"Why did you let me go after catching me stealing a phone yesterday?" Zhang Mengqian sat on the floor in Qing Chen's room, looking up and asking.
The room was full of crawling insects, but he didn't seem to mind at all, instead, he was amusedly blocking their path with his hand.
Ninth District had nearly a thousand buildings like this pigeon coop: elevators broken, water pipes clogged, and wires aging.
None of these buildings were cleaned, garbage piled up, naturally breeding many insects and rats.
Sometimes, people died in their rooms, and it would take a long time before they were discovered.
Ironically, they were often discovered not because someone cared about them, but because the gang was collecting protection money again.
Qing Chen glanced at the boy and asked, "What would others do if they caught you?"
"They would search me to see if I had any money; if I did, they would take it, and if not, they would beat me up," Zhang Mengqian said, "So, someone like you can't survive in the Ninth District."
"Then what kind of person do you think I am?" Qing Chen asked again.
Zhang Mengqian thought for a moment: "Weak, good-tempered, someone who doesn't dare to speak up when bullied."Qing Chen couldn't help but laugh. If those Shendai soldiers heard Zhang Mengqian's assessment in hell, they would probably be furious.
By now, probably no one in the entire Federation would use these words to describe Qing Chen.
The most frequent keyword used to describe Qing Chen was "fierce".
Qing Chen asked Zhang Mengqian, "You didn't tell the truth when I asked about your background."
Zhang Mengqian looked at Qing Chen with his crude mechanical eyes: "Why do you say that?"
"In this Lower Third District, not many people can finish elementary school; many people can't even write the radicals of their own names correctly, but you can write a complete sentence without using pinyin," Qing Chen said calmly.
Zhang Mengqian may not yet know who he was facing; this was the Intelligence Bureau One Supervisor who had cracked cases that caused the entire City 10 to wail, would not overlook such details.
Qing Chen asked, "So, where are your parents, and why are you here?"
Zhang Mengqian lowered his head: "I didn't lie to you. I originally lived in the Sixth District, and then I moved to the Eighth District. At that time, my father gambled and owed a lot of money to loan sharks. He tricked my mother into a black clinic, anesthetized her, and secretly sold her organs. The black clinic promised to give my mother a bionic liver, but it was all lies, my mother died, and then my father sold her other organs as well."
Qing Chen stared at the boy: "What's your father's name?"
"Zhang Jia," Zhang Mengqian said, "He's a well-known gambler in the Sixth District."
Qing Chen originally thought that the boy's past might hold some secrets.
However, there were no miracles in this world's slums; only pain and memories were hidden.
"I'm sorry," Qing Chen said.
The boy said impatiently, "Why are you so easy to talk to? You say sorry as soon as I tell you something, you give me buns when I get beaten up, and I said I'd answer a question for a dollar, and you gave me a hundred. Can you stop being like this? You're not my family; what if you suddenly leave one day?"
A little kindness would be magnified infinitely in this lower-class slum.
Zhang Mengqian was only a 13-year-old child; his tear ducts were removed during the mechanical eye transplant, and he had lost the right to cry.
He didn't think it was that great to meet Qing Chen; he just instinctively approached Qing Chen and was afraid of getting too close.
Qing Chen smiled, "Actually, things aren't that complicated. You can hang out with me in the future, but of course, hanging out with me may not be that easy."
Zhang Mengqian didn't know why he got angry. He stood up and walked out: "Hang out with you? What are you talking about? You can't even protect yourself."
He ran towards the stairs.
But as he went downstairs, Zhang Mengqian clearly saw a group of people slowly walking up, the leader of whom he recognized, was the person in charge of managing this pigeon coop for the Blackwater Gang.
They were carrying knives, with ferocious tattoos on their necks.
The boy seemed to have thought of something and ran back frantically; he rushed to Qing Chen's door: "Run, run quickly, I saw more than ten members of the Blackwater Gang, maybe they're here for you."
Qing Chen looked up and asked, "There's only one emergency exit in this building, and the elevator is broken; where can I run? Maybe they're not looking for me, after all, I haven't offended them. I heard people say on the road that today is the day the Blackwater Gang collects protection money."
"Collecting protection money doesn't require that many people; one person is enough, and all the residents will hand it over obediently. There must be something wrong with so many people coming this time. What if they really are looking for you? You're the only new resident recently! It's better to hide in other people's rooms first; you can't just be killed by them!" Zhang Mengqian urged.
But it was too late to say these things now; as he turned around, he saw those people blocking the door.
The leader draped his jacket over his shoulders, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
Except for his neck and head, all the exposed parts of his body had been replaced with Cybernetic Limbs.
The Blackwater Gang's pigeon coop manager looked at Zhang Mengqian and Qing Chen in the room and smiled, "I remember this boy. He's been in the pigeon coop for a year, right? He looked about 12 when he came, now 13? Although the clients want those 14 and above, 13 should be able to get away with it. As for the older one, needless to say, he's full of money."
