As Tinghai's newest "man of the hour," Bai Zhou was currently staring wide-eyed at Crow with an innocent, guileless gaze.
Beneath the moonlight, their shadows fell close together.
"You're telling me that while you were waiting for me here, you casually dug up a..."
"Forbidden tome?!"
Crow couldn't stop her voice from pitching up.
"Don't tell me you knew the *Dead Sea Secret Scrolls* was here all along, and that's why you chose Dongxing Road?"
She had wondered why, of all places, Bai Zhou had singled out such a godforsaken corner on the map.
Turns out he had come prepared.
Cradling the forbidden tome, Bai Zhou gave a soft cough and cleared his throat.
"Actually, I heard a story like this back in Wancheng."
Bai Zhou was about to tell another one of his little Wancheng stories:
"Once, there was a little boy selling lighters. Shivering with cold on New Year's Eve, he curled up in a street corner.
"So, he used a lighter to warm himself, and in the flame, he saw a warm illusion..."
Crow's eyebrow arched slightly. "And then?"
Bai Zhou continued,
"Just then, a passing Black Robe saw the poor little boy and kindly offered a reminder—
"They're burning heretics over at Civic Square right now. The fire's much bigger over there, so if you're really cold, you can head over and warm yourself by the flames."
This story depicted the Black Robes' deep compassion for the lower classes.
Through artistic contrast, it drew a sharp distinction between cruelty toward enemies and tender love for one's own people.
Crow: "..."
"And what does that have to do with the *Dead Sea Secret Scrolls*?"
"In that story, the spot where the boy huddled was right under the tree outside the Yongning Grocery on Dongxing Road,"
Bai Zhou said in all seriousness.
"So the moment I saw Dongxing Road on the map, it instantly rang a bell."
"Who would've thought..."
Bai Zhou gave the *Dead Sea Secret Scrolls* in his hands a slight shake.
"It was actually true!"
Crow's expression turned grim.
This wasn't the first time she had heard bizarre little Wancheng stories from Bai Zhou.
As always, it was full of absurdities.
Yet in the history of Extraordinaries, many untold truths really were hidden within unremarkable stories and nursery rhymes.
Perhaps the previous owner had run into trouble and left a message for comrades;
or perhaps, to evade inspection, they had used a ritual to wash away their own memories of the forbidden tome, having planted the story beforehand...
"Whatever the exact reason, it doesn't matter anymore."
Crow looked at Bai Zhou with an utterly bizarre expression.
"What matters is that the *Dead Sea Secret Scrolls* is now in your hands."
"—Fortunately, neither the Blood Worship Cult nor the Special Control Bureau knows about this."
Otherwise, people would genuinely lose their minds!
"Mm-hmm."
Bai Zhou nodded repeatedly.
That story he just told—
Of course it didn't exist.
It was pure fabrication.
To be precise, the first half genuinely existed in Wancheng, which was why it rolled off his tongue so easily.
Back in the Youth Training Corps, he had always scored full marks on reading comprehension. Even the Black Robes praised him, saying he ought to work in the propaganda department in the future.
...But things like Dongxing Road definitely didn't exist in the story.
"So the Special Control Bureau's intel was real..."
"The *Dead Sea Secret Scrolls* really did leak out."
"Seems something truly went wrong inside the Blood Worship Cult... and it's no small matter!"
Crow eyed the "big brick" in Bai Zhou's hands, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Crow, do you know about it?" Bai Zhou asked in surprise.
Crow merely shook her head.
"A little, but not much.
"In Tinghai, anyone who knows about the Blood Worship Cult knows at least a bit about it.
"I only know it's one of the Blood Worship Cult's three great forbidden tomes, and the only one classified as a 'Secret Scroll.'
"Rumor has it that one of the cult's founding patriarchs penned it as a replica after laying eyes on the legendary *Dead Sea Scrolls*."
"However,"
Crow paused briefly.
"I've heard this forbidden tome hasn't acknowledged anyone in a very long time.
"Even the high-ranking cultists themselves aren't quite sure what's inside.
"The cultist who stole it must have ended up in utter despair."
Utter despair indeed.
When the man stole the forbidden tome, he had probably planned to bide his time in forgotten Wancheng, studying bitterly for ten years before emerging invincible.
Unfortunately, the mystic world wasn't a heroic legend.
