Ao Yong assumed Han Qingyu was in a bind because he was broke—torn and helpless between life and death in this strange, cruel city.
The sheer heartache on Han Qingyu's face as he reached to pull out the source energy blocks unconsciously showed through, giving Ao Yong the impression that they were truly pitiful.
"Besides, it's the dead of night. Can we really just stand by and watch fellow countrymen turn up dead in the street on their very first day?"
If left to fend for themselves on the streets tonight, they would almost certainly be ambushed. Ao Yong wrestled with the thought for a moment.
Before Han Qingyu could speak, Ao Yong slid down from the roof on his own initiative. Dangling by one hand, he tapped on the cab's window with the other and called inside, "Brother Daofeng, pull over for a second. I need to talk something over with you."
The truck pulled over. The two got out and jogged off to the side to discuss.
Having set their apparatuses to a standby dormant mode, Han Qingyu and his group waited quietly until the pair returned. Qian Daofeng climbed back into the cab, and the engine rumbled to life once more.
Ao Yong leapt back onto the roof.
"Here's the deal. Neither of us has any source energy blocks to spare to help cover your hotel fees, so the only option is for you to stay at our place for a cou—two days."
In fact, at this very moment, the source energy apparatuses on Ao Yong and Qian Daofeng were also set to dormant mode. While this drained source energy blocks at a snail's pace, it still pained the two brothers deeply.
The group on the roof exchanged glances. Better to save whatever they could, and this would likely make it easier to get their bearings here... "Thank you," they said.
The heavy truck veered left, rounding a bend and heading toward the edge of the city.
So they lived on the outskirts.
Deducing from what they had observed and learned so far, Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei figured Ao Yong and Qian Daofeng probably weren't doing all that well. Their house was likely awful, dilapidated, or cramped, making it tough to cram so many people in...
They were accepting this goodwill—or perhaps whatever malice lay hidden behind it. In any case, they treated it as their first step in touching the reality of this city.
...
Arriving at their destination and climbing down from the truck, the group collectively froze.
"Here?!" He Tangtang pointed at the rather nice-looking three-story house before them, his tone exaggerated.
"Yeah." Ao Yong nodded. As if seeing right through He Tangtang's thoughts, he smiled and volunteered an explanation: "Houses aren't actually hard to come by here. If you see a house with no one going in or out for a few days, the owner probably died out there, so you can try moving in. Or if someone died inside the house, you just haul the corpse out, wipe things down, and settle right in."
"By the way, every single house here is a house of death. Every one." Making an effort to look solemn, Ao Yong added another warning.
"Well, that makes things easy, then," He Tangtang said. "Tomorrow we'll just go out and—"
Ao Yong looked at him. Deep down, he too wished these people would move out as quickly as possible after tonight so they wouldn't turn into freeloaders, but...
"It's not actually that simple. I haven't finished," he said. "Around here, if someone takes a liking to where you live and tells you to clear out, you'd better move immediately... otherwise, you might end up dead. And if you accidentally move into a house that already belongs to someone, chances are you'll end up dead too."
Han Qingyu nodded.
Beside him, He Tangtang exclaimed with dramatic flair, "So that means you two are actually that strong?!"
Logically speaking, there was nothing wrong with his deduction. From what they had seen along the way, this house of Qian Daofeng and Ao Yong's was at least close to middle-tier even for the entire City of Iniquity. And there were only two of them.
"Not really, we..." Ao Yong started to say.
Qian Daofeng walked over and cut him off. "Just average."
"Average" was a neutral word. It could mean truly mediocre, but in the context of Huaxia, it more often signified modesty.
Qian Daofeng cast a calm, subtle glance at Ao Yong, then turned back and said, "I've tidied up the rooms a bit. You folks take the first floor. The two of us will stay on the third. The tap and toilet are inside. If you don't have any business at night, remember not to go outside, and don't wander around."
The implication behind his words was already crystal clear. Sheltering them didn't mean Qian Daofeng and Ao Yong had dropped their guard. They were laying down ground rules to protect themselves.
He Tangtang acted as if he hadn't noticed at all, persistently following his own line of thought: "Then if you two are that strong, why..." Turning his head to gesture at the garbage truck that had reeked all the way here, He Tangtang asked, "Why do this for a living?"
Phrasing it like that made him appear tactless and reckless. Only his companions knew that most of the time, he was merely playing the fool.
