Who gave you permission to travel through time with Earth?

Chapter 41 We are Good Citizens

The next day, a leaden-gray morning.

Emerging from the building where they had partied all night, the Red Sentinel Gang, numbering nearly seventy, along with Fang Jin, took to the streets. Their dense, colorful group created a rather imposing sight.

For the first time, Fang Jin felt that his full head of black hair made him stand out awkwardly among this group. He hissed as if he had a toothache, clutching his forehead, and whispered a shout to the arrogant young gang leader beside him:

"What are you doing? Although I didn't ask you to deliberately keep a low profile... do you usually dress this flashy and ostentatious?!"

"Yes, demonstrating our presence and beliefs to our neighbors is what the Red Sentinel Gang does in the morning."

Guo Shi said nonchalantly, while deliberately elongating his slanted eyes and glaring fiercely at the heads that dared to stick out of the windows, chewing gum as he continued.

"There are numerous organizations of all sizes in the City That Never Sleeps, and 90% of them are small organizations like ours, with only two or three players supporting the team, and the turnover rate is extremely fast."

"If the Red Sentinel Gang doesn't even have a reputation and deterrent power in our own territory, then most of our work can't get going. Of course, the underworld needs its own inner workings and outward appearance."

"...Then why did I come? Don't you know I had other things to do?"

"Anyway, it's on the way. You're the vice leader of the Red Whistle Gang, shouldn't you take a look at the great foundation of Liangshan? Besides, the sales channels for low-end goods in Ark Shops are these small shops and stores anyway."

"I'm just an arms dealer... and a part-time thug for your Red Sentinel Gang."

Fang Jin was speechless. Professional matters should be left to professionals. He couldn't possibly be so meticulous as to care about every single channel and how each one operated.

But this is indeed a black market. The city that never sleeps is at its dirtiest and most chaotic in the early hours of the morning. The traces of the previous night's frenzy remain in the streets and alleys, with filthy liquor and blood mixed together, and nails and broken bottles flowing in the water.

Body after body collapsed at the entrance of a shop or on the street. The women were scantily clad and the men were covered in wounds. Some were simply drunkards who had fallen headfirst onto the roadside, their bodies convulsing pathologically.

This is the most remote corner of the city that never sleeps. Unlike the desolation of Fang Jin's shops, this place is pure filth and decadence, where the price of revelry is nothing more than the loss of dignity.

"Hey~ whoosh."

The Red Whistle Gang's underlings gradually dispersed and poured into the shops along the street. Just when Fang Jin thought a classic scene of robbery or protection money collection was about to unfold...

But they found that those slick guys just disdainfully moved the drunkards on the door frame aside, stepped over their bodies to enter the store, lit a cigarette, and flipped over the "Closed" sign at the door.

"Where...are they?"

"Go to work, of course. What else would you do after sobering up during the day? Our Red Sentinel Gang doesn't give money to idle members to buy alcohol. How can we let houseworms in our homes?"

Guo Shi spoke with utter calmness, uttering a word that made Fang Jin's heart tremble slightly. Fang Jin's hands itched again, but he patiently listened to her continue.

"The black market is ultimately a gathering place for merchants. There are only two types of people here: merchants and customers. We who make a living in the city that never sleeps naturally belong to the former, only with some gang-related characteristics."

"Only the ruthless can sell things here, and only the vicious can buy things. As for these people, they are either scum who have willingly fallen into depravity or those who have lost the competition and been thrown into the mud. They are not worthy of sympathy."

"The Red Sentinel Gang isn't at its lowest point yet. We still control more than ten shops and two small buildings that are used for making money. We need to manage these places."

...For a moment, Fang Jin felt as if he were facing a business tycoon or an entertainment queen. The pressure that the little gang leader exerted on him in the business world far exceeded that on the front lines!

"I have this feeling... you guys are actually quite upright. Could it be that this black market city is actually legal? Are the Red Sentinel Gang considered law-abiding citizens in a sense?"

"It depends on how you define legal or illegal. The City That Never Sleeps is an officially sanctioned market, so calling it a no-man's-land isn't entirely accurate, but we tacitly accept it and abide by our own set of rules and regulations."

"for example?"

"We are allowed to sell powder, fire, and people, and anyone who goes missing or dies after entering District 7, whether it is murder or accident, will be left unpunished by Bronze Hall on the grounds that they 'deserved it'."

"Wow... This is an eye-opener."

Fang Jin couldn't help but gasp. Such a huge, dark tumor was growing wildly, yet the government was backing it up and profiting from it. The appearance of the dungeon undoubtedly amplified the deepest desires in people's hearts.

"The City That Never Sleeps is divided into four areas based on geography: the four cities of the east, west, south, and north, each controlling its own purse strings. I heard that the existence of these four cities before I was born propelled the City That Never Sleeps to its peak of prosperity."

"Of course... that was before. The North City was completely destroyed and turned into a no-man's land, the West City was scattered and no one controlled it, and the Southeast City was still prosperous, but they were unwilling to set foot in these two areas."

Why is that?

"..."

"...because of disaster."

When those two words were mentioned, Guo Shi's face suddenly darkened, and a sorrow beyond his years appeared on his youthful face. All the Red Sentinel Gang members around him fell silent.

Guo Shi deliberately turned in a different direction on the street ahead, gradually moving diagonally northward. Strangely, the further north he went, the fewer people and shops he saw, until it became a complete ruin.

"This is a taboo in the whole world."

"The arrival of the main star system has brought about the most direct change of connecting with the myriad worlds, bringing unprecedented technological resources and power, but this is not without its costs."

"The heaviest price to pay was what happened to Taipei. One morning twenty years ago, disaster struck and wiped the entire Taipei and 30% of the West City off the map! No one survived."

"The name of this calamity is 'falling off'."

Her narration paused, and her steps gradually slowed down... because there was no road ahead, the city's concrete road ended abruptly at her toes, with an arc-shaped "altitude" above and below.

Looking further into the distance, what one sees is a desolate and vast emptiness. On both sides, whether it is a building or a skyscraper, they all present abrupt and rounded cross-sections. The foundation of Taipei City has sunk by more than ten meters!

Like the craters on the moon, only quieter and more thorough, with fine dust floating in the air. Standing on the edge, they looked like ants, ready to roll into a bowl at the slightest gust of wind.

But that's not all. In the very center of the crater lies a massive, deep black sphere, protruding above the crater's elevation, a stark contrast to the desolate ruins.

Although it has a fixed shape, its surface seems to be in constant, frantic motion, just like a sphere composed of countless tiny, intricate living things, and it continues to exhibit amazing activity to this day!