"Well--"
Erica also covered her nose and followed An Ming step by step.
"What's going on here?"
"Don't know, but I guess we'll find out soon."
An Ming took out a steam gun from his arms and moved slowly along the bright corridor. Erica looked at the handgun and trembled unconsciously. She felt that the gun was the one that had been pressed against her head not long ago. Even now, she still feels frightened when she sees the gun.
As the main hall drew closer, the sounds of conversation and music grew louder.
When they finally reached the main entrance of the hall, a voice came from behind the door that was opened a crack.
But the front hall was empty. There was no one standing guard at the waiting table, and even the waiter at the front desk was missing. It was so strange outside the door, but the voice coming from the main hall seemed peaceful.
The situation is too weird.
An Ming immediately opened the main hall door roughly, but what he saw was a mess.
There was blood everywhere in the room, and severed human limbs were piled in the corners. Looking around, there is no half-complete person on the ground. In the pool of blood, people and chips were mixed together. It looked like something had slapped the chips on the body with force, breaking the bones and muscles. Flies and insects were constantly flying over the corpses. The splattered blood has turned dark brown and looks like it has dried long ago. These people must have been dead for several days.
A huge steam player was placed in the center of the room. The paper tape was constantly rotating, and music and voices came from it.
This should be the source of the sound in the room. Someone deliberately used this thing to pretend that these guests were still alive.
After Erica saw this scene, she immediately vomited. She had never seen so much blood and so many mutilated bodies in her life.
An Ming also felt a little uncomfortable. But he was upset not because of the horrific scenes in the room, but because they awakened memories in his mind. He trembled slightly and left the room, leaning against the wall and exhaling loudly. It took him a while to calm down.
By the time she fully recovered, Erica had still not recovered from the vomiting. So he walked to the front desk and picked up the receiver of the communication phone placed aside. There was a jingle from the receiver.
It looks like the wiring here is intact. An Ming thought.
He dialed the number skillfully, only to hear a lazy response from the other end of the receiver.
"Hello, Director? Yes, I'm here, but unfortunately, I probably can't catch anyone. I hope you contact the Investigation Bureau immediately and ask them to send someone over. The situation here cannot be explained in a few words. . I can only tell you that a lot of people died, and probably none of the rich kids that the Investigation Bureau cared about survived. Tell them that if they don't cooperate with our actions, the responsibility will all fall on them. 'Be prepared to bear the wrath of the families behind the nobles.' Just threaten them."
After An Ming finished speaking, he hung up the receiver. Erica on the side seemed to have finished vomiting, and she leaned over with a pale face.
"Do you want to stay here and take a rest?" An Ming asked.
"...Where are you, senior?"
"Of course I'm going to investigate the arena."
Although An Ming saw the tragic scene, he could fully understand the ending of those children. But he still needed to investigate it himself.
Erica is certainly not stupid, she must have thought of it too.
"I also need to go."
However, she felt that she could not back down on this matter.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
A few blocks away on Black Pottery Street.
The middle-aged man looked at the official cars and federal agents dressed in black that were gathering in the distance towards the Black Pottery Casino, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
An Ming completely guessed something wrong. In fact, until recently, Black Potter Casino was managed by another person. As the owner of the Black Pottery Casino, the middle-aged man lived in a private villa a few blocks away. Occasionally, in his spare time, he would go to the casino to tease the bunny girls for fun.
He didn't know anything about what happened recently at the Black Pottery Casino. He only knew that the Management Bureau and the Investigation Bureau were looking for him today.
"Sir, you promised me there would be no problem!"
He immediately complained loudly to the person behind him.
The man standing behind him was dressed in a very strange way. He wore a tall hat on his head and a red faceless mask on his face. The rest of his body was wrapped in a black coat, and he even had a large cloak on the outside, making it difficult to see his body shape.
"Didn't we save you?" A gruff voice came from behind the mask, "All clues about your collusion with us in the casino have been destroyed."
"That's good, that's good."
The middle-aged man laughed out loud, his face full of relief, but soon he realized something was wrong.
"Wait, you said everything, could it be..."
"Yes, even those old customers who know our existence are within the scope of 'processing'."
The middle-aged man looked at the red mask and felt that he was smiling at him.
"You killed them? No, no, no, no! You can't do this! They are all people related to me on the surface! If you do this, what should I do?"
The middle-aged man suddenly understood that the other party was docking his tail. All they erase is information related to them, and anything else will be pushed onto themselves.
But unexpectedly, the red mask suddenly came closer, and his face almost touched the middle-aged man's face.
