Chapter 72: Undercurrent in the East District

187
"Courage and sacrifice?"

The Decayed King put down the newspaper in his hand, looked at Amon, and asked again: "Do you want to learn courage and sacrifice?"

Amon touched his eye sockets and said, "I don't want to learn, I just want to understand what this is."

"Is this what your father told you?"

"Yes."

"It's very simple. Let me ask you a question." The Outer God calmly returned his gaze to the newspaper, "Since this is what your father expects of you, are you willing to die for your father?"

"..." Amon pinched his monocle again, with his usual smile on his face, "Is there any cause and effect? I mean, what happened to me that I had to die, and what can my death bring?"

"No need for any cause and effect." The Decayed King turned a page of the newspaper. "You just need to answer me whether you are willing or not."

"...all of me will die?"

"Correct."

"Will my father resurrect me in the future?"

"Ask your father about this kind of question when the time comes."

"………………" Amon pondered for a while, then slowly found a place to sit down, frowning. The mask-like smile on his face showed a distressed look because of thinking. He was silent for a very long time, so long that when the Outer God finished reading the entire newspaper and switched to the next book, Amon finally spoke, "It's not that time yet, I don't know."

"I think I will run away. My father was once a half-old, so his spirit is imprinted indestructibly, forever existing in His path, and will return one day. Since He already exists forever, it doesn't seem to matter whether His body survives or not. I will try to avenge Him, and if I can be resurrected, dying for my father is not unacceptable. If He is unwilling to resurrect me, or if He cannot survive even if I sacrifice Himself, then I will run away."

"Hmm." The Decayed King did not comment. "Then are you interested in so-called courage and sacrifice?"

"Aside from my father's expectations, I'm not interested."

"Well." The Outer God replied calmly, "You are the mythical creature, why do you have to let all your power serve humans?"

188
Late at night, on a dark and remote path in the East District, a girl was walking cautiously with a large bag full of old clothes.

She was wearing an old but neat light blue dress and a white apron. She looked around carefully while walking and tried to choose the road with gas lights, so she took a long detour and wasted a lot of time. She obviously knew about the recent rampant kidnappings. But today's work has been busy until now. If she goes back before dark, she won't be able to buy bread tomorrow. For her future livelihood, even if there are kidnappers outside, she must bite the bullet and work until late at night.

Just walk through this alley and you will reach home...

She whispered to herself to cheer herself up.

The girl stood under the dim gas street lamp, looking carefully at the dark alley. The light could only illuminate the entrance of the alley, and two meters behind it was pitch black, like a huge mouth ready to devour anyone, making people feel uneasy.

The girl took a deep breath and walked in more cautiously. Step by step, she slowly observed her surroundings, trying not to make any noise. When she reached the middle of the alley, her tense expression and body showed signs of softening, and her steps became a little lighter.

At this moment, a closed wooden door on the left side of the alley suddenly opened, and a hand with gauze coated with ether covered her mouth and nose! The girl suddenly widened her eyes, subconsciously held her breath, and struggled violently, so another hand stretched out from the darkness, fiercely hooked her neck, and dragged her into the dark house.

Bang. With a slight sound, the wooden door closed and the alley returned to silence.

"This little girl is quite strong."

I felt the strength of the struggle in my arms weakening, and someone in the darkness sneered: "Let's see how long you can hold on."

At this moment, he felt something sticky and cold being slapped on his cheek and slowly sliding down. Was it water? Was this broken house leaking?
But it hasn't rained recently...

"...Ah ...

He saw another face in his own!
It turned out that what fell on his face was a piece of flesh! The piece of flesh devoured his skin, dug a crack in his body, and a strange face grew out of it! The face was expressionless, dull and terrifying, and kept moving, as if it wanted to drill out of his body.

At this moment, he heard a slight cough behind him.