There were no lucky protagonists who stole a secret manual and ascended to the heavens in a single step, nor was the Blood Worship Cult a Shaolin Temple waiting to be kicked around by a fire-tending monk.
No telling how many methods he had tried on the *Dead Sea Secret Scrolls*, or how much effort he had exerted.
Forget bringing the *Dead Sea Secret Scrolls* to climax—even after exhausting every trick up his sleeve, he hadn't managed to satisfy even...
0.1% of its appetite.
—Useless Black Robe!
In the end, that incompetent fellow could only bury it on the doorstep of a funeral parlor.
Whatever his final thought before being decapitated, it reeked of: "If I can't have it, none of you will either."
—A truly twisted, pathological state of mind.
And then Bai Zhou, passing by, had reaped the spoils.
When Bai Zhou told Crow the unlocking conditions, Crow wore a look of sudden realization mingled with speechlessness.
"With such harsh requirements, no wonder."
"Official suppression and the dawn of a peaceful era have turned that condition into a pipe dream."
"A *Dead Sea Secret Scrolls* that cannot be unlocked carries more symbolic value to the Blood Worship Cult than practical use."
"I can't do anything with it either."
In the end, Crow gave her assessment:
"Rather than saying you got your hands on a forbidden tome, it's more accurate to say you're running around carrying the Blood Worship Cult ancestors' urn."
"—Whatever you do, don't let them find out."
Bai Zhou looked down at the ancient book in his hands and the iron chains wrapped around its thick spine.
...No way around it?
What was a forbidden tome that couldn't be unlocked good for?
Knocking someone unconscious?
Looks like—
I'll have to go. To the deeper Ruin Realm.
I still have to go.
...
At 3:10 a.m., Bai Zhou and Crow strolled along the street.
The streetlights had turned off, and mist steamed into the air.
Moonlight washed over the long street like water, clear and transparent.
Coral and seaweed intertwined beneath the surface, which turned out to be the shadows cast by roadside trees and flowers.
"Branch 36 won't let you off."
"Dressed like that at this hour, you stand out too much on the streets," Crow advised, looking over Bai Zhou in his dirty suit, carrying a large suitcase.
"Perhaps you should find a safe, hidden place to settle down as a temporary stronghold."
For a homeless wanderer like Bai Zhou, where was a good place to sleep?
A park bench? Easy to get harassed by weirdos.
Under a bridge? Seemed all right, but still not hidden enough.
"Therefore,"
"You need a free piece of real estate."
—so Crow said.
This gave Bai Zhou quite a shock. He waved his hands bashfully.
"Oh, that would be too much trouble..."
This surprise was a bit too grand.
He had already learned so much from Teacher Crow—now he was going to live in her property too?
Giving secret manuals and weapons was one thing, but giving real estate?
Too generous.
Bai Zhou felt his teeth inexplicably softening, and his face seemed three shades paler and tenderer under the moonlight.
If this continued, how was he ever going to repay Teacher Crow?
Offer his body? Not entirely out of the question to reluctantly consider...
Then, Crow led Bai Zhou across three city blocks...
—and arrived before a cluster of unfinished, abandoned buildings.
"This is the real estate?"
Bai Zhou blinked.
Beyond a debris-strewn path, several abrupt concrete structures stood at the edge of an untrimmed grove of trees, looming like the rib cages of giant gray monsters.
Their rough concrete exteriors were dusty and drab, with rusty rebar jutting out bare, whining mournfully in the wind.
Hollow window frames lacked glass, gazing coldly down at the weed-choked wasteland like blind eyes.
Looking around, all was desolate and pitch-black. Moonlight was the sole light source. The air buzzed with the chirping of cicadas and crickets, peaceful yet inexplicably eerie.
—Not to mention comparing it to the urban prosperity seen along their journey;
even compared to Dongxing Road, this place was vastly more remote.
This was the true margin forgotten by the city.
—Standing here and looking around, one couldn't even see the landmark sign that read "Tinghai Welcomes You."
"Free real estate."
Crow nodded, putting heavy emphasis on the word "free."
"When we passed by earlier, I caught a distant glimpse of this place and found it surprisingly nice."
Her expression was deadly serious. From the bottom of her heart, she believed using an abandoned construction site as a hideout was a stroke of genius.
—Her genius.
