novelraw Chapter 9 Viper Gang
Chapter 9 Viper Gang
The air in the parrot area was as thick as ever, carrying a strange, indescribable mixture of fishy and sweet smells.
Bai Yuze walked through the crooked alley, carrying a package of slow-release tablets for clearing miasma.
A few minutes later,
He arrived at a corner on the third floor of a tenement building.
The door was ajar.
There were several horrifying scratches that went deep into the cement on the door frame, with dark brown, dried stains still clinging to the edges.
Bai Yuze frowned slightly.
Push open the door,
A strong smell of blood and a stench similar to rotten sweet apricots hit the air.
The room was a mess.
The furniture had clearly been torn apart and overturned by a tremendous force, and large splatters of blackish-red blood, already congealed, were splattered on the walls. Torn clothing and other unidentifiable debris were scattered on the floor.
No body
Or,
There was no intact body.
Only a few strands of hair and bones, still stained with blood, lay quietly at the edge of the pool of blood in the corner.
He's a fake.
And there was more than one.
Judging from the signs of destruction and the remaining teeth marks, it was an explosive intrusion, a brutal killing, and then... a feeding frenzy.
Bai Yuzhe examined it carefully for a moment before focusing his gaze on the overturned wooden drawer.
He walked over, pulled open the half-locked drawer, which was filled with clutter. He rummaged through it for a bit, and his fingertips touched a small hardcover notebook.
It was an inexpensive ledger, but the first few pages were used to record medication information.
The handwriting is crooked and the pressure is very strong, indicating that the recorder is not highly educated, but extremely meticulous:
"The 15th, sunny. I took one tablet this morning. My daughter said her chest felt less tight and she slept better last night. Thank you."
"16th, cloudy. Took medicine. The baby's cough has lessened, and he can eat half a bowl more porridge. Bai is a good person."
"The 17th, rain. Little Chu took her medicine. I don't feel so tired anymore. I hope I can keep having the medicine."
"On the 18th..."
……
I kept a daily record, fragmented yet filled with faint hopes. Until I turned to the last page with writing on it, the date was the day before yesterday:
"The 24th was windy. I took my medicine. It's very noisy outside, and there seem to be strange noises coming from the surrounding buildings. I blocked the door. I hope everything's alright. I'm almost out of my medicine. I wonder when Bai is coming?"
The writing stops here.
The following is blank.
Bai Yuze took a light breath.
My fingertips lingered on the rough paper for a moment, and the surrounding air seemed to freeze in that instant.
And at this moment,
A faint, sweet aroma wafted into his nostrils, causing the coldness in his eyes to momentarily freeze. As if remembering something, he sighed softly, stuffed the notebook into his bag, and silently left the room that had become a slaughterhouse.
Continue to the second one,
This is the home of a father and daughter in another, even more chaotic, self-built shantytown. Before you even get close, you can see the door, made of thin wooden planks, wide open, with swarms of buzzing flies forming a dark cloud.
The scene inside the house,
It's several times more disgusting than the former.
The daughter lay by the bedroom door, her clothes disheveled, her body covered in bruises and cuts from a sharp blade, her eyes wide open in terror, already devoid of life.
There were drag marks on the ground.
As for the father,
His head had been severed and hung from the inner door frame facing the main entrance by a rough hemp rope. His face was contorted with pain and fear, and a large pool of already blackened blood lay on the ground below. The headless body knelt behind the door, its hands bound behind its back.
obviously,
He is not a fake.
A fake person wouldn't go to such lengths, nor would they deliberately adopt such an insulting and cautionary stance.
This is clearly the work of a gang.
It's about establishing authority.
The buzzing of flies almost drowned out all other sounds.
Bai Yuze's eyes changed slightly, and the flies around him seemed to have suddenly come into contact with something terrifying, frantically scurrying away.
After a while
The house then became quiet.
Bai Yuzhe forced himself to endure the stench and entered the room. After searching the messy room, he finally found a small notebook carefully wrapped in plastic under the wooden mattress where his father slept. It was a student's exercise book.
The records inside were similar to the previous one, but there was an additional entry stating that they borrowed money from the Wild Dog Gang.
Bai Yuze stood silently.
for a long time,
He then slowly put away the exercise book.
......
The streetlights are sparse.
Bai Yuze did not go straight home.
Instead, they turned into a quieter alley, where they could see several figures that looked like zombies. They were so thin that they were just skeletons, and their tattered, oversized clothes hung loosely on their bodies.
It sways when the wind blows.
The skin was bluish-gray, tightly covering the bone, with some cracks and curls revealing darker scars underneath, but no blood flowed.
His eyes were sunken deep in dark sockets, with unusually large pupils that tinged with a dark red.
They move very slowly and stiffly, but sometimes they will suddenly twitch their neck or arm at an awkward angle, like a stone.
There's a smell in the air.
It wasn't just dirty and smelly, but also had a dry, burning, ashy smell mixed with a cloyingly sweet chemical odor.
