In the night, the box-type car passed through the Lenia district and headed south, and had passed the pier bridge across the Pushor River.
Although this area is classified as the South Pier District, it is still far away from the city boundary in the south, which is full of wharves and shipyards.
The sparse gas lights made it difficult to illuminate people clearly. Although the vehicles were not traveling very fast, they were always forced to brake suddenly by pedestrians with weak safety awareness.
Fan Ning was especially not used to the car chassis, which had almost no shock absorption effect. Bad roads always appeared unexpectedly, causing everyone in the car to fly up and down. He felt like he was about to vomit out all the undigested things in his stomach.
On the relatively bustling main road, the orange-brown signboards protruding from the side of the shops along the street backed up for a while in Fan Ning's field of vision, and then the car pulled over and stopped.
"It's not easy to drive in here." The driver turned off the engine.
Fan Ning looked at the large areas of muddy roads in the dim field of vision, then looked back at the clean and bright streets, and suddenly felt a sense of magic.
The biggest feature of Ufranser's urban planning is indeed that there is no planning. Schools, railways, factories, warehouses, commercial areas, slums and other blocks can be piled together in any arrangement and combination imaginable.
Maybe the boundaries of wealthy areas can be a little clearer.
The large courtyard-style workers' residences along the side street have been demolished to pieces. The coal transport trucks and steam rollers that are still in operation make sharp creaking sounds, and the pungent smell of glue and gasoline wafts around.
"The three of us just walked in," Dupont said.
Several neatly dressed gentlemen stared at the ground without blinking, carefully avoiding the unknown lumps mixed with ice water, mud, oil and moss. If they stepped on them, they would burst or split open and bulge out with a smelly smell.
The thick bubbles on the ground show a strange chromium green color under not very bright light.
In the past few years, the empire has successively promulgated the "Employee Housing Law" and the "Public Health Management Law", which stipulated the maximum density of urban population and block layout, and made plans for public toilets, water supply and drainage and sewer systems in such areas, aiming to
Improve the filthy living environment and curb the spread of epidemic diseases such as tuberculosis and cholera.
However, the work progress in most areas has stopped at the scene in front of us.
"Exchange information about each other's abilities." Dupont, who was walking in front, did not look back. "The phase I studied is 'Chi'. I have been promoted to the middle level for 5 years. My inspiration intensity is about level 5. My 'Light of First Acquaintance'
'You can selectively extract part of the sensory intensity of others and transfer it to yourself."
When Dupont said the last sentence, Fan Ning felt that the vision in front of him suddenly became severely blurred, and his feet lost the stable feeling of "stepping on the ground".
The mutation lasted for a short period of time before returning to normal.
"The abilities of those who know are really unpredictable. If it is a potential opponent, this information should be the core secret." Fan Ning was secretly shocked, "And DuPont's ability to weaken the senses seems to be quite restrained by me. After all, I use my spiritual sense.
It is to transform 'transcendental revelation into the conventional five senses'."
The book "The Translation of the Collection of Seven Lights" that he studied before systematically summarized the general positive abilities that a knowledgeable person may obtain after being promoted through the seven phases.
Among them, the aspect of 'pool' may enhance the sense of vision, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. In some positive cases, the promoted person may have improved physical function, or become more beautiful in body and appearance, or become a gourmet or cook.
, and a small number of people have their fertility enhanced, or gain abilities related to blood.
From an artistic point of view, this phase actually greatly improves performance or dance performance.
Fan Ning knew that communication among members of the guiding school was necessary, and Dupont and Monroe should already know each other. This round of sharing was actually focused on informing themselves.
He opened his second mouth: "The aspect I studied is 'candle', well... I have just been promoted a few days ago, and my inspiration intensity should have reached the late third level. My 'light of first acquaintance' is that I can exchange two people almost instantly."
The temperature of the place.”
"A rare talent, a rare gift, seems to have unexpected room for development and growth." Lawyer Monroe said in a somewhat surprised tone, "The phase I studied is 'Jin', and the intensity of inspiration is level three. As for the light of first acquaintance..."
He quickly pulled out a gray pistol, aimed it at Fan Ning's eyebrows, and pulled the trigger!
"Wh--" The sound from the silencer was slightly harsh.
The bullet passed through Fan Ning's head silently, as if he didn't exist.