A young man next to him said, "Yes, do him! Damn it! Last night, he made me squat at the Black Swan for a whole night, almost freezing me to death! This morning, I woke up, and this kid was already gone! It made me so angry!"
The Blackwater Gang members walked into the room, and the leader of the Blackwater Gang looked at Qing Chen and smiled, "You may not know what will happen today."
Qing Chen calmly shook his head, "It doesn't matter."
"It doesn't matter?" The Blackwater Gang leader was puzzled.
"What matters is," Qing Chen pointed at Zhang Mengqian, "he saw you and came back to find me."
The young Blackwater Gang member was stunned, "What the hell are you talking about?"
...
...
"Don't you understand what I said?"
Luo Wanya stood downstairs in the pigeon coop, looking at Zhang Qinghuan with a wry smile, "I said I'm going to wipe out this Blackwater Gang soon, is there any problem?"
Zhang Qinghuan had a slight headache, "There are a lot of them, and, we just go to take down a gang like this, don't we need to find some legitimate reason?"
The president of the Arts Society had never dared to compete with other gangs. Now that Luo Wanya and her people had arrived, they had just said in the morning that the enemy was the Blackwater Gang, and at noon, they were going to take them all down.
Zhang Qinghuan was a little unaccustomed to this fast-paced life...
In the past, he would be taking a nap at this time, and then go to District 4 for consumption in the evening.
Now, Zhang Qinghuan said he wanted to take a nap, and Luo Wanya said, "Why sleep for so long before you die, you'll have plenty of time to sleep after death."
Zhang Qinghuan was completely confused.
"Even if we don't find a legitimate reason, shouldn't we find some weapons? Everyone is empty-handed, is that really okay?" Zhang Qinghuan asked.
"No firearms, our initial action must be low-key and cautious."
Zhang Qinghuan said indignantly, "You guys are not cautious at all!"
Luo Wanya glanced at Zhang Qinghuan, straightened his clothes, and said seriously, "Now you're the gang leader, nominally, we're all your little brothers, can you be a little more ambitious? Where's the murderous intent you had when you wanted us to kill you before? Come on, be fierce!"
"How... how to be fierce?!" Zhang Qinghuan said, "Aow... aowu?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Qinghuan turned around and saw Luo Wanya's gloomy Face[-], there was no complicated expression on that Face[-], but the calm expression was extremely fierce.
Her eyes changed, scaring Zhang Qinghuan back several steps.
"Too much nonsense has no sense of oppression; only when a person doesn't speak, and you need to guess what he's thinking, is it the most fierce," Luo Wanya sighed, "Forget it, we don't have much time to waste, just act your part later."
The Guardians' Union came here without legal status; if any city officials noticed this, they would certainly investigate it a little.
The Blackwater Gang had officials above them who accepted bribes; they didn't care.
Therefore, everything must be done in the name of the Arts Society.
With that, Zhang Qinghuan was pushed into the pigeon coop.
He climbed to the 40th floor, panting, but Luo Wanya and the others were fine, Zhang Qinghuan envied them; he had just injected the cheapest Gene Medicine, barely F-Class.
Among the people Luo Wanya brought, the lowest were all D-Class; a subordinate had said that there were two C-Class before, but later Zhang Qinghuan found out that Luo Wanya, this big shot, had actually brought 4 C-Class...
Thinking of this, Zhang Qinghuan finally calmed down, it's just taking down the Blackwater Gang...
Arriving at the 40th floor, Zhang Qinghuan saw the Blackwater Gang members and froze on the spot.
Luo Wanya poked him with her elbow, "It's your turn to speak your lines, I only taught you one sentence, don't forget it."
Zhang Qinghuan reacted and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Take them down!"
As soon as the words fell, Luo Wanya and the Home Families rushed out; the huge figure, like a train, crashed into the Blackwater Gang members, knocking them several meters away, spitting blood, and might not survive.
Zhang Mengqian in the room was cowering behind Qing Chen.
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside.
The Blackwater Gang members turned around, but before they could react, the entire situation had been completely crushed.
To be honest, Qing Chen and Luo Wanya had never taken this small gang seriously.
In the entire City 22, except for the gang called Dragon Mark, the rest were just chickens and dogs.
Luo Wanya felt that this was a hard-won opportunity to show off in front of the Boss, and any hesitation was a waste of opportunity.
Therefore, the Blackwater Gang members... collapsed very quickly.
The Home Families also performed exceptionally bravely.
The Home Families didn't know that their Leader was in the room; they simply had endless energy and had nowhere to vent it; now that they were fighting against evil forces, they naturally acted more ruthlessly.
Luo Wanya stood in the dirty and messy corridor, looking down at all the residents who were curiously poking their heads out, "What are you looking at? Get back inside."