"No agents, no troublesome landlords, and no bizarre roommates.
"Scarcely populated, situated on the edge of the city where development halted—a blank, ownerless territory.
"Not only are there plenty of discarded materials to use on the spot to lay traps against pursuers...
"The layout is also complex, with numerous unfinished rooms and stairwells. The multi-story structure offers ample room to hide and maneuver.
"Look—"
As she spoke, Crow pointed toward a pitch-black window on the nearby roof.
"That is the best tactical high ground around. Easy to defend, hard to attack, overlooking everything.
"Mount a Queen Bee-200 heavy machine gun there, and you could lock down this entire road below!
"—It would be even better if we had artillery."
Crow shook her head regretfully.
"But no matter. You can set up simple blast rituals around here to serve as landmines.
"By the way, be careful... Now that they know you've mastered miniature blast rituals, I suspect they'll bring countermeasures this time."
Watching Crow talk with such practiced ease, Bai Zhou took a deep breath.
—So experienced.
Like a regular veteran of being hunted by nemeses.
She truly possessed the bearing of a senior fugitive.
Deep in his heart, Bai Zhou grew even more curious about Crow's past.
Yet listening to Crow's explanation as he looked upon those broken, abandoned buildings standing silently in the moonlight like haunted houses...
An odd sense of familiar warmth and vague anticipation arose within him.
This raw, primitive "simplicity" actually resonated with Wancheng.
The place he had lived in Wancheng might not even have been as good as an unfinished building in Tinghai...
A free, hidden corner where he could temporarily take shelter.
This was it.
At four in the morning, the moon in the sky had dimmed considerably.
Bai Zhou finally let out a sigh of relief.
He had "arrived home."
...
Full of curiosity, Bai Zhou ventured into one of the unfinished buildings to explore.
In the pitch-black space, the air reeked with the musty stench of plaster and dust. Broken rebar and shattered bricks littered the ground, stirring an inexplicable nostalgia in Bai Zhou.
—Back when he was reluctantly training with bench legs at the base,
how happy would he have been if he'd had a piece of rebar to swing?
Alas, belated rebar was cheaper than grass...
He carefully felt his way up a flight of stairs.
Bai Zhou was debating whether to find a relatively intact small room to sleep in or settle on the upper-level platform overlooking the entrance, when
an unspeakable stench suddenly hit his nose—like a dog's den, mixed with the sharp tang of urine.
—Urine?
Bai Zhou startled, immediately stopping in his tracks, and stepped back to a landing at the turn of the stairs.
*Clang—*
The sound of an empty soda can being kicked over echoed nearby.
It hadn't come from Bai Zhou.
As if that sound were a signal, a large crowd of people swarmed out before him with a rustle, flashlight beams flashing across his face.
Disheveled "savages," carrying lengths of rebar, emerged at the top of the stairs and rushed down to surround him.
"Oi! Oi—!"
The "savages" hooted and hollered, their raucous shouts echoing through the stairwell, seemingly thinking this display made them look fearsome enough to scare Bai Zhou.
"What're you here for?"
A shirtless man with long hair and a heavy beard stepped in front of Bai Zhou. An odor of fermentation from going at least a month without bathing wafted toward him as the man sized him up with an unfriendly scowl.
"Just passing through! Passing through!"
"I'm just passing by."
Bai Zhou raised his hands to show he meant no harm.
"I didn't know you were here. I just wanted to find a place to sleep."
He understood who these people were now.
Scavengers.
Vagrants.
Great minds truly thought alike; everyone had taken a fancy to this building.
By accident, he had wandered straight into their stronghold.
—A scavengers' camp.
The bearded man looked Bai Zhou up and down, noting his dirty suit and the suitcase in his hand, and his scowl gradually softened.
Finally, after locking eyes with Bai Zhou:
"Looks like you're one of us."
Homeless wanderers often banded together by instinct.
"But someone as young as you running away from home? We don't take your kind."
He shook his head, having no intention of listening to any explanation Bai Zhou might offer.
One look at Bai Zhou's outfit made it obvious... he must have come from a decent family.
Just a willful kid, not cut from the same cloth as them.
And not safe to keep around, either.
"You're not welcome here."
"Scram—"
"Go back home!"
He pointed down the stairs.
Though his words were coarse, Bai Zhou didn't find them distasteful.
