Chapter 169
But Xiao Huasheng didn't give him a chance to explain.
She grabbed the clothes that had already dried and kicked him in the butt in annoyance. "Turn around! Don't look!"
Upon seeing the sculpture come to life, the judge, whose mind had been blank, obediently turned his head away.
Carmen silently turned around, listening to the rustling sound of clothes being put on behind her.
When he was allowed to turn around again, Xiao Huasheng was already dressed, her wet red hair plastered to her forehead, and she kept a safe distance from him like a startled rabbit.
"Listen, this is an accident." Carmen tried to salvage the situation, taking a step forward. "I am Judge Carmen, in charge of the security of this coastline. You suddenly appeared here, and initially showed no signs of life... Uh, are you really not a statue?"
"Snort..."
Xiao Huasheng pouted, her bright eyes glaring angrily at the other person, unable to refute him.
Indeed, after her spirit enters Lobotomy Corporation, her body will indeed become an indestructible sculpture.
The red-haired Angel loves to squeal; she just loves to squeal at the drop of a hat.
So the Angel had no choice but to swallow his anger, sticking out his tongue and making a face. "Goodbye forever, pfft--!"
Baka, the Angel, spit a little bit of saliva onto Carmen's face like a mischievous imp.
After Carmen wiped the drool off his face, he suddenly stopped, and Xiao Huasheng's figure blurred without warning.
Before Carmen could react, Xiao Huasheng had already vanished, a fierce wind howled around them, and the lighthouse door was suddenly smashed open.
Carmen instinctively reached out, but only grasped a handful of damp sea breeze.
He hurried outside, only to find the storm still raging, and the red figure had long since vanished into the vast rain, as if it had never existed.
Only the scent emanating from the stars on my face proved that the Angel from before was real.
The judge stood still, letting the rain soak his robes.
He looked down and touched his face, then looked in the direction where Xiao Huasheng had disappeared, his brows relaxing in shock.
"What exactly is that thing? Is it really Sankta?"
Gazing at the torrential rain, the Angel's figure had long since vanished.
Xiao Huasheng's speed in escaping is definitely impressive by real-world standards.
In just a short while, she successfully crossed the area shrouded by the torrential rain and headed in the direction indicated by the Compass of the Stars.
Although there were a few minor incidents, they were ultimately harmless.
She is currently heading to the underground area of Penguin Logistics to search for clues at the location where she was once teleported.
Lungmen, inside a slum.
Another violent incident occurred here. Ever since the city lord announced that all refugees from Chernobog could flood into this city, security incidents have been continuous.
The damp alleyway was filled with the pungent smell of cheap spices, mixed with the stench of rotting garbage.
A fat man wearing an apron stained with oil was gripping the arm of a skinny little boy with bear ears. The boy was dressed in rags, and a pair of dirty, round ears were visible beneath his dusty hair—a typical Chernobog refugee.
"You little beast!" the baker snarled through clenched teeth, his face contorted with rage.
He pointed with his other finger at the bread scattered on the floor and the shelves overturned, "Do you know how I'm supposed to get through today after all this?!"
Chapter 8: The Tide of Hatred [2 Updates]
The child struggled desperately, still clutching half a dirty baguette tightly in his arms.
He stuffed bread into his mouth frantically, wolfing it down, not caring at all as the shopkeeper pointed at him and berated him.
"You're still eating!" The shop owner abruptly dragged the child towards the collapsed shelves. "My shelves! My three days' worth of hard work! You bastards..."
He took a deep breath, his voice suddenly rising, "The shameless thugs of Chernobog!"
Upon hearing this, the child stopped what he was doing, glared angrily at the shop owner with red eyes, and bent down even lower, ready to pounce.
The owners of other shops in the alley frowned as they looked at the situation.
They were somewhat tolerant of these refugees who stole things a while ago, but now they have reached their limit.
Time can change people's hearts, and it can also change the original passionate heart.
Most of these slum shop owners the Infected were rescued during that 'Angel's Salvation'.
After gaining citizenship and legal status and overcoming their infection, their lives improved significantly.