That's the taste of bliss enzymes emanating from the very core of your being.
They didn't speak.
They ask for nothing, they just stand there quietly. Like a group of living corpses whose souls have been taken away and whose flesh has been devoured, they rely on the ecstasy enzyme to maintain a life that is more painful than death.
Passersby would quicken their pace and turn their faces away, afraid that if they looked any longer, those dark red eyes and the smell of decay would stick to them.
These people are not hypocrites, but they are more hypocritical than hypocrites themselves.
Bai Yuze glanced at it briefly.
He then turned around.
We arrived at a guesthouse that looked unremarkable from the outside, but was clean and tidy inside and out.
wow-
Pushing open the creaking wooden door,
The room was dimly lit and the air felt heavy. The burly man sitting behind the reception desk merely lifted his eyelids, recognized him, and then lazily lowered his gaze, continuing to stare at the old tablet whose screen was flashing.
"Large shipment or small shipment?"
"Bulk shipment."
"Go in, the boss is already waiting for you inside."
"Um."
Once Bai Yuze had determined the direction, he went down the stairs to the basement and pushed open the heavy metal door.
In an instant,
The deafening sound and the mixed smells hit Bai Yuzhe as if they were real.
The interior was dimly lit and dimly lit.
The rotating spherical lights flung fragmented spots of light haphazardly across the crowded figures and the sticky, grimy tabletops.
On the small central stage, several slender figures were swaying to the frenzied music, their movements tinged with drug-induced over-excitement and nervous spasms, the metal ornaments reflecting a blinding light in the flashing light.
The scene below the stage was a chaotic mess.
Men and women dressed in cheap clothes embraced each other, emitting unintelligible groans or whispers.
In the corner booth,
Someone was engrossed in rolling something with trembling fingers; the pale gray powdery substance gleamed ominously in the dim light.
Further away,
Several burly men, clearly bearing the markings of street gangs, sat around, shouting profanities and banging their glasses on the table.
The air was filled with the sour smell of cheap alcohol, the rancid smell of sweat, the pungent smell of perfume, and a faint but unmistakable sweet chemical odor.
Bai Yuze kept his eyes straight ahead.
They seemed oblivious to the chaotic scene of boiling over.
He stayed close to the wall, avoiding the dancing figures and splashing drinks in the bar, quickly navigating through the noisy swamp and finding the narrow staircase leading to the second floor.
A burly man with an expressionless face was leaning against the stairwell. Upon seeing him, I slightly stepped aside to make way.
Stepping onto the second floor,
The nauseating noise was almost entirely absorbed by the thick carpet and walls, leaving only a dull, low-frequency vibration transmitted through the floor.
The corridor was quiet, lit by pale energy-saving light bulbs that illuminated the equally old but much cleaner carpet.
Compared to the frenzy downstairs,
This place is like another world, cold, restrained, and imbued with a certain sense of transactional order.
He walked to a solid wood door at the end of the street without any markings, knocked three times, and pushed the door open before waiting for a response.
The office is not big.
The furnishings were so simple they were almost rudimentary.
A large metal desk, behind which sat the bar's actual manager.
Aoi Hayakawa.
She leaned against the window.
Wearing a dark navy blue modified kimono, the silk fabric smooth as flowing water in the dark night, it accentuated her bare shoulders and neck and a section of her collarbone, which were as white as snow. Against the backdrop of the dim red background, a dark snake could be vaguely seen coiling above it.
He held an unlit, slender cigarette between his fingers and was looking down at an electronic report.
Hearing the noise,
She raised her head, revealing a face that was indifferent yet exceptionally refined.
Bai Yuzhe didn't exchange pleasantries. Instead, he walked skillfully to the desk, took off his backpack, and placed it on the clean surface.
He moved swiftly, taking out the items one by one and placing them in front of Hayakawa Aoi:
A dozen or so boxes of compressed food and premium energy bars bought from discount stores in the Maple Leaf area; a second-hand ID bracelet with a slightly scratched casing, but the screen is intact and the basic functions are working properly;
Two boxes of sustained-release tablets for clearing miasma;
Two boxes of Abyss Anti-Infection Agent;
There was also a small stack of fake rapid nucleic acid test negative papers with slightly rough edges, but which looked to be of very good quality. Through the dim light, the school seal of Holly University could be clearly seen on them.
Hayakawa Aoi's gaze swept calmly over the items, without even a ripple, as if she were seeing nothing but air.
Squeak,
She moved.
The wooden clogs trod silently on the carpet, with only the dark blue kimono swaying slightly with each step.
finally,
She stood very close to Bai Yuzhe, close enough for him to see the faint shadow cast by her eyelashes and the breathtaking curves beneath the neckline of her kimono.
"Bai, actually, you don't need to... make yourself so tired."
Hayakawa Aoi's gaze lingered on his face, as if admiring an amusing kitten, her focus carrying a natural coolness and a hint of playful allure.
"Just nod your head and you'll become a member of the Viper Gang."