"My dear Mr. Thomas, you seem to have forgotten something, right? I reminded you half a year ago that such things come at a price. When you were targeted by the Administration, you were at your wits end."
Thomas immediately distanced himself from the masked man and drew a short blunderbuss from his waist.
"No! No! You can't push those things on me! It's not fair! I provided the materials and opportunities for your experiments! You are responsible for the death of those children! If the administration investigates, you devils will not be killed. Can't run!"
As he spoke, an exaggerated smile appeared on Thomas face.
"That's right, that's right! You can't run away! I will say that you are my accomplices! If you don't want to be reported by me, just think of a way! You are so powerful, you can definitely save me, right?"
Red Mask tapped the side of the mask with his hand and sighed.
"Mr. Thomas, I thought you were a smart man."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I'm not here to give you a chance to threaten me."
Thomas immediately realized what this sentence meant, but it was too late. A huge black shadow appeared on the other side of him out of nowhere. He was too familiar with that dark shadow, it was his invincible "champion" in the arena. In his undefeated life, the only defeat was that his left arm was chopped off by a black-haired poor boy.
"no, you can not..."
Before he could finish his words, there was only the dull sound of something being torn apart.
Red Mask flicked the brim of his hat, looked around, and slowly flicked a string of fiery red light spots onto the floor of the villa. Then he hummed and left the villa with brisk steps. The string of sparks on the floor became brighter and brighter, and soon turned into an all-devouring flame, and everything was swallowed up by this flame.
Ten minutes later, the investigation bureau officers who arrived found the burned-out villa and the body of Thomas, the owner of the Black Pottery Casino.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
Ta-ta-ta, tap-ta, tap-ta.
The sound of boots echoed in the closed passage.
An Ming walked on the empty black brick corridor, and the sound of every step echoed in the corridor, as if the road was endless. Behind the passage is connected a huge circular arena, with terraces on the outer layer and an arena stage on the inner layer.
Erica had seen this kind of building in history books. Its history was even older than the witch-hunting era, which was a dark and bloody era. People threw the hunted beasts and hard work into the center of the arena and let them fight to the death.
An Ming was clearly indifferent to the rest of the arena. He walked quickly down the stands and onto the arena stage.
Standing in the arena square of Nuo University, An Ming glanced back and forth, as if determining his position. He soon found his target and headed towards one of the doors surrounding the stage.
The door was simple, even crude. Behind the door is a dull and dank walkway. Unlike the carefully carved masonry in the auditorium, this one is obviously rough in workmanship. There are no artistic carvings from beginning to end, and there is still clear black dirt on the floor and walls. . It's like a prison where prisoners are kept.
Erica frowned unconsciously when she looked at the stains, as if she was instinctively disgusted.
"These black lumps are left after a mixture of blood and sweat. Children who died in the arena will be dragged here by the orderlies and placed there, and will be thrown to the warehouse after the arena is cleared. So there will always be some at the gate. Blood. The servicemen would mop the floor with a big mop every day, but they couldn't get rid of the smell. The dried blood mixed with the fresh blood, making it dirty again and again."
An Ming said in a calm tone with an expressionless face.
Slowly, An Ming walked along the rough brick corridor to the "staff room" at the backstage of the arena.
This is where the kids who are ready to play stay. The room was very simple, with cement walls on three sides, candle lights hanging above the head, and simple beds on the floor. Looking back now, you will find that the sheets have turned dark brown and look like they have not been washed for a long time.
When An Ming came here, his steps slowed down. He talked as he walked, saying a name at each gate he passed.
"Here is Cole, a bastard who knows how to fight all day long. Although he is very weak, he always refuses to admit defeat. But what do you think he fights for? He later secretly told me that he wanted to leave some money for his grandma. , and asked her to have her eyes checked. His grandma was 50 years old, and the environment in the slums was not good, so she could not be cured if she got sick. He said that it would be easy for an old man to be unable to take care of himself, so he wanted to save money in case something happened to him. One day, there will be no one to take care of her."
"This is Shelter. I don't know much about him. I only know that he is a very quiet child. He always sits behind everyone and looks at the sky with blank eyes. The only thing I say to him is The only thing he said was to ask him what he was looking at, and then he replied that he was not looking at anything because he was here waiting for someone to pick him up, but if he did nothing he would look lonely. He hated being alone, so he just looked at the sky. , and waited for a day, but he had been waiting for three years, and no one came to pick him up."