The girl, who he thought had lost the ability to resist, slowly sat up, took out a bottle of stimulating potion from her pocket, took a deep sip, and then snot and tears flowed out together.

"Woohoo...finally...woohoo...took the bait..."

The girl was choked and said while wiping her tears.

Even if he was slow, the kidnapper knew he had fallen into a trap. The crack where the human face grew had already split to the shoulder, and half of his face had completely lost consciousness. He gritted his teeth, gnashing his teeth, and, enduring the pain, he pulled out a small signal light from his sleeve, then lit the unextinguished match and threw it fiercely into the sky.

In the dark night sky, a firework suddenly exploded.

……

By the time the person that grew out of the crack had completely crawled out of the kidnapper's body, the other person had become a skeleton covered with taut skin, without any blood or internal organs, like a mummy that had been dried for years.

There were faint footsteps in the distance. The flesh puppet, who had been given fixed instructions, had no expression on his face, while Alia, who was acting as bait, quickly closed her eyes and fell to the ground and continued to pretend to be unconscious. The flesh puppet bent down and took out a wallet and a watch from the kidnapper's corpse. Suddenly, a whip came from the air and hit the flesh puppet's wrist hard, cutting off his hand at the wrist!

Bang, bang, bang! Bullets fired continuously, three bullets hit the flesh puppet's eyes and eyebrows at precise angles, instantly destroying his (non-existent) brain. The powerful impact blew off his skull, and red blood and muscle tissue splashed several meters behind him.

"No wonder he dared to come and hinder us. He turned out to be a Beyonder."

The revolver in Katie's hand emitted a curl of green smoke, and the whip in her other hand dripped blood. A cruel smile appeared on her scarred face: "Die here."

The flesh puppet was hit by the recoil and fell backwards, a position that a human could not keep balanced at all. However, it did not fall down, but slowly stood up again. He turned his face to Katie, his head was shattered, and where the eyes should have been was only a mass of bloody and broken flesh, with two bullets embedded in them. The reflection of the brass made them look like a pair of real eyes. Even Katie, who was ruthless and loved to torture her opponents, could not help but feel a chill.

"wrong!"

I thought this was a low- to mid-sequence Beyonder who was good at flesh magic or controlling corpses, but Katie's spiritual intuition suddenly sent out a warning signal of panic! She immediately emptied her magazine at the flesh puppet, beating him into a pool of broken bones and rotten flesh that was completely unable to stand up, and imprisoned him with her Beyonder ability. At this time, the minions she brought with her finally arrived at the scene. Seven or eight people stood scattered outside the alley, each of them covering their faces tightly, like a wall that not even light could penetrate.

Katie did not doubt him and immediately ordered: "You guys stay here and I will go back and report to Mr. Heras..."

"Hee hee hee."

"Hahahahahaha."

Before she finished her words, the seven or eight men suddenly laughed strangely. Katie was immediately horrified. She suddenly jumped back and loaded six bullets at an extremely fast speed that even soldiers could hardly do. When she landed, she took a shooting position without thinking and fired four shots in a row. With extraordinary power attached to her, the brass bullets accurately pierced the heads of the four people, blowing a big hole in their heads.

The four fell down and merged together.

The other three people also blended in with each other while laughing strangely.

Then, the flesh and blood surged upwards and turned into a human form.

Mr. A walked out of the filthy pool of blood, and looked at Katie, who was facing a formidable enemy, with a crazy and vicious look in his eyes: "Let me redeem your sins." "The great sin of kidnapping the Lamb of my Lord can only be forgiven by death."

189
Alia delivered the old clothes to the people who had just been settled yesterday. There were 9 people crammed in the warehouse. I heard that there were originally more than ten people, but some of them escaped at night, including an old woman.

The old woman seemed to be a devout believer of the goddess. Everyone was discussing whether or not to move out immediately, lest she report this place to the priests in the Church of the Goddess of Night.