Her tone was cool and indifferent, yet she had thrown out a sufficiently tempting bait.
"The Viper Gang can cover all your living expenses and education costs for the rest of your life. Whether it's Dongqing University in Japan, Tsinghua or Peking University in the Xia Federation, or anywhere else, as long as you want to study, you can study all the way to the top. Money is not a problem."
She paused slightly, observing his reaction, then added, her tone still completely flat.
"Besides degrees, there's respectability, status, women... all the things you want, Viper has them, and you can have them too."
Bai Yuzhe met her gaze, his face showing no surprise or hesitation.
He shook his head, his voice clear and steady:
"Thank you, but I don't need it for now."
The ambiguous smile in Hayakawa Aoi's eyes suddenly froze.
It condensed into an even deeper chill.
She didn't leave in anger; instead, the cool, fragrant scent drew even closer, her slender figure forming an invisible envelopment within arm's reach.
"How about this, let's do something smaller. You have easy access to the city center, including Maple Leaf District, Qinghe District, and Hanjiang District. How about you introduce some Bliss Enzyme or Rejuvenating Essence to classmates or friends who might need it? You can take half the commission, which is much better than all that trouble you're going through..."
As she spoke, her gaze swept meaningfully over the pile of things on the table.
"A hundred times easier."
"I'm sorry, this won't work either."
Bai Yuze's answer was equally straightforward, offering no explanation.
moment,
All the languor and allure faded from Hayakawa Aoi's face like a receding tide.
All that remained was a pure, crystal-clear, and icy coldness.
"snort!"
Hayakawa Aoi gave a soft snort, straightened up, and distanced herself. The intimate moment between them vanished completely, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.
She didn't say anything.
She simply glanced at him deeply with her eyes, which were as cold as a deep pool, then turned and walked back to the window, leaving behind only a slender figure with alluring curves that exuded an aura of unapproachability.
She waved her hand casually. "Get lost. The Federal Credits will still be deposited into your original card."
"it is good."
Bai Yuzhe nodded, packed his backpack, turned around, pushed open the door, and walked out, his footsteps fading into the quiet corridor.
Almost at the same moment the door closed,
A tall, muscular figure silently stepped out from the heavy shadows inside the office.
This was a bald man with a demon tattoo on his face. His gaze as he watched Bai Yuze walk away was like a long sword drawn from its sheath, and his whole body exuded an undisguised killing intent.
"Sister Kui, why waste words with him? Just inject him with two doses of Divine Ash and Joyful Ash. I've never seen anyone withstand that."
There are many types of enhancers for the flow in the parrot zone.
Most homeless people outside are injected with ecstasy, also known as ecstasy enzyme, which can bring people to the extreme of pleasure, making them unable to obtain pleasure from normal things. However, it can easily damage the brain's central nervous system and is addictive.
The bald man mentioned the divine ash.
It's the same as the revitalizing essence that Hayakawa Aoi mentioned earlier.
It can invigorate the mind, significantly improve thinking speed, temporarily enhance memory retrieval ability, and solve all kinds of complex problems. For top students, it can be said to be a miracle drug, but its only drawback is that it is easy to become addicted.
Hayakawa Aoi did not turn around.
As she looked at Bai Yuze, his pupils suddenly shrank into snake-like vertical pupils, then returned to normal the next second, as if it were just an illusion caused by the red haze.
She slowly shook her head, the dark blue sleeves of her kimono swaying gently with her movement.
"A few years ago, he was just a scrawny kid who dared to come here all by himself and spend a fortune to buy an identity document for the Parrot District from me. In the past few years, he's managed to graduate from Holly College without affiliating with any faction in the murky waters of the Parrot District, and he doesn't have any debts to his name. Do you really think that's just luck?"
She tilted her head slightly, her gaze sweeping over the neatly arranged items on the table.
"We just heard that our good friend Ash Gang seems to be preparing to test his mettle."
The bald man in the shadows' eyes flickered:
"Then we..."
"wait."
Hayakawa Aoi interrupted her, a faint, indifferent smile playing on her lips.
"Let's see if our good friend can test his mettle. If he's all bark and no bite, he'll be easily crushed... then we won't mind showing up at the last minute to give him a hand. After all, the dogs of our Viper Gang aren't to be trifled with."
"if……"
The bald man in the shadows scratched his head and hesitated.
"If the Ashes run into trouble, or even break a tooth... that would be even better."
Hayakawa Aoi picked up the conversation, her icy smile deepening slightly, "That proves that his trump card is more interesting than we imagined. So he's a good friend of our Viper Gang. It's a win-win situation, actually."
Her gaze returned to the window, as if she could pierce through the night and see the young figure disappearing into the streets of Parrot District.
"A smart person who can survive and live cleanly in a place like Parrot District is... a worthwhile partner to invest in."
After all, we had something on him from the very beginning, didn't we?
The office fell silent again.
Only the cool green light from outside the window remained, shining through the glass onto Hayakawa Aoi's aloof profile and her dark blue kimono.