurry up, go and take out our gifts..."
The man carrying the bag walked through various settlements, stopping at each place to distribute something, and people responded to him enthusiastically:
"This is for you, please accept it!"
"this way please!"
"Eat with us!"
Thales looked at the man's figure and couldn't help but frown.
That person... looks familiar?
"Who is that?"
"Ah, no," Heeley replied, "the person we are looking for is here."
Not long after, the short, fat man in a robe came to the cistern. He first accepted the gift from Dorothy and Lady Gadama, a pack of tobacco, with a smile, and then went straight to Hauser's workbench.
"Come on, Hauser, take this week's share."
Uncle Hauser took the bag handed by the man:
"Hey, you make a lot of money?"
"The world is not stable these days. Everyone wants to ask God for blessings, especially the rich." The man muttered.
"By the way, your magic props are very effective and very realistic. Well, maybe too realistic. When I was praying, a lady was convinced that she heard the voice of her deceased daughter and chased me to give her money."
Hauser's hand paused:
"Then what did you say?"
The short, fat man sighed. He skillfully sat down at Hauser's workbench and fished out a hookah from under the stand:
"I told her, yes, that was her deceased daughter, and she was at rest and no longer in pain."
Seeing the other party scooping up the hookah, Thales's mind suddenly flashed and he remembered the other party's identity.
"Chadvi Priest?"
Thales blurted out.
"yes."
The man in the robe didn't have time to light up his cigarette. He turned back and looked at Thales, who was wearing shabby and shabby clothes: "Well, I don't think I've seen you before?"
Thales blinked, not knowing how to answer.
Yes, the man in front of me is the priest secretly smoking in the confessional of Sunset Temple - Chad Wei.
Hilley coughed next to him.
Priest Chadwei looked at Hillai. After a moment, he was shocked:
"you--"
"Yes, I am twenty-four!"
Xi Lai interrupted him loudly and kept winking: "Yes, I haven't been back for a long time, remember?"
Chad Wei was stunned on the spot.
"Xi——Twenty-four, you, why are you here?"
"Yes, I'm here," Hilley beamed, showing his twelve fingers, "right here, just like many years ago, remember?"
Chad Wei smiled, having a headache.
"Oh, by the way, this is," Hilley pulled Thales over with a smile, "well, my... friend."
"Boyfriend." Madam Gadama said quietly from behind, and as expected, Sheila received a sharp glare.
Boy friend?
Her boyfriend?
Chadwei looked confused, but then he remembered something.
The priest looked at Thales carefully for a few seconds, and suddenly his expression changed drastically!
"temple--"
"right!"
Seeing that the situation was not good, Thales quickly spoke:
"I'm Wyatt! I'm the man of twenty-four - um, my friend!"
Warniak on the side snorted in displeasure.
Priest Chadwe felt dizzy after hearing this. He took several deep breaths before he calmed down and looked at Shilay pitifully:
"Okay, I understand the truth, but why..."
Before Chad Wei could finish his words, Hilley pulled him away and went to the corner to mutter.
Okay, so that’s it, Chad Wei and this tunnel full of disabled people...
Thales watched from a distance as Chadwei and Shilai argued in low voices, but the former was obviously at a disadvantage with his weak voice, while the latter confidently had the upper hand, pointing in the direction of Thales and Slimani from time to time.
And Thales swore that he could vaguely hear it without using his hell sense. Hillet mentioned "Old Madam You and Pintor" at least twice. Every time he mentioned it, Chad Wei's expression became uglier, and he seemed to have a guilty conscience.
"Waiya, will you stay?" A sweet voice sounded in my ears.
Thales was stunned for a second, and then he realized: "Huaiya" was calling him.
He quickly turned around and answered Dorothy: "Uh, yes?"
But Dorothy sighed.
"Okay, I'm overthinking it," the girl shook her head, her face covered by thick hair, "You guys, including Twenty-Four, are all different. How could you be willing to stay with us?
Are we together?"
Thales was speechless for a moment.
Facing this girl who seemed gentle but had a special face, he didn't know how to reply.
"You must love her very much, right?"
Thales had another headache;
"What?"
"That's why she loves you so much," Dorothy sighed, "and is even willing to bring you down here."
"No, you misunderstood," Thales said with a huge head, "She and I are not..."
But Dorothy ignored his excuses.
"You know, in the past, some of us also brought our lovers to the tunnel and showed them the worst side of themselves and the worst friends."
Dorothy's eyes were crystal clear, peeking out from between her hair, staring straight at Thales;
"But most people basically never come back after meeting everyone in the tunnel."
Thales was stunned.
Dorothy carefully probed her head, and after realizing something, she carefully shrank her head so as not to face him:
"So, Huaiya, you, will you come back? Come back to see us?"
Thales was silent.
He looked at this damp, dark tunnel with a stench, and looked at the physically disabled or disabled people in each settlement.
He looked at Shilay in the distance, who was still talking to Priest Chadvi.
His heart suddenly calmed down.
"Yes," Thales' voice sounded, calm and gentle, "I will be back, Dorothy."
He looked at Dorothy and smiled:
“This place is great.”
Dorothy looked back at him. After a few seconds, she retracted her original position and smiled meaninglessly.
"Liar, it's not great here at all, especially for the people up there - I know that."
But Thales shook his head.
"No, it's great here, it's really great," Thales said with emotion as he watched Xi Lai swinging his hands freely, "Especially for Xi - for Twenty-Four."
Dorothy was silent for a long time, and then sighed;
"The book is right - you really love her."
In the book?