A few meters behind my head, sparks shot out from a lamppost and smoke filled the air.
Fan Ning touched his forehead in disbelief.
I don't know whether it was because everything happened too fast, or because Munro had no real malice, and his spiritual sense had no warning, and he didn't even have time to have a startle reflex.
"Thermal weapons used by my hands can protect myself or my companions from any substantial harm. The definition of companions is determined by my spirit." Lawyer Monroe explained.
Dupont immediately added: "I think Monroe can try grenades after being promoted to the middle level."
Fan Ning recalled that studying the aspect of "Jin" might increase the strength or speed of the wise, give them the talent to use cold or hot weapons, and have the potential to become a fighting master or a sharpshooter. They are also good at finding the enemy's
Physical or psychological weaknesses can provoke conflicts and cause disputes. In some cases, the wise seem to have gained the ability to control storms.
However, this lawyer has such strange and mysterious abilities... Fan Ning once again gained insights.
If you are fighting an enemy at close range and there is such a helper standing in the distance...
He just picked up the shotgun and fired it?
If you think about it carefully, it's great to have such a helper on your side.
"If a fight breaks out between knowledgeable people, put self-preservation first and don't use excessive force." Dupont finally warned Fan Ning.
After briefly sharing the information, the three people walked through this muddy area and reached the area where the demolition work had not yet progressed. Sparse lights appeared in front of them again.
"Hey, look out!"
Fan Ning was almost knocked down amidst the laughter of several children with skinny arms and thin legs. They were chasing each other with broken pieces of wood that were smoked black, and the original color of their clothes could no longer be seen at all.
"Take this alley. You can take a shortcut to the factory area later." Lawyer Monroe pointed the way.
"Can this also be called an alley?"
Fan Ning looked at the rows of low-rise houses built facing away from each other in front of him. The two rows of houses shared a stack of back walls, and there was a narrow passage in front of the door.
A resident who had just finished work took the potatoes cooked in salt water from the neighbor in the opposite row without stepping out the door.
There are no sanitary facilities in these houses. About every ten households share one public toilet and two faucets. There are two deep trenches on the narrow passageway, where sewage and filth seep out from each house, and even some animal carcasses that have begun to rot are left.
People clean it up and mix it together to form a black and smelly solid-liquid mixture.
"The experience of coming here in winter is relatively good. I visited the area once in May this year, and I was almost stifled to death by the smell of sweat and feces," Dupont said.
"It is not the obligation of the authorities to provide housing, and few employer owners think they have the responsibility to provide housing for workers. Well...the only ones interested in this work are private builders, who will scientifically analyze workers' bids, land rents, taxes, etc.
The relationship between interest rates and maintenance fees, and then the 'optimal solution' is given."
The lawyer curled his lips when he said this: "This group of double-row houses built close to the factory is their iconic work."
Several people were walking in a row. Fan Ning's relatively thin shoulders were a little away from the walls on both sides, but he still had to turn sideways from time to time to avoid the residents who squatted at the door and used a coarse cloth dipped in water and tooth powder to clean their mouths.
Many workers in shabby clothes looked at the three gentlemen with expressions of awe, numbness, vigilance, or curiosity. However, the greedy and fierce looks often seen in slums rarely appeared here.
Compared with those vagrants and thieves, or the precarious vagrants who work as part-time workers in the workhouse, workers at least have their own families, residences, and a relatively stable job.
Moreover, Monroe, who walked last, always held the gray military automatic pistol in his hand.
Dupont said as he walked: "The families I have chosen to investigate today are those where some people have dreamed of strange men recently, and some family members have died mysteriously and tragically in the past few days. This is more efficient, and it is possible to find something between the two.
Some connections.”
"Strange and tragic death?" Fan Ning frowned.
"Lianka, a 21-year-old female factory worker, suffered from gum bleeding for nearly three months. As it became serious in the past week, she decided to seek medical treatment. However, she did not get better after receiving treatment. Yesterday, she went to the clinic for the third time, and the doctor pricked her gums.
Mouth, the whole jaw collapsed and fell off, and he died of persistent vomiting of blood soon after."
After Dupont finished speaking slowly in a melancholy voice, he reached out and knocked on the wooden door of the house in front of him.
Then he sighed: "This is it, let's understand the details first."