Chapter 49: The Old Man

In the scorching summer heat, although dark clouds in the sky obscured the sun, the muggy air still made people feel exhausted.

"Alright," under a canopy set up on the sidewalk, Gu Zixu turned around and said to the group:

"Let's take a rest here. Although assassins should complete their Task as quickly as possible, haste makes waste, and calm reflection is also a required course for an assassin."

As soon as she finished speaking, Zhang Yunfan sat down with a thud.

"I say..." exhausted to the point of being like a dog, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and said bitterly:

"Can't we find some kind of transport or something? How long are we going to have to walk like this?"

The others also sat in a circle around them.

Hearing this, He Xiang, who was also sitting cross-legged beside Tang Chen, looked over:

"You're tanned quite dark, how is it that your stamina seems even worse than mine?"

"I, I got this tan on vacation at the beach, it's not because I move bricks..." Zhang Yunfan's dark face scrunched up.

"You're right," Yan Yu wiped away some sweat at this moment and said with a slight pant:

"However, although there are cars all around, we're helpless without the car keys. Do you have a way?"

"I," Zhang Yunfan hesitated for a moment, then actually said:

"I really do have a way. I studied car repair before, it's just..."

"It's just that the Processing Bureau won't let us use them, likely because there are unknown risks involved." Ding Mo took over the conversation.

Clearly, Zhang Yunfan's brain had not yet crashed from exhaustion, and he understood the risks of this action.

"That's right, if this action were beneficial to the Task, the assassin organization would not be stingy with a vehicle." Gu Zixu also nodded in affirmation.

As for the assassin organization she spoke of, uh, it should refer to the Processing Bureau, right?

The discussion ended, and having reached the conclusion that they could not find a vehicle, the group fell into a silence.

Beside the deserted street, the atmosphere was incomparably quiet.

There was one more thing: before they entered, the Processing Bureau only gave them one day's worth of dry rations and water.

In other words, in the eyes of the Processing Bureau, this Task would end in the short term, with the time expected not to exceed one day.

But in the eyes of Ding Mo and the others, the shorter the time spent here, the better.

This eerie city gave them more than just physical exhaustion; the danger contained within was the factor that made them feel mentally oppressed and tense.

For every extra second they stayed here, their mental pressure increased by another notch!

"Since that's the case, then forget it." Zhang Yunfan sighed.

"I, is that so..." But it was He Xiang who seemed somewhat unwilling. She whispered for a while with Tang Chen beside her, then hesitated and said:

"Say, can't we just go and ask the Processing Bureau directly? We can communicate with them, right?"

Once she said this, the others remembered as well.

Yan Yu took an earpiece out of his pocket, glanced at Gu Zixu, and seeing she had no objections, put it on and called the Processing Bureau.

Thus, after mentioning this matter to them, they received the following reply:

"Unknown risks exist; using a vehicle for transport is not recommended. But considering that a long Task duration may also cause increased risk, you may decide for yourselves whether to use one!"

"... Hmm,

"Since when has the Processing Bureau been so easy to talk to?" Ding Mo was the first to raise his doubts.

"It seems to be a different person than before." Yan Yu said, then began to seek opinions:

"What do you say? Should we... give it a try?"

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other.

The Processing Bureau's meaning was that they didn't oppose it?

A moment later,

Inside the door of an open business van,

Vroom, vroom, vroom~

A sound of an engine starting came through.

Zhang Yunfan put away the electrician's pliers he had scavenged, got out of the car, and smiled: "It's already fixed."

According to Zhang Yunfan's own introduction, he was a maintenance engineer, most skilled at tinkering with such mechanical objects.

At this time, large streaks of rain were already drifting through the gloomy sky, and the temperature had dropped a notch without anyone noticing.

Ding Mo touched his slightly dampened shoulder and got into the car with the others—Yan Yu acted as the driver, Gu Zixu sat in the passenger seat, and the rest sat in the back.

The car was a seven-seater business van, so it did not seem crowded.

Looking at the scenery gradually receding outside the window, Ding Mo suddenly realized that this operation seemed a bit smooth so far?

Although some eerie things had happened, there was basically no danger at all.

This Task... could it be that he had overthought it? Ding Mo leaned back comfortably in his seat and thought to himself.

The car moved slowly forward, the thick tempered glass and the car doors temporarily isolating the eerie city outside, making the group's mental pressure feel much lighter without them realizing it.

Everyone let out a slight sigh of relief.

On the road, there was no one, but out of safety considerations, Gu Zixu did not let Yan Yu drive too fast. But even so, the efficiency of travel was far better than walking.

Having driven for a while now,

There was suddenly something strange ahead!

"This is...!?" Ding Mo saw it clearly,

That was a person!

And they were still alive!

Yan Yu subconsciously slowed the car down, seemingly wanting to observe carefully. And the others began to discuss it.

"Is this what the 'Immigrant Code of Conduct' calls an 'old resident'?" Zhang Yunfan pondered aloud.

"Looks like a street vendor?" He Xiang watched the person sitting by the street, fiddling with some bottles and jars on a stall.

"I'll drive around him." Yan Yu was just about to turn the steering wheel, but Ding Mo stopped him.

"Wait!" Ding Mo said suddenly:

"This might be a lead! I propose we make contact with him!"

What? Yan Yu said in shock:

"Ding Mo, do you know what you're saying? Have you forgotten the contents of that code of conduct?"

Ding Mo shook his head, a flash of calm in his eyes:

"Of course I remember, but the code didn't say we couldn't contact 'old residents,' did it? It only required us not to accept their food and water."

"Besides, since we need to find a person in this city, asking a local is the best way."

"..." The group fell into a silence.

On one hand, they did not want to contact something that clearly reeked of strangeness, but in their hearts, they could not help but agree with what Ding Mo said—

If they could not complete the Task, the people from the Processing Bureau would not let them off.

"Then," at this moment, Gu Zixu spoke up:

"Let's give it a try."

... At the street stall was an old man of about seventy or eighty years.

His thin knuckles were like withered stalks of straw, long and slender. He was currently fiddling incessantly with the bottles and jars on his stall.

Clatter—

Opening the car door, Ding Mo, Zhang Yunfan, and Gu Zixu got out cautiously and came before the stall. Yan Yu and the others remained in the car to provide support at any time.

Ding Mo squatted down and looked at the old man, while Gu Zixu stood behind him, gripping her knife.

"Hello, sir, we'd like to ask about something." Ding Mo said, taking out a photograph—it was the very same photo of the little girl from the black cloth bag.

The old man was curled up behind the stall; upon hearing this, he raised his head, his eyes, so clouded they seemed sightless, staring straight at Ding Mo.

The stare made Ding Mo feel a bit unnerved.

The old man looked at him, paying no attention to the photograph at all:

"Are you... buying something?"

The old man's knuckles pinched a black bottle and held it out.

"Sir, we aren't here to buy anything..." Ding Mo said again, but he found it was useless; the old man just kept asking him over and over if he was buying something.