The citizens were incredibly grateful to the miracle doctor, regarding him as a savior of the world, and a religion dedicated to him even emerged in the area.
Every Sunday, citizens spontaneously put on bird-beak masks and distribute food and water in the slums, sharing this joy with everyone.
But all of this was destroyed with the influx of refugees into Chernobog.
Initially, tens of thousands of refugees were blocked outside the majestic gates of Lungmen, forced to set up temporary camps in the wilderness, gazing at the bustling city just a wall away but unable to enter.
However, as the Catastrophes loomed and diplomatic pressure increased, an emergency resettlement document bearing the official seal was issued, the checkpoints were opened, and an exhausted flow of people poured in like a tide.
The movement of these Chernobog residents who lost their homes was strictly restricted.
They were unable to enter the brightly lit, orderly city center, where there were strict identity checks and patrols.
Even if a few manage to cross the blockade, they will be quickly identified and expelled due to their lack of legal identification and a fixed address.
Ultimately, the crowded, chaotic, yet tenacious slum Lungmen Outer Ring became their only de facto refuge.
In the first few days of the refugee influx, the slum dwellers showed remarkable generosity and compassion.
Most of the residents here were victims of Oripathy, and are former the Infected have been given a new lease on life.
Having personally experienced the pain of rejection and fear, they have deep empathy for those in distress.
They spontaneously organized themselves and distributed the limited supplies—food, water, and simple winter clothing—to their new neighbors.
The believers wearing bird-beak masks not only distribute supplies on Sundays, but also work tirelessly on weekdays to help refugees adapt to their new environment and maintain the hard-won warmth in the community built on shared hardship.
However, goodwill is like fragile glass, unable to withstand the continued pressure of reality.
The sheer number of refugees quickly overwhelmed the already strained resources and infrastructure of the slums.
Living spaces became extremely crowded, sanitation deteriorated, and prices soared due to surging demand.
What is even more heartbreaking is that the behavior of some refugees is enough to tarnish the reputation of the entire group.
Some people have begun to abuse this initial goodwill.
Using the excuse that "we have Nothing There" and even the absurd claim that "we are the victims, and you should give way to us," they wantonly wreak havoc here.
They mistook the local residents' patience for weakness and trampled on the community's rules.
Theft has escalated from sporadic cases to blatant robbery.
Fighting over limited resources has become commonplace.
Some makeshift shelters were vandalized and public facilities were damaged.
The unwritten mutual aid pact that originally maintained the fragile balance in the slums gradually became unbalanced under the immense pressure of survival and the reckless behavior of a few.
The local shop owners' brows furrowed deeper and deeper. Their initial sigh, "They have it tough too," was gradually replaced by disgust at "It's them again" and despair at "This never ends."
The foundation of trust crumbled amidst daily friction and conflict. The once fervent sympathy, like embers extinguished by cold water, left only ashes and a lingering, palpable resentment.
"We shouldn't have let you in!" He waved his thick arm, spitting on the children's faces. "Lungmen isn't a shelter! Go back to your ruins!"
The child stumbled as he was pulled, his knee hitting the broken tiles and immediately bleeding.
In that instant, the boy, who was not quite a child, suddenly let out a roar that was not like a child's, and pulled a sharpened short knife from his pocket with his right hand, stabbing it into the shopkeeper's abdomen without hesitation.
"I know you all!! You damned the Infected!" the child roared, his voice Distortion with rage. "In Ursus, you should have been executed long ago! What right do you have to point fingers at us!"
Pfft!
The dull thud of the blade piercing flesh froze the entire alleyway instantly.
Blood flows here.
The usually kind bakery owner clutched his stomach in pain and lay down.
At this moment, the entire venue fell silent.
The child seemed to realize the enormity of his mistake and hurriedly broke free to escape.
Among the onlookers, a believer wearing a bird-beak mask, who was about to step forward to mediate the fight, suddenly stopped in his tracks, his expression clearly one of horror.
The owner of the nearby grocery store covered her mouth, and the dishcloth in her hand silently slipped from her grasp.
