Lonely Rock

"Knew!"

Pierre shouted impatiently, watching the other person's retreating figure, and spat out. "Pah, what are you pretending for, a bunch of lackeys."

He held a cigarette between his fingers, muttering to himself, "I've never heard of Rock and Roll since I was born. It's probably just a new term the church came up with to persecute people."

"Uncle Peel?"

Xia Beiluo took the opportunity to walk over, greeted him, and then asked curiously, "Did the Black Serpent Gang come to make things difficult for you?"

"Oh, it's you—well, let's just say they are."

Pierre took off his hat, scratched his balding head, and said:

"These bastards' brains are as smooth as glass marbles, without a single wrinkle. They come over and say I have a casino here, and a private Rock and Roll? Hahaha, I'm truly impressed. Look—this is my junkyard, only 800 square meters of land, you can see to the end at a glance, and they actually say there's a 'casino' here?"

Pierre's complaints were like a machine gun, but Xia Beiluo only noticed the unfamiliar word he mentioned.

What is Rock and Roll?

Xia Beiluo asked curiously.

"I don't know, this is the first time I've heard this word—maybe it's a kind of music that requires rolling around to play?"

Peel didn't understand either:

"I really don't know what these people want... They just barged in out of nowhere, and it will take me a long time to clean up."

"After all, once the Lord of the Undead seizes power, we all have to live according to the church's rules."

Xia Beiluo comforted him:

"Otherwise, we can only rely on the power of the other two churches, or we can only wait for the new church to take over and seize power."

"Tch... The followers of [Source Abyss Celestial Lord] and [Void Emperor] are no better."

Pierre took a drag of his cigarette and complained:

"[Source Abyss Celestial Lord] The church forbids free love; your life and marriage must be arranged by the church. [Void Emperor] Strictly restricts business hours; sending me to such places is worse than killing me."

"But after all... only the church can bring order. They are authorized by heaven to bestow the path of the [weird] upon people. They are the law, the enforcers, the witnesses of marriage, the warriors and the teachers. Without the church, Wandering Souls and evil spirits would run rampant—I simply cannot imagine how terrible it would be if there were no church in this world!"

Pierre only became more dismissive of Xia Beiluo's words.

"The church is indeed great, but there are places in this world that the church cannot govern. You and I can speak ill of the church here, but if we don't speak, they won't hear us. If they can't hear our thoughts, then what makes them say that God is omniscient and omnipotent? If God is omniscient and omnipotent, then why do people need to believe in Him?"

After saying that, he flicked his cigarette ash, glanced at Xia Beiluo, and asked, "You're here early today? Anything new?"

Xia Beiluo shook his head. "The car broke down, the luggage was ruined, the house was flooded, and I just cleaned myself up. Otherwise, I would still smell of sewers on me, and it would be too impolite to come out and meet people."

"Oh, it sounds like things aren't going too well for you either."

"That's what Pierre said coldly."

"A little," Xia Beiluo said. "How about it? Uncle Pierre, do you have any work you can give me? I'm very hardworking. I don't need wages, just food and a place to sleep."

"Um..."

Pierre glanced at Xia Beiluo's slender figure, then at the junkyard that the Black Serpent Gang had ransacked.

"I didn't need any help originally."

Pierre exhaled a smoke from his eyes, took out his pocket watch to check the time, and waved his hand. "I'll be busy with business for the next few days, so you can stay here and watch the house for me. You can also sort out the things and clean up. You can sleep in the garage for now. As for food, there's some stock in the kitchen, so figure it out yourself."

Xia Beiluo was overjoyed. He quickly dusted off his sleeves, cupped his hands, drew a holy mark, and respectfully expressed his gratitude:

"Thank you! You are indeed a kind and conscientious person. May the name of the Lord be with you, and you will surely be rewarded."

"Alright, you can handle it yourself. Just remember to lock the front door before 10 p. m. every night."

As he spoke, Pierre explained the precautions and led her into the junkyard.

The junkyard wasn't big; it was an old building with piles of steel bars, rusty horse-drawn carriages, and a few bundles of cables.

Xia Beiluo walked into the garage and helped Pierre guide the dilapidated pickup truck out. The old wandering Wandering Souls in the engine sighed as it tried to drive the motor. She saw the spirit converter flash blue light several times, fearing that the Wandering Souls would give up and go on strike, collapsing in the garage.

Fortunately, Peel finally managed to start the pickup truck, which, carrying a small crane, chugged away from the junkyard.

In this way, I had a place to stay for the time being.

"I need to work hard."

Xia Beiluo didn't have a place to rest right away; she needed to first understand the entirety of the junkyard.

First, we checked the psionic power station. The three criminals imprisoned inside were in good spirits. Their souls, purified by the church, were able to maintain stable emotions, so there was no need to worry about a power outage.

