"Fuck!" Glasses cursed under his breath. "We might be able to find Chaozi, but getting Smoker out is basically impossible."
"Let's find Brother Chao first. Once we've found him, we can figure out how to save Smoker."
Qin Xun felt they had to take things one step at a time.
First, they had to find Xu Chao before the Guard Team did.
Glasses shook his head. "This zone is huge. Even with thousands of patrol officers and Guard Team members looking for him, they're having trouble. It'll be hard for the two of us to find him in a short time."
"We'll split up and search. Whether we find him or not, we'll meet again in four hours!"
Glasses thought for a moment and nodded. This was all they could do for now. They could cover more ground apart than together.
"Actually, we don't need to search that hard. Mengmeng remembers our scent. If Mengmeng is all right, she'll alert Chaozi as soon as we pass nearby!"
"Even better!"
"Follow this alley out and go another two blocks. There's a clock tower there. We'll meet at the clock tower in four hours!"
"Okay!"
"Remember, be careful!" Glasses warned him.
The two quickly divided up the areas they would each search.
The residential districts were the most likely places for Xu Chao to be hiding.
Qin Xun took responsibility for the nearby residential districts, which were smaller.
Glasses took the larger residential districts farther away.
After all, he knew Zone 96's layout better than Qin Xun did.
After roughly covering the two Guard Team members' bodies with trash, they went their separate ways.
Qin Xun hurried from one alley to the next.
He had to make a full circuit of these residential districts within four hours.
If what Glasses said was true, all he needed was for Mengmeng to catch his scent.
"Dog owner, you'd better hang in there!"
The patrol officers and the fully armed Guard Team were also searching for Xu Chao.
Whenever Qin Xun ran into them, he hid himself as best he could.
But even when they did cross paths, the patrol officers and guards paid him no mind.
It was as though the only person they saw was the injured man with a dog.
After circling this residential district for an hour, he still hadn't found a single clue.
After finishing the last alley, Qin Xun crossed two streets and reached the next residential district.
Compared with the one he had just searched, this residential district was much more run-down.
The walls were badly cracked, and several alleys were full of stagnant black water, as though the sewers were clogged and couldn't drain. The stench was so foul it made him afraid to breathe.
"Fuck, that's what you get for not paying me back!"
At the entrance to an alley, several big, burly men were punching and kicking a small, scrawny man.
"Ah!! Stop hitting me, stop!"
"We can stop, but pay us back!"
"I don't have any money! I've sold everything valuable in my home, and now I can't even afford food!"
The man lay sprawled on the ground, holding both hands up to protect his face, which was covered in snot and tears.
"Yesterday afternoon, I heard you went to the casino and won more than twenty thousand. Now you're telling me you don't have any money?" After saying that, the man viciously kicked him in the face again.
The man cried out in pain and said in a trembling voice, "I did win more than twenty thousand, but as soon as I got home yesterday afternoon, Brother Bao brought his men over and took all the money!"
"So you paid Old Bao back but not me, huh? Fine, I don't want the money anymore. I'll cut out your tongue to settle the debt!"
"Wait, wait! I don't have money, but I have a daughter. You can take her!"
"Fuck off! Who doesn't know your daughter's famous for being ugly? People look for her when they need to puke after drinking!"
Qin Xun paid them no mind and hurried past behind them.
"Even if you really cut out my tongue, there wouldn't be enough to make a dish. How about this? Give me three more days, just three days. I promise I'll pay you back, principal and interest!"
"Fine, I'll give you three more days. If you don't pay up in three days, it won't be as simple as cutting out your tongue. Don't even think about running. Even if you run all the way to Zone 1, I'll find a way to drag you back!"
Qin Xun walked quickly away, and the voices behind him grew fainter.
He followed the alley all the way down, then turned left into another.
After a series of left and right turns, he entered a dead end.
Trash was piled high at the end of the alley, giving off a stench that reached the heavens, and the ground was covered in stagnant black water.
Qin Xun glanced inside, then turned to leave.
Just as he was about to walk out of the alley, a faint rustling suddenly sounded behind him.
He stopped and turned around, only to see a dog's head poking out of the trash heap.
"Mengmeng!" Qin Xun exclaimed in delight.
When Mengmeng saw Qin Xun, she hurried out of the trash heap and raced toward him for all she was worth.
She stood at Qin Xun's feet, clamped her teeth around his pant leg, and tugged him farther into the alley.
Qin Xun hurried in, stepping through the puddles until he reached the trash heap.
He used both hands to pull the trash aside.
Behind the heap, which was as tall as two people, was a narrow space.
Xu Chao was slumped weakly in a corner.
Beside him, a little girl lay unconscious.
"Brother Chao!"
Qin Xun hurriedly crouched down to check Xu Chao's injuries.
Xu Chao's injuries could only be described as severe.
There was a long gash across his chest, as though it had been cut open by something sharp.
The clothing on his left arm had been torn, exposing a bloody mess. The exposed flesh had already begun to turn pale.
His face was as pale as Qin Ling's had been when she was poisoned.
Xu Chao blinked weakly. "Why did you come?"
"To rescue you!"
"Are you alone?"
"Glasses is here too. Sister Song and my sister are outside!"
"Damn it!" Xu Chao laboriously adjusted his sitting position. "What's wrong with them? Why did they let you come in?"
"I've joined the group now. I'm one of you too."
Xu Chao paused. "What, you're really not afraid of dying?"
Qin Xun smiled. "A dog owner saved me from Zone 108. Now he and his dog are trapped in Zone 96, so I have to get them out too!"
"You brat, do you have to move me like this?" Xu Chao smiled, his eyes reddening.
"By the way, you said you joined. What was your initiation?"
"They made me eat dirt."
"Eat dirt? That's not too bad. They didn't mess with you much. They were probably pressed for time and couldn't come up with anything else."
"What was your initiation when you joined?"
Remembering his own initiation, Xu Chao smiled again.
"They took me out to the middle of a lake on a boat, tricked me into drinking a whole bottle of laxatives, then tricked me into getting in the water to catch fish. Then they sailed away..."
Qin Xun frowned slightly. "The fish must have been even more traumatized than the cow Glasses kissed!"
Xu Chao laughed. "Do you know what it means to shit yourself unconscious in the water?"
"Good thing I only ate dirt." Qin Xun still felt somewhat relieved. Fortunately, Song Jie hadn't been given extra time to think of ways to mess with him.