Everyone else's eyes widened in disbelief; no one had expected this outcome.
"Well..."
The shopkeeper's eyes widened in shock and pain. He looked down at the hilt of the knife embedded in his abdomen, then looked incredulously at the child who had escaped and received so much kindness from him.
A knife was stuck in his stomach, and blood gushed out from the wound, spreading a glaring dark red stain on his flour-covered apron.
The believer wearing the bird-beak mask slowly removed it, revealing a face covered in scars.
These are the scars left after the Oripathy was cured.
The miracle doctor could heal the body, but he couldn't erase the scars on their bodies.
His gaze shifted from shock to deep pain, finally settling into icy anger. "We thought... no, it seems we were too presumptuous to believe you could understand the pain of discrimination."
The grocery store owner rushed to help the bakery owner, who was covered in blood and trying to stop her wounds, her voice trembling as she cried.
"Old Geng? Old Geng! That's enough! That's really enough! We've been scrimping and saving every day to help them, and this is what we get in return?"
Anger, disbelief, and a strong sense of betrayal filled the hearts of every former the Infected.
The child's words were like a sharp knife tearing open their barely healed wounds, brutally piercing through everyone's reason.
More and more citizens of Lungmen learned about what had happened, and anger spread like a plague.
The Lungmen Guard Department also received the alarm and arrived at the scene.
At this moment, the Rat King was also extremely worried about this.
Chapter Nine: Lure the Angel with Candy [1 Update]
In a secluded candy store, Rat King Lin Gerui half-closed his eyes, his withered fingers lightly tapping his peach wood cane, listening to his daughter Lin Yuxia's report.
"... A total of over seven thousand people have been resettled in the temporary residential area on the outer ring road." Lin Yuhsia closed the document in her hand, her brows furrowed. "This number is nearly four thousand more than our initial estimate. Some other people have infiltrated."
The Rat King slowly opened his eyes, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his cloudy pupils. "What did Wei Yenwu say?"
"The authorities have tried their best to control public opinion, but the conflict in the slums can't be suppressed." Lin Yuhsia's voice was weary. "This morning, another armed attack occurred. An Ursus child stabbed a bakery owner. Now the whole outer ring is saying that the refugees in Chernobog are all ungrateful wretches."
Faint police sirens could be heard outside the window, growing louder as they approached.
The Rat King shook his head slightly, a bitter smile appearing on his lips.
"What a brilliant, open scheme," he murmured, tapping his cane on the ground. "She did prevent the tragedy of the city's destruction and the loss of lives, and she stopped Lungmen from having to fire on Chernobog, but she couldn't stop it all."
He stood up and walked to the window.
Through the glass windows of the candy store, one can see the outline of the densely packed shantytowns in the distance.
"Even if Chernobog hadn't crashed into Lungmen, these survivors would still have come here."
Lin Yuhsia was silent for a moment, then said softly, "Too many the Infected of the Reunion Movement have infiltrated these refugees. They were originally part of the Reunion Movement, and now they've entered the slums, deliberately exacerbating the conflict."
The Rat King turned around, his eyes sharp, and remained silent.
He gazed at the dazzling array of candies on the shelf, his cloudy eyes reflecting the colorful wrappers that shimmered with an unseen luster under the dim light...
The distant sirens grew more frequent, mixed with faint clamor.
Lin Yuhsia's phone suddenly vibrated. She glanced at the screen, her expression becoming even more serious.
"Something's happened again?" the Rat King asked without turning his head.
"Large-scale clashes have broken out in the slums." Lin Yuhsia took a deep breath. "Citizens and refugees... have started fighting."
The Rat King closed his eyes, and only slowly opened them after a long while.
"Go, Yuxia." His voice remained steady, yet carried an undeniable authority. "Mobilize all available personnel, control the situation, and if necessary, purge. Wei Yenwu will help you."
After Lin Yuhsia left in a hurry, the Rat King stood alone in the candy house, gazing at the darkening sky outside the window.
Not long after the Rat King's daughter left in a hurry.