Chapter 20: The Third Shadow

Burned four E Corpses in the morning, no shipment.

The atmosphere while burning corpses was more gloomy than usual; neither spoke much, as if both harbored secrets.

Wang Jian's lips moved several times as if wanting to explain something, but the words at the edge of his mouth were swallowed back into his throat; he ran to the gate to smoke, silently fiddling with his phone.

Feng Mu cast a gloomy glance at Wang Jian's back, and the mutterings in his heart had no chance to be asked.

Who did Wang Jian betray? Could it be me?

That day I threw a punch that made a sound of air; was I careless? Also, these past two days I've been doing tempering exercises in the incineration room—in his eyes, isn't that also abnormal?

Luo Ji, Tao Fei, Sun Yi, and Wang Jian—the only thing we have in common is that we all dropped out. I can't figure out what basis the Green Wolf Gang has for suspicion.

But anyway, I am within the scope of suspicion.

Feng Mu looked at the E Corpse in the flames, suddenly gave a cold laugh, and said in a voice only he could hear: "If only living people could also have their chests split open like E Corpses, exposing the secrets in their hearts."

Under the gaze of the E Corpse, Feng Mu's mood calmed down, and he began doing tempering exercises.

In the afternoon, rare leisure, no E Corpses, no human corpses; Feng Mu practiced tempering exercises alone, while Wang Jian went to the Pollution Zone to accompany his father.

Off work.

Passing by No. 47 Middle School.

Just like the previous two days, Feng Mu paused briefly, and saw a yellow-haired man with a cigarette in his mouth holding a list, comparing it with him a few times, then quickly walked toward him.

"Wang Jian didn't lie to me about this; I'm on the list."

Feng Mu didn't wait for the yellow-haired man to approach; he hurriedly kicked his bicycle and turned into the alley beside him with a swish.

The yellow-haired man cursed, spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on the ground, but didn't chase after him; more likely, he felt there was no need to rush to chase him today.

Feng Mu turned out from the other end of the alley, not hurrying home, but rode for twenty minutes to 978 Street.

It's called 978 Street because this place was once the garrison of Investigation Corps Number 978.

Nowadays, Investigation Corps Number 978 has already moved to a new garrison; this area has been abandoned for a period of time, and later some scavengers moved in.

More and more people gathered, shanties were built, then some small vendors gathered, and foot traffic increased more and more; over a few years, this street developed.

Small tin shacks, messy shanties, wild-growing shops, and hair-washing parlors scattered throughout the alleys, beckoning to solicit customers.

And just like in triad movies, every gang occupies a piece of turf in form.

This form is not protected by law, not written on property deeds, but carved into knives and fists, forcing merchants to pay rent, commonly called protection fees.

What does protection fee mean?

It means that after taking money, they protect you from being harmed by me.

798 Street is the turf occupied by the Green Wolf Gang.

Feng Mu rode in, neither fast nor slow, his eyes casually scanning along the street.

Restaurants, small shops, hair-washing parlors, video halls, bars, dance halls—nothing planned, just a casual placement following one's heart's desire.

The Green Wolf Gang's headquarters is a bar, occupying the best location, with colorful light boxes hanging on the walls; both the aesthetic and the name are tacky, but they win by being eye-catching, called Blood Rose.

Feng Mu didn't dare approach; he looked from afar, then rode away.

His sense of direction was good; he didn't take the original road, but passed through the shantytown and left from another exit.

Because there was no planning, the shantytown was like a labyrinth; also because there was no planning, one could find a hole to escape from anywhere in the shantytown.

Go home, eat, do tempering exercises.

2 AM.

It ended two hours earlier than usual; the settlement screen on his retina froze.

【Iron Eater: First Rank】

【Edible Iron Type: 1】

【Metal Property Extraction: 1】

【Current Detected Edible Iron Type—Ordinary Pig Iron, Edibility 38.2%.】

【Extracted Property:??】

"Increased by 4.1%, not enough to fully cover the left arm, oh, not the left arm, but..."

Feng Mu let out a soft exclamation; his left arm felt no fresh coolness, because that coolness, along the tailbone, quietly crept toward the root of his right leg.

Feng Mu reached out to touch the root of his leg; strands of coolness penetrated the skin, making his little brother shiver.