In truth, while Ao Yong and Qian Daofeng were clearly on their guard, could Han Qingyu and his group, newly arrived as they were, be entirely at ease either?
Often, when He Tangtang asked such blunt questions, Wen Jifei would be observing and evaluating.
"Sanitation workers?" Qian Daofeng smiled as he spoke. This time, there wasn't the slightest hint of perfunctoriness or strain in his smile. "Actually, this is a very good job, and extremely hard to come by."
"Oh?"
"Everyone in public service positions in the City of Iniquity—water, electricity, sanitation, and so forth—is protected. Naturally, it's not absolute protection, but it's at least far safer than ordinary folk. Nobody dares kill us on a whim. If that ever happens and gets traced back, Kill God will step in to handle it."
Having finished, Qian Daofeng cast a direct gaze across the people in front of him, meeting each of their eyes in turn. He was delivering a further warning to them.
"Oh. What is Kill God?" Han Qingyu asked.
"...The assassin rankings." Qian Daofeng twisted himself back around and explained, "In English, they call it Kill God. We Huaxians translate it a bit more poetically as 'Assassinating God.'"
Han Qingyu nodded. "Understood. Thank you."
So there was indeed an order in this city after all—their own particular order beneath the cruelty. The reason Qian Daofeng and Ao Yong could live in a house like this was likely also due to their public service status.
"Alright, let's not chat out here. Inside we go."
With that, Qian Daofeng led them inside, shut the door, bolted it, and tied a string of bells to it.
Then he briefly explained where the rooms and toilet were before calling Ao Yong up to the third floor, not showing his face again.
...
Travel bags and wooden boxes rested beside their beds; their apparatuses remained strapped to their bodies under their clothes. And so, Han Qingyu and his companions' first night in the City of Iniquity passed in peace. Every hour, two of the seven took turns standing guard while the rest slept and recovered their strength.
By the time he woke up the next day, it was already noon. Lately, he always tried to sleep as much as possible, hoping he might wake up to find his molting completed quickly.
Neither Ao Yong nor Qian Daofeng was home, both having gone to work. Only Wen Jifei and the others remained.
"How are things?" Han Qingyu asked as he washed his face under the tap.
"Followed Xiao Yong and Daofeng's advice. We didn't dare wander off, just went out with Wu Xu to ask around in the neighborhood a bit."
Wen Jifei grabbed one of He Tangtang's cigarettes, lit it, and sat down to share what information he had gathered.
On the whole, they were still completely in the dark.
A little while later, around lunchtime, Ao Yong and Qian Daofeng returned carrying food. Aside from Han Qingyu and Rusty Sister, who hadn't eaten breakfast, their morning meal had also been bought and brought back by the pair.
'In that case, I might as well just give them two source energy blocks later to pay for room and board.' Though the thought pinched at his heart, they still planned to stay for a few more days. Han Qingyu made up his mind, and as he ate, he asked, "By the way, how is your income?"
So they actually knew to ask? Ao Yong and Qian Daofeng looked at each other, both somewhat touched.
"Not much money; it hardly buys anything," Ao Yong said. "Mainly, it covers food and lodging, and food... is very expensive."
"Don't they hand out source energy blocks?" Han Qingyu asked.
Ao Yong choked for a second. *I said food is very expensive! Very expensive! Didn't you hear me?!* Composing himself, he said, "I guess you could say they do..."
This topic struck right at the heart of things, and Ao Yong rambled on for over ten minutes.
After listening, Han Qingyu and the others immediately understood a great deal they hadn't known before.
Naturally, the most important part concerned the source energy blocks. As it turned out, the reason the City of Iniquity could secure a foothold in the source energy world—or rather, the reason it had been built here in the first place—was that this region was, in fact, the area with the most frequent Great Spike spacecraft landings in human history.
The exiled lived, fought, and died here, or obtained supplies of source energy and dead iron to grow powerful.
And at the same time, each tier reaped the one below.
"Normally, when a craft comes down, all the major factions fight over it. Then, every year, Kill God allocates a shuttle craft to us public service workers, like the two of us, as a source energy reward. But we can't take it down on our own, so we have to go out and find people to help us fight... In the end, we might manage to keep two or three blocks." Ao Yong paused, puffing out his chest. "Of course, we fight too."
He Tangtang opened his mouth, glanced briefly at Han Qingyu, and snapped it shut without making a sound.
"So that's how it is." Han Qingyu didn't say much either, lowering his head, seemingly lost in thought.
Chapter 426