I am a swordsman in a strange city

Chapter 75 Entering the game personally
Pei Ju felt as if he had appeared in a deep mountain cave. He felt as if he had been abandoned there, and he was weak and unconscious.

……

"Pei Ju, Pei Ju!"

"Pei Ju, you are sick."

"You've been abandoned."

"Your mom and dad don't want you anymore."

"You're sick. They abandoned you in this cave."

"They said that you would only be a burden to live."

"You might as well just die..."

"It would be better if he died; he wouldn't be a burden to anyone."

"You feel your body is weak, and you know you are indeed sick."

"Since you are indeed sick and your parents don't want you anymore, what's the point of living? You might as well die like this, so as to fulfill their wishes. So die like this."

"Die!"

"Anyway, nobody likes it..."

……

At that moment, another voice appeared in his mind.

It was a cold, detached voice.

"Our existence is not based on anyone's affirmation. We should be like the stars in the sky, solitary yet suspended high above. Even if no one can identify which one is us, we should always have our own light."

"When people recognize us one day, they should revere us as gods."

"Pei Ju, grip your sword tightly, for your sword can shatter all nightmares and demons."

"Grip it tightly, and thrust it in the direction you hate and fear the most."

That clear, cool voice was like a ray of light in his heart, like a star shining alone upon him.

So, in the darkness, he drew his sword and thrust it toward the place where he sensed the voice coming from.

The darkness disappeared.

Pei Ju opened his eyes again.

The prison was still brightly lit.

Nothing happened.

It all felt like a dream.

He sat up cross-legged and reached out to touch the sweat on his forehead.

It was like a dream, but Pei Ju knew it wasn't a dream, or rather, someone had used his emotions to weave a dream, intending for him to die within that dream.

He also knew that Senior Sister Yu had saved him once again.

The night passed in fits and starts.

The next day, at the crack of dawn, just as he was starting work, the prison door was opened, and Jin Fengyue took him out.

After he signed a document, they took him away.

We arrived at a morning market.

The two remained silent the entire way until Pei Ju finished a large bowl of Xijiang mixed rice noodles and meatball soup, at which point Jin Fengyue finally spoke.

“I know that the most popular breakfast in Xijiang is their Xijiang mixed rice noodles, plus a meatball soup. Do you think this place tastes authentic?”

"It's good, but not spicy enough. It would be better if it were spicier, preferably with chopped chili peppers." Pei Ju spoke more words this time.

Jin Fengyue lit a cigarette and asked Pei Ju if he wanted one, but Pei Ju declined.

He then asked, "Who is that person?"

“An assassin, a foreigner, a wanted criminal named Donald Deco, so not only are you safe, you'll also receive a reward.”

Pei Ju didn't care about the bonus. Although he didn't have much money, he had never cared much about money. Just like when his family didn't have much money, neither he nor his grandfather paid much attention to money.

Why did he come to kill me?

"Last night I checked a lot of internal information and basically figured out some of the details."

Jin Fengyue took a drag of his cigarette, glanced around to make sure no one was watching, and continued, "He came here about ten years ago and was taken in by the people of the Underground Club, so we haven't heard from him since."

"Of course, he will hang out with the people in the underground club. The reason is simple: he has a great passion for underground culture, and our country has extremely rich underground resources, so the two sides hit it off immediately."

"As for why he would come to kill you, my guess is that you may have unintentionally offended them at some point, or ruined something for them? Or perhaps you attracted that madman in some way."

Pei Ju thought of the person he casually killed in the alley, the feeling of almost being possessed at home, the foreigner yesterday, and the prison cell last night.

"What's the deal with that underground club?" Pei Ju asked. Jin Fengyue immediately replied, "The underground club isn't a legitimate club."

"Like its name suggests, it exists only underground. However, in the beginning, it was just a group of people who had a strong love and interest in underground civilization. For a time, it was a club that was officially registered."

"They mainly study cave civilizations, exploring those caves rarely visited by humans, communicating with spirits inside, and often being able to communicate with some strange and powerful beings, to the point that many people have gone mad or died, but they still enjoy it."