Feng Mu walked two steps in the bedroom and could clearly feel his right leg stepping more firmly, his left leg light and floating, his whole body's center of gravity unconsciously leaning to the right, as if he were limping.

Feng Mu adapted for a while before barely finding his center of gravity again.

Putting on black clothes, black pants, a mask and a duckbill cap, hiding a folding dagger in his pocket, Feng Mu slowly pushed open the bedroom door, closed it with his backhand, and tiptoed out of the house.

The stairwell was pitch black; Feng Mu went down the stairs, one foot deep and one foot shallow, his posture strange.

Late at night, the old dilapidated community naturally had few streetlights that could light up; the Upper City's butt was also pitch black; Feng Mu, dressed all in black, limped and merged with the darkness.

He didn't ride the bike; the wind noise from the bicycle was too loud, not as concealed as the steps taken in the darkness.

There weren't many people on the road; occasionally he glimpsed a few figures in the distance, and Feng Mu avoided them in advance.

03:14, Feng Mu stood behind the trash can at the entrance of 798 Street.

Half the street was dark, but lights shone at intervals—light boxes breathing in the night, red, blue, green, flickering, emitting the temptation of desire.

Feng Mu hid in a dark corner, coldly watching the women posing under the lights.

The woman was supporting a fat man, laboriously dragging him into the hair-washing parlor; the man's head was buried in the woman's chest, the woman's eyes fixed on the man's wallet, greed intertwined in each other's eyes.

The hair-washing parlor seemed to come alive in the night, turning into a demon in heavy makeup, swallowing that man and woman exuding meaty fragrance into its belly together.

The curtains in the windows were drawn; two men with faces full of flesh walked out the door, squatting at the entrance smoking, occasionally emitting lewd laughter.

They were watching the curtains; Feng Mu was staring at them.

04:41.

The extinguished light boxes, cigarette butts all over the ground; among the two shadows with arms around each other's shoulders on the ground, a third shadow appeared and disappeared faintly.

…….

My name is Ma Wei, twenty-four years old.

I don't remember much from my childhood; I only remember that when I was seven, that bitch abandoned me and my father and ran off with someone else.

My father was a street sweeper, no skills but a terrible temper; he beat me whenever he drank, and when he sobered up he held me and cried.

I don't resent him, because he gave me food to eat; I only hate that bitch. I thought that when I grew up, I would find that bitch, cut off her head, and take it home.

When I was ten, my father died.

According to the Patrol Bureau, while sweeping the streets in the early morning he got into an argument with two hooligans smashing wine bottles and was stabbed to death.

I wasn't sad; I just thought he died pathetically, and besides, no one would give me food anymore.

Blank Citizens can't buy cemetery plots, and I had no money, so I didn't claim his body. I think his body was probably burned together with the trash.

At eleven, I didn't go to school anymore; I went scavenging.

It's hard for one person to scavenge trash worth money; organized scavengers occupy the garbage heaps, and feral dogs that dig up corpses also bare their teeth and snarl at me.

I was alone, and it was hard to snatch anything from others.

At twelve, I met Tong Ge, who was two years older than me, and the two of us teamed up to scavenge trash.

At thirteen, two people are stronger than one; we joined forces to smash a feral dog to death with bricks, ate its meat, and it was truly fragrant.

But we still couldn't outcompete those scavengers; most of the time we weren't full. Once, a cleanly dressed child handed me a piece of bread.

Tong Ge and I split it up, and after eating, Tong Ge and I were even hungrier.

The next day, we blocked that child on the road and snatched his schoolbag. Haha, that day we ate our fill.

Later we snatched a few more times, but unfortunately, that child disappeared afterward, and Tong Ge and I were very angry.

At fourteen, Tong Ge brought in two more children.

We weren't as strong as the scavengers, but we were fierce enough, so we snatched a trash can, and we could occasionally eat our fill.

At fifteen, Tong Ge said he didn't want to scavenge trash for a lifetime….

ps: Ma Wei is an important NPC

Brothers and sisters, during the new book period you must keep reading; those who are fostering the book remember to come online every day and flip to the last page.

Qidian now only goes by reading persistence; reading persistence is the life line of a book.

This book definitely won't be too monitored, but good reading persistence gives passion to write, and what's written will be interesting, right!

Seek reading persistence, seek votes!

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End of Chapter