However, these matters are handled by the Aurora Society. When the time comes, they will move the people away, burn the sheets, blankets and clothes, and the people around them will come to testify. The flow of people in the East District is terrifyingly large every day. Unless there are thousands or tens of thousands of people missing at once, or there is a large-scale spread of cults or protests, the church will just register them and not take them seriously, let alone track down the whereabouts of the refugees.

She looked at her precious pocket watch. It was past ten o'clock and the red moon was high in the sky. This pocket watch was a gift from Dean Norma to congratulate her on her admission to the university. It was silver-plated, inlaid with a circle of gold wire, and engraved with her name. It was one of the few things that truly belonged to her.

"Ah, Ms. Maria!" Alia saw the person in charge who was talking to the blue-haired uncle and went up to greet him happily, "I encountered the kidnapper and successfully completed the mission!"

"But it seems that no one else was kidnapped, only me...Mr. Ernst said that I was too small and skinny. Is that true?"

"You met the kidnapper? Are you hurt?"

Maria suddenly became nervous. She strode to Alia and checked her up and down before finally breathing a sigh of relief: "I'm glad you're okay. You're really too skinny. You must eat more during your college years."

“The food in the school cafeteria is delicious, but it’s too expensive.”

Alia, who came to work and study for a week, stuck out her tongue and said, "Bacon in bread is delicious, and it would be even better with some butter."

"Well, you have successfully completed the task. I will reward you with a small jar of cream." Maria also smiled a little. "Mr. A hasn't come back yet?"

"Mr. A killed the kidnapper. The Beyonder who was attracted saw him and ran away. He chased after him, and I took the opportunity to run back."

Alia handed a large bag of old clothes to the blue-haired uncle, helping him distribute simple coats and shirts, and happily got a can of her favorite whipped cream, deciding to take it to the dormitory at school tomorrow and spread it on toast to eat slowly. Well, I have to write a letter to Dean Norma this week to tell her that I saw Admisoel in Backlund. Admisoel is very smart now, and he is already a normal person. He can read and write very quickly, and he can go to a normal school to study!
"You can sleep at my place tonight. It's too late now. You need to get up early to go to school tomorrow. I can treat you to breakfast."

After saying this, Maria's spirit moved slightly. She looked at the shadow on the wall outside the door and frowned slowly: "Mr. A?"

"it's me."

A woman's voice answered her.

Maria saw a tall woman with fierce eyes and a ferocious look. She had a revolver and a whip hanging around her waist. She looked like a mercenary, but her temperament was solemn and dignified, which was very strange.

"Is this Kapin's subordinate?" Maria felt it carefully, then frowned deeply. "A low- to mid-level "Judge"... just like my worst expectation, but isn't the Judge an orthodox channel for the police and the military? Why would he work for a human trafficker like Kapin? Is he a bounty hunter or a mercenary?... Or is Kapin's current power and business so big that he deserves the military's protection?"

“That’s not my business.”

The woman had a fierce expression but dull eyes. Mr. A's voice came from her chest and abdomen: "As long as I leave her body, she will die immediately. I will return to Kapin tonight and give you a complete route map tomorrow. I will stay there for a day. You can help me according to the situation."

"it is good."

Maria breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that she agreed, Mr. A controlled the woman's body and returned the same way, carrying the corpse and traces of the battle to Kapin's mansion.

190
On Thursday morning, Klein arrived at the cheap coffee shop in the East District as agreed. Old Kohler, still wearing his thick jacket, was sitting in the corner, drinking tea that barely tasted like tea and drinking a loaf of black bread.

Klein came to him, took out something he had prepared long ago, and pushed it to him. It was a fund consisting of two 5-sol notes, four 1-sol notes, and a handful of copper pennies specially used to increase the effect.

Old Kohler looked at them straight, and after a while he stretched out his right hand and took them with trembling hands.

