Taxi Rules
Lin Nieran did as instructed and looked at the Rules pasted on the back of the front seat.
[Orchid Taxi Rules:]
1. You can hail Taxi by waving your hand.
Second: Once you board the bus, you may only get off at your destination. You are not allowed to skip out on your fare or get off the bus midway.
Third: We refuse to provide loans for travel. Passengers must pay for their rides. Please be considerate of the tired vehicle and driver.
Fourth: Please refrain from eating or drinking alcohol in the vehicle, and refuse to drive under the influence of alcohol.
5. The right of interpretation rests with Weird Taxi. Cherish life, ride with caution.
Some Taxi drivers are barely alive, and business is tough these days. They can't get any fares because other, more expensive cars snatch them up with their quick reflexes.
I finally managed to get a fare this morning, but the passenger didn't give me the destination clearly. He died as soon as I opened the car door, and I didn't even have time to pay. It was a wasted trip.
Hopefully, this isn't some brainless, penniless idiot who dares to take a bus.
She shook her head nervously, her face contorting in a grimace, but quickly rubbed her cheeks, trying to calm her uncontrollable facial muscles. "Where to?"
Lin Nieran was not surprised by her strange behavior. Living in Danger Zone for a long time, or being in contact with various Weird Object for a long time, can cause all sorts of mental problems.
In fact, they were all "corrupted" by the Weird Object. This corruption was not fatal, but it caused them considerable mental anguish.
But actually, it's not so bad after you get used to it; I feel much more energetic than before.
"Let's go buy some paper money first. Go to Changqing in Anning District; their paper money shop is cheap there."
Okay.
Wutong District and Anning District are adjacent, so even the Haunted Object Taxi takes a while to arrive.
The Residential Zone was well-ordered, and we arrived quickly without encountering any problems along the way.
"We are about to leave the Wutong District boundary and head towards Anning District. The road may be bumpy, which is normal."
The car drove out of a thin curtain of light, and the clear sky outside suddenly darkened.
This is the world outside the Residential Zone.
Even a brief glance through the car window revealed the enormous blood moon hanging low in the sky, which weighed heavily on Lin Nieran's mind and body.
The blood moon occupied most of the sky, almost level with the ground. The water level rose above the horizon. Just one look made my Brain spin uncontrollably, and it felt as if all the organs in my body were falling endlessly downwards.
I long to be like the moon, nestled in the embrace of the earth and rivers, sleeping endlessly and unhindered between heaven and earth.
Fortunately, the thought only lasted a moment, and the car passed through the next membrane. The blood moon disappeared, and the sky returned to normal.
"The pollution outside is even worse," Lin Nieran said to the system.
His conversations with the system were all inside his head, inaudible to outsiders.
[Yes, host, the bizarre deterioration is happening faster than we imagined. We may not even have five years left.]
"If what you say is true, how long will it take for Qin Rang them grow up?"
[After revisions, with our help, it will only take four years.]
"It's too slow. I don't have the patience to wait that long with them."
[But this is already the shortest possible time; they cannot withstand greater pressure.]
Lin Nieran lazily rested his hand on the window, closing his eyes to enjoy the cool breeze outside the car. "They're not puppets you set up. If they're interested in something, they'll take the bait themselves, right?"
[Host, what are you going to do? Growth requires a gradual process, host, please don't act impulsively.]
"I don't have that much time to play with them." Lin Nieran opened his eyes and thought to himself, "Those who can grow under pressure are the true protagonists."
"Arrived. Thank you for your patronage of 300 yuan."
The driver stopped in front of a Funeral Shop, Lin Nieran paid the fare and got out of the car safely.
"If you're free, you can wait for me a bit; I need the car later," Lin Nieran said with a smile through the open car window.
"Okay." The driver was naturally happy to take another fare; it was rare to encounter such a normal passenger who hadn't died in the car.
Lin Nieran's thinking was simple: every Taxi has different Rules, and the Rules for this taxi were not complicated, so it would be best not to change taxis if possible.
He hates trouble the most.
After buying enough paper money at the store, he returned to his car.
"This time when we go to Cloud City, we can just park at the entrance of the Lily Weird Zone."
The Taxi driver whirled around, his voice cracking. "The Weird Zone? Or Cloud City?"
Can she throw him down now?
They now live in the jurisdiction of Jiang City, a city that is mostly Residential Zone with only a few Danger Zone, making it a relatively safe haven.
There weren't many strange events, and most people were able to live normal lives.
But Cloud City is different. This place was already under full-scale attack by the supernatural as soon as it arrived, and became Heaven for them.
As one of the earliest cities to become Weird Zone, every corner of Cloud City was occupied by the supernatural, and no living person has ever left since.
Even if someone tries to explore it, they will either return empty-handed from the outer layer or remain there forever.
The Lily Weird Zone is the closest to the outermost Weird Zone of Cloud City, and it's the first stop for most people exploring Cloud City. The Authorities who were previously sent to investigate all perished there.
She's just an ordinary driver. Isn't it a bit too much to ask her to drive that beat-up Taxi to Weird Zone?
I should have known better than to be greedy for that little bit of money and instead picked up other regular customers!
She didn't ask him why he went to that kind of place. She knew that many people weren't mentally sound, and their thinking couldn't compare to that of normal people, so asking would be pointless.
"Thank you for the 100,000 yuan fare, sir. You'd better sit tight." She glared at him through the rearview mirror, her teeth practically grinding to powder.
Once a passenger gets in the car and states their destination, the Taxi Rules take effect, and the Taxi has no choice but to go, even if they don't want to.
This guy was obviously asking for an exorbitant price, Lin Nieran knew that if he tried to bargain, the Taxi would rip him off.
She thought that if she swallowed it, she wouldn't have to make this trip. She was dreaming.
Lin Nieran smiled and handed her a Bank Card, which made the woman's face darken even more.
"Swipe card."
The Taxi driver took the card and said ominously, "It's a long journey, you'd better not fall asleep."
Ignoring the Taxi driver's resentful face, Lin Nieran and the Masked Youth beside him sighed, "It's so expensive! Going home is so difficult."
The Masked Youth narrowed his blood-red eyes slightly. "You're not scared, are you?"
"A little?"
"But this time it's just to check out the Moonlit Night, retrieve the Weird Object, and get Points; there shouldn't be any problems."
"That would be best."
The Taxi driver watched him mutter to himself, a smirk playing on his lips. "Another crazy guy."
After driving for several hours, Lin Nieran heard a notification in the system that his Fame had increased significantly. He checked his balance and saw several thousand points refreshed every second, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
After two unsuccessful 10-pulls last time, his Fame dropped to a little over 85,000. Now it has jumped to over 103,000!
What happened?
He turned on the live stream and leaned back in his chair to watch it.
In the live stream room, a huge fire came into view.
The fire was unusually fierce, the flames seemed to burn everything strange to ashes, and the entire Instance was shaking violently, as if it might collapse at any moment.