Chapter 503 - 347: West Ninth District, Black Tile Inn

Chapter 503: Chapter 347: West Ninth District, Black Tile Inn

They climbed up a steep ladder and pushed open a heavy iron plate. Blinding light and deafening noise flooded in.

Wu Liangchen and Song Ling’Er squinted to adjust to the light, finding themselves at the end of a narrow, damp alley.

Before them was a bizarre, dazzling world—dilapidated high-rises were draped in gaudy neon lights and holographic billboards. A spiderweb of wires tangled in the air above, and oily rainwater dripped from rusted pipes.

The air was filled with the cloying sweetness of cheap synthetic food, the pungent odor of mechanical lubricant, and the faint scent of disinfectant.

People thronged the streets, many of them bearing mechanical prosthetics, both new and old. Their eyes were either numb and lifeless or filled with wariness and hostility.

This was the sunless corner within Zhongjing: the West Ninth District slum.

Wu Liangchen led Song Ling’Er out of the alley.

As Skinny had suggested, they needed to find a place to stay as soon as possible before they could worry about anything else.

After all, population checks in Zhongjing were extremely strict. Even here in the West Ninth District, you had to find a place to stay by nightfall. Otherwise, if you were caught, you’d be arrested as a homeless vagrant.

In that case, the best-case scenario was being locked up for several months of forced labor, then thrown out of the city like a piece of trash.

And that was the best-case scenario, at least you got to keep your life.

Some of the unlucky ones often didn’t even last a month before dying inside.

And it didn’t end there. After death, any of their usable organs would be "requisitioned" and then legally enter the marketplace.

That was what happened to the men. For women, especially young ones, the consequences of being caught were far worse.

That was why in Zhongjing, especially in a slum like the West Ninth District, the mere mention of the night patrol was enough to stop a child from crying at night.

Wu Liangchen, of course, wasn’t afraid of the so-called night patrol, but he did need to find a place to stay first.

However, trouble was never far away. Two unfamiliar faces, especially a pretty girl like Song Ling’Er, were conspicuous targets in this dog-eat-dog place.

They hadn’t gone far before several gang members blocked their path. They all wore matching tattered jackets and had strange scorpion tattoos on their arms.

Their leader was a bald, burly man with a glowing red cybernetic eye. He was toying with a vibro-dagger in his hand.

"Hey, newbies?" the bald thug asked, his cybernetic eye scanning Wu Liangchen and Song Ling’Er from top to bottom. His tone was hostile.

"Don’t you know the rules here? If you wanna hang around, you gotta pay the ’protection fee’ first!"

His cronies closed in behind him, vicious grins on their faces as they leered at Song Ling’Er.

Song Ling’Er nervously gripped the pistol at her waist, leaning slightly toward Wu Liangchen.

Wu Liangchen remained expressionless, not even deigning to speak.

"Hey, punk, I’m talking to you! Cat got your tongue?" Seeing Wu Liangchen ignore him, the bald thug flew into a rage. He swung a fist clad in metal knuckles straight at Wu Liangchen’s face.

A loud THUD was heard, followed by the sickening crunch of breaking bone.

Then, a scream of agony tore through the air.

But the grins on the faces of the thug’s cronies all froze.

Because the one screaming wasn’t the newcomer—it was their boss, the bald thug.

The bald thug’s outstretched fist, along with his forearm, was bent backward at a horrifying angle. Jagged white bone had even pierced the skin, exposed to the open air.

"AAAAHHHH!!!"

A gut-wrenching scream echoed through the street.

The bald thug clutched his broken arm and collapsed to his knees in agony, his cybernetic eye flickering erratically from the pain.

His cronies were scared out of their wits. Their vicious grins were replaced by sheer terror, and they instinctively stumbled back a few steps.

Wu Liangchen stepped forward and planted his foot on the bald thug’s shattered arm, drawing an even more pathetic howl of pain. ℯℯ𝑙.

"Shut up. Scream again and I’ll kill you."

The simple words made the bald thug instantly clamp his mouth shut. He could only stare at Wu Liangchen, trembling in fear.

"I ask, you answer. If you spout any nonsense or try to lie, you know what the consequences will be. Understand?" Wu Liangchen said calmly.

The thug nodded frantically.

"Are there any relatively safe places to stay around here?" Wu Liangchen asked.

"Yes... Yes. The Black Tile Inn, three streets from here, is quite safe."

Wu Liangchen saw the look in the thug’s eyes and determined he wasn’t lying.

"Also, are there any well-informed information brokers around here?"

"Old K the Know-it-all. He knows everything, as long as you can afford his price!"

"Where is he?"

"He’s... he’s on the top floor of the ’Hive’ apartment building up ahead... But... Old K is eccentric, and his prices are steep. Sometimes... he even makes you run errands for him before he’ll give you information..."

The thug was clearly reaching his limit. Large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, dripping to the ground.

"Very good." Wu Liangchen stood up and tossed a cred-card to the ground. "This is for you."

The thug stared, stunned, unsure of what Wu Liangchen was up to.

Wu Liangchen smiled. "I’ll be staying at that Black Tile Inn for a while. If you hear anything, you can come and report to me. There will be a reward for you then."

"Of course, you could also report this to your superiors. But that’s only if you live long enough to enjoy what comes next."

As he spoke, a flash of killing intent flickered in Wu Liangchen’s eyes.

The pressure he emanated wasn’t overpowering, but for this group, it was more than enough.