Next, she went to the machine station where she worked. There was a small puppet there. It might have been a mascot in an amusement park, but now its bear skin was rotten, revealing cotton and mechanical parts. Fortunately, the spirit that possessed it was fine, and she could control it to flatten the steel plates.

The kitchen inspection was also of paramount importance. When Xia Beiluo pushed open the door, the cockroaches roaming everywhere and flying all over the place did not make her give up. She used a blowtorch to burn some of the nests that were openly exposed in front of her, and then rescued the clean ingredients: half a bag of flour, four pounds of bread, a piece of cured meat and a can of beans.

For the next few days, she would have to use the open-air kitchen, hoping the pigeons wouldn't launch an air raid when they passed by.

The garage, which served as her rest area, was left to be tidied up last. Although the air was thick with the smell of ashes and rouge, and the long-term parking of the ghost car had made the temperature here significantly lower than outside, Xia Beiluo found two thick blankets and pulled a cotton coat out of the trash heap.

The bed was easy to make. She found a wooden board, placed it on a few oil drums, and then laid her coat on it. Immediately, she no longer had to worry about cockroaches crawling into her nostrils while she slept.

"Hey, I'm pretty smart, aren't I!"

Xia Beiluo rubbed his nose and suddenly felt a tickle in his throat and a bit of a blockage in his nasal cavity.

Maybe it's just a slight cold, but it's nothing serious, a little hot water will do the trick.

"There's still some time before evening... let's hurry up and clean up the junkyard."

Peel's generosity in taking her in wasn't just for her to eat and stay for free; if she wanted a long-term, stable income, she would have to prove her abilities.

She drank two large glasses of hot water, ate a piece of bread that tasted like rubber, and then immediately got to work sorting out the waste.

As a woman, she is not very strong. Many times, she needs to use her spiritual power to activate the puppet to move heavy objects, but the output of spiritual power is limited. If she overdraws it, she will faint.

Therefore, Xia Beiluo rarely used the puppet to move things directly. She first cut and folded the large pieces of waste into several smaller pieces, so that she could make things easier. She only needed to tie ropes to them and drag them with her own body.

Xia Beiluo doesn't have much enthusiasm for her work; she just tries her best to do everything at hand well.

In order to solve problems in labor, people often unleash intelligence beyond their imagination.

"These two cars have collided... If we cut them directly, it will damage the energy converter. If we destroy the internal structure, we will lose a lot of money."

Xia Beiluo clicked his tongue as he looked at the tragic car accident in front of him.

The two cars were almost like mortise and tenon joints, fitting together perfectly. The red car, like an arrow, pierced through the body of the purple car, completely destroying the driver's compartment.

Judging from the red rust and withered seaweed on it, it was probably salvaged from the seabed, and it's unclear how many years ago it was.

However, even cars from a hundred years ago don't look any different from today's popular models.

After all, under the control of the church, technology had long since stagnated.

Although the car owner's body had certainly been disposed of, Xia Beiluo still cautiously sprinkled some salt to ward off the vengeful spirit of the deceased in the car accident.

Xia Beiluo had a good idea on how to deal with it.

She was short, less than 1.6 meters tall without shoes, which was enough for her to knock off the windshield from the back, crawl inside the car, sit in the driver's seat of the middle car, and operate from the inside to cut open the roof, thus avoiding damage to the engine of the middle car.

This is somewhat risky because it requires her to work in a cramped space for extended periods of time.

Although the parts were severely aged, thankfully they did not collapse or break midway, trapping her underneath.

She disassembled and inspected the power converter in the middle car, and found that there were basically no problems; everything went smoothly.

"Next, we'll disassemble the chassis."

Xia Beiluo breathed a sigh of relief; she was lucky today.

She manipulated the puppet to slowly lift the front of the red car, and then carefully disassembled the folded-down rear seats and chassis of the purple car.

However, what appeared in front of her was not the car's drive shaft.

As she removed the back seat, a closed containment space came into view, where a strange large box was kept.

"It's vacuum-sealed? My God, this car was specially modified just to carry this box?"

Xia Beiluo was somewhat excited. The fact that the car was modified meant that the owner had traveled a long way on the path of the "weird" before his death.

It's possible that it refers to a faculty or staff member, who can be commonly understood as a high-ranking official or dignitary.

"This is definitely a treasure!" Xia Beiluo's face immediately broke into a smile.

She carefully took out the box; the vacuum seal allowed it to remain submerged for countless decades, but fortunately, it was undamaged.

That speaks volumes about its quality.

Seeing that the box was intact only strengthened Xia Beiluo's belief.

This thing... might fetch a good price. Peel will probably give her a long-term job because she found something good.

We're rich! We're rich! "Speaking of which, what exactly is this—hey, there are words here."

She placed it in front of her; the logo on it was an unfamiliar word.

"Is this a guitar? What is a guitar? Maybe it's a weapon?"

Xia Beiluo stroked it, then found a line of characters carved with a knife below, and softly read them aloud:

"... Cui is still alive."