"It is said that when some people are on the verge of madness, they will record the information they receive from the 'spirit' they communicate with. Most of the time, it is just a jumble of information, but some people have managed to sort things out from this jumble of information."

"Thus, a rumor spread through the underground club that the depths of the underground caves were connected to the underworld."

"It was around this time that the club began to degenerate. They started to split up. Some people left the Crypt Club and became formally employed scholars, while others continued their research. They no longer cared about anything else and did a lot of influential things, and caused several mysterious events to be leaked."

"Later, the relevant national authorities removed their names from the official register and labeled them as an unstable and somewhat evil and chaotic organization."

Pei Ju understood and immediately asked, "Where can we find them?"

"They are hard to find, just like their name suggests. The way they absorb people is strange and difficult to find. Even if you find them, they are only on the periphery, scattered. These peripheral people don't even know what they are doing. They may just be parasitized thoughts, doing some inexplicable things."

Pei Ju frowned.

Jin Fengyue said, "I think your mental state is okay. You might just be feeling down, but it's stable. You want to find them?"

"Yes."

"why?"

"I'm getting a little annoyed," Pei Ju said calmly, his emotions not particularly strong, but Jin Fengyue felt that Pei Ju was very serious.

“There’s a permanent investigation notice about the Cave Club in the Job Mission Hall. If you want to investigate, I can get you a mission document,” Jin Fengyue said.

“Okay, you can get it for me.” Pei Ju got up to leave after saying that, but Jin Fengyue said to get it now. The mission document was easy to get, especially if Jin Fengyue got it. However, since Pei Ju did not have professional certification, he could only act as Jin Fengyue’s informant.

Pei Ju first went home and took a good shower.

Then there was another performance today. Chen Sheng, who was sitting on the balcony next door, saw Pei Ju return and asked with a questioning look in his eyes, "Where did you go last night?"

"I didn't go anywhere. I had some things to do, so I didn't go home," Pei Ju replied, sitting down on the balcony.

Chen Sheng's eyes were full of suspicion, but she was too embarrassed to ask.

So she showed him a lot of information about plays and Pei Ju's updates.

"Pei Ju, a lot of people like you. Have you ever thought about getting a girlfriend?" Chen Sheng asked.

"No," Pei Ju said directly.

Sometimes, one sentence can easily kill another.

However, sometimes, even the coldest words can't kill a person who wants to talk. Chen Sheng was that person. She sat there chatting with Pei Ju for a whole morning, while Pei Ju only gave half-hearted replies, until she received a phone call.

She told Pei Ju not to forget the evening's performance before heading out.

After Pei Ju finished his performance that evening, he was greeted by screams from the crowd. As he left, he took a sword used in the performance with him. Although it wasn't very good, it was still made of iron.

He walked toward the alley he had passed through that night, wanting to walk it again, believing that the other person would come looking for him again.

Alone, I wander through the city, walking through alleys and past clusters of lights, all by myself.

It was peaceful and tranquil.

A quiet night is a feeling shared by many.

Many people also believe that nighttime is dangerous.

But on the same night, in the same city, different people have different feelings.

For a moment, Pei Ju didn't know whether he liked wandering in the dark or the feeling that danger could jump out at any time in the darkness.

He casually broke off a tree branch and walked along, waving it to knock off the leaves of the small trees in the roadside flowerbeds, cutting off green leaves as he went.

Until he arrived at that alley on that day.

Upon arriving here, he immediately sensed a restlessness; someone was waiting for him.

The commotion came from underground, from inside the walls; it was rats, or perhaps people.

"You still dare to come here?" A voice suddenly spoke from the darkness.

"I've come all this way, so I assume you've already gathered your forces," Pei Ju said calmly.

Sometimes, you don't need to find someone yourself; you just need to get involved.

The person in the darkness didn't answer his question immediately.

But then another angry voice said, "You little punk, you've got some nerve!"

"You guys are too noisy." Pei Ju tossed aside the branch in his hand, picked up the sword he had taken from the theater, and walked into the depths of the alley.

In that instant, darkness erupted into clamor.

(End of this chapter)