"Here is Roque, the youngest child among us, and very short. But he is not afraid of anything when he is fierce. He will hit someone when he hugs him, and he will not let go until the other party admits defeat. Several people who are close to her know that he is actually It's a girl, her real name is Luo Shang. She said it's hard for girls to survive in the slums. If the adults see you looking good, they will drag you to a restaurant with neon lights at night to sell your body with women in scantily clad clothes. She didn't want to sell her body. She said that one day she wanted to marry the boy she really liked and walk into the palace together. She said this to me because she saw that I had black hair and black eyes, and she felt that she and I were both from the east. The small country of Andujia, but that country has not existed for fifty years. She has only heard her mother talk about this non-existent hometown. It is really ridiculous that she believes in me just because of a non-existent country. "
"Here's Mason, a big boy with no rules..."
"This is Roland..."
"This way is..."
An Ming talked bit by bit about the past of the child who once lived in the door. He is familiar with everyone here and remembers what each of them said. Those words still linger in his ears, as if just yesterday he was chatting and joking with the owner of those words.
Erica bit her lip lightly and scanned the rooms one by one. There was a black object lying on the bed in every room. They were all living humans. Their eyes were ferocious, their faces were full of fear, and their whole bodies were charred. Erica looked at the motionless body and knew that they had died long ago without even thinking about it.
"They once slapped me on the shoulder and told me that I was their hero. Because since they came here, no one has ever been able to kill monsters. Even if they hurt monsters, they have to pay a huge price. But I killed I killed a werewolf and injured the 'champion'. They hugged me and happily told me that I could have become the strongest gladiator if the boss hadn't stopped."
An Ming suddenly stopped.
"Shit hero!"
He suddenly growled and stopped talking.
Erica didn't know what to say when she saw this. He should have been able to save them. If the investigation bureau had released them in advance, or if they had forced a breakthrough a week ago, he could have saved them.
There is nothing now. The boss ran away, the evidence was destroyed, and the nobleman died.
The most innocent children are looking forward to the dawn of escape again in the end.
Suddenly, a slight movement made An Ming and Erica alert. An Ming immediately picked up the steam gun and took aim, and at the same time rushed towards the sound with careful and steady steps. He walked in front and Erica followed.
Then they saw a dark figure squirming in the room at the end of the corridor.
The black shadow was a boy. His skin all over his body turned black at this time, and a sticky liquid wrapped around him. His skin and clothes grew together, and it was almost impossible to tell what he originally looked like. However, An Ming still recognized this person.
"Ai Li!" An Ming rushed over immediately.
"Is this... voice... Brother An...?" the boy named Ai Li said intermittently, "You are back... ah, please... save... Xiao Ai..."
The boy stretched out his mouth tremblingly, and there was a black thing there. It was about half a person's size, and it was now integrated with his arm.
Erica saw that it was actually a person.
She couldn't stand it anymore. I really want to tell this boy that the "Xiao Ai" he calls is dead long ago. But she couldn't say it. The belief in protecting Xiao Ai kept him alive for so long, and he was still alive even when others died.
However, he wouldn't live long.
In addition to the boy's skin turning black, tiny mushrooms sprouted from his back. It's caused by a fungal infection that causes tiny mushrooms to grow on the body in the final stages of the infection. In the advanced stage of the disease, his blood vessels, muscles, skin and various organs had been burst by mushrooms. It can only be said to be a miracle that the boy is alive and even able to speak.
"Help...Xiao Ai..."
Seemingly seeing that An Ming and Erica didn't respond, the boy stretched out his mouth and handed over the black object in his hand.
"Okay, I understand." An Ming took the black object, "Our best doctor here has arrived, your sister will be saved."
"Thank you...our...hero."
The boy moved his cheeks as if smiling.
"Is there anything else you want to say?"
An Ming loaded the steam gun.
But the boy didn't say anything, just shook his head slightly.
"That's it." An Ming said softly, "Have a good trip."
After finishing speaking, a gunshot rang out in the corridor, and then the gunshot continued to echo in the arena. The sound became smaller and smaller, but it felt more and more distant, like a final requiem.
The song ends and people disperse.
An Ming squatted in front of the boy and didn't get up for a long time.
"senior..."
Erica wanted to say something, but when the words came to her lips, she didn't know what to say.
Then the director arrived with the investigation bureau, and also brought them the news that the casino owner was dead.
In the future, Erica will recall this day at any time. Senior An Ming's face was expressionless, as cold as a blade that could kill at any time, but he looked sadder than anyone else.
It's the sadness of feeling like you're doing nothing...useless.