Growing up an orphan had honed Bai Zhou's ability to keenly read people and situations.
For instance, right now, he knew what the attitude of this apparent scavenger leader signified.
"..."
Standing in the dark corner, Bai Zhou looked up and quietly glanced behind the bearded man.
Among the pairs of flashing eyes, some held curiosity, while others carried only pure drowsiness.
Yet others held greed, and some harbored malice.
Still...
Go home?
Where on earth was his home?
...As Bai Zhou's silhouette gradually disappeared down the stairs,
someone called out to the bearded man with a trace of grievance, "Boss!"
"What? What do you want to do!"
The bearded man whirled around, glaring fiercely with bristling whiskers, his expression downright menacing.
"He's just a kid!"
"If your kid ran away from home at this hour, wouldn't you be frantic? Wouldn't you be worried sick?"
"Fine, fine..." the man muttered, hanging his head.
"All right, that's enough, scatter!"
The bearded man waved the crowd away as if shooing pests.
"Hurry back to sleep! We're heading to the waste station first thing in the morning!"
*Whoosh—*
The crowd dispersed in all directions.
Yet two men slipped out of the unfinished building together under the pretense of taking a leak.
"Did you notice that kid just now?"
Crouched behind a cluster of bushes, following Bai Zhou's retreating figure with their eyes,
a withered, skinny man flexed his toothpick-like arms, his shrewd, beady eyes glinting.
"That suit didn't look cheap."
"Yeah."
A burly man with thick eyebrows wearing a sleeveless white undershirt gave a sinister grin. "There's definitely something good in that suitcase!"
The skinny man winked. "Should we...?"
"What about the boss?" The thick-browed brute had slight misgivings.
"What're you afraid of? He'll never know.
"Don't rush in. Let's tail him and see where he's heading."
Like a greedy rat, the skinny man flashed a sly grin of anticipation.
His tone sounded well-practiced, as if victory were already guaranteed.
"As long as we're fast enough, we can clean it up without making a sound.
"—Just like last time.
"You saw him just now, just an obedient little good boy...
"How much fight could he put up?"
Saying that, the skinny man confidently flexed his arm, trying to show off his bicep.
Meeting the burly man's look as if staring at an idiot, the skinny man chuckled self-consciously, pulled back his stick of an arm, and produced a folding knife.
"—We have a knife!
"Now this is a toy for grown-ups."
"Mm..."
The thick-browed brute nodded.
That was indeed convincing.
That folding knife had genuinely drawn blood... more than once.
Then, the brute cautiously poked his head out from the bushes, only to freeze.
"...Where'd the kid go?"
"Damn it!"
The skinny man panicked and immediately darted out from the bushes, jogging forward a couple of steps and looking left and right.
"That little bastard slipped away!"
He stomped on the ground in fury, gnashing his teeth.
—They'd lost a massive payday!
A kid that young was bound to be healthy.
Even if he had no money or valuables on him, selling him "disassembled" on the black market would fetch a handsome price.
It was all that meddling boss's fault for wasting their time...
"Excuse me, um—"
Suddenly, a bashful voice drifted quietly from behind him.
Calm, with a hint of embarrassment, sounding like someone asking for directions:
"Are you looking for me?"
—It was that kid from earlier?
He came back?
Am I dreaming?
Walking straight into our trap, haha—
The skinny man turned around, half bewildered and half thrilled.
...Yet in the very next instant, every single thought in his head vanished.
*Shhk.* Cold sweat instantly drenched his spine.
Because something hard, icy-cold, and pitch-black was pressed directly against his forehead.
"What a coincidence. We meet again."
The seemingly harmless "obedient boy" who had quietly walked away when rejected flashed him a bashful smile.
"I was wondering why you two kept staring at me earlier.
"Is something on your mind?"
The boy held an object both familiar and alien to them, pointing it squarely at the skinny man's brow.
*Clatter.*
The skinny man's "dangerous" adult toy—the folding knife—hit the ground.
Beside him, the muscular brute in the white undershirt had long since been scared out of his wits.
Arms spread wide, he pressed his back flush against a rough tree trunk, his mouth agape with his tongue lolling out, yet not daring to utter a single squeak.
...Beneath the moonlight, the object reflected a faint, chilly sheen.
—It was a gun.
Chapter 42