Thales was stunned for a moment, but Dorothy had already covered a romance novel in her hand and turned to leave.
But not long after Dorothy left, Warniak, who had a tumor and a strange posture, sat down next to Thales.
"Tell me, what's your problem?"
Thales was startled again: "Huh?"
"You must be defective somewhere, otherwise you wouldn't be able to appreciate Twenty-Four, right?" Warniak said to Thales dully.
ah?
Thales twitched the corner of his mouth and could only smile helplessly:
"Okay, she said, I'm mentally retarded."
"Shit," Warniak glanced guiltily in the direction of Madam Gadama and lowered his voice, "Twenty-four, even among us, she is the best, she will not fall in love with a... brainless person
."
Thales covered his forehead and sighed:
"I reiterate, she really doesn't like me."
"She let you touch her hand."
"What?"
Warniak's expression darkened:
"You held her hand when we were in the sewer just now."
Thales was stunned;
"What? Oh, it was an emergency just now-"
"Twenty-Four never let anyone touch her hand, no one," Warniak said sullenly, poking at the lump on his shoulder.
She was like this when I brought her here."
Thales was speechless.
"So, there must be something wrong with you, right?"
There was hope in Warniak's words, as if this fact could help him feel reassured: "That's why we have to find Twenty-Four, find... people like us."
Thales looked at him and said nothing for a long time.
"What's wrong?"
"You know, Warniak," the boy sighed, "no one in this world is complete."
Warniak was stunned.
"It's just that some people's flaws are visible, and some people's flaws are invisible."
Thales said in a daze:
"To me, those invisible flaws are more terrifying."
Warniak scratched his head, as if he didn't quite understand, but also seemed to be touched.
But he took a deep breath at the end and twisted his face full of tumors.
"You know, Huaiya, if you dare to treat her badly after you get out," Warniak clenched his fists and said bitterly, "I will, I will..."
When Warniak finished speaking, he realized that he was speechless.
Thales could only smile politely.
"I will go to your door every day and wail in mourning!" Warniak finally thought of the answer and said viciously.
ah?
Thales looked at him puzzled.
"You know, people, if people like me show up at your house every day," Warniak hesitated, "then people will, they will hate it... In short, over time, they will not be willing to go to your house.
, you will suffer, great misfortune."
Thales looked at the sickly form of Warniak and was startled:
"how do you know?"
"I just know." Warniak pouted.
At that moment, Thales fell silent.
"But at least stay for the next few days. It's very dangerous on the ground."
Thales frowned:
"What?"
"Haven't you heard? The Blood Bottle Gang and the Brotherhood are at war, and people are dying every day."
"oh."
Warniak was dissatisfied with his attitude:
"I'm serious! We even found corpses floating down the river, with their necks chopped open! We, you, you and Twenty-Four should stay here until the danger passes."
Thales frowned.
at this time.
boom!
Bang bang! Bang bang bang!
A fierce knock on the door sounded, echoing in the corpse tunnel, extremely harsh.
For a moment, everyone in the tunnel stopped what they were doing and looked in one direction.
"What's going on?" Thales asked confused.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The knocking on the door became more and more urgent, and the person knocking on the door was obviously very impatient.
Warniak stood up crookedly and pointed to a dark hole, which was exactly the direction from which the sound came.
"It doesn't matter. The tunnel has more than one exit, but only you know it." The young man with the tumor shook his head and limped toward the entrance of the cave. "That's one of them. I'll open the door."
Bang bang bang bang!
Thales frowned, instinctively sensing something was wrong.
The rhythm of knocking on the door is also... too urgent.
Too cruel.
It was like, like a wild beast, banging on the door crazily.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!
The sin of the Hell River burned, bringing Thales into the hell sense.
Warniak marched hard, turned sideways, squeezed into the hole, and disappeared on the steps.
At this moment, Thales felt something.
His expression changed drastically and he stood up suddenly:
"Wait, don't open the door!"
But it's too late.
Snap.
The sound of machinery sounded, and the sound of the door opening came from the entrance of the cave.
"Huh? Who are you? Why are you holding the knife - eh, let me go, no, no, no ah ah ah ah ah!"
At the entrance of the cave, Warniak's voice sounded puzzled at first, and then became frightened.
Until the end, he let out a cry of pain and despair, followed by the sound of a human body falling to the ground.
Hearing this sound, the people in the tunnel—Hirai, Chadvi, Hauser, Slimani, and everyone else—were stunned.
Step, step, step...
At the entrance of the cave, footsteps sounded, echoing in the tunnel.
Getting closer and closer to them.
Hold!
Thales' nerves tightened. He stood up, pulled out the JC dagger, and faced the dark hole.
No! Damn, damn, damn!
Thales thought bitterly.
He should have recognized it sooner!
Yes, the moment Warniak opened the door, he confirmed it.
What's wrong is the taste.
The smell first seeped out from the crack in the door, and then rushed in violently after opening the door...
It smells like blood.
The extremely pungent smell of blood.
And what cannot be ignored in the senses of hell - the strong murderous intention.
Thales took a deep breath and prepared himself.
The footsteps are getting heavier and closer.
Just like the smell of blood it brings.
"I just killed five, no, six people before I found this dark place, just to find one person. To be honest, my patience has been almost exhausted." came from the entrance of the cave.
A cold voice.
Step, step, step...
"Now, you'd better know each other better."
Finally, amidst the smell of blood that assaulted his nostrils, the owner of the footsteps walked out of the cave entrance and revealed his true face under the firelight of the tunnel.
"Don't make me kill more."
At that moment, Thales took a breath and widened his eyes in shock.