He looked at it again and again, raised his hand to wipe his eyes, and forced a smile: "At the dock, we move heavy cargo and step into cold and dirty water to do some troublesome cleaning. We only make about 1 soli a day..."

And there are a full 15 soles here!

Klein listened silently for a few seconds before he asked, "What have you heard recently? What have you noticed?"

Old Kohler's expression changed a little, and he felt a little uneasy. He put away the funds, drank another sip of tea, pinched the corners of his eyes and said, "I met a lot of dock workers and reconnected with the friends I knew when I was wandering. Some of them went to factories, and some are still going back and forth between the workhouse and the corners of the park. Ha, just like me in the past...

"Well, also, I heard that there has been some cult activity in the East District recently, but the scale is not large, and I just heard about it..."

Old Kohler was a little vague, feeling guilty for lying to the reporter.

This... Backlund's famous cult is nothing more than the Aurora Society? Could it be that after what happened to Lanevus, they began to pay attention to the poor in the East District, the Dock District, and the East District, hoping to use them to achieve certain goals? I wonder if the three major churches have noticed this phenomenon... I think they have... Isn't Miss Maria the local boss here? She is so righteous and excellent, why would she allow the Aurora Society to preach in the East District? It seems that her subordinates may not be like this. Maybe the Foundation actually... Klein sandwiched the butter between two slices of toast and took a bite without knowing the taste.

Old Kohler rambled on for a while before saying, "Mr. Detective, as you instructed, I paid attention to the situation of the textile workers. In the end, with the involvement of the police, their struggle failed, but, haha, the leaders became factory supervisors, and one-third of them lost their jobs.

"Some of them are actively looking for new jobs, some have become streetwalkers, and some have gone to nowhere. It's all chaos now."

If this was the situation when Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilingos came to Backlund, then he could come to the East District every day and quietly kill one or two people, and no one would be able to find out... Klein sighed in his heart.

Old Kohler continued to talk about some daily news and said, "By the way, Liv's little daughter disappeared last night."

"Liv?" Klein had never heard of this name.

Old Kohler suddenly realized, "That was the laundry worker you and Mr. Reporter saw last time who was arguing with someone. She had been doing laundry at home with her older and younger daughters. But yesterday, one of her two daughters got lost while delivering clothes. The younger one was so pitiful. She had been a widow for many years and had been counting on her two daughters, but in the end... Well, the police in the East District will definitely not look for her too hard."

Unfortunate people often suffer greater misfortunes because they have no ability to resist risks or change their environment... These words suddenly flashed through Klein's mind.

He was silent for a few seconds like a stone statue and said, "Take me to see them. I'm a detective. Maybe I can help them find someone."

"...They have no money." Old Kohler reminded.

Klein picked up his hat and cane and said:
“I also volunteer occasionally.”

Old Kohler was stunned. He was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly loosened his right hand that was clenched tightly around the coins, took out 15 soles from the 13 soles, and handed them to Klein. In Klein's surprised eyes, he said almost sadly: "I know this is ridiculous, but you are a kind person. It is a great blessing that you are willing to help us. Even if you want to volunteer, Mrs. Liv will not agree if she has a little money. I, I will return this money to you, as my payment for Liv to ask you to find her little daughter."

"Two soli, just two soli, and my daughter and I can have a meal. Detective, please accept it, I beg you."

TBC
--------

By the way, Admisol doesn’t seem to have a last name. He is just a Tingen-limited tool man who does not need any more settings.

Looking back, the plot needs to be reorganized.

Oh, there is one thing I must say:
The Aurora Society did not suddenly become good people, nor did they turn over a new leaf. In essence, they are still lambs who only listen to the words of the True Creator. If the True Creator goes crazy, they will follow suit and kill and burn people. If the True Creator wants to reform itself, they will immediately follow suit and do good deeds. If they cannot make a seamless transition, they are definitely not devout enough.

It's not that their conscience has been awakened, it's just that the Lord told them to do so.

